A Genius Pharmacist Whom the Empress Is Obsessed With

54. Her Secret.

By the time dinner time had passed, Edun returned to his mansion alone.

Sven offered to accompany him home, but he firmly declined this time. After a long day, he wanted to be alone and relax at night.

He enjoyed being with others, but he was someone who absolutely needed time alone. Edun was exactly that kind of person.

However, his eventful day was not yet over. Under the orange light, someone was waiting for him on a bench near his mansion.

“You’re here now? You’re quite late.”

The woman with long brown hair tied to the side was Ella.

“Miss, what brings you here at this hour?”

“Just came to see you, whatever the reason may be.”

Ella smiled lightly and shook the envelope in her hand.

“I haven’t had dinner yet, do you want to eat together? It may be a bit cold, but it’ll taste good.”

“Yes. Come in.”

Edun guided Ella inside.

She wanted to be alone, but she couldn’t turn Ella away after she had come all the way here. Moreover, despite her efforts to smile, exhaustion was evident on Ella’s face.

After a while, a fairly decent meal was prepared on the brown dining table.

“I will eat well. Enjoy your meal, miss.”

“Yeah, you too, Edun.”

Ella seemed quite hungry as she remained silent and ate for a while.

Although she wasn’t very hungry, Edun started eating small amounts of bread and fruit, fearing that Ella might feel embarrassed.

“I guess I’m full.”

After some time had passed, Ella put down her cutlery, suggesting that she was satisfied.

“Oh, I didn’t have a proper lunch today either.”

Ella’s cheeks turned slightly red. After her hunger was gone, she seemed to feel embarrassed.

“No, it’s alright. I ate well too. This bread is delicious.”

“Really? That’s a relief. It’s from my favorite bakery.”

Ella wiped her mouth and hands with a towel, smiling gently.

“Oh, by the way, you came to the hospital today, right? How was the office? Was anything lacking or too cramped?”

“It was fine. In fact, I thought it might be too extravagant.”

“Really? Other people said the office is small. They said it gets crowded when research desks and necessary equipment are placed there.”

“Do we really need to do that?”

Judging by the scale of the facilities in the shared research lab, it seemed unlikely that there would be any shortage of research desks. And the equipment was also state-of-the-art.

“Even if you don’t know other people, it would be better for Edun to have personal facilities. After all, Edun will only be doing research related to Lembayel.”

“Is that so?”

“Even if I reject people, I can’t say for sure that there are no Lembayel spies in the hospital.”

Although she tried to avoid wasting money, this time Ella’s opinion was correct.

“As the chief of the Royal Hospital, don’t burden yourself too much and apply for personal facilities as soon as tomorrow. You just need to complete an expenditure resolution.”

“Yes. Thank you for your consideration.”

“Ah, you know that you have to choose a research partner, right? So, have you decided who you’re going to work with? If you haven’t decided yet, what do you think of Suane?”

“…Suane?”

Idun furrowed her brow slightly. Not only did she first learn that she would be working with someone else, but she didn’t expect the name Suane to come out of Ella’s mouth.

“Yes, Suane. You didn’t meet her at the medical center today?”

“Well, yes.”

As the head of the Royal Medical Center, Ella seemed to know most of what was happening there.

“Suane is skilled and has a good personality, but she has a few peculiar traits that other researchers tend to avoid and ignore.”

Ella’s eyes rolled around as she spoke, as if she were observing Idun’s reaction.

“I wonder if she thinks I dislike Suane.”

Although their first meeting had been somewhat tangled, Idun didn’t have any ill feelings towards Suane. She simply thought of her as a slightly bothersome and peculiar woman.

“May I ask why you have such an evaluation of Suane, Miss?”

“Of course!”

Ella retorted with sparkly eyes. It seemed that she was unsure of how to react if Idun had declined.

“Well, let’s see. First, we should talk about the day of the interview. When I first saw Suane, her face was extremely pale. Moreover, she kept trembling all over and sweating, even though it was cold.”

With her chin resting on her hand, Ella spoke while gazing at the empty air.

“I asked her if everything was okay because it seemed like she was under a lot of stress due to the interview. And you know what Suane said? She said she had conducted an important experiment before coming.”

“An important experiment?”

“Yes, Idun, do you know about the Devil’s Toadstool?”

“Yes, I do.”

The Devil’s Toadstool was a poisonous mushroom. When eaten raw, it caused vomiting and convulsions, but when properly cooked, its toxins were removed, making it safe to eat.

It was a mushroom that could be easily found anywhere in the empire and was widely loved by people due to its pleasant taste.

“The problem is that the process of removing the poison is quite complicated….”

