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n

n

nAstelle again calmly explained why.

n“In this situation, if rumors spread that the Emperor’s party also has a fever patient, the people who live around will panic.”

nNo matter how explained that it is not a fatal Innes fever, but an ordinary fever, farmers who lack knowledge about the disease will focus only on the part that says, “There is a fever patient in the emperor’s party.”

nRather, people might suspect that Astelle had a common fever to hide Innes’ fever.

n“If that happens, this village will be labeled as the place where the infectious disease patient stayed.”

nThe damage will remain entirely for this village.

nRural villages in such a forest area raise vegetables and livestock and live by relying on barter with other villages.

nIsolation from the outside could make it difficult for farmers to make a living.

n“So I want to recover quietly here. People will be suspicious when they see Your Majesty’s doctor coming and going here, so I’ll make up the medicine myself. I just need the ingredients.”

nFever is common in the East, so I learned it hard from Gretel.

nIt wasn’t even medicine that needed rare ingredients. Most of them were available in the forests.

n‘And… I also have to make a medicine to change the eye color.’

nIn fact, the most important purpose was this.

nOriginally, I was thinking of going out for a while to see the village and the forest with Theor tomorrow morning.

nHowever, the opportunity to come and go out so naturally disappeared because I got sick.

nThe remaining medicine’s effect is about 3 days.

nIf not now, I may not have a chance to get herbs and make medicines.

nAstelle finished the explanation calmly and waited for Kaizen’s permission.

nHowever, the eyes of the people gathered in the room were a little strange.

nEveryone just looked at Astelle blankly without a word.

n‘Why are you doing that?’

nWhen Astelle felt the doubt, Lyndon slowly opened his mouth with a blank face.

n“You really have a deep thought, Lady Astelle.”

n“… Pardon?”

nLyndon bowed his head slightly to Astelle.

n“I was deeply impressed by the heart of considering the circumstances of the farmers here and taking care of our circumstances.”

n“……”

nActually, I just wanted to make a medicine that changes the eye color, not more.

nLooking back, the middle-aged doctor I met for the first time was looking at me with admiration mixed eyes.

nEven Vellian looked a little surprised.

nHowever, there were people who were not very impressed.

nKaizen, who was listening silently, suddenly asked.

n“So you’re going to stay here?”

n“Yes.”

n“What about the child?”

nAstelle turned to the doctor and asked.

n“Wouldn’t it be okay to put Theor in the room across the corridor?”

n“I think you can do that much because it’s not contagious unless you get a fever because your symptoms get worse.”

nI thought so, but I was more relieved when I got confirmation from the doctor.

n“Theor, did you hear it? You have to sleep in the next room today, can you?”

n“Yeah, then I’ll sleep with Blin in a new room!”

nI wondered if he would be scared, but Theor agreed surprisingly easily.

nWell, even when Theor was at home, sometimes he went to my grandfather’s room and listened to old stories and fell asleep.

nAt this point, there was no way Kaizen would not allow it.

nHe stared at Astelle for a long time with an unpleasant face and was forced to accept it.

n“Okay. Do what you want.”

n“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

nAstelle quickly turned her gaze.

nVellian was listening to Astelle interestingly from one side.

nAstelle looked back at him and came up with a question as if she had thought it was late.

n“Oh, it turns out that a pharmacist came here a little while ago. Can I go to her and get some herbs?”

nFor an instant, the face of Vellian became pale of that word.

n“The pharmacist had come here?”

nKaizen, who did not know the situation at all, turned to Astelle with a strange glance.

n“Yes, that old pharmacist.”

nAstelle smiled as she watched the gentle-looking face of the Vellian get white.

nAs the eyes met, Vellian shook his head hastily.

n‘Are you saying don’t tell Kaizen?’

nSeeing that he was embarrassed a lot, he must have done it alone without the permission of the emperor.

nIf Kaizen knew, he would be angry that he did something useless without permission in his place.

n‘But I’m not very sympathetic.’

nVellian used to observe Astelle interestingly.

nWhen Astelle fought Marianne, Vellian watched as if he was watching an interesting play.

nHe likes treating people like puppets in a puppet show.

nHe always looked with curious eyes, and he was now pale.

nHe is like a poor audience who suddenly rolled over to the theater stage while he was watching an interesting stage.

nAstelle said calmly to Kaizen.

n“Ah, the pharmacist put good herbs in the bathwater before. She is growing medicinal herbs, so I want to get some medicinal herbs from her.”

n“Yes, do whatever you want.”

nKaizen allowed it without much doubt.

nInstead, he had one condition.

n“But you can’t go alone. Take the knight as a guide and escort.”

n“Thank you, Your Majesty. Then…”

nAstelle turned to Kaizen after expressing her gratitude.

nShe stared at Vellian who had a tense face.

n“If it’s okay, I’d like to ask Sir Vellian for guidance.”

nKaizen looked at Vellian with a puzzled look.

n“Why?”

n“I have something I want to share with him.”

n“What do you have to say to him?”

n“It’s personal matter. Sir Vellian, are you okay?”

n“Oh yeah. Yes.”

nAstelle smiled casually.

n“Then, please prepare quickly.”

n* * *

nAfter a while, Astelle was walking on the road to the back door of the castle with a small basket.

nAstelle checked the tools in her basket.

nInside the basket were tiny pruning shears for cutting small seedlings of hemp and branches.

nVellian was following her with an anxious look from the street one step away.

n“… May I ask why you wanted to be guided by me?”

nAstelle said she was natural as she went through the basket.

n“You’ve got the pharmacist disguised as a maid and looked at my luggage and medicine box. She even sent me to a public bath and checked my clothes.”

n“That…”

n“Once you have satisfied your curiosity, isn’t it your turn to help me?”

nVellian was overwhelmed and bit his lip.

nHe tried to make an excuse that he wasn’t, but he seemed to give up.

n“May I ask how you knew?”

n“Whoever sees the maid will know that she is a pharmacist.”

nAstelle didn’t need to explain anymore.

nVellian asked doubtfully.

n“… Well… before, when Lady Marianne opened the medicine box, you noticed that the location of the medicine bottle was slightly different. I felt it back then, but Lady Astelle is really good at keeping an eye on it. A little, scary enough.”

n“I’ll take it as a compliment.”

nAstelle still hasn’t lost her smile.

n“I’m sorry, but I was worried about what happened before. That… I ordered the pharmacist to check if there was any disease in the child. It didn’t mean anything bad.”

nHe didn’t do it with bad intentions.

nHe just wanted to take this opportunity to take a look at Astelle’s medicines and resolve his suspicions.

nIt was roughly like that.

nAstelle answered coldly with a smile.

n“As I said before, the child is weak and needs to be fed nutrition on time. His Majesty the Emperor took him to the hunting lodge in the heavy rain without saying anything, so I have no choice but to follow him. I don’t understand that it looked weird.”

n“… Yes, now I see clearly. It was a misunderstanding.”

nVellian apologized with his head down.

nI don’t think he’s very sorry, but I felt like he was out of energy.

n“……”

n“Well, why didn’t you tell His Majesty?”

n“I think Sir Vellian will be in trouble if His Majesty knows.”

n“… It is.”

nVellian honestly agreed.

nThe emperor was very concerned with Astelle.

nHe’ll be very angry when he finds out that his closest aide has done this useless trick.

nStill, Vellian wanted to see if there was anything wrong with Theor.

n