Chapter 14
“Long time no see, Lord Gaju.”
As the elderly woman in a white coat, Bianu, tried to bow, Ash raised a hand to stop her.
He was scowling as if to ask who could possibly handle her groaning if she threw out her back or something.
“Was your sabbatical enjoyable?”
“Well. It wasn’t much different from working at the castle.”
“See, I told you. You should have just stayed at the castle.”
A blood vessel bulged on Bianu’s wrinkled forehead.
Was he trying to get on her nerves now?
“If I had stayed at the castle, would that child, Lacey, have been safe?”
The pen tip, which had been scribbling away, stopped moving.
“Is she doing well? No matter how short-handed you were, why did you have to take a child who needed convalescence?”
“Didn’t you say she would recover in a month?”
“I told you the *minimum* period of absolute rest. She shouldn’t overexert herself yet…….”
Bianu had worked as an apothecary at Canis Castle for well over 50 years.
Having observed the temperaments of three generations of Gajus, she knew the Canis bloodline never tolerated idlers.
This was Canis, a land devoid of divine favor.
It was neither prosperous nor merciful enough to take in lazy people.
Knowing that all too well, she had urgently pleaded with him via letter, but…
“You didn’t make her work, did you?”
Surely, he couldn’t be so ruthless, even to a patient…
“…….”
Good grief.
Bianu slapped her forehead, *thwack*.
“What about the detox treatment? You’re still continuing that, right?”
The ominous sign was Ash’s gray eyebrow tilting askew.
“Didn’t your letter say the detox was finished?”
Oh, these burn victims!
I barely saved that dying child, and this is what you do!
I only kept her longer under the pretext of needing help at my hometown home.
This is my fault. How could I send her off in a carriage, knowing what these people are like?
“The treatment period for Chromcho poisoning is at least six months. The first month is intensive treatment, followed by maintenance therapy…….”
No, was it because he was ignorant about detox treatment?
In Canis, children are taught to distinguish between medicinal herbs and poisonous weeds from a young age.
It was to prevent poisoning.
But did they teach the immigrants the same way? Bianu had no way of knowing.
She had only found the herbal compendium spread out in the room where Lacey went to get her belongings.
It seemed she had mistaken it for Veronica herb, known as a panacea, and eaten it.
“It takes an awfully long time.”
Anyway, now that Lacey was her patient, Bianu couldn’t just leave her be.
“This is no time to be squabbling here. We must go find that child immediately……”
“Is the memory loss as per your report?”
Bianu, who had been turning to leave, flinched and stopped. It wasn’t a question she could easily overlook.
“……Yes. That’s correct, based on my observations while caring for her for a month.”
Upon waking, the woman couldn’t answer any trivial information about herself, including how she ended up in Canis, her origins, or her age.
“Can someone who lost their memory dance complex dances? As if they’ve mastered an artistic field.”
“Memory doesn’t reside only in the head. How to breathe, walk, and eat is also engraved in the body, isn’t it? Specific memories can sometimes be triggered by a random stimulus.”
“……I see.”
Ash put down his pen, his voice dropping infinitely low as he covered his mouth.
As if swallowed by a deep swamp.
“By the way, does that grandson of mine even remember that his own grandmother is coming? If you entrust a patient to someone, isn’t it common decency to come out to the castle gate to greet them?”
Tch, hearing her spit out her complaints, Ash curled the corner of his mouth bitterly.
“If you miss him, you’ll have to bear with it for a while. He won’t be able to return until he finishes his errand.”
Had he given another unpleasant order?
“Just how long is ‘a while’ supposed to take?”
“Who knows? It depends entirely on your grandson.”
* * *
I was feeling relieved.
Until I was handed a warm teacup by Grandma Bianu.
“Yonsok. I told you to stick around the apothecary, who gave you permission to sneak out?”
I glared at the apothecaries doing their work. Who on earth ratted me out?
“I couldn’t come because I wasn’t feeling well. And I only skipped the medicine for one day.”
“One day or two, it’s the same. And if you can’t even manage to come and go, you should’ve just stayed lying down at the apothecary! Isn’t this a perfect time for that, since you’re supposed to be laying low anyway?”
“…….”
“What are you waiting for? Drink it.”
I couldn’t muster the courage to bring the teacup to my lips.
It was because of the medicinal tea inside the cup.
“I prepared a new blend of herbs. You should feel more refreshed than before.”
Was that truly the case?
I peered into the teacup with a trembling gaze.
