The Quack Lady - Chapter 38

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

Episode 38

 

I glanced at the Count standing in front and whispered into the child’s ear.

 

“You know you can’t avoid your father forever. You’ll have to face him someday.”

 

I recalled the words the child had uttered in resignation just an hour ago.

 

The child already knew.

 

The fact that he would have to confront his father about this matter somehow.

 

And I thought that now, after sending Tete off peacefully and pouring out everything in front of me, was when the child’s emotions were in their most stable state.

 

As expected, the child took a step forward.

 

Then, after hesitating and pondering for a moment, the child looked calmly at his father in front of him and spoke.

 

“Father…”

 

When the word “father” came out of the child’s mouth, the Count’s eyes trembled finely as if he couldn’t believe it.

 

He was visibly flustered for a moment, then immediately covered both eyes with one hand.

 

Soon after.

 

‘As I thought.’

 

A single tear was silently flowing down from the ice-cold man’s right eye.

 

At the one word he had so desperately wanted to hear, he crumbled helplessly.

 

Like shattered ice melting away without resistance under warm sunlight.

 

There’s a saying that fights between spouses are like cutting water with a knife.

 

This saying means that no matter how much they fight, they eventually reconcile, but I firmly believe the same applies to fights between young children and their parents.

 

And I know that one of the reasons for this is the overflowing love a child has for their parents.

 

“Even though Demian was hurt by his father, he still loves his father. That’s why the child suffered in silent agony.”

 

“…”

 

I gave the Count the same piece of cloth handkerchief I had offered to Demian.

 

The Count also silently accepted it and roughly covered both his eyes.

 

‘I knew this would happen.’

 

Unable to leave the father who had crumbled at his child’s single word, I asked both the Count and Countess to step outside.

 

Demian didn’t want to leave, but.

 

“Just a moment. It seems Father isn’t ready to talk yet. Once he sorts out his thoughts, he’ll want to speak with you first, Demian.”

 

The child nodded reluctantly, though hesitantly.

 

As a result, the Count was now shedding tears incessantly in front of me.

 

“By the way, what happened? While I was briefly unconscious, what…”

 

Even with her husband crying, the Countess’s attention was still focused on Demian.

 

Leaving the crying Count aside, I explained the treatment process I had been conducting.

 

“The Young Baron kept missing Tete. More precisely, he seemed to miss those moments he spent with Tete.”

 

“What do you mean…”

 

“What the Young Baron drew weren’t simple doodles. When you connect them all together, they form Tete smiling brightly.”

 

“…!”

 

At those words, the Count also lowered the hand that had been covering his eyes and looked at me.

 

Naturally, the fact that the child had poured all his time into Tete seemed quite shocking to them.

 

“He didn’t want to further damage his relationship with his parents, which he thought was already twisted beyond repair. But the Young Baron, who somehow wanted to express his longing for Tete, seemed to decide to draw the picture in separate parts.”

 

“…”

 

“Because he didn’t want to be hated by you both.”

 

“…”

 

At my words, the two of them remained silent, unlike before.

 

More precisely, they seemed not to know what to say.

 

“So I had the Young Baron pour out all his longing for Tete. So he could miss and think about him sufficiently.”

 

“…”

 

“It may be presumptuous of me, but I think if something that has happened cannot be undone, we must do our best to overcome that wound. Especially if it’s a farewell.”

 

People tend to value meetings as important while not valuing farewells as important.

 

Even though what’s more important than meetings is how to say goodbye well.

 

“Demian is a Young Baron, but before that, he’s also a young child who just turned nine. Therefore, you must help the still young Baron accept farewell well. No one else in this manor can do that. Only you two, who brought the person named Demian into existence in this place, can do it.”

 

To a child, parents are the universe.

 

Because they’ve been together since birth and are the beings who brought them into existence here, children’s gaze is always directed toward their parents.

 

Parents are the world itself.

 

“So please treat Demian as one precious individual. Like that moment when you first held Demian. Very preciously.”

 

Though I’ve never given birth, the parents I saw in the pediatric ward often talked about their first meeting with their child.

 

“He looked so adorable. Doctor, you should get married soon and have a child too. Then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

 

“I can never forget that overwhelming emotion the moment I held my child. Wondering if I was worthy enough to hold him…”

 

Listening to countless parents’ words, I thought.

 

Perhaps…

 

‘Maybe it’s not the child who changed, but the parents.’

 

That’s what I thought.

 

“Sob… I want to see Demian… I want to see Demian.”

 

Whether because of my words, the Countess was sobbing and dabbing at her eyes with a handkerchief.

 

Her already reddened nose and drooping eyes gave a different feeling from what she had shown before.

 

She too was just a mother of one child. No different from countless parents from my previous life.

 

And that’s when it happened.

 

“What… should I do.”

 

The Count, who had been silently lost in thought, also asked me politely.

 

His eyes had already changed.

 

They were the eyes of a father who loves his child.

 

* * *

 

In the cool silence, the man composed his expression and wore a faint smile.

 

At the smile like thin frost, the priest delivering the report rolled his eyes, not knowing what to do.

 

“So he was ultimately cured.”

 

“Th, that is…”

 

The man smiled faintly and put down the parchment he had received.

 

It was Cardinal Zenhauer, whose grayish-white eyes revealed between his cloud-like white hair were mysterious.

 

‘Things have gone awry.’

 

His plan was simple.

 

To keep the Count, the Emperor’s loyal sword, tied up in the Eastern Region.

 

For that purpose, his only son would be of great help.

 

Zenhauer had deliberately worsened Demian’s condition, and the plan seemed to be succeeding.

 

Right up until he received this letter.

 

“I, I didn’t think he would be cured this quickly…”

 

The priest, who implicitly knew his intentions, added words as if making excuses.

 

“It’s fine. Since the illness is cured, isn’t it fortunate in many ways.”

 

He wore a smile to avoid revealing his true feelings.

 

‘It’s an illness that absolutely cannot be cured easily.’

 

He had asked all the renowned doctors in the Empire, but they all shook their heads unanimously.

 

They said they couldn’t treat it because they didn’t even know the name of the illness.

 

But that didn’t mean he could just watch doctors heading to the Count’s Manor.

 

He hired mercenaries to attack carriages heading to the Count’s Manor, intimidating or eliminating the doctors.

 

‘But to think they even dealt with those mercenaries…’

 

Thinking that far, the corners of his mouth began to gradually drop.

 

Though he knew well that ultimately the only place they could rely on was God.

 

An indescribable uneasy feeling churned unpleasantly.

 

Above all, if Demian’s condition improved, the Count would return to the Imperial Palace.

 

Then he would try to investigate the truth about the Emperor who had collapsed after taking medicine of unknown origin.

 

Having finished his thoughts, his eyes sharpened fiercely.

 

I had to stop it somehow. I couldn’t let the flutter of a small butterfly’s wings ruin everything.

 

After pondering for a moment, he calmly commanded.

 

“Prepare a delegation to celebrate the complete recovery of the young count’s illness. It would be good to have priests as well as holy knights accompany them.”

 

“Pardon? Holy knights?”

 

The Order’s holy knights usually remained within the Order except when judging heretics.

 

This was due to Zenhauer’s command that they must not waste unnecessary holy power.

 

“Since they say an illness whose name wasn’t even known was cured in a short period, I can only think that transcendent power was used.”

 

“But even with Lord Zenhauer’s holy power, it couldn’t be treated…”

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