Bibliophile Princess, page 15
The negativity, the fear, the grief, the guilt—all of that weighed heavily on the survivors, but most heavy was the regret—the self-hatred and the self-blame.
Still, I did not waver. “Yes, I might get infected. What will you gain by hearing that? Isn’t the truth of my presence here answer enough?”
Everyone had regrets, but what happened when one kept them close and let them continue? What roads would open up from there?
Even though I didn’t speak those words aloud, the man apparently knew what was in my heart, for a slight ripple of emotion ran through his stern countenance. But then it quickly went rigid again, like the permafrost in Ralshen that would never melt.
“You’re on the royal family’s side, then, Elianna Bernstein.”
It sounded like he was saying that to remind himself. The citizens of Modzth thought of nobles as people who hid behind their titles and authority like shields, oblivious to the pain and suffering of those teetering between life and death. I could hear that anger in his voice.
“Elianna Bernstein. The crown prince’s fiancée. So, why’d you come here? And don’t tell me it’s because you’re the Lady Saint. The Saint can’t catch the illness. Did you come here to visit the sick because you think you’re the Lady Saint? You’re the Saint, so that’s why you think you’re worthy to become the crown prince’s wife? Did you come here just to boost your popularity? You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
The dull thud of his hammer once again reverberated through the earth so intensely that even I felt it on horseback.
“The sick aren’t just pawns for you nobles to play with!”
Voices behind him rang out in agreement, but then I heard another voice—one much calmer, coming from beside the leader. “Noble lady. You coming here will not improve the situation. In fact, if you get infected here, then the royal family will ostracize Ralshen even further, and the citizens will hate the royal family in return. Nothing good can come out of this. I won’t speak ill of you, but please, leave.”
It sounded as if they were saying there was nothing I could do. “What could only four people accomplish?” they added.
Only two horses had come, and four people including myself. Honestly, would they even believe us if we told the citizens who we were? And even if they did believe us, would our words get through to them?
I’d asked myself that many times. It was no wonder that they didn’t believe us. They’d never met us before, and even if we had prepared ourselves for this, it would be a hard pill for them to swallow. Since they didn’t know the circumstances, it was more likely that they would reject us, since we came from the royal family’s side—the people who held the power.
So what should we do?
I thought of the charm that I kept close to my breast. I could still vividly recall the voice of the person who entrusted it to me. “When you’re backed into a corner and desperately need help, open this... I want you to deal with the Ralshen Region. Can I entrust that task to you?” I clenched it in my fist and then raised my face.
“It’s true that I am a noble, belonging to the Bernstein family. But the reason I came here isn’t because of my status. As I told you before, I am the crown prince’s fiancée.”
I couldn’t deny that I was on the side of those who held the power, but I needed to use that position to do anything I could to help. The repeated signs of anger were threatening to burst out again. The reason he’d given me this charm was to show it here in Ralshen, the place that felt abandoned by the royal family. I needed to use it right now.
I took out the object inside the small bag around my neck and held it high so everyone could see. The fleeting gleam of the setting sun glinted off of it. On it was engraved a treasured sword forged with the fragments of the sun, an image related to the founding of Sauslind. It was a one-of-a-kind item, modeled after the design of that treasured sword that had been raised to the heavens. There was also the moon, which colored the sword and illuminated its glory and eternal nature. It was known as a symbol of wisdom in Sauslind, a depiction of the story of the shining king and the gods who’d supported him. This object was the symbol of the kingdom; it was the royal family’s crest.
“I have been sent here in the name of the royal family of the kingdom of Sauslind, entrusted with the means to save the people from the plague. The royal family would not abandon the sick people of Ralshen. I have the cure for the Ashen Nightmare right here with me, and I declare that I will put an end to the plague right here and now!”
