Queen of The Scalpel - Chapter 101

TL and Editor: Skye

Elise felt uneasy.

“—Yes.”

Graham reported the result of the investigation and it struck them like lightning out of the blue.

“We have four patients who recently died due to severe dehydration comorbid with diarrhea and looking at the entirety of the casualties in the entire Londo, we have a total of 79.”

“—!”

79 people.

Even though there are 2.5 million people that are living in Londo, the sum is still enormous.

Elise asked him, while she bit her lips.

“Which hospital had a large number of casualties?”

“Other hospitals had the same numbers as us, but Croydon Hospital had 30 deaths so far in their district.”

“—!”

“And there’s even more worse than what I informed you.”

“What is it?”

“There is an increasing rate of occurrence of patients affected in the same disease. There were a total of seven new patients in our hospital last night alone and three of them are in critical condition.”

“—!”

“We need to confirm it first, but the situation in other hospitals looks similar. Especially in the case of Croydon’s Hospital, they’ve been asking for assistance since their capacity limits had already exceeded.”

Elise complexion turned pale.

The Second Epidemic.

This is the incident that had killed thousands of people and now it had come to life.

***

The news of the epidemic soon roared in Londo.

The numbers of patients increased in tremendous pace and newspapers rushed to report the recent crisis.

[Unidentified plague!]

[Almost 100 died in just three days! The number of patients increased exponentially recently!]

[The Londo epidemic that had happened twenty years that killed 150,000 people and the recent patient’s symptoms are similar!]

Londo, that had lingering fears due to the war, panicked for a moment.

“Shouldn’t everyone run away at this rate?”

“It’s similar to the plague 20 years ago? There’s a lot of people who died back then! No! I don’t want to die yet!”

In the recent era, infectious disease is the most terrifying disaster out of all.

Hundred years ago, there was a plague that had hit the country and killed tens of millions of people in a single time, and tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of deaths were killed each time.

In particular, the damage was accelerated by urbanization, which means that when there is a large population gathered it will also easily transmit.

In that sense, the number of islands in the Britia Empire that had enormous population density in the whole world is the most vulnerable to infectious diseases.

Realizing the seriousness of the situation, the court convened an emergency committee immediately.

The emperor, the crown prince, and countless nobles gathered at the emergency meeting.

“What should we do? There is a sudden infectious disease swirling around.”

Emperor Minchester had a dark expression on his face.

The officials suggested different opinions.

“We need to evacuate the citizens.”

“How do we do that? There are more than 2.5 million people that live in Londo. It’s also impossible to close down an area.

However, all of them were all in the pinch and could not give a clear answer.

At that moment, Calic, the Director of the Public Health Department, stood up with a confident face.

“I’m Calic, Director of Public Health. Please allow me to speak.”

He is an ordinary citizen before that rose up from being an officer to being a head of an administrative department.

He majored in Biology at the Academy in the past but failed to become a doctor because he failed to pass the medical exam, but gained prominence in the department by taking advantage of his knowledge of history.

It is surprising that the head of the Department of Public Health is not a doctor, but there are some few cases wherein a doctor is the head of a certain department or organization. The same goes with the modern Earth.

“The epidemic right now has the same symptoms as the epidemic that had hit Londo 20 years ago.”

“Huh, is that so? That’s a big problem then. Isn’t it that epidemic nearly killed 150,000 people?”

The death toll was 150,000. The number was so huge that is so unbelievable.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty, the Department of Public Health has established a way to prevent the spread of the disease by analyzing it each time.”

“Is that true?”

Calic nodded strongly.

“Yes I am.”

“So go and tell me what your suggestions are.”

“Twenty years ago, the epidemic was caused by poison.”

“Poison?”

“Yes it is Your Majesty. Poison. That means it is transmitted in the air where there is garbage and dirt that has degenerated in the densely populated area in the downtown of Londo. It also caused the air to be murky, and when a bad scent comes, this epidemic will be spread. So if we remove the stench, the origin of the epidemic will subside.”

