Chapter 32

After a moment's reflection, Ethan soon returned to the matter at hand.

"So then, Miss Reina, what you're saying is that the disease is actually being transmitted by something that our naked eye cannot see, but it isn't the 'Touch of Bharan'?"

Her purple eyes, the color of which bloomed like lavenders, grew wide again. She looked like a rabbit.

"That's right…! That's exactly what I wanted to say… By any chance, can you read minds? How is it possible that you're saying exactly what I'm thinking?"

She blinked quickly and muttered in a daze, but this only made Ethan burst out into a smile.

"…Ethan, you're smiling right now?"

"No."

No, he said, but he definitely did. Still, this wasn't the time to smile leisurely. And, well… he was too embarrassed to easily admit that he smiled just now.

Above all, there's no time to waste—after all, Reina had just infused herself with the pus that was full of the pathogen that was making people sick.

"How did you figure out all this?"

Flinch—

When he asked her this question, Reina paused and answered vaguely with a trembling voice.

"…I read it in a book."

A book, huh. Two members of the imperial family had also learned about the sickness through a book left behind by a woman called Rosé.

However, there shouldn't have been a detailed description of the plague in that book.

"Do you mean that you figured out the cause of the disease right away after reading a book?"

"Yes, umm… I've got many books from other countries… and I, uh, read a lot. As you know, research on the poison arts isn't usually done only in the Pluntria Empire, so we refer to research materials from foreign countries often."

After giving a long and grand explanation, she glanced up to meet his eyes.

"Uh… I mean, yes, I got that information from a foreign country."

It's obvious enough to see that she couldn't clarify the source of her information well. It was the same for him as well, so he didn't pry further.

"I see."

Watching her visibly let out a sigh, Ethan reflected on what he just heard from her. Meanwhile, Reina began to explain again.

"Anyway, in those accounts, there is a disease called smallpox, and it's brought upon by a 'virus', or an invisible cause, which I read about in that book."

"Why are you so sure that it's that disease, even though it has an invisible cause?"

"I came to that conclusion because of the people who didn't get sick. If you don't trust me, then just observe my condition from here on out. I'll end up with similar boils as the patients. After this, if we find out that the bigger disease that's being passed from person to person isn't a big threat to me anymore, wouldn't my theory be proven to some extent?"

What she's saying made sense. It's just that, how very sweet of her that she's throwing herself into this situation and experimenting on her own body.

"How long will it take to ascertain the results?"

"About two to three weeks."

"Then until that time, you will stay with me, Miss Reina."

"…Huh?"

"It's an emergency situation. Don't read into it."

"Ah… Yes."

"Fill me in more about the disease."

Heeding Ethan's order, she sat in a chair on one side and continued her explanation.

"Cows get a similar disease called 'cowpox'. Let's nickname the illness that humans get as 'humanpox' temporarily so that it's easy to differentiate the two. The cowpox virus is weaker compared to the humanpox virus that spreads between people. Cowpox has relatively lower risks, so in other countries, they take out pus samples from cows that have the disease, then they infuse it into people on purpose."

"They deliberately make people sick?"

"Um… If you put it that way, yes. However, this method takes advantage of the fact that the human body, after being inoculated with the virus, will remember it. The time it happens is different, but… Anyway, the body will remember that it encountered the cowpox virus before and how its driven away. That's why next time the body encounters the virus again, it won't be difficult to overcome it."

It was fascinating to hear. Most of all, it was wondrous how humans could also get afflicted by a disease that cows get. This idea was not just brilliant, it was perhaps shocking even.

Sitting on the table that was opposite the chair she was sitting on now, he pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment.

It was a captivating theory, but what would other people say once they find out that they'd be inoculated with cow pus?

"What else is needed apart from cow pus?"

"Um… First of all, we'll need to clean up the cows before collecting the pus, and when inoculating people with the pus, we're going to need injectio… I mean, needles. We'll need needles, clean cloth, and distilled liquor."

"In many ways, the matter of hygiene is incredibly important—that's what Rosé said. But then the book that was written about hygiene had been lost, so it's difficult to pinpoint how this should be practiced."

It was amazing. This woman had been chasing after him all this time to the point that he was starting to think she had a loose screw somewhere, but then she was capable of thinking of a method like this that was so far ahead of their time.

"Then first, I'll gather the villagers to see if your assumption about cowpox is correct, then I will report to His Majesty the Emperor and His Highness the Grand Duke."

If it was just as she said, that not a single person who had been afflicted by cowpox would be affected by humanpox, then perhaps the emperor and the grand duke themselves would accept her theory without any hesitation.

The problem was that ordinary citizens wouldn't even recognize such things as 'viruses' or 'pathogens'. For them, illnesses were just signs that they had been touched by the god of death.

Tapping on the table with his index finger, he soon rose to his feet. It was as if everything was clear to him now.

"If you're right, Miss Reina, we might need to tell a few white lies."