“Oh my! Your Highness the Crown Prince……”

“I didn’t expect you to come in person.”

Noticing that my tone seemed disrespectful, Ileana gave me a look. It seemed she meant for me to greet him properly as befitting the Crown Prince. Then, as if to demonstrate, she grasped the edges of her skirt with her fingertips and bent her waist and knees slightly.

“I am honored to meet the young light illuminating the Callovanian Empire, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

There must be a specific way to greet the Crown Prince. Normally I wouldn’t show Ian such excessive courtesy, but with Ileana beside me, I had no choice but to follow her lead in greeting Ian.

“I am honored to meet the young light illuminating the Callovanian Empire, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Unlike Ileana, whose every movement felt elegant and graceful, my greeting felt somewhat stiff and awkward.

“There’s no need for such excessive formality.”

Ian’s voice carried a hint of amusement, as if he found the manner of greeting amusing. I couldn’t help it. I didn’t know there was a special way to greet the Crown Prince.

I covered my face with my hand, hiding it from Ileana, and mouthed to Ian not to laugh. But his laughter only grew louder…

“I’ve come to escort Claire McCain Hydrangea, the Countess who, because of me, couldn’t become a healer and instead took on the weighty position of palace physician.”

“Oh my……”

Ileana turned to look at me with a face full of admiration. I gave her an awkward smile in return.

I was already getting a headache thinking about how to explain things to her every time I would be involved with Ian in the future.

I couldn’t tell Ian not to act familiar with me either, when he was already hurt by my death… With these worries, I boarded the carriage.

Ileana seemed deeply moved by the fact that not only had I become a palace physician, but the Crown Prince Ian himself had come to escort me.

Judging by her expression, it seemed the party she had been planning would soon be held at the McCain mansion. As long as they didn’t make a statue…

“Surely you don’t intend to come escort me like this every day?”

Only after the carriage had completely passed through the mansion gates, when Ileana waving her hand was no longer visible, did I ask Ian the question I couldn’t bring myself to ask while she was present.

“Of course I do.”

“I was surprised. I thought His Highness the Crown Prince would be coming to pick me up every day.”

Ian replied with a puzzled expression at my words.

“I meant that of course I would come pick you up every day……”

“Are you crazy?”

“Is that something to be called crazy for?”

“Today, since it’s my first day, we can explain away you coming to pick me up, but if you come every day, Ileana will misunderstand.”

“What kind of misunderstanding?”

He asked with a tone suggesting he had a desired answer in mind.

If I were to say ‘She’ll think Your Highness and I are romantically involved!’, he’d likely respond with something shameless and infuriating like ‘That’s good. That’s the whole point.’

“The misunderstanding that Your Highness is very free and has time to spare! If you come to pick me up every day, rumors will spread that Your Highness is living an idle life like an unemployed person. You know how loose-lipped the nobles are… Of course, I’m not saying Ileana is loose-lipped.”

Even just looking at Ileana, she immediately recognized this carriage as Ian’s.

If the Crown Prince’s carriage were to frequently come and go from the mansion, that fact would quickly become known. And I was worried about what kind of misunderstandings and stories that would create.

But despite my words, Ian didn’t seem particularly concerned. Shouldn’t a Crown Prince be more sensitive to such rumors?

“Hmm… It’s not the misunderstanding I want, but it doesn’t matter anyway.”

“Are you really going to come pick me up every day? You’re a busy person, Your Highness. Can someone who works cutting back on sleep spend time so wastefully?”

“I have more time now. No, even if I don’t have much time, I should make time.”

“Don’t do that. It’s burdensome and uncomfortable.”

“Even if it’s burdensome and uncomfortable, bear with it. I’m doing it because I’m anxious. I don’t want to lose Jane like last time.”

“That was an accident and…”

“Accidents can happen anytime, that’s why I’m more anxious. So I feel like I need to always be by your side.”

Did my death leave some trauma on him? Of course, he used to occasionally come pick me up or drop me off before.

