As I nodded at his words, I suddenly remembered something and snapped my fingers as I spoke.

“That’s right. And on this occasion, Your Highness should also know the ingredients and proportions of the medicine you’re taking.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“For a moment when I was dying, I thought about who would make the medicine for His Highness the Crown Prince after I’m gone. In reality, His Highness couldn’t take the medicine.”

Of course, even though there was extra medicine, he refused to take it, but if I hadn’t woken up in Claire’s body, it would have certainly become a big problem later.

“There’s no need for that.”

He flatly rejected the suggestion.

“Don’t be stubborn. What if something like this happens again?”

“Don’t say such terrible things. It won’t happen again.”

I reluctantly closed my mouth at his insistence. I want to live by his side for a long time too, but one’s lifespan isn’t something that can be extended or shortened just by my efforts.

“Absolutely, never again will I have to send you away before me.”

Ian spoke each word with emphasis, as if making a promise to himself. I couldn’t hold onto him and force my thoughts on him.

I should secretly tell Simons the recipe.

At first, I kept it a secret because I was afraid Simons might just learn the formula and kill me and my grandfather, but now it seemed okay. He wouldn’t kill me at this point. Surely not… Given all the affection Simons and I have built up.

“By the way, it seems His Highness the Crown Prince is the only visitor coming to see me.”

I sighed. Even though I had filled the medical office to the brim with rare herbs that I couldn’t get before, there was actually no occasion to use those ingredients.

Ian was the only one who visited the medical office.

Of course, I knew that when nobles are sick, they seek healers rather than doctors, so I didn’t expect many people to come to me right away just because I opened a medical office in the imperial palace.

But I had hoped that at least the maids working in the palace would visit.

After all, they would probably be more comfortable dealing with me, a woman, than with male noble healers.

Moreover, I expected it to be easy for them to drop by in between their work since it’s located inside the palace, but not a single person came. The only medicines I had made since coming here were for Ian and Head Servant Simons.

“Should I distribute advertising flyers? Saying there’s a medical office in the palace…”

“Is there a need for that? Isn’t it nice and quiet since no customers come?”

I stared at Ian as if reproaching him with my eyes. It might be comfortable for him who comes to play almost every day, but I felt uneasy as if I was wasting tax money, being paid a salary from state funds while doing nothing.

Due to no patients visiting at all, all I had been doing was reading books Ian borrowed from the imperial library for me, or spending time drinking snacks and tea that Ian brought.

Of course, those times weren’t just boring.

The purple lavender field surrounding the medical office. The flower bed that made me feel as if the office was floating on a purple lake, spread a charming fragrance every time the wind blew.

And I got used to the unique bitter taste of tea. As I spent more time drinking tea with Ian in the palace, I learned to enjoy the unique bitterness of tea.

I used to think that tea was just bitter, but I found out it has more diverse flavors than I thought. And I newly realized that when eaten with sweet foods, its fragrance and taste are amplified.

Even so, it was too much that all I did every day coming to work at the palace was drinking tea with Ian.

I felt guilty being called the ‘doctor’ of the ‘imperial palace’ while not doing any work.

It’s also unfair to my neatly arranged medicinal ingredients. They must surely want to help sick people too.

“This won’t do!”

I sprang up from my seat. Ian, who had been drinking tea with a pleased look on the opposite side, looked up at me bewilderedly.

“What are you going to do?”

“Being a doctor of the imperial palace doesn’t mean I should only examine people inside the palace, right? Wouldn’t it also be the duty of an imperial doctor to look after the pain of the empire’s people on behalf of the palace?”

“Well, it’s up to interpretation. You could see it that way.”

“Then I should go find patients myself.”

“Now?”

“I should do it while I thought of it. If I keep staying here, I’m going to become a warehouse keeper, not a doctor. Either the people working in the palace only visit Count Ferman, or they don’t know there’s a medical office here, because no one comes.”

I picked up my bag. It was the one Ileana had personally commissioned a craftsman to prepare exactly in the form I needed when I said I needed a house call bag.

