I went to the compounding room and immediately began going over the bundle of documents I’d received in advance.
The densely written file was none other than Jayden’s medical record.
I’ve already heard a brief account of his history, but…
That still wasn’t enough.
He was a child patient, so I wanted to be all the more careful in case I’d missed something.
But as I was diligently reading through the writing—
Something’s off after all.
Tamutar disease was known to be incurable, but that didn’t mean Cain had given up entirely all this time.
That’s why he got the spikeleaf in the first place.
For the past several months, Jayden had been prescribed medicines made with it. They couldn’t have been a complete solution, but they should have suppressed his symptoms to some degree…
So why was Jayden’s condition so bad?
As if he’d received no treatment at all this whole time.
One possibility came to mind, but…
Hm. This won’t do. Something like this, I need to check right away.
Jayden himself might not know much, being so young, or might be hiding something, but it wasn’t as though there was no way to check.
His personal maid ought to know something.
I sprang up from my seat and went straight toward Jayden’s bedroom.
But the lady’s maid’s waiting room was empty. When I stopped a passing maid and asked, the answer I got was absurd.
“Oh, um… Lady Celia hasn’t come in yet.”
“What? Hasn’t come in yet?”
The sun was already high in the sky. Wondering if she might be unwell, I asked again, and the maid glanced around uneasily and answered in a voice that shrank to almost nothing.
“Well… she’s still asleep. She gets angry if you wake her.”
“…Then what about the young master’s breakfast and medicine?”
“I took care of those instead. Lady Celia is often late, so…”
Where was I supposed to even begin with this?
When I’d first gone into Jayden’s bedroom, I’d thought the conditions were a mess, and apparently there’d been a reason for it.
My head was throbbing, but what I had to do didn’t change.
Only after waiting a full two hours more for her did I hear the click-clack of heels at the end of the corridor.
She came strolling along unhurriedly, wrapped in a lavish dress as always.
Spotting me, Celia screwed up her face mercilessly. She looked as if she’d stepped in dung.
“What? Why are you here?”
“Lady Celia, I have something I’d like to ask you.”
“Ha. Honestly, this is exactly why lowly commoners are hopeless. No manners, showing up out of nowhere without an appointment. Do you know how busy I am?”
Celia waved her fan in front of her nose and snapped irritably.
Ordinarily, I might have put up with it. I didn’t want to cause trouble for no reason.
But this was absolutely not something I could let slide so nicely. Jayden’s health was at stake.
I gathered my courage and spoke in a clearer tone than usual.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not here to see the daughter of Count Dorn right now.”
“What?”
“I’m here to see Young Master Jayden’s personal maid. On a professional matter.”
“Why, you…!”
At my words, Celia’s face went red in an instant.
“So. What do you want to say? Trying to find fault with something again?”
“Find fault? There’s something I need to check about the young master’s medication.”
“Check?”
Celia burst into a disbelieving laugh, as if she were dumbfounded.
“Are you my superior? What is this? Who do you think you are, trying to check up on me?”
“I’m not asking as your superior; I’m asking as his pharmacist. When I was looking over the records, something seemed strange…”
“Don’t make me laugh. Are you suspecting me right now?”
Celia snorted and glared at me.
“Pardon?”
“You’re suspecting that I didn’t give the young master his medicine, that I was slacking off!”
“…”
“And why are you talking to me about the young master’s medicine in the first place? You’re his personal pharmacist!”
As if sneering weren’t enough, she poked my shoulder with her index finger, tap, tap.
We weren’t getting through to each other at all, and my headache came back, but I did my best to stay calm.
“No, that’s not what I’m trying to argue about. I just wondered whether he ever resisted taking his medicine, or whether you noticed anything unusual…”
No matter how politely I asked, it didn’t work on Celia. Her eyes were already full of hostility.
“Excuses! Aren’t you just trying to find something to nitpick so you can tattle to Sir Conrad? You seem to have gotten quite a taste for that.”
I’d heard Conrad had given her an earful the other day, and every bit of that resentment was aimed at me. Her blazing hostility left me almost speechless.
Haa. I swallowed a deep sigh inwardly.
Celia hating me was one thing, but her being this uncooperative was a problem. This wasn’t a battle of pride for me; it was about a sick child.
“…There seems to be some misunderstanding. But still.”
As calmly as I could, and as maturely, I tried to placate her.
“Lady Celia. Let’s set aside whatever feelings there are between us for a moment. This is about the young master’s health. I need to know his condition accurately to treat him, so please…”
“Enough!”
Celia cut me off sharply.
“I did my job properly, all right? I brought his medicine to his room every single time. Whether he took it or not is his business!”
“Then you never actually saw him take it?”
“Ha! Am I a maid? To stand there watching every little thing? Do you have any idea how hard it is to humor a child?”
Celia snapped at me, but I didn’t care about that.
Because this was all the information I needed.
I went straight back to the dispensary and sat quietly, lost in thought.
I knew it. It looks like Jayden has been secretly throwing away his medicine instead of taking it all this time…
But why on earth?
I remembered Jayden’s condition a few days ago, when he’d been burning like a coal.
The fever had been so high that his body was in terrible shape. It was a wonder he’d held out as long as he had.
Suddenly, Jayden’s voice flitted through my mind.
“I’m not even sick right now anyway… Do I have to take medicine?”
When I first heard that, I’d thought it was just an ordinary child’s whining.
Children who liked medicine were rare, after all. Even grown-ups weren’t too fond of it.
That was also why I’d prepared a syrup medicine. If I made it sweet, it could lessen his reluctance.
But…
What if the reason Jayden had said that wasn’t something that simple?
I need to find out what’s going on.
That was where his treatment had to start.
Having made a plan of my own, I got up at once.
Then I gathered just what I needed and went to Jayden.
“Young Master. Today I’ve brought a slightly special medicine.”
“Medicine… right? Mm.”
Jayden, who had been beaming, drooped glumly in an instant. I made my voice even brighter on purpose.
“You didn’t seem to like medicine, so this time I took a little more care with it.”
Ta-da!
I opened my fist to show him the medicine I’d been hiding.
Round and rolling. Even the way it was wrapped made it look more like candy than medicine.
Sure enough, Jayden tilted his head in puzzlement.
“This is medicine?”
“Yes, Viola’s special candy medicine!”
Smiling brightly, I went on to explain.
“You’ll be able to take this one easily, right, Young Master? It isn’t bitter at all, and it’s really tasty. Back when I lived in Heiron village, all the neighborhood kids would line up just to eat it, and…”
I exaggerated on purpose to pique his interest. Like the innocent child he was, Jayden perked up his ears, but then he pushed out his lips sulkily.
“I’m not that much of a little kid.”
“Let me correct myself. It was so good that even the grown-ups lined up for it.”
“You’re exaggerating way too much.”
Jayden gave me a funny look, as if he didn’t believe me. That look was so cute that I almost reached out to stroke his hair before I stopped myself. There was something I had to do first.
“Anyway, today you just need to take this medicine. It’s much better than bitter powdered medicine, isn’t it?”
“Mm.”
“You can take it right now.”
“Now?”
“Ye-es.”
My tone was gentle, but when I looked at him with firm eyes, Jayden’s eyebrows twisted, if only slightly.
Still, he obediently took the medicine I held out.
Now? Is it now?
