Chapter 61
*
After the Founding Festival ended and we were on the way home.
Inside the carriage.
When I looked up, Eri sleeping in the seat across from me came into view.
Eri was sound asleep, using my lap as a footrest and Freyja's shoulder as a pillow.
Mmmnya. Ehehe.
Having stuffed herself to the brim, Eri stroked her slightly swollen belly with one hand and soaked Freyja's dress with her drool.
If it were the usual Freyja, she would have scolded Eri for violating proper etiquette.
But today, whether because she was tired or because it was a special day,
Freyja simply lent her shoulder in silence without waking Eri.
And in the seat right beside me,
Charlotte, having removed every uncomfortable accessory, muttered,
“What an incredibly rude escort you have there.”
“As the saying goes, geniuses don't bother minding the people around them.”
“Indeed. For someone like Eri, there are hardly any peers who can stand against her, so there's no reason for her to be bound by norms.”
Was it because she was a genius too?
Charlotte seemed not to mind Eri's rudeness all that much.
For one thing, Charlotte herself was the type to brush off norms lightly whenever she needed to.
“By the way, Young Master Nihirit... no, Julian.”
“Yes?”
“The promise we made at the banquet hall is still valid, isn't it?”
A promise?
Ah, right.
Charlotte and I had definitely made one promise.
She would help with the princess consort's diagnosis, and I would explain the diagnostic process to her.
She said that the logic behind it would help her develop her powers of deduction.
“Understood. Since there's still time until we get home, I'll explain it one step at a time.”
I immediately told her about the process of diagnosing the princess consort's illness.
From first learning about her medical history through rumors, to visually inspecting her whole body, and finally, with Charlotte's help, checking her fingertips.
After gathering all the clues, I concluded that the princess consort was suffering from antiphospholipid antibody syndrome.
While listening to my explanation, Charlotte took an interest in Raynaud's phenomenon.
“What exactly is Raynaud's phenomenon?”
“In patients like Her Highness, the blood vessels are already weakened by internal attacks and become vulnerable to external stimuli. Because of that, even a little cold causes the vessels to constrict abnormally. The blood doesn't circulate properly, so the fingertips turn pale.”
“So that's why her fingers turned white when I handed her the cold glass.”
“Excellent observation, Charlotte.”
Charlotte nodded slowly.
Then, as if something had suddenly occurred to her, she took a notebook from her pocket.
After flipping through the pages, she snapped her fingers.
“I thought it sounded like a familiar principle. It's similar to that thing called 'lividity' you taught me last time.”
“Exactly. In the end, both lividity and Raynaud's phenomenon are areas that require an understanding of blood vessels.”
Lividity.
It was the forensic knowledge I had first taught Charlotte.
In forensic medicine, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say this concept alone accounts for more than half the field.
Lividity refers to the discoloration that occurs when blood pools in the lower parts of the body under gravity after death.
A forensic doctor can learn a great deal from lividity.
Purple lividity pooled on the back? Then they died after collapsing on their back.
If you press it with a finger and it turns white? That means they died not long ago.
If the color of the lividity is pink or green? Then it's poison.
I taught Charlotte all of that.
To make her think I was still the rival who was ahead of her.
And now,
she was connecting Raynaud's phenomenon with lividity.
That was quite a remarkable insight.
Because I was actually about to tell her about the symptom related to it.
“As it happens, there's a specific symptom I can tell you about that ties Raynaud's phenomenon and lividity together.”
“Really?”
There are forms of lividity whose mechanism is similar to Raynaud's phenomenon.
Charlotte's eyes sparkled.
“What symptom is it?”
“There's a spot called a Vishnevsky spot.”
“A Vishnevsky spot...?”
“It's a special spot found only in corpses that died from exposure.”
Put simply, someone who dies from the cold develops a special mark on the stomach.
With this, you can tell whether they died from the cold, or were murdered and dumped somewhere cold.
Here, it could even be used to narrow suspects down to ice mages.
“I'll organize the details and send them to you as a paper, like last time.”
