The Quack Lady - Chapter 6

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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 6

“The master has instructed me to provide you with this room. If you need anything, please ring that bell.”

The maid spoke softly while pointing to the bedside table.

A small bell was placed on top of the table.

‘Oh, that thing?’

I had definitely seen it when nobles came and went from the infirmary.

When that bell rang, the maids and servant sisters would move about busily.

“Then I shall take my leave.”

After confirming the figure had disappeared, I immediately shouted and leaped onto the bed.

“Wooooah!”

The unbelievably soft bedding gave off the scent of sunshine, as if laundry had just been dried.

‘Mmm-! This is so nice!’

I screamed internally while stomping my feet.

Warm bedding and spacious room, fresh air as if it had been ventilated, and birds chirping peacefully.

In that quiet and peaceful place, my eyelids naturally closed.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t fall asleep yet…’

However, perhaps due to having my dislocation fixed, fatigue began pouring over me like a flood.

And so my vision slowly began to blur.

* * *

That evening.

Pairon carefully closed the door, worried he might wake the sleeping child.

Click-!

He asked Hanel, who was standing crookedly beside the door, looking at him.

“Do you still think the child is a witch?”

“…I don’t know.”

“You’re quite stubborn.”

“But…!”

He tried to say something but then firmly shut his mouth. Soon after straightening his posture, he spoke as if warning.

“I won’t deny that she’s skilled. But the knowledge that child possesses is strangely extensive.”

Pairon also quietly agreed with those words.

‘There was no unnecessary talk.’

Even if he could concede the herbal knowledge, without understanding bones, those words and actions would have been impossible.

Most importantly…

“It seemed like she had treated my condition before.”

“Right. It’s strange. Your illness was incurable. Even the Empire’s renowned doctors couldn’t cure that disease.”

“…”

“You know as well as I do that medicine isn’t a field where being simply clever is enough. She might have ulterior motives.”

Above all, medicine requires experience as its foundation, something gained only by seeing countless patients.

Recalling the child who had seemed like a seasoned doctor, he let out a low breath.

“If she had ulterior motives, she wouldn’t have treated me. Rather, it would have been easier to use this as leverage against me.”

He glanced at his left arm, which could now move somewhat freely.

“I can’t say for certain about that… But there’s no harm in being careful. Anyway, don’t trust her too much.”

With those final words, Hanel disappeared down the end of the corridor.

Pairon, who had been silently watching him, muttered quietly.

‘No, Hanel. It’s because I want to believe.’

Swallowing the words he couldn’t bring himself to say, he moved his steps toward his study.

* * *

At dawn when darkness had settled deeply, I suddenly opened my eyes wide and sat up.

More unbelievable than the silence of the quiet room was…

“It really is soft…”

I buried my face deep into the light and warm bedding.

A grin spread across my lips.

“Hehehehehe.”

Having helped Mr. Pairon and receiving such treatment because of it made my heart feel warm and fuzzy.

‘What is this? These are emotions I never felt in my previous life?’

It was different from just mechanically treating patients. Communicating sufficiently with patients, receiving gratitude, sleeping on bedding like this…

“Hihihihi.”

Strangely, the smile on my lips wouldn’t fade. Was this the feeling that brings tears to your eyes that mom talked about?

“I can be helpful too.”

I was rolling around on the blanket, feeling proud for quite a while when it happened.

Grrrrowwwwl-.

I bolted upright at the loud rumbling vibration from my stomach. My gaze suddenly fell on the bell placed beside the bed.

The urge to ring it once arose, but it was dawn when everyone was asleep.

I didn’t want to wake anyone unnecessarily, and I knew well that I shouldn’t.

‘Should I go to the kitchen?’

This place wasn’t like the infirmary where people had to stay awake constantly, so if I went quietly, no one would know, right?

Since I had eaten well during the day, if I could just have a piece of bread for dinner, that would be more than enough.

“Should I go then?”

I got down from the bed and looked outside the door.

As expected, a corridor as quiet as a mouse stretched out.

Thinking that just not hearing the groans of patients from everywhere was something to be grateful for, I fearlessly began roaming the corridor.

Without even thinking that this would become my downfall.

* * *

Mr. Pairon’s house was much larger than I had thought.

Passing through maze-like corridors, all I could see were similarly looking room doors.

“Sniff sniff.”

Since it was dawn, I couldn’t open doors. I had no choice but to use my sense of smell to find the kitchen.

Above all, the kitchen was also the place where lights went out latest. If I was lucky, I might find a place with lights still on…

“Bingo-!”

Had candlelight ever been this bright?

Having found the kitchen located at the end of the first floor, I gently knocked.

“Excuse me…”

“Kyaaaah!”

And right then it happened. As soon as I poked my head through the door crack, a maid screamed as if she had seen a ghost, and startled, I quickly revealed my identity.

“Oh! I’m not a strange person! I was just so hungry at night that I…”

However, my words couldn’t continue to the end.

Why?

“Sob…!”

“Are you alright?”

Because blood was flowing down from the thigh of the maid who had screamed.

* * *

“After finishing the dishes, she dropped the knife while wiping it. The kitchen knife went straight into her thigh muscle.”

When thinking of kitchen accidents, people easily think of burns from fire, but surprisingly frequent accidents are actually those caused by knives.

And unfortunately, the maid who appeared before my eyes had also dropped the knife, startled by my sudden appearance…

‘It seems like she tried to catch the knife with her leg in a hurry and it got lodged in her thigh.’

After roughly assessing the situation, I first seated the patient on a nearby chair.

“Please calm down for a moment. I’ll treat you right away.”

“It hurts so much…! Ugh…!”

The patient, who was just as flustered as I was, didn’t know what to do and began shedding tears.

‘This is maddening, really.’

To make matters worse, blood was gradually staining through the white apron. Since time was of the essence, I urgently shouted.

“Patient! Stay conscious and calm down. I’ll treat you right away. Don’t hold your breath and breathe calmly!”

“Sob…”

The maid, who appeared to be about two years older than me, was trembling pitifully.

And in situations like this, there’s usually only one method.

‘I absolutely must treat her quickly.’

Having made my decision, I calmly asked the maid.

“Do you happen to have any boiled and cooled water? Water prepared for tomorrow morning would be fine too.”

At my words, the maid pointed to a kettle with trembling hands.

I bit my lip hard and began opening drawers frantically.

I picked up cooking thread visible among the sharp cooking utensils and rubbed it between my thumb and index finger.

‘No good, this is too thick. It’ll hurt terribly.’

Normally, medical thread should use sutures* that are naturally absorbed by the body, but…

Thread made to be used for stitching wounds or surgical sites.

Just when I couldn’t find any substitute no matter how much I looked around.

“Herbs! Where are the herbs here?”

At my urgent cry, the maid clutched her thighs with both hands and gestured toward the Small Cabinet in the East.

I quickly ran over and threw open the door to find various tools inside, including dried herbs.

Of course, naturally there were even thread and needles.

“I’ll use these!”

After finishing what was more of a notification disguised as a request for permission, I hastily pulled out the necessary tools.

Crude thread and needles commonly seen in infirmaries, cotton cloth to wrap around the wound area, and such.

“It’s going to sting a little.”

“What, what are you d-doing…”

Without responding to her trembling voice, I tore the girl’s skirt.

When I pushed aside the skirt that was torn up to the thigh, I could finally see the girl’s wound properly.

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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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