I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 86



86th Episode. The Curse of the Ceruleus Family (3)

86th Episode. The Curse of the Ceruleus Family (3)

The Duke of Ceruleus was a stern-looking, slightly sharp-featured middle-aged man. Unlike his wife, who was the typical noble lady.

“Greetings, Your Grace.”

“Ah. Please speak comfortably.”

“Yes.”

“I heard you were difficult to see. I am truly grateful you came to my residence. Please, examine the children carefully. See if you can find what’s ailing them.”

“Thank you. One thing, do you recall when your children first fell ill?”

“Well. They’ve always been in poor health.”

“Yes.”

“It’s been a week since all three have taken to their beds. The household staff are deeply worried, wondering if a divine punishment or curse has befallen the family.”

“It’s no one’s fault. Uh, if you have nothing further to say, I’ll go examine them.”

“Will you be coming along?”

“No. Focus on the examination. I’ll go see the children later on my own.”

I nodded.

There’s no time to waste any more than this. After we gave our farewells to the Duke of Ceruleus, we left with the butler to go directly to the examination room.

I thought they’d naturally come along to the examination. Or, is it that they think it’s more helpful for them not to be there? If so, why?

Their thought process was a bit different from ordinary people. Usually, people don’t leave their sick child to undergo an examination alone.

Especially, with an illness that, like this case, can cloud the patient’s judgment. I had a few possibilities in mind.

Like they’re subconsciously denying their kids are sick? Or maybe the Duke and Duchess just don’t see it as that bad?

The more I look, the more questions pop up.

Guess I gotta see the patient soon.

We stopped in front of a firmly shut door. There was a sign that said Emily on the door. Must be Miss Emily’s room.

“Is this the eldest daughter’s room?”

“Uh, yeah. I wonder what she’s up to.”

The butler we saw earlier frowned, looking troubled. Well, they said the symptoms were madness. There might be some trouble.

“We’re healers. We’ve seen all sorts on the job, nothing fazes us.”

“It’s not a big deal. She just screamed, threw up, the whole shebang after I said the doctor was coming. She hasn’t said a word since.”

I nodded.

It’s difficult when a patient isn’t cooperative.

“Let’s start with the examination. She doesn’t seem to be yelling now. We’ll be careful.”

“I’ll wait outside. Call me right away if anything happens inside.”

The butler meant he’d wait outside. I went inside the eldest daughter’s room with Istina.

There’s gotta be a clue about the illness in here. Doesn’t look like talking to the patient will be easy, so finding clues is especially important.

I looked around the patient’s room carefully. Let’s see. There was a glass by the bedside, with evidence that someone drank water from it a few minutes ago.

Not as many signs of illness as I thought. You wouldn’t think it was the room of someone mentally ill looking at this. Of course, the patient herself didn’t look all that normal.

The patient was sitting quietly on the bed, muttering something. The room was tidier than expected. There was something under the bed.

A book? Why is a book there?

A vanity table sat on one side of the room. She might have used makeup containing lead. I took a closer look at the patient’s vanity.

“Istina. You know anything about makeup?”

“Not really.”

I can’t tell because the ingredients aren’t listed on the cosmetics. It’s clear there are a few kinds of white cream, but could they have lead in them?

It’s true that lead can cause neurological symptoms, but the symptoms of lead poisoning don’t seem to match the patient’s condition.

Dizziness and headaches are the main symptoms that appear in adult lead poisoning. Just sitting and muttering as if seeing hallucinations isn’t a symptom typical of lead poisoning.

Let’s just keep it on the checklist for now.

I turned my gaze back towards the patient.

“Patient, can we talk for a bit? We’re healers, we’re here to help you.”

No answer came back. Just the quiet murmuring intensifying a little. The patient’s gaze was shifting erratically.

“Istina. Just try holding the patient’s hand.”

“Now?”

“Yeah.”

“What if they bite me?”

Yeah, what if.

“Just try it. If the patient attacks you, I’ll help. They seem calm for now.”

“Uh… excuse me.”

Istina cautiously approached the patient. The patient didn’t even glance at Istina. Istina took the patient’s hand.

