I became acquaintance with Rosanne Dragonroot almost a year ago, after she realized she had become pregnant. She was apparently looking for the best doctor of the nation, and she called for me specifically. Despite the pride I have on my skills and knowledge, I’ll have to admit there are better doctors than myself. Only two or three though, but they still count.

I have heard the rumors, about her clan and about herself, but I still decided to accept the job. In my experience, rumors tended to be either completely false, or greatly exaggerated. People who would actually do bad things would usually be discrete enough about them, so she couldn’t be as bad as the gossipers described her, I thought. I had worked with other nobles before, some who were terrible to work with and won’t even thank someone who saved their lives. One in specific had refused to pay me for several years, despite curing him after years of being horribly sick. As long as she was within that range, I could deal with her.

My expectations were completely thrown away when I stood in front of her.

—Hmm, so you are the so called Dr. Maxwell Conrad? I was expecting a bit more...

The woman was standing on the top of a staircase, looking down at me with her bright red eyes. Her arms were crossed, and everything about her posture indicated “disapproval”. No, it was more like her whole self was screaming “disdain” towards me.

I couldn’t believe her, even those who turned out to be obnoxious to deal at least tried to act polite when we met. If this was her trying to give a “good impression”, I didn’t want to stay and see how she acted normally. And, well, since her life wasn’t in any risk, I decided I wouldn’t take her as a patient. I would rather lose reputation and prestige than to deal with her. But I couldn’t leave. I couldn’t move. Her glare alone had me frozen in place. Then she smiled, still with her eyebrows furrowed.

—You haven’t run away, good —she said, in a slightly amused tone—, then I suppose I’ll have to leave my life in your barely capable hands.

She finally stepped down of the stairs, but that didn’t make too much difference. Her height was more or less the same as mine, yet she continued to look down on me by raising her forehead.

—Or perhaps, are you not up to the task?

Her words managed to hurt my ego, as much as