Lucia Chapter 54 [part 2]


< — The Taran Duke’s Family Doctor — > (4)


“Anna, your employment contract has been terminated. You will be given a temporary employment contract for the time being.”

Jerome’s tone had a certain edge to it. Anna replied weakly and looked through the document on the table one by one. She then signed a lifelong confidentiality agreement to keep the events from her time as doctor, secret.

“You have broken our trust. You will not be allowed to go out until your temporary employment is over and your contact will be limited to a minimal amount of people. You are forbidden from meeting the doctor.”


“Even after your employment is over, you will be watched to see whom you meet with. This will continue until we are sure that you will adhere strictly to the contract of confidentiality you have signed. I suggest you do not act in any manner that would create doubts.”

Living under surveillance with no known end. Anna realized how much of a mistake she’d made. Until she came to the Ducal House, she had little to no experience with treating nobles. She had no idea of the rules of the noble world and the habits of those living in it.

When she lived under the Duke, no one dared to treat her carelessly. They were all amicable and a few of her superiors treated her with respect. But she didn’t conduct herself cautiously as a noble’s doctor and was complacent. She would probably find out later, just how much she had been treated with generosity and humanely.

“If possible, can I meet Sir Philip one last time? He has taught me a lot. I would like to give him my last greetings.”

“I will ask Master.”

 * * *

Philip knew something had gone wrong when Anna didn’t contact him for a day, and when she didn’t find him till the Duke returned, he knew it had completely gone astray.

When one looked at the Duchess’ current situation, one could assume that the Duchess would be desperate for a child. Hence, Philip thought that if the Duchess knew there was a cure, she would jump at the opportunity.

He couldn’t tell where things started to go wrong. Anna came to see him about ten days after the Duke returned, looking rather crest fallen.

“Milady refuses to meet you, Philip. By now, his Grace the Duke has probably heard of the situation and knows everything. Do not worry. I explained it well.” (Anna)

A failure. Philip had already guessed so but when it was confirmed, he became frustrated. How come? How could he stop here when his goal was right in front of him?However his face did not reveal any of his internal anxiety.

“Anna, you are going through such a hard time because of me.” (Philip)

“No. I was the one who was thoughtless. Sir Philip and I cannot meet anymore. I will also be quitting my post very soon.” (Anna)

“Oh? Then Anna is receiving all the punishment from this. I feel bad, this happened because of me.”

‘This is the worst.’

To think Anna would be resigning as from her post as doctor. This meant his access to the Duke would be completely gone.

“It is a position more than I deserved. Everything is going back to its place.” (Anna)

“When you talked to the Madam, you should not have said that I was the Duke’s doctor. If his Grace the Duke says not to meet, the Duchess cannot readily agree to do so.” (Philip)

“In any case, one cannot meet you and avoid the eyes watching you.”

“Well, that is true.”

Philip appeared outwardly convinced but inwardly he clicked his tongue. What an inflexible woman. Because there were eyes on him, the best chance was when the Duke of Taran was absent. If the Duchess was firmly decided on seeing Philip, no one other than the Duke of Taran had the authority to stop it.

Of course, the Duke would hear of it later but if it means that he could talk to the Duchess, Philip would do whatever he could.

“So, what do plan to do after quitting? If you quit, it’s a great loss of talent, even for the Ducal House.” (Philip)

“Talent you say. I couldn’t find a cure for Milady and did nothing but prescribe headache medicine once or twice a month. On the contrary, I was over compensated.” (Anna)


Philip’s eyes lit up momentarily.

“Migraines, it’s a common symptom among women.”

“Ah yes. It is a common symptom among women indeed.”

A touch of madness appeared in Philip’s eyes but disappeared as fast as it came. Anna didn’t discover anything.

“I know a very good prescription for headache. Perhaps you can call it compensation but I give it as a gift. The effect is really good.” (Philip)

“Isn’t that also part of your family’s vison? Such a precious thing…”

“I have no intention of making a living through medicine but Anna cannot live like me. If a good medicine can be of use to many people then it’s a good thing.”

“Ah. Philip. Thank you so much. Even till the end, you take care of me.”

“The prescription will be sent down in a few days. This time, the prescription will have all the herbs listed so you don’t have to worry about that part.”

