บท 3: Terminal Life (2) Chapter 3
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'I have to refuse.'
Can't I at least try?
There may be people who say, 'Why bother when there's not much time left?'
That's what people who haven't lived on borrowed time say.
Put yourself in their shoes. You'll come to appreciate how precious every day is.
Sena dreaded even a minute less in his lifespan.
And now asking for 70 days?
"…I'm sorry. It's impossible with my meager skills."
Even when kidnapped by criminals, he staunchly saved patients.
But this… this is truly impossible.
'I've lived altruistically enough until now.'
Sena clenched his fists and bowed his head.
"I'll go."
"This is a first."
"…"
Astria gazed intently at Sena.
"You're the first to refuse my proposal."
"Seems like I'm the only one who wasn't stupid."
Sena replied with an awkward smile, but Astria disregarded it.
"You're also the first to diagnose my symptoms correctly."
Feeling the psychological pressure, Sena raised his head.
Astria, who had seemed empty, now harbored some determination.
A transparent barrier that seemed to suck him in.
It felt as if every thought was laid bare.
-Are you having trouble sleeping lately?
-Do you feel discomfort in your limbs and easily get angry?
-Is digestion difficult, and is it hard for you to pass stool?
'Sh*t.'
Sena bit his lip, recalling his own words.
He had overstepped.
"Sena Birkender."
Astria's lips curved slightly upwards.
"Do it."
"Pardon?"
Sena wanted to clean his ears to make sure he heard right.
As if sensing Sena's thoughts, Astria drove the point home.
"Physician, do it."
**
<Dear candidate for next Pope>
-Thank you so much.
Thanks to you, I found a job.
Looks like I'll be dying first.
Hoping you'll keep your promise to go one day before me. – Sena Birkender.
———
"Uh oh. Cervical vertebra C3."
Sena held the back of his neck. Thoughts of earlier work made him nauseous.
What kind of medieval era is this? Does he not even have the right to choose his patients?
…It is the medieval era. And it's not just anyone saying it, it's an empress. So, it's right to obey.
A sigh escaped him.
"My fate… My destiny…"
With a face that seemed on the brink of death, he glanced at the sky, pinning a letter to the eagle's beak. He wished for someone up there to be playing carelessly.
God. Isn't this too much?
To not even consider the mere 77 days left.
You really push it too far.
No wonder I don't believe in you like this.
"…Let's talk later when I see your face."
After a brief prayer, Sena rose from his spot.
First, let's do what we can right now.
If he can just get her legs moving, she might grant at least 'one wish'.
"Let's see what's needed."
He opened the suitcase and nibbled his finger thoughtfully. With what's available, he might manage somehow.
"A bit of m*rijuana and some white willow… should suffice for treatment…"
Sena moved quickly.
**
Astria's chamber.
Dozens of maids moved busily.
Amidst them, Chris approached, kneeling on one knee.
"Your Majesty, how are you feeling?"
Astria, barely breathing on the bed, spoke with a faint voice.
"I'm fine."
Everyone knew that was a lie.
But she was an Empress.
An Empress couldn't show weakness before her subjects.
Even with a body so weak that walking was a challenge, she couldn't afford to sound frail in front of her subjects.
"…I'm relieved."
Chris, knowing all this, remained silent, even though the dying embers were visible.
"I heard Sena became your physician."
"He tried to refuse. How audacious."
"Don't be angry. That's just the way he is."
"And the one who said he was going to make medicine as soon as he became a physician and then disappeared?"
"This has to be the Sena I knew."
"I see."
Astria laughed hollowly.
With a face resembling a rabbit's, Sena seemed more suited for a banquet than a healer.
However, he seemed better than priests.
He had roughly deduced symptoms no one else had suspected.
But.
"I don't really have much hope."
It was just a straw-grasping sentiment.
She didn't expect things to get better. She had repeated too many hopes and betrayals.
Chris looked at her with sad eyes.
"…Your Majesty."
"Come to think of it, you attended the same academy. I heard he was quite famous."
"Yes. He saved many lives back then. He was even called the 'Saint of Larden'."
"Is that so?"
