A Genius Pharmacist Whom the Empress Is Obsessed With

Time Flies Somehow.

The task of breaking the crimson snake spell didn’t begin until one week after Idun arrived at Rare.

There was no particular reason.

“Just let me sleep a little longer. It’s been a while, how about we sleep together?”

“I’m not feeling well today.”

“I don’t like the weather.”

Adrian made various excuses to justify lying down.

‘…Well, there must be a good reason.’

Having returned to Rare after a long time, Idun didn’t want to clutter her mind with thoughts.

Still, just in case, she often slept next to Adrian, who had transformed into a dragon. Adrian used his giant tail to create a comfortable space for Idun to sleep, and they would feel each other’s warmth and the sound of their heartbeat.

They would fall asleep by leaning against each other and, if hungry, wake up to grab something simple to eat. They would aimlessly explore outside the cave and then fall asleep leaning against each other when they felt tired.

Truly peaceful, a time without laziness.

Similarly, breaking Idun’s curse progressed smoothly.

After a week, Adrian called Idun out and sat her down in the center of an empty room. In Adrian’s hand, there was a book that looked quite old, and she began to write something in the air while looking at the book.

Not long after, countless magic runes engraved on her body began to emit a bright light.

Half a day. In just half a day, Adrian completely broke the curse on Idun’s body so as not to strain her.

“You went through a lot.”

Idun expressed her gratitude to Adrian as she watched the red snake slither off his left arm.

“It’s nothing. It was nothing at all.”

Adrian said cheerfully as she pawed at the red snake that had been sprawled on the floor.

“If only I had mana, I could have solved this so easily. I’ve been so frustrated that I thought I was going to die.”

Eden reached out her hand towards Adrian, who was grumbling as she pulled out her front paw.

“Why your hand?”

“We made a promise before, didn’t we? That I would cast a spell on you at least once a day.”

Even though there was no need to cast a spell on a dragon who was filled with pure mana, the promise had to be kept.

Moreover, Adrian had prepared quite a lot for a week to break Eden’s curse.

Although Eden was ignorant of magic, she could still distinguish between the magic circles that had originally been engraved on the rare and newly engraved ones. The piled-up books scattered on the floor were also part of the preparations.

“Don’t you hate it?”

“No! Of course not! A promise must be kept!”

Adrian quickly transformed into a human and placed her hand on top of Eden’s hand.

Eden earnestly cast her spell on Adrian’s hand, but it seemed like something was missing.

“Adrian, is there anything you want to eat? You’ve suffered, so you should eat properly.”

During the week, all they had eaten were dried jerky, wooden fruit, and simply grilled fish.

Both Eden and Adrian were not picky eaters as long as they could satisfy their hunger, and it ended up that way because they ate whatever they could get their hands on.

“If you don’t want to go down to the village, should we just eat what we’ve been eating?”

“No, I can’t do that after all the trouble I went through.”

Adrian brushed her lips and tried to look serious.

*

Seeing Eden preparing to go out, Adrian pursed her lips.

While lifting Eden’s curse, Adrian could feel that the curse caster had died.

Considering that the curse caster had died, the princess, who was a nuisance for about two weeks, seemed to have safely returned to where she should be.

‘…Should I tell her that the princess has returned to the palace?’

To be honest, Adrian didn’t want to tell Eden about the princess’s news.

Humans hurting each other was a very common occurrence, and the people accompanying the princess were the ones who had messed up Eden.

Eden herself acted as if she was fine and had forgotten everything, but in Adrian’s mind, the image of Eden crawling up the embankment with a broken body remained vivid.

The image of Eden’s broken form appeared in Adrian’s mind constantly, day and night, and every time, Adrian felt consumed by guilt for not saving Eden in time.

So, whether the princess’s party lived or died, begged or starved, Adrian neither wanted to know nor interfere.

‘…But I should still tell Eden out of principle.’

Eden was the person directly involved in the incident. Adrian, on the other hand, was in a slightly ambiguous position to consider herself a person directly involved. As a person directly involved, Adrian thought that she should know how the situation was resolved.

After a short contemplation, Adrian decided not to bring up the topic of the princess.

For at least a few years, I had been with him, even if he were to leave. Even if Adrian had to come up with any excuse, he would not let go of Eden.

“…Because I won’t have a chance to see the princess again anyway.”

There was no need to reopen the healing scars because of the forgotten connection.

