Chapter 10

“Celine! Celine, are you awake?”

“Mom, I’m hot…”

“Oh my god, thank you! Thank you, Lord!”

Celine’s eyelids trembled and slowly opened. Her cheeks were red and burning with heat.

Thank goodness. The medicine seemed to be working. I let out a breath of relief.

“R-Rita.”

“Yes?”

“She has a high fever.”

Maria, who was checking on Celine, spoke carefully. Of course she did. I nodded.

“Maria.”

“Y-Yes!”

“Put the whole root of the frost herb into that pot of water. The treatment isn’t finished yet.”

Maria moved quickly without questioning me.

Now that I think about it, Maria was one of the few who wasn’t scared of potions.

I should ask her about it later—why she’s different.

Thanks to her quick help, I was able to make another potion soon. I poured it into a bowl and handed it to Mirriam again.

“Make her drink this slowly, in three doses. Ten minutes apart.”

The fiery heat in Celine’s body had been calmed with the flame-grass potion.

The flame-grass would draw the heat out of her body, and the noctil herb would hold it in place. The other herbs would help heal internal injuries too.

Now it was time to cool the heat down. The frost herb potion would do that.

Each time Celine drank it, her face looked a bit more at peace.

I stood up with a sigh. My ankle throbbed from all the running around.

Status: Minor internal heat damage, light coughing, low fever.

This was something even that old doctor lying over there could treat now.

“I think she’s passed the worst of it.”

As soon as I said that, Mirriam suddenly fell to her knees and grabbed my clothes. I quickly bent down, and she clutched my hands tightly.

She buried her face into my hands, bowing over and over again.

“Thank you, thank you. I’ll be forever grateful. I’ll give you everything I have. If you want anything—”

“It’s okay. I’m a doctor. I just did my job.”

I comforted her. I wasn’t pretending. I truly meant it.

The feeling of saving a life with my own hands was still vivid.

Bringing someone back from the edge of death—that was the greatest joy and pride I could feel from this work.

For the first time in a long while, I felt truly alive.

A warm smile came to my lips.

“D-Doctor.”

“Just call me Rita.”

Maybe I was tense too. My hands were a little numb. I rubbed them together and looked around.

The people who had looked at me like I was dangerous were now staring at me with completely different expressions.

I shrugged.

“Do you believe me now?”

As soon as I said that, the heavy tension around us shattered.

Everyone, looking shocked, suddenly started speaking all at once.

“P-Please help us! Please, I beg you!”

They turned and pointed toward the wounded inside the shelter.

“I’m sorry we doubted you, Doctor. We were ignorant and rude. But please, just this once… please save them…”

The people who had glared at me with suspicion were now kneeling, begging.

I looked inside the shelter. It was full of injured people.

I let out a soft sigh and helped one of the men to his feet.

“Please don’t do this.”

“Doctor, please…”

As he tried to kneel again, I bent my knees first.

“Doctor!”

I looked at him firmly and said,

“I already told you—this is my job. You don’t need to beg.”

Southern Duchy Village: Lueta

Normally, the village would be full of workers chatting and relaxing after a long day.

But now, the air was thick with smoke and the smell of fire. A big fire had broken out at Mali’s blacksmith shop.

Since all the buildings were made of wood, and someone had set the fire on purpose, the damage spread quickly.

But surprisingly, the mood in Lueta wasn’t filled with despair.

All thanks to the sudden appearance of a doctor—Rita.

“Rita, Rita! Over here, this person—”

“Yes, I’m coming.”

In the noise and commotion, blacksmith Mali slowly started to regain consciousness.

“Mali, can you hear me?”

“Ugh… How did I get here…”

His mind slowly returned to reality. Then he heard his old friend Tony’s voice.

“This is a temporary shelter. His Grace the Archduke set it up and is helping the villagers.”

“Shelter…?”

With that, the horrible memories of the fire came flooding back. Mali let out an animal-like wail.

“Ah… AAAH! How, how could he do that?!”

It was a worker Mali had known for years who had started the fire. Why? Why did he do that?

Pain and memories rushed over him like waves.

“Ugh… AAAAH!”

His heart pounded. The pain from the fire was so intense that he thought he would die in the old blacksmith shop.

Everything was blurry. His skin was burning again.

As he twisted in pain, Tony beside him jumped up and called for help.

“Mali, Mali! Rita, this man—!”

He could feel the flames eating him alive again. Blisters popped up, his skin burned.

He thought he was going to die.

He opened his mouth, but even his throat and tongue felt like they had melted. He couldn’t speak.

And then—

“Alright. Let’s start with this.”

A cool, refreshing sensation filled his mouth. It quickly spread through his whole body.

The heat that seemed ready to kill him slowly faded.

He could even feel his eyelids twitch. A tear ran down the corner of his eye.

“There’s still heat in his body. Give him this every ten minutes. If anything seems strange, call Maria or me right away.”

His blurry vision caught sight of the pink-haired girl moving nearby.

Tony, who had been helping, poured the medicine into Mali’s mouth on schedule.

With each dose, senses he thought were lost forever came back.

It still hurt. His skin still burned. But he didn’t feel like he was dying anymore.

He could finally take stock of his condition.

“H-How is this possible…”

“That’s the doctor Maria talked about. Because of her, many people survived today.”

Mali looked around. Considering the disaster, people didn’t look too hopeless.

All around them were empty bottles and potions.

“W-Wait… isn’t this a potion? But Lord Tinte said—”

“Shh. Don’t say anything.”

“But still!”

“You’d be dead if it weren’t for that potion.”

Mali stopped and looked around.

People who had been ignoring him were now silently staring. He quickly went quiet.

“Isn’t that black magic…?”

“Hey, Mali.”

Mirriam, who had been helping Rita, stepped up, her head scarf tied tight.

Mali’s head dropped in shame.

He had seen it. He had seen Mirriam’s daughter, Celine, get caught in the fire.