Chapter 128
The Next Chief’s Murmur
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“Lord Wolf, I shall move the extra medicine over there . ”
“Thank you . ”
I thanked her without looking . Lily’s light footsteps trotted away in a hurry, and the door closed behind her shortly afterwards .
I held up the boy’s body as I fed him the medicine in the bowl .
Lukewarm medicine diluted with water slowly entered the boy’s mouth . A furrowed brow came from the boy who swallowed it .
“…Gross . ”
“Good . Your taste has returned . ”
I paid no attention to the refusal in his gaze and tilted the bowl once more .
The boy reluctantly opened his mouth with a grumble .
It was a bitter medicine . Since it was hard to take as a pill, the taste got worse when it was dissolved in hot water . With that said, I believe the boy here understood that he would be cured if he took it . He was drinking it despite showing clear disgust, after all .
“Ew…”
‘Alright, we’re done,’ I declared . The boy spat out his tongue and gave a repulsed groan after he finished the bowl . Perhaps the aftertaste still lingered in his mouth .
To make up for this, I held a bottle of plain water to his lips, and the boy gladly gulped it down .
Next, I laid him down and started patting his head .
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“Take a good rest . ”
“‘Kay . ”
The boy nodded in obedience and began to doze off .
“Hey, mister…”
“Hm?”
“Will I… Get better?”
Without thinking, my patting hand stopped in place .
His clear, straightforward eyes clung onto me .
A deteriorating body that won’t move as you wish . Families all around you with gloomy faces . The painful moans surrounding us . Of course, this entire experience would be terrifying for such a young boy .
I held his hand and forced my bitter face into a smile .
“…Of course . It’s a big mistake if you think you can sleep forever . Recover soon so you can go outside and play . ”
“…I see . ”
The boy muttered before smiling whimsically .
The boy, finally feeling relieved, closed his eyelids . I patted him one last time on the head . Soon, the boy entered a peaceful slumber .
“And so, who might ya be?”
As I watched the boy’s sleeping face, I heard a voice coming from behind me .
An elderly man with a wet cloth on his forehead shifted his eyes in my direction from the bed he was on .
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“Just a pharmacist . ”
“Even the aristocrat’s pharmacists abandoned us without a second thought . There’s no way you could help us . ”
“You guys will be cured . No, you will definitely heal . ”
After declaring so, the man looked over at me with an unsteady gaze .
Then he cracked a thin smile .
“Yeah, I believe ya… And that’s why it’s so strange . Who are you and where are you from, I wonder?”
“Didn’t I just say I was a pharmacist? Your temperature will go up if you talk too much, so go back to sleep . ”
I took the cloth off him, dunked it in water and squeezed it lightly, before replacing it back on his forehead .
The man squinted his eyes pleasantly as I lightly aired him with a nearby fan .
“That’s a nice smell . ”
“I’m burning incense . It’s simply a bug repellent, but if you like the smell then all the better . ”
The room was filled with white clouds that smelled of citrus .
I had thought about adjusting the amount after I had the smoke, but it looks like this will do just fine .
“I’ve once heard of a miracle tribe living in the back mountains . They are so knowledgeable about medicine that they could even cure the dying sick…”
“…That’s just a fairy tale . We can’t do miracles . ”
I stopped fanning and gave him a wry smile .
Time and time again, I’ve watched life burn out with my own eyes .
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And each time, I have always lamented over my own powerlessness . If I can’t do anything, then that’s the same as doing nothing . It made me question my own existence . But-
“All that we know today was thanks to what our ancestors had left behind . We’re just a bunch of hard-headed people with no special skills . …But I am here now because a child needed our help . That’s all . ”
“Are you talking about Lord Nacht?”
“What? Who’s that?”
I frowned upon the unfamiliar name .
Who might that be, I wonder? …I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before .
When it was clear that I didn’t know, the old man’s mood turned sour .
“Haven’t you heard of The Eccentric Prince? He’s a wonderful lord . ”
Now that he mentioned a prince, I remembered . Wasn’t he that kid that went into the forest?
So he’s the second prince of this country, huh . I wasn’t very interested, so I didn’t bother to remember his name . Though I have to say, despite fervently praising him, that’s a terrible moniker .
“I wouldn’t think to respect anyone with a nickname like that . ”
“We couldn’t help it . He truly is eccentric . But above all, he is kind . He is our pride and joy . ”
The man turned away bashfully while saying so . His flushed face was probably not just due to the fever .
“Oh, what a coincidence . Marie is our pride too . ”
I said as I fixed the cloth that fell from his forehead .
The man’s eyes returned to me and he asked, ‘Who’s that?’
“Her Highness, Rosemarie von Wervard . ”
Just saying her name warms my heart . As if someone lit a light in my chest, the warmth was starting to spread rapidly .
Feeling a bit shy and happy at the same time, I continued to smile .
“The First Princess of the Kingdom of Nebel, who rushed here to help you allーand also, my one and only master . ”
The man’s eyes widened .
“It doesn’t matter how wonderful your prince is . Only that child can tell us what to do . No one other than Marie . ”
I’m sure the prince is a rare breed in his own right . Few royals would ever bother to lift their own finger for their own people .
But those who put their own lives on the line for the people of other countries are far fewer .
“…Why is she, the princess of another country… For us?”
When I heard the stunned old man’s words, I could only return another wry smile .
“Who knows? I don’t know her situation any more than you do . ”
Relationships are never everlasting .
The things we don’t know far outnumber the things that we do . I realised that after I came to this country .
That and the fact that I never knew how close she was to her brother .
The only thing that came to mind was a picture of Marie’s face, with her cheeks red and her face bashful . And a certain tall man beside her . I can’t blame her, he is quite the charming man .
“I didn’t even realise that she had someone she liked…”
I murmured .
My small remark disappeared along with the floating smoke from the incense and reached no one’s ears .