77. Confrontation

“Your Highness the Grand Duke. I understand that Inkheart represents the North as a house renowned for swordsmanship. Would you give me the honor of teaching me a lesson with your sword?”

Count Spinel clearly raised her energy. Koong. The formless energy, though silent, imposed pressure on the surroundings as if it were tangible.

‘She has the skills to justify her pride.’

“Count, your opponent is not His Highness the Grand Duke……”

“Stand back, Lucion.”

As someone who handled formless energy similar to aura, spirit power, I too could sense it. This person was not an opponent Lucion could block.

Darius remained relaxed despite Count Spinel’s energy that bordered on killing intent.

“Anette, would you like a laurel wreath?”

“Sure. If you win, perhaps a kiss on the cheek?”

Darius laughed freely at my impulsively spoken words.

“I’ll return without a single scratch. Wait with ease.”

Instead of taking a handkerchief, Darius lowered his head and kissed the back of my hand.

“Let’s consider this a deposit.”

* * *

“You seem relaxed.”

“And you seem relatively anxious, Count. Is something bothering you?”

“I trust you won’t use your Grand Duke title when it comes to swordsmanship.”

“I’m glad I can win on skill alone.”

Even while exchanging words, Darius’s gaze as he assessed Count Spinel was sharp.

“I was worried you might go around saying you lost because of my higher position.”

With Darius’s final words, the match began.

“Something just moved!”

When he started his attack, people gasped in amazement.

Clang!

Sparks flew as the swords collided. Finally, a different light entered Count Spinel’s eyes as she felt the heaviness of the sword transmitted to her.

‘Not bad.’

How long had it been since someone made her sword resonate like this?

‘He knows how to use a sword quite well. Unlike his weak father.’

Count Spinel pulled the blocked sword toward her chest, narrowing the distance with Darius. Now closer to her opponent, the count reversed the offensive. This time, she was the attacker.

Clang! Clang clang!

“Ohhh!”

As the sword exchange happened rapidly, the audience could only cheer.

“Look at the count’s swordsmanship! I can’t predict where she’ll move!”

“And what about the Grand Duke who blocks it all! He’s barely even moving from his position!”

“What good is just blocking! The one who thrusts is stronger!”

Meanwhile, the actual participants in the match were analyzing their opponents with sharp and cold judgment.

“I thought the lineage of Inkheart swordsmanship had been cut off, but your predecessor would be proud, Grand Duke!”

“I wonder if Spinel’s ancestors are crying. Despite giving so many openings for attack, you haven’t managed to wound me once.”

“Then come at me.”

“I won’t hold back.”

Count Spinel took a defensive stance. She was getting more excited. It had been a long time since she faced an opponent of her caliber.

‘No, perhaps even stronger than me.’

Just as she was waiting for Darius’s strike with an excited face.

“Count!”

A desperate shout called for Count Spinel.

“Count, the young master!”

Clang. Thud thud thud…

Count Spinel dropped her sword.

The audience’s cheers died down.

Misfortune arrived in an instant.

* * *

“Emil!”

The barrier of the North, the excellent swordsman who led the iron army, Count Spinel. Such titles were of no use to Count Spinel at this moment.

“Emil!”

Count Spinel clutched her collapsed son who had lost consciousness.

His breathing was barely audible, and his eyes under closed eyelids were unfocused. It was an emergency.

“A doctor!”

Until now, doctors’ prescriptions had been useless, but in desperate moments, it was still a doctor one called for.

“Anyone will do! Any doctor in Inkheart who can be called immediately!”

Count Spinel grabbed a specially prepared bag while crying. It contained prescriptions that the doctors from Spinel territory had insisted on continuing even after leaving the territory.

It was her last hope.

The count’s trembling hands picked up the medical bag. Just as she was about to connect a tube to Emil’s nose as a final attempt.

“Wait!”

Anette quickly stopped Count Spinel.

“This child has sinusitis!”

Tap.

Anette pushed Count Spinel aside and stood in front of Emil. Then she pressed Emil’s facial bones.

‘This doesn’t even compress. His nasal cavities are completely filled with pus.’

Actually, before the match began, when the young master’s condition rapidly deteriorated, those who remained in the camp were greatly flustered and called for a doctor. That doctor happened to be Schmidt.

Anette, who had heard during the match that Schmidt had arrived at the castle without being called, sensed something was wrong and quickly met with Schmidt before coming to Spinel’s camp to learn about the young master’s condition.