After Anna left, a small smile spread across Philip’s lips as he mumbled to himself.

“Well then, shall I make a headache medicine?”

Never losing sight of even the smallest chance. This was Philip’s way of life.

Philip never did anything that would cause people to be suspicious of him. If he seemed even the slightest bit dangerous, the Duke of Taran would not have spared his life. The Philip that the Taran Duke knew was merely a stubborn and foolish old doctor.

The allied relationship between the Taran family and Philip’s family was a relationship at knife’s-edge. So the method of survival Philip chose was to lower himself.

Without Philip’s family, the Taran bloodline could not continue but Philip never tried to use that fact. The alliance between the two families could only last in the past because their interests aligned.

For generations, many lunatics headed the Taran family. Most seemed fine on the outside but inwardly they had a few screws lose. The late Duke was also something else. The only way Philip survived was by humoring the late Duke’s feelings. Compared to the late Duke, the current Taran Duke’s nature was rather clean.

The medicine to neutralize the mugwort’s efficacy was a final product made through repeated experiments filled with trial and error. The small treatments used before the final result were all written down in the notebook passed down from generation to generation.

‘Since the Duchess knows the vanilla scent…it has to be removed.’

Of course, the efficacy would fall. It would also take twice as much to neutralize the mugwort’s efficacy in one to three years and the possibility of pregnancy would also fall significantly. The rest was up to the heavens.

However, the heavens had never betrayed Philip before. It wasn’t a lie to say he knew a very effective medicine for headache. There was certainly such a medicine in his family’s vision.

All he had to do was make a new drug by mixing the prescription of the headache medicine and that of the neutralizing medicine. It may take some time but his talent in medicine was acknowledged by even his late father who was stingy with praise.

 * * *

Sometime later, Anna got her hands on the prescription for the headache medicine. Philip left Roam not long after she received it. As always, the eyes watching Philip followed him till he had left the city of Roam completely, then they withdrew their surveillance.

Anna looked at the prescription in wonder.

“So one could combine herbs this way. How revolutionary.”

She tested it on herself when she got a headache and the effect went beyond expectations.

Usually when one took medicine for headache, the heavy feeling in one’s head would continue for a short while but when she took this medicine, her head felt light and clear, like waking up in the morning after a refreshing sleep.

Anna began prescribing this medicine to the women of the castle that complained of headaches and their reactions were no different from Anna’s. Sometimes the women that suffered from frequent migraines would flock to Anna to ask for a month’s worth of medicine.

When Lucia called Anna in for a headache, Anna brought in the new drug.

“Anna, the medicine this time works really well.”

As Lucia’s periodic migraines tended to increase her irritability, Lucia truly admired the quick calming effect of the medicine.

“If you like it, I can make a sufficient amount before I leave.”

“I’d appreciate that.”



Translator’s Corner:

🎵 …Deception(An outrage!)
Disgrace (For shame!)
He was the trouble the moment he came…

Support on Patreon for advance chapters. 


38 thoughts on “Lucia Chapter 54 [part 2]

  1. Grrr…. Anna.

    “Leave now & never comeback!”

    (Imagine it the exact same way Gollum from The Lord of the Rings said it to his alter-ego)

    Anna seems too gullible & naive for a doctor, IMO. Phillip would have no trouble exploiting her. Sigh.

    Thanx for the update!

    Liked by 24 people

    • Honestly, i always respect doctors, because whatever they do it’s for the good of their patients. However, this is the first time i’ve been so disgusted with one. I mean you already know there is something bad that happened with that crazy doctor and the duke family, heck you even got fired for listnening to him. And when he was all “i’ve got another medicine for you”, you just thought ” oh, you’re really great, let’s give it to everyone”.
      At the same time that’s what will make our Lucia have a baby daughter, but it’s hella annoying nevertheless!!!!!

      Liked by 14 people

    • I think shes just a very dedicated doctor. Its like doctors that insist on vaccination or blood transfusion for the 7 day adventist. Just because your heart is in the right place doesn’t mean people actually want the cure…


      • You realize that medicine could kill Lucia in the long term, right? Philip doesn’t care about her well being, he cares only about his obsession. Anna’s attitude is completely dumb and not cohesive with her profession.

