“Sylph. Wind, very very gently. Can you push it into that child’s nose?”

Using a cotton swab to probe deep into the nose had its limits in extracting pus.

In the end, the problem was the lack of a suction device like in modern hospitals.

But if the Sylph’s wind could move the pus in the sinuses.

‘The wind needs to be pushed into the narrow passages inside the nose. A wind weak enough not to damage the nasal walls, yet strong enough to draw out the pus pooled in the sinuses…’

Just thinking about it made me dizzy with the difficulty.

‘If it required strong force, I’d ask a Sylphid, but what’s needed now is a weak yet skilled force.’

If another spirit mage saw Anette’s attempt now, they would have called her crazy. No spirit mage would have tried to treat this way.

‘For now, I can try delivering a very weak wind into the nose. If the pus in the sinuses doesn’t move, then we’ll increase the wind’s strength.’

Anette carefully blew the Sylph’s wind at a very weak intensity into young master Emil’s nose.

It required intense concentration.

However, Count Spinel, unable to see the spirits, only grew anxious at Anette’s suddenly silent demeanor.

“Why are you suddenly quiet? What’s happening to my son?”

Just as the Count’s anxiety nearly made him grab Anette’s shoulder as she focused on the treatment.

Shh.

Someone else grabbed her first. It wasn’t Schmidt.

“Grand Duke!”

“Trust my wife. She’s an extraordinary person.”

Squeeze.

Hot.

Feeling Darius’s hand firmly gripping his shoulder, Count Spinel belatedly recalled the situation.

He had been hurling abuse in front of the Grand Duchess all this time.

‘Goodness.’

“In my distress, I failed to recognize the Grand Duchess and spoke rudely…”

“Shh. No words that might disturb my wife are needed right now.”

Darius’s gaze was fixed solely on Anette. On his wife who was doing her best in this moment. On his shining wife.

Anette was so absorbed in the treatment that she didn’t even notice Darius’s arrival.

Delivering a very weak wind into the sinus full of pus had been successful so far.

‘Still not moving.’

But the stubborn pus coiled in the sinuses refused to budge its heavy bottom at the small wind.

‘More precise. The wind needs to be smaller and stronger for this to work.’

To generate enough force like the suction machine in hospitals that sucks out mucus, there was an inevitable risk of damaging the flesh or bones inside the nose.

So the wind’s range needed to be narrower to only touch the pus in the sinuses, while simultaneously being stronger.

Anette forgot everything else and focused solely on that one point.

‘What I want is a storm passing through the eye of a needle.’

Anette moved the Sylph. A little stronger, imbued with her will.

Swoosh!

And the pus came out with the wind.

It was a success.

‘It worked!’

“Cough, cough!”

“Emil!”

That wasn’t all.

With the continued tickling sensation in his nose, Emil unconsciously began to sneeze grandly.

“Ah, ah, ah-choo!”

“Achoo!”

“Achoo!”

Anette chuckled as she watched Emil blow his nose refreshingly with each sneeze.

“…Both sides produced quite impressive amounts of mucus.”

Direct removal with cotton swabs, cleansing with the Sylph, and the patient’s self-removal through sneezing.

It had thoroughly cleared the stuffy nose.

“He really blew his nose without using his hands.”

Count Spinel was sobbing while holding his son who had come back from the brink of death. Schmidt was recording in amazement at the new medical technique he had learned. Watching this scene, I felt a twinge of regret.

‘Schmidt won’t be able to use the Sylphid, even if he can poke around with cotton swabs to remove pus.’

And Darius.

“You didn’t even collapse this time. Well done.”

When I had nursed Rose Temery all night, I had actually collapsed from exhaustion after treating her.

Even then, Darius had been silently waiting for me.

“Hehe.”

Although Darius had warned me not to act alone out of concern for others, I had jumped in again without realizing it.

With Count Spinel disappearing from the tournament and even me, the Grand Duchess, vanishing as well, Darius must have been flustered. I smiled sheepishly, feeling apologetic. He gave me a look that seemed to say he couldn’t help it.

“So what did you discover this time?”

“Well, you see.”

“Well, Anette often surprises people, but it usually leads to positive results.”

Darius gently patted my head as I looked at him nervously. It was a sign that he would let it slide.

“You did well today too.”