“Is that so.”

With his confident suggestion, Minchester’s expression did not easily ease up.

‘Poison he say? Is that so?’

Twenty years ago, he was also the emperor at the period of the plague and nearly 150,000 citizens died one after another.

‘The only way to get rid of the virus is to get rid of the stench. Is that what you are implying?’

Though he felt doubtful, he didn’t know much about medicine, so for now they had to follow an expert opinion.

But there is someone who asked him an on the spot question besides the emperor.

***

Late Night.

“It’s not poison.”

At Theresa’s hospital, Elise said that conclusively.

“It’s not?”

“Yes, it’s not an air-borne epidemic.”

Graham had a curious look on his face.

The epidemic was the same as the Londo epidemic 20 years ago.

Thus, the medical community has named it as “Second Londo Epidemic.”

“Dame, the cause of the epidemic 20 years ago was contaminated air. You know that, don’t you?”

“It wasn’t because of the poison back then either.”

Elise shook his head.

“If it is air-borne disease, they should have respiratory symptoms like pneumonia. But their case is about gastrointestinal which should be diarrhea.”

That’s right. If it is a peptic disease such as Influenza, bird flu, SARS , and the Spanish flu, then it is caused by the contaminated air.

*The following disease affects the stomach which is caused by contaminated air. But if it is the case of diarrhea then it is caused by contaminated water.

But it wasn’t like that. They had diarrhea instead.

“The cause of the disease is food, specifically contaminated water.”

Then she thought of a diagnosis.

‘This must be that disease.’

At first, she was puzzled.

It is difficult to find a trace of the disease in most developed countries, including Korea.

She had never seen the disease being hit on a person and only saw it in the book. However, it is still a major problem in underdeveloped countries.

‘Even when you look at the scale of the development of urban areas, it’s timely.’

On Earth, the previous plague that caused countless victims in the 1800s and the 19th century. It is a disease that has also killed a total of 500,000 people in Joseon Dynasty.

That evident epidemic was so dreadful.

But at that moment, Elise breathed a sigh of relief.

‘I’m glad to hear that.’ she thought.

‘This epidemic can be stopped somehow. Though of course, it’s not that easy.’

If it is left like that, there would be endless victims, but finding the cause of the outbreak and the epicenter of the outbreak could break the chain of transmission.

‘Thank God.’

But she still has a bitter face even if she found a way to save thousands of people. Normally she would be glowing by now, but instead she is still sad.

‘What are you happy for? It’s not like it will prevent your second older brother from going to the battlefield.’

It is just fortunate and happy to be able to save people.

But that doesn’t make her smile. I had one wish.

‘This will certainly break off my engagement to the Crown Prince. He said that he would surely grant it if I win the bet.’

I would save thousands of lives.

Anyone, even the emperor, will have no choice but to admit her worth.

“Haa”

She would have been happy just like always.

She can save people’s lives, she will break off the engagement with the Crown Prince so she can avoid the tragedy that’s going to unfold and live the life she wanted.

But there’s only one thing she had thought that came into her mind right now. How can she prevent his second older brother Christ from getting called?

‘Is there any other way?’

It was then!

She stiffened as if she had been struck by lightning.

There is one way! It would be through Noblesse Oblige. With that, second brother Chris wouldn’t have to fight!’

Yes that’s it! There is a way!

After solving the epidemic, I can just ask the emperor for ‘one favor.’

I will ask him to exempt Brother in Military service. Though it’ll be rejected by my brother in our family’s honor.

However, there is a way to avoid the danger or death while raising the honor of our family.

‘If I ask now, His Majesty will never let me in. But what if I solve this epidemic? Then he would have no choice but to listen to it even if he doesn’t like it. We made a bet after all.’

But it was at that moment.

Elise’s face hardened.

It was about the ‘method’ that she had thought of.

She had thought about what she had to go through when she went for it.