The Strongest Man’s Fake Wife Wants to Live Chapter 14

“What is this?”

“It’s water infused with Iceberg.”

“Ice…… what?”

The doctor asked again, frowning.

“Iceberg. It’s a precious medicinal herb brought from the north. So hurry up and get rid of that cigarette and give this to the patients.”

Calling it a precious medicinal herb was a bit of a stretch, since in the north it was a wildflower growing everywhere, but Pesha thought it would sound more trustworthy that way.

And just as she had expected, the doctor still looked doubtful even after hearing that it was a precious medicinal herb.

“As a doctor, I’m a little reluctant to give something whose identity I don’t even know to my patients…….”

“Then why don’t you drink it yourself?”

“M-Me?”

Pesha opened the lid of the oak barrel and ladled out some lukewarm flower tea for him.

When the doctor accepted the ladle Pesha held out to him, he looked anxious and continued to hesitate.

“Cough, cough, cough. Are you really sure this will make me better?”

“It won’t make you better. It’s a painkiller.”

“A painkiller? This?”

“Even if it’s completely ineffective, it’ll still be better than those strong hoban cigarettes. If you keep smoking like a madman like this, you’ll end up with holes in your lungs.”

“Cough, cough-cough. Ah, I’m sorry. I think I’ve developed a tolerance lately, so the painkilling effect hasn’t been working very well, and I’ve been smoking more…….”

As he said that, the doctor kept furtively watching Pesha’s reaction before taking a small sip of the tea from the ladle.

“Smack. Why does this taste so strange?”

“Things that are good for your body are always bitter.”

Pesha answered casually, then frowned at the cigarette smoke filling the air and waved her hand to disperse it, even though she had not gone inside the tent.

“Is this entire oak barrel filled with that Iceberg stuff?”

“Yes.”

“I gave it a try because you told me to drink it, but I’m afraid it would be difficult to give something unverified to the patients. Above all, we need to get approval from the count’s castle first…….”

Pesha quietly listened to the doctor stubbornly listing all the proper procedures before asking,

“Can only the count give that approval?”

“Hmm…… I don’t know about that either. We’d have to go to the count’s castle and ask for the details. But, um…… who exactly is this lady?”

The doctor politely asked Minnie, who was standing nearby while indicating Pesha with both hands.

Minnie’s brow crumpled sharply as she answered.

“Do you really think a noblewoman would be freely wandering around a territory this dangerous? She’s obviously the Countess of Namoi!”

“Who?”

The ones who reacted before the doctor were the nurse and patients who had been secretly listening to their conversation from inside the tent.

“What? The lord’s wife?”

“Is that really true? Is this the wife he just married?”

As the patients began whispering among themselves, Pesha felt awkward simply standing there.

While she stood there fidgeting, one of the patients spoke with a deeply moved expression.

“My goodness, she’s so lovely. I knew that one day a pretty young lady would marry our lord.”

Then the others chimed in.

“That’s right. A great man like our lord must have had suitors lined up for him!”

“My lady! Don’t just stand there. There’s a chair here, so please sit down and rest!”

Simply because she was the lord’s wife, the patients showed their fondness toward Pesha.

From their perspective, they could not help but be grateful to Owen for protecting their polluted land.

‘The people of the territory don’t know the details, so they’re simply projecting their fondness for Owen onto me.’

She felt a little guilty about it, but she did not bother correcting them.

Just then, one of the nurses standing beside the patients pointed at the freight wagon and asked,

“But what’s in that freight wagon? Is it new tobacco leaves?”

“Ah, this is…….”

Pesha was just about to explain what it was for.

The doctor suddenly exclaimed in amazement in a loud voice.

“Huh? It doesn’t hurt at all!”

Pesha turned her head and saw that the doctor, whose complexion had been pale just moments ago, looked much better and was even deliberately swinging his injured leg around.

“Even after smoking three cigarettes one after another, the throbbing wouldn’t go away, but now it doesn’t hurt at all!”

At those words, the patients began murmuring again.

