The Quack Lady - Chapter 47

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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 47

 

‘Can I really do this?’

 

I hesitated, perhaps because the patient’s condition was worse than I had expected.

 

Would another life slip away from my hands again?

 

Should I not have come? What can I even do?

 

These thoughts endlessly filled my mind.

 

‘But I can’t give up like this.’

 

Unfortunately, I was the only doctor in this place.

 

I had to pull myself together.

 

“Bring me all the herbs you have here right now. Eruten, go to the carriage and get my bag.”

 

“Oh, okay!”

 

“Got it.”

 

The child and Eruten answered in turn and moved quickly.

 

In the meantime, I carefully examined the child’s abdomen.

 

‘At least it’s still manageable.’

 

Upon careful observation, the bowel sounds weren’t good, but it didn’t seem severely blocked.

 

Meanwhile, the child brought out all the herbs from the house and laid them out in front of me.

 

‘Serron, Ruba, Masek…’

 

They were all miscellaneous herbs that weren’t particularly needed for the child’s current condition.

 

I quickly sorted through the necessary herbs.

 

Then I took out a mortar that was nearby and began grinding the medicine.

 

“From now on, you must not give the child anything except the herbs I provide. Understood?”

 

“Huh? Uh-huh…”

 

The intestines were already diseased.

 

If he forced food down, the intestines would rupture.

 

“Here’s your bag, and I brought the herb box too just in case.”

 

Eruten brought my bag much faster than I had expected.

 

He even brought the emergency first aid kit I had packed.

 

After giving him a faint smile, I turned the bag upside down and dumped everything out.

 

Thud- thud thud-.

 

The contents of the bag spilled out with loud noises.

 

I picked up a small bottle from among the scattered items.

 

It was oral rehydration solution* I had made for emergencies.

 

Drinkable IV fluid.

 

Then I opened the herb box and searched through the herb bundles I had brought.

 

“What are you doing right now…!”

 

“The child has been exposed to heavy metals for a long time, so I need to detoxify him.”

 

“Heavy… metals?”

 

“Simply put, sand ingested along with gold has accumulated inside and is causing problems.”

 

“What?”

 

Only then realizing it wasn’t medicine, the child’s eyes widened.

 

“Then it’s not medicine…”

 

“That’s right, just as you suspected, you were making your sibling suffer more.”

 

I added lantron to the herbs I had prepared earlier and began grinding them.

 

Then I immediately put a small amount in the child’s mouth.

 

Right away, I heard the boy’s outcry.

 

“What are you doing! Lantron is a poisonous plant!”

 

“Poisonous plants become medicine when used in small amounts.”

 

Indeed, as soon as the child took the lantron, his complexion visibly improved.

 

The lantron components bind with heavy metals to neutralize their harmful effects.

 

“Huh?”

 

Naturally, the child who didn’t understand immediately widened his eyes.

 

I caught my breath and warned the child.

 

“This might just be temporary improvement, so we need to keep watching.”

 

The clumps bound with heavy metals needed to be expelled through bowel movements.

 

Naturally, nothing should be fed during this time.

 

“From now on, only moisten his lips with water and don’t feed him anything else.”

 

“What? What if my sibling dies…!”

 

“He could die from eating!”

 

I shouted at the child.

 

Then I came to my senses and lowered my gaze.

 

“Don’t assume that what you think is good for you will also be good for others.”

 

After giving the child one final warning, I went outside.

 

Strangely, seeing that scene brought back memories from my previous life.

 

* * *

 

“Sister! I want to study hard like you and become a great person too!”

 

Losing parents in a fire was the same in both my previous and current life.

 

The orphanage where I was placed after moving between relatives’ houses had many children like me.

 

My sibling was the same.

 

“You can be my sister from today!”

 

Unlike me who was endlessly dark, my sibling never lost their smile even at the orphanage.

 

I loved that sibling. The first thing I did after getting into medical school was to find my sibling.

 

I kept in touch with my adopted sibling and made a promise.

 

When I got a decent job, we would definitely live together and support each other.

 

However.

 

The moment I saw the name written on a hospital room during my clinical rotation, my world collapsed.

