Chapter 39
After hearing my explanation, Chloe frowned deeply. It was clear that she had never imagined such a treatment method.
“I know it’s a bit shocking, but this is the only way to make sure your bone heals properly. The swelling will probably go down in a few days, too.”
Hearing my confident tone, Chloe lowered her head and let out a quiet groan.
I used that moment to gently pull her foot forward again.
“…This will really heal cleanly, right?”
“Yes, absolutely.”
“Then… p-please do it.”
Chloe tightly shut her eyes and forced the words out.
She was pale and sweating. I could only think of one thing.
‘I need to finish this quickly.’
I took a deep breath and steadied myself.
“Alright, I’ll begin now. One, two—”
“W-wait a second—!”
Before she could even finish speaking, I pressed down hard on her ankle.
Because the bone hadn’t healed properly, I could feel the odd sensation of it shifting beneath my fingers.
As I applied pressure, the bone began to move.
Normally, a healthy bone wouldn’t break this easily by hand. But since hers wasn’t properly connected, it worked.
Then—crack.
“Ahhh!”
A sharp cracking sound echoed through the room, followed by Chloe’s scream.
I quickly grabbed the plaster materials I had prepared and started treating her ankle.
Normally, a full cast made from plaster would be ideal, but her ankle was still too swollen. So I carefully aligned the bone and used a fibrous material called Rousco as a temporary plaster, securing it with bandages my father had left behind.
“All done.”
“…Already?”
Chloe opened her eyes wide and looked at me in disbelief. Then she glanced down at her foot.
“Oh… what’s this?”
“That’s Rousco. When it dries, it becomes a bit firm but still flexible. It’s perfect for temporary support.”
Rousco, a type of dried sponge, hardens into something similar to plaster when dried. People here usually use it for wrapping poisonous herbs, but I had ordered a bunch when I saw it in the herbal shop.
It was one of the few useful discoveries I had made in this world.
“I’ve shown you how to use it, so if it gets uncomfortable, you can re-wrap it yourself. Just make sure to wrap the bandage from the outside of the foot upward, like this…”
I mimicked the motion in the air, using her foot as a reference.
Chloe nodded attentively, fascinated by the new method.
“In cases like this, it’s important to immobilize the injury early on. If bones or ligaments are stretched too much, they can easily tear or break again later. But since we realigned everything properly this time, with rest and care, it’ll heal well.”
Normally, I’d also prescribe anti-inflammatory and antibiotic medication, but…
‘Ugh, if only I had some anti-inflammatories…’
Wait. Didn’t I bring some from home?
“Just a moment, my lady!”
I ran to the bedroom and started digging through my bag.
‘Please, please be in here—’
Finally, I found a familiar pouch. It was Dospirin, a pain and inflammation reliever I had packed just in case.
“Yes! Got it.”
I quickly measured out the correct dosage onto a nearby paper and handed it to Chloe.
“This is a medicine I made myself. Just take one pill after meals. It’ll help reduce swelling and pain in your ankle.”
“You… made it yourself?”
“It’s not perfect yet. Still needs more research… but I’ve lowered the concentration to be safe. Try one pill first, and if there’s no problem, keep taking it until the swelling goes down.”
Even though the drug hadn’t gone through clinical trials, it was mild enough to be safe. And I couldn’t just ignore her condition after breaking her bone.
Feeling lighter after completing the treatment, I began cleaning up the scattered bandages and tools.
‘Still, treating patients like this every time is going to give me a heart attack…’
At the very least, I needed to develop some kind of anesthesia.
Just as that thought passed my mind—
Sniff… sniffle…
Suddenly, I heard a quiet sob from behind me.
Startled, I tossed the hammer back into the medical bag and rushed to Chloe.
“My lady, what’s wrong? Does your ankle hurt?”
Worried, I looked at her bandaged ankle, but Chloe burst into louder sobs.
“Waaahhhh…”
I frantically replayed the treatment process in my head.
‘I’m sure everything went smoothly!’
I had double-checked everything, and wrapped her ankle gently, considering the swelling. The pain shouldn’t be too bad.
Then Chloe spoke, wiping her tears with both hands.
“I… I thought I was going to die… hic… I really did…”
What?
“Die…?”
“Yes… When you picked up that hammer earlier… it was just so scary… hic…”
“Oh…”
A small sound escaped my lips.
Now that I thought about it, this world’s medicine was outdated. Both internal and external treatments were often outdated or dangerous. People often died during surgery due to pain and blood loss.
‘Right… Back in the day, patients died from shock during operations…’
“My father even said we might have to remove my foot at first…”
“What? remove?!”
I couldn’t hide my shock. Chloe nodded sadly through her tears.
Seriously? They wanted to cut off her foot for a misaligned fracture?
But since the diagnosis came from the Duke’s personal physician, I couldn’t openly criticize it.
I barely stopped myself from shouting, “Are they crazy?!”
“I just didn’t expect the treatment to work so quickly… or be so painless. I mean, it still hurts a little, but it’s amazing how the pain has already gone down just from this fracture and bandage.”
I sat beside her and gently patted her shoulder. Chloe flinched, then began crying even harder.
It felt like a mix of relief and all the bottled-up sadness finally pouring out.
‘Still… this isn’t right.’
Removing a leg over something that could be fixed by simply resetting a bone? That was the reality here.
No wonder Chloe, with the best intentions, had ended up using the wrong treatment methods before.
Worried she might repeat those mistakes someday, I gently spoke.
“My lady… I think there’s something wrong with the Empire’s approach to medicine. People here usually just prescribe herbs to relieve symptoms, not to cure the cause.”
In my world, unless it was a mild illness, the body could heal on its own, you went to the hospital. You couldn’t cure something like cancer or a tumor by yourself.
But in this world, illness was considered divine punishment. People were taught to endure rather than treat the root cause.
‘That’s why they never thought to fix the problem and instead considered cutting off the leg.’
With that mindset, medicine couldn’t evolve.
“Of course, drinking herbal tea might ease pain or swelling. But if you don’t treat the real cause, the pain will only get worse. If I hadn’t realigned your bone and applied a fracture, it would’ve been much worse.”
I pointed to the brace on Chloe’s ankle. She looked between it and me, dazed and speechless.