After resolving the curse, Eden and Adrian’s daily life seemed to go back to that time a few years ago.

During the day, they each spent their own time, and in the evening, they always ate together and chatted about trivial things.

Adrian spent most of his day thinking about how to keep Eden by his side.

“It’s already dinner time.”

As usual, Adrian thought of various excuses to keep Eden with him and headed to the restaurant with a hungry stomach.

On the dining table, there were fresh vegetable salads and well-baked grilled fish.

Although he was a dragon, he couldn’t be versatile in everything. That’s why cooking and cleaning were solely Eden’s responsibility.

“Eden, what did you do all day today?”

Adrian sat at the dining table and asked.

The curse must have been lifted, and Eden’s fatigue must have somewhat recovered. Now it was Eden’s time to move.

Thanks to living for over five hundred years, Eden had also become much duller and lazier. However, he was originally a human. Like humans who continuously caused big and small accidents, Eden also made something for himself when he felt bored.

In case Eden suddenly declared that he would leave because he was bored, Adrian wanted to know Eden’s thoughts in advance.

“Today? I cleaned up the field to try growing herbs.”

Eden replied while looking at the oven. Judging from the savory smell, it seemed like he was baking bread.

“The field? What about the one you made before?”

“Oh, that one will be used too. I made another one as a control group for comparison.”

She seemed to be decorating something according to her thoughts. Adrian listened attentively to Eden’s words, his expression full of curiosity.

“I thought of using my vitality as fertilizer to grow the herbs.”

Eden took out the bread from the oven and placed it on the table. He tore off bits of hot bread with tongs so that Adrian could eat comfortably.

“Directly infusing vitality into people is good, but the efficiency is too low. Besides, it’s too exhausting for me.”

Adrian nodded in agreement as he listened, adding jam to the torn bread.

“So, I thought, what if I make medicine with herbs infused with my vitality? Even if it’s not directly infused, if I can extract more than double the efficiency of the herbs, it might be good enough.”

Adrian remained skeptical even with Eden’s additional explanation.

But he didn’t voice it out loud.

It would take a full year to grow the herbs needed for the research and raise the carrier, and during that time, he would continue to reside in the forest.

As Adrien, who was supposed to live in the forest, pondered how he could catch up with the others, he couldn’t miss this good opportunity.

“Alright, then I’ll also participate in the research, right?”

“I’d be grateful if you could help me.”

Adrien shoulders slumped, took a bite of the bread. Today, it tasted unusually sweet.

***

The sound of footsteps echoed on the well-fortified walls. The figure that appeared on top of the walls was Redimine.

“Princess!”

As she appeared, the guards standing watch quickly straightened up.

Redimine waved them off with a gesture.

“There’s no need for formalities. I just want to be alone for a while.”

As the attendants and guards retreated, Redimine gazed down at the imperial capital from the walls.

The day afteridden died, Redimine had headed straight for the palace. She removed the symbol of her betrothal, the Trollal Sword, and returned the palace to its original state.

It was not an easy task.

Though the Trollal Sword was injured, there were many nobles who followed her, as well as many soldiers who were loyal to her.

However, due to the excellent strategy of the general of the Panian army and the loyalty sworn by several nobles to the Yellow Tribe, she was able to successfully complete her mission.

Pretending to be involved in a succession struggle, she saved the younger sisters who had been stranded in the capital, and returned the control of the Yellow Tribe to the rightful ruler, the emperor. In just a month, Redimine would be betrothed again as a princess.

In addition, the other witches who had been sacrificed, the soldiers and their subjects who had suffered under the Trollal Sword’s rampage, were also rescued.

In just two weeks, everything was back to normal, except for one thing.

Withoutidden.

Redimine looked at the river flowing through the city.

On the day when withoutidden disappeared, Redimine had hoped that the dragon would appear and save withoutidden, just like it had carried him all the way to the palace. The evidence was clear, as the remaining silence in the palace and the fields testified that the dragon had indeed appeared.

But it was a futile hope.

Withoutidden was never found, and the dragon never appeared again.

In the end, all that was found was a piece of the blanket that withoutidden had used to jump off the cliff.

“Withoutidden…”

Even just pronouncing his name brought tears to her eyes, but Redimine did not lower her head.

It was time to accept that withoutidden had left her side, just like the river that flowed relentlessly.

I thought that I would leave Yoohee again after a year, but it happened 10 years later that Eden returned to the human world.