I Awoke as an Imprisoned Villainess-Chapter 6 - I am actually an apothecary...
I am actually an apothecary…
The meal was over like that, and I got invited to drink after-meal tea with them.
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The tea that Neil-sama brewed had a light brown color, and when I took a sip, I could smell the fresh, nostalgic aroma of herb.
“..! Is this horsetail tea?”
“…you know quite well.”
I nod to Neil, who looks surprised.
Horsetail is a weed that grows everywhere from spring until late fall. Of course, it also grows near Earl Alcott House’s private field.
It’s a wonderful medicinal weed which has many medicinal properties, and it’s easy to get, with little effort or money.
“In my birthplace, Donovan, where the Count Harvey’s family have their main residence, the land is so barren that it can’t produce any crops. This is a weed that grows even in such a place so all the people in the estate drink it readily.”
“So for you, this tea is a special kind of tea which makes you feel nostalgic.”
It is a weed loved by god to the extent that it can be picked as much as one wants, even in a barren land.
“Truly, it’s a wonderful weed, isn’t it? It can stop bleeding and swelling, and is good for bone fractures too. When dried, it can be used as cough suppressant, and the steeped juice can be used to treat dermatitis…”
“…I didn’t know you had the knowledge of an apothecary.”
As I began to talk without thinking, Claude sama’s eyes widened in surprise.
I was startled. I become flustered in my mind, thinking that this might lead to him believing the body swap genuinely.
But, after a moment of thought, Claude sama nod as if he’s convinced.
“…I see. If I am not mistaken, one of your tutors come from a family of apothecaries.”
“That makes sense, so that’s why..”
At Claude sama’s words, Neil sama who was perplexed, nod his head in agreement. After a moment’s pause, his face become dim slightly.
“Speaking of apothecaries, recently, there’s a nasty disease that has been going around in my territory.”
Neil sama began to talk about a disease that has been prevalent among some of the commoners in Donovan for about half a year.
It’s a disease that affects only young people who are susceptible to epidemic, and some people are suffering from loss of appetite; severe fatigue; numbness in the hands and feet. In the worst cases, the legs become unsteady, and the ability to walk is lost.
“Since this is a disease which only affects some young people, my father who is the lord, doesn’t pay much attention to it, thinking that they must have been indulging in bad pleasure. However, the doctors say they have never seen something like this before, which is weird.”
There is only one disease that comes to mind after listening to Neil sama’s words.
I opened my mouth cautiously, “Although I don’t know for sure, since I haven’t met the patients directly”.
“…do those young men happen to consume a lot of white bread and horsetail tea?”
“What?”
“I have heard that the white bread served in this tower, has also been widely eaten among the commoners for the past year or so. However, unlike the hard, black bread originally eaten, it’s easy to get sick if only the white bread is eaten, and it especially have bad compatibility with horsetail tea.”
“Bread which makes you sick easily?”
To the confused two, I hurriedly said, “If it’s eaten with a variety of food, such as meat and vegetables; like the meals served in this tower; there is no problem.”
“It still seems to be in the early stages, and if they eat more of the former black bread, pork, or cereals, I believe they will definitely get better in no time. It appears to be a common disease in the east, where diets are different, so I suggest that you see a doctor who is familiar with food regimens…”
“Is that so?…”
Neil sama pondered for a moment and then said, “I will try to arrange for a doctor as you say. And also the diet that you suggested.”
“However I am surprised. If this is true, you might be better suited to be an apothecary than a duke’s daughter.”
I am actually an apothecary..
I smiled ambiguously, with a subtle feeling of wanting to say it but not wanting to.
~~~~~
The two of them got ready to leave and stood in front of the door to exit the room.
Neil sama thanked me for everything I’d done for him today.
“If you would like, let’s eat a meal together with the three of us again. If Claude allows.”
“..! By all means!”
I quickly turn my eyes to Claude sama, and he have a very stern expression on his face. I realize it’s impossible.
When I think about it, this is prison. It’s only natural.
Even then, I slump my shoulders a little, and Neil sama opens his mouth again, perhaps to follow me up.
