The Quack Lady - Chapter 95
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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 95
“…Tenoa?”
Something felt strange for a moment.
He spoke firmly with a face that looked like he had endured as much as he could.
“I developed those drugs to treat patients more easily. Not to help you with your reckless actions.”
“Tenoa…?”
Facing him, who seemed a bit agitated, I could understand.
“…Rtemeia, you taught me yourself. That the lungs and heart are vital organs important enough to prepare for death the moment you touch them.”
“….”
I couldn’t say anything more.
Indeed, the heart and lungs were organs that showed vital signs*, meaning they were directly connected to life.
Signs directly related to life, such as pulse, breathing, body temperature, and blood pressure.
And Tenoa, who studied medicine with me under my guidance, naturally knew these facts well.
“Sorry, I can’t help you this time….”
“Do you think this is easy for me?”
Words that had only been circling in my mouth suddenly burst out.
Words I would have normally just let pass.
I couldn’t bear that feeling of becoming like an unwanted burden.
“Fine, I’ll show you. How serious I am about this surgery.”
I opened my eyes wide and spoke directly to him.
* * *
It was the same last time.
“Ah, blood pressure medication and sleeping pills, anesthetics and also….”
Whenever surgery was needed, Rtemeia’s list of required items grew more specific.
Without knowing exactly where and how they would be used, Rtemeia would only give rough explanations before taking the medicines.
And today too.
He sighed deeply and said.
“It’s not about whether you’re serious or not right now….”
“Look.”
That’s when it happened. Rtemeia placed one foot up on the chair.
Then she slowly lifted her skirt up to her knee.
Between her smooth white legs, mottled burn scars were visible.
Tenoa’s mouth slowly fell open at the sight of the wounds.
“It’s a burn from an accident. As you can see, so much time has passed that contracture* has occurred in the skin.”
*A condition where surrounding skin tissue clumps together and hardens.
As she said, Rtemeia’s left leg had hideous scars that made one frown.
She looked at the scars and spoke calmly.
“I’m going to treat it with the tools I have. Originally I wanted to treat it earlier, but….”
“What? You’re going to do it yourself? Burn scars?”
“Yes. It’s ugly to look at.”
Rtemeia answered as if it was no big deal. But.
“Rtemeia. You can’t just peel off skin simply because it’s ugly to look at….”
“Why?”
“Huh? Well….”
Tenoa couldn’t answer. He had simply never done such a thing before, nor even thought of doing it.
“Tenoa. Medicine doesn’t necessarily have to be used only for treatment purposes. Any method that can improve a patient’s heart is also medicine.”
At those words, Tenoa felt like he had been hit hard in the head with something.
‘I still have a long way to go.’
This small girl before his eyes.
He absolutely couldn’t…this adorable girl.
“I don’t have the confidence to win.”
When he muttered lowly, Rtemeia opened her eyes wide and asked.
“Huh? What did you just say?”
“Nothing, just.”
He mumbled vaguely. Then he walked to the bookshelf and took out the medicine he had prepared for Rtemeia, handing it to her.
“Here, the medicine you mentioned.”
However, Rtemeia only blinked her eyes.
He asked, gripping his trembling lips.
“…You’re not going to treat your leg right now, are you?”
No matter how much he studied medicine, he didn’t want to see the girl he liked put a knife directly to her own leg.
However.
“I have to. I said I would.”
“Rtemeia, please….”
But Rtemeia smiled slightly and grabbed his collar.
“Then let’s go. Assistant!”
* * *
I gently loosened the contracted skin.
Then I took out a scalpel and slowly made Z-shaped incisions along the scars.
It stung a little, but it wasn’t unbearable.
“Are you really not going to watch?”
But unlike usual, Tenoa was burying his face in both hands, saying he absolutely couldn’t watch.
“I told you it’s really okay?”
“That’s not the problem.”
“Then what is it?”
“….”
