Queen of The Scalpel - Chapter 68
How long had passed since she was asleep? Someone lightly shook her to wake her up.
“Lady, lady.”
“…”
“Lady?”
“…!”
Elise shot her eyes open from being shaken. ‘Ah…I fell asleep.’ She had fallen asleep right on the sofa where she had been eating strawberry cake. ‘So dizzy.’ Holding her throbbing head, she saw a middle-aged woman looking kindly down at her.
“Are you awake? Sorry to wake you, but the Emperor will be reading his speech now.”
“Ah…yes. Thank you.”
And she thought. ‘Who is this? She’s familiar.’ This was the lounge for just the imperial family. She was definitely of the family or someone who knew them well. Elise was able to remember her name. ‘Ah! It’s her!’ She quickly bowed.
“Greetings to Duchess Harver. I’m Elise, of the Clarence family.”
“It’s fine. It seems like you’re not feeling too well anyway, please be more relaxed.”
“No, it’s okay, Duchess.”
Duchess Harver! She was the lady of the high noble family of Wale. And she was a relative of the imperial family!
“Sorry, but could you help me walk?”
“Ah, yes.”
Because she had the blood of the imperial family, her eyes were a golden color. It was faint. The stronger the supernatural power, the darker gold their eyes became. Emperor Minchester, who was called the Brain Emperor, had extremely dark golden eyes, and the Crown Prince’s were even darker.
‘The Crown Prince has the greatest supernatural powers of all time.’ She was able to watch him defeat the 3rd Prince in the political fight for the crown and rule the empire with a wisdom deeper than Emperor Minchester.
Because she was sentenced to death, she couldn’t observe what happened, but she couldn’t even imagine how much he changed the Britia Empire. ‘If there was a flaw it would be the bloody battle with the 3rd Prince’s party.’ At the time, a lot of blood had been spilled. Enough for the civilians to call it the Tragedy of Londo.
He hadn’t shared his feelings with her then, but she could see that he was struggling back then. ‘And another flaw was the empress, me.’ She bitterly reminisced. Nothing good would come of her becoming the empress again.
“Should I support you like this, Duchess?”
“Yes, thank you. My legs are a bit shaky.”
Elise observed the Duchess. Everytime she moved, her legs faintly shook. She saw a freezing of her gait. A diagnosis popped up in her head. ‘Parkinson’s.’
She didn’t know the Duchess that well. That was because she had died before Elise married the Crown Prince. The cause of death was suffocation. ‘Parkinson’s is a disease that lessens the functions of the nerve cells. When she was eating, the food must’ve been caught in her throat because she wasn’t able to swallow it.’ She thought to herself. ‘She looks pretty healthy. Isn’t there a way to help her?’
But even she couldn’t do anything to treat Parkinson’s. ‘Parkinson’s wasn’t able to be treated, just delayed, back on Earth. And in the case of suffocation, I can’t help her unless I’m right next to her.’ If food got caught in her throat, it had to be dealt with in 1 to 2 minutes. Unless a doctor skilled in emergency treatment was next to her, the chances of her survival were low.
‘Isn’t there way. Let’s see.’ From her memory, she remembered that it was around this time. But the time probably won’t be at exactly the same time as last time. Because the case of food being caught in the throat depended on chance. ‘I hope it’s not too bad.’ Thinking those thoughts, she entered the ballroom.
“Thank you, lady. I’ll see you next time if opportunity allows us.”
“Yes, Duchess.”
She could see noble families waiting in their spots for the Emperor to read his celebratory speech. She moved to where the Clarence family was.
“Lissy, where have you been? I looked for you.”
“Oh…I was resting a bit. Sorry.”
“Are you feeling better?”
“Yes, a bit.”
She told her worried family that she had been resting a bit.
“The Emperor will read it soon, so just wait.”
“Yes, father.”
Elise breathed a sigh of relief thinking that she would be able to go right home after this. Today, she wasn’t going to study and just rest.
“His Majesty the Emperor is entering!”
With the sound of trumpets, all the nobles in their positions bowed in respect. And the Emperor stepped on the podium with a bible in hand.
“May all those who are here be blessed by God. And with thanks to the Christ who died for us, I’ll read this prayer.”
It was a tradition of over 500 years reading a prayer during an anniversary ball. The Emperor looked at the large cross in front of him. On the cross, there was a crown of thorns. And he kneeled to read the prayer.
After he read the prayer, he read his speech. It was similar to last year. Blessing all the citizens of the empire. ‘Now it’s almost over. Let’s just endure a bit more, Elise.’