Baby Pharmacist Princess

Jessica Fever’s life had been nothing but torment when she lived under her original name, constantly suffering from Alexandra’s outrageous bullying. However, her life as *Alice* completely changed after her pact with Pabel.

First, Pabel made her drink his blood, transforming her appearance into something much more beautiful.

Her once unruly hair, which resembled matted fur, became soft and silky, and even the rough hands that had been worn from serving as a maid grew smooth and delicate.

Next, Pabel cast a spell on her face.

“You now have the same face as Princess Cherishe.”

“Why that face?”

“Because, as far as I know, it’s the cutest face in the world.”

Although Alice wasn’t entirely satisfied with the answer, she didn’t mind. After all, Pabel had a plan.

After hearing this, Alice understood and accepted it.

Then, Pabel brought her to the separate palace, where she was to become accustomed to living as a Princess—specifically in the South Castalia royal palace.

“Ouch!”

While twirling around joyfully, Alice absentmindedly grasped a rose, only to cry out in pain when a thorn pricked her finger. A drop of blood dripped onto the white petals, causing her to frown as she flicked her hand.

“A-Alice, my lady.”

*Smack!*

The youngest maid bowed fearfully, but Alice slapped her without a second thought.

“I told you to remove the thorns from the roses properly! Why can’t you handle such a simple task?”

“I-I’m sorry, my lady! Please forgive me!”

“Forgive you? My finger is bleeding, and you think a mere apology will fix that?”

Alice knew it was a petty excuse.

She had been subjected to similar petty excuses countless times by Princess Alexandra.

‘But so what?’

Alice felt justified. She had endured it, so she was giving it back in kind. What’s the problem?

She was proud of her actions.

She hadn’t understood why Alexandra had treated her so poorly back then, but now, standing in this position, she realized: *those beneath you need to be disciplined with force.*

Otherwise, they would gossip about their master’s origins behind their back, wondering how long the master would last.

Besides, look at the roses. She had ordered the thorns to be trimmed last week, but the maids had been too lazy to do it properly.

“Do you think I’m a joke? You wouldn’t have done this if you respected me!”

“N-no, my lady! I swear! It’s just that a week has passed, and the th-thorns grew back!”

“You dare make excuses? How dare you talk back to me!”

Alice raised her hand to strike the maid again, feeling a rush of exhilaration.

Truthfully, Alice had been imitating Alexandra ever since her sudden rise in status. And after repeating these actions for several years, she had come to genuinely believe that she was royalty.

“My lady.”

But just then, a honeyed voice, as sweet as if it had been dipped in sugar, stopped her in her tracks.

Alice’s anger immediately dissipated, replaced by an eager expression.

“Pabel!”

“Why waste your precious hands on something like this?”

“But, you see, she—”

Alice began to complain, but Pabel merely smiled and playfully pinched her cheek, making her blush.

“Forget about that. I have more important news for you.”

“What is it? What’s going on?”

Pabel leaned down, whispering in Alice’s ear. The intimate gesture made her heart race, but the moment didn’t last long.

“Alexandra is coming here? To *this* palace?”

“Yes, she is. But don’t worry; she’s still recovering from her rampage and won’t be in her right mind.”

“H-how can I not worry? You know how cruel she can be! You’ve seen it yourself, Pabel!”

“Of course, which is why I rescued you, my poor, sweet Alice.”

Pabel’s soothing words calmed Alice’s trembling.

Yes, Pabel was on her side. They had shared their souls, after all.

Alexandra had only been under Pabel’s care because the South Emperor had requested it, nothing more.

“So, what should I do now?”

“What else? You must take your rightful place.”

“My rightful place…?”

“Goodness, have you forgotten already? You are a Princess.”

Pabel had a talent for making the absurd sound perfectly reasonable.

The maids standing nearby grew pale, averting their gazes.

They had been ordered by royal decree to serve the lady of the separate palace, but they had no idea what would happen next. And that scared them.

Those who had worked in the royal palace for a long time had developed a keen sense for such things.

Instinctively, they could tell something significant was about to happen.

“Yes, I was always a Princess… but I haven’t been treated as one…”

“Exactly. The truth just hasn’t come to light yet.”

“I’m a Princess…”

The firstborn daughter of Kienna.

As Alice muttered to herself, Pabel smiled, his lips curling into the grin of a demon.