“That said, you seemed to like the soup a lot. Should I relay to them to put it on the menu again?”
“Is it okay to!?”
“Of course, is there anything else you would like?”
I never thought I could make a request for the meal. At Neil sama’s kind words, I put my hands over my mouth, and think about it seriously.
To be honest, I had never had the concept of a favorite food.
The food I would get at Earl Alcott House, was something I could barely eat, so I stopped paying attention to the taste.
—Ah, but.
A memory from the distant past comes back to me.
The sweet taste that I was specially allowed to lick by the sides of the huge cauldron which gave off the aroma of boiled herbs.
“Uhh…I like honey as it’s sweet..”
“Honey?”
I was surprised by their surprised and bewildered expressions, and then I realized.
Honey must be expensive. According to the servants’ chat I once overheard, a jar of honey is enough to buy twenty loaves of bread. Twenty servings. It’s too greedy to ask for a free gift.
“Ah, but I just thought of it in the spur of the moment when I thought about favorite food… I don’t have any likes or dislikes so your kindness is enough for me! Just the soup please!”
I said so hurriedly, but the two of them were looking at me with indescribable expressions.
Regretting that I had said something unnecessary, I let out a sigh as I saw them off.
~~~~~
“Honey… hey”
Neil muttered as soon as they left Violet’s room.
“That, ..it’s another person, isn’t it?”
“It’s her.”
Claude said, suppressing his inner desire to agree with Neil’s words. Neil raised his eyebrows, “No, but”
“Was it ^Things that can be associated with flowers which can only fall and wither, don’t suit this me—you seem to have bad eyes, what a disappointment.^? The line young lady Elford said, when she threw the honey that His Highness brought as a get-well gift to her who caught a cold.”
“…yeah.”
They remembered that incident very well, and didn’t even want to recall the frozen air that moment.
“She said once that she swapped bodies, right? I might really believe it.”
“I asked the royal magician if there is such sorcery. —The answer was that, it was impossible.”
“Well, I guess that’s true..”
Neil shrugged his shoulders.
“I can only see her as a different person that I am starting to sprout subtle feelings of guilt. The way she didn’t move at my prodding and impudent provocations, I can’t help but think she was replying without even noticing.”
Claude sighed and listened to Neil who was lamenting like so.
That time he reported to Johannes about her change, Johannes knitted his eyebrows, saying, “Even you are going to be fooled by that woman?”
Then he ordered Neil and Claude to remove her disguise and find out what she’s thinking as they are good at these sort of things.
(Instead of getting results, we got even more confused.)
When Neil invited her to have dinner together, her big purple eyes widened and shone with surprise.
“—Eating together with someone like this…it’s really, really fun.”
(Was that really Violet…?)
Claude shook his head at the thoughts that came to his mind countless of times. Such a thing was not possible. It was absurd for Claude to believe in a sorcery that wasn’t known by the royal magician, and was found to be not exist no matter how much research he put in.
(—I even tried sending a letter to the grand duke who was Violet’s teacher..)
There was still no response from the grand duke who couldn’t stand her selfishness and cut her off.
He, the king’s brother, is an extraordinary magician, and a hero who once saved the kingdom. Claude thought that he would know something as he knows Violet quite well, and is an expert in various magic.
“Ah-but, it’s really unbelievable…. I thought the tea that commoners drink would absolutely be thrown at me. If her tutor’s an apothecary, the knowledge can be, well, … understandable, but to think she would respond so seriously to a commoner’s illness.” ***
“….”
Neil took a sigh after he said that.
“If there really is such a thing as swapping bodies, you know?”
Neil muttered in a small voice.
“I wonder where did the real Violet Elford go.”
“…I don’t know, but-”
Thinking for a moment, Claude let out a sigh.
“-it’s not going to be a good thing, is it?”
***Neil wasn’t belittling commoners. He just said it according to the norm back then.
(TL, the next few Chapters will be in Violet’s pov. Violet’s going to absolutely wreck the Earl house 🙂
and as I am a new translator, please tell me if there’s anything I need to fix in the translations!)