There was a sudden shift in the atmosphere, and not just from the rebels, but from the countess’s party too. The royal family had indeed abandoned this land, and as a result, the region was estranged from them. I had felt their gazes of mistrust many times on my journey, when I had shown the royal crest to prove my identity. But now, as they all glared at me with those same eyes, I felt a fear and excitement I had never known before. All kinds of emotions mixed inside of me at once.
I had just claimed to have a cure for the illness under the name of the royal family, but Lady Gene had made the cure; I’d only ordered it from her. It would be meaningless for me to take sole responsibility for it, so I had to do it using the royal family’s name, or else I wouldn’t be able to save Ralshen.
I was going to put a stop to this, but honestly, I was afraid. If it were just me, I could take responsibility for it, no matter how bad it was—even if I went down in history as a criminal. Even if I had to lose my position as the crown prince’s fiancée. Since I had made this decision, I could accept the consequences, but my fate wasn’t the only thing at stake here. Many people’s lives were on the line. The fate of the whole kingdom depended on this, and I couldn’t allow anyone else to accept that burden for me. I wouldn’t allow it.
I’d promised I wouldn’t run away anymore, not from my position, or from my feelings. I’d promised I would take responsibility and face things head-on. I suppressed my emotions and stared back at the leader of the rebels.
“Why did you start your rebellion? Wasn’t it because you believed the royal family and the kingdom had abandoned you? Well, I’ve come now with a way to save the sick. What else could you possibly want?!”
I knew there was a danger of me getting ill, but I wasn’t here visiting the sick out of curiosity. I hadn’t come bearing empty promises; I’d come with the one thing they’d desired, so now the only thing that was left was...
As I clenched the royal crest, I felt it digging into my hand. “The sick are waiting! Your family members, your friends, your neighbors, everyone who is suffering is fighting right this second! Your standing here questioning me is drawing out that suffering. Can’t you see that?!”
A quiet noise startled me. It was the sound of something metallic hitting the ground, like someone dropping their pickaxe. Then I heard another. And another, and another. These identical sounds overlapped, and voices began calling Raqqa’s name, very quietly, yet everyone could hear them.
“I trust her. I trust the royal family,” one hushed voice said.
The sound of the wall being moved rumbled through the air. Then the people dispersed. A chorus of “I believe them too!” rang out, then pleas for help.
“The royal family is going to save my family. She didn’t bring any soldiers with her. She faced us on her own, using just her words. Even though she’s with those who wield the power, she didn’t use that power over us. She didn’t try to force us. She came here all by herself to talk to us.”
More people joined in to help remove the wall. I could hear people saying, “Me too!” and “I want the cure!”
Finally, the person who had remained silent next to me on horseback spoke. “Doctor Garland! Doctor Garland, if you’re safe, answer me! It’s Gene Arman! I’ve brought the cure. I finally, finally developed a treatment that works against the Ashen Nightmare!” Lady Gene yelled triumphantly. She had insisted on accompanying me. Even though she wasn’t close to any of the residents, she’d said she had an acquaintance here, a doctor who had treated Dr. Hester’s illness.
Her voice still had a hint of girlish youth to it, but we could hear the message being relayed behind the wall. After a while, a young man answered, “Gene, is that you?”
“Doctor!” Lady Gene tumbled off the horse she was sharing with Rei and ran toward the wall, unconcerned with the barrier between them. As they both tried to speak at the same time through the wall, a new set of hoofbeats approached.
It was Lord Alan, who’d shot off the flare when I arrived, and Berndt, the innkeeper from Hersche who’d insisted on joining us.
“Raqqa! Marco!” Berndt called as he rode his horse over to me, panting.
“You idiot!” came a surprised and scalding reply.
“Marco, what the hell are you doing? I know you said you won’t abandon your friends, but come on! Your wife Martha is holding down the fort all by herself! And your son... You got your priorities all messed up, you know that?!”
I wondered what on earth was going on, but then I saw the calm man who stood beside the leader of the rebels reacting. He looked shocked, clearly unaware of what was going on with his family.
