Chapter 22
22
Archduke Illestone's gaze once again went to Simone's hand.
"Now that you're done, get yourself treated. Unless you intend to stain the mansion with your blood."
"Huh? Ah."
Only then did Simone realize that the blood on her hand had not stopped and was still dripping.
And.
"...Heok! Waaah! It hurts so much!"
The pain belatedly began to rush in.
Come to think of it, she had used this hand to conjure Mana, throw shoes, and do all sorts of things.
Now that she looked at it, one of her fingers was simply wrecked.
The fingernail was dangling as good as gone, and the flesh of her finger was so deeply gouged that she couldn't recognize its original shape.
"Ugh... Ouch... Q-Quickly, treatment..."
Her eyes welled up with tears from the pain. Archduke Illestone sighed and gestured to the servants.
"Take Simone to her room and treat her."
"Yes, Master."
Simone, who had collapsed in pain, was helped up by the servants. Even as she was being practically carried to her room, she shouted to Archduke Illestone.
"Please find Anna! If she's there, she'll probably be in the empty room with the double doors at the end of the underground corridor!"
Hearing her words, Archduke Illestone tilted his head again.
'Was there an empty room there?'
He hadn't been down to the basement since he was very young, playing tag with the servants, so his memory was hazy, but structurally, it wasn't a location where a room could be.
"Is there a room at the end of the underground corridor?"
At Archduke Illestone's question, Head Butler Ruth bowed and replied.
"No, Master. At the end of the underground corridor, there are only stairs leading up to the first-floor laundry room and the food storage."
Ruth paused for a moment, pondered, and added.
"Neither the food storage nor the door to the stairs has double doors. It's a single wooden door."
"Was Simone mistaken, given the urgent situation?"
At Kelle's words, Archduke Illestone turned away indifferently and headed back to his study.
"She must have been mistaken. Ruth, go and take a look. Simone said a servant named Anna is there."
"...Yes."
Ruth's complexion turned pale again as he answered.
Simone had said the curse was resolved, but Ruth was still uneasy.
Was it okay to look for the missing servant, Anna?
"And call a healer for that child."
"By that child, do you mean Simone?"
Archduke Illestone nodded at Kelle's reply.
"Her injury looked deep. Now that the curse blocking the entrance to the mansion has disappeared, there should be at least one healer willing to come to a place like this."
"Yes, I understand. I should call one as soon as possible. Ruth, have these rats and blood cleaned up quickly."
"It hurts so, so much..."
Tears streamed from Simone's eyes.
She had never felt such intense pain raw like this in her life.
Wasn't this basically a severed finger? Her fingertip was tattered.
"What happened to your hand! You should get it treated first! Why would you even think about chasing after it with that hand?"
"Don't touch it! It hurts more if you touch it!"
"How can I treat it if I don't touch it?"
Kaylee sighed, unable to do anything about Simone's wailing.
She said it hurt too much to touch, but if she didn't touch it, the bleeding wouldn't stop.
Simone, who was always annoyingly composed, was crying like this. Kaylee wondered how much it must hurt.
Frustrated, Kaylee asked.
"Can't you heal yourself? Don't Necromancers have healing abilities or something?"
At her words, Simone looked at her with reddened eyes, as if asking if she was out of her mind.
"I know, okay? I know Necromancers don't have healing abilities. I was just asking in case! Or, just stop the bleeding yourself! You have to stop the bleeding first!"
At Kaylee's urging, Simone looked at her hand with determination. Simone knew that if she bled any more, she could suffer from excessive blood loss and something bad could happen.
Right. You have to endure the pain to be able to heal.
No, couldn't they just knock her out and treat her?
She grumbled inwardly as she reluctantly picked up a gauze when.
"Heok... Heok... Is this, is this the place?"
Someone loudly opened the door and looked around the room.
An elderly man with a large bag and books in his hands, dressed in pure white and calm attire as if to express holiness.
He was clearly a healer.
"I heard there was, heok, an urgent patient here, and I came, hoo, as quickly as I could, heok."
He was covered in sweat, and his expression looked urgent, as if he had run here in a hurry.
The butler, who always watched Simone, entered behind him and examined Simone's condition.
"Healer, this is the person."
How could a healer come this quickly? Even if the Archduke had ordered a healer to be sent, it hadn't been even 30 minutes yet.
