TSMFWL 14

Chapter 14

“What is this?”

“Water infused with Iceberg.”

“Ice… what?”

The doctor asked again with a frown.

“Iceberg. It’s a precious medicinal herb brought from the North. So hurry up and get rid of that disgusting cigarette and give this to the patients.”

Calling it a precious medicinal herb was a bit of an exaggeration. In the North, wildflowers like this grew everywhere. But Pesha thought it would sound more trustworthy if she described it that way.

As expected, however, the doctor still looked skeptical despite hearing that it was a precious medicinal herb.

“As a doctor, I can’t exactly give patients something when I don’t even know what it is…”

“Then drink it yourself.”

“Me?”

Pesha opened the lid of the oak barrel and ladled out some lukewarm flower tea.

When she held the ladle out to him, the doctor accepted it with an anxious expression, but continued to hesitate.

“Cough, cough, cough. Are you sure this is really going to make me better?”

“It’s not going to cure you. It’s a painkiller.”

“A painkiller? This?”

“No matter how ineffective it is, it has to be better than that strong tobacco. If you keep smoking like a madman, you’re going to end up with holes in your lungs.”

“Cough, cough-cough. Ah, I’m sorry. I think I’ve developed a tolerance lately, so the pain-relieving effect isn’t working very well. That’s why I’ve been smoking more…”

As he spoke, the doctor glanced around nervously before taking a small sip of the tea in the ladle.

“Hmm. Why does it taste like this?”

“Anything that’s good for the body usually tastes bitter.”

Pesha answered casually.

She still hadn’t even entered the tent, yet the overwhelming smell of tobacco made her grimace. She waved her hand to disperse the smoke.

“Is this entire oak barrel filled with that Iceberg stuff?”

“Yes.”

“I drank it because you told me to, but I’m afraid it would be difficult to give something untested to the patients. More importantly, we would first need approval from the count’s castle…”

Pesha quietly listened as the doctor stubbornly listed all the proper procedures before asking,

“Is that approval something only the Count can give?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure about that either. We’d have to go to the count’s castle and ask. But… who exactly is this lady?”

The doctor politely gestured toward Minnie, who was standing beside Pesha, supporting his hands with both of his own.

Minnie’s brows crumpled like paper as she answered,

“Do you honestly think a noblewoman would be wandering around freely in an estate this dangerous? Of course she’s the Countess of Namoi!”

“Who?”

The people who reacted before the doctor were the nurses and patients inside the tent, who had been secretly listening to the conversation.

“What? The lord’s wife?”

“Little miss, is that really true? Is this the woman he married recently?”

As the patients whispered among themselves, Pesha felt awkward just standing there.

While she stood there shyly, one of the patients spoke with a deeply moved expression.

“My goodness, she’s so beautiful. I always knew that someday our lord would marry a lovely young lady.”

The others immediately chimed in.

“That’s right. A great man like our lord must have had plenty of marriage proposals!”

“My Lady! Don’t just stand there. There’s a chair right here, so please sit down and rest!”

Simply because she was the lord’s wife, the patients immediately showed Pesha their affection.

From their perspective, they could hardly help being grateful to Owen, the man protecting them from the contaminated land.

‘The people here don’t know the details, so they’re simply projecting their goodwill toward Owen onto me.’

Pesha felt a little guilty about it, but she decided not to correct them.

Just then, one of the nurses standing beside the patients pointed toward the wagon and asked,

“But what’s in that wagon? Is it fresh tobacco?”

“Ah, this is…”

Pesha was about to explain its purpose when the doctor suddenly exclaimed in amazement.

“Huh? It doesn’t hurt at all!”

Pesha turned around.

The doctor, whose complexion had looked pale only moments ago, now looked much healthier. He even began deliberately shaking his injured leg.

“I smoked three cigarettes in a row, and the throbbing pain still didn’t go away. But now it doesn’t hurt at all!”

The patients began murmuring again.

“It works better than tobacco?”

