The Resurrected Immortal Chapter 80: Reversed Relationship (2)
"...Let's go."
"What?"
"We'll examine him. Hyeon-ah."
"Okay."
Eunhyeon nodded with a smile upon hearing Erin's choice.
What was even more bewildering was Marva's side, who had accepted her request.
"Really...?"
"Yeah..."
Erin reluctantly answered, avoiding Marva's suspicious gaze as much as possible.
As the three boarded the carriage with their destination decided and headed toward the mansion, an awkward silence hung heavy in the air inside, accompanied by a stifling atmosphere.
Awkward...
Marva, feeling increasingly uncomfortable in the carriage that belonged to her own family—ironically making her the most uneasy—found the situation absurd.
She had handed the choice to Erin, the person she resented most, and she couldn't fathom what Erin was thinking by accepting her plea. Glancing warily at Erin, Marva silently prayed for the carriage to reach her home as quickly as possible while enduring the oppressive air.
The Berman Viscountess, who had come to greet them upon their arrival at the mansion, eyed Eunhyeon and Erin with the same suspicion Marva had shown toward Erin.
She scolded her daughter for suddenly bringing along a strangely young man who didn't look like he'd ever examined a patient, claiming he would check on her father's condition.
"Marva, are you sure you've brought a real doctor who can cure Father? He doesn't look like a doctor at all..."
The viscountess glanced at Eunhyeon with eyes laced with doubt about whether he was a con artist, her voice filled with worry as she double-checked.
"Yes. He's the one I told you about before. He matches exactly what the doctor described: a young man with silver-white hair and red eyes."
"Even so, he's too... young."
"That's true, but..."
A doctor's profession was to heal patients' illnesses and wounds, dealing with human lives.
From minor ailments and injuries to severe conditions that could lead to debilitation or death, the human body could suffer from dozens or even hundreds of different diseases and wounds.
Thus, the fields doctors handled were diverse, and their capabilities were paramount. It was impossible not to be suspicious when her daughter suddenly brought a man in his early twenties, claiming he was the doctor to treat her husband.
"Viscountess. Your suspicion is justified. But he's not here asking for anything in return; he came simply because your daughter requested it. Can't you trust him just this once, even if it means taking a risk?"
Marva nearly shuddered at Eunhyeon's polite, formal tone—so different from the past when he'd choked her until she could barely breathe—but she did her utmost to hide it in front of her mother.
"...All right."
He was highly suspicious, but since he was brought by her daughter Marva, the viscountess reluctantly permitted the examination of her husband.
"Deliver this letter for me."
"A letter?"
"Now."
"Ah, got it!"
As soon as they entered the bedroom where Viscount Berman, the patient, lay, Eunhyeon quickly wrote a letter and handed it to Marva, demanding she deliver it.
With a firm tone that brooked no questions, Marva had no choice but to nod and hurriedly leave the mansion.
"Well then, shall we take a look?"
"What are you going to do?"
"Check his condition. Come here."
"Huh?"
Erin tilted her head at Eunhyeon's beckoning gesture but approached him with quick steps.
"What does this patient's condition look like to you right now?"
He pulled back the blanket, revealing a skeletal frame that looked as if all life had been drained from it, withered like a dried-up ancient tree trunk.
"Hmm, it's like a balloon with all the air let out... Ah, aah! Sorry! I-I don't mean Viscount's condition looks ridiculous or anything! I mean, uh..."
Noticing the viscountess's furrowed brow, Erin flinched and waved her hands in panic.
"No, it's fine."
"This concerns the viscount, so I planned to explain it to you as well, Viscountess. As this young lady said, Viscount Berman's current state is one where all the mana in his body has vanished. That's what caused the illness to invade his weakened body."
"That's exactly what the doctors who examined him said. You really... seem to be a doctor."
"Unfortunately, it's something I'm often misunderstood about, but I do possess medical knowledge."
Her ambiguous response—whether affirming or denying—drew an even stranger look from the viscountess.
Ignoring the suspicious gaze entirely, Eunhyeon unbuttoned Viscount Berman's pajamas as he lay on the bed, exposing his bare upper body.
"Oh!"
Startled, Erin turned her head away from the viscount's torso, but Eunhyeon's sharp rebuke flew at her.
"Where are you looking? You need to see this."
"B-but seeing a nobleman's bare body is... dishonorable."
"We're here to treat him. How can we treat him without examining the patient's body?"
"I'm not a doctor."
"You chose to come here. No more excuses—keep your eyes on it."
"Okay..."
Though she nodded reluctantly, Erin glanced at Viscountess Berman.
The viscountess, watching Eunhyeon and Erin with a complex gaze, let out a reluctant sigh and nodded. Only then could Erin focus on Eunhyeon's words.
"Illness is just like a battle from another perspective. The human body is instinctively designed to protect itself and adapt to its surroundings. Let's think of it differently."
"Okay."
"Imagine a place surrounded by sturdy walls that invaders would never dare approach. But now, those walls guarding it have collapsed for some reason. From the 'disease's' viewpoint, with the protective barrier gone, now's the perfect time to strike."