The innkeeper’s lecture didn’t end there, but this time, his voice was subdued with emotion. “Raqqa, I guarantee that you can trust Lady Elianna, the crown prince’s fiancée. The condition of the sick people hidden in Hersche improved. Their symptoms got better. It’s a cure. You can believe it. Don’t worry.”
Berndt spoke in a calm voice to reassure the rebels, but then he cursed at them as only a close friend could do, calling them a bunch of damned idiots. The moment the leader of the rebels dropped his hammer marked the end of the uprising.
Chapter 7: Ray of Hope
The sun set on the town of Modzth as sounds of anger and tumult rang out through the streets. Several bonfires blazed amid the falling snow while a man, torches in hand, gave out orders.
“Don’t put out the fires! People and supplies will be coming constantly from Hersche. Right now, I want the citizens of Modzth to separate and start performing tasks. We can’t let the illness spread. Mark the sick with red cloth. Those who don’t have masks to cover your mouth must take a bath first!”
The dark-haired man giving the orders was leading all of the healthy men, all miners who’d been away working in Hersche. They had been on the verge of losing their jobs due to the revolt and the unstable conditions, so I’d hired them to help with transporting goods in and around the vicinity, as well as assist with constructing temporary huts.
I, Elianna Bernstein, suddenly heard a voice call out from the direction of a nearby building. “Lady Elianna! We don’t have enough lumber. You want me to tear down the buildings around here?!”
Speaking through the cloth covering my mouth, I insisted, “No, you mustn’t! Please wait until the sun comes up to get more lumber. A roof is sufficient for now. Take the used up heat stones and the crushed sand from the ground—they have a thermal effect—and lay thick cloth over them. You can use the planks and other building materials from the torn-down barrier for the walls. The most important thing is to keep the cold air from coming in!”
“Got it!” replied Prince Irvin, a prince of Maldura, who was acting alongside me. Since I was unaccustomed to riding horses, he’d put me on his own steed and taken me to Modzth posthaste, protecting me along the way.
I had been so overwhelmed with tension and relief when those who were leading the riot had a change of heart, and Prince Irvin had been there to support me. He’d held the reins with one hand and patted me on top of my head with the other. “You did well” was all he’d said with a smile.
I’d done my very best to push my personal feelings aside, because the sun had been setting and I’d been in a hurry to do what I had to do. After I got off the horse, I’d confirmed the situation with Countess Rachel, who had arrived ahead of me, and gently chided her when she broke down in tears. Then I’d stepped into the town, which had been closed off for so long.
So far, I had accomplished three things: I had assessed the condition of the town; I’d inquired about the status of the assembly hall, where the sick were being held; and I’d ordered the construction of several temporary huts in a separate location. At the moment, the sick were all being held in one location, but we needed to separate those who were gravely ill from those who only had slight symptoms, as well as those who were somewhere in the middle. The latter two groups would be staying in the temporary huts, while the gravely ill, who were the most in number, would receive more intensive care.
The seriously ill had developed gray spots, just like the sick people in Hersche had, so we’d already begun administering the cure to them. At first, we didn’t see any noticeable change, but gradually the gray color began to fade, and after a day, the sick began to regain consciousness. I hadn’t allowed myself to be too optimistic, because when they were unconscious, they couldn’t drink water, cough, or inform someone if something was stuck in their throat, but now that they were awake, they could. I knew the faces of the people by their bedsides. I could hear voices telling them to “hang in there,” and for people on the brink of death, those words could be enough to instill the desire to live.
Back when we were in Hersche, desperately chasing the cure, Dr. Hester had said something to me as she helped. “We herbalists and doctors can only do so much.” They could examine the sick and identify and treat their symptoms. They could administer medicine that would attack the sickness at its source, but they could not regulate the workings of a body weakened beyond repair. All they could do was help lift the patient’s spirits and boost their stamina. In the end, it didn’t matter how effective of a treatment we developed; ultimately, the patient’s survival was up to them. It was almost as if she’d been telling me that “there is no panacea in this world.”
