TBDTPVF 08

 Chapter 8

Ever since I was little, I had hated being sick and being scared—hated it with all my life.

Even something as trivial as popping a pimple could make me faint.

The one thing that changed after I became a doctor was that I started projecting those feelings onto others.

“How…?”

I stamped my feet anxiously.

I wanted to help, but the fear that I might die if I tried held me back.

That fear kept me from stepping outside the door.

‘I want to help… but…’

I might die.

I had learned how to save people.

But I had never learned how to save someone from a person who wanted to kill them.

‘If there’s even a 1% chance of saving them, a doctor risks their life for that possibility.’

Why did that quote come to mind now?

I tried to push the thought away, but once it appeared, it tormented my mind relentlessly.

“No… no… it’s not…”

I shook my head violently and spun around the room, trying to clear my thoughts.

My desperate attempt to calm myself only made my mind more chaotic.

Perhaps some god pitied me.

A red liquid on the bookshelf caught my eye.

A round glass bottle filled with red liquid.

‘A potion…!’

If it was a potion, everything changed.

That must be why Silas had survived such a deep wound last time without trouble.

A power beyond modern medicine.

Magic.

So, if I could just apply the potion quickly after everything had happened…?

It was worth a try.

I nodded to myself and hurriedly grabbed the potion.

“I’ll do it!”

With a thud, I flung the door open and ran toward the lady’s room.

Rooms passed by in a blur—the same ones Lisa and I had walked through yesterday.

Finally, I reached the lady’s door, adorned with beautiful roses.

Thump. Thump.

My heart pounded wildly, as if broken.

A surge of adrenaline, no doubt.

“Alright… I can do this.”

I whispered the vow I always repeated before surgery and pushed the door open.

“……!”

The smell of thick blood hit me immediately, crawling up my arms like a chilling threat.

And then…

“What the…? A kid?”

“I…r…run…”

Selena collapsed like a broken rose, powerless, while assassins pulled their knives from her.

I felt my legs give out but managed to stay upright.

It had happened too quickly.

My face drained of color.

“The gap is closing. Hurry and deal with it.”

One assassin perched on the window said this casually, as if choosing what to buy at the market.

But what came out of his mouth was a command to kill me.

‘I have to run…!’

Both reason and instinct screamed at me to flee.

“I wanted to play with you… what a shame.”

“You said there’s no time.”

“Fine, fine.”

A dark figure, probably female, smiled at me.

Her face was fully concealed, but her eyes shone with madness.

“Ugh… ah…”

My body wouldn’t move.

It was as if something was holding my legs in place.

Looking down with trembling eyes, I saw a black mist coiling around my ankles and body.

Am I going to die like this?

I tried to clear my thoughts and figure out a way to survive, but no solution came to mind.

“It was nice meeting you…”

The assassin raised a small dagger, aiming at me.

I was going to die.

That word repeated in my mind like a broken radio.

“Goodbye.”

I closed my eyes tightly.

Then, a searing pain shot through my shoulder as if needles were stabbing me relentlessly.

Clang!

The agony was unbearable.

The potion slipped from my fingers and shattered into pieces.

“That…”

“The potion’s broken. No time left.”

“No, wait…!”

The assassins who had thrown knives at me disappeared from my sight in an instant, as if teleporting.

I collapsed, drained of strength.

“Hng… it hurts…”

The black blade in my right shoulder was excruciating, but the mental anguish was worse.

Even in my current life, seeing people die was unbearably sad.

“I…ris…”

A faint, pained voice reached my ears.

I ignored my own shoulder pain and hurried toward her.

Selena was lying on the floor, struggling to look at me.

“Just a little… please…”

Her condition was severe.

A deep wound about a hand’s width marred her abdomen, and the side with her lungs was even more damaged.

Her organs were probably injured, her lungs filled with blood.

Even modern technology would barely allow her to survive this.

“This… we have to… do something…”

“Iris…”

She weakly reached out and gently stroked my head.

“Don’t move…!”

“I’m fine. Iris… don’t be sad.”

Her smile, even while dying, only made me more heartbroken.

Even in my past life, devoid of emotions, death was painful.

Now, as a child, my emotions were even stronger.

Which only made it harder.

“Blood… more…”

It’s flowing.

I crawled toward the potion I had dropped.

The liquid on the floor hadn’t dried, but there was too little to transfer by hand.

Even so, it seemed like a small hope.

