Rin didn’t answer.
She simply stayed silent, letting the quiet fill the space between them as she extended her left wrist over the wooden table.
“Hmm, looks like she’s a very shy girl…”
Doctor Shinobu didn’t mind Rin’s cold attitude.
With a playful smile, her slender fingers moved skillfully, gently pressing the pulse points on the girl’s wrist.
“Your pulse is actually normal, though your spleen and stomach aren’t in great condition.”
The young doctor pulled her face back slightly and looked at Rin with friendly, sparkling eyes.
“Little sister, you should reduce the burden on your mind. Enjoy life, do things that make you happy, and take good care of yourself.”
After giving her quick assessment, Doctor Shinobu rested her chin on her hand and stared straight at her special patient.
“Besides that, are there any other complaints you feel in your body?”
“To be honest, Doctor… Our young lady sometimes experiences numbness in her fingers. She also often suddenly feels dizzy to the point her vision spins.”
Sebelum Rin sempat bersuara, pengawal yang berdiri tegap di belakangnya maju selangkah untuk memberi penjelasan.
“Numb fingers… and dizziness?”
Hearing the explanation, Doctor Shinobu’s brows furrowed faintly.
Although the smile on her lips remained forced, her fingers unconsciously tightened their grip on Rin’s pulse.
“How often? How often do these symptoms appear?”
“Sometimes once every few days, but not rarely several times in a single day. The symptoms keep recurring and can’t be prevented.” Rin answered honestly, her eyes still as flat as a still lake.
“Are there any other strange symptoms?” Doctor Shinobu’s voice suddenly grew heavier, losing all the cheerful tone she had shown earlier.
“None.” Rin shook her head slowly.
Rin’s gaze dropped, looking at her wrist that now bore two reddish marks from the doctor’s overly strong pressure.
“Do you know what kind of illness is actually nesting in my body?”
Doctor Shinobu slowly withdrew her hand, letting a suffocating silence hang between them.
The smile on her face completely vanished, replaced by an extremely thick look of doubt as she stared at Rin’s indifferent expression.
“Doctor Shinobu.” The guard behind Rin spoke again, breaking the freezing awkwardness.
“Our young lady has been troubled by this anomaly for a long time. We have even brought the best physicians from the capital, but none of them could detect her illness.”
The samurai lowered his head slightly, emphasizing his next words.
“Ah… this… this isn’t about how big the reward will be…”
Doctor Shinobu suddenly looked flustered.
Under the demanding stares of the armed guards, she abruptly raised both hands to hold her head and frustratedly ruffled her black hair until it stuck out messily.
“Ah! Fine! Whatever!”
However, the panic only lasted a few seconds before the traveling doctor managed to compose herself again.
She quickly fixed her disheveled hair and looked back at Rin with a forced, calming smile on her beautiful face.
“Don’t worry, little sister! I’ve already guessed the root of your strange illness. As the most talented doctor in all four regions, I guarantee I have a thousand ways to cure you!”
The young doctor leaned forward and lowered her voice.
“Coincidentally, I plan to stay in this city for quite a while. If you don’t mind, you can visit my rented clinic anytime… Ah, or if your movements are restricted, I can also come directly to your residence to deliver medicine.”
“No need to trouble yourself, I’ll come find you.” Rin cut off the long string of words without hesitation, immediately agreeing to the first offer.
Through her sharpened intuition, Rin knew perfectly well that the woman before her was hiding a major secret regarding her body’s condition.
Namun, Rin sama sekali tidak peduli.
For her, whether this illness could be cured or not wasn’t a big issue.
As long as she could use the excuse of treatment to escape for a moment from the cold and oppressive atmosphere of Tenshu Castle to breathe the outside air, that was already more than enough.
Besides, it was just occasional numbness and mild dizziness—how could something so minor possibly take her life?
“Take care on the way! Don’t forget to come on time for the next therapy session, okay!”
Doctor Shinobu waved with a sweet smile until Rin and her guards disappeared around the street corner.
The moment they were completely out of sight, the smile on the doctor’s face collapsed instantly.
She dropped back into her chair, her right hand ruffling her own hair with deep frustration.
“Oh, you’re done for! Numb fingers, sudden dizziness, and spinning vision… Aren’t those all early symptoms of a brain paralysis attack?!”
A disease like that was an extremely difficult curse to find medicine for.
Moreover, judging from the intensity of the attacks the young girl experienced, her condition had most likely already passed the early stage—which meant, her remaining life could be counted in days.
“Shinobu, you’re really stupid! What exactly are you trying to prove, huh??” She cursed herself inwardly.
*That girl is clearly not an ordinary person!
Her guards are carrying real swords!
Why did you volunteer to get involved in this mess?!* Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
“What if your medicine actually speeds up her death? Those fierce guards will definitely drag you to the square and behead you without mercy!”
After frantically messing up her hair until it resembled a bird’s nest, Doctor Shinobu finally slumped onto the wooden table in front of her.
Both arms hung limply to the floor, making her look exactly like a salted fish that had run out of water on dry land.
“Ah, whatever… let’s just try first. Besides, seeing such a beautiful girl die young feels rather sad…”
And so, from that bright day onward, Rin Tsugikuni’s fated path officially gained a personal physician who called herself Doctor Shinobu.
Although she was very young, the woman’s medical skills proved to be far more than empty boasting.
Within just a few weeks of opening her emergency clinic in the corner of the city, her treatment station was always packed with long lines of patients every morning, causing the surrounding local clinics to suddenly lose customers and their loyal patrons.
If Rin hadn’t moved quickly and secretly sent some trusted people to deliver firm warnings along with compensation money to calm the local physicians, Doctor Shinobu might have already become a victim of sabotage long ago.
Rin melakukan semua itu dengan sangat wajar di dunia fana ini.
Bagaimanapun, merampas mata pencaharian orang secara terang-terangan sama saja dengan membunuh orang tua mereka.
Under this sky, only a small portion of medical practitioners truly devoted themselves to the art of healing for the sake of humanity and saving lives.
The majority only saw needles and herbs as instant tools to fatten their wallets.
True idealists would forever remain a marginalized minority, while the majority outside would always move under the control of greed and personal profit calculations.
Rin, who had tasted the bitter and sweet of the family head’s throne for more than a year, understood that bloody reality far better than anyone.
“By the way, the physicians in this city are all angels at heart, huh…”
Inside a small, tightly partitioned room in the corner of the rented clinic, Doctor Shinobu started a conversation while her fingers deftly inserted silver needles into several nerve points on Rin’s left arm.
Rin, who had been closing her eyes to rest her mind, slowly opened them upon hearing the strange murmur.
“Why do you think so?” Rin asked flatly.
“Just imagine, I’ve been practicing here for almost a month, but not a single one of them has come to cause trouble with me!”
Doctor Shinobu inserted another silver needle under the skin of Rin’s arm, then raised her right hand to count with her small fingers.
“Rin, you don’t know how brutal the competition is out there! In the past, every time I opened a free treatment station in another city, if I stayed more than three days, the local quacks would definitely hire thugs to mess up my place!”
Gadis itu mendengus kesal saat mengingat memori buruk tersebut.
“They hired people to pretend to die after taking my medicine, secretly poured water on my herb warehouse in the middle of the night, or sent delinquents to break my door. The most disgusting one—they even deliberately threw animal dung in front of my clinic!”
Doctor Shinobu clicked her tongue, her expression turning into a pout.
“Truly shameless! Those damn quacks never bother to properly train their medical skills, they can’t even treat illnesses properly, but when it comes to scamming money and bringing others down, they’re experts!”