Astria laughed quietly.
There was no hope in that laughter.
The Empress must have known about Sena's reputation. Yet, this reaction indicated that hope of improvement had been abandoned.
Chris clenched his fists.
"Don't worry. Sena will surely save Your Majesty. He was our light."
'Sena, please. You can take my life. Just please, save her.'
Chris earnestly wished.
He would give everything he had, even his future.
He must save her.
**
Parkinson's disease is an incurable disease even in modern times. Moreover, the Empress was in the terminal stage.
If someone asked a mere medical student like himself if he could cure it, it was acknowledging his knowledge.
'But the problem is that it's impossible.'
To simplify Parkinson's disease, it's a lack of dopamine. Dopamine is an important neurotransmitter that allows us to move our bodies precisely as we want, and the absence of it causes difficulty in movement.
So, the solution is to produce dopamine.
'…Easier said than done.'
It's already a difficult task in modern medicine, let alone achieving it in the medieval era.
Fortunately, there were similar herbs.
M*rijuana and white willow.
M*rijuana contains compounds that alleviate Parkinson's disease, while white willow is an herb that helps relax muscles.
Sena presented the mixture of these two herbs to the Empress.
'All right, if you take this, you'll definitely feel better than before.'
"Your Majesty, here's the medicine."
Astria, who had just woken up, rubbed her eyes and looked at the strange liquid in front of her.
"Seeing hallucinations from the morning… I've gone too far."
"It's not hallucinations, it's medicine."
Sena firmly pushed the medicine bowl forward.
Astria, catching a whiff of the smell, reluctantly opened her eyes.
"Is it truly edible?"
"Of course."
"It doesn't seem like it."
Sena urged again.
"You have to take it."
After giving Sena's resolute expression a once-over, she abruptly turned her head.
"I won't take it."
"…?"
Sena was puzzled by what he had just heard.
"Your Majesty…? If you don't take this, you won't get better."
"I can't stand bitterness."
Sena pondered seriously.
Come to think of it, he had seen a patient with a similar reaction before.
-Whoa, whoa. It doesn't look tasty.
-You need to take it quickly to get better.
That patient was 5 years old.
So, now, the Empress, who is notorious for being a ruthless tyrant, is reacting like a 5-year-old child.
'Is she a child!'
Sena couldn't believe the reality.
"So, how am I supposed to help Your Majesty…?"
"Are you asking me?"
"Yes."
"Leave. It's an order."
Astria calmly said, flipping the blanket over her head.
Sena stood frozen with the bowl in his hand.
After a while, Astria peeked out from under the blanket.
"Quite an annoying physician you are."
And she disappeared into the covers again.
'This is the Empress…?'
The corners of Sena's mouth trembled.
"Wake up. Your Majesty!"
"What."
"Oh please, just do it."
"I said won't do it."
And she burrowed back under the covers.
"No, I told you, you have to take it…! You idiot!"
Finally, Sena lifted the Empress's blanket.
"…!"
The eyes of the motionless maids widened.
Seeing the blanket flying into the air, they gasped.
"Oh no."
"Your Majesty, if you won't even take the medicine from the physician, why did you hire one? Please, take it quickly."
Astria's gaze, exposed to the sunlight, was chilling.
As Sena wished, Astria rose from her bed.
She brushed aside her tousled hair, raised an eyebrow, and looked at Sena.
"Do you want to die?"
Her personal maid trembled with fear. This was the typical sight when Astria was angry. Anyone witnessing this alive…
Bam!
Sena shoved the spoon into Astria's mouth!
"Yes, yes. Whether you kill me or not, just take this for now. Oh, just do it."
"…?"
Astria thought she must not have fully woken up.
Otherwise, how could someone dare to show such attitude to her?
"You're taking it."
"Wait."
Bam!
Astria took the second spoonful of medicine.
The 'Sena's special medicine' that entered her mouth was truly disgusting.
But more than that, Astria was bewildered. What on earth was going on?
'Well, time is running out.'
Normally, someone on death's doorstep wouldn't see it at all.
Sena calmly lifted the spoon.
"Next."
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