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Chapter 41
“What… what was that?”
The doctor’s face twisted in pain as he rubbed his head. Something had just flown at him and struck him.
He glanced around in pain but couldn’t find anything of note.
There were too many people around to pinpoint the culprit.
“Damn it! Doing this to someone who came to help treat you? Commoners, seriously… ugh…”
He muttered a curse under his breath and continued to rub his head, clearly still feeling the sting.
“…Ceres?”
“Why?”
“…Nothing. Forget it.”
Cheyan gave an awkward smile as he looked at Ceres standing there with her hands behind her back, acting as if nothing had happened.
‘You were the one who just threw that stone.’
He had just witnessed Ceres kick a tiny stone rolling on the ground.
Astonishingly, the stone hit the head of a doctor from the Ellecia Count family with perfect accuracy. Cheyan’s mouth dropped open in surprise.
Whether Cheyan admired her audacity or not, the corner of Ceres’ mouth rose crookedly, almost to the sky.
“Just four of them?”
Even among them was a novice doctor who had only recently joined.
Ceres noticed the silver rings on their fingers and immediately knew these were doctors who had only recently begun learning medicine.
If the system hadn’t changed much since she was there, the ring indicated a beginner doctor.
Silver rings were worn by those who had been in the family for less than three years. After three years, the ring’s color and design would change.
The reason for classifying people by time spent was simple.
It made issuing orders easier when a sudden influx of patients or an urgent situation occurred.
Tasks differed completely depending on experience and skill. A beginner doctor couldn’t be assigned a critically ill patient.
‘But…’
In this situation, with overflowing critical patients, sending only four doctors wasn’t enough—and two of the four wore silver rings.
‘Ah, there’s one more.’
There was also a doctor managing the queue of patients, seemingly brought along as a helper.
A woman in her late twenties wore a gold ring.
A gold ring meant she had been in the family for at least ten years.
‘And she’s still doing this?’
Rather than treating patients herself, she was busy cleaning up after the junior doctors with silver rings.
“Hm.”
There were probably two reasons for this:
One, if she was terrible at her job. Even after ten years with the Ellecia Count family, if her skills were worse than the newcomers, she could end up doing nothing but cleaning up after them.
Or… two, if she had displeased someone higher up. She could be treated as less competent than she actually was.
Ceres leaned toward the latter explanation.
Why?
“Here, please take this.”
“Huh?”
The woman hurriedly approached a man carrying his unsteady mother and handed him something—herbs used to neutralize Vacura’s poison.
“It seems the Vacura’s poison is making it difficult for her to breathe comfortably. She’s poisoned.”
“P-Poisoned?”
“It’s not serious at the moment, but if left untreated, it could become dangerous. Make sure she takes this herb once a day.”
“Thank you! Really, thank you!”
The man kept bowing repeatedly as she quickly left, apparently wary of other doctors watching.
What she did next caught Ceres’ interest even more.
She quietly approached the father of a child whose fingers had turned black and been deemed hopeless by another doctor, giving him a prescription.
“Don’t give up. The fingers are badly damaged, but I don’t think the nerves are dead. With proper treatment, they could recover.”
“R-Really?”
“Of course, it will take time… but don’t lose hope.”
She even asked where the patient lived and promised to visit soon.
‘There’s at least one competent one.’
Ceres watched the woman run around, observing and subtly teaching methods that other doctors had overlooked or ignored.
“Herion! What are you doing now?!”
“Ah, sorry. I felt bad just sending the patients away…”
“Stop wasting time and properly organize this. We’re swamped… tsk.”
“Okay, got it.”
The woman finally stepped away from the patients and began tidying the messy medical tools, which made Ceres smile brightly.
“She’s completely obsessed with her work.”
“…? Ceres, what are you doing?”
Cheyan looked at Ceres, who had suddenly bent down to examine the ground, with concern.
“Rocks.”
“Huh?”
“I’m looking for rocks.”
She wanted a bigger one than the one she threw earlier. One large enough to really smash a head!
“Ceres, Ceres!”
Cheyan hurriedly stopped her. If she threw another one, they’d really get caught!
Suddenly, the four doctors who had been treating patients stood up at once and hurried somewhere.
Ceres and Cheyan’s eyes followed the direction of the movement, leaving their playful squabble.
“Lord Kreel, have you arrived?”
A thin man in his early thirties appeared, and all the doctors bowed respectfully.
“Is this…?”
“Yes. He’s the head of the Ellecia family.”
“Ah…!”
The patients in line gazed at him with hopeful eyes, silently wishing he would notice them.
“You’ve all worked hard.”
“No, we are just doing what is our duty.”
“Yes. Experiences like this build skill.”
Kreel Ellecia smiled kindly at each doctor, patting their shoulders and offering words of encouragement.
But he didn’t even glance at the woman doctor, Herion, who was tidying tools with the servants.
“I’d like to send more people, but many patients will keep coming to the Count’s residence. Other doctors are also busy, so you need to do your best too.”
With Kreel’s explanation, Ceres finally understood why such incompetent doctors had been sent.
The noble casualties from the Black Forest incident in the capital were probably rushing to the Ellecia Count family’s residence instead of a temporary clinic. That place was already in emergency mode.
Thus, only a rough team had been sent here.
“…! Cheyan?!”
Soon, Kreel noticed Cheyan among the crowd and approached him with surprise and delight.
“What brings you here?”
“Just happened to be.”
“I should have come earlier. We could have had tea together.”
“Haha, what scary words.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s common knowledge that the head of Ellecia is busy. I shouldn’t waste your time.”
“You flatter me. No matter how busy I am, there’s always time for you, Cheyan.”
Cheyan smiled gently but slowly stepped back from Kreel, who was approaching too closely.
“If you have time now, we could have tea…”
“I’m busy.”
“Oh… okay…”
Cheyan’s face smiled, but he clearly set a boundary.
Watching this quietly, Ceres found it fascinating. She had only seen him joking with mercenaries and easily socializing with strangers, so seeing him build a wall like this was unusual.
“And the person with you?”
“Just a colleague.”
“Ah, I see.”
Kreel’s curiosity vanished at the explanation, as her companion’s shabby clothing made him think she was not someone needing his attention.
