TKPIMD 06

Chapter 06

No matter how many times you see someone die, you never truly get used to it.

Lionel sat blankly on a garden bench beneath the warm sunlight, reminiscing about the past.

Parting with her kind mother.

And even in the hospitals of both her past and present lives, she had watched patients pass away countless times…… Yet Lionel still could not become familiar with the word “death.”

“Teacher Frencia!”

At that moment, someone called out to Lionel from the end of the garden. It was Assistant Kellen, who had his tube removed a few days ago and had gotten back on his feet, along with Ailey.

“Assistant Kellen. How is your condition?”

“My chest still feels a little uncomfortable, but I’m completely fine. And thank you for taking such good care of Mr. William as well.”

“I only did what I had to do. ……Ailey. Are you leaving now?”

Ailey nodded with her eyes still swollen from crying.

“I came because I wanted to say goodbye before going to the boarding school.”

“Yes. Thank you for coming. I wanted to say goodbye to Ailey too.”

“I’ll study hard. I’ll study really hard and…… I’ll definitely become an amazing doctor just like Teacher. When that happens, can you hire me as your assistant?”

“That’s a wonderful dream. I’ll support your future.”

After saying that, Lionel took something out from her arms.

It was a small pocket watch with delicate craftsmanship.

“Ailey. Do you know something?”

Lionel continued in a gentle voice.

“When someone precious to us dies, the sadness turns into a rock and presses heavily against our heart. At first, that rock hurts so much that it feels impossible to breathe…… But as time passes, that rock gradually becomes smaller, and eventually turns into a tiny pebble.”

Ailey made a sorrowful expression.

“Then does that pebble disappear eventually?”

“No, it doesn’t. Instead of disappearing, people carry that small pebble in their pocket for the rest of their lives.”

Lionel handed the pocket watch to Ailey.

“Look at this. Teacher has already turned Ailey’s sadness into a small stone. So don’t be sad for too long. Your father in heaven will be happy if you eat well and laugh brightly.”

Please let this little child’s future be peaceful.

Please let this child not suffer for too long because of the death of a parent that she could do nothing about.

Lionel sincerely prayed for that.

Ailey looked at the watch for a moment before suddenly throwing herself into Lionel’s arms.

The strength coming from her small body was surprisingly powerful.

“Teacher, thank you so much. I love you.”

“I love you too.”

The two hugged tightly and did not separate for a long time.

Kellen carefully called out to Ailey.

“Ailey. The carriage is waiting.”

Ailey held Kellen’s hand and walked away with a light, childlike step.

Lionel watched her back until she disappeared.

“You can come out now, Duke.”

Blasion revealed himself from beneath the shade of a tree.

He followed the path Ailey had taken with his eyes before approaching Lionel.

“Shouldn’t you have said goodbye to Ailey as well?”

“I don’t make unnecessary emotional investments.”

“Even if you say that, I know you decided to fully support Ailey’s tuition and living expenses.”

“……Was it Kellen? I never allowed him to babble about such unnecessary things.”

Blasion clicked his tongue and began walking forward.

Lionel followed behind him, and naturally, the two began taking a walk together.

While looking at the strange flowers and plants around them, Blasion spoke first.

“When did you prepare that watch? It looked quite valuable.”

Lionel answered casually.

“Ah, that? It was a keepsake from my deceased mother.”

“You gave away your mother’s keepsake? Why?”

“Well…… I’m going to die today, aren’t I? So I decided to get rid of the things I cherished beforehand.”

Blasion’s footsteps suddenly stopped.

Lionel stopped as well.

The two stared at each other for a long moment.

“Did you forget? The condition was that you would keep me alive only until Mr. William passed away.”

She wanted to say more.

Please cremate my body.

Even though I don’t really want to, please send a letter to the Frencia barony……

But the atmosphere felt strange, so Lionel kept her mouth shut.

Blasion’s purple eyes were staring at her intensely.

“How old are you, exactly?”

“Me? I’m 20 years old.”

“A brat who only recently became an adult…… Why are you so calm about death? Just what exactly…… are you?”

Lionel shrugged her shoulders once.

“What do you mean? I’m just a doctor.”

With a little addition of memories from her past life.

Blasion narrowed his brows.

“……No. The doctors I have seen until now were not like you. They refused to admit their own lack of ability and, whenever treatment failed, they were busy making excuses by saying it was punishment from God. Some even demanded absurd amounts of money while claiming they would cure people.”

Lionel gave a bitter smile.