Yet there I’d been, chewing my lip nervously. Why had I worked so hard searching for Furya’s Jar, then? What was the purpose of all the struggles that had led up to this very moment, of the precious people who had lost their lives and of those who had been hurt? What did it all mean?
It was then that Lord Alexei had shared his plan to deliver the cure to Modzth. When I first read the letter, I’d been incredulous, thinking it would never work, but looking back on it now, I knew that was the best course of action we could have taken.
Lilia and Mabel would act as bait. No one else could have done it. After all, Lord Alexei and Earl Ralshen had put themselves in danger too. I’d known logically that I needed to focus on the main priority, yet my emotions just couldn’t catch up. I’d been crestfallen, cursing my powerlessness and cowardice.
“Isn’t the cure hope itself?” Dr. Hester’s granddaughter Gene had brusquely asked me.
“This is my own personal theory,” she’d said as she continued mixing the medicine. “Just because I inherited Furya’s Jar doesn’t mean I’ll be able to come up with a cure. If anyone else had asked me to make it, I would’ve said no and rejected them. But because you came here...”
She kept a serious watch on the cure as she continued.
“You came all this way in search of Furya’s Jar and met us. You shared the fruits of your research, even the prescription your chief herbalist made. If you weren’t here, I’m not sure if I would’ve made this medicine or not. I don’t think I would’ve given up, but...I’d felt like I’d hit a wall. Like my grandma says, there’s only so much one person can do. That goes for doctors and herbalists too, but as long as we don’t stop, as long as people don’t give up, there’s always hope. Isn’t that what you said?”
I’d learned that Lady Gene had inherited Furya’s Jar right when I thought it was lost. That’s when I’d thought there might still be hope.
“Deep down inside, no one wants to give up—including the sick. Everyone wants to have hope to live, and doctors, herbalists, and nurses help because of that. Medicine is just part of it. It’s just one way to keep hope alive. I think that’s the cure. That’s what you gave to them, isn’t it?”
As long as people didn’t give up, hope would always exist in this world. Although sometimes it could be vague and hard to grab hold of, it definitely existed inside the hearts of those who refused to give in. And perhaps I could give that to people—just like long ago, as detailed in Ryza’s Guide, when they couldn’t find that hope in their current world but entrusted it to the next.
“Lady Elianna! We don’t have enough of the cure. Should we quarantine the residents or put off giving it to them until later?!” a voice asked. It was Lord Alan, who’d gone to a separate section away from where the sick were being cared for to deal with the people left behind in the town. He was also instructing the able officials.
I raised my voice, louder than I’d ever dare to speak inside the royal archives. “Prioritize administering the cure to the sick first! Others who are able to move should first go to the steam bath that Rei has arranged. After you’ve done that, please round them up. We don’t have enough hands right now. We need to examine every citizen of Modzth carefully. Send the able men to help Lord Irvin build the temporary huts and drying huts. The ladies can help with laundry and cleaning. There is a mountain of clothes to be washed!”
“Got it!” Lord Alan responded, his cheerful response ringing out in the night.
We were all well-informed of the situation here. I’d discussed what we needed to do with them beforehand, yet they still asked me for instructions and let me repeat them. This was for the residents’ benefit, so that they could learn how we were dealing with the situation as well. The same went for calling me by my name and not a pseudonym. We wanted to emphasize the fact that the prince’s fiancée was here at the behest of the royal family—that the royal family were lending a helping hand.
Our first objective was to separate out the sick and administer the cure to those in the gravest condition. Our second objective was to investigate the state of the town while spreading information on how to prevent the infection. As we’d done that, we’d tried to recruit people who could help with things other than nursing the sick. Above all, I’d been told to take charge in the center of town, in a conspicuous place—a place where information could easily be received and assessed—somewhere visible to the guards.
