Set Sail [Part 3]
She opened a treatment center for sailors who fell ill and were in despair. Moreover, it was on the premise of her family mansion. Even though there were many elitist nobles out there who even disliked having commoners walk through the Nobles District.
Not to mention the medical fees, they didn’t even have to pay for the food made of luxurious ingredients and the several sets of pajamas prepared for each person to keep hygienic.
And Emma herself took the lead in nursing the patients. She washed, applied medicine to, and bandaged the opened old wounds.
When they felt restless in their sleep from the sickness, they woke up to find her nestling close to their side and holding their hands gently. She brought them meals and patiently hand-fed the soup to those who couldn’t get up.
When the sailors had only received disgusted looks from nobles, as if they were looking at bugs, she had nursed them with a gentle and kind smile without looking displeased the whole time.
She was nothing less than a Holy Maiden.
The sailors’ wives, who had waited so long to be reunited with their husbands, found that their other halves had almost been paralyzed by a disease upon their return from the sea. And when their husbands were taken away, they were already prepared to be separated for life.
Back then, a beautiful girl who was taken by a noble never came back.
Back then, a vigorous young man who was taken by a noble came back with noticeable miserable wounds.
But then, these wives’ imaginations were proved wrong.
Their husbands, who had been taken to House Stuart, returned on their own two feet while dressed in top-quality clothes and, above all, were completely cured of the disease.
The disease, with its sky-high medical fees that even nobles couldn’t afford if they ever got infected, had gone away completely.
She was nothing less than a Holy Maiden.
“U-Um, please stop calling me ‘horny maiden’ already.”
‘Furthermore, she is so humble. She is even denying it with teary eyes,‘ thought the believers as they continued their praises.
“Uuuuhh, please, I beg of you…”
Even though it was the consequence of her own actions, Emma still couldn’t stop trembling every time she heard the rumors that kept spreading to the ends of the world.
‘Even though it was my bad for looking at the cool old men with a broad grin, observing their sleeping faces and taking that chance to hold their hands, asking them to say ahh, and hand feeding them food while fully knowing that they were enduring pain at that time… but still!’
Everyone doesn’t have to call me a horny girl every single time, do they?!
You can call me that without a care, but I’m the one who will get scolded by Mother in the end, okay?!’ Emma wanted to cry, but no tears would come out.
♠♠♠
“…Lady Emma… is so amazing…” muttered Imperial Prince Tasuku, who had just arrived at Simmons territory’s port.
Imperial Prince Tasuku’s POV
Lady Emma’s reputation that I heard about in the royal palace, her reputation in the academy and the slums that I heard from Prince Edward and the ninjas, and the appearance of the sturdy sailors and fishermen and their wives before me.
No one had ever spoken ill of her.
I was once half-convinced about how it was possible for one person to receive so much goodwill from other people, but Hatori Hanzou, Itou, Hara, Chijiwa, and Nakaura all spoke in one voice that she was indeed working that hard.
When the average young lady at her age would be absorbed in fashion and love talk, she was busy every day with sericulture and needlework in her family business, slum maintenance, education and job arrangement for the slum children, and aid for people suffering from illness.
She was always working for someone’s sake.
She had even extended a helping hand to my country, Imperial Japan.
Over would already have grown to the final stage by now, wouldn’t it?
I know that Imperial Japan was already hopeless.
I should have turned down the Stuart family’s request to go to Imperial Japan for Emma’s own good. There would also be danger.
However, I wanted to give my people, who had accepted the destruction of Imperial Japan quietly, some of the Holy Maiden’s blessings through Emma.
I knew that I was taking advantage of a girl’s kind heart and putting such heavy responsibilities on her shoulders. I knew that well, but it was the only thing I could do left for the people as the Imperial Prince of Imperial Japan. I had dragged a young girl into this matter because of my selfishness. I didn’t think I would be able to go to heaven after this.
End of Imperial Prince Tasuku’s POV
“Lady Emma, I also think you are the Holy Maiden, you know?”
“Eep! I-Imperial Prince Tasuku too, what are you saying?!”
‘The only thing I can swear right now is that I will definitely send this brave little girl back to the Kingdom safely.
Even if Imperial Japan and everything in it perishes, only the Holy Maiden alone must not be lost from this world,’ thought the Imperial Prince as he gave Emma a kind smile.
♠♠♠
Author’s words: They have finally departed for Imperial Japan.
