-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: The Princess's Personal Physician Quits (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The princess looked down at me.
"I'll keep you locked up in the Imperial Palace. You won't even need to commute. I'll just have you confined so you can't step outside, and that's that. Do your work or don't—up to you."
Eh? I should've just stayed quiet. I replayed my choice of words from today. Where did it all go wrong? Thinking back, there were more than one or two mistakes.
I'd opened my mouth for no reason and now it looked like I wouldn't even break even.
"Your Highness, please prioritize the Empire. Wouldn't it benefit the world if I treated more patients and taught more students?"
"Not really."
Even I knew that was a weak argument.
The princess wasn't the type to weigh her own safety against the lives of countless strangers. For the record, that meant she'd choose her own safety.
Not that she was a bad person... more like she had some ordinary citizen vibes about her. Of course, she wasn't an ordinary citizen. Maybe it stemmed from her own experiences with illness, I thought.
Princess Mint shook her head.
"How many times do I have to say it? It's just what I want. Say you left for some far-off place. What if my condition suddenly worsened? Then what?"
"I'd come back."
"Asterix. That's exactly the problem. No matter what, you need to stay near the imperial family. The other royals too. You're the kingdom's top healer, and you belong in the palace."
"Your Highness, I beg you."
"..."
Princess Mint fell silent for a moment.
"Fine, let's hear it. Where are you going?"
"The Academy Healer Faculty. As a professor."
I'd already gotten the green light from the Academy side. Even received the recommendation letter.
The Academy had said they'd be immensely grateful if I came. Now I just needed permission from my direct superior... the princess.
Direct superior, my foot.
She was basically my slave owner.
"Hey. You didn't get an imperial recommendation letter for this, did you?"
"Uh..."
A few days ago, from the prince. Behind the princess's back. We'd agreed to keep it secret from her, but her sharp mind had sniffed it out again.
"Shameless brat. Defying a royal like me to run off, and yet you take an imperial recommendation to become a professor? What's wrong with your head?"
I bowed my head sharply.
"I'm sorry."
"Not thrilled about it, but you'll have to go to the Academy eventually anyway. Fine, if you go to the Academy, I'll follow you."
Eh, wait a sec.
Wasn't that basically saying she'd let me go? Before she could change her mind, I bowed deeply again. Mint still looked sullen.
"Thank you for your grace, Your Highness."
"Get out. I don't want to see that smug look on your face now that you've gotten your way."
I bolted from the audience chamber like I was fleeing.
I'd gone in prepared for the worst this time.
And I'd made it out alive. Sure, there was the issue of her following me, but heading to the Academy didn't seem impossible anymore.
Halfway there, but still. Freedom.
"Finally free from this damn palace!"
"Shut up, you idiot!"
A reply came right from behind me.
Royals must have sharp ears too. I'd thought the audience chamber door would muffle it.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The Empire's First Imperial Prince, Manfred.
As a side note, royals and nobles don't use surnames. The country itself is their guarantee, so why bother with a family name? That's how I remembered it.
Usually, they're referred to as '[Nation Name]'s '[Person's Name]'. Basically using the nation's name as a surname. Some high nobles do the same.
"Hey, clean sweep."
"Your Highness is here? Hello."
The prince calls me "clean sweep." I can guess why, but honestly, I'm not sure if I deserve it that much.
Honestly, I don't think so.
"What brings you here?"
Still, he's the one who wrote my recommendation letter so I could become an Academy professor. Precisely, he signed the one I wrote myself.
The prince—er, Your Highness—was leaning crookedly against my office door. Dressed in knight's attire, probably heading out soon.
"I hear my sister's going to the Academy because of you. What nonsense did you fill her head with?"
Was he mad?
I shook my head anyway.
"I didn't convince her. My goal from the start was to escape Her Highness. And the Academy's a place we all have to go eventually, right?"
"I suppose."
He was surprisingly unfazed.
Maybe because there's only one male heir in the imperial family, but he's a good guy without any rough edges.