“Is it more effective than tobacco leaves?”

“Isn’t it incredibly expensive?”

Pesha spoke to the doctor, who was stamping his foot against the ground in amazement.

“Like I said, it’s just a painkiller. It doesn’t heal injuries or illnesses, so you mustn’t use it as a substitute for actual treatment.”

“Yes. I’ll keep that in mind. But if this water is medicine prepared by my lady, does that mean we don’t need to report it separately to the count’s castle?”

At those words, Pesha paused.

Iceberg was a flower resembling a white rose that mainly bloomed in the north.

At a glance, it could easily be mistaken for a rose and was sometimes even classified as a type of rose, but it was undeniably classified as a medicinal herb, and one thing was certain: it had no harmful side effects.

Pesha herself had endured the pain of a broken leg by drinking Iceberg tea made for her by a gardener from the north.

However, because the flower was not well known, it was difficult to make ordinary people, including doctors, understand its effects and uses.

Moreover, the method of making Iceberg painkillers was a folk remedy used in the north and was not widely known, so while many people knew of the flower itself, there were also many who did not know it could be used as medicine.

‘Even if the doctor reports it to the count’s castle, they won’t readily approve medicine made from some unfamiliar flower as an official medicinal product. Before that happens, I need to explain it to Owen myself.’

Pesha thought for a moment before opening her mouth.

“I’ll tell the lord myself.”

“Oh, thank you!”

The doctor’s face immediately brightened.

It seemed he had been at a loss over how to report a medicine that even he himself knew little about to the castle.

Pesha gave the doctor and patients a bright smile, trying to look as trustworthy as possible.

‘Now the problem is how to persuade Owen Namoi…….’

Trying to persuade a man who already seemed to think poorly of her to distribute an unfamiliar medicine throughout his territory was leaving Pesha just as at a loss as the doctor.

But still, if she had not known about this raccoon’s den, that would have been one thing. Now that she knew, she could not simply overlook it.

She had to at least try.

 

***

 

It had already been half a year since the territorial war with the Clapton Kingdom, which had plagued the Empire for so long, finally came to an end.

The balance of power, which had been unfavorable, had been overturned by the appearance of Owen Namoi, who was now spoken of as a hero who would remain in history forever.

But only those who had experienced it firsthand could know just how fierce the front lines had been.

Jane Penrose, a knight belonging to House Namoi, was also a living witness who had seen that battlefield with his own eyes.

Watching Owen Namoi lead one difficult battle after another to victory through overwhelming martial prowess and brilliant strategy, he had resolved to serve that man until the day he died.

That resolve had not changed in the slightest, and after his lord had been manipulated by the political games of those capital bastards into an unwanted marriage, it had only become firmer.

‘What kind of man is our lord!’

If, as the people wished and everyone had expected, his lord had safely received the title of duke, they could have wiped the smug smiles off the faces of those capital bastards who looked down on their lord and strutted around.

But everything had been ruined.

All because of that woman.

Because of Pesha Rydell!

Quite some time had passed since his lord’s wedding, but even now, just thinking about that woman made Jane grind his teeth.

Whenever the maids gathered and chattered about how their lady had driven out that corrupt butler, Jane’s insides only boiled with anger.

‘Does she have purification power like Lady Clark? No. Does she even deeply love our lord? No. I heard she even humiliated our lord in front of the Emperor! I will never acknowledge that woman.’

After morning training, Jane had badmouthed Pesha Rydell to his fellow knight, Rebecca, only for her to laugh heartily and tease him, saying, “You were grinding your teeth even in your sleep, and now you’re doing it in broad daylight too?” and “Mind your own life first.”

That only made him even more furious.

Still grinding his teeth, Jane turned a corner and was about to pass through the inner courtyard when he spotted two women getting into a carriage.

He flinched, quickly hid himself, and watched them from a distance.

“That’s…….”

That silver back of her head, a figure that seemed smaller than average, and even the expensive dress she was wearing.

There was no mistaking it.

It was Pesha Rydell.