Episode 19
Tinte, not noticing my effort to be polite, said in a serious tone,
“You should speak more respectfully.”
Ugh, is this the military or something?
In my head, I grumbled, but I didn’t show it. This is what they call “being professional.”
So, I corrected how I addressed him—with fake respect.
“Alright then, Master Tinte, sir?”
Tinte’s face turned red. Weird. I said what he wanted, but he’s mad anyway.
Before he could scold me again, I asked directly,
“I need to treat the Grand Duke. Can I do that or not?”
“Of course,” he replied.
“So I can treat him?”
Tinte nodded.
“All our doctors here are highly skilled. We passed hard exams and are good at making medicine, diagnosing, and even surgery.”
“Wow, impressive,” I said politely.
“Except for you.”
I shut my mouth.
I understood what he was really saying under his words.
“If someone has real skills, it shouldn’t matter if they’re an assistant, chief doctor, or just a passerby,” he continued.
I laughed a little and cut him off.
“Why are you saying it in such a roundabout way?”
“What?”
“You want me to prove my skills, right? Take that super hard test of yours?”
That’s what it meant. He didn’t trust me.
He wanted me to prove myself before he’d accept me.
That’s fine. When it comes to healing, skill is what matters most.
“I accept your challenge.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
“It’s not a problem for me. My skills are real.”
Tinte looked at me strangely, like he didn’t know whether to be annoyed or amazed.
There was always a sharp tone in his words and gaze, and it kind of hurt.
Still, I didn’t mind. Even if we started off on the wrong foot, we could fix things with time.
Then Tinte laughed and nodded.
Alright, maybe he’s not so—
“Oh, you actually believe that?” he said.
“Huh?”
“That potion of yours. Sorry, but if you use potions, you fail.”
…Old grump.
I stared at him, shocked.
“What did you say?”
“If you use potions, you’re disqualified.”
All my earlier thoughts flew away, and my face scrunched up in anger.
“Why?”
“Because I can’t trust them. What, are you useless without Aether?”
Ah, I see now. He’s trying to pick a fight.
Everyone here was deeply sick with potion distrust.
Only a few people in that one village had started to accept them.
Most still didn’t trust my potions, and Tinte—their leader—really knew how to push my buttons.
I was furious.
My potions were the best thing I had. They were mine, part of my life.
I gave a short laugh and said,
“Potions are my specialty.”
“A real doctor doesn’t depend on such things.”
“If I can heal better with them, not using them is unfair to the patient.”
Tinte glared. I smirked.
“You’re not mixing your personal feelings into this, right?
I’ve heard stories. That the Grand Duke’s chief doctor hates potions.
Even spreading rumors about black magic and stuff—was that you too? Just because of your feelings?”
Tinte’s eyes shook. His face briefly showed emotion, but then settled into quiet anger.
I wanted to poke him like that, but I didn’t expect him to stay so calm.
Okay, maybe he is a real adult.
“I’ve been a doctor for a long time. I’ve earned respect,” he said.
“Still, old water always ends up rotten.”
We glared at each other.
“Relying on shortcuts makes you forget the basics. You’ve come too far using easy tricks,” he said.
“I’ve never used shortcuts! Ugh, you don’t listen at all, old man!”
I was furious. I already had a pile of anger in me, and now it was growing even more.
I wanted to scream Hey! in his face but barely held it in.
Instead, I glared hard at this old, stubborn man.
And then he said it again,
“I do not recognize potions, Miss Rita.”
I accepted his words with a big fake smile and said,
“I’ll make you admit they work. Just wait.”
The war had begun.
Tinte was seriously a horrible old man.
“You can’t treat Dalia like that. You have to dry it in the sun—”
“Hey, I’m managing it properly, okay?”
He nitpicked everything I did and gave me a bunch of books to study, mostly about surgery.
I tossed them far away and used them as a pillow when I was tired.
Too hard to be comfortable, though. Why aren’t books soft? That made me sad.
“I hate this job.”
I groaned and slammed my head onto the table.
Since I wasn’t allowed to treat patients, they dumped random chores on me.
Even when I tried complaining to the Grand Duke, he just said:
“Didn’t I tell you? You must become a real doctor.”
“So this is what you meant?”
This was a scam contract. I did the work mechanically, thinking about how unfair it was.
Tinte said even checking health reports from all over the region was a doctor’s job.
So now I had a mountain of papers in front of me.
My grudge against him was growing as big as those piles.
“Rita, working hard, I see.”
It was Erka, another assistant doctor. He gently placed a teacup near the papers.
His robe was clean, his hands neat. He smelled nice too.
Wait, I knew that scent—cool and fresh. What was it?
“You smell good.”
“Hm? Maybe it’s from the herbs I was boiling earlier.”
“It’s familiar…”
I leaned in to sniff closer, but Erka backed away in surprise.
So I couldn’t remember what the scent was.
“What? It’s not like you’re gonna lose anything if I sniff,” I muttered.
“We’re not that close yet…”
“Oh, shut up.”
He laughed a lot. Such a giggly person.
“I don’t get why Tinte acts like that,” he said.
“I don’t either.”
“Don’t worry, it’ll get better soon.”
His nose wrinkled cutely when he smiled. I found that interesting.
“Why are you staring?” he asked.
“Just… your smile’s nice. Maybe I should try smiling like that. Then Tinte might stop going crazy. You know, like using my charm.”
I pulled over a mirror and tried copying his smile.
But I just looked like someone who was squinting weirdly.
I sadly pushed the mirror away.
Erka suddenly went quiet. I liked this peaceful mood.
He seemed like a good person, but he talked a lot.
When everyone else was out, he still hung around the office, which annoyed me.
It was hard to focus when he kept chatting.
Now that it was quiet, I felt calm.
“You—you’re pretty too,” he said.
“Yeah. Thanks.”
But Erka was tough. He bounced back fast.
