Not long after, the maids opened the door and came in. She shouted in a cracked voice.
"Yes. Call a healer right now!"
The maids, who had been standing frozen in surprise, soon ran out of the room.
Unable to bear the intensifying heat, Thalia lifted her skirt and unwrapped the bandages around her legs. Soon, a hideous, red-hot skin was revealed within her vision, which flashed like a white light.
Thalia let out a scream as she saw the pale scar wrapping around her left leg like ivy slowly creeping upward.
The bumpy, raised scar climbed up the knee to the thigh and extended thin branches toward the lower abdomen. To stop it, she frantically scratched the worm-like scar with her fingernails.
Blood flowed from her thigh along with a burning pain. Undeterred, she began to haphazardly tear off the skin tissue, which was as tough as tree bark. As if to stop her, the young wolf thrust its head between her hands and legs and let out a sharp howl.
Thalia nervously pushed the wolf away.
"Get away! If you don't take this off right now...!"
Thalia flinched and stopped her hand when she saw Khan roll off the bed as she was scratching her leg like a half-crazed person.
Tears welled up as she saw the young wolf approaching the bed, limping on one leg as if he had sprained his ankle while plummeting onto the floor.
"I, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Khan..."
Thalia, hurriedly holding the wolf in her arms with trembling hands, muttered in a voice mixed with metallic sounds. Khan licked her cheeks incessantly. Thalia buried her face in the soft fur and let out rough sobs.
Just then, someone ran into the room.
"Your Highness, I have come at your summons. I see you are feeling unwell..."
As she approached the bed, Tiuran suddenly stopped speaking. It seemed she had seen blood flowing from the leg.
The Eastern healer took a short breath, bent over the bed, placed her hand on the affected area, and infused it with magical energy. Soon, the stinging pain and the burning heat began to subside little by little. Thalia let out a long sigh of relief.
“Some water..."
As she mumbled in a hoarse voice, the maid waiting by the bed immediately poured jer some water.
Thalia struggled to sit up, took the glass with trembling hands, and drank the water. As the cold water washed down her throat, which was as dry as parched leather, her mind finally settled down.
"Suddenly, my skin started burning intensely, and everything in front of my eyes began to go white. Why are these symptoms appearing?"
"...It seems like it is a side effect caused by the medication."
As she wet the towel and wiped her legs, Tiuran spoke in a firm tone.
"Poppies and mandragoras are medicinal herbs with powerful pain-relieving effects, but overuse can lead to serious side effects. It seems that due to the excessive abuse of the medicine..."
“I couldn’t help it.”
Thalia turned her head at the sudden sound of a voice. Marisen, looking disheveled as if she had rushed over after receiving a belated summons, was striding across the room.
"Her Highness has been suffering from chronic pain for years. As she has developed a tolerance to various analgesic herbs, the only way to see an effect was to increase the dosage."
"That does not mean, however, that the abuse of herbs accompanied by fatal side effects can be justified."
Tiuran rebutted sharply.
"You surely know that some medicinal herbs are also used as poisons, don't you?"
Marisen's face hardened. She looked angry that her prescription had been publicly criticized.
"I did not use medicine so recklessly. Because Her Highness’s health had become excessively frail..."
"So, are you saying this is my fault?"
Thalia, who had been catching her breath while leaning back against a pillow, shot back coldly. At that, the color drained from the healer's face.
"That was not my intention. I merely meant that I had no intention of causing Your Highness any harm..."
"Regardless of your intentions, the fact remains that your medicine ultimately harmed me."
At the cold remark, the woman bit her lip and bowed her head.
"...I will be careful to ensure this does not happen again."
Thalia, who had been watching the scene with narrowed eyes, soon turned her gaze to look up at the Eastern healer standing beside her. She was adjusting the hem of her skirt with a nonchalant touch.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that something similar had happened in the past. Looking back and forth at the two healers with a pensive expression, Thalia finally opened her mouth as if she had made a decision.
"From now on, have the two of you make the medicine together."
Marisen suddenly lifted her head.
