The Emperor’s Great Hall.
A crimson red carpet is laid out, with flags symbolizing the royal family hanging on both sides.
Tap, tap, Astria arrogantly sits on the throne and looks down at Sena.
“Explain. How dare you audaciously steal my schedule.”
Astria, who couldn’t eat dessert, was in a very sensitive state.
Aide Rafiel looked at Sena with pitiful eyes. Today, he would definitely have to deal with a corpse. He was halfway convinced of that.
“You’ve done well to speak up. Explanation? I can provide it as much as you want.”
Sena confidently took out a paper from his pocket. It was Astria’s diet.
[Breakfast]
Mont Blanc with cheese.
[Lunch]
Beef hot pot.
Chocolate cream cake.
[Dinner]
Strawberry steak.
Chocolate mousse.
Chocolate chip cookies.
Strawberry ice cream.
Even upon seeing it again, Sena’s anger rose, causing the corners of his mouth to tremble.
‘Are you kidding me?’
How shocked he was when he first saw this.
Well, let’s leave that aside.
What’s with the strawberry steak?
Does strawberry really go with steak in the first place?
Isn’t mint chocolate more fitting for delicate tastes?
“What’s the problem with that? The Empress is a glutton. More greedy than anyone else.”
“What kind of glutton eats strawberry steak?”
“…”
Astria was at a loss for words.
But the Astria of the afternoon was a perfect tyrant.
With a menacing attitude, she asked.
“So why doesn’t it work?”
“It’s obvious why it doesn’t work!”
“So, didn’t I ask you to explain?”
Watching Astria arrogantly raise her head, Sena became excited.
Of course, Sena, who hadn’t properly checked the Empress’s pulse, didn’t know what kind of complications she had.
But even without checking, it was obvious that if she ate this kind of diet every day, diabetes would inevitably follow.
“When you eat sweets, your body secretes insulin in large quantities to lower your blood sugar. At this time, if you experience temporary hypoglycemia, your brain sends a signal that you need more sugar. If this vicious cycle continues, it eventually leads to hypothyroidism, and the proliferation of intestinal bacteria accelerates, causing significant harm to the body!”
“W-what?”
Astria looked at Rafiel beside her, pursing her lips. “What is he saying?” Rafiel was also puzzled. “I don’t know either.”
Sena sighed as he watched them.
“In short, it means you get extremely tired. Aren’t you tired? Even now.”
That hit home.
Astria subtly avoided eye contact and said softly.
“That’s… because I have a lot of work.”
“Having a lot of work might be part of it. But eating sweets makes you twice as tired.”
Astria remained silent for a while, narrowed her eyes, and said ominously.
“It’s an unheard-of story. Can you risk your life with your statement?”
“If you don’t trust your physician’s words, then have me executed right now.”
Sena pointed to his own neck.
Astria was dumbfounded.
“Aren’t you afraid of losing your life?”
Sena’s goal was only one thing.
To fix the Empress’s legs and get out of here as soon as possible!
Whether he died from offending her or died in euthanasia, that was what Sena wanted.
So, there was no way he would see anything else.
“This is what I want to say. Your Majesty, if you want to live, please follow my demands as much as possible.”
“…”
Astria clicked her tongue and whipped her head around, glaring at her Sena.
“Get out.”
“What?”
‘Even though she’s an Empress, she looks so tiny.’
She was indeed a tyrant who wouldn’t listen to any advice.
Just as Sena was about to unleash a torrent of words, his forehead wrinkled.
“Fine, get out.”
Astria didn’t even look in this direction as she said that.
But it was a clear consent and acknowledgment.
‘What’s going on?’
Honestly, he didn’t expect that the mischievous Empress would accept his suggestion.
He thought he would have to show his skills a few more times, persuade her calmly, and then…
In a very unexpected turn of events, Sena softened even further.
“No.”
“Hey.”
Astria glared menacingly.
Sena approached Astria, casually ignoring her, and reached out his hand.
“We need to check your condition.”
“…Quickly check and get out.”
“Sure thing.”
“Answer once.”
“Yep.”
Sena grabbed Astria’s wrist.
Astria still seemed dissatisfied, not even looking in his direction.
Thanks to that, he could concentrate more.
Sena closed his eyes and focused on Astria’s ankle.
Then—detailed images of the structure of her leg popped into Sena’s mind.
Like a blueprint.
It was one of Sena’s few abilities he received upon reincarnating into this strange world.
“Medicine.”
By the way, he came up with the name himself.
The point was, the meaning of ‘Medicine’ in it meant ‘real magic’.
‘As expected. It’s not just Parkinson’s disease causing discomfort in the legs.’
It seemed she had suffered a major injury before.
Her bone was broken, and it had improperly healed.
This bizarre form was the result of the damage caused by “Holy Arts”.
The Holy Arts performed by priests was not just a simple healing spell. It only accelerated the natural healing process of the human body.
As a result, if done incorrectly, bones could be improperly healed like this.