“Thank you, Julian. As expected, you're the only one for me.”
Charlotte giggled and leaned against my shoulder.
A fiancée who was delighted by forensic knowledge.
Could I really call this a normal relationship?
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but it didn't last.
There are so many different kinds of relationships in the world.
Something like this can exist too.
“We'll be arriving soon.”
When I came to my senses, the carriage had already reached the street where our mansion stood.
Not even realizing we had arrived, Eri wriggled her feet in my lap.
As a bonus, there was one more drool stain on Freyja's dress.
“Thank you for bringing us home, Miss Charlotte.”
“I had a wonderful time today too, Julian.”
“Freyja, wake up. We're here.”
“Huh? Already?”
The carriage stopped in front of the mansion.
Eri, Freyja, and I got off in turn.
I exchanged a parting glance with Charlotte, who leaned out by the window.
Charlotte returned the same glance.
The carriage that had brought us home disappeared into the darkness of the city.
“It's cold out. Let's go inside.”
“Mmm. I'm going in and sleeping, Teacher.”
After parting with Eri, whose room was in the annex,
Freyja and I headed to the main house.
When we went to the main house's living room, our parents, who had returned after the Founding Festival, welcomed us.
“How was the banquet today?”
“Ah, I happen to have a lot to tell you!”
Freyja told them about what happened today.
About declaring that she'd give the prince and princess consort a baby.
About being called away separately to the reception room.
About refusing the offer to become the dedicated healer.
And even about the prince patting her on the shoulder.
As Freyja's story continued, Father's teacup gradually slowed in his hand until it finally stopped.
Mother almost dropped her teacup halfway through.
“A... dedicated healer? His Highness Prince Edmund??”
Father's reaction was especially dramatic.
Apparently, Prince Edmund was famous in more ways than one.
I didn't know much about it, and I had no intention of finding out.
Instead, I gave the two of them a bright smile.
“Oh, and tomorrow morning a carriage from the imperial palace will come. Don't be too surprised if you see a carriage bearing the imperial crest parked in front of the entrance.”
“W-what did you say?”
“Then I'll need to get up early tomorrow, so I'll head in first. Good night.”
I bowed to my parents and climbed the stairs.
As I went up to my room, the living room grew a little noisy.
— “Wake all the servants! We must make full preparations so we do not offend the imperial family tomorrow!”
The mansion became a noisy flurry of activity.
Regardless.
Back in my room, I took out my house-call bag for tomorrow's consultation.
“Blood collection tools. Test tubes. Wassermann test reagent. Alcohol lamp for urine testing. And medicine extracted from willow bark... and also...”
And, most importantly, the secret weapon for the prince.
I had packed all the necessary medicines and tools.
After reviewing once more the knowledge I'd need for tomorrow's consultation, I collapsed onto the bed.
*
The next morning.
After getting up as usual and finishing my grooming, I saw that the imperial carriage had arrived outside the window.
An imperial carriage stood at the mansion entrance.
And on both sides of it stood two palace guard knights.
The knights didn't move a muscle.
They neither knocked on the front door nor shouted an imperial announcement toward the mansion.
They simply waited in silence for me to come out.
That meant Prince Edmund was treating me with quite a bit of deference.
Naturally, from the perspective of the head of a baronial house, the weakest among the noble houses, this treatment seemed rather burdensome.
Early in the morning.
Father clutched his stomach as if he had a stomachache.
“Julian. If it's you, you can do it. Don't be too nervous.”
I received Father's encouragement before stepping out the front door.
Though it seemed Father, not I, was the one who needed the encouragement.
In any case.
I boarded the carriage with Mother, Freyja, and my youngest sibling seeing me off.
The knight on the driver's seat spoke to me.
“Sir Nihirit. Is that correct?”
“Yes. That's right.”
“I'm worried we may have gotten you up too early because of us. You could have taken your time coming out.”
“Not at all. I normally head to the clinic at this hour.”
The guard knight's gaze briefly turned toward the clock tower.
The hour hand pointed to 6.
“At 6 in the morning?”
