CHAPTER 03

Dawn Scarlet

It has already been a year and everything is still quite surreal to me. One year and I still cannot believe that it has already been that long since I was reborn into this unfamiliar world and it took me quite a look time before I am able to get accumulated to everything, especially how things work in this place. However, I am happy and proud to say that I have already gotten used to the things that I need to get used to.

Well, another thing is that it has also been a year since I actually saved someone's life - imagine I was just reborn in this world and I immediately showcased my skills as a doctor and I am immediately placed into a very challenging and life-threatening situation. Honestly, I can still feel although vividly that there is a blade pointed at my neck but then again, I don't really usually feel that but when I do, I always feel shivers run down to my spine and I cannot help but to shiver as if a cold breeze entered my room.

Additionally, right after I saved that person's life I honestly thought that the moment that I open my eyes - since I slept in order to recuperate my energy - he has already disappeared. I am not going to lie, I was annoyed when I found out that he left and he left me alone without even giving a single clue on how would I actually leave the place. Also, the thing is up until now I still cannot get why he actually left but because I am a very understanding person I just thought that maybe the reason for that is because there are still people after him and that it would not be a good thing if he stayed in that place for a little while longer and I thought that he is also thinking that it would not be good for me if I am seen with him because I too could be a target.

But then the thing is he could have also left a note in the first place - maybe something that I could use for me to contact him because I remember I said to him that my service is not free and that he actually needs to pay me the next time we meet. Well, that is if he is actually still alive well no - he should be alive because I am not going to let him just get away without even paying me. Seriously, since he looked like a very important person then he will be able to pay me up quite a sum of money.

Although it has already been a year I can still remember his name as if everything just happened yesterday - Aurelius. Honestly, it is quite an expensive name that he has which is the reason why I immediately had the assumption that he is an important person and that he has quite a sum of money as well because why would he be targeted in the first place if he is not important or rich?

And I will remember his name for the rest of my life - not until he pays me up for what he owes me and also he should give me an explanation on why he left me - wait, why am I expecting an explanation in the first place? It is not that he is required to give me an explanation because who am I to him in the first place? I am just someone who saved him out of coincidence.

Well, it is not that I am a person who really likes money that much but the thing is I could use that money in order to stabilize my way of living and also I could use that to improve my clinic so that I will be able to cure more people in this world. And yes, I continued my profession as a Doctor because I honestly feel like there is nothing that I could do in escaping that profession. Although it is a profession that I originally do not like, it is also undeniable that I have learned to love this profession not to mention that I am happy that I am able to help a lot of people.

I cannot help but heave a sigh as I roam my eyes around my small clinic and I cannot help but think that there are still a lot of things that I still lack around this place and I need to have those things in order to make sure that I am able to give what is the best for my patients.

While I am looking around the place, I felt a presence that entered the clinic, and then I heard that person speak.

"Hey, Doctor!" the person that entered my clinic obviously called out to me which instantly made me return to reality - well, I am thinking deeply about a lot of things but the moment that he spoke my thinking was immediately cut off and that also made me turn my head towards his direction and I just didn't turn to his direction normally but rather I had my forehead frown because I cannot believe that he is once again here in my small clinic.

Actually, my clinic is not just a clinic - this place is built to be my clinic and also to be my home. The first floor is the clinic where I examine and treat my patients while on the second floor is my bedroom and also a small kitchen where I cook my food, there are also a few clothes there placed inside a small cabinet, a bathroom and other essentials for me to be able to survive in this place referred to as the Xinan Empire.

He already stopped by a while ago and I thought that he will no longer return but here he is - he still came and honestly if I could only kick him out of my clinic I already would but I cannot do that for some reason.

Well, when I am still starting to settle down in this place, I was asked by the landlady that I need to pay six silver coins in order to be able to stay for about three months, and of course, I need to re-pay every after three months because I am technically renting the place. And six silver coins are already a big thing! In my previous life, a single silver coin is already equivalent to five thousand bill and in short, it is a very important currency in this world - well, of course, there is still another higher currency however still for a commoner like me a silver coin is already something that I treasure because there are a lot of things that I am already able to buy with it.

Since I am just starting a few months ago, I am in a quite problematic state because seriously where I am able to get six silver coins that easy?! I still don't even have that much of patients and also I do not even ask them for that much because I know that they are still short on money. The highest fee that I asked for a patient is around four bronze coins. I need fifteen bronze coins to be able to exchange them for one silver coin so I need eighty bronze coins in order to complete the six silver coins needed for this place.

