The Quack Lady - Chapter 71

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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 71

“My lady!”

Her tear-stained eyes were filled with resentment.

Instead of answering her words, I chose silence.

Right now, no words would serve as comfort.

“You should have told me! Even if Mother opposed it, you should have told me!”

“…”

“If Mother loses her memory like this, what about me? You should have told me! You could have said something! Then this might not have happened!”

“…”

A desperate scream filled with anguish was directed at me.

As if the Marchioness who had looked at me so tenderly just moments ago was all a lie.

In her place stood only Lady Brien, the Duke’s daughter, glaring at me.

“Please calm down, my lady, you need to recover!”

“Right now Mother doesn’t remember my baby! The mother who gave birth to me doesn’t remember my most precious child!”

At those words, the maids beside her turned their heads away.

Seeing their slightly trembling shoulders, I thought this tragedy was a tragedy for all of us.

“What’s the point of saving me! Our mother is dying!”

“…”

“Save her! Please save our mother…!”

Soon tragedy flowed through her collapsing, sobbing voice.

I couldn’t give any answer and squeezed my eyes shut.

* * *

The Marquis carefully called out to Brien, who was holding the child in a dazed state.

“My lady…”

“…”

She didn’t say anything.

No, more precisely, she seemed to have forgotten how to speak.

Having been informed of the entire situation, he had rushed over to comfort her.

“My lady… I understand your feelings, but this isn’t right.”

“…”

“If the Duchess refused to let it be known, the doctor would have had no choice.”

“…”

“Above all, she’s the one who saved your life. She also saved our baby. So…”

“So what…?”

Her unfocused gaze slowly turned toward the Marquis.

“I… I asked. What had happened to Mother… She just said it was a cold! If only she had told me then, just then…!”

Tears flowed endlessly from Brien’s eyes.

If only she had been told then, she wouldn’t have let Mother endure this terrible illness alone.

She felt pathetic for having known nothing.

“Brien…”

The Marquis gently embraced her.

Leaning against his shoulder, she cried like a child.

As he silently patted her back, Brien cried out as if vomiting her emotions.

“I didn’t even know that…! I thought Mother was being cold by not coming to see me! I resented her!”

“…”

“Mother was there for me when I needed her most… But I… I…”

Every moment she had upset her mother came back to her like arrows.

She was suddenly terrified.

Afraid that Mother might forget her too.

She didn’t want to be forgotten by her mother.

“…Still, there’s some time left, so we need to have calm conversations.”

He gently stroked his wife’s head.

“We mustn’t waste the remaining time… My lady, I know it’s difficult, but the Duchess must be having the hardest time.”

He recalled what Rtemeia had said.

“Sometimes memories return, sometimes they don’t. During that process, the patient herself is also very confused…”

“…”

“She’ll be very shocked during that process. Naturally, it’s not good for the patient. So we need to treat her as naturally as possible.”

Rtemeia had spoken while sobbing as if she too was in pain.

Seeing her act as if all of this was her fault, he couldn’t bring himself to scold the child.

No, perhaps the child had made the best choice.

To be honest, if the child had told them earlier…

‘Brien might have collapsed from the shock.’

“So…”

Just as the Marquis was about to finish speaking.

“What… what does all this mean?”

Through the crack of the open door, Ditten and Clint appeared.

Ditten asked with widened eyes.

In the hands of the attendant behind them was a gift bundle to celebrate the birth.

* * *

At the Marchioness’s words to leave immediately, I weakly exited the Marchioness’s bedroom.

‘Hah…’

As I let out a deep sigh, Eruten, who had approached at some point, placed a hand on my forehead.

“…Eruten?”

“I thought you might be sick.”

“…”

“You always checked my fever whenever I was sick.”

He didn’t pry into anything.

So I didn’t scold him for not being around for a while either.

Instead of asking each other questions, we looked at each other.

Meeting Eruten’s worried red eyes, I strangely felt like tears would burst out.

Something I had been desperately holding back snapped.

“…I think it’s because of me.”

“Huh?”

“I should have… persuaded her more.”

“Mia…”

I kept wiping away the flowing tears.

The tears flowed down relentlessly.

“…”

Eruten approached me very carefully.

Then he held me as if embracing something very precious.

“It’s not your fault.”

“…Sob!”

Even though I had done my best, I became a bystander before the inevitable approach of death.

Was this punishment for daring to challenge divine authority?

My heart felt crushed beyond repair.

“You did your best.”

I cried loudly in Eruten’s arms, befitting my age.

For this moment, I didn’t hate having a twelve-year-old body.

“Waaahhhhh!!”

“D-don’t cry.”

Eruten didn’t know what to do and kept wiping away my tears.

“I guess it was my greed. I wanted to show her a grandchild somehow…!”

The image of Grandmother smiling while imagining her grandchild wouldn’t leave my mind.

Even while dying, Grandmother who only thought of her daughters was so foolishly devoted.

Even that looked so happy.

“My heart hurts so much… sob.”

What was most painful was the fact that the only medicine we could use for Grandmother now was very strong painkillers…

“I can’t do anything…”

Everything felt like it was my fault.

This isn’t why I became a doctor.

“It’s not greed.”

Then, the arms wrapped around my body tightened slightly.

Eruten also seemed to be holding back something, offering comfort with a voice filled with moisture.

“Thanks to you not giving up until the end, Grandmother was able to see her grandchild.”

“…”

“You said it yourself. Don’t give up. Do your best until the end.”

He repeated the words I had said when I was treating him.

“My best…”

“Remember when you said if I don’t give up, you won’t give up either?”

“…”

“How about you now?”

Eruten asked me.

It felt a little different from usual.

Was that why?

As if enchanted by something, I stopped crying and answered.

“…I didn’t give up.”

Eruten smiled as if satisfied.

Soon, the arms that had been wrapped around me slowly loosened.

“I… I’ll go see the Duchess.”

“Alright.”

He smiled leisurely.

That smile seemed particularly reliable today.

‘If there’s someone who believes in me.’

In the deep and endless long tunnel of fighting illness.

I need to become a lantern.

“I’ll be back!”

I waved my hands vigorously at him and ran toward the Duchess’s room.

* * *

Brien asked Rapid and Clint to give them some space.

After Rapid and Clint left, only Brien and Ditten remained.

Soon Brien, who had calmly explained the entire situation, collapsed and buried her face in both hands.

“…I see.”

Ditten showed no particular reaction throughout hearing those words.

Brien found that reaction utterly unpleasant.

“Don’t you feel anything even though Mother is in that condition?”

“…”

“How can you be like that!”

She wanted to get angry. More precisely, she needed a target for her anger.

Brien knew this fact but couldn’t help herself.

She had to somehow hold onto this crumbling heart.

“Because I expected it.”

However, words that she had never once anticipated came out of Ditten’s mouth.

“You expected it…? You knew too?”

“No, more precisely, I thought Mother was hiding something from me.”

“…”

“Mother always sent letters to you and me equally. The contents might be different, but.”

“…”

“It was strange that such a Mother would suddenly go to Sister’s house because of Sister’s childbirth. And without even telling me.”

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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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