The human body doesn't fall ill easily by nature.
But in his current state, with physical abilities sharply declined and immunity weakened, it was the ideal condition for diseases to invade.
"Yeah."
Erin nodded along as she listened to Eunhyeon's explanation.
"So, assuming the 'disease' has entered and, with the 'walls' of mana and weakened stamina crumbled, is now devouring the 'human body' from within, slowly leading to death—what would you do to save the person overtaken by the disease?"
Erin bowed her head in thought at Eunhyeon's question.
If the walls had fallen and the enemy had already infiltrated, the first step would be to eliminate the foes inside.
"First, eradicate the disease that's taken hold inside."
"And then?"
"Rebuild the walls so the disease doesn't come back, right?"
"Correct. Good job."
"Hehe."
Eunhyeon smiled and patted Erin's head, and she beamed, savoring his touch.
"As I said, the solution is quite simple, but the other doctors couldn't have failed to think of it."
"Yes. Three doctors have come and gone so far, but they all said they couldn't do anything with their skills and left after giving up. That's why I didn't believe you either."
"Indeed, it's impossible in his current state."
But with technologies from Earth's civilization, it wasn't impossible.
Eunhyeon immediately invoked the power of Replication, summoning a syringe filled with medicine into his hand.
The viscountess's eyes widened in shock at the unfamiliar object appearing in Eunhyeon's hand.
"What... is that? There's a long needle at the end...?"
"The treatment I'm about to perform is my own method, not yet revealed to this world. Viscountess, can you promise to keep secret what treatment I use here to heal Viscount Berman?"
Conflict clouded the viscountess's face.
Not being public knowledge meant no one knew of it, and it had never been performed before.
She was deeply reluctant to apply an unproven method to her husband, but she reluctantly nodded in agreement to Eunhyeon's proposal. With her permission, Eunhyeon unhesitatingly plunged the syringe needle into Viscount Berman's wrist.
"Urk..."
Erin grimaced at the sight of the long needle piercing straight through the wrist.
With his thumb, he slowly pushed the plunger, injecting the medicine from the syringe barrel gradually into Viscount Berman's body.
Once the injection was complete, he removed the syringe, then used his power to replicate a small cotton ball, pressing it to the wrist and securing it firmly with tape.
"I've injected Viscount Berman with a medicine that targets the disease in his body. Depending on the individual, it should take about three to five days. I'll visit again soon to check on his progress."
"Th-thank you..."
Ignoring that Eunhyeon and Erin were commoners, the viscountess bowed her head repeatedly in gratitude for helping her husband recover.
As the daughter of a lesser noble family who had married into the Berman Viscountcy, she regarded him solely as her husband's savior, unconcerned with the difference in status.
"With this... maybe our family won't decline after all."
"It's too early to relax. I'll write down the medicinal ingredients needed for his recovery—procure them, brew them into a decoction, and have the viscount drink it."
"Understood."
With her assurance that she would keep it in mind, Eunhyeon and Erin left the viscount's mansion under the viscountess's escort. On the way out, they ran into Marva, who had delivered the letter and was returning home.
Explaining Viscount Berman's condition exactly as he had to the viscountess, Marva's face brightened significantly, and she let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank you. Really, thank you."
"Save your thanks for Erin, who chose to treat your father."
"Huh?"
As he nonchalantly redirected the gratitude toward Erin, the singled-out girl looked flustered and exchanged awkward glances with Marva.
Growing uneasy, Marva asked Erin,
"What... do you want from me?"
"Nothing."
"Then... why?"
To Marva's question about why she had chosen to treat her father, Erin replied,
"He should receive punishment too."
"......"
Marva stiffened, unable to respond to the answer that was far from kind, contrary to her expectations.
"If you've done wrong, you should be punished. I just... thought that kind of death wasn't right."
It was also what she had said a few days ago during Eunhyeon's trial, in front of many nobles.
Those who do wrong must be punished.
That applied even to her brother, who had learned black magic.
But Eunhyeon had pointed out that the punishment Elvin received was too harsh and aggravated compared to his crimes.
Even though Eunhyeon himself had fabricated Elvin's story and stirred the situation, Erin didn't resent him for it.
No, she had resented him at first, but she understood he had no choice to prevent chaos in the kingdom by considering the many people involved.
That was why Eunhyeon had given Erin her lifelong wish.
The wish to 'clear the infamy you created for Elvin with your own hands.'
Viscount Berman was the same.
"The viscountess seemed completely unaware of what your father or you have done."
"Urk..."
She had no idea about Viscount Berman aiding Lenion Hersha's embezzlement or Marva's repeated assaults on Erin at Aiter.
Pointed out, Marva flinched.
"I'm not forgiving what your father or you did. It's just..."
Erin paused, turning back to gaze at the Berman Viscountcy mansion.
"...human life is precious."
The punishment Erin desired wasn't atonement through death.
"I want him to live and face proper punishment. That's why I saved him."
That, she thought, was the most fitting punishment that satisfied her heart.