The Quack Lady - Chapter 25

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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 25

He liked the child.

Her clever nature and her stubbornness to save people’s lives were both admirable.

However.

‘Should I really get involved in this child’s life any further?’

The Countess before him was seeking joint responsibility from him.

‘I…’

In truth, the child was continuing to suffer because she had treated him.

‘This child has done nothing wrong.’

He clenched his hands into small fists.

“If punishment must be received, then I will receive that punishment.”

“Good.”

The ready answer sent chills through his entire body.

He had heard she was formidable, but this exceeded his imagination.

‘She’s planning to use me somehow to make the child receive treatment.’

When his thoughts reached that point, his head began to throb.

It was then that he felt as if he had been entangled in massive vines.

“But how exactly will the treatment proceed?”

Her anxious gaze suddenly turned toward Pairon.

More precisely, it was the typical face of a parent mixed with anxiety and worry.

And he knew this face well.

“Are you worried about sadistic treatment by any chance?”

“I can’t say no. Our family has rather low trust in doctors.”

Demian had suffered while meeting all kinds of doctors.

And Ditten, who had to watch from the side, felt her heart not just tear but melt away.

Naturally, when Demian showed no improvement from treatment, she would punish the doctors using their sadistic practices as an excuse.

And that mindset remained unchanged even now.

‘I must do everything I can.’

Ditten silently stared at Pairon for a moment.

Pairon answered with a faint smile as if to show off.

“A doctor who harms patients is not a doctor.”

His upright posture and, above all, confident attitude showed there wasn’t a trace of falsehood in his words.

“Unable to endure even this treatment! The Young Baron has grown weak!”

“This is my treatment. Countess, please step back.”

They would seal the windows and tie the child to the bed, or feed him strange medicines to constantly induce vomiting.

They were all sadistic and painful treatments.

‘The medical skills of a child who had such a teacher.’

Discovering that her lips had unconsciously relaxed, Ditten quickly pressed them together.

Just then, Pairon suddenly stood up from his seat and said,

“Then, shall we go meet a real doctor?”

* * *

Along with the cool chill, the Count’s shout echoed.

“How long must we continue this foolish behavior!”

Unable to contain his anger, the Count struck the desk in his study and shouted.

Soon his attendant approached, sweating profusely as he tried to comfort him.

“Didn’t Madam raise the Young Baron with special care? Still, compared to other wives, she spent more time with the Young Baron…”

Indeed, his wife Ditten had special affection for Demian. Unlike other wives who left their children entirely to wet nurses, she tried to spend time with Demian whenever she had a chance.

“What meaning does that have? Right now my child is just being defiant with his mouth shut tight.”

Demian had begun to change at some point.

The expressions started disappearing from the face of the child who had been affectionate.

At first, he thought it was nothing serious.

But after one day passed, then two days, then a month, he too felt something was wrong.

“It’s strange! Demian won’t say anything! Even when he came out to drink water at night and a glass broke, cutting his hand with glass shards, he wouldn’t speak!”

From the day Ditten came running in her nightgown and collapsed crying, he too had to acknowledge that the child had changed.

However.

‘How dare he rebel?’

The thought that this was impudent began washing over him like waves.

If he had something to say, he should just say it.

He definitely had never taught this way of trying to smooth over situations as if avoiding something.

Moreover, for the boy who must inherit the Count’s title to think of defying him by not speaking.

He tried to set everything right.

“Clint! Please! Just leave the child alone!”

“Step aside, wife! Who on earth did he learn such ridiculous defiance from!”

The child didn’t make even a small sound despite Clint’s shouting.

After that, the child changed.

He shut himself in his room and began only drawing.

And he continued painting black day and night until his fingertips turned black.

‘Is this now a different method of rebellion?’

Busy with the Empire’s annexation issues, he stopped paying attention to the child.

However, unlike him, it was around this time that changes occurred in Ditten’s feelings as she struggled to fix the child.

After that, by Ditten’s orders, the tribe called doctors began coming and going from the manor.

“Can’t you see the child’s pain! I can see it! Our Demian is suffering so much right now!”

“There’s no child in the world who can’t speak! So stop defiling the Bernov Family! If his condition is really bad, take him to a priest…”

“Why would you take a sick child to the temple! He hasn’t even received God’s hatred!”

The couple’s conversations ran on endless parallel lines.

Both the Count and Countess grew exhausted, and Demian inevitably became an afterthought between them.

When the amount of indulgences bought out of frustration reached ceiling height, he finally felt something was seriously wrong.

What were the last words the child had spoken to him?

He could no longer remember their ordinary daily life.

“Being sick, that’s nonsense…”

He muttered as if talking to himself.

Having finished that thought, he quickly shook his head and reached a conclusion.

The child wasn’t sick. He was just severely rebelling.

…The child absolutely must not be sick.

And all this disaster was the result of doctors bewitching Ditten.

They must be plotting to harm the Count’s Manor using Demian, who had no problems, as an excuse.

He clenched his fists tightly and commanded a nearby attendant.

“Go investigate the doctor. Right now.”

* * *

Learning the inside story of the situation, I rolled my eyes around.

‘Was it that obvious?’

But on the other hand, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

‘To even check the condition of me, the healer. She must care tremendously for the child.’

Since the other party was being this sincere, I seemed to be getting a little swayed too.

‘Right, if it’s selective mutism, he might speak in certain situations…’

Mutism isn’t about not wanting to speak but being unable to, though he might say some words to close people.

In other words, he might be able to express simple intentions to familiar maids or servants.

‘Should I give it a try?’

It was while I was hesitating for a moment.

“Of course, since your opinion is most important, you don’t have to do it. There are many other methods.”

“A method?”

“As regrettable as it is, wouldn’t it be better to recommend meeting another doctor if you truly don’t know, rather than attempting half-hearted treatment?”

Mr. Pairon placed his hand on top of my head and smiled.

Then he gently stroked it while smiling warmly.

‘Mr. Pairon’s words are right too.’

There would surely be patients who could have lived if they had met a different doctor instead of me.

But what if it were the opposite?

‘What if it has to be me?’

Unfortunately, this world I live in wasn’t one that considered psychological trauma as an illness.

‘In the end, if it leaves my hands, treatment would be impossible.’

I bit my lips tightly at the sudden thought.

“So don’t feel too burdened. I’ll take responsibility for everything that follows… Rtemeia?”

Before Mr. Pairon could finish speaking, I strode toward the Countess.

The Countess looked down at me with unwavering eyes.

I immediately greeted her with the most polite etiquette I knew.

“Hello? Countess. I greet you. My name is Rtemeia.”

Before this resolve could change, and before the child’s condition worsened further.

I had decided to treat the child.

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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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