I Became a Plague Doctor in a Romance Fantasy Novel - Chapter 88



Episode 88. The Cause of Malingering (2)

Episode 88. The Cause of Malingering (2)

There are all sorts of bizarre people. It was so obvious to me that it was a pseudo-seizure that I wasn’t worried. But the butler was freaking out.

“Oh, what should we do?”

“First, stay calm.”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

“When someone has a seizure, calmly turn them to their side and put something like a pillow under their head so they don’t hit it. Don’t hold their arms and legs or put anything in their mouth, it won’t help.”

“Yes.”

Of course, that’s if it’s a real epileptic seizure. In this patient’s case, it’s a psychogenic seizure, so it’s okay to leave her alone.

I looked at the butler.

“Butler, my bag is on the coat rack next to the entrance of the mansion, do you remember? There’s an enema for epilepsy in my bag. Please bring my bag.”

“Understood.”

The butler hurried off. I looked down at Miss Erissa. Just as I thought. Seems the talk of an enema completely took away her desire to fake a seizure.

The frantic thrashing stopped.

“Miss, are you coming to your senses?”

“Uhh… uhh…”

I shook Erissa, who was lying on the floor, to wake her. She stopped moving.

“The butler’s gone. I’ll keep your secret, so you can stop acting.”

“B-but doctor…you won’t use the enema, right?”

Seriously. First, pretending to be crazy, second, faking a seizure. This house is a real mess. I looked away and chuckled, but Erissa looked genuinely worried.

Ah.

I shouldn’t be scaring her with stuff like this, not when she already looks like she has a mental illness. I tried my best to wipe the smile off my face. Seriously.

“I didn’t bring one. I just asked to see if it was a real seizure.”

Erissa sat on the floor, looking sheepish. I perched on the edge of her desk.

“If I speak my mind. I know that your seizures are a conscious act. But it’s not important that it’s a pretense, it’s that you’re reacting to something, right?”

“I see.”

“I need to know the problem to help you.”

Emilie’s reason was that she didn’t like her arranged marriage partner. I don’t know if that’s a valid reason, or if that’s all there is to it.

I guess I’ll have to see all three patients to figure it out.

“Doctor. They said you’re the empire’s greatest physician, right? And you’ve come to see us today.”

“That’s correct.”

“This… you said I was doing it on purpose. It’s true that I’m conscious during the seizures, but it’s not like I’m doing it on purpose.”

“That’s possible.”

A psychogenic seizure as a reaction to stress? It’s entirely plausible.

More than that, I wonder if the three sisters know that each other’s illnesses are faked. Judging by their reactions so far, it doesn’t seem like they do.

“This might sound stupid.”

“What is it?”

“It’s like…everyone around me is sick, so it feels like I should be sick too.”

I couldn’t very well say, “What a dumbass,” so I covered my mouth with my hand and lowered my head, pretending to ponder.

A kind of collective hysteria, or perhaps peer pressure. It sounds ridiculous to outsiders, but it’s a plausible explanation.

“Are there any other reasons?”

“There is….”

Blood is thicker than water, I guess. Just like her older sister, Erissa clammed up. I’ll need to investigate further.

“If you don’t want to talk, think about it. After all, we still have your third sister’s consultation to do.”

“Okay.”

There’s something I’m definitely missing.

“Doctor. I’d really like you to believe me, it’s not just a simple act. I’ve had hallucinations and I’ve gotten bruised from the seizures.”

Erissa rolled up her sleeve, revealing a dark purple bruise near her shoulder. If what Erissa is saying is true… That means she’s had both psychogenic seizures and convulsions…

I frowned.

“The hallucinations and seizures happened at the same time?”

“Yes.”

You can’t hallucinate during an epileptic seizure. It’s because epileptic seizures happen when brain cells flicker on and off. It’s difficult to process meaningful information like hallucinations.

But they’re saying the root cause of psychogenic seizures is hallucination. Then what caused the hallucination in the first place? It doesn’t make sense.

I sent Istina outside to check for pollen. I moved towards the third daughter of the Duke’s family’s room with the Butler.

“Shall I take the bag?”

I took the bag from Anderson.

“I’m relieved that the young lady’s convulsions stopped so quickly. No need for an enema then, right?”

“Yes.”