“My clinic opens at 6:30.”
“We don't even start morning training at that hour...”
Was it because this was a Western-style culture?
Their reaction was one of surprise that I would wake up at this hour.
In South Korea, this was perfectly ordinary.
“I've rambled enough. The prince gave his orders. As for your return time, you can decide that yourself, sir. Once your consultation is over, you can use us as you please for the rest of the day.”
“Thank you.”
Even while I chatted with the knight on the driver's seat, the pre-dawn street slid by outside the window.
Before long, the carriage arrived at the detached palace.
In front of the detached palace, waiting to greet me was not the chief attendant, but the prince himself.
“Welcome, Sir Julian.”
He was clearly different from his appearance at yesterday's banquet.
Yesterday he had been a prince in a military uniform with medals on it, but now he was a young nobleman in a comfortable shirt with his sleeves rolled up.
Under the prince's attentive guidance, I headed to the reception room.
When I arrived at the reception room, I saw the princess consort sitting demurely on the sofa.
“Welcome, Sir Julian.”
The princess consort bowed her head.
She was also dressed in comfortable indoor clothes.
A net-like purplish rash was starkly exposed above her collarbone, where there was no lace collar.
The prince naturally took his seat beside her.
“Shall we begin the examination right away?”
“Yes. Let's begin.”
I set the house-call bag on the table and opened it.
I drew blood from a vein with a needle and, with the maids' help, collected urine.
I divided the collected blood into two test tubes.
Each was labeled [Clotting Time] and [Wassermann].
Next, I borrowed a small room and heated the urine sample inside it.
Since it didn't foam when heated, proteinuria could be ruled out.
“Fortunately, the kidneys hadn't been affected.”
Patients with antiphospholipid antibody syndrome often also have lupus.
That's why I checked for proteinuria.
Fortunately, the possibility of lupus had dropped considerably.
Of course, even if it were lupus, we could still treat it sufficiently with the medicine I had on hand, so it didn't matter.
I went back to the couple.
“I'll come back in a week with the blood test results. Of course, there are medicines you need to start taking before then.”
I took a small medicine bottle out of my bag.
It was a plain glass bottle painted an opaque color.
Originally, since this was medicine to be presented to royalty, I wanted a more luxurious bottle for it.
But I'd had to pack the medicine as soon as I got home yesterday, so I hadn't had time to decorate the bottle.
“This medicine is extracted from willow bark. Mercure Trading is selling it under the name Aspirin.”
“Hmm? Isn't that a different name from the medicine I heard about yesterday?”
“Heparin is a medicine you take to prevent problems after pregnancy begins. Before pregnancy, you need to take aspirin in advance.”
“I see. Sorry for doubting you.”
“Not at all. That's the patient's rightful prerogative.”
After that, I explained the dosage and usage to the couple.
After listening, the princess consort carefully accepted the bottle.
The princess consort held it tightly as if she'd been given a precious treasure.
“Thank you, Sir Nihirit.”
“If your pregnancy is confirmed, please let me know right away. From then on, I'll give you the additional medicine I mentioned yesterday.”
“All right.”
With that, the examination was over.
I was then invited by the prince and princess consort to breakfast at the detached palace.
“At this hour, you probably haven't even had breakfast yet. What do you think?”
“I'm honored, Your Highness.”
Of course, I did have a packed lunch in my bag.
But I couldn't refuse a royal invitation to eat, so I accepted it.
I also wanted to see the quality of imperial cuisine for myself.
“Then before we eat, let's talk a bit. We should also discuss the reward I can offer you.”
Prince Edmund naturally led me to his study.
Click.
As soon as we entered, the prince locked the study door and looked around.
Soon after, he whispered in a low voice,
“Sir Julian.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“That... did you bring it?”
“Yes. I brought it.”
I took a small box out of the bag's double bottom.
Edmund's eyes gleamed.
When I opened the small box, dozens of blue diamond-shaped pills appeared inside.
Sildenafil.
Brand name: Viagra.
A wonder drug that revived a man's pride.
