The Military Doctor Excels at Being a Contracted Duchess - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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【Chapter 10】

Hmm, this is difficult.

Ebel rubbed the handle of her parasol, lost in thought.

Twins, yet their development differs.

“The aunt also has some issues, but they can be resolved once the lady of the house takes proper charge. Since I’ve decided to care for the family, I can’t very well keep her on the estate indefinitely.”

“Then once I go down there, I’ll have two things to do. Establishing household discipline and caring for your nephews’ ailments.”

“Exactly.”

“I’ll go down and meet them first. I think I need to see them directly to determine what kind of treatment will be necessary.”

Now she understood why she was needed.

Blood of the House of the Grand Duke mimicking beasts.

‘It would be a disaster if word got out.’

Of course, she had no intention of letting slip even a single word about the House of Bayern, not even by accident. She was naturally tight-lipped anyway.

“I heard from Banya that the house was being heated with torches… That won’t do. Keeping all the windows closed either.”

“Whatever the aunt may say, I keep the windows open where I stay, but the children’s quarters are rather dark. Walking around the mansion, I realized there are many parts that need changing.”

This was the most worrying part. Coughing meant the lungs weren’t healthy, but since they were still young, it probably wasn’t tuberculosis yet.

If they were coughing up blood, he wouldn’t be trying to treat them through such complicated methods within the family.

‘But there’s still no proper treatment for lung disease. That’s why I’m so worried.’

People were commonly advised to go recuperate in the countryside with good air, but the Duchy of Bayern probably wasn’t as polluted as this capital.

Then what could be the problem?

“Have you ever heard of Bayern’s hereditary disease?”

“Not at all.”

“They say a curse flows in Bayern’s bloodline. Since it’s best to take everything step by step, I’ll tell you what the hereditary disease is after we arrive at the estate.”

Victor’s profile as he spoke those words was coldly sunken.

Even a man who seemed to have everything had one or two things he wanted to hide.

Ebel received his consideration with equal consideration and didn’t pry further.

And Victor found such behavior from her extremely comfortable.

Ebel never crossed the line, yet approached cautiously about things she needed to know.

Usually she had no interest in others, or frankly in anything at all, but when something appeared that needed protecting, she would throw herself into it risking her life.

“I suddenly remember that incident. You fought with your superior saying disinfection was absolutely necessary.”

“Ah…! Yes, I remember too. I wasn’t quite in my right mind then.”

“I thought it was admirable. That was probably the first day I memorized your name.”

The Autonomous Corps of the Duchy of Bayern totaled 50,000 men.

Among them, about 3,000 were in the medical corps.

There were some from Bayern, but most were conscripted and assigned from other regions.

And one day, Victor discovered someone shouting at the top of their lungs.

“Disinfection is necessary! I absolutely cannot back down. How can you put such a filthy blade anywhere near a patient’s body!”

“The more flesh and blood on the blade, the better the doctor! Did you go to university and still not know that?”

“At the university I attended, we disinfected with carbolic acid. Didn’t you learn about the achievements Miss Nightingale accomplished during the Crimean War? She maintained cleanliness even in field hospitals, and that’s how she saved most of them. Please throw away that old-fashioned blade!”

Pointing fingers with eyes narrowed was definitely a violation of military law.

But the medical corps had one special regulation different from other corps.

If you believed your medical skills were superior and could save a soldier’s life, you were free to speak up as much as you wanted.

This was something Victor had personally added while leading the corps—though what subordinate would normally dare defy a superior—it was meant to protect brave souls when such situations actually arose.

And he had witnessed such a scene firsthand.

Moreover, the one lying on the stretcher groaning was his old friend.

If not for that, Victor would never have come to the field hospital himself.

“You took my side then, Your Excellency.”

“Yes. Thanks to that, Lucas survived.”

“It wasn’t a fatal wound anyway. I couldn’t bear to watch him die from infection.”

Captain Lucas Steiner.

The person who was brought in with a gunshot wound to the abdomen on the day of that bombardment.

He was likewise one of the final twelve.

‘Right. He’s alive now.’

A person who cherished and loved cannons, bombs, and gunpowder like his own children.

It was because of Captain Lucas’s ingenious creations that they could shake off pursuit and endure tenaciously.

“Besides us… I wish at least one more person had memories of that time. Even knowing how difficult that would be.”

“I understand how you feel.”

“It would be better to forget, better if it had never happened…”

Ebel lightly pressed her gloved hand to her ear, which still seemed to ring with tinnitus. When she did this, it would continue for a few seconds then get better.

Victor watched Ebel’s behavior carefully, then stopped walking.

“We were family, after all.”

He gently removed her hand, then covered Ebel’s ear with his own large hand instead.

Though it couldn’t possibly block the sound, it was the best Victor could do right now.

“I know what you’re hearing. I experience it sometimes too.”

“…Yes.”

Victor’s low, careful voice was definitely comforting.

Ebel looked up quietly at the man who seemed at least two heads taller than her.

“Your Excellency.”

“My name.”

“…Victor.”

His tone was gentle yet firm.

She had finally spoken his name, and once it was out, it somehow felt like nothing special while also feeling like she’d committed the greatest rudeness in the world.

Still, Ebel honestly admitted that his name had a pleasant pronunciation that rolled nicely on her tongue.

“Well done. Is the tinnitus better now?”

“It’s fine.”

Ebel grumbled without realizing it.

Her attitude, which had been unconsciously stiff from tension, had also relaxed somewhat.

Perhaps it was because she had accomplished calling him by name, which had been weighing on her mind.

“Then please stay here and enjoy the scenery for a moment. I have somewhere to go.”

“I will.”

“Just in case, but you mustn’t fall into the river.”

“Me? You think I’m a child.”

When she snorted, Victor chuckled.

That too was a much more relaxed smile.

“You do tend to cause trouble the moment I take my eyes off you.”

“Hardly.”

“Defying superiors was… let’s see, about seven times. Once you even struck a patient.”

Indeed, informal speech suited this man much better.

He’d probably used nothing but commanding tones his whole life, so naturally.

Since she preferred this to formal speech, Ebel grinned like she used to back then.

“He was trying to ambush me from behind. I should have cracked his skull instead of just hitting his neck.”

“You’re right about that.”

The atmosphere that had been awkward somewhere became light again.

Indeed, he was masterful at handling people.

Ebel watched Victor heading somewhere for a moment, then shifted her gaze to the lake.

The waves moving gently in the breeze made her feel good just watching them. Occasionally a fish would jump up with a splash then disappear, and white birds would circle above, watching for their chance.

She was standing there blankly, intoxicated by the peace, when suddenly a savory smell thrust itself at her from the side.

“!”

She wondered what it was—it was the Grand Duke, no, Victor.

With the brightest face she’d ever seen on him, he was holding out… a bag of roasted peanuts to her.

“Don’t you like peanuts?”

“Oh, no, I do like them… but don’t tell me you went out to buy these?”

“That’s right. They seemed to be closing up shop, so I hurried over.”

Good heavens.

Ebel couldn’t continue speaking and looked back and forth between the heaping peanuts and Victor.

The iron-blooded commander from the battlefield and the man now holding a bag of peanuts simply didn’t match up at all.

“…Pfft.”

In the end, Ebel failed to manage her expression.

Because that savory smell kept, kept wafting over.

Because something she’d never even imagined seeing in his hands had suddenly appeared and caught her attention.

So she clutched her stomach and laughed.

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