It was a bag made of buffalo leather tanned by a craftsman, not flashy but with a neat design that was just my style.

The inside of the bag was designed to neatly store medicine bottles, and there was a name engraved in gold on the inside handle part of the bag.

Although it says ‘Claire M. Hydrangea’ instead of ‘Jane’, I still liked it very much.

I hummed a tune while carefully transferring medicines into glass bottles. I was excited at the thought of making house calls after a long time.

Before, I didn’t feel any special emotion as house calls were just part of my daily routine. Just something I had to do as my job. But now that I was going after a long time, I realized anew how much I love this work.

As I packed my house call bag and was about to leave, Ian also said he would come along.

“Are you really coming with me?”

“Of course.”

He seemed to have a lot of free time these days, unlike before when he seemed extremely busy.

Recently, he had been spending quite a long time with me at the medical office, if not all day. As he said he would even come along for house calls, I suddenly felt both curious and worried.

“Aren’t you busy?”

“It’s fine.”

“You weren’t like this before. Did you get fired from the Crown Prince position? Are you just unemployed now?”

“What? Hahaha.”

He laughed heartily as if he had heard an extremely funny joke at my words.

It wasn’t a joke though. I said it out of genuine concern.

“I’m not joking, before you had so much work you couldn’t even sleep when I told you to rest. You were constantly called to official meetings, but these days you seem too free.”

I quietly put down my house call bag and approached him carefully to ask.

“Did His Majesty the Emperor get angry because you didn’t work all this time? Did he say he won’t make you Crown Prince?”

He pondered for a moment with his chin in his hand at my question, then asked me with a serious face.

“Jane, would you dislike me if I’m not the Crown Prince?”

“How could you say such a thing. Whether Crown Prince or unemployed, Ian is Ian. It’s just that you loved your work so much. You worked hard too. So I’m asking out of concern.”

He smiled happily at my words.

“I like it when Jane worries about me.”

“If you deliberately make me worry because you like it, I’ll really get angry.”

“Alright.”

“Stop talking nonsense and tell me clearly. Why are you so free these days?”

“It’s just that it was unusually busy until now. His Majesty the Emperor dumped his work on me so he could spend even a moment of free time with Her Majesty the Empress. I worked hard too because I had my own wishes, but now there’s no need for that.”

I was worried if it was okay to refuse work assigned by His Majesty the Emperor at will.

“Is that okay? I heard His Majesty the Emperor is a very scary person.”

He nodded at my words.

“He is scary. But he doesn’t care as long as one thing isn’t touched.”

“What’s that one thing?”

“It’s a secret. And if he really doesn’t want to do it himself, he’d probably call Daniel to do it. Even though he’s not smart, if capable people are assigned, it will work out somehow.”

He spoke as if it had nothing to do with him. I thought he was very interested in the future imperial authority before, but it seems it wasn’t necessary.

Or maybe he’s acting like this because of his confidence that the position of future emperor is obviously his, even if Daniel is assigned work.

“Suddenly I’m worried about the future of the Kalovanian Empire.”

“What?”

“His Majesty the Emperor is neglecting his work, and Your Highness the Crown Prince is so irresponsible like this.”

“There’s no need to worry too much. His Majesty the Emperor wants power to be maintained in order to protect what he cherishes most. So worrying that the country might collapse is really unnecessary.”

It was quite a cynical response. Is the future of this country really okay?

“Oh, never mind. Let’s just go quickly. It’s going to get dark at this rate.”

At my urging, he took my house call bag and set out.

Ian and I rode in a carriage and got off in front of the pharmacy that now only had burnt remains left.

The front of the pharmacy was still full of the sincerity of those who remembered me. I expressed my gratitude while looking at the flowers and candles someone had left. In my heart, of course.

There wasn’t time to be lost in sentiment for long as there were many places to visit today. I led Ian into the western alley of the pharmacy. There was a place I wanted to visit first. Ian, following behind, asked me.

“There’s something I’ve been curious about for a while.”

“What is it?”

“Jane, you have a terrible sense of direction, don’t you?”