Boiling it in water would remove the toxin, but even the steam emitted from the boiling could cause symptoms of poisoning, so caution was required throughout the cooking process. The smell wasn’t very pleasant either.

According to Suane, she said that she had eaten the poisonous mushroom raw. And she did it the day before the interview.”

“Why would she do that?”

“She wanted to know how much of the Toadstool she could eat raw.”

What on earth was she talking about? Since Idun couldn’t answer, Ella continued speaking.

“I’m not sure, but it seems like Suane’s goal is to create a book.”

“…And?”

“When I asked her why she wanted to create a book, she said that when she was young, she was extremely hungry but didn’t know what grass she should eat. So, she ended up randomly devouring any grass she could find and almost died.”

“….”

“So, ever since then, I wanted to create an herbal guidebook or something like a plant guidebook. I thought about writing down how much poisonous herbs one would need to consume to be able to withstand it, and also how to withstand the poison. They said that way, there wouldn’t be anyone else going through the same thing.”

Idun thought back on what she saw of Suane today.

Her somewhat awkward movements, repetitive actions.

At first, she just thought it was peculiar, but now it seemed like it was long-term side effects from long-term consumption of poisonous herbs.

“After hearing that story, I started to think that Suane is actually a decent person. I was a little worried about where she came from, but after observing her for a few weeks, it doesn’t seem like she’s meeting anyone else. So, what do you think? Does it seem like a good partner?”

“Well, I only saw her for the first time today…”

Whether their first meeting had gone smoothly or Ella had praised her, Idun didn’t want to judge someone so hastily in just one day. Even more so if the person was someone she would have to see for a long time.

“Is it okay if I decide after talking to her a bit more?”

“Sure. Take your time to think about it. There’s no need to decide right away.”

The evening gathering ended that way. Ella had to prepare the clothes she would wear for the opening ceremony, so she left Suane’s house, leaving a message that she would come again tomorrow.

*

Inside the carriage on the way back home, Ella was lost in thought while looking at the quickly passing scenery outside.

“I didn’t even get to talk to her about Suane because of today.”

Ella had delivered Idun’s message to Ludimine that Idun was alive. The condition was that Ludimine would wait until Idun revealed her true identity.

After hearing Ella’s words, Ludimine, truly, truly, didn’t show any reaction, keeping her head lowered for a long time.

She didn’t cry, become angry, or show any happiness. She just became as stiff as a statue.

Unable to think of anything to say, Ella had no choice but to quietly leave her presence.

“I hope nothing happens until the opening ceremony when Idun and Ludimine will finally come face to face…”

Since Ella hadn’t even seen Ludimine’s face, she couldn’t grasp what she was thinking or what emotions she was feeling.

All Ella could do was hope that nothing would happen until the opening ceremony when Idun and Ludimine would finally meet.

***

“As requested, the construction is complete.”

A letter that flew in during the morning.

Idun, who was leisurely enjoying breakfast, immediately stood up.

It would be considerate for Hebel to have taken care of it herself, but Idun had to personally confirm the details. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Hebel, but rather that the perspectives of a medical professional and a non-medical professional were different.

From Hebel’s perspective, everything seemed to be progressing perfectly, but from Idun’s perspective, something might be lacking.

Idun quickly made her way to the medical center and was able to meet Hebel, who was waiting at the entrance as if she knew Idun would come.

After an hour of inspection, all the points Idun had pointed out were perfectly fixed.

“I heard that you plan to order personal equipment to be placed in your office. It will take about a week to prepare the personal equipment.”

Without waiting for Eidun to speak first, Hevel handed Eidun a form for expense resolution. It was a clean and efficient task, just like a secretary of Fenyard would handle it.

After the brief meeting with Hevel, Eidun headed to his office. It was to write an expense resolution to purchase personal equipment.

Originally, Eidun planned to write it leisurely, but knowing that it would take a week, he felt the need to write it in advance. Ever since the opening day, Hevel and Eidun had been busy, leaving no time to spare.

As Eidun walked through the corridor of the hospital towards his office, he heard footsteps from the opposite side of the corridor.

Thud, thud, thud.

There was an irregular sound of footsteps, as if something was malfunctioning. The woman walking towards Eidun was Suane.

“Oh! Eidun-nim!”

As Suane locked eyes with Eidun, she approached even faster. Suane reached Eidun and grabbed his hand, immediately speaking.

“E-Eidun-nim! I-I want to be partners with you!”

“…What?”

“I-I want to be partners with you! I want to be your partner, Eidun-nim!”

Did Ella give Suane some hint? Eidun was extremely flustered.