The Immortal Duke’s Physician Is an Internist - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Inside the carriage bound for Dorset Estate.
Duke Carseid peppered me with questions.
“Adrian doesn’t strike me as having the audacity to conspire with a Black Mage. Did I misjudge him?”
I shook my head.
“No, Your Grace. Your assessment is quite accurate, actually.”
Caelon tilted his head, puzzled.
“Then all the more confounding. If the Black Mage’s teacher’s Watch is now in his possession, he must have received it from someone—”
“We’ll understand once we get there.”
As I said this, I turned to look at Everain, who sat in silence.
As always, he wore his uniform impeccably, though something seemed to occupy his thoughts entirely.
“Everain. You’ve been quiet since we left. What’s on your mind?”
“Ah, forgive me. I was regretting that I didn’t sever his Achilles tendon back there.”
“Make it a habit to consult with me before acting on such impulses, will you?”
“I’ll endeavor to do so.”
As our exchange continued, the carriage arrived at the main gate of Dorset Estate.
The gates opened without resistance. We entered carefully.
“Why is no one here?”
I murmured, surveying the empty central hall.
“Indeed, sir… Could His Grace have dismissed not only the farmhands, but the servants as well?”
“What? You removed people from Dorset Estate? When did this happen?”
At my wide-eyed stare, Duke Carseid fixed Caelon with a glare.
“Advisor. I thought I’d trained you well enough last time, but clearly it didn’t stick. Or has your brain truly turned to broccoli?”
“My sincerest apologies…”
Caelon’s shoulders sagged like a scolded puppy. The Duke narrowed his brow for a long moment before turning back to me.
“I merely offered the farmhands a choice—the option of a salary increase.”
“That’s the same as dismissing them, isn’t it? What exactly have you both been doing behind my back?”
At my question, the Duke and Caelon sealed their lips as if by agreement. Just as I was about to press further—
“This appears to be the place,” Everain said, having reached the end of the corridor first.
I took a short breath and thrust the door open.
“Adrian! Give me back my Watch this instant!”
And then—silence fell.
The room was dark, though the burning fireplace kept it from complete obscurity.
But there was something far more pressing than the darkness.
‘What… is that smell?’
The room reeked of something sickeningly sour. The men beside me wrinkled their noses, scanning their surroundings with visible distaste.
“Lionel, you’ve finally come.”
A large lump of bedding on the cot began to shift. Adrian, curled in on himself, lifted his head.
“I’ve been waiting for the day you’d arrive.”
I stopped dead where I stood. I blinked several times, unable to believe my eyes.
“… Adrian?”
“Yes, it’s me. … Ugh!”
With that answer, Adrian suddenly plunged his face into a waste bin and retched.
Then I finally understood the source of that sickening stench.
It was the smell of vomit he had expelled throughout the room.
“How… how much have you thrown up?”
“Ugh… I don’t know. Ugh…”
Adrian continued to retch miserably into the bin. I stood frozen, unsure how to respond to this grotesque scene.
Adrian had become gaunt.
Alarmingly so. Unnaturally.
By rough estimate, he’d lost some thirty kilograms.
‘How could someone lose that much weight in barely a month? How is that even possible? He had no underlying illness…’
I arrived at one inescapable conclusion.
“Adrian… don’t tell me. Did the Black Mage give you something? Did you consume it?”
Adrian’s hands trembled as he answered.
“He, he said he was… just a regular person. He told me it was a Weight-loss Drug. I thought if I became thin, you’d look at me again, Lionel, so I…”
I pressed my hand to my mouth. What kind of dangerous substance had been created to reduce someone to this state?
I hurried to ask Adrian, “Where is it? Where’s the drug?”

“Huh? Y-yes?”
“That drug you said you took. Hand it over. Now.”
“Why? Why? Look at me. Look how slim I’ve become…….”
Adrian’s voice wavered. I took the deepest breath I could manage before speaking.
“Adrian, listen carefully. This isn’t a joke—you could actually die. You need treatment right now…….”
“Aaaaaahhhhh!!”
A piercing shriek cut my words short. I spun around to find a middle-aged woman in a dirt-covered work dress standing in the corridor.
I knew exactly who she was.
She was Adrian’s mother and my distant relative—Patricia, Countess Dorset.