Inside, brown, purple, and green liquids swirled in a vortex.
What kind of herbs, combined in what way, resulted in this concoction?
Is this what a self-inflicted calamity looks like when it takes form?
Even the faint scent wafting from it was enough to make my head feel dizzy.
“……Am I going to die today?”
“Tsk, tsk, is there no word you won’t say in front of an old woman? Stop chattering noisily and drink it, now.”
*Gulp-*
It felt like staring into the abyss of hell.
The thought of wanting to escape crammed my head.
The only chance was when Grandma Bianu was distracted…
“Ugh, what have you been up to for the bandages to be loose again?”
Grandma Bianu grabbed my swollen ankle.
Was there truly no escape from this medicinal tea?
I cast pleading glances at the people in the apothecary.
“Haha…”
“Ahem, ahem…”
The eyes I met averted their gaze.
Heartless people.
Does my status of being ignored, whether I’m a princess or a maid, never change? Remembering the feeling I had in the courtroom made me depressed.
On the other hand, my stomach churned, and bitterness welled up inside.
“I added herbs that will help your ankle recover too, so don’t leave a single drop, understood?”
“……Okay. I’ll drink it.”
Was I in any position to be picky? It’s not like I could do anything because of my ankle.
In the end, I couldn’t go to see Blake off.
It would be a lie if I said I didn’t imagine sneaking onto the carriage while going to say goodbye.
Although I ultimately settled for just seeing him off, calculating the high probability of getting caught at the checkpoint I saw on the way to Canis Castle.
I was back to square one.
How could I return to Euphorian?
No matter how much I thought about it, the only way that came to mind was to be hired as a dance teacher.
For that, my ankle needed to get better, but…
“Ugh…”
It took great courage to swallow the hell-tasting tea.
Suppressing the rising nausea, I held my nose.
“Huuuuu….”
My whole body trembled from the horrifying taste that shuddered to the very root of my tongue.
My vision spun. I collapsed onto the table as if fainting.
“Tsk tsk. You should have built up some immunity by now, how are you exactly the same every time?”
Despite her sharp tone, Grandma Bianu nodded her head as if pleased.
Moving only my eyes to look around the apothecary, I asked her as she cleared the empty teacup.
“Is your grandson not here today either?”
The person who found ‘Lacey’ collapsed after eating Chromcho was none other than Grandma Bianu’s grandson.
He had apparently encountered the poisoning incident while supervising a local annex.
He didn’t hesitate to find the nearest healer, but it was a rural village, and there was no way to receive proper treatment.
Fortunately, Grandma Bianu happened to be on sabbatical in her hometown, so Lacey’s life was saved.
It was good that she passed the critical point and regained consciousness.
The problem was that the essence inside had changed.
It was unfortunate for ‘Lacey,’ but thanks to that, I got the chance to go find the culprit who killed my father.
I had intended to thank him for that.
“That’s what I’m saying. He went somewhere far on an errand for the Gaju, who knows when he’ll be back.”
It seemed it would be a wait with no end in sight. If I was unlucky, I might have to leave without even saying goodbye.
“If that rascal were here, I’d have told him to carry you back to your room.”
My vision darkened.
Although Sonia helped me get here, how was I supposed to get back…?
“Grandma Bianu, are you here?”
Then, a new visitor appeared. Spotting me as he looked around the apothecary, his face brightened.
“Lacey, hi? How’s your ankle?”
It was Daniel.
Wasn’t it time for him to be feeding the horses?
“It’s getting better… slowly. But what brings you here?”
His expression was too bright for someone visiting the apothecary.
Daniel held up his hand to show me. There was no blood or red, swollen marks.
What was the problem?
“I got a splinter.”
“Ah.”
“They said if I leave it, I might get tetanus.”
Well, it was better to get it treated quickly.
I nodded in agreement.
“Do you think an old woman with blurry eyes can see something like a splinter? Pull it out yourself!”
“But at least put some disinfectant on it.”
“In my day, at your age, we just put saliva on it and it healed.”
It was practically an order to leave. But Daniel didn’t seem to mind, just smiling cheerfully.
“Oh, these burn victims. Why did I come back before my sabbatical was even over…”
It seemed his easygoing attitude irritated her even more.
“Enough with the excuses. On your way out, take her back to her room.”
Bianu’s index finger was pointing squarely at me.
“Yes, I’ll do that.”
Without even glancing towards the treatment table, Daniel came over to me and turned his back.