“Isn’t that incredibly expensive?”

Pesha spoke to the doctor, who was stomping his foot against the ground in amazement.

“Like I said, it’s only a painkiller. It won’t heal an injury or cure an illness, so you mustn’t use it as a substitute for actual treatment.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind. But if this medicine was prepared by Your Ladyship, does that mean we don’t need to report it separately to the count’s castle?”

Pesha paused at those words.

Iceberg was a flower resembling a white rose that primarily grew in the North.

At a glance, it could easily be mistaken for a type of rose, and it was sometimes grouped together with roses for that reason. But it was officially classified as a medicinal herb, and it was certain that it had no harmful side effects.

Pesha herself had survived a broken leg by drinking Iceberg tea prepared by a gardener from the North.

However, because the flower itself was not well known, it would be difficult to convince ordinary people, including doctors, of its effects and uses.

Moreover, the method of making Iceberg painkillers was a folk remedy used in the North and was not widely known. So although many people knew the flower existed, there were plenty who had no idea it could be used as medicine.

‘Even if the doctor reports it to the count’s castle, they won’t readily approve a medicine made from some unfamiliar flower. I need to explain it to Owen myself before that happens.’

Pesha thought for a moment before speaking.

“I’ll tell the lord myself.”

“Oh, thank you!”

The doctor’s face immediately brightened.

Apparently, he had been at a loss about how to report a medicine even he knew little about to the castle.

Pesha smiled brightly at the doctor and patients, trying her best to look trustworthy.

‘Now the problem is how to persuade Owen Namoi…’

Trying to convince a man who already disliked her to introduce an unfamiliar medicine throughout his territory was enough to make even Pesha feel as helpless as the doctor.

Still, she couldn’t simply turn a blind eye.

She could have remained ignorant of this raccoon den, but now that she knew about it, she couldn’t just walk away.

She had to at least try.

It had already been half a year since the territorial war with the Kingdom of Clapton, which had plagued the Empire for so long, had finally ended.

The appearance of Owen Namoi, a man hailed as a hero who would be remembered throughout history, had turned the tide of the war when their side had been at a disadvantage.

But only those who had experienced it firsthand knew just how fierce the front lines had been.

Jane Penrose, a knight belonging to House Namoi, was one such witness.

Watching Owen Namoi lead one difficult battle after another to victory with overwhelming martial prowess and brilliant strategy, Jane had vowed to serve that man until the day she died.

That determination had never wavered.

If anything, it had become even stronger after her lord was manipulated by the political games of those capital-dwellers and forced into an unwanted marriage.

‘Just who do they think our lord is?!’

If everything had gone according to the wishes of the people and everyone’s expectations, and he had safely received the title of duke, he could have humbled those capital-dwellers who looked down on their lord and strutted around arrogantly.

But everything had gone terribly wrong.

All because of that woman.

Because of Pesha Rydel!

Quite some time had passed since their lord’s wedding, but even now, Jane’s teeth clenched whenever she thought about that woman.

Whenever the maids gathered and talked about how the lady had driven out that corrupt butler, Jane’s stomach only churned with anger.

‘It’s not as though she has purification powers like Lady Clark, nor does she deeply love our lord. If anything, I heard she humiliated him in front of the Emperor! I will never acknowledge that woman.’

After morning training, Jane had complained about Pesha Rydel to her fellow knight, Rebecca.

Rebecca had laughed loudly and teased her, saying, ‘You were grinding your teeth even in your sleep. Are you doing it in broad daylight now, too?’ and ‘Take care of your own life first.’

That only irritated Jane even more.

Still grinding her teeth, Jane turned around a corner and was about to pass through the inner courtyard when she spotted two women climbing into a carriage.

Jane flinched, quickly hid herself, and secretly watched them.

“That’s…”

That silver-haired head.

A figure somewhat shorter than average.

And the elegant dress she was wearing.

There was no mistaking it.

It was Pesha Rydel.