The Doctor Cured The Villainess And Ran Away

Inner Palace.

This is the place where the empire’s top healers gather, consisting of 22 attending physicians responsible for healing the royal family and around 400 healer assistants.

As a powerful empire, the skill level of the Inner Palace healers is as high as that of the Kingdom of Law, where religion and healing spells first originated.

The attending physicians prioritize managing their lord, but depending on their lord’s interests, they may also heal high-ranking nobles.

Healers affiliated with factions often work as assistants while also handling general healing tasks for the empire’s citizens to improve their skills.

The reason why the Inner Palace is located on the castle wall adjacent to the Imperial Palace grounds and the Central Square is also related to this.

Inside the castle wall is the office, while the outside is an open area welcoming patients.

This is sort of a welfare policy designed to strengthen the loyalty of the citizens by allowing them to benefit from the emperor’s grace.

Of course, they still have to pay.

As such, lower-tier healers often get overwhelmed with excessive workloads.

Chloe, a fifth-year healer in the Inner Palace, was one of those being overwhelmed every day.

“Hey, healer! Hurry it up! Why is this taking so long? I’m a noble from the western side, you know? A baron!”

“Um, just a moment….”

Chloe fumbled and infused more divine power. As a result, her ghostly long bangs covered her entire face.

The patient receiving treatment from her complained, a middle-aged man with a nasty look.

“This is frustrating! I came here expecting the Inner Palace to be something special, but it’s nothing extraordinary! I’d rather leave it to my attending physician!”

Naturally, if he had a personal attending physician, there would be no reason for him to come here.

Usually, such rude nobles are barons who bought their titles with money after becoming wealthy from nothing.

Their attitudes are often rough, and there were a lot of malicious patients as well.

“Uh, um…”

“What is it?”

Chloe stammered as she closed the holy text.

“The healing is done… um… there’s a new medicine in the imperial family these days…”

The man perked up.

“Medicine? I’ve heard the rumors. They say something called aspirin is really effective against epidemics. I couldn’t find a way to get some. Do you happen to have any left?”

“Eek, no!”

“Then why are you stopping a busy person?”

“It’s not aspirin, but….”

Chloe pulled out a small bundle of cloth from her pocket. Inside were a few small round balls.

“What’s this?”

“Er, it’s something that prevents you from getting sick again after getting hurt… but, you might get a stomachache….”

The man sniffed at the round ball.

“Ew! What the hell is this!”

He immediately threw the ball away.

“This is rotten bread!”

Chloe hurriedly picked up the ball and presented a large book.

“The fermentation wasn’t done properly… but it does have an effect… it’s mentioned in ancient texts…?”

“Have you ever seen a crazier woman?”

The noble man spat out a curse and stormed out of the Inner Palace.

Chloe pouted, clutching an ancient text without a cover that she could no longer recognize.

“Hey, Chloe the Healer. You didn’t do another weird experiment on a patient, did you?”

A passing fellow healer scolded her.

Chloe lowered her head and shook it. Her long hair, covering her face like a curtain, fluttered all around.

“I really don’t know why people who should know better act this way. If you’re caught using that so-called ‘folk remedy’, the bishop won’t let you off easy.”

“Yes, yes….”

Chloe was a healer under Bishop Alberich, the attending physician for the First Royal Princess Heike.

As Heike’s faction is strong in the imperial family, Alberich’s influence is considerable in the Inner Palace.

He is a traditional healer from the Kingdom of Law, always emphasizing the need to adhere strictly to the writings in the holy text.

The holy text states that our flesh and blood are given by the goddess, so even when we lose them due to injuries, we must pray to receive them back.

Letting pain blind you and resorting to extraneous methods only worsens the injury, they say.

However, Chloe thought differently.

‘You can heal with folk remedies too….’

While prayer is typically the first step, folk remedies have silently spread among those who cannot seek out healers.

‘There may be a lot of fakes, but….’

Chloe was searching for traces of genuine folk remedies in ancient texts written before the establishment of the Kingdom of Law.

The moldy round balls she had were a reproduction of what she found in those texts.

‘Aspirin is real.’

The idea that a tiny round pill could improve an epidemic was not just a rumor.

Many had witnessed firsthand how knights from Moonlight Palace who had taken aspirin and wore masks were doing remarkably well at the Martial Arts Tournament.

‘I wonder what Teacher Gothberg is like.’

As a low-ranking healer in the Inner Palace, she couldn’t even speak to her illustrious attending physician.

After spending all day on tasks and errands, seeing him from afar was all she could manage.

“N-next patient….”

“Oh dear, healer!”

An elderly couple approached Chloe, displaying a warm attitude.

“Ah, hello.”

“Ho ho, it’s great to see you again! Thank you for last time; my wife’s condition improved so much thanks to you. Truly, your skills are the best!”

“Uh, it’s just my job….”

Chloe became shy at the praise and twisted her body.

For ordinary citizens to use the Inner Palace’s services, they must reserve an appointment months in advance.

Chloe couldn’t express how grateful she was to the elderly couple who had waited for her for that long.

She cast her spell with utmost sincerity for them.

As she finished the healing, smiles bloomed on the faces of the elderly couple.

“We are always grateful. We’ll meet again in four months, of course, if we’re still alive, ho ho ho! Do you have any folk remedies you can share like last time?”