“Good heavens, Adrian!! What on earth is this……. How did this happen?”
The Countess rushed forward and swept her son into her arms. Moments later, Dorset himself appeared in similar attire and let out a roar.
“Adrian!! What in blazes is going on……. You were fine not long ago!”
“F-Father…… Mother……. W-what happened is…….”
Adrian stammered uselessly, offering no coherent answer.
“You wretched little wretch…… This is all your fault, Lionel!”
And their blame turned squarely toward me.
“Pardon? What did I do?”
“Because you wouldn’t accept Adrian, he stopped eating and drinking altogether—look at how gaunt he’s become. How do you plan to take responsibility for this?”
‘What utter nonsense.’
I shot Adrian a look.
As expected, he said nothing. Or rather, “couldn’t say” would be more accurate.
I fired back immediately.
“Well, Adrian did need a diet, truth be told. So perhaps you ought to be thanking me instead?”
I could see the Countess’s blood pressure rising in real time.
She glared with bloodshot eyes and continued her tirade.
“What makes you a doctor? Adrian is perfectly fine! He’s handsome, kind, dependable……”
“Aunt Patricia. Much as you might dislike me, let’s not distort the truth. Think about it carefully. Is your son truly ‘handsome’ when standing among these men here?”
The Countess’s gaze swept rapidly across the men behind me.
For just a moment, now that her anger had cleared, she actually saw them—and her expression softened like a girl’s.
Though it hardened back into a mother’s face just as quickly.
“How dare you talk back like that……. A man’s looks aren’t everything! Those men are nothing but pretty faces!”
“Hahahaha! Oh my, I’m sorry…… I couldn’t help myself…… *cough*.”
Caelon burst into laughter and apologized sheepishly. The Duke and Everain deliberately looked away as if they’d heard nothing.
I folded my arms and narrowed my eyes.
“Exactly. A man is more than just his face. But if a handsome face is useless…… how much more useless must an ugly one be?”
“You……! Can’t you shut that mouth!”
“No, I have more to say. You called me disrespectful? Fine, you’re right. But tell me—what about your son?”
“L-Lionel. Stop, please stop…….”
Adrian’s face twisted as he realized what I was about to say. But I pressed on regardless.
“When he was twelve, he tried to undress a seven-year-old cousin. Compared to such an ugly man, am I not remarkably pure?”
“Enough of this!”
A thunderous voice boomed across the room. Dorset wedged himself between the Countess and me.
“Lionel, I knew that filthy blood of yours would one day harm Adrian. I should have sold you off to Lavienne long ago. This is exactly why bastards shouldn’t be kept!”
Did these people really think such words—’filthy blood,’ ‘bastard’—could still wound me?
I smiled widely on purpose.
I still had one killing move left that could carve deep wounds in a middle-aged man’s pride.
“My lord. I believe your wife is going through menopause. You should take better care of her……. Though, come to think of it, you’re probably not satisfying her enough, which is why all this bitterness has built up. How pitiful.”
As I spoke, I let my gaze drop briefly downward, then raised it again…….
“You filthy little bitch!! Can’t you shut that running mouth!!”
Right on cue, the Count flushed purple with rage and raised his hand. He looked ready to strike me down on the spot.
I clenched my fists tight.
I’d paid a settlement; I was not about to take a beating. Instead, I planned to channel every ounce of my pent-up resentment into one solid punch.
“A good beating is what you need to come to your senses!”
The Count finally brought his fist down. But it never reached me.
Crash!!
“Ack……!”
Suddenly, Dorset flew into the air. Everyone in the room gasped, staring up at him.
A rope-like cord of blue light was coiling around his neck and hoisting him upward. The Count thrashed his arms wildly and shrieked.
“S-save me……. Save me!!”
Though I’d never seen it in person before, I knew the name of this ability.
Bunguang. A formidable special ability that decomposes light to unleash a variety of attacks.
And from what I knew, there was only one person in the Raisenberg Empire who wielded this Bunguang ability.
“……How dare you attempt to strike the Carseid Duchy’s physician before me. You’ve got nerve.”
The Duke stepped forward. With each word he spoke, a chill radiated outward.
“Are you prepared to be struck, Dorset?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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