* * *

If the architecture of Northern Castalia was grand, imposing, and full of straight lines, South Castalia was the opposite.

Everything was curved, circular, and flowing.

Whereas the North used white tones with bold accent colors in their interiors, the South opted for a more harmonious blending of similar hues.

For example, soft greens, dark greens, and vibrant greens were all mixed together to create a unified look.

Dad, Idsys, and Sihat had left to meet with the South Emperor and his family for discussions, leaving me in my assigned room.

Of course, I wasn’t alone. The entire White Night Knights, whom Dad had brought as my guard, were stationed inside and outside my room.

There were even knights posted under the windows to ensure there were no gaps in security.

And as if that weren’t enough, I also had Sophia, Shami, Hanna, and even Myerden in the room with me. Despite the spaciousness of the bedroom, it still felt a little cramped.

There were just too many people in here!

“So, I managed to secure the evaluation forms. It seems like 1, 8, and 10 received the highest marks.”

…Right. I should learn from Myerden’s example.

Even in this crowded situation, Myerden was calmly adjusting his glasses and continuing with his work.

“Personally, I didn’t care much for number 10. The shape wasn’t appealing.”

“Then we’ll go with number 1, the square shape, and number 8, the bear shape. We can release two versions initially.”

“Sounds good!”

Even though I was curious about what Dad and Idsys were discussing in their meeting, there wasn’t much I could do. So I decided to focus on the conversation I needed to have with Myerden.

“We need to establish a pharmacist training institute.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“Right? The pharmacists we’ve recruited so far are getting too old. We need to start training new pharmacists now to prevent the pharmacies from becoming empty in the future.”

“I suppose founding a specialized academy would be the best course of action.”

“Yes. But I don’t want any restrictions based on social status. For now, we’ll have to select people with at least some knowledge of medicine, but…”

Mwerden frowned thoughtfully at my suggestion.

“That might be too idealistic. Even if we plan to broaden the selection in the future, it would be wise to start with some criteria.”

“But if we start by only accepting the third daughters and fourth sons of nobles, how do you think they’ll treat commoners when we eventually let them in?”

“That’s true…”

“Besides, nobles won’t be too eager to pursue a career in pharmacy. Even if they’re struggling financially, they’ll find other jobs. The Imperial Pharmacy is already seen as something for commoners.”

These were thoughts I had developed after spending a lot of time ensuring the Royal Pharmacy had a solid foundation.

It had always been a place for commoners, and it had to remain that way.

That was the philosophy of the Royal Pharmacy.

“Hmm, I see your point. Let’s bring this up during the next full meeting with the Ministry of Health staff.”

“Got it!”

Mwerden seemed to have partially agreed, and that was enough for now. Once I convinced him, the rest of the staff would follow suit.

“I wonder when their meeting will be over…”

We had arrived in the afternoon, and now it was evening. Though we’d been served finger foods like muffins and sausage-cheese balls with juice, that wasn’t a proper meal.

I was hungry for real food.

‘Is Sihat tired?’

He must be exhausted after using so much divine power.

I sighed and slumped back into the sofa just as something strange happened.

*Thunk!*

There was a sudden noise, followed by someone being thrown into the air.

The figure that appeared in the middle of the room had wine-red hair, and I instantly recognized him.

“Gergys? Brother?”

“Yo. I brought the bastard.”

Thud.

Something spilled onto the floor.

I looked closely and realized it was a pile of glass cards.

*Clink. Clink.*

The glass cards, thankfully, landed on the soft carpet and didn’t shatter.

“How many of these are there…?”

And it wasn’t even over. The sack in Gergys’s hand seemed to contain even more.

“Celestial superstar Cherishe?”

Suddenly, the woman sprawled out on the floor leapt up and scrambled toward me, grabbing my ankle at lightning speed!

“It’s really Cherishe, in the flesh! I can’t believe I’m seeing Cherishe up close like this!”

“!”

“Oh, I’ve wanted to meet you for so long

! To see you in person! And this close! I can die happy now!”

This was terrifying.

I recoiled, trying to pull my ankle free.

Gergys reacted quickly, grabbing the woman’s wrist tightly.

“Who do you think you are, touching my sister?”

“Gergys! Stop!”

I hurriedly tried to stop Gergys.

But…

“Ow, ow, ow! You’re right. Only someone like Gergys is worthy of protecting our precious Cherishe!”

“…byul?”