And just when I am about to give everything up, this man came and he offered me something that I found hard to refuse which is also one of the reasons why I cannot kick him out of this place in the first place.

He offered to lend me ten silver coins but I'll have to pay for it in a different kind of way. I honestly thought that I have to do something lewd but it wasn't really the case. Well, the thing is he said that I don't need to pay him back the money since he has a lot so he made a deal that if I can cure then sick people then the place is mine and when finally cure fifty sick people then he will invest and make my place bigger and he will make sure that my place will actually be just like the other clinics around the area so that I will be able to compete with them.

Well, competing with the other clinics is really not my deal but rather I need a bigger place in order to make sure that I am able to give what is best for my patients. And since I agreed to his deal, that is also the time that he started pestering me - well, I really have nothing if he visited the place once in a while however the thing is he is always here, and that kind of annoys the hell out of me. But again, I just cannot tell him to screw away and that is because this man is actually a prince of this empire that I am in and his brother is the emperor - the man who holds the highest position in this empire that is why I cannot just kick him out.

At first, I really didn't believe that he is a prince because I thought that this world has a president just like in my previous life and why would a prince actually be walking around the empire so casually in the first place? Well, there are a few times that I really am about to punch him straight in the face because I am hella annoyed about his presence and I am thankful that I still have self-control that I didn't punch him because if I did, I do not know if I would still be alive.

The rules here are very different, if a person violates the law or disrespected the royalties, it can cost you a lot of things - your life, your wealth, your status - as long as it is the order of the emperor, it will be followed and if I punched him in the past I really would have already executed.

"What do you want, Prince Trajan?" I tried to sound polite as much as I can but it didn't work because I still sounded differently, I guess that is because I really can't hide how irritated I am with how casual and flirtatious he acts with me and with other girls. And I really don't like that personality of his - that is the personality that annoys me the most.

He has this wide smile on his face and then suddenly, he went near me and he even held my chin which made me drop the brush that I was holding.

"I just want to remind you that tomorrow is the last day of our deal, babe" I cannot help but to frown as I roll my eyes not to mention the extreme disgust that I feel from what he just said.

That! That is what I am talking about - I am extremely annoyed with how he is acting like seriously? Can't he just speak in a formal way and not act like a cool playboy? because honestly, that does not make him attractive, it makes him disgusting.

"I've got to cure one person left, Prince Trajan. And please restrain yourself, or else I'll cut your hands". I said and of course, I only said the last words inside my mind because if I blurted it out loud I am sure enough that I am going to get my throat slit for disrespecting and threatening a prince. I value my life even if it is not that obvious because I am having such thoughts.

"Alright chill out" he commented and he even let out a chuckle. After that, he moved to my table and then he asked "What are you doing miss Doctor?" as he asked that I saw that he was about to grab one of the papers that are filed and was about to start reading the contents when I immediately move towards his direction and I grab the papers from his hands.

The papers he grab and he was about to read are my patients' records that are obviously supposed to be confidential and even if he is the prince of this empire, he will not get the leeway in being able to see and read confidential things.

"Prince Trajan, pardon for my rudeness but these are confidential, meaning I and those who I authorize are the ones who can read the information about my patients" that is what I said and he looked at me as if I am joking. Well, from that expression that he has on his face I already kind of have an idea of what he is going to say next.

"But I am the one who gave you this place, so I technically have the right to know these kind of information," he said which is actually the thing that I thought that he would say to me in the first place. However, even if he is going to force me to make him read the papers I cannot really let him do so because there are terminologies that I used that are not being used in this world - words that I use in my previous life - not to mention there are medicines written on these papers that are yet to be discovered and made.

Well, to be precise I am going to be the one to make it because I have a background in making medicines. One of the things I found out after a year, is that some things that I know are unknown to this place. They don't even know what a scalpel is, and what sanitation is, or even the different hereditary diseases. However, despite this, this place has actually different herbs and other ingredients that can make excellent antidotes, and pills to cure almost every disease which is also not available in my previous life to the point that doctors, scientists, and any other people are trying so hard to find.

However, the thing is, the people in this world - especially the doctors still don't know how to use those plants, this world and I too am lucky I studied all about pharmacology and I memorized the ingredients of the different so-called '21st-century pills'. Anyways, There is one thing that I am concerned about and that is how will I actually be able to make this prince stop pestering me by being able to let him have a sneak peek at the papers that I am holding.

I need to find a reasonable reason in order to make him stop.