A doctor risks their life for even a 1% chance.

“Just a drop…”

The small amount I managed to collect was barely a single drop.

I quickly applied it to her abdomen.

Of course, that tiny act couldn’t stop the bleeding or repair her damaged organs.

“It’s okay… Iris… you’re hurt too…”

I was reaching my limit.

Her words were faint, like a candle about to go out.

Her faint smile had begun to harden.

“Ah… ah…”

Rationally, I knew I had no reason to be this upset.

Selena was just a passing acquaintance in my life.

But what did she feel about me?

Even as she was dying, she tried to smile at me.

It shook my heart.

“Don’t make that face.”

Her trembling hand reached for me.

When we first met, conversation was awkward.

Yet in just two weeks, Selena had opened up to me.

Her once-pure hand was stained with blood.

Slowly, it brushed my hair.

But I couldn’t do anything.

My medical skills were useless now.

“…Hng.”

Tears streamed down my cheeks.

Plop!

The falling tears became small droplets hitting the floor.

“Huh?”

At that moment, my blurry vision sharpened.

The knife in my shoulder was bleeding.

That was the key.

The blood falling from my shoulder—my blood—was glowing golden.

‘No way…’

I had read the novel.

There were scenes where the saint saved dying people.

The issue: saints didn’t have divine powers like other priests.

The saint’s blood.

It had healing power beyond the strongest potion or elixir.

But the saint couldn’t heal themselves with it.

Sharing their blood was their sacrifice.

“……”

I had no divine power, not even basic magic.

Nor was I a saint.

But I was a doctor.

‘Wherever I go, I will use my knowledge for the patient’s benefit.’

I remembered the Hippocratic Oath I had sworn.

And my blood now shone like the saint’s blood.

Was there more to think about?

“Ugh…!”

I pulled the knife from my shoulder.

Blood gushed like a broken dam.

The flow was so strong I could faint if I wasn’t careful.

“Iris…”

Selena’s blurred eyes pleaded silently, but it was too late.

Her blood and mine mixed at the wound.

The blood at the contact point began to shine brilliantly, almost as if announcing its presence.

I didn’t know why my blood acted like the saint’s, but it worked.

Selena’s wounds were healing at a visible speed.

Bang!

Something shattered, and my consciousness snapped.

Pop!

Silas grabbed his sword and ran madly toward his only beloved.

‘Please…’

Even the normally composed duke was frantically anxious.

He feared losing his loved one again.

Rightly so—he sensed a strange presence in her room late at night.

It felt warm, but the problem was the barrier.

The duke’s mansion had a defensive barrier that absorbed intruders’ magic.

For him to feel power inside the barrier, specifically in Selena’s room, meant something had happened to her.

Bang!

He kicked the door open, his mouth dry.

The door collapsed under the force, and the scent of blood hit his nose.

Filling his mind with hopeful thoughts, he looked toward the source.

Praying it wasn’t as bad as he feared.

“……”

A wife bleeding from her abdomen and a child on the floor.

With her platinum hair scattered, the child had to be Iris.

Why she was here was unclear, but neither of them was in good condition.

Gnash…

Silas clenched his teeth and ran to Selena.

Plop!

A potion came out with a cheerful clink.

He hurried to pour it over her.

Flash!

A powerful light emanated from Selena.

Warm and comforting—a feeling he had felt six years ago.

When his baby was born, the child’s body had radiated the same light.

That light had ultimately…

“Silas…”

“Selena.”

A faint voice.

Silas poured the potion carefully over her face.

“I’m fine… start with Iris.”

Selena stopped him.

As she said, her body was unscathed.

Then all this blood must have been…

Silas gnawed his teeth again.

When it came to family, his rationality vanished.

Even now, he only saw fragments, not the bigger picture.

“Iris.”

He poured potion over her shoulder.

Her wound began healing immediately.

A scene created by a top-tier potion.

“What… is happening?”

Having passed the critical moment, Silas carefully lifted Iris and addressed Selena.

“Assassins infiltrated. I was attacked, and Iris…”

“Enough. Rest today. I’ll take you to my room.”

Silas lifted Selena, who had collapsed, with one hand, Iris in the other, and strode to his room.

Tap-tap-tap.

The sound of his polished shoes echoed softly through the corridor.

“Silas… what about Iris…?”

“……”

Selena’s gaze flicked to Iris once, then shifted elsewhere.

To the ring glowing with a blue light.