Is this what pharmacists are all like? Delmar thought blankly.
Placing symptoms and information on a scale—isn’t that something only a bad wizard would do?
No, this one is worse. In the imperial palace, even Radanum must listen to his words. Had it not been for his mother’s threatening voice telling him not to ask for any medicine from Radanum, he would have ordered him to do so. Rather than suffer this shame!
It was his first time seeing someone act so disrespectfully. An unfamiliar emotion cut off the flow of kindness. Delmar spoke with as much reason as possible.
“Cherry, do you know what you’re doing now?”
“I guess there were a lot of people around you who were scared when you said that.”
But Cherry’s tone was too calm.
“Mmhm, I know. So the only choice left is yours.”
“I pretended not to hear your self-indulgence until now…!”
“Because you need my medicine.”
“So, as you said, does it make sense to encourage a patient who needs your medicine to make a deal like this by using the medicine as collateral? Can you still call yourself a pharmacist?”
Cherry’s answer calmed the anger that had been building up.
“Just think how many years ago you asked me for medicine at Revinas’s house. Who were the people who neglected you during those long, sleepless nights? They were the ones who put your health as collateral and put you on display first, weren’t they?”
Delmar’s mouth became wrinkled.
He had never thought of it that way. They put his health as collateral and put him on a display?
So who is the one making the deal? The suspicious wizard Radanum? The mother who prevented him from approaching Radanum? Otherwise…
His Majesty, who finally let his son leave the palace only after a big event, after imprisoning him by holding on to his ankles just by being in the root?
“If I really wanted you to be unhappy and sleepless, I would have said I would bring some medicine and then pretended not to know what would happen to you. I would have locked my door and waited for the lounge to close. Or I would have talked outside without having to come into this hotel, found only useful information, and then ran away.”
“No one can do that to me.”
“Yeah, no one can do that to you. Except for the few people who came to mind when you couldn’t answer.”
Cherry, who threw the medicine bottle and caught it, sat across from him. She took a sip of water and whispered softly to the pale Delmar.
“But I came again. I don’t want you to get sick. I saw you struggling and hurting all that day. I put my conscience as a pharmacist on hold a little, I didn’t completely bury it.”
“….”
“I saw you that day, but you also saw me. I stayed by your side when you were having a hard time that day, and I even tried taking medicine right in front of you to help you feel at ease. Isn’t that why you were so happy to see me today—because you thought you could trust me? It’s the same as before. I can stay by your side, or you can try taking the medicine again. Instead, you just have to say one word.”
Delmar’s upright and overbearing posture gradually lowered. Cherry, who briefly glanced at the golden hair flowing beneath the robe, leaned over.
“Is it difficult for you to tell me where he is? Then just tell me how Revinas is doing. Then I promise you won’t run out of medicine.”
Delmar thought that her speaking style was quite similar to the negotiation skills contained in <Diplomacy>.
But his reasons were easily scattered. The shock of being in a situation for the first time and the embarrassment of a conversation not going as expected filled the room.
“…Why do you think I know his whereabouts?”
“People who don’t know don’t try to scare them. People who know something talk like you.”
A small sprout appeared in Delmar’s thoughts as he was spinning his head.
That day, this woman gave him medicine without asking him anything. She even tried it first in front of his disbelieving eyes. Seeing that Xenon and Aurelio’s names have not been mentioned in the palace since he disappeared, this woman seemed to have kept his secret.
Come to think of it, he met this woman at the festival the day he first went to Xenon to see Aurelio. When he was frightened by his brother’s unusual attitude, a woman appeared, and after that, his brother didn’t act as usual.
So, roughly speaking, this woman.
‘Someone who benefits me.’
「In order to distinguish between good people, understanding the lives of the people as closely as possible must come first—」
Is she a good person?
“I’m begging you. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find any trace of him. Everyone had given up, but then you showed up. I thought it was best to ask you.”
He doesn’t know if it was her intention, but in the end, it was a compliment to him. A faint sense of joy covered the shock and embarrassment.
Delmar slowly opened his eyes and was silent for a while before slowly nodding.
“Okay. He’s doing well. Is that enough?”
In response, Cherry immediately pushed her hand away. The medicine was pushed exactly in front of Delmar.
It was a strange feeling. Except for a very few people, Delmar’s conversations have always been one-sided. Giving orders to someone, or listening to someone’s orders. But today’s conversation is two-way, even though it wasn’t intended. Moreover, both people at the conversation table had something to take away.
Delmar stood up, swallowing the soft feeling of having a real conversation for the first time.
“It’s a two-week supply. If you run out, come here to pick it up. I’m a little busy in the evening, so if possible, come during the day.”
He glanced at Cherry and her expression was calm. Was Aurelio’s safety really the only thing she was curious about? Does she think that’s enough?
The soft feeling still remained in his mouth. Delmar was sarcastic, which was uncharacteristic of him, but it was light, as if he were complaining.
“I have to be on time to see you?”
“A thirsty person is supposed to dig a well.”
Then Cherry stared at him and smiled. Delmar, who looked at the refreshing eyes for a moment, couldn’t find the words to reply.
Dinner time was not far away. Delmar rushed to a pharmacy store near the city and bought additional sleeping pills made from cherries. He looked down at the medicine he had paid for and the medicine he had obtained by paying for information.
Even though he drank a lot of the cherry medicine he secretly ordered from the maids in the emperor’s palace, it had no effect. So, the same goes for things he buys himself from a pharmacy store. However, the new purchase was partly a self-help measure to avoid relying on that ‘cherry’ and partly to resolve cognitive dissonance.
Since it was obtained through negotiation, it should be better than the common ones. That’s how it should be. The reason he bought a new one was to compare and prove it. Delmar muttered while holding the medicine bottle tightly all the way back to the imperial palace.
He did it without knowing that he would be much more immersed after it was proven.
On the way back to the side road of the imperial palace, he could see exhibits from the public auction in the distance. The pictures with the sunset were beautiful. Delmar, who was looking at the things he had chosen with satisfaction, paused for a moment. One picture in particular caught his eye. It was the picture Diana chose.
It was a work depicting the battle of the pre-war emperors that took place on the canal. The image of the emperor slaughtering his enemies with a large claymore was depicted in a very majestic and intimidating manner. He lowered his gaze. What the emperor was stepping on were the bodies of those wearing black robes.
‘The Wizards.’
Others may not know, but he, the prince, knows. That’s all fake.
The emperor of the pre-war era was a man who couldn’t handle a claymore that was bigger than himself. But he knew how to handle a wizard. It was Radanum who cut off the heads of the wizards and offered them up. Since it is known in the world that all wizards are dead, their bodies will also be depicted at the feet of the emperor.
Did he see this picture? What would he have thought if he had seen it?
He suddenly thought that the decision to display the picture of all the wizards dying in the square was too deceptive for the last wizard, but the exhibition was already over and the crusade was in the past. What can he do?
Delmar blinked for a moment and stopped walking. Stuck thoughts began to flow.
‘How is Cherry’s memory alive? How do you remember Aurelio? It would be a rule for Radanum to erase it.’
Delmar, who was thinking hard, tilted his head.
‘Did he keep her memory because she was someone that Brother liked…? Yes, this is strange. Radanum couldn’t have let this slide.’
He thought about various possibilities, including Radanum’s mistake, his mercy, intentional omission, and Aurelio’s plea, and he roughly passed the dinner. It seemed like Diana was saying something, but he didn’t listen.
Delmar, who washed up early and lay down, swallowed the medicine he bought at the square.
It was an hour later that he touched Cherry’s medicine with a clear mind. His eyes were closed. It was green eyes that filled most of his dark thoughts. The woman’s eyes are as fresh as cherry stems and as droopy as vines in a deep forest.
The eyes of good people.
Delmar chose a sweet night and it was the right choice. Delmar woke up eight hours later. He stretched out easily and threw all the other medicines into the trash can.
***
Luce, who was watching from the room as the boy in the gray robe stopped by the shopping district and walked away toward the square, washed her face dry.
‘Fourteen years old? Fifteen years old? It worked out when he was still young. It was a similar tactic to when dealing with Vincent.’
Her vision was blurred and she saw that her hands were shaking.
The gamble paid off. What came before joy was anxiety. Luce took off her cape and threw it away, sitting in front of her desk.
Is this what pharmacists are all like? Delmar thought blankly.
Placing symptoms and information on a scale—isn’t that something only a bad wizard would do?
No, this one is worse. In the imperial palace, even Radanum must listen to his words. Had it not been for his mother’s threatening voice telling him not to ask for any medicine from Radanum, he would have ordered him to do so. Rather than suffer this shame!
It was his first time seeing someone act so disrespectfully. An unfamiliar emotion cut off the flow of kindness. Delmar spoke with as much reason as possible.
“Cherry, do you know what you’re doing now?”
“I guess there were a lot of people around you who were scared when you said that.”
But Cherry’s tone was too calm.
“Mmhm, I know. So the only choice left is yours.”
“I pretended not to hear your self-indulgence until now…!”
“Because you need my medicine.”
“So, as you said, does it make sense to encourage a patient who needs your medicine to make a deal like this by using the medicine as collateral? Can you still call yourself a pharmacist?”
Cherry’s answer calmed the anger that had been building up.
“Just think how many years ago you asked me for medicine at Revinas’s house. Who were the people who neglected you during those long, sleepless nights? They were the ones who put your health as collateral and put you on display first, weren’t they?”
Delmar’s mouth became wrinkled.
He had never thought of it that way. They put his health as collateral and put him on a display?
So who is the one making the deal? The suspicious wizard Radanum? The mother who prevented him from approaching Radanum? Otherwise…
His Majesty, who finally let his son leave the palace only after a big event, after imprisoning him by holding on to his ankles just by being in the root?
“If I really wanted you to be unhappy and sleepless, I would have said I would bring some medicine and then pretended not to know what would happen to you. I would have locked my door and waited for the lounge to close. Or I would have talked outside without having to come into this hotel, found only useful information, and then ran away.”
“No one can do that to me.”
“Yeah, no one can do that to you. Except for the few people who came to mind when you couldn’t answer.”
Cherry, who threw the medicine bottle and caught it, sat across from him. She took a sip of water and whispered softly to the pale Delmar.
“But I came again. I don’t want you to get sick. I saw you struggling and hurting all that day. I put my conscience as a pharmacist on hold a little, I didn’t completely bury it.”
“….”
“I saw you that day, but you also saw me. I stayed by your side when you were having a hard time that day, and I even tried taking medicine right in front of you to help you feel at ease. Isn’t that why you were so happy to see me today—because you thought you could trust me? It’s the same as before. I can stay by your side, or you can try taking the medicine again. Instead, you just have to say one word.”
Delmar’s upright and overbearing posture gradually lowered. Cherry, who briefly glanced at the golden hair flowing beneath the robe, leaned over.
“Is it difficult for you to tell me where he is? Then just tell me how Revinas is doing. Then I promise you won’t run out of medicine.”
Delmar thought that her speaking style was quite similar to the negotiation skills contained in <Diplomacy>.
But his reasons were easily scattered. The shock of being in a situation for the first time and the embarrassment of a conversation not going as expected filled the room.
“…Why do you think I know his whereabouts?”
“People who don’t know don’t try to scare them. People who know something talk like you.”
A small sprout appeared in Delmar’s thoughts as he was spinning his head.
That day, this woman gave him medicine without asking him anything. She even tried it first in front of his disbelieving eyes. Seeing that Xenon and Aurelio’s names have not been mentioned in the palace since he disappeared, this woman seemed to have kept his secret.
Come to think of it, he met this woman at the festival the day he first went to Xenon to see Aurelio. When he was frightened by his brother’s unusual attitude, a woman appeared, and after that, his brother didn’t act as usual.
So, roughly speaking, this woman.
‘Someone who benefits me.’
「In order to distinguish between good people, understanding the lives of the people as closely as possible must come first—」
Is she a good person?
“I’m begging you. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find any trace of him. Everyone had given up, but then you showed up. I thought it was best to ask you.”
He doesn’t know if it was her intention, but in the end, it was a compliment to him. A faint sense of joy covered the shock and embarrassment.
Delmar slowly opened his eyes and was silent for a while before slowly nodding.
“Okay. He’s doing well. Is that enough?”
In response, Cherry immediately pushed her hand away. The medicine was pushed exactly in front of Delmar.