It happened to be a small bone in her ankle, and it seemed like it didn’t show on the surface, which resulted in this phenomenon.
‘Tsk tsk. This is why priests…’
In short, the Empress had fallen victim to the inadequacies of priests.
Sena activated his skill further to examine it closely.
And soon, he detected an anomaly.
Her Achilles tendon was severed.
“…!”
Sena was dumbfounded.
He checked Astria’s ankle visually. It seemed fine on the surface.
If the Achilles tendon was severed, it should have swollen considerably. However, it didn’t swell up just because the divine power prevented it.
‘Insane.’
Sena was not surprised for that reason.
Although Astria seemed uncomfortable, she could clearly walk.
It was the Achilles tendon, after all.
He had never seen someone walking with a severed Achilles tendon. Was that even possible?
It must be unbearable for a human to endure.
“It’ll take a while.”
“…Diagnosis is finished.”
“How is it?”
“I’m going to treat it, and it’ll hurt a bit. Are you okay with that?”
“I don’t care. Do whatever you can.”
‘Is the Empress really an Empress?’
Speculatively, she seemed to have borne the weight of being an Empress.
She had to appear as a “superhuman” like the Emperors of the medieval era. She probably couldn’t openly show pain.
But still…
‘Is she really human?’
Thinking that, he closed his eyes again.
The bone was improperly healed, and the Achilles tendon was severed, but he could treat it.
That’s what “Medicine” was. Being able to cut and reattach bones just with imagination. Like magic.
But there was no anesthesia. Especially in Astria’s case, where the bone was improperly healed. He had to cut and reattach the bone. She had to endure that pain fully conscious.
“It really hurts.”
“Quiet. Let’s do this quickly.”
“Don’t rush me.”
“Not even a word of sympathy.”
Sena took a deep breath, calming his mind.
It required intense concentration.
First, the Achilles tendon.
Before the fusion, he harvested the tendons in her calf.
Then, he pulled the severed Achilles tendon and tied it together.
It seemed easy, but it was a difficult task. He had to find and tie the severed Achilles tendon among numerous muscle tissues.
Sena calmly tied the harvested tendon and finished it.
‘Done.’
Sena regulated his breathing.
It took about 5 minutes in total.
“It feels itchy.”
“Don’t talk to me.”
“…Have you forgotten that I’m the Empress?”
Sena immediately moved on to the next surgery.
This one wasn’t difficult.
He just needed to cut out the improperly fused bone and bring it back to its original position.
The patient’s mental strength to endure the immense pain of bone cutting was crucial.
In severe cases, acute shock could occur.
“Please bear with it, here I go.”
Thunk!
Sena cut the bone in one go.
‘I’m in so much pain!’
A chill ran down his spine.
He felt like screaming out loud.
But it wasn’t the time for that.
Gritting his teeth, he swiftly brought the broken bone back into place.
And-
“Arthrodesis.”
‘This is truly the art of medicine.’
He fused the bone.
It wouldn’t fuse immediately like with Holy Arts, but it would probably take about 3-5 days.
Sena slowly opened his eyes and looked at Astria.
She had the same expression as before.
‘She must still be in considerable pain.’
She didn’t even let out a small groan.
Are you…?
‘Is it done?’
‘…Doesn’t it hurt?’
Astria said disdainfully.
“Would you call me a tyrant if I whined about being in pain this much?”
‘So you knew about being called a tyrant.’
Sena straightened up.
“You’ve done something to my body.”
“Yes. A lot.”
“If it worsens, I’ll truly kill you. Are you confident?”
Astria’s lips curled up. A very arrogant expression.
‘The effects seem to be there.’
And the fact that she showed her expression was a positive sign that her symptoms of Parkinson’s disease had changed.
Of course, it wasn’t a permanent recovery. It was probably just a temporary improvement in expression due to the effects of the “m*rijuana” given in the morning.
Still, it was a significant improvement.
[41]
The number was noticeably increasing.
At this rate, you’ll live longer than me, Your Majesty.
“If you’ve seen everything, leave. I need to attend to my duties soon.”
Honestly, Sena felt a bit annoyed.
‘No matter what I do, the number doesn’t increase.’
It wasn’t just because of that, but the discontented Sena pointed to Astria’s legs.
“Your posture is bad.”
“Aide.”
Astria looked at Rafiel with a serious face.
“Did I hear wrongly? Did that cat-like man dare to discuss the posture of the Empress?”
But what could he do if it was really bad?
Astria was petite. Sena wasn’t that tall either, but there was still a noticeable difference in height.
As a result, the Emperor’s throne was too big for her.
Was it because it was uncomfortable? She always sat with her legs crossed.
Of course, sitting with crossed legs was bad for spinal health.
“Lean back, straighten your legs, and sit properly. I understand that it’s uncomfortable because your feet don’t touch the ground, but it’s bad for your health…”
“Physician.”
“Yes.”
Astria, lips trembling, pointed to the exit.
“Get out.”
It seemed like the Empress was very irritated, so it was time to run away.
After all, he didn’t want to die right away.