The old man’s question sparked Chloe’s interest.

Her eyes lit up.

“I-I have! Here, it says that for the recent epidemic, you should eat chicken soup. Oh, have you seen people wearing masks on the street? That’s not just a fashion statement. It was developed by a doctor named Gothberg, and it lowers your chances of catching the epidemic.”

Chloe, speaking rapidly as if she had been waiting, didn’t slow down.

She bent down to retrieve the round balls she had set aside earlier.

“Also! This, it says here that eating this prevents you from getting other illnesses. I tried it, but… I did get a bit of a stomachache!”

Chloe giggled as she looked up, only to be blocked by the grand sight of a magnificent white castle.

As she slowly raised her head, a serious face was looking down at her.

“Did our Inner Palace healer just mutter the words ‘folk remedy’?”

“Gasp.”

Chloe instinctively dropped the round balls she was holding.

Standing before her was Bishop Alberich, the leader of her faction.

He frowned at the rancid smell wafting from her.

“This is why I have to conduct inspections periodically. It’s a complete mess. You’re fired. Clean this up immediately.”

“Eek…! J-Just a moment!”

Chloe couldn’t even get a word of explanation out before other healers grabbed her arms and dragged her out.

“Uwaaaaah, uwaaaah.”

With tears streaming down her face like chicken droppings, Chloe left the Inner Palace carrying a box filled with her belongings.

“I lasted longer than I expected. It was unusual not to get fired sooner.”

“That’s why she’s been a low-ranking healer for five years. Serves her right. Now that the bishop’s faction has an opening, should I apply?”

The mocking words of the other healers didn’t even reach her ears.

Chloe felt sad that she would no longer be able to see patients.

Getting fired from the Inner Palace where her future was guaranteed meant she was the bottom of the bottom. No one would come to her for healing anymore. Only desperate adventurers might accept her.

“What’s wrong with folk remedies….”

They are desperately needed by those who can’t receive healing spells.

Chloe gazed at the ancient text tucked inside her box.

It was borrowed from the royal library. The library was filled with bizarre books.

Since the librarian does such a shoddy job, they hadn’t contacted her even though the return deadline had long passed.

Or perhaps the librarian got fired long before me as well.

If she gets expelled from the palace, where should she go?

As various thoughts crossed Chloe’s mind, she continued walking.

Step.

Another shadow loomed in front of her, this time wearing a pristine white coat.

Now that she thought about it, her mother always told her to keep her head up. She nearly bumped into someone.

“Keep your head up. You’ll turn into a turtle.”

With a somewhat playful tone, Chloe raised her gaze and looked at the owner of the voice.

“Gasp.”

She gasped involuntarily.

There was a distinguished individual who could only be seen from afar, splendidly parading within the Inner Palace accompanied by knights.

“Go-Go Gothberg!”

“Who is he?”

She had committed a faux pas on their first meeting. Flustered, she bit her tongue.

Lars Gothberg picked up the ancient text from Chloe’s belongings.

“It clearly said it was on the list, but I couldn’t find it, and it was quite a struggle. What are you going to do now?”

“Um, uh, I’m sorry.”

Lars next picked up Chloe’s round ball and examined it.

“It’s penicillin.”

“Gasp. Do you know what it is?”

“Hmm.”

Lars suddenly leaned closer to Chloe without any warning.

Chloe froze at the sight of his face. It felt as if her breath and heart had stopped.

He made a suggestion to her.

“You, be a nurse.”

*

“You, be a nurse.”

“Ewwwwh. U-Deerber.”

Chloe’s legs lost strength, and she sank to the floor, having a fit.

She decided to wait until she normalized.

I confirmed Chloe’s name on the library loan list and searched for her.

There must be at least a few dozen people named Chloe in the imperial palace.

It’s not like we have ID cards, so I had to rummage through the lists in each palace, making it quite the hassle.

The ancient text was one of the few books concerning folk remedies in this world.

Despite it being common sense to rely entirely on healing spells, there are still some folk remedies that have made their way into common usage.

The problem is that among them, only a few are accurate, leading to a decreased trust in medicine.

For example, there’s a false folk remedy that says you can fix indigestion by cutting your hand.

You should take a digestive aid when you’re feeling indigestion.

Since folk remedies that could cultivate a medical mindset are ineffective, people keep returning to rely on healing spells.

“N-Nurse! But, um, what’s a nurse?”

“Simply put, it’s my direct assistant.”

“Di-Di-Direct.”

Chloe immediately bowed deeply to me.

“Rera, reprieve! You’re giving me a job again…!”

Did she just sneeze in between?

I think I picked the wrong person.

She was experimenting with the borrowed book on folk remedies, even attempting to culture blue mold.

It’s the material for the world’s first antibiotic, penicillin.

In that sense, giving her high marks and trying her out as a nurse might not be the worst idea.

Well, she might be older than me, but in terms of age, maybe I could teach her something useful.

“Alright then, Chloe, let’s start with the training.”

“Training?”

“Yes. I’ll teach you to draw blood from the royal princess when I’m not around.”

Chloe rounded her mouth like a fish.

“…Princess Acella?”

“Yes. Princess Acella.”

“Draw blood?”

“You have to draw it. Just like that.”

Wow, she looked almost tearfully happy.

I can’t help but feel proud.

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