[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke-Chapter 213: Choose Who?

It didn’t take long before the chaos filled the air of Faymere.

Noxian slapped the letter on the table so hard it rattled the utensils. "What the heck does it even mean? Just because they’re afraid, they want us to be at their command? I really hate them!"

"That’s not important right now," Xion muttered, tapping his finger against the armrest. "We need to focus on this sudden illness that’s wreaking havoc everywhere."

His eyes narrowed as he tried to match the symptoms with the diseases he was familiar with. "But don’t you think it’s strange? Our village has had no cases, while neighboring cities are already struggling."

What Xion didn’t say aloud was... Why not here?

Why not Faymere, the place he lived?

He’d spent years walking on eggshells to avoid the crown’s scrutiny, to avoid drawing attention. And yet, this strange exemption from the possible pandemic might as well have painted a target on his back.

If someone wanted to twist the narrative, it wouldn’t be hard to make him the culprit. Like he was the eye of the storm and in some twisted sense, it almost looked orchestrated even to him.

It was absurd, yes. But absurd things often made for the most believable lies when they were spoken at the right time.

"The air is changing, Xion," Serena said at last. "The eyes are watching and," she turned from the window to look directly at the confused blue eyes, "It depends on who you will pick."

"Choose who? For what?" Xion asked but the lady just shook her head and sighed, "You should hurry."

As Xion turned those cryptic words over in his mind, a hasty knock rattled the door. Unlike the polite one, this knock was urgent as it rang thrice in a mere second.

"My lord," a servant’s breathless voice called from the hall, "It’s... it’s the merchant’s daughter. She’s vomiting black blood!"

Xion stood immediately. "Where are they? At the healing house?"

"No, they are at the abandoned cottage."

The answer didn’t surprise him. Even if the news came late, it must have spread in the village by now.

No one would let a stranger into their home when it was a matter of life and death, even if that stranger was a known merchant.

"She collapsed and we didn’t know what to do, but her blood, it’s... it’s wrong."

Xion didn’t waste another second. With the emergency bag slung over his shoulder, he was already rushing out of the door with a servant in tow.

Oddly enough, Noxian didn’t follow as he usually would. freewёbnoνel.com

The dining room fell silent, but not for long though.

"Who is brother choosing from?" Noxian could not sit still. "Auntie, can’t you just tell us everything? Why must you speak in riddles all the time?"

The frustrated wolf dog had his purple fur all standing in irritation. It was always like this. She would say something mysterious, Xion would worry and then there would be trouble.

Oh, there was always trouble after that!

"I’m not allowed to interfere in fate," Serena replied, serene as ever.

"But that’s stupid!" Noxian snapped. "What’s the point of power if you can’t use it to help? Just once, can’t you stop being all cold and mysterious and actually save someone’s life?"

The moment the words left his mouth, he knew he’d gone too far. What followed after his rant was a terrible silence.

Serena had lost her lover to fate. Someone she would’ve given everything to save. If she could have interfered, she would’ve. Noxian knew that.

But sometimes his anger made him say stupid and dangerous things. Just like right now.

Her white eyes, though blank, fixed on him with such intensity he nearly choked on his breath.

"Get out."

Two words loud and clear rang in his ears, and without a second Noxian bolted out.

But halfway, he paused. He cracked the door open again, enough to look inside with worried eyes. "Aunt?"

There was no reply. Sweat beaded on his brow as he continued peeking in while still half-hidden behind the door.

"Aunt... I love you!"

The only answer was a ceramic cup hurtling at his face. It shattered against the wood just as he slammed the door shut.

"I really do!" he yelled before darting down the hall, and toward the old cottage.

The abandoned cottage was at the edge of the village, nestled beneath the wide boughs of leafless trees that creaked faintly in the wind.

By the time Xion arrived, the stench of blood and sickness had already crept out to the porch.

The room was properly lit using the crystal lamps. Although the walls were moldy and old, the blanket on which the child slept was clean and most likely new.

The girl, no older than ten, was writhing even in her sleep. Her skin was flushed a deep red, her lips dry and cracked. A sharp coppery scent filled the room.

Xion was already covering his face and hands with special gloves when he rushed to her side. "How long has she been like this?" he asked the couple while kneeling beside the girl.

Her eyes were rolling back, her pulse was higher than it should be. Not to mention her burning skin.

The merchant’s eyes were bloodshot from all the sleepless nights. He replied in a rough tone, "Two days ago, she said she had a headache. Yesterday she fainted. This morning... she started coughing blood. And now this."

The wife was trying to stifle her sobs, "She was fine last week. We even made plans to go on a picnic and now this..."

Xion gently tilted the girl’s chin and saw it. Black blood was coating the inside of her mouth. It was thick. Almost tar-like. The blood vessels were starting to burst beneath her sclera.

"Had she eaten anything different? Maybe a new type of meat or fruit?"

The woman hastily nodded. "Yes. Lady Norva sent us dried leaves. She said it would help with spring chills. We made s-stew with it."

"Did anyone else drink it?"

The lady was on the verge of collapse. Looking at her precious daughter she shook her head. Tears rolled down her pale cheeks, "N-No, we kept it for her."

Xion didn’t know if he should call this family blessed or cursed. Although the other members seemed to be doing fine, there was no guarantee that it had not already affected them.

He exhaled slowly, "Quarantine them. Immediately. No one leaves this area. No one touches them without gloves. And burn every pot, every bowl they used."

"But—"

"Burn it," he said, cutting the merchant off. "If you want your family to live then send them the message to stay away from others."

He reached into his satchel and quickly prepared a fever-reducing medicine. His first priority was to reduce the fever before it became fatal.

"Help me keep her still."

The mother gently cradled her daughter as he slid the pill between her lips.

"She’s... all red," Noxian muttered from the doorway. "Is this the same thing the letter mentioned?"

Xion didn’t answer. Not that he could. At least not until he had made sure that it really was some plague spreading, and not a disease that could be cured.

While he pushed the small pill inside the girl’s mouth, he was mentally combing through all the symptoms and the disease it matched.

"Keep her warm, and don’t give her anything to eat without asking first. Don’t let anyone near her."

After giving some important instructions to the worried father, Xion made his way to the hospital with the sample of the dark blood secured in a small vial.

Fever, vomiting, seizures, even delirium, and then death.

It was a predictable progression of the illness according to the letter. There was little to no variation across cases as of yet.

He thought back to viral hemorrhagic fevers like Ebola, Marburg. They were horrific, yes, but messy. They were inconsistent in fatality and incubation.

But this one was very accurately methodical.

He muttered under his breath, "It’s behaving like a designer pathogen. Too consistent and seemed ... controlled."

"Designer?" Noxian asked while following behind Xion like a tail.

"Yeah, like artificially made. Or at least, triggered by something manmade."

Just as he reached the special lab, he turned to Noxian, "Go and send the fastest letter to Lord Varnehold. Ask him if he could provide more information regarding the patients and also keep an eye on the girl and her father. They are not allowed to leave the cottage without permission."

Before Noxian could reply Xion had already shut the door.

In the next second, he was inside his system lab.

Using modern equipment, he took a sample and slid it under the microscope.

He’d seen the dark blood before. But what he hadn’t seen was the glow clinging to it.

It was barely visible, but still there.

"Poison?" The system chimed in. "Or is it some parasite?"

"I’m not sure yet."

There were far too many possibilities, and he barely had any information at hand. But with this blood sample, at least he would be able to deduce something.