24. Bloodletting (1)  

“Rose!”  

Rose was still collapsed on my lap. If Sylphid’s claim that time hadn’t passed was true, then Rose had just fainted a moment ago.  

The green lights that had tormented Rose were now gone. Even the forest seemed to have changed from the eerie atmosphere it had earlier. Was it the effect of the magic left behind by the Spirit King disappearing?  

“Rose, wake up!”  

Though unconscious, thankfully, Rose was still breathing faintly.  

I looked at Sylph, who was curiously wandering around me, and desperately cried out.  

“Sylph, can’t you do something to help?”  

Sylph avoided my gaze.  

〈You don’t even have enough spirit power to handle me, Sylph.〉  

Sylphid’s earlier words stung painfully.  

“We… we need to ride back on horseback.”  

Now that the protective magic over this forest had disappeared, we should be able to leave safely. If we can just get back to the castle and get her treated…  

Wheeze, wheeze. Rose was breathing shallowly, struggling for air. I was terrified that her breaths might stop at any moment.  

“Just hold on a bit longer, Rose Temeri. It’s all over now.”  

I was struggling to lift Rose onto the horse when—  

“Lady Annette! Lady Rose!”  

“Annette!”  

I heard the voices of knights searching for us in the distance.  

“Here! Over here! Rose is here! It’s me, Annette!”  

The sight of their torches made my heart pound. We’re saved. We’re really saved, Rose.  

“Annette!”  

He came running, pushing aside branches without caring about the scratches they left on his body, charging forward like the wind on his black horse.  

“Annette Poche!”  

My male lead was running toward me.  

“Darius.”  

Darius, Darius. The male lead of this novel, who could overcome any dire situation.  

The warmth of his embrace was searing. As I was enveloped in his firm arms, I finally felt that the long night was coming to an end.  

“When I lost sight of you, I…”  

A wave of his scent washed over me. How reassuring…  

Darius, I found the legendary treasure of the North. And I even received Sylph from the Spirit King…  

I wanted to tell him that, but Sylph had already disappeared before I realized it. I no longer had even the minimum spirit power required to sustain Sylph’s form.  

“Darius, please take care of Rose. You must save her.”  

With those words, I lost consciousness in his arms.  

* * *

“She’s collapsed! Fetch a doctor immediately!”  

Darius returned to the castle, holding Annette in his arms. His loud voice calling for a doctor echoed through the castle, sounding unusually desperate.  

“Lay her down here. We’ll tend to her, Your Grace. She’ll be fine.”  

“Her body temperature and pulse are normal. The lady has merely fainted due to exhaustion. What’s more concerning is Lady Rose’s condition…”  

Thus, the chaotic night passed.  

“Your Grace, please go and get some rest. We’ll watch over the lady.”  

“No, I will look after her myself.”  

Darius took a wet towel from the maid. Though he wasn’t used to matters like this, his hands, wiping Annette’s forehead, were steady and meticulous.  

“Annette…”  

Darius couldn’t bring himself to hold Annette’s hand. When she disappeared into the forest, he had let go of her hand.  

〈Darius!〉  

Her startled expression was still vivid in his mind.  

“This is all I can do for you.”  

His chest ached painfully.  

* * *

Chirp, chirp, chirp. The sound of birds greeting the morning woke me up.  

“Lady Annette, you’re awake!”  

Apple, who had been carrying a new basin, looked at me with teary eyes.  

“You scared me! You went out like that and came back unconscious!”  

When I tried to sit up, I realized my hand was being held by something.  

“His Grace stayed by your side all night to nurse you. We offered to take over, but he wouldn’t listen. He just fell asleep moments ago.”  

The hand holding mine was gripping tightly, as if it would never let go again.  

The hand that wielded a sword was rough and calloused.  

‘There’s a wound.’  

A fresh red scratch on his arm,undoubtedly from rushing through the forest to reach me last night.  

“Shh, he just fell asleep. Don’t wake him.”  

I carefully loosened our intertwined fingers. In his sleep, Darius grumbled in discontent.  

“I never knew His Grace could be so caring. He seems like the kind of man who treats his wife exceptionally well.”  

“Really? By the way, what about Rose? Her condition was so bad. Is she okay now?”  

I was worried about two things: the treasure I found last night and Rose’s condition after fainting.  

Asking about money before a person didn’t seem right, so I asked about Rose first.  

“Well, um, about Lady Rose…”  

But Apple hesitated, her expression darkening.  

A moment later, after hearing Apple’s words, a scream burst out of my mouth.  

