The Quack Lady - Chapter 11
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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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Episode 11
It was when Hanel was unable to do this or that.
When Rtemeia peeked out at the rising voices, the patients began grabbing at her door more threateningly than before.
“Hurry up and treat me! At this rate, I might have to cut off my arm!”
“Treat me first! That person was just injured, but I’ve been like this for a long time!”
“Move aside! I came first, so I’m first! What are you talking about!”
Before Hanel could stop them, the area in front of Rtemeia’s room instantly became chaos.
“Hey, you guys stop right now…!”
Just then, a man walked over with heavy steps and spoke quietly.
“Everyone move aside.”
At his words, the murmuring sounds instantly died down like mice.
“Mr. Pairon…!”
Hearing Rtemeia’s trembling voice, Pairon walked over and carefully opened the door.
Then he gently patted the child’s shoulder.
“Shop Owner! Please order this child to treat us! We are all herbalists belonging to Aphenus!”
They pleaded toward him with trustworthy smiles.
However.
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said no. This child, as Hanel said, has no license and only treated me by chance. There’s no guarantee you’ll all be cured.”
“But…”
“Aren’t you trying to monopolize this?”
“Let us get treated too!”
In fact, Pairon hadn’t known the reason why Rtemeia, who had medical skills, wanted to leave the infirmary.
But.
‘So this was the reason.’
Perhaps the child had known.
The impact her medical skills would have.
So maybe she chose to leave the infirmary to protect herself from that dangerous talent.
Soon his gaze turned to a man with a fierce expression.
It was Bransel, who was famous in the guild for his good manners.
He had definitely been well-mannered.
But his transformed appearance in the face of his illness had become so ugly that it was questionable if this was really him.
“If you want treatment, wait until the child calms down, then ask for her understanding and receive treatment according to her rules. No one can force treatment.”
“She’s just a maid! I bought a title with money, so I’m a noble!”
“She’s not your household maid.”
This time Hanel began to interject.
The confrontation between both sides was tense, and Rtemeia decided to choose.
‘Yes, let’s treat them. They’re patients.’
Because they were patients, she had no choice.
Let’s just do it up to this point.
She couldn’t turn away from sounds of pain.
It was when she, having made that resolution, was about to let out a voice mixed with resignation.
“She’s not a maid.”
“Excuse me? Then…”
Soon a strange light appeared in Pairon’s green eyes.
With anger flickering in his firmly opened eyes, he spoke low.
“She’s a child who will become my daughter. So no one should force treatment on this child.”
“What?”
“What?”
Before the surprised Rtemeia and Hanel could ask back, he placed his hand on top of Rtemeia’s head and said.
“Well then, shall we go together? My daughter?”
* * *
Right after the bombshell statement dropped, Pairon took advantage of the confusion to take Rtemeia and escape from there.
Arriving at his office, he roughly pulled at his cravat and let out a frustrated breath.
Of course, Hanel’s scolding was a bonus.
“Pairon, are you in your right mind? Suddenly calling her your daughter? Your daughter is…”
“…”
Hanel shut his mouth tight. It was because he faced Pairon’s complicated expression.
“The guild’s herbalists are also our long-time family. In that situation, if I hadn’t said she was my daughter, Rtemeia would have had no choice but to treat them.”
Pairon knew better than anyone.
The fact that human selfishness could become uglier in the face of life than money.
And he didn’t want Rtemeia to become that target.
Most importantly, he hadn’t properly determined whether Rtemeia had just been lucky to cure him, or if she really had the skills to take responsibility for patients.
‘This is maddening.’
It was when he was tightly closing his eyes with his complicated thoughts.
“I’ll do it.”
“What?”
“Hey, what are you saying now? The opponents are herbalists.”
Hanel let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
However, Rtemeia spoke calmly without any particular expression.
“Now that they know I treated none other than the Shop Owner, they’ll try to get treatment from me somehow.”
“…”
“And this is my mistake too. I once secretly went to the kitchen and sutured a maid’s leg. I should have told her not to tell anyone…”
The child admitted that she was also at fault.
Strictly speaking, treating people couldn’t be wrong.
But the child said she would take responsibility, saying she also made mistakes.
“No. Then I’ll say I was actually mistaken…”
Then Pairon urgently added more words, but his words couldn’t continue.
“Do you think it makes sense for someone who’s a Shop Owner to change their words, and to not even know who treated them?”
“…”
“…That’s right. Looking at your usual behavior, no one would believe those words.”
“…”
Who would have thought that the word “maid” muttered in amazement at his arm being healed would trouble the child this much.
It was when he was clicking his tongue, feeling the full weight of responsibility.
“Instead of that, I’ll just treat them. If my meager skills can be of help… I should do it.”
The child spoke with determination, with a rather resolute face.
There was a slightly fearful look. However, Hanel let out a hollow laugh and tried to dissuade the child.
“Hey, kid. The opponents are herbalists. They know more about herbs than you. Even doctors don’t like to treat herbalists.”
“Because their injuries are mostly chronic?”
“Huh?”
“Most joint or sprain cases keep causing trouble if left for a long time. But with accurate prescriptions, medicine, and physical therapy, they can recover sufficiently.”
“Physical therapy means…”
“Yes! Treatment using force.”
Rtemeia glanced at Pairon’s shoulder and smiled.
Pairon instantly grabbed his shoulder.
It felt like pain was trickling down.
“Don’t worry. I’ll only do it until this time.”
Rtemeia spoke to the two men with a trustworthy smile.
She looked like she didn’t want to trouble them.
Despite such feelings, her small clenched fists were trembling.
At the same time, she quietly muttered a single word to herself.
‘Damn it….’
She said.
* * *
“I wonder if this is really the right thing to do.”
Hanel shook his head as he dropped the bundle of bandages with a thud in the drawing room of Pairon’s estate.
What Rtemeia had requested was simple.
Boiled and cooled water, liquid made from chopped sevitra stems, cotton cloth woven densely with very thin thread, lit candles, and such things.
“How on earth is she going to treat him with such miscellaneous items!”
Hanel grabbed both sides of his head.
Then he complained to Pairon, saying shouldn’t they stop this right now.
However, Pairon remained unshaken.
“Why don’t we just watch and see. You don’t really think she’s a witch anyway.”
“This isn’t about whether she’s a witch! If that kid botches the treatment, she’ll get caught up in a complicated situation! That tiny little thing!”
He jumped around, emphasizing that he was an extremely rational person who greatly disliked unreasonable things.
Pairon was the same way. But.
“Please leave it to me. I’ll do my best to treat him.”
My best.
Those words strangely pierced his heart.
‘Did I do my best to save that child?’
Even though more than ten years had passed, he was still standing on that cliff.
For him, the word “best” still remained a question.
However, he couldn’t bring himself to crush the child’s will to heal.
In the past, now, and in the future yet to be drawn.
He let out a small sigh and said.
“The preparations are all finished, so now bring Rtemeia here.”
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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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