She had seen more than enough kinds of people during medical school and in hospitals.

So this was nothing new.

“Ah…… Yes, you’re right. There are doctors like that. But I hope you don’t put me in the same category as those doctors. At least I don’t play with people’s lives.”

“Did you think that way from the moment you became a doctor?”

“……I don’t know. Isn’t it natural for any ordinary human being to respect another person’s life?”

“Then why did you become a doctor in the first place?”

Why does he ask so many questions?

Could it be that “killing me” meant he was going to become a question-mark murderer and kill me through endless questions?

There was definitely an answer to his question, but Lionel did not want to say it.

‘An unknown disease wiped out an entire village. I was the only survivor. That’s why I became a doctor. I wanted to track down that disease.’

Her heart was not strong enough yet to reveal such a story.

“……Let’s just say my mother’s death was the reason.”

“How did your mother……”

“Duke.”

Lionel cut him off.

It was a clear signal telling him not to ask any further.

“Do I really have an obligation to answer everything to the person who is going to kill me soon?”

Finally, the question-mark murderer’s mouth closed.

Lionel let out a short sigh and straightened her shoulders.

“So, how will I die? Will I be stabbed by a sword? Or strangled? I don’t like pain, so please make it as quick and painless as possible.”

Blasion roughly brushed his bangs back.

A sigh that sounded almost like frustration escaped his mouth.

“……You don’t seem afraid of death at all.”

“Of course I am.”

Lionel immediately denied it.

“Everyone fears death, and I’m no different. But more than that, I understand the weight of a promise once it has been spoken aloud.”

It would be a lie to say she had no regrets.

There were still so many things she wanted to do.

But……

‘Even so, I did my best in this life.’

Compared to her previous life, where she suddenly died after being hit by a car, perhaps this was a better way to die.

At least she had been able to comfort the heart of a child.

Without a doubt, she could say this had been a more meaningful life than being forced to marry some perverted old man.

“From the beginning, I never intended to use someone else’s life just to escape an immediate crisis.”

Lionel touched the clover ring still inside her pocket.

Strangely enough, doing so calmed her emotions.

“Now, I’m ready. Please make sure it doesn’t hurt too much. Then who knows? Maybe next time……”

After choosing her words carefully for a long time, Lionel finally found the answer and finished her sentence.

“Next time, in my next life, if I am born as a doctor again…… maybe I’ll be able to uncover the secret of immortality for you.”

After saying everything she wanted to say, Lionel closed her eyes.

Surprisingly, her mind was calm.

However.

Even after quite some time passed, no pain came.

As Lionel slowly opened her eyes, a warm sensation touched her cheek.

“Lionel Frencia.”

Blasion, who had placed his hand on her cheek, called her name.

“What do you think? Do you believe this curse of immortality can be broken?”

Although his existence had gone beyond the realm of gods and become something ominous, his hand was warm like an ordinary person’s.

“Hmm, I’m not sure. Actually, I never thought of it as a curse.”

This was something Lionel had always wondered about since reading the novel.

Was an immortal really created simply because of a “curse”?

In the original story, Blasion was a knight who served a fallen kingdom’s princess.

While trying to save the princess, he suffered a fatal injury.

The princess made him drink a cursed potion, and as a result, Blasion became immortal.

Time passed.

Near the end of the novel, it was revealed that the heroine was the reincarnation of the princess, and the two spent a passionate night together.

And from that moment onward, the story stated that the curse of immortality had been lifted.

A normal reader would probably think, “Ah, the duke who didn’t know the greatness of love was pitiful~” and move on.

But Lionel thought differently.

‘He became immortal because he drank the medicine, but if the curse was lifted because something from the heroine’s body—her fluids, saliva, or something similar—mixed with him…… then maybe enzymes or proteins inside the heroine’s body stimulated the duke’s stopped aging cells?’

The miracle that appeared to be caused only by the power of love might actually have a medical reason that had not yet been discovered in this fantasy romance world.

That was Lionel’s hypothesis.

“I think the reason Duke’s body became like this is because of a pathological issue.”

“This…… is not a curse, but an illness?”

“Yes. I can’t say that with certainty yet…… But if I spend enough time examining and analyzing your body, there may be a way to uncover the secret through medicine.”

“Then.”

The hand that had been touching her cheek moved to Lionel’s shoulder.

The gaze looking at her trembled for a moment before becoming clear again.

For a man who had lived for 720 years, this was the moment he found a tiny hope from a 20-year-old woman.