Chapter 51
“Luella? May I come in?”
“Oh? Y-Yes, my lady…!”
There was a flustered sound, a bit of clattering, and then the door opened slightly.
“I brought some medicine and a little snack. Did you eat well?”
“Yes, I heard you asked the other maids to take care of me. I don’t even know how to thank you…”
“It’s fine. Let’s sit first.”
I sat in a chair at the side of the room and checked her rash.
‘The blisters are spreading along the nerve line… yes, it’s definitely shingles.’
“Does it hurt a lot?”
“Ah, yes… a little.”
Luella hugged her arm awkwardly, clearly in pain.
“It hurts because the nerves are affected. The pain will keep following the red, swollen areas like a belt for a while.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t worry, if you manage it properly, it will heal. But since it can be contagious, you must not leave this room until it’s completely gone.”
“What? Then how will you…?”
“Oh, people who already had this virus before won’t catch it again. And I’ve only assigned maids who had the virus before to help with treatment, so it’s safe.”
I explained calmly, trying to reassure her. Still, her face grew more uneasy—being told she needed isolation was frightening.
“Am I… going to be okay?”
She didn’t repeat my medical terms, only asked if she would survive.
‘Well, since this world doesn’t have a name for shingles, of course she’s confused.’
I smiled at her warmly.
“Yes, don’t worry. You’ll get better soon. I promise.”
***
Despite my promise, no matter how much I searched my father’s lab, I couldn’t find any useful medicine.
“Sigh… as expected, no antiviral drugs here.”
Since shingles is a nerve disease, it causes extreme pain. Antivirals have to be given quickly—within 72 hours.
I rummaged through all the herbs and medicines in the lab, but of course, there was nothing like that.
So I started looking into medicines normally prescribed for chickenpox instead.
‘Ugh, why are these books so unhelpful?!’
They only explained which herbs had certain properties—no clear prescription, no practical guidance.
“Haah.”
Frustrated, I slammed the book shut.
I had the knowledge, but without clinical experience in this world, it was hard to know how to apply it.
And now, it was too late to try developing something new.
“In the end, she’ll just have to endure it while her body heals on its own…”
Fortunately, her condition wasn’t too severe. She was young and healthy, so if she rested properly, her immune system would recover.
“At least… maybe there’s some ointment for rashes or blisters.”
I decided to manage the nerve pain with Dospirin and look for something to apply to the skin.
***
“Verdick? Are you here?”
Following directions, I found Verdick’s room across from Father’s bedroom.
I knocked hard. “Verdick! Verdick!”
After a moment, the door cracked open, and Verdick peeked out.
“Lia? What brings you here…”
“Ah, thank goodness! I just have some questions. Can I come in for a moment?”
“Huh?”
He looked obviously flustered at my request.
What, was his room super messy or something?
“Come on, we can’t just talk in the hallway.”
I glanced around at the empty corridor, and Verdick hesitated before finally stepping aside.
I poked my head in and stepped carefully into the room.
‘Oh? What the— it’s spotless. Not messy at all!’
The room was incredibly neat and tidy, almost too clean for a boy his age. It even smelled nicer than mine.
I couldn’t help but look around curiously.
‘Wow, not even dust on the window frame. Does he have OCD or something?’
Just then, Verdick tugged lightly at my sleeve, his ears slightly red.
“Stop staring and sit down. I’ll make some tea.”
“Oh—uh, sorry.”
Feeling embarrassed, I obediently sat on the sofa.
Soon, the fresh scent of herbs filled the room with the rising steam.
Even the tea leaves weren’t anything fancy—so very him.
“So, what is it?”
He handed me a clear cup of tea and asked.
“Oh! Well, you know Luella, right? She has some skin rashes…”
I hesitated, unsure how much to say. People here tended to avoid noticeable illnesses, and I didn’t want gossip to harm Luella.
But Verdick seemed to sense my worry.
“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”
“Ah.”
Right—he was always discreet. I felt silly for hesitating.
I smiled and continued.
“Thanks. So… I was wondering if there’s any ointment for rashes or blisters. Luella caught something similar to the virus.”
“Virus?”
“Yes, the symptoms are a bit different, but the rash looks similar. So… what do you usually do when someone gets it?”
His expression turned serious. I was curious what kind of treatment they’d use here.
‘Let’s hear what kind of ridiculous folk remedies they have this time…’
But his answer was worse than I expected.
“Well, usually if a rash appears, people either burn it with something hot, or cut it open with a knife to drain it—or cut off the area altogether.”
“What?! No, no, not that!!”
I jumped in horror and clamped my hand over his mouth.
‘Did he seriously just say they burn chickenpox with a branding iron?!’
I shuddered at the thought, my face twisting in disgust. Verdick blinked at me in surprise, then calmly removed my hand.
“Aren’t you training to be a doctor? How can you be scared of something so small?”
From his point of view, maybe it looked silly. But still…
I bristled inside.
‘Excuse me, I’ve drained more infections and treated worse than you can even imagine!’
Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud. So instead, I waved it off and redirected.
“No, not that. I mean something gentler—like antibacterial… um, something that removes the bad stuff? To stop the wound from getting worse. An ointment or salve?”
I avoided modern medical words and explained as simply as I could.
Verdick thought for a while, then said, “Ah,” and pulled out a small jar from his drawer.
“For rashes, we usually use this.”
Inside was a thick white substance, like hardened pig fat.
‘Wait—this looks familiar.’
I opened the lid and sniffed it.
“Wow! This is coconut oil, right?”
“Coconut…? No, it’s called Asicle Oil.”
“Oh… I see. That’s what you call it here.”
I smiled awkwardly and closed the jar.
Coconut oil had antibacterial and antiviral properties—I remembered it was sometimes used on skin or even eaten.
And since this was raw, unprocessed oil, side effects would be minimal.
‘Perfect! This will work nicely.’
I almost hummed happily, but then Verdick spoke hesitantly.
“Although… there’s one problem with that oil.”
“…What problem?”
“They say it’s not good for women. My teacher and I also stopped using it for that reason.”
“Huh? Not good for women?”
