I Am The Dying Emperor’s Doctor

Lewin dashed over to the man as soon as he noticed him.

“Jack? Could it be Jack Gordon from Gordon’s shop?”

Serena, startled by the mention of Jack, fixed her gaze on the man referred to as Jack.

Come to think of it, his short-cut brown hair and green eyes matched Jack Gordon’s appearance perfectly.

Since she had never met him in her previous life, she didn’t recognize him immediately. He was quite reclusive, and Jack had never come to the palace to meet the Emperor in person.

While Serena was frozen, Jack embraced Lewin and messed up his hair, saying, “Ah, finally noticed me, huh?”

“Ack! Mr. Jack! My hair is ruined!”

Lewin tried to wriggle out of Jack’s grasp, but he couldn’t escape the grip of an adult man.

“Is your hair more important than making Mr. Jack wait? You should be punished for that!”

“Waaa! I’m sorry!”

Jack scolded Lewin for a while before letting go. Then Lewin, with teary eyes, bombarded Jack with questions.

“I heard you went to the southern region. When did you come back? Wait, did you actually go?”

“I did go to the southern region. I’m planning to head to the western region tomorrow.”

“You really can’t stay put in one place! No wonder you don’t have a— Oops! Sorry, Mr. Jack!”

As Jack messed up Lewin’s hair again, Lewin groaned. After giving Lewin a playful slap, Jack asked, “Where are Genzo and Elda? I wanted to see them.”

“Today, our parents are famous.”

Lewin grumbled, and Jack turned his gaze towards Serena. For someone who didn’t seem interested earlier, his gaze was surprisingly persistent. That’s when Lewin interjected with an annoyed tone.

“My father went to gather herbs, and my mother went to deliver goods to Gordon’s shop.”

“Ah, today was the delivery day.”

“Even so, how can a small shop like Gordon’s be so big… Oh! Don’t hit me again, or I’ll get mad!”

Lewin stepped back and raised his fist, showing determination not to be pushed around. However, Jack was a step ahead of him. With a shrug, Jack made a gesture as if to say, “What’s with the fuss?” which calmed Lewin down.

“It seems like Jack Gordon himself runs the shop.”

Serena’s impression of Jack Gordon was somewhat different from what she imagined. She thought a shop owner would have an unpredictable personality like Count Harrison, but Jack seemed surprisingly easygoing.

Just then, Serena casually glanced at the clock. Considering the routes to the places she needed to visit, it seemed like it was time to leave.

“Lewin, I have to go now. Even though Mom and Dad will be back soon…”

“Just tell them I came by. There will be another chance.”

“Do I pay at the palace?”

“Yes. I’ll pay half now and the rest later.”

Serena paid Lewin with the money she had brought in advance, and Lewin quickly wrote a receipt.

Meanwhile, Jack had been openly staring at Serena.

But Serena didn’t return the gaze. She took the receipt and left the apothecary right away.

—

Serena’s next stop after leaving the apothecary was Nocturne’s office. In fact, her real purpose for going out today was to seek advice from Nocturne.

“I didn’t expect you to come in person.”

Nocturne greeted Serena with a surprised expression.

She had sent a letter asking if it was okay to visit using the office address she had received before. After receiving a positive response, she came over, so she was a bit surprised by Nocturne’s reaction.

“I did mention that I would come… Was it inappropriate? I didn’t mean to surprise or confuse you.”

“No, not at all. I was just a bit surprised because I didn’t expect you to contact me so soon. I was actually waiting for Young Ae’s message.”

“I’m glad it’s not a bother.”

“Feel free to come anytime. You don’t have to notify me in advance.”

“But how did I…”

“You’re the royal physician. Plus, you’re also an Ezring holder like me, so this level of cooperation is expected.”

“You noticed my interest in the Mana Core because of the Emperor’s illness.”

Serena asked with a narrowed gaze, and Nocturne just smiled. It was a vague affirmation.

“He really isn’t a naive person.”

Serena was slightly concerned about his inscrutable expression and ease. She was especially cautious because Nocturne, being from Duke Greenwood’s lineage, was one of the few people she was wary of among the Emperor’s close associates.

Unlike the Vincent Family, who lived as if they were strangers to each other, Nocturne had a cooperative relationship with Duke Greenwood. Even this office was located where Greenwood conducted business.

“I saw him getting along well with Azeid last time.”

