Chapter 29. The only one who can make her meek
***
"How the hell are you supposed to help me?"
Netira asked, suspicion tinged in her eyes as if Ihedia had been less than kind.
In her eyes, she was nothing more than a worthless slave.
Ihedia had a premonition that if she couldn't convince Netira in this moment, there would be no next.
A voice without pitch, but crisp and clear, shifted to Netira.
"Unlike Anut, Elmir has a very advanced medical science. I have a keen interest in medicine myself, and have been studying it for quite some time. I'm ashamed to call myself a doctor, but I think I can determine the extent of your condition without difficulty."
Netira's eyebrows softened a bit, as if she'd finally gotten her strength back.
"Is that true?"
"May I take a closer look at the affected areas?"
Ihedia pressed, not giving her a chance to refuse.
Netira was still not convinced, but Ihedia's demeanor was so assertive that she decided to wait and see.
It wasn't as if there were anything she could do.
Ihedia looked closely at Netira's face.
"Let's lower your clothes."
Ihedia pulled Netira's clothes down to get a closer look at the red marks that ran from her face to the nape of her neck.
Ellie let out a slow sigh as she watched Netira, who was at once a docile lamb.
"You've touched poisonweed, right? It's a plant found mostly along rivers, a grass with long leaves covered in white hairs."
The look in Netira’s eyes changed completely as Ihedia described the exact appearance of the plant Netira had touched.
"That's right!"
Ihedia recognized the eagerness in her eyes.
It was not a bad omen.
"If you hadn't gotten treated early on, you would have had nosebleeds and short bursts of high fever."
"Yeah, right, so what the heck can I do to get better?"
"Well, the treatment gets really tricky in cases like this......."
"I'll do whatever you say, so tell me!"
Netira clutched at Ihedia like she was grasping at the last remaining straw.
"As for this illness, I can't promise you anything about when you'll be cured. But at least if you follow my method, it won't get any worse from here, and we need to do something about it soon, because if we leave it this way, you could end up blind, not to mention with ruined skin."
As Ihedia finished speaking, a look of extreme fear crossed Netira's face.
Her body was already a mess from the intense itching that was causing her to bleed from scratching, and now her skin was going to stay that way, and she might even go blind.
It was a terrifying diagnosis, one that hadn't even been mentioned by Anut's quack doctors.
In any other case, Ihedia's words would have been laughed off with a snort, but Netira was half-crazed with fear that she might have to live like this for the rest of her life.
What's more, when Ihedia recited the exact description of the plant she had touched, Netira's heart skipped a beat.
She had thrown aside her pride and was now looking at Ihedia with pleading eyes.
"First of all, stop putting powder on your face to cover the wounds or wearing clothes that are too tight. It just makes it itch worse, and I need some herbs to put in your bath."
Netira was now listening intently to Ihedia's instructions.
***
It had been several days since Netira had followed Ihedia's remedies.
Her physical condition was improving immeasurably.
In particular, the skin on her face, which she considered her worst enemy, was noticeably better.
But it was only a temporary fix, and it would take some time to keep the disease from returning.
Even she didn't know exactly how to cure it, so some experimentation was needed.
From then on, Ihedia moved away from the kitchen and took on a role similar to that of Netira's doctor, which was a great excuse to expand the scope of her activities.
Ihedia wandered around the manor, checking the temperature of Netira's bath water, inspecting the ingredients of the food, or examining the type of firewood that heated the rooms.
This was to accurately understand the internal structure of the main house.
The mansion had four entrances and exits.
The main gate led to the central garden, while the back gate, in the opposite direction, was used by people of high status, including Netira.
The others, used primarily by servants, were located at either end, away from the central hall.
The mansion consisted of two basements and three ground levels.
The ground floor consisted mainly of public spaces, such as ballrooms, kitchens, and parlors, while the basement housed the servants of the main house.
The third floor was mostly unoccupied, and it was on the second floor that Netira and Kayan lived.
