Queen of The Scalpel - Chapter 4
When Elise returned to her room, she started to write again. ‘Ten years from now.’ She wrote down events that would occur in the future. She had about ten years before she died from the guillotine.
‘Until then, I have to be prepared for the important events that will happen.’
30 years of time had passed since her first life here, so she couldn’t remember that well. However, she could somewhat remember the key events, so she wrote them down as they popped up in her mind.
-The Second Creme Expedition, her second older brother’s death.
When she wrote that, her heart felt like it was being squeezed. This time, she was definitely going to stop it.
-Death of her stepmother due to disease.
-The rebellion of the Tristan family, the extinction of the Clarence family, and her father’s death sentence.
-Death sentence of her first older brother, charged with protecting the Empress
As she endured the pain from her chest, she continued to write. Because this life was going to be different. She was going to guarantee it. She also wrote things that weren’t related to her family.
-First Creme Expedition Force, destroyed by disease. 47,000 estimated deaths.
-Death of Lady Harver, family of Wale, due to Parkinson’s disease.
-Death of the current Emperor, due to bad health
-Second Londo Epidemic. 100,000 estimated deaths in Londo, the capital of the Britian Empire.
-After the Creme War, smallpox spreads from the East. Three cities in the South locked down. Estimated deaths, 70,000.
She sighed.
‘I guess there are a lot of deaths from disease since we’re in this time period. Since public health departments or other breakthroughs in medicine haven’t been developed yet.’
She looked at what she wrote again. Second Londo Epidemic. 100,000 estimated deaths in Londo, the capital of the Britia Empire. It was really scary. And it was only 100,000 because they had somewhat prepared for it. During the First Epidemic, over 150,000 had died. ‘Isn’t there a way to decrease the number of people sacrificed to the disease?’ She had returned to Elise’s body, but she was still Song Jihyun. She was the ‘Iron Doctor’ who couldn’t stand watching people die.
‘The epidemic isn’t the only problem. Currently on Earth, there are a lot of people dying due to unknown diseases. What if I use my knowledge to save more people?’ She had knowledge of modern medicine-enough to be called the genius of the century! During the flight, she had been on her way to an international doctors’ conference before the plane crash caused her death.
‘Of course, I don’t know that well about Public Health or the history of medicine, but I’ll still be of some help.’ She couldn’t help but think that maybe this was why she was sent back to her past life. ‘I should speak to Dad.’
Her father, Marquis El, was the empire’s chancellor. He would seriously consider what she said.
‘After everything’s settled, I’m going to live my life as a doctor.’ She thought of her previous life as a doctor, the cold scalpel and the scales of life and death tilting. She missed that feeling. She had returned to Elise’s body, but she still had the soul of a doctor. She wanted to feel the satisfaction of saving lives in this lifetime as well.
‘And the other reason is…’ She continued to think about her past. There were minor things, and there was major things. But…she froze while writing.
‘Oh my gosh. How did I forget about this?’ She swallowed.
-The announcement of her engagement with the Crown Prince. Year 283. The Royal Birthday Ball.
Year 283, it was this. ‘If it’s the Royal Birthday Ball, there’s only 2 months left!’ Elise paled.
The Royal Birthday Ball. Everyone in the empire congratulated and blessed her. That’s when her engagement was announced, and the tragedy began.
***
At dinner that day. All the family members were gathered for the first time in a while.
“Elise, does it not suit your taste?”
“Oh, no, mother.”
The Marquess smiled at the word ‘mother.’ Elise had never called her stepmother ‘mother,’, all this time. The Marquess was a bit sad that Elise, whom she considered her own daughter, kept a distance from her, but recently, that had all changed.