OPDPS 106

Aeryl headed straight to the East Wing to meet Lady Merel. Connie considered stopping him, remembering the Grand Duke’s warning, but she knew how much Aeryl worried for his patients, so she couldn’t bring herself to hold him back. Still, this time Raeler was guarding the infirmary, so Connie confidently accompanied Aeryl.

***

The reception room of the East Wing.

Aeryl sat on the sofa, waiting for Lady Merel to arrive. Connie stood behind him, on alert as she watched the surroundings.

‘What kind of price will she ask for?’

Aeryl considered several possibilities. He had a feeling Lady Merel would make an uncomfortable request in exchange for permission to transfer the patient to a hospital. He didn’t want to waste time arguing, so he was already working out his response strategies.

After a short wait, Lady Merel entered the reception room. Dressed in comfortable yet formal loungewear, she feigned surprise at the sight of Aeryl.

“You came to me first? How unexpected.”

“…I apologize for the sudden visit.”

Aeryl knew she was pretending to be surprised, but he still bowed his head in greeting.

“What brings you here?”

“There’s a patient whose condition is beyond my ability to treat. I need your permission to transfer them to a hospital.”

“There are illnesses even you can’t treat? If that’s the case, of course I’ll give permission.”

When Lady Merel gestured to her maid, the maid brought a pen and paper. The madam wrote a brief statement of consent and signed it.

“This should do.”

“Thank you.”

Aeryl was honestly taken aback. He hadn’t expected her to sign off so easily. He had been sure she would nitpick or make demands. Was it that she wouldn’t joke around when it came to someone’s life? She was starting to look a little different in his eyes.

“After such a ghost-story-like incident, I imagine the atmosphere over there must be dreadful.”

“Yes, it is.”

It seemed the rumors about the patient had spread even to the East Wing. With the morning uproar, probably everyone had heard by now.

“Do you believe in such ghost stories?”

Lady Merel suddenly asked.

“…No, I don’t.”

“Really? I did. I heard the story less than a month after I married into this house. It scared me so much I couldn’t even sleep.”

“I see.”

Why bring up old stories all of a sudden? But since the signed permission slip was still in her hand, Aeryl nodded along quietly.

“For several sleepless nights, my husband tried to comfort me, saying it was all nonsense.”

“Yes.”

So ghost stories really weren’t worth believing. Even the Grand Duke had said so. But it turned out Lady Merel stopped believing for a different reason than Aeryl.

“Even so, I couldn’t let it go, so he took me down to the basement. There was nothing there at all.”

“What? But… there is no basement. That’s what His Grace told me.”

“What? No basement? But there definitely is one.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Well, it’s not where you’d normally expect it, but it’s definitely there. I’ve seen it myself.”

“Couldn’t it have been a misunderstanding…?”

Aeryl replied vaguely, unsure, and Lady Merel smiled. Her lips curled into a sharp, suggestive smirk.

“Hardly. The first thing he did after ascending to the position of Grand Duke was have the basement sealed.”

Seal? That naturally reminded him of what the inventor had said.

‘That basement… I also—!’

But because Rynello had interrupted, Aeryl hadn’t heard the rest and still didn’t know what the inventor had been about to say. Still, it was clear the inventor had been talking about why he couldn’t rely on the Grand Duke’s family after his son manifested as an omega.

If Lady Merel was telling the truth, then the Grand Duke had tasked the inventor with sealing the basement. When Aeryl pieced the stories together, he couldn’t help but grow suspicious.

‘What exactly did the inventor do down there?’

Could it be something related to dynamics?

‘No, that would mean the Grand Duke lied to me.’

He had clearly said there was no such thing as a basement in the castle.

“To think he’d lie even to you.”

“I… I wouldn’t know.”

“Are you suggesting I’m the one lying, then?”

Aeryl flinched.

“Not at all. I only meant that I take the words of those above me at face value.”

He lowered his head politely as he gave his excuse.

“Truly?”

“Pardon?”

“You really don’t doubt it?”

“…I’m not sure what you mean.”

“Isn’t it suspicious? Just what is His Grace hiding in that basement that he’d go so far as to lie about it?”

Lady Merel’s gaze felt like it pierced straight through Aeryl’s heart. He pressed his lips tightly shut. He realized now he’d been more shaken than he thought. At this rate, she was just leading him wherever she pleased.

“If you’re done signing the permission slip, may I take it now? Forgive my rudeness—I’m just in a rush because of the patient’s condition.”

“Of course.”

Lady Merel handed over the authorization without another word. The fact that she didn’t press him for anything left Aeryl feeling oddly unsettled.

After giving a deep bow, Aeryl left the parlor. Connie quietly followed behind.

‘Later. I’ll think about it all later.’

For now, Aeryl shoved the thoughts and feelings crowding his mind into a corner. If he let them take up space now, he might lose sight of the patient.

