Love Me Just Once (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 168

Isili, who had turned sixty-five this year, was on his way home after finishing his daily duties.

He was originally a physician from the Egelbamot Imperial Palace and had been part of Empress Iris’s medical staff under the command of Tanel Marod.

Though he was older than his master Tanel—so much so that he was closer in age to Bahamal Sirt, Tanel’s own former master who had since left Egelbamot—Isili could not rise any higher due to his inherited status, as his father had been a commoner despite his mother belonging to a noble household.

Nevertheless, Isili held no resentment toward his circumstances. In fact, he harbored no dissatisfaction whatsoever with his life. By the time one reached sixty-five, a person was usually either brimming with grievances or had come to understand everything fully.

Objectively speaking, Isili’s life had not been particularly unfortunate.

Although he had grown up without any support from his family due to his parents’ mismatched social standing, poverty did not necessarily equate to unhappiness. Of course, the two were often closely linked—poverty frequently brought misfortune along with it—but at least that had not been the case for Isili’s family.

Though not wealthy, his parents deeply cherished each other and loved their two children as much as they loved their spouse. Isili, in turn, loved both his elder brother and his parents dearly.

Misfortune struck their close-knit family when a plague swept through the capital.

The epidemic made no distinction between noble and commoner, man or woman, young or old—but commoners suffered the heaviest losses.

At twenty years old, Isili lost his entire family to the plague. It was the greatest loss one could possibly endure in life.

Shortly after losing everyone he loved, he often wished he had died alongside them.

Yet Isili could not bring himself to take his own life, knowing full well that such an end was not what his beloved family would have wanted for him.

In the end, instead of dying, Isili resolved to spend the rest of his life serving others.

Thus, for nearly two decades, he lived as an herbalist, moving between slums and commoners’ districts. Though he could not save his own family, he saved countless others’ families—a meaningful and fulfilling life.

However, knowledge acquired within limited circumstances inevitably had its boundaries.

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