BXBX NOVEL Chapter 151 151. Preparation Is Completed, Part X
Editor: Aelryinth
"Yes, then I’ll go and clean first. When the doctor comes, let’s have him treat her and then move in. I’ll go to the dining room and get some food." Sophie went out to get something to eat from the dining room in the main house.
A few minutes later Gibson returned with the doctor. The middle-aged doctor didn’t express much after seeing the severe wound. Thanks to him, Phoebe’s face visibly relaxed. The doctor gave her an ointment to treat her back injury, and began to pack his medical bag to go back.
Julietta waited for Phoebe to speak first, but when she was quiet and he packed up all his luggage, she spoke carefully to the doctor who was getting up, "Doctor, please take care of that patient’s leg."
When the doctor looked at her without realizing the reason, Julietta hesitated for a moment before lifting a sheet on the side where Phoebe had lost her leg.
"Well, I think you used a prosthetic leg. Where is it?"
"... I lost it."
As if he guessed before Phoebe’s answer by her bruised face and bloodstained back, the doctor asked a different question. "What kind of prosthetic leg did you use?"
"It was a wooden prosthetic leg."
The doctor rose with a nod. "It’ll take about four days. I’ll send it here as soon as it’s complete."
When the doctor went outside after saying goodbye, Julietta followed him out and said to Amelie, "I’ll check to see if the bed is ready. Gibson, I’m sorry, but you need to go to the Ducal Mansion."
Gibson was waiting by the door, and nodded quickly as Julietta touched his clothes softly. She asked Gibson to bring a maid’s uniform from the Ducal Mansion, and then hurried after the doctor who was heading toward the wagon storage.
"Doctor, wait a minute." Doctor Paulo turned back at the voice calling him.
" I have something to tell you about her prosthetic leg."
"Yes, please speak. Is the wooden prosthetic leg okay for use?"
"It’s a very expensive thing in itself. A wooden prosthetic leg is used most by ordinary people." He said it was the worst type of prosthetic leg.
"Well, I don’t care about the cost, so I’d like to have a prosthetic leg that’s easy to use, please. I don’t know, but is it impossible to make a leg so that she can wear a pair of shoes?"
"No, it’s possible. The metal and leather prosthetic leg can even form toe joints. As long as it’s made exactly the same length as the other leg, and if she is used to it, it looks like she is not wearing a prosthetic leg."
"Oh, I’d like that, then. Will it take a long time?"
"One week is enough. But can I ask you a question?"
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"Not that... was the patient’s hair originally white?"
Julietta only had her eyes bleary and asked him again, not knowing what he was talking about. "Wouldn’t that be the case? Actually, I don’t know the details because I met her for the first time."
"It’s very rare to have white hair from birth."
"Then are you saying that something caused it?" asked Julietta, recalling the story of Marie Antoinette whose hair was white with intense fear.
"I don’t know that either. I was just wondering if it was the same symptom that someone I knew went through."
"Was it bad?"
When asked by Julietta, Paulo answered after a short pause. "Yes. Suddenly her hair became white and she died in less than a week."
Surprised, Julietta pressed the doctor without realizing it. "So are you saying that the person in there is going to die in a week?"
"Oh, no. Other than having white hair, there are no symptoms like that. Just in case, I looked at the color of the tongue and the ends of her fingernails, and fortunately, I found no abnormalities other than trauma."
"Then why didn’t you ask the patient about the color of her hair? I’ll go ask her right now. What if there’s something wrong?"
Dr. Paulo stopped her when Julietta turned around and tried to run into the house. "No. Let her rest for now. She looks fine on the outside, but she is very unstable. If it’s true that the color of her hair has changed suddenly, the impact will be very severe, so you’d better not irritate her."
Dr. Paulo added a moment of hesitation, "I don’t have to keep coming to examine, her back wounds and bruises will actually heal with only medication. But if you don’t mind, I’d like to visit tomorrow. Of course, I will charge the cost of treatment only for today’s examination and a prosthetic leg. If the color of her hair suddenly changed, this time I want to find out!"
"It must have been someone close to you. I’ll be relieved if you visit often." At the pained eyes of the doctor, Julietta agreed.
"Thank you. I’ll be back by this time tomorrow."
------
Julieta saw off the doctor and then moved to the main house to help Sophie.
Of the rooms on the left side of the second floor, the three bedrooms facing the street were used as a doll room, a sewing room, and a tailor’s room, while the right-side bedrooms on the other side were all locked. Sophie looked at Julietta as she tried to clean up one of the innermost bedrooms on the right. "I’m afraid she can see people coming and going in and out of the annex, but I can give her this bedroom."
"Yes, we can’t give the patient a noisy bedroom on the street. Besides, if she looks out the window... I’m worried if she can show up. I’m sure she’s had a bad thing happen to her, so I think it’s better to stay out of sight of other people. Well, the people who come and go should be careful. It’s better if he doesn’t come here this time. I’ll tell the Prince to refrain from going in and out of the annex.
"In fact, it doesn’t matter now that it’s less than two weeks to the end of the social season."
Amelie and Sophie had been told by Maribel about the future of Julietta and the Prince. They didn’t hear the details, but just by looking at the frequent visits of the Prince to the small annex, they could infer the situation. Sophie was just hoping things would go smoothly.
"What do you mean it doesn’t matter?"
Julietta didn’t understand what she was saying, but Sophie was busy changing the new bed sheets. The two began to skim and clean the clothes covering the furniture in the bedroom, which had been empty for a long time.
------------------
Phoebe was not able to move to the second-floor bedroom of the main house until evening, when the cleaning was finished. Julietta came downstairs after watching Phoebe lay in bed and fall asleep with a strange yet happy face.
After changing into the maid’s suit Gibson brought from the mansion of the Duke, she asked Amelie and Sophie about Phoebe.
"Taking care of her is not difficult, but I can’t help but wonder what she went through and what caused her to be abandoned."
Julietta murmured sadly at Amelie’s concern. "I don’t think it’s anyone’s business if I think that what happened to Phoebe might have been me. I’ll be back in a couple of weeks as a normal Julietta without a guardian. Because of this dressing shop, I’m not as grim as I used to be, but it’s still disturbing. I could have been in a bad situation... take good care of Phoebe."
Sophie was stunned at Julietta’s words. "Why are you saying such an unlucky thing? Your future must be solid. We won’t talk nonsense, so don’t even mention such ominous things. Do you understand?"
Julietta smiled at Sophie, who was anxious about her unnecessary words. "I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. See you tomorrow, then. I think Vera’s worried because Gibson brought me the maid’s suit, so I’ve got to get back to the mansion."
----
The next day, Julietta went to the dressing shop and checked on the clothes for the fashion show. When Dr. Paulo visited, she took him to Phoebe’s bedroom. Phoebe was lying in bed, and greeted the two with a much better face than yesterday.
After simply treating her back and checking her tongue and fingernail ends again, Paulo asked a serious question a moment later. "Miss Phoebe, this is a doctor’s question, so I hope you won’t feel bad."
When he carefully asked for her understanding, Phoebe nodded with anxious eyes.