Tenoa didn’t answer the truly important question.
‘Ah, could it be because of abuse?’
But my wounds were traces of burns.
Far from Tenoa’s scars that were mainly from violence….
Still, just in case, I carefully asked Tenoa.
“Do you perhaps have bad memories caused by something hot….”
“It’s not that!”
He jumped up from his seat as if to correct my misunderstanding.
His deeply wronged gaze turned toward me.
Meeting my eyes, he sighed deeply and turned his back to me completely.
“I’m just worried it might fail.”
“Ah, is that it?”
Thinking about it, that could be possible, so I nodded.
“Then I’ll finish quickly!”
“No! Slowly… do it slowly.”
Finally surrendering, Tenoa’s tired voice was heard.
‘Then I’ll do it slowly but quickly!’
Thinking that, I quickly and delicately removed the adhered areas with a fine scalpel.
‘Ugh… now I’m starting to feel the pain.’
The pain that was fine at first thanks to the surface anesthesia began to be felt gradually.
The needle-like pain was sharp enough to make my brain tingle.
‘I have to get through this.’
Even if I wanted to proceed with lower body anesthesia, the problem was that I was the only one who could administer it.
That’s when it happened.
“Ow….”
“A-are you okay?”
The depth of the hardened tissue was deeper than I had thought.
Tenoa, who had turned around absentmindedly, didn’t know what to do when he saw my blood.
“What are you going to do if a doctor gets so shocked at the sight of blood?”
“No, that, well, the blood is…”
He seemed a bit confused and didn’t know what to do.
Regardless, I calmly wiped away the blood that had flowed down.
“Still, I’m almost done. I just need to separate a little more.”
I concentrated until the end and carefully dissected the tissue that was tightly pulling at each other…
Snap-.
At that moment, I felt a sensation like a rubber band snapping.
“Done!”
“Haah…”
Tenoa shook his head as if he could finally breathe again.
“See, I told you I could do it, right?”
“…”
Tenoa didn’t answer.
However, his eyes seemed to say that I was probably the only person in this world who would do such a thing.
I cleared my throat softly and explained to him.
“Now that I’ve removed the hardened tissue, your ankle shouldn’t feel tight or anything.”
“…It really is clean now.”
As he said, all the bumpy scars near my shin had disappeared.
Of course, what replaced them were suture wounds.
‘These will become smooth over time.’
As I silently stared at the wound, I felt a bittersweet sensation.
‘I suppose this means goodbye to the memories of that day too.’
The still vivid flames, the hot warmth, and the warm embrace.
In a way, it was a memory close to trauma.
“Yeah. I should send it off cleanly.”
I looked at the wound and forced a smile.
Now new flesh would grow where it was sutured.
As it always did.
* * *
Afterwards, I exchanged a few simple words with Tenoa and received the medicines from him.
“Thank you, really.”
“No…”
He waved his hand with a tired expression and slumped down in his seat.
‘Would it be too much to ask him to help with Amela’s surgery in this atmosphere?’
Honestly, I thought it would be really nice if he could stand beside me as my assistant and observe the surgery.
However, for some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to ask him when he looked like he had aged ten years.
When I returned to my room after resolving what had been weighing on my mind, Mr. Hanel was there.
“Huh? Mr. Hanel, what brings you here…”
“Where on earth have you been!”
Mr. Hanel, who had jumped up from his seat, began pouring out words without giving me a chance to breathe.
“…So you’re saying Mr. Pairon said he wants to participate in this surgery?”
“That’s right!”
Mr. Hanel made a fuss about what to do in this situation.
“He said he knows herbs well and wants to help. No matter how much I tried to stop him, it was no use.”
“…He wants to see it directly.”
“But if he sees it directly… hey, what are you doing right now?”
“What do you mean what am I doing? I have to go stop him.”
I headed to the room where Mr. Pairon was, still carrying the medicines I had been holding.
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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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