NOVPUB“How many times do I have to say it? That’s not a vein. Your angle’s wrong.”
“Hiieeek! Hiieeek!”
After recruiting Chloe as my nurse, I’d spent the past week using whatever time I could spare to train her.
She was diligent and had experience, so her fundamentals were solid. The problem was her timid personality.
“If you can’t find the vein and keep poking, slap the arm a few times.”
“H-How could I possibly hit your arm, sir...!”
“You’ll have to hit Her Highness’s arm too, eventually.”
“Gyaaaah!”
Venipuncture was tricky, after all. It was a necessary skill, so I thought I’d start teaching it, though it wasn’t urgent.
Since blood analysis tools were still in development, only I could handle it for now.
Along with practical training like blood pressure measurement, I’d been teaching her the basics of medical theory too.
Maybe it was thanks to her folk remedy knowledge, but she managed to follow even when I skipped some of the scientific explanations.
Explaining concepts like viruses or the human body structure made her light up like a baby chick. Honestly kind of funny.
Healers whose minds were stuck in religious doctrine often couldn’t grasp medicine at all.
Chloe was the perfect candidate to become a nurse.
“Let’s hurry through practice. You’ve got a lot of work ahead. We still need to start producing pharmaceutical ingredients.”
“I-It’s fine. M-My usual sleep is five hours...”
“Days off?”
“U-Um... once a month?”
A brutally overworked laborer.
I hadn’t rested either since starting this job as a court physician. At the very least, I had to check on Asella daily.
Did the scriptures not mention anything about Sabbaths? Where the hell did the five-day workweek go?
“From now on, sleep seven and a half hours. If you’re sleep-deprived, brain efficiency drops.”
“R-Really? I’m allowed to do that?”
“Yes. Match your REM cycle. I’ll explain later.”
Once Chloe got up to speed, I could finally slack off a bit myself. The medical field was always hostile to work-life balance.
A little vacation would be nice. I missed Neria.
“But you’ll have to stay meticulous with your work. We’ll be writing medical texts too, so you’ll be busy.”
“A b-book?!”
“Yes. A book.”
Explaining things verbally was tiring. To make my medicine more acceptable to the public, I needed to write it down.
It was also a meaningful step toward building a legacy.
“All right, let’s continue the practice. Let’s just draw the blood and wrap this up.”
“W-We’re really doing it? With a real needle?”
“What, you want to pretend? Here, hold the arm straight.”
“Hiiyaaa!”
Even as she shrieked, Chloe didn’t look away from my arm. I had to give her credit for guts.
Then—thud. My door slammed open.
“Lord Gotberg. I have a matter to relay—”
Asella barged in with her guards.
She waltzed into my room here at Moonlight Palace just like she did back at the marquis estate—like it was her own domain.
Well, technically, Moonlight Palace was hers.
“Hyaaaah! Y-Your Highness the Princess! Y-Your noble visage—!”
The moment Chloe saw her, she stiffened like a frightened marmot and dropped into a deep bow, trembling all over.
Asella, naturally, did not acknowledge the greeting.
Instead, she walked in and glared at me like I was a cockroach.
What now?
“Lord Gotberg.”
“You summoned me, Your Highness.”
“What is this.”
She jerked her chin toward Chloe.
“She’s my head nurse. She’ll be assisting me in caring for Your Highness’s health.”
“You were holding hands just now.”
“Were we?”
“You flinched and pulled away when I came in.”
“She’s timid, but competent. I’ll make sure she’s properly trained.”
“That’s all the excuse you have?”
“Excuse for what?”
“You’ve been under a delusion since the tournament. Your arrogance is through the roof.”
Asella’s cold voice stabbed into my eardrums.
[No. 077: Avatar of Jealousy 14% → 86%]
Ah. I screwed up again.
Maybe she saw it as a betrayal—that I’d brought a healer from Heike’s faction into Moonlight Palace without permission.
I’d summoned Chloe here # Nоvеlight # because important tools like blood draw equipment weren’t allowed to leave the clinic. Bad call, apparently.
“Your Highness, with respect, may I speak?”
Until now, Tanya had been silently standing in the background. Now she stepped forward with a clank of her armor.
Asella glanced sideways at her.
“Speak, Lady Tanya.”
Lady?
Did Asella just refer to her with honor?
Why don’t I get a title like that?
“The doctor was training the newly recruited nurse to better serve Your Highness. The scene you witnessed was part of the venipuncture instruction. There were no other intentions.”
“Hmph.”
Hearing Tanya’s explanation, Asella looked down at me with obvious displeasure.
“Lady Tanya, how long have you served his household?”
“Seven years.”
“Come to my quarters during my tea time later.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
That escalated quickly.
“Your Highness, Captain Tanya is my bodyguard. If she’s absent, my safety may—”
Asella’s sharp glare shut me right up.
[No. 077: Avatar of Jealousy 86% → 22%]
Well, at least the number dropped again. I decided to stay quiet.
Wait—no, it didn’t return to the original level. It went up slightly again.
“Lord Gotberg.”
“Yes.”
“From now on, conduct training with gloves.”
“Hygiene is important. Excellent idea, Your Highness.”
Asella turned her back to me with a dramatic spin. Her skirt’s lace hem fluttered lightly.
“Lucie, deliver the message in my stead.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Then why didn’t you send her from the start?
The princess stormed in and flipped my room upside down just to leave a message.
Only after Asella left could I finally breathe again.
“Interrupting like that... Tanya, don’t you think that was too much?”
“This time, it was clearly your fault, Young Master.”
“Mine?! And why are you calling me Young Master again?”
“Who knows. I should go prepare tea for Her Highness.”
“You’re just gonna trot after her like that? Hey, that’s dereliction of duty!”
“Her Highness outranks you, doesn’t she? Orders take precedence. Don’t trip over yourself and stay quietly in Moonlight Palace.”
Tanya’s shamelessness had become so exaggerated it somehow came across as courteous.
“Unbelievable. Chloe, don’t let this set a weird example for—”
“Glrk... gak...”
Chloe was still collapsed on the floor, twitching. Apparently, Asella’s pressure had been too much for her.
“Chloe, no time to be down. Thanks to Her Highness, today’s practice ends here. Get back and continue the culture experiment.”
“Y-Yes!”
“Everything going fine? I’ll need materials soon.”
Chloe wobbled upright and rushed to grab a file folder.
“The penicillin culture is going like this—”
She’d written it all out in round, tidy handwriting. Even sketched it out, which made it easy to follow.
I’d told her to cultivate blue mold using discarded bread and cheese from the palace kitchen.
“It’s the ingredient for that ‘antibiotic’ you mentioned, right?”
“That’s right. Aspirin relieves symptoms, but to prevent reinfection, we need antibiotics.”
Once the mold Chloe had cultured reached the right quality, I would extract penicillin.
The current epidemic was a viral illness—some kind of respiratory infection.
Usually, just as patients were recovering, their weakened immune systems would let bacterial infections take hold.
For knights with those symptoms, I planned to prescribe antibiotics.
Chloe fidgeted and made a request.
“S-Sir, I’d really like to watch you compound it...”
“You’ll get tired of it soon enough.”
“B-But still...”
She was sparkling with enthusiasm, even drooling a bit.
With this much progress, we’d probably get a usable sample soon.
“Let’s go test it.”
I headed to the clinic with Chloe in tow.
***
A crisp office lined with angular hardwood furniture.
Heike von Württempelt, First Princess of the Empire, was buried in paperwork from the tournament’s aftermath.
“Hm. Deployment efficiency in the barracks is down. Bring me the surplus budget ledger.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
Her poised command of the quill radiated charisma—no room for error.
Prince Gunther, the First Prince, was a coward, only considered heir because he was male.
Prince Georg, the Second Prince, was ambitious but reckless. His zeal often led to poor decisions.
Lauga and Asella, both lower in succession, weren’t even being considered.
If asked who best fit the throne, most would point to Heike.
Even before adulthood, she had led knightly campaigns to subjugate barbarian tribes, and even now, she volunteered to enter danger zones during crises.
More and more officials were drawn to her abilities. Heike’s faction rivaled Georg’s in strength within the imperial court.
“All drills have been canceled. Isn’t that excessive, even considering the tournament?”
Aide: “It’s due to the epidemic. Post-tournament, over 60% of knights have suffered long-term injuries.”
“An epidemic...”
Even Heike couldn’t solve every issue with ease.
The illness spreading through the capital had been a headache for two months. The number of citizens booking clinic appointments had soared.
“The knights were pushed too hard at the tournament.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Confidential reports show a significant drop in combat strength among the Imperial Guard.”
“If an enemy were to invade, we’d be at risk.”
The Empire had plenty of forces.
The border knights guarded the frontiers, the patrol knights roamed the capital, and the Imperial Guard was composed of elites.
With several layers of defense, the odds of enemy infiltration were low—but Heike was not one to grow complacent.
“They spent how much on a damn flower viewing? And weren’t there even monster attacks?”
“Those were caused by black mages, Your Highness.”
“If it were me, I’d have beheaded them before they summoned anything.”
Heike flipped through another document on the epidemic.
“What’s this? Moonlight Palace is using the training facilities?”
“Um...”
Hearing that, Heike paused to think.
“None of Moonlight’s knights were affected, were they? The clinic didn’t assign healers to them. And still, not a single new case...”
She turned to her aide.
“What’s the reason?”
“Rumor has it—”
The aide responded cautiously.
“They’ve been using a new medicine to prevent reinfection. Distributed to Moonlight’s knights.”
“I’ve heard of this. Was it that aspirin?”
“It’s something different now. They’re calling it penicillin.”
“Penicillin...”
Heike repeated the unfamiliar name.
“Apparently, other factions tried to acquire it and were turned away at the door.”
“Such technology is worth monopolizing. Asella’s picked a capable court physician.”
“Well...”
“What?”
Heike urged the hesitant aide to continue.
“The one who developed the penicillin... isn’t actually Her Highness’s court physician.”
“Then who?”
“She was a low-ranking healer, but is now the disciple of Gotberg...”
“Now? So before that?”
“...She belonged to our faction.”
Heike’s face turned ice cold.
“Why’d she switch sides?”
“According to reports, Bishop Alberich dismissed her. Gotberg immediately rehired her.”
The aide swallowed hard, feeling as though a blade was pressed to their neck.
Heike gave a quiet order.
“Summon Bishop Alberich.”