        Liked by 1 person

  2. so 3 years till lucia gets pregnant..Hopefully that will be enough time for everything to be resolved..perhaps the ideal time period would be 10 years though. That is when the estate will be taken over by damien..The other issue is with Hugo so convinced he can’t get anyone pregnant, if lucia gets pregnant suddenly he might accuse her of cheating..

    Liked by 9 people

  3. Annaaaa…. Annaaaa…. Just because a drug works for the particular symptoms does not mean that there are no side effects. Especially when you are not the one who developed the formula/mixture. You don’t start prescribing medicine just because it works on you….you need multiple of trials at different concentrations and see if it effects different parts of the human body or cells and on case of different individuals similar to your patients T__T
    Putting that aside, this time she knew every ingredient! Rather than outright think the formula is revolutionary. If you analyze the effect of the herb individually then progressively analyze the effects in combination, you would find extra side effects or added ingredients which may not contribute to the effectiveness of the cure, you can refine it don’t keep the original formula.
    For heavens sake, you would think that she would learn her lesson last time taking any drugs from Philip.

    Liked by 10 people

  4. ah they almost avoided the trope…almost being the keyword here

    alas, the odds are again in favour of misunderstandings sprouting from this and dividing the couple once again

    thanks for the chapter

    Liked by 2 people

  5. Whelp… A child is coming, but we already knew that. All they have to do now is prevent Damian from.. ya know… with the daughter and all would be fine… right??
    Many thanks

    Liked by 2 people

    • What to do? At the time, there is no psychotic clown or drug user that ring the bell at 12am-4am. Not to mention there are no tv to educate Anna on screws looses psychotic manipulator.


  6. Ya know, even though I’m not fond of Anna’s actions, at least I can respect her intentions. SHe just wants to heal people. She is willing to take the fall for her own choices as well. She does act rather foolishly at times, especially in regards to Phillip, but unlike him, she would never throw someone under the bus just to see her own desires come to fruition. I’m not terribly fond of Anna and her actions, but I absolutely loathe Phillip now.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I question that no one is asking where she found this “AWESOME” remedy for migraines that she had not been able to treat before. Aren’t Hugo’s spies watching her?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Well, she is still technically a doctor…. So maybe the suspicion got less from there..but yeah, they should at least supposedly question about that.. Hoping lucia catches something fishy bout it

      Liked by 1 person

        • To me , i think hugh already wants one with lucia, just reading about the line where hugo thinks about a child like lucia wo black hair and red eyes…clenches my heart so baaadd…but well, he doesnt want the taran blood to continue.. Even if he does want some babies…
          But even if they do get babies,, dont you think it’d quite awkward to explain to the kids about their ‘reproductive’ issues….idk, theres gotta be a surprise from the author somewhere…


        • I hope so. If there is , after the children/child are born, Damien’s could use hisTaran brain and not the Taran physical strength to rule over Roam as skillfully as his uncle/father.


  8. I hate it. How underhanded and stupid of Anna. I would not be surprised if she loses her head. She brings shame to the good female doctors of those days for acting’s with such incompetence.


  9. Anna’s not learning from her mistakes.
    Let me repeat:
    Thanks, I hate it. I have absolutely nothing against the child(ren) if there is ever any, and I know Lucia won’t either (Hugo’s iffy only because he’s got some serious trauma/heavy opinions about this), but I absolutely am not okay with anybody having kids without their own consent. In this regard, Anna’s not at fault, it’s completely all Philip, because she doesn’t know that Lucia completely does not mind her not finding a cure.
    But everything else? Yeah, no. There’s numeral missteps she’s already taken by ignoring her past mistakes, but, at the very least, you should remember the the extreme caution the ducal couple have towards the doctor and TELL Lucia where this medicine is from!
    Thank you, Author-daren… Thank you, Ruby-sama… _(´ཀ`」 ∠)_


  10. Anna is already in her menopause and can’t frigging tell she’s ought to maybe doubt that talented people are not always kind hearted ones. Also, has she never met a two faced person? Like, hello? Free things are never free. Just a couple very basic life lessons, Anna please. Phillip’s act stinks and his wording seem so passive aggressive. Compensation my arse, he got her fired in the first place


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