 

“You have cancer… How can the world be like this!”

 

My sibling, who had been refusing to meet using the excuse of being busy, had been battling cancer for a long time.

 

While hiding everything from me.

 

“I’m sorry, sister… I didn’t want to be a burden to you.”

 

It was a child who always said sorry for not being helpful.

 

“Don’t worry. I’ll… I’ll figure something out somehow.”

 

I steeled my heart.

 

But my sibling, perhaps in some rush, left my side not long after.

 

“I was… foolishly unaware… I was the one who couldn’t help…”

 

On the day I cremated my sibling, I cried endlessly in front of my sibling who had become a handful of ashes.

 

Rather than the sadness of being left alone, I couldn’t bear having let my sibling go alone.

 

“Sister, please become a great doctor and help children like us. Children who have nowhere to lean on.”

 

“…”

 

“Give all children the opportunity to become adults.”

 

Even when I wanted to give up everything, what lifted me up was my sibling’s words.

 

…I had to keep my sibling’s last request.

 

* * *

 

I came outside and stared blankly at the sky.

 

‘It’s been a while since memories from my previous life came back this vividly.’

 

It seemed that memories surfaced when I was in situations similar to my previous life.

 

As I let out frustrated sighs, Eruten, who had followed me at some point, spoke to me.

 

“Are you okay?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“You seem a bit strange.”

 

“What?”

 

When I deliberately asked as if nothing had happened, Eruten seemed to contemplate for a moment before speaking carefully.

 

“It seemed like you were angry at that child.”

 

“Me?”

 

Ah. Now that I think about it, I suppose I was a bit like that.

 

Maybe it was because it overlapped with my past life when I briefly cared for the sick.

 

“If that’s the case, I should apologize.”

 

I smiled bitterly.

 

To be honest, that painful wound changed my life.

 

First, I chose Pediatrics.

 

From children the same age as my sibling to newborn babies.

 

“I wish all the children in the world wouldn’t get sick.”

 

My resolution became an obsession.

 

I watched over patients all night, and watched over them again.

 

And that wasn’t all.

 

Wanting to understand my sibling who kept saying sorry like a habit, I also studied pediatric mental disorders.

 

My entire past life was directed toward my sibling.

 

“Mia.”

 

Then, Eruten called me with his pleasant voice.

 

Instead of answering, I just turned my head, and Eruten frowned.

 

Soon, at the words that came from his mouth, I had to look at him with widened eyes.

 

“Why don’t you tell me when you’re having a hard time?”

 

* * *

 

Eruten’s red eyes would often become a light pink color when they caught the light.

 

The exact same color as Rtemeia’s eyes.

 

Eruten loved that. So Eruten decided to follow the light, not the darkness.

 

That way, he too naturally became colored by Rtemeia’s life.

 

But lately, Rtemeia seemed to have changed somehow.

 

More precisely, it felt like the child who used to sparkle like sunlight reflected on a stream had become a star in the sky, high and solid.

 

He couldn’t understand this indescribable sense of distance.

 

“Am I special too?”

 

That’s why it happened. Why he had pestered Rtemeia like a child throwing a tantrum, so unlike himself.

 

“Of course. You’re one. I’m one too.”

 

He loved that answer so much. Enough to abandon even his usual resolve to live yearning for freedom.

 

Enough that he had to admit that being with you was indeed the best.

 

The reason he took up the sword was solely because of Rtemeia.

 

However, lately his mind had begun to grow complicated.

 

‘Is this really the right way?’

 

The inexplicable sense of distance he felt the more Rtemeia excelled in medicine.

 

Above all, the question of whether it was really okay to continue like this wouldn’t leave his mind.

 

But then.

 

“Don’t think that what you think is good for you will also be good for the other person.”

 

Seeing her look as if she was about to burst into tears while suppressing her emotions, he couldn’t say anything at all.

 

Because it felt like she was talking to herself.

 

Is the sword I wield really protecting her?

 

Every time Rtemeia treats people like this in the future, I will…

 

When he had that thought, his heart became anxious to an unbearable degree.

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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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