Next to Netira's bedroom on the far left was a living room decorated with traditional Anut artifacts, and straight ahead was Kayan's bedroom and office.
Not knowing anything else about her rare disease, Netira had no choice but to trust and rely on Ihedia until she was fully recovered.
So no matter what she did, and with the excuse of treatment, she had to leave Ihedia alone.
Ihedia was the only one who could make the hysterical Netira meeker than anyone around her could handle, and it became an invisible power.
"I can't stand the way she walks around like she's a big shot."
"And now even Ellie’s talking her side. Two traitors who are too busy kissing barbarians’ asses."
"Well, she'll come back to work when Netira is well enough and then she'll have to learn some real manners."
As she passed near the kitchen, Ihedia paused at the gossip about herself.
They were gathered around, gossiping about her rise from kitchen slave to Netira's personal physician at every opportunity.
"...."
Ihedia looked away, oblivious.
The women of the outbuildings harbored envy and resentment for her freedom, but as a Netira’s valuable maid, they couldn’t do anything to her.
Ellie, on the other hand, was almost grateful to Ihedia for freeing her from her cruel master.
Under Ellie’s protection, Ihedia no longer suffered any harassment.
At first, Ellie didn't feel the need to intervene, whether Ihedia was being wronged by the women in the mansion or not.
Rather, she felt that order among the slaves required a certain amount of blindness.
But now that she herself would be suffered greatly by Netira if anything went wrong with Ihedia, she had every reason to protect her.
Netira did not like the idea of Ihedia running roughshod over the manor, but she would wait until the important matters were settled.
Sensing this early on, Ihedia deliberately tamped down Netira's treatment so that she would be slightly but not completely cured.
Just enough so that Netira could not help but constantly seeking her out.
Ihedia's footsteps echoed throughout the manor until they reached the wolf forest, a place of terrifying rumors.
‘There must be many herbs here that are not readily available in the marketplace.’
The Wolf Forest was almost completely uninhabited, and there were unusual herbs that grew only in such places.
They were sold at a high price in any country.
It would take a lot of money to get out of the manor later, to reach the distant Elmir.
Ihedia cautiously stepped inside, remembering Kayan's words that wolves did not descend to the manor's boundaries.
As Ihedia had expected, there were many precious herbs inside, many of them worth a fortune.
She wandered around for a while, searching for herbs that might be useful.
She hadn't even traveled all the way around the perimeter yet, and her pockets were filled with quite a bit of them.
She was also lucky enough to find some winter berries that could survive the cold.
‘I'll have to share them with Aurora.’
Ihedia turned to go back the way she came, proud of herself.
At the sight of a presence coming from somewhere, Ihedia's whole body became as hard as ice.
Did the beasts come down this far?
Her heart pounded.
Ihedia could do nothing, knowing that if she made even the slightest noise to escape, something horrible would happen.
Thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.
But when she listened closely, she realized it was human.
As she turned her head, she saw an old man with a cane in the distance, heading for somewhere.
It was strange that an old man with graying hair should have traveled this far, much less an Anut warrior who could take down a wolf.
‘I wonder if there are secrets in this forest that I don't know about.’
Ihedia followed the old man silently, keeping her footsteps quiet enough that he wouldn't notice.
The old man stopped in front of a hut.
‘Someone lives in this wolf forest?’
It wasn't far from the manor, but she hadn't heard of anyone living where the wolves roamed.
Her doubts were only heightened when she spotted a man emerging from the cabin.
'Why is he........'
As Ihedia looked at Kayan and wondered, Kayan's sharp gaze turned in her direction.
As if he had already realized who was there.
The moment her eyes met his, Ihedia's heart sank again, as if she had seen a real wolf.
***
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Write a comment
Krimshaw (Wednesday, 07 February 2024 22:30)
I am really loving this! Thank you so much for this translation!
Io (Thursday, 08 February 2024 07:53)
Thank u sm for the translation!!