〈According to the person who came to find me, he had rhinitis and received a prescription in Spinel territory to wash his nasal passages with salt water.〉

A method of directly washing the problematic area rather than enduring stuffy, runny nose. It was the latest treatment method recommended by the medical community.

〈When salt water is introduced through one nostril, it flows out through the opposite nostril, taking the pus with it. Patients trust it because they can directly see the nasal mucus that was blocking the nose being expelled.〉

That’s when Anette had an intuition.

〈The treatment method itself isn’t a problem, so it must be another disease, but I’d need to see the young master directly to know more. Oh, madam? Madam, where are you going while I’m talking?〉

That the treatment method was the problem.

‘His nasal passages are completely swollen. If the condition is this serious, it might have worsened to otitis media. Since the nose and ears are connected.’

“Poor thing. You must have been in pain all this time, bearing it so well. You’ll get better now. Just hold on a little longer.”

Anette stroked the young master’s head and spoke softly.

“Lady Anette!”

At that moment, Schmidt belatedly entered, following Anette. Only upon seeing the people entering one after another did Count Spinel come to her senses.

“What are you doing now!”

“Salt water washing won’t work. That treatment method would actually suffocate this child to death.”

“Ha, all the doctors said it was the best method, so who are you to say otherwise!”

“Emil has a constitution where salt water doesn’t drain properly.”

“What?”

“The doctors said, didn’t they? That washing the nose removes contaminants from inside, making it easier to breathe. That’s only when all the salt water that was pushed in drains out. What if the salt water that should drain out remains stagnant due to narrow nasal passages? What would happen then?”

“I-I don’t understand what you’re saying……”

“If you don’t understand, just leave me alone for now! There’s no other option anyway! You can listen to explanations later! Your son is dying right now!”

Anette shouted angrily and then extended her hand toward Schmidt.

“Cotton swab. The longest one you have.”

Anette took the longest cotton swab and inserted it deep into Emil’s nose. Count Spinel was horrified again at the sight of a cotton swab being thrust into her son’s nose.

“What on earth are you doing! What if that gets stuck in his nose and doesn’t come out!”

“How did you feel about putting salt water in your son’s nose? Schmidt, please calm Count Spinel down so I can treat him.”

Twirl, Anette rotated the deeply inserted cotton swab. Somewhere in the narrow nasal cavity, which could only be probed with a cotton swab, pus had accumulated.

‘Got it.’

It was an exhilarating sensation.

Next to the nose, under the eye, and above the eyebrow. The empty spaces in the facial bones were completely blocked by nasal mucus. At this point, it was no longer just mucus. Currently, young master Emil was essentially in a situation where his central face was filled with pus.

Filled with pus, his body swelled, and as it swelled, there was no space for the pus to escape, creating a vicious cycle of accumulation.

So Anette massaged his face to check how much pus had accumulated while simultaneously inducing relaxation.

A small amount of pus that had flowed out came into contact with the cotton swab.

If it were clear mucus like water, it would just soak into the cotton swab, which would be meaningless in this situation.

But fortunately or unfortunately, young master Emil’s pus had been neglected to the point where it had become very sticky mucus. Sticky masses tend to cling together when pulled even slightly.

“It’s pudding. This is like pudding just about to come out of the mold.”

She needed to exercise the concentration of someone who had flipped pudding bottoms hundreds of times.

The key was to extract the yellow mucus mass caught on the cotton swab with exquisite hand technique and timing!

After stirring inside the nose dozens of times like a prayer, as if stirring pudding solution, Anette finally pulled out the cotton swab with force.

Squelch!

A mass of pus came out with the tip of the cotton swab. It was the pus that had been suffocating young master Emil all this time.

Like a coiled snake emerging from its burrow, a long mucus mass fell stickily to the floor.

“What on earth is that……”

What did that woman just take out of Emil’s nose? Could there be that much mucus in a person’s nose?

Count Spinel was still in a state of confusion.

Anette, paying no attention to this, firmly massaged young master Emil’s face.

Having removed the pus mass blocking the sinuses, she now needed to push out all the smaller pus masses that could be expelled through the newly opened passage. The newly opened airway would soon swell up and become blocked again if left alone.

Drip.

Clearer mucus with less viscosity than the pus removed earlier flowed out following Anette’s guidance.

“The immediate treatment I can do is…… Ah!”

Anette, wiping the sweat on her forehead, slapped her forehead as she realized there was a much easier method.

“But is this possible?”

At least theoretically, it was possible. The problem was practical application.