Anderson let out a small exclamation.

“A true master physician is definitely different. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels like just by you coming, the young ladies’ symptoms are improving.”

Well, that’s because they stopped faking.

“By any chance, is there a basement in the mansion?”

“Yes.”

“Does anyone go down there often?”

Anderson hesitated, then shook his head. I understood that hesitation to mean it was a place people went to often.

“Other than your children going in sometimes, not many people go down there. It’s mostly just storage.”

“Let’s go check the basement.”

“There’s nothing there. Just dust.”

“Still.”

There might be hallucinogenic mushrooms growing in the basement. Even if not hallucinogenic, just allergenic spores could affect one’s judgment. We headed towards the basement.

“The doctor seems very interested in the house’s environment. I thought you’d only care about the patient.”

“There must be a cause for the sickness. It doesn’t seem like an infectious disease, so something in the house is likely the problem.”

*Creak.*

The basement door opened. I coughed from the dust and basement smell. It was the environment, after all. There’s something seriously wrong with this house.

“It’s worse than I expected.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“You’re going in there? Why?”

“It’s an old storage space, used by previous generations. It’s like a treasure hunt to wander around. Of course, anything of value has been removed long ago.”

Oh…

I didn’t really want to go inside myself. If what Elisa said is true, then somewhere in this house there’s a substance causing hallucinations.

I need to be careful.

“It looks really unhealthy in there. You should clean out the basement as soon as possible. Either block the door completely, or clean it out.”

“You think the illness is because of the basement?”

“It’s possible.”

“I’ll start cleaning it out today.”

“Cover your mouth and nose when you clean. Mold could be causing the problem.”

We closed the basement door again.

“Oh, right. Butler, have you ever seen a ghost in this house? The patient said they have.”

“Isn’t that a symptom? I haven’t seen one. I’ve heard the maids say they’ve seen ghosts sometimes. And some people are out sick.”

“Because of ghosts?”

“Yes.”

The maids claimed they’d seen a ghost. Some were even out sick, unable to come to work. Something’s nagging at the back of my mind…

On my way up from the basement. There, in the distance, Istina was standing in the living room. As soon as she saw me, she gestured for me to come over.

“Um, would you mind giving us a bit of privacy, butler? I have something to discuss with my apprentice.”

Time to talk to Istina. I’ve got some new leads, some things to explain.

Let’s organize what we’ve learned so far. I just handed Istina the medical records for Emily and Elisa that I’d just finished writing up.

“Istina. What are the patients’ symptoms?”

“Hallucinations, convulsions, impaired judgment, lethargy, overall weakness, depression, psychogenic seizures.”

“And the most important symptom out of those?”

“Uh, hallucinations.”

“That’s right.”

The most distinctive symptom here is hallucinations. Emily said she’d seen a ghost, and Elisa had said something similar.

“What causes did you find?”

“Pollen, lead, stress, mold.”

But, it doesn’t seem likely that pollen would cause hallucinations. If it was the pollen, the butler or the duke and duchess would have shown some symptoms, but there was nothing like that.

“If it was the pollen, other people would be sick too.”

“That’s true.”

“And if it was lead, the duchess would be sick too. Besides, she doesn’t seem to wear much makeup.”

“Yes.”

Erisa’s room didn’t even have a vanity. The idea that lead could cause hallucinations, theoretically, maybe… but it’s far from typical lead poisoning symptoms.

Crucially. If her brain cells were damaged by lead, it wouldn’t make sense for her to hide and read thick books. Not lead poisoning then.

“Stress. But not all the patients’ symptoms were psychosomatic, Erisa had bruises, and the hallucinations aren’t explained either.”

“Could the evidence be fabricated?”

“Bruises? I don’t think so.”

Lastly, mold.

“Same issue as pollen. Servants and butlers would be wandering around the basement storeroom more than the ladies, so why are only the ladies getting sick?”

“I don’t know, either. What’s the conclusion?”

It feels like I almost know.

Apparently, maids have also been falling ill or having hallucinations. A disease selectively targeting young women, mold, plants, mass hysteria…

Ah, I got it.

“It’s a witch hunt.”

“What does ‘witch hunt’ mean?”

Istina tilted her head. Did “witch hunt” refer to some kind of illness…