“What?”  

* * *

“We will now proceed with the procedure.”  

The doctor, holding a razor-sharp blade, stood in front of Rose. Beside him, his assistant held a large basin to collect the blood.  

“We will remove the bad blood from her body to restore Lady Rose’s vitality. This is the only method left to see any improvement.”  

Rose’s mother cried out in anguish.  

“This isn’t right, this can’t be right! How can you cut into a young girl’s body, no matter how desperate the situation?”  

“Calm yourself, Madam.”  

“Lady Rose’s current high fever can only be explained by an excess of bad blood in her body. She’s burning up and muttering about being cold at the same time. Once the blood is removed, these symptoms will subside.”  

After watching over her for a night, Rose’s condition showed no signs of improvement. The esteemed physician residing in the Inkheart castle suggested bloodletting as a last resort, claiming that removing the bad blood would cure her.  

“Bloodletting is too dangerous! It’s life or death!”  

Seeing the gleaming blade, Rose’s mother couldn’t bear it anymore and clung to her daughter. Rose weakly responded to her mother’s touch.  

“It’s cold, so cold, Mother… Ah, Brother… Hic.”  

“Madam, Lady Rose’s condition is already critical. A quick decision is necessary.”  

The doctor looked at Lucion. As a knight and the eldest son, Lucion knew he had to steel himself in moments like this.  

Lucion gently embraced his mother.  

“Rose will come back to us. Please wait outside. I’ll stay here with her.”  

No matter how the procedure ended, Lucion was determined not to leave Rose to face the blade alone.  

“I’m sorry, Doctor. Please proceed with the procedure.”  

Lucion, holding back tears, firmly requested the doctor to begin, despite his mother’s protests.  

The doctor took a deep breath and raised the blade again. Given the patient’s condition, he would need to draw as much blood as possible. At that moment—  

“Are you insane? Stop this immediately! Bloodletting? Do you know how hard I worked to save her?!”  

Before the sharp blade could touch Rose’s skin, the Grand Duchess burst into the operating room, shouting furiously, her eyes blazing red.  

* * *

“My lady, we must treat Lady Rose! Timing is critical! Please step aside!”  

“Block the door! Bring a mop! Lock that door now!”  

Bang, bang, bang. The doctor and Lucion, who had been thrown out, pounded on the locked door in confusion.  

“My lady, please, I beg you to help my sister!”  

“Exactly! I’m helping her right now by keeping that crazy quack out of here!”  

“My lady!”  

Bloodletting, of all things.  

I underestimated the horrors of medieval medicine. Pulling out teeth, cauterizing the roof of the mouth, and blaming illnesses on bad blood circulating in the body—this was the state of medical knowledge in this era.  

When I heard from Apple that Rose’s condition hadn’t improved and the doctor had decided to attempt bloodletting as a last resort, I was horrified and stormed into the room.  

Fearing my words alone wouldn’t convince them, I brought a group of maids with me and occupied the room.  

Anyone with common sense would think draining blood from an already weak person was absurd.  

The problem was that those advocating bloodletting were the so-called medical professionals. The best conclusion they could come to, after studying medicine, was bloodletting. Ridiculous.  

‘Who brought that quack here as the castle’s physician? It must have been Lady Ygret bribing someone again.’  

I cursed under my breath as I defended Rose’s room. Draining blood from a healthy person was bad enough, but doing it to someone as weak as Rose? They were practically asking her to die.  

“My lady, please stop this! My lady!”  

Bang, bang, bang. The ignorant fools outside were blaming me for everything.  

“What should we do now, my lady?”  

“Thank you, truly, thank you, my lady.”  

A middle-aged woman, sitting by Rose’s bedside, bowed her head to me.  

“I’ve heard so many stories of people dying from bloodletting. I never wanted this. But my husband and Lucion insisted it was our last hope… I couldn’t stop them.”  

Even royalty in this era had died from bloodletting while trying to treat plagues.  

The woman sobbed as she stroked Rose’s burning forehead.  

“Her fever didn’t subside all night. And despite being so hot, Rose kept saying she was cold.”  

“My lady, we can’t leave Lady Rose like this.”  

Blocking the foolish doctors was only a temporary solution. If we didn’t rely on Rose’s natural healing ability, we had to find a way to cure her.  

Honestly, I didn’t have a solution either. In my previous life, I wasn’t a nurse or a doctor.  

‘Think. There must be something, anything, from modern knowledge that’s better than this medieval nonsense.’