"Your Highness, I am a high-ranking sorcerer who has been professionally trained for many years within the Tarren family. There is no reason to be treated as an equal to a single herbalist from the East..."
"Are you saying you will disobey me right now?"
Thalia, clutching her throbbing head, firmly cut her off.
"Tiuran is a healer belonging to the House of Sheerkhan. She was originally in the same position as you. However, she, too, made the mistake of prescribing the wrong medicine and was demoted to an assistant healer. Wouldn't it be fair if you received the same punishment?"
Marisen kept her mouth tightly shut, as if she had nothing to say in rebuttal.
Thalia continued in a cold tone.
"From now on, the two of you take turns seeing me."
"...I will do as you command.”
The woman, with her eyes lowered, replied in a stiff tone.
Thalia gestured with her chin, looking tired.
"You're out now. I'm leaving my health to Tiuran today."
The woman, who had been moving her lips as if to say something, soon left the room with a resigned expression.
Thalia buried her back deep into the pillow as if exhausted and turned her eyes to the woman standing beside her.
Despite the sudden decision to reinstate her, the woman showed almost no sign of surprise or joy. With a calm demeanor, she simply walked to the brazier and began scooping various herbs into cotton.
"I will prepare and serve a medicinal tea to remove toxins accumulated in your body. After drinking a cup, please eat plenty of porridge and drink plenty of water, and get plenty of rest. Also, it would be best to reduce your painkillers for the time being. Instead, I suggest other methods to alleviate the pain..."
"I get it, but first, please take a look at Khan's legs."
Thalia carefully lifted Khan, who was resting quietly on her lap, and spoke in a worried tone.
"It fell off the bed because of me earlier. I think it sprained its front leg."
The woman who had been stirring the brush with a ladle approached the side of the bed again.
Khan remained motionless, his body limp like a doll, while the healer carefully stroked his leg. However, Thalia could feel the wolf's small heart beating rapidly.
It pained her to see how shocked he looked because of her. More than anything, she was worried about what would happen if Khan came to hate her.
"You didn't break a bone or anything, did you?"
It is just a stretched ligament. Monsters tend to have good regenerative abilities, so it will fully recover within a few days.
Even with Tiuran's calm explanation, Thalia could not shake off her worry.
"Can't you cast a healing spell to treat him right now?"
"Your Highness, monsters possess strong resistance to magical power. Unless you pour in an exceptionally powerful amount of magic, it is difficult to expect any significant effect."
Thalia felt her heart sink. It meant that even if Khan were to get seriously injured in the future, there was little she could do.
She looked down at the wolf with a pale face.
Khan still looked unsteady. His tail, which usually waggled, was curled up, and he did not move an inch, and his ears were hanging limply down.
Feeling a heavy weight of guilt on her chest, she carefully pulled Khan closer. Instead of resisting and twisting his body, the wolf buried his nose in her neck and let out a small growl.
The sight of him clinging to jer without a hint of resentment despite jer rough behavior made her feel choked up for a moment.
"I'm really sorry, Khan. I will never hurt you again."
Thalia, who had been gently stroking the slightly trembling body, suddenly felt a strange gaze and looked up. The healer was looking down at her with eyes filled with faint pity. In an instant, a sense of humiliation, as if stripped bare, ran down her spine.
She snapped at Tiuran rather harshly.
"Didn't you say you'd prepare some herbal tea or whatever? Don't just stand there doing nothing; why don't you do something?"
"I apologize. I will prepare it and bring it right away."
The healer, having replied calmly, turned back toward the fireplace.
Thalia signaled the maids, who were watching her cautiously, to leave, then put the wolf down on the floor and limped behind the screen. The large bathtub was filled with cold bathwater.
She cast off her bloodstained loungewear and plunged herself into it. As the cool air spread across her skin, which was still burning, the tight tension drained from her body.
Thalia, curled up in the bathtub, catching her breath, glanced down at her legs submerged in the water. The scar that had crawled up her body had already returned to its original state. She ran her fingertips over it before roughly washing her face.
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Poor thalia
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