He was a doctor. A patient’s life always had to come first.

***

Not long after Aeryl and Connie returned to the infirmary, Raeler came back from the errand he had been sent on to the outer quarters’s infirmary.

They had to transfer the patient to a hospital, but Aeryl didn’t know anything about the nearby facilities. That was why he’d asked a doctor from the outer quarters, who had a wide network, to find a place willing to take her.

Fortunately, the doctor had plenty of connections and quickly located a hospital that could accept the patient. Once Aeryl organized the patient’s details and wrote a referral, someone from the hospital came to pick her up. With the servants’ help, they moved her to the carriage waiting at the entrance of the outer quarters.

“Please take good care of her.”

Since the hospital’s physician had come along in the carriage, all Aeryl could do was offer a respectful bow. The carriage soon departed, and Aeryl walked back to the infirmary.

The patient’s face, as he had last seen it, lingered vividly in his mind. He remembered seeing her once, dashing across the garden—wild and free like an unbroken colt—and had thought that lively energy suited her.

‘She has to get better.’

He hoped, sincerely, to see her running like that again. With that thought, Aeryl returned to the infirmary, where more patients were waiting for him.

“Ah, Doctor, you’re here. Please, take a look at me. My stomach hurts so much.”

“Would you come this way?”

Aeryl pressed down on the patient’s stomach as he examined them. It turned out to be indigestion from eating with an uneasy heart. He prescribed suitable medication and calming herbs.

“Next. Miss Lenny, you’re here. Stomach trouble? What happened to the castle’s number one glutton?”

He continued examining patients, one by one, sending them on their way. He barely had time to catch his breath after returning to the infirmary, but this was better.

‘Sometimes, being busy is a kind of comfort.’

Aeryl reflected on this as he worked. Still, a new problem had cropped up. Most of the patients coming in since earlier were suffering from nervous disorders—stomachaches from stress, headaches, and the like.

‘It must be the rumors.’

Even though Aeryl had denied it, talk had already spread among the people that the patient had collapsed because she broke the rules and had her soul devoured. There were whispers about whether something truly existed beneath the inner quarters.

Not everyone believed the rumors. But an unexplained incident in such a secluded place was enough to spark deep unease.

‘At this rate, someone might have a breakdown by nightfall.’

He needed to act in advance. Aeryl prepared a large batch of sedatives and brought them to the West Wing. He picked the most idle-looking servant and asked them to deliver the sedatives room by room. Thankfully, the servant took his request as if it were an order from someone high-ranking and got to work without hesitation.

When all was done and Aeryl returned to the infirmary, Connie and Raeler were waiting for him with determined expressions.

“We’ve turned off the lights in the infirmary. Work’s over.”

“You two can go on ahead. I think I should stay in the infirmary tonight.”

Who knew what might happen again in the middle of the night? The patient’s collapse still hadn’t been explained.

“No way. It’s dangerous. You have to go in too.”

“She’s right. You worked harder than anyone today—treating patients, running around everywhere.”

“But…”

Aeryl tried to resist, but their stubbornness won out. Both of them were stronger than him—no matter how hard he tried to throw his body forward, he couldn’t even grab the doorknob.

‘Connie’s a girl, and Raeler was a recluse… so why are they both stronger than me…?’

The mysteries of the human body. Truly awe-inspiring. With such pointless thoughts, Aeryl returned to his room.

Without even turning on the light, he collapsed onto the sofa. Now that he thought about it, he’d left at dawn and was only now getting back. He should’ve been exhausted—but his mind was strangely alert, and his body wouldn’t relax.

Naturally, one thought led to another, until he circled back to a question he’d been avoiding.

‘So whose story is the truth?’

The Grand Duke said there was no basement. Lady Merel said there was.

Of course, he should trust the Grand Duke. The woman had tormented him and made suggestive remarks about the Grand Duke. But somehow, this time, her words felt more believable.

She had said she’d been to the basement herself, and when he thought about what the inventor had said, it made the basement’s existence seem all the more likely.

‘Then doesn’t that mean the Grand Duke lied to me?’

Sure, the Grand Duke wasn’t obligated to always tell him the truth. But why lie to him at all?

‘Unless he really is hiding something…’

The inventor’s interrupted statement only added fuel to his suspicions. Was something hidden down there?

If so, wouldn’t the Grand Duke have told him? Or had he purposely kept it secret?

“Ugh…”

Aeryl groaned. He suddenly felt nauseous, as though he were about to vomit. His chest ached, and his head throbbed. Why was he like this?

“Haa…”

He let out a long, heavy sigh.

“So why did my patient collapse, then? Was it a monster? Or not?”

He sat in silence for a moment, then raised both hands.

Smack!

Slapping both cheeks, he instantly came to his senses.

Lying on the sofa and whining wasn’t going to solve anything! He had to get up and do something!

Aeryl shot to his feet.