Serena glanced at the gold Ezring on Nocturne’s finger. It was two levels below the Red Ezrings given to Leonard and Lily.

While the Red Ezring allowed control over the Royal Knights Elite 1st Division in emergencies, Nocturne couldn’t wield a sword.

But in public opinion, it was said that Nocturne, being Greenwood’s illegitimate child, was kept in check by the Emperor.

Indeed, Azeid frequently sent Nocturne out of the Empire for trade reasons after his coronation, so there was some truth to it.

The gold Ezring allowed Nocturne to exercise rights as the Emperor’s proxy outside the Empire and freely cross borders.

It was a necessary Ezring for Nocturne, who frequently fulfilled agreements, and it was the same color as the one Duke Greenwood had received from the previous Emperor.

At that moment, the secretary brought in a teapot and brewed green tea. Serena spoke after the secretary left.

“I came because I had a question while reading a book.”

“What question do you have?”

“It’s said that Mana Core’s abnormal reactions occur after physical trauma or emotional shock. Are there any exceptions?”

“Um, I’ve heard that there are cases where the Mana Core develops abnormally from birth.”

“Abnormal?”

Curious, Serena asked, and Nocturne began to explain patiently.

“Yes. Generally, the amount of mana in the body is predetermined from birth, and the Mana Core plays a role similar to a container for mana.”

“I know that.”

“In cases of abnormal growth, it means that the Mana Core is either smaller than the amount of mana in the body or unable to function properly.”

Nocturne took off his glasses for work and continued speaking.

“What would happen if you pour more soup into a small bowl than it can hold?”

“It would overflow.”

Actually, Serena had looked into this matter before. She had heard that sentences from Awakening Mages with abnormal Mana Cores tended to be blurry compared to others’.

“But Azeid’s sentences were clear.”

It was a fact she confirmed every morning. Serena asked another question.

“Is there any research related to injecting Tain’s internal mana into the Mana Core?”

“Are you referring to injecting internal mana rather than natural pure mana?”

“Yes. Tain’s internal mana.”

Serena’s question made Nocturne’s expression serious as he pondered deeply. He looked like a teacher contemplating how to explain something difficult.

Serena waited quietly for him to respond. In fact, she had been injecting small amounts of her internal mana into Azeid’s Mana Core to check its condition several times.

Since it was absorbed every time without allowing her to do anything beforehand, it was difficult to examine properly. So she also used magical devices alongside mana injection to conduct examinations.

“But strangely, the condition seemed to temporarily improve when mana was swallowed.”

Just to be safe, she had stopped mana injections recently and used magical devices to check the Mana Core’s condition.

The Mana Core seemed to be in a better state when examined directly by mana injection compared to measurement with magical devices. Of course, it wasn’t a decisive improvement, just a slight improvement in condition.

But finding an independent variable was a significant gain. Since then, she had been researching how to block extraneous variables and treat by injecting her own internal mana.

But no matter how many magical research papers she looked through, there was no solution regarding internal mana injection.

In fact, it was difficult to find cases of injecting internal mana into someone like Tain.

“It seems that such daring attempts are usually not made.”

“Daring attempts?”

“Unlike pure mana, internal mana is mana modified specifically for each individual. To put it simply…”

Nocturne paused for a moment and then gestured for Serena to consider her tea cup as oil.

“To accurately explain, we would need water and oil, but since we don’t have oil now, let’s consider this coffee as oil for convenience.”

“Okay.”

“And consider this green tea as A’s internal mana, this oil as B’s internal mana, and the water in the teapot as pure mana.”

Before they knew it, water, green tea, and coffee were lined up in front of Nocturne. He poured water into the cups containing green tea and coffee one by one.

“While water can be mixed with green tea and coffee without any problem, what do you think will happen if you mix A and B?”

“Since it’s oil, they won’t mix, right?”

Serena replied, and Nocturne smiled knowingly as he poured coffee into the cup with green tea.

Magic seemed to have been used, as the coffee and green tea did not mix and formed two distinct layers. However, after a moment, the boundary between the two liquids began to bubble and boil.

“Oh…”

Feeling a foreboding sense, Serena hesitated. In an instant, the coffee in the cup exploded like foam, overflowing, and causing the color of the green tea to change.

Nocturne didn’t seem to notice her unease and spoke gently.

“The reason there are no related papers is simple. As you can see…”