Kaylee hurriedly covered Simone's hair with a cloth.
The healer, still panting, hurriedly approached and examined Simone's hand.
"The condition is very bad. How did it get like this..."
The healer quickly began treatment. A blue light began to flow from his hands, and Simone's pain disappeared as the wound slowly began to heal.
"How did you get here so early?"
The butler answered instead of Simone.
"We went door to door."
Several servants scattered to find a healer who could perform magical healing.
Fortunately, there was a healer in a nearby village, and they had paid him double the usual fee and brought him here urgently.
The healer was quite flustered and frightened by his first visit to the Illestone mansion and the sudden emergency treatment, but his skills were excellent, and the wound quickly disappeared.
"If the wound is this bad, you came to the right person. I'm the only one in this village who knows how to use magical healing. I'm glad it seems like it will heal well without any problems, young lady."
Watching her receive treatment with tears still glistening in her eyes, the butler said quietly.
"We found Anna."
"You found her?"
Simone's face lit up. The butler nodded and explained the situation.
"She was found near the storage room at the end of the underground floor corridor. She hasn't regained consciousness yet, but she is also receiving treatment, so she will wake up soon."
"Is she hurt anywhere?"
At Simone's question, the butler's expression turned serious.
"Like Simone... her hands seem to be badly injured. I think it's for the same reason."
"Then she's badly hurt."
Simone also looked at the butler with a serious expression. The butler seemed hesitant to answer but did not deny it.
It meant she was badly hurt.
"Does that person have the same injury as this young lady?"
At that moment, the healer, who was focused on treating the wound, asked the butler. The butler nodded.
"Yes, that's right. It's the same injury, but deeper and more extensive. Also, it seems like she was injured at least three days ago."
"Then I'll treat that person too."
Simone's wound had completely healed by now.
The healer folded his wrinkled eyes and smiled kindly at Simone, as if to say he was done, and stood up.
"Hehe, it might be an impious thing to say in the lord's mansion, but there are no proper doctors in this village. Those with skills have already left the village."
As the family's territory had been thoroughly neglected for 300 years, everyone who wanted to achieve their dreams had left.
The only people left here were those who had no choice but to stay for unavoidable reasons.
There was no way there would be a proper doctor in a place like this.
"I also used to work in the capital, but I recently quit my job and came back to my hometown."
He was getting old, and if he was going to live out the rest of his life anyway, he wanted to spend it treating people in his hometown, where he would never escape poverty.
But at the end of his life, the curse that had blocked the entrance to the Archduke's family was lifted, and he even came into the mansion to provide treatment.
It was worth living a long life to see this.
"If the wound is more severe than this, other doctors would tell you that it's better to cut off the finger."
"No!"
Kaylee, who had been listening quietly, shouted.
"That child works here. She'll be kicked out if she can't use her hands!"
"Yes, that's why I said I would see her. My healing skills might be able to treat her. It's unlikely that a noble family would bring a skilled healer from the capital just to treat a servant."
"Then please."
Simone said, examining her cleanly healed finger.
"Please heal Anna."
"Simone!"
The butler called out to Simone in surprise. He looked very flustered.
"Th-That's something to be decided after getting permission from the head butler first."
Bringing in a healer who uses magic costs a considerable amount of money.
Moreover, in the case of this healer, hadn't they agreed to pay double the price to bring him here urgently?
Simone was fine because there was an order from the Archduke, but treating a servant was a separate matter.
It was not a matter for Simone to decide.
But Simone was firm.
"Please treat her. Tell the Archduke that I asked you to."
The Archduke would gladly allow it. Not only because of his contract with Simone.
The Archduke that Simone knew was a person who valued each and every one of the servants who worked here.
"Simone..."
The young butler was at a loss and embarrassed. Then the healer chuckled and moved his feet.
"Don't worry, butler. I only need to be paid by the young lady. I don't take money from the poor and powerless. I've been doing that ever since I came back to my hometown. That's why I came back."
To save those who lived in the neglected territory and could not receive treatment because they had no money with the healing abilities he had.
"Let's go. Where is she?"
The elderly healer offered to provide treatment without hesitation and without receiving money.
"Oh."
Simone exclaimed softly.
Hearing that sound, Kaylee looked at Simone with a disgusted expression.
Simone was looking at the healer with very interested eyes.