But it was only an occasional occurrence. For someone as busy with official duties as him, even making that much time wasn’t easy. I felt I shouldn’t completely block him.

“If you really want to, then do so. But whenever you’re busy, just let me know. I can manage on my own.”

Only then did Ian nod with a satisfied smile.

I thought that if I went home today, I should give Ileana a sufficient explanation.

This time, as he said, it could be explained as him feeling apologetic for not being able to give me a healer’s license, but if the busy Crown Prince came to pick me up every day, she might misunderstand that Ian was doing so because he had feelings for me.

The carriage I boarded with Ian stopped not long after passing through the south gate.

I got off the carriage with Ian’s help. The place we arrived at was a white two-story building with a navy blue roof.

Though not very large in size, it had an exceptionally elegant and beautiful exterior, different from the architectural style of the Callovanian Imperial Palace I had seen so far.

The castles of the Callovanian Empire are vast in scale and splendid. Especially between the pillars supporting the stone-laid roofs, large windows are densely placed at regular intervals.

Just looking at the buildings gives an overwhelming sense of grandeur. But the building in front of me now had a somewhat different appearance.

In the center of the building was a large circular dome, and it seemed as if the entire building stood to support that dome. It gave a more delicate impression than the majestic castles of the Callovanian Empire. It felt more like looking at an artistic sculpture.

Around the bronze-colored dome, which looked as if it were built by stacking stones tightly, white marble statues were lined up.

Between the thick pillars were thin, long windows, but there weren’t many windows compared to the size of the building. Despite its quite exotic appearance, it was graceful and beautiful.

“This is the Medical Bureau?”

“Do you like it?”

“Wow!”

Nothing but exclamations came out of my mouth. That’s how much delicate beauty the building possessed.

Above all, what I liked most was the lavender field surrounding the building. Because of the lavender, it looked as if the Medical Bureau was floating on a purple lake.

The palace gardens I had seen so far were made like giant mazes with green broadleaf trees neatly trimmed. But this place exuded a different atmosphere from the royal gardens I had seen.

“There’s also a vegetable garden behind the building. If you want, you can plant medicinal herbs yourself.”

“Really?”

“I told you before, remember? That it would be nice to have a vegetable garden next to the Medical Bureau. That in the capital, it’s too difficult to find even a small plot of land to grow medicinal herbs because land is so expensive.”

“You remembered something like that?”

“Of course. I remember everything about Jane, even the small details.”

Normally, I would have said something about him being cheesy, but right now I wanted to grab his face and plant a kiss on his cheek.

It really was the Medical Bureau of my dreams, or even beyond. Even the fact that there weren’t many windows due to the building’s style was perfect.

Most medicinal herbs need to be stored away from sunlight, so before, thick wood was added to the windows to block light. But now there was no need for that.

The small windows were tinted with stained glass, blocking some of the sunlight.

“Can I go inside?”

“Of course. It’s your Medical Bureau now.”

As I opened the door, which seemed freshly painted, the cool air inside clung to my skin.

“I thought it would be two or three stories high because of the height, but it’s a single story?”

Coming inside and looking around, the ceiling was even higher than I thought. In the center, the high-rising dome was painted with an elaborate ceiling mural. It was a ceiling mural with strong religious overtones.

“It’s a building dedicated by the Dukedom of Illunia to commemorate diplomatic relations.”

“I’ve never heard of such a country before. And to think you even receive buildings as gifts.”

“I don’t know the details either. It was 100 years ago. The Dukedom of Illunia has disappeared into history. So it had been neglected for a long time, but I wanted to build a new Medical Bureau just for Jane, but that would take too long, so we hurriedly renovated this building.”

“Even if you built a new one, you couldn’t make a more beautiful building than this.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

“But… Is this possible in just one day?”

“……”

I was grateful to have a Medical Bureau that looked just like the one I had only dreamed of, but I wondered if it was possible to complete such a Medical Bureau overnight.