The Red Eye plague was back. Misha’s declaration that day sent tremors throughout the castle.
Despite the unrest, countermeasures already existed for emergency situations like these, and people everywhere snapped into action. Doctors and soldiers dispatched by the castle immediately closed off the section of the city that had reported the outbreak. Those who were clearly sick were immediately moved to a quarantine and treatment facility. Immediate family members of those who were sick were either given orders to stay isolated at home or moved into a separate ward of the treatment facility for observation.
At the same time, patrols began across the city searching for others who were already sick or starting to show relevant symptoms. Word spread throughout the city that anyone who was feeling unwell was to immediately report for treatment. Anyone who hid their sickness would only cause it to spread faster. People insisted that covering for one sick family member would spell death for the whole family, so many of the sick who were hidden by their families chose to report themselves.
Unfortunately, with so little knowledge of the plague, there was little that could be done for the sick even at the treatment facility. No one knew how the disease spread; there was no guarantee that the quarantine would have any effect. But when it came to diseases in humans, common sense and experience indicated it was best to isolate people, so that’s what happened.
With no signs of recovery in any of those who were sick, the number of victims only grew, and in due time, the first deaths were reported. Only a few days had passed, and the doctors and nurses were already run ragged.
Their fatigue was less physical and more emotional, as the burden of having to watch their patients suffer weighed on them, unable to do anything for the sick. Painkillers, fever medicine, and cough medicine helped alleviate symptoms temporarily, but the patients all eventually relapsed. It felt better than just watching the disease get worse, but the doctors and nurses still had to stand by and watch as each patient continued to deteriorate.
The fact that they had no way of treating the victims meant there was no end in sight. And with no knowledge of how the disease was transmitted, they had to live in perpetual fear that they would be in that situation themselves any day.
The days wore them down little by little, but their pride as professionals served as the final bastion of resolve to hold the line.
While the city became a whirlwind of activity, Misha wasn’t willing to stand by and watch as a spectator. She was constantly reading over old reports, combing through her own knowledge, and experimenting with any herb that looked like it might be useful. She was intent on making any bit of progress in treating the plague. In order to honor her promise to Yuu, she barely even slept, completely throwing herself into researching and developing new drugs.
Even so...
“The blood they spit up is too bright. The locus of the disease has to be in the lungs. We’ve even confirmed with a stethoscope that there are abnormalities in the lungs, but none of the medicines usually used to combat lung disease have worked. I don’t get it. What am I overlooking?”
Misha bit her lip in frustration as she hung her head, looking over a scattering of papers. When she had examined Yuu’s grandmother, the woman had still been barely alive, but those red lines had now extended to cover her entire body. Misha had suppressed the fever and the bleeding in the lungs to an extent, but the medicine was merely targeting the symptoms. The underlying cause of the disease had yet to be treated, so they weren’t doing much beyond buying time.
Yuu and his parents had been kept under observation in quarantine, but after three days, they’d shown no signs of any symptoms, so they were released. However, the same could not be said for Anna and her grandfather, who had to be kept separate from the rest of the family. Anna’s parents were permitted to visit her, but because Yuu was a child, it was deemed too dangerous to allow him to see her.
The whole situation had confused Misha even further.
“Even in the same house, some people catch it while some people don’t. Why? Yuu and Anna are basically inseparable. How did only one of them catch it?”
For ordinary diseases, the more time you spent together with someone carrying it, the higher your risk was of acquiring it yourself. The current situation was so different from what Misha had studied.
Normally, she would examine a patient, and her instincts would tell her exactly what they needed, but she had no idea this time. She didn’t even know where to start.
“Mom...” Her voice was all but a whimper. The one who had always scooped her up and hugged her when she was in a pit of despair wasn’t here anymore.
Biting her lip again, Misha shook her head violently before returning her attention to the notes in front of her. They were full of things that her mother had taught her. The real book she had used to keep notes from her mother’s lessons had been left behind at her house in the forest, so this was a new one she had filled out from memory as best she could. She had written it out as a way of reviewing her knowledge, but now it seemed like her only ally in picking apart this mystery, and so she was reading through the notes over and over.
But no matter how many times she reviewed the information, nothing new jumped out at her—which made sense, considering everything had been pulled from her own memory.
“Why...? What am I missing? Is it not a normal sickness? Where did it come from? I thought I remembered everything mom taught me. Am I forgetting something? Or is this some disease she hadn’t taught me about yet?”
Misha continued to repeat those questions to herself. There was no one to offer her any answers.
The days passed by, and the situation only worsened.
Lalaya had caught the Red Eye plague. She already suffered from a weak constitution. Even a light fever would have her bedridden. Seeing Lalaya, face red as she coughed violently and sank into her bedding, Misha was dumbfounded.
Because she was so vulnerable, Lalaya’s interactions with others were extremely limited. She stayed deep within the castle. Her susceptibility for sickness combined with her personality meant she rarely left, living there surrounded by her familiar maids. Because her condition had been improving recently, she had started going out more often, but after the discovery that the plague had returned, she had stayed inside, locked down even tighter than before. Everyone had assumed there was virtually no chance of her contracting the disease. And yet...
Many of the nobles in the castle blamed Misha for Lalaya’s condition, claiming it was her coming and going that had brought the plague into the castle. Many of them were jealous of Misha, a foreigner who’d developed a close relationship with the princess so soon after arriving. Although their discontent had once abated thanks to their interest in Misha’s heritage and their appreciation of Lalaya’s obvious improvement, it now exploded.
“You brought the plague back from the city, didn’t you?” one man said.
“Assuming you didn’t start the plague in the first place. The People of the Forest are famous for destroying nations with their strange diseases, aren’t they?” another added.
While moving about the palace, Misha had found herself suddenly cornered by a group of men. The maids with her did their best to shield her, but the impassioned assailants were not deterred.