“Did I do good?”

“Of course. Look at that.”

Young master Emil was now breathing properly through his respiratory tract, no longer gasping with his mouth open. Count Spinel was putting his finger under his son’s nose, as if unable to believe the sight.

It was a scene I had created.

“I’m sorry for worrying you.”

“I told you, you did well.”

“It was an urgent situation.”

“I know.”

He embraced me lightly.

“As long as Anette isn’t hurt, that’s all that matters to me.”

I liked how he hugged me and playfully swayed our bodies.

A fatigue I didn’t even know I had melted away, and a warm sense of reassurance settled deep in my chest. My arms unconsciously wrapped tightly around Darius. As if no matter where I went, his embrace was where I would always return to.

* * *

Soon after my treatment, young master Emil opened his eyes, as if his previous near-death state had been a lie.

In the end, the problem had been the pus completely filling his sinuses.

“I’ve removed almost all the pus that could be extracted. For the rest, prescribing medicine to remove the inflammation should gradually improve the condition.”

“My ears feel muffled, like they’re underwater. But I can hear voices clearly.”

However, as expected, young master Emil was suffering from otitis media.

“Fortunately, there’s no problem with your hearing. Let’s treat the inflammation in your nose and the otitis media together. Mr. Schmidt will take charge of the treatment. He knows the medicinal herbs better.”

“Do I not need to rinse my nose with saline solution anymore?”

“No, that treatment didn’t suit you.”

Emil’s face brightened more than ever before. Even grown adults find it uncomfortable to put salt water in their nose, so it must have been torture for this child.

“Emil doesn’t suit saline solution? But all doctors…”

“I know, the prescription of rinsing the nose with salt water for colds.”

It was a method commonly recommended even in the much more advanced modern medicine.

The reason I noticed Emil’s sinusitis was simple. I had gone through the exact same process in my previous life.

Buying saline solution and syringes from the pharmacy to clear my nose, only to end up with an illness instead!

“If that treatment method suits you well, the salt water pushed into one nostril should all come out through the other nostril. But in Emil’s case, the salt water didn’t come out and stayed inside his nose.”

It could be because the sensitive mucous membrane of the nose became swollen from the irritation of the salt water, or because Emil’s nasal passages were particularly narrow.

But the salt water that should have come out instead pooled inside Emil’s sinuses, which turned into inflammation. It had the opposite effect.

“I’m sorry, Emil. I pushed you into pain with the wrong prescription and kept telling you to endure it.”

Count Spinel, upon learning the truth, burst into tears and hugged Emil.

* * *

“If it weren’t for Lady Anette, it could have been a disaster.”

Count Spinel, having calmed down a bit, thanked me as we left Emil’s sickroom.

“But where did you learn such medical knowledge?”

“Oh, well, from various sources. I’m also close with Doctor Schmidt.”

To explain that would require revealing that I possess modern medical knowledge. There’s no way I could say that.

Fortunately, Count Spinel nodded.

“I had heard before that Lady Anette was wise, but I thought it was just flattery. Now I see how blind I was.”

The Count said.

“A child can have a runny nose sometimes. But I started this treatment because I couldn’t stand seeing the future Count Spinel clumsily wiping his nose. This is the result… I really… don’t deserve to be a mother.”

“How can you say you don’t deserve to be a mother? Don’t say such things.”

If she didn’t truly love her child, would she have thrown a fit in front of everyone and rushed to her hidden son?

“I’ve been very disrespectful in many ways and I’m ashamed. As a count, I dared to speak carelessly to the Grand Duchess, and as an examiner, I failed to be faithful to the competition.”

She spoke bitterly, perhaps belatedly remembering the abandoned match with Darius.

“No matter what happened, running away from that place was my mistake. Though there’s no judge, I concede my defeat here and now.”

“What are you saying?”

I opened my eyes wide.

“Of course we should have a rematch.”

There’s no way our Darius could lose to someone like Count Spinel. What’s this beautiful concession nonsense?

And so, the match was held again.

“Though I’ve received a great favor from the Grand Duke’s house, winning and losing are separate matters. Still, I’ll try not to hurt you too much.”

Darius smiled at Count Spinel’s solemn words.

“I have something to reclaim. Let’s end this quickly.”

Clang, the two northern powerhouses clashed again.