I watched the back of the patient’s hand.

“Okay, you’re good. Come back.”

“Whew, that was scary.”

“Any peculiarities?”

“There was a strange wound on the back of their hand.”

Right. That’s why I had Estina hold the patient’s hand to check. There were rather distinctive wounds on the back of the patient’s fingers and the front of their hand. And only on the left hand.

“Estina. That kind of wound on the patient’s hand. Do you know how it might happen?”

“Maybe they fell?”

No. Why would you get a wound on the back of your hand from falling? It’s not easy for a person to fall on the back of their hand. The angle’s all wrong.

“Wrong. I’ll explain later.”

“Okay…”

In medical terminology, it’s called Russell’s sign.

It’s a wound mainly seen in anorexic patients, a mark made when the back of the hand is scraped against the teeth while inducing vomiting by putting fingers in the mouth.

They probably used their left hand because they didn’t want their right hand covered in spit. But Emily didn’t seem like an anorexic patient.

This patient doesn’t seem like they have anorexia, but more like they induced vomiting to pretend to be sick, and that’s how that mark was left on their hand.

It’s not like what’s visible is the be-all and end-all, but…

This is the conclusion I drew after looking at Emily.

Vomiting isn’t something they do because they actually feel nauseous or ill. It seems like they force themselves to vomit quite often to pretend to be sick.

Why?

I don’t know either.

But vomiting on purpose to look sicker, or to lose weight… it’s not something a rational person would do.

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I’m not a psychiatrist, but it seems very likely to be a calculated and planned action.

Hearing the doctor was coming today, doesn’t that mean you puked to play it even crazier?

But there were still a few ways to confirm. I paused, looking at the half-full glass of water, the lip print still wet.

Maybe it would be surprisingly easy to confirm. I hesitated for a moment, then slowly opened my mouth.

“That’s a relief, Istina.”

“Yes?”

Istina looked at me.

“I put a sedative in the glass. If the patient has a mania, the sedative’s cold energy will suppress the symptoms, and she’ll fall asleep soon. Then we can give a more detailed examination.”

There’s actually no such thing. There’s no sedative, and the cold energy of a sedative is a lie too. Istina looked completely confused.

Well, it’s nonsense.

But the patient has no way of knowing if what I just said is real or fake. She just looked away for a second, then the patient turned onto her side.

Hooked, just like that.

“Istina. The notebook, please.”

“Ah, yes.”

I took the notebook and pulled out a pen. Then, I wrote two words on a blank page of the notebook and held it in front of Emily’s eyes as she lay there.

– That’s just water

Emily’s eyes snapped open.

See? She’s been understanding everything we said from the start. Not listening, or mumbling something, it was all Emily’s act.

I know she’s faking, and it’s obvious, but a healthy person doesn’t fake an illness this bad. Istina tilted her head slightly.

“So, the sedative, that wasn’t actually real, was it?”

“Nope.”

Emily did this because she has some sort of really serious problem, mentally or physically. I need to figure out what it is, starting now.

“Let’s talk, Miss Emily. I’ll keep your secrets from the people around you as much as possible.”

“Really…?”

That’s the principle, at least. Even if a patient’s guardian asks, it’s right not to divulge information the patient has requested to keep private.

It was a shame thinking about how the Duke and Duchess would suffer because of the lie, but. I nodded. Emily sighed.

A little while later. The butler peeked his head in, looking worried. He must have heard the commotion when Miss Emily got up earlier.

“Oh, young lady, when did you come to?”

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the irony of the situation. The butler, as expected, widened his eyes, as if he had no clue what was going on.

“It seems she’s briefly regained consciousness.”

“Ah, yes. I’m regaining consciousness.”

Emily awkwardly scratched her head. The butler, completely oblivious, just admired her relief, muttering about how it was a blessing.

“Indeed, they say you’re the greatest doctor in the empire! Just your presence alone seems to have made the young lady a bit better already.”

Now, let’s see what the real problem is.

Malingering. To express it more politely, it’s an important virtue for a doctor to recognize patients whose illness and symptoms do not match.