“Oho... this is the legendary one I'd only heard about in rumors...!”
“Your Highness. May I ask how those rumors spread?”
“Ahem. Well... one of my subordinates had a friend who took part in Mercure Trading's clinical trial. He was a fellow who fell off the city wall and broke his pelvis.”
After sildenafil was discovered to have effects other than improving heart function,
the clinical trials began to include not only young, healthy men, but also men with erectile dysfunction.
It was to see just how much they could make it rise.
And the result was...
“That friend who said even having sex with his wife once was hard after injuring his pelvis... after taking the drug, he... ahem.”
As you can see.
It didn't become a legendary drug among men in my past life for nothing.
And its reputation here didn't seem all that different.
“I understand how you came to know about it.”
“Ah, you're one of the clinical trial supervisors, right? I'm worried that friend of mine might suffer some repercussions. Could you handle that properly?”
“That won't be a problem, Your Highness. The trading company doesn't really mind this degree of leakage.”
“Really?”
“The medicine's efficacy has been proven, so rumors spreading is actually a natural process. Clinical trials are supposed to account for that from the start. He won't suffer any repercussions.”
“That's a relief.”
The prince looked relieved.
But there was something he didn't know.
“It's technically not allowed.”
That's exactly why the word embargo exists.
But I decided to let this one slide.
Was it called viral marketing?
Sometimes, rumors leaked this way naturally are more effective than direct advertising.
In fact, if I wanted to market it through the prince, I'd need to make more active use of leaks like this.
So I decided to leave this sildenafil leak alone without taking any special measures.
“Come to think of it, Your Highness. Did you happen to hear any precautions from him?”
“Hmm? Are there precautions?”
“Yes. Very important precautions.”
“Speak.”
“You must not take more than two pills a day. No matter what happens.”
The prince nodded, saying he understood.
But I didn't trust the prince.
Human greed is endless.
Wherever you go, there are always people who get greedy.
Especially right after taking this medicine, there are many who get drunk on a sense of omnipotence and abuse it.
So I admonished Prince Edmund,
“If you take multiple pills, that part won't just fail to go down; it will start rotting. Depending on the case, it may need to be cut off.”
“Of course, if it's cut off, it can be reattached.”
For the imperial family, getting high-level healing magic isn't difficult.
And if the surgery goes well, a potion can still be enough to stitch it back together.
However, there was one thing we needed to keep in mind.
Namely, that anesthesia in this world was still underdeveloped.
“...”
“Do you understand, Your Highness? By then, even I won't have any solution.”
“Have you... ever seen such a case yourself?”
I smiled meaningfully.
“Do you really need to see it? If you'd like, I can show you the records.”
“No matter what happens, I'll only take one.”
“A wise decision, Your Highness.”
*
A week passed after that.
The Wassermann test came back positive.
Proof that the princess consort's illness had matched my diagnosis exactly.
I returned to the detached palace, reported the results, and asked them to contact me immediately if she was confirmed to be pregnant.
Then, another week passed.
I had just finished Eri's regular blood transfusion at the clinic and was heading home.
“Julian. A letter has arrived from the imperial family.”
Father handed me an envelope stamped with the imperial crest.
I took the letter to my room and carefully opened it.
Inside the letter, a short message was written in a delicate hand.
=============
To Sir Nihirit.
It has already been a week since Sir Nihirit visited the detached palace.
Following your instructions, I am first letting you know of the slightest change in my body.
Even though the scheduled day has passed, my period still hasn't come.
To be honest, fear comes before joy.
But as much as you have worked for us, we also want to dare to hope this time.
I sincerely hope this news is the beginning of the miracle we've been waiting for.
I will end my letter here.
============
It seems the princess consort has safely become pregnant.
It was news worthy of celebration.
However, one question remained.
‘Wait. The prince received the medicine from me exactly two weeks ago. But ovulation would also have been two weeks before the menstrual period.’
Then the time the princess consort became pregnant was...
‘She got pregnant as soon as she got the medicine?’
Damn it.
That was ridiculously fast.