Not responding to the enthusiastic words of the doctor before her, Mitsuba only remained silent, extending her wrist toward her.
"Mhm, seems to be a rather shy young lady..."
And this doctor who called herself Butterfly also didn't mind Mitsuba's cold attitude in the slightest. She only smiled and teased one sentence, then began skillfully taking Mitsuba's pulse.
"Mhm... from the pulse, there's no problem, just some weakness in the spleen and stomach.
Little sister, you should pay attention to worrying less, relax your mood, do more happy things, and take good care of yourself."
Quickly determining Mitsuba's physical condition, Butterfly still looked at her with that smile-filled expression, asking:
"Besides this, do you feel any other discomfort in your body?"
"To be honest with you, doctor, our young lady occasionally feels some numbness in her fingers, and also feels dizzy..."
Before Mitsuba could speak, the guard behind her actively explained for her.
"Finger numbness, dizziness and blurred vision..."
Upon hearing this, Butterfly immediately furrowed her brow. Although the smile on her face didn't change, the fingers pressing on Mitsuba's pulse subconsciously pressed harder.
"Frequency? How often do these symptoms occur?"
"Sometimes once every few days, sometimes several times in one day, not fixed."
Mitsuba answered truthfully.
"Besides this? Any other symptoms?"
Her tone suddenly became quite serious, no longer as gentle and cheerful as before.
"No."
Mitsuba shook her head slightly. She looked down at her wrist where Butterfly had already pressed out two red marks, and actively asked:
"You know what illness I have?"
"This..."
Finally releasing Mitsuba's pulse, the smile on Butterfly's face gradually faded. She looked at the puzzled Mitsuba before her, her expression hesitant.
"Doctor Butterfly."
At this moment, the guard behind Mitsuba stepped forward again, actively speaking for her:
"Our young lady has been suffering from this strange illness for quite some time. Previously, we also invited physicians from the city to examine our young lady, but in the end none of them found any results...
If the doctor can cure our young lady, the Tsugikuni family will certainly reward you heavily."
"Waaah~ that's not really a matter of heavy or light rewards..."
Butterfly's expression was quite troubled. Under the puzzled gazes of the people before her, she suddenly raised her hand to hug her own head, fingers subconsciously scratching her hair, her face full of the word "conflicted."
"Ah! Fine!"
But after only being conflicted for a short while, Butterfly immediately adjusted herself.
She quickly tidied up her hair that had been scratched into disarray, then looked at Mitsuba before her again, once more revealing that reassuring smile.
"Don't worry, little sister! I already have some guesses about the strange illness on your body. As the most famous doctor in Shikoku, I definitely have a way to cure you!
It just so happens that I also plan to stay in this city for a while longer recently. If you don't mind, you can come to this temporary medical hall I rented anytime... Ah, of course! If it's inconvenient for you, I can also go to your residence to examine you and deliver medicine..."
"There's no need. I'll come find you."
Mitsuba interrupted Butterfly's words, immediately agreeing.
Out of a sharp intuition, she faintly realized that this woman called Butterfly before her seemed to be hiding something about her condition.
But Mitsuba didn't mind.
For her, it didn't matter if Butterfly couldn't cure her anyway. As long as she could use this as an excuse to occasionally leave that cold and oppressive Tsugikuni family place and come out to breathe fresh air, that was enough.
As for the strange illness on her body...
At worst it was just occasional finger numbness and occasional dizziness—this wasn't any major problem to begin with. Even if it could never be cured, it was no big deal...
"Walk slowly~ Remember to come for treatment on time~"
Smiling as she watched Mitsuba and several guards leave, Butterfly sitting before her stall immediately dropped her smile, raised her hand to grab her head, her face full of frustration.
"I'm done for, I'm done for! Finger numbness, occasional feeling of heavy head and light feet—aren't these the early signs of a stroke?
This illness is hard to treat to begin with, and looking at that young lady's condition, it has most likely already passed the early stage. This is basically a death sentence!
Butterfly, you idiot! What were you showing off for? That young lady's identity clearly wasn't simple at first glance. Why did you have to impulsively take this on?!
If you accidentally treat her to death, what if those sword-bearing guards drag you out and chop off your head?!"
Desperately scratching her hair, Butterfly finally collapsed headfirst onto the table before her, arms hanging down, looking exactly like a dying salted fish.
"Sigh, fine, if they want to chop off my head, let them. I'll try my best anyway. After all, dying so young is quite pitiful..."
"..."
Thus, from this day on, a doctor who called herself Butterfly was added to Mitsuba's life.
Although young, her medical skills were indeed superb.
Since she temporarily settled in the city, the number of patients coming to this temporary medical hall for treatment every day was not small, causing the city's original physicians to lose "business."
If not for Mitsuba secretly sending people to warn and pacify these physicians, they would have probably already started causing trouble for Butterfly behind the scenes.
This was normal—after all, taking someone's livelihood was like killing their parents.
In this world, physicians who truly studied medicine to treat illness and save people were ultimately in the minority. Most physicians merely regarded the medical skills they learned as a convenient means to accumulate wealth.
Pure idealists were often only a very small minority; the rest were mostly filled with interests and calculations.
Regarding this point, Mitsuba, who had sat in the position of Tsugikuni family head for over a year, was especially clear.
"Speaking of which, the doctors in this city all have quite good personalities..."
In a separate small room inside the temporary medical hall, Butterfly who was currently performing acupuncture on Mitsuba's left arm suddenly spoke these words.
Originally resting with her eyes closed, Mitsuba came back to her senses upon hearing this and asked curiously:
"Why do you say that?"
"Because after all this time, they still haven't come to cause trouble for me!"
Inserting a silver needle under the skin of Mitsuba's left arm, Butterfly counted on her fingers as she said:
"Mitsuba, you don't know~ when I conducted free medical consultations in other towns before, as long as I stayed slightly longer, those local physicians would start thinking of all~ kinds of ways to find fault with me!
Like finding people to pretend to be sick to scam me, secretly pouring the medicinal materials in my medical hall into water to soak and rot in the middle of the night, and finding hooligans and ruffians to cause trouble...
At the worst times, they would even deliberately splash filthy water at my medical hall entrance!
Absolutely unbearable! Those quack doctors! They don't study their medical skills properly, can't treat many illnesses, but their methods of harming people are one set after another!"