It was a strange feeling. Except for a very few people, Delmar’s conversations have always been one-sided. Giving orders to someone, or listening to someone’s orders. But today’s conversation is two-way, even though it wasn’t intended. Moreover, both people at the conversation table had something to take away.
Delmar stood up, swallowing the soft feeling of having a real conversation for the first time.
“It’s a two-week supply. If you run out, come here to pick it up. I’m a little busy in the evening, so if possible, come during the day.”
He glanced at Cherry and her expression was calm. Was Aurelio’s safety really the only thing she was curious about? Does she think that’s enough?
The soft feeling still remained in his mouth. Delmar was sarcastic, which was uncharacteristic of him, but it was light, as if he were complaining.
“I have to be on time to see you?”
“A thirsty person is supposed to dig a well.”
Then Cherry stared at him and smiled. Delmar, who looked at the refreshing eyes for a moment, couldn’t find the words to reply.
Dinner time was not far away. Delmar rushed to a pharmacy store near the city and bought additional sleeping pills made from cherries. He looked down at the medicine he had paid for and the medicine he had obtained by paying for information.
Even though he drank a lot of the cherry medicine he secretly ordered from the maids in the emperor’s palace, it had no effect. So, the same goes for things he buys himself from a pharmacy store. However, the new purchase was partly a self-help measure to avoid relying on that ‘cherry’ and partly to resolve cognitive dissonance.
Since it was obtained through negotiation, it should be better than the common ones. That’s how it should be. The reason he bought a new one was to compare and prove it. Delmar muttered while holding the medicine bottle tightly all the way back to the imperial palace.
He did it without knowing that he would be much more immersed after it was proven.
On the way back to the side road of the imperial palace, he could see exhibits from the public auction in the distance. The pictures with the sunset were beautiful. Delmar, who was looking at the things he had chosen with satisfaction, paused for a moment. One picture in particular caught his eye. It was the picture Diana chose.
It was a work depicting the battle of the pre-war emperors that took place on the canal. The image of the emperor slaughtering his enemies with a large claymore was depicted in a very majestic and intimidating manner. He lowered his gaze. What the emperor was stepping on were the bodies of those wearing black robes.
‘The Wizards.’
Others may not know, but he, the prince, knows. That’s all fake.
The emperor of the pre-war era was a man who couldn’t handle a claymore that was bigger than himself. But he knew how to handle a wizard. It was Radanum who cut off the heads of the wizards and offered them up. Since it is known in the world that all wizards are dead, their bodies will also be depicted at the feet of the emperor.
Did he see this picture? What would he have thought if he had seen it?
He suddenly thought that the decision to display the picture of all the wizards dying in the square was too deceptive for the last wizard, but the exhibition was already over and the crusade was in the past. What can he do?
Delmar blinked for a moment and stopped walking. Stuck thoughts began to flow.
‘How is Cherry’s memory alive? How do you remember Aurelio? It would be a rule for Radanum to erase it.’
Delmar, who was thinking hard, tilted his head.
‘Did he keep her memory because she was someone that Brother liked…? Yes, this is strange. Radanum couldn’t have let this slide.’
He thought about various possibilities, including Radanum’s mistake, his mercy, intentional omission, and Aurelio’s plea, and he roughly passed the dinner. It seemed like Diana was saying something, but he didn’t listen.
Delmar, who washed up early and lay down, swallowed the medicine he bought at the square.
It was an hour later that he touched Cherry’s medicine with a clear mind. His eyes were closed. It was green eyes that filled most of his dark thoughts. The woman’s eyes are as fresh as cherry stems and as droopy as vines in a deep forest.
The eyes of good people.
Delmar chose a sweet night and it was the right choice. Delmar woke up eight hours later. He stretched out easily and threw all the other medicines into the trash can.
***
Luce, who was watching from the room as the boy in the gray robe stopped by the shopping district and walked away toward the square, washed her face dry.
‘Fourteen years old? Fifteen years old? It worked out when he was still young. It was a similar tactic to when dealing with Vincent.’
Her vision was blurred and she saw that her hands were shaking.
The gamble paid off. What came before joy was anxiety. Luce took off her cape and threw it away, sitting in front of her desk.