Though that arrogance of everyone being beneath him is unavoidable.
Regrettably, most people in the world are indeed beneath Prince Manfred. Calling subordinates subordinates isn't wrong.
"Anyway. Take good care of her. Her health's poor. Don't let her overdo it."
"Of course not."
"I never quite trust your words."
"I'm sorry. I'll do my best."
"Well. With her chronic illness being so severe, staying near you might be the safest option after all."
"Thank you."
Manfred left the office.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
This was the Imperial Palace Infirmary. As always, the palace healers were killing time with cards. Poker today, it seemed.
"Oh, Mr. Asterix."
"Where you headed?"
"Heading home?"
I glanced at their gambling table.
"I've decided to take a position as a professor at the Academy. Planning to leave the palace infirmary soon too."
The gamblers seemed far more interested in their game than me, but they reacted a bit to the Academy professor part.
"What about the recommendation?"
"I wrote it myself. His Highness signed it."
Deputy Head of the Imperial Medical Corps, Violet, looked at me. From behind, I could see her hand was four of a kind. Wow, she's winning big this time.
"Eh. For real?"
"That's gotta be tough."
"Won't it be a ton of work?"
Who knows. I shrugged.
"Guess I'll find out."
"Fastest way to heaven."
"You won't even die there, Professor. Colleagues practically resurrected you every time you collapsed from overwork. Saw it three times."
That's a bit scary.
"Once you leave, Mr. Asterix, does that mean I become head healer here?"
"Yep."
If I go, Violet takes over as chief.
"No, can't you stay? I'm uncomfortable dealing with royals, but you get along with them fine."
"Handle it yourself."
"Anyway. Take care."
What did I need to pack?
I rummaged through the infirmary cabinets. Old meds I'd summoned and never used, draft papers from past research, and so on.
More to take than I'd thought.
"Betting starts."
"Mr. Asterix. Don't make a racket tearing up the office. We're playing."
"Miss Violet, you've got four of a kind."
She looked dumbfounded. Violet glared at me as she slammed her cards down.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Time flew by.
The servants would handle the princess's preparations for moving. I hadn't accumulated much living roughly in the palace either. Almost as soon as the decision was made, we were ready to head to the Academy.
The carriage to the Academy.
Something modern folks might not appreciate: how smooth an asphalt road really is. Even concrete feels different. Let alone a cart without suspension and wooden wheels. It jostles way more than you'd imagine.
This was an Imperial Palace carriage—the finest quality in the world—yet it rattled like an off-road ATV or tractor.
"Nice weather today, Your Highness."
"Shut up. Be quiet."
The princess was putting on a brave front, but she's scared of a lot. She was pretending to look pale with tension, but her hands and feet kept fidgeting anxiously.
Guessing leaving the palace had her on edge?
"Carsick?"
"No."
"Stick this behind your ear. Motion sickness patch."
"Oh?"
The princess took the patch without a word.
"It's called scopolamine. Absorbs through the skin via the patch. Blocks muscarinic receptors, severing the connection between the inner ear's balance organ and the brain's vomiting center to reduce dizziness."
Mint nodded.
"Asterix. If I had a hobby of sitting through words I couldn't understand, I'd have hired a foreign knight bodyguard."
"If you weren't planning to listen, you'd be in a separate carriage. I'm going to explain."
It wasn't specifically for her anyway. Just me confirming and memorizing.
"Do you know what Asterix means?"
"No."
"Low-dose aspirin for anti-platelet action. Mild pain relief too, and lowers risk of cardiovascular disease."
"Fine. Ramble on."
And then silence.
I looked out the carriage window. The princess was pretending to read, but the page hadn't turned in minutes.
The patch helped with motion sickness, but the constant jolting made reading too chaotic anyway.
"Your Highness. What's the Academy like?"
"You're awfully chatty today. Nervous?"
"A little."
Projection. She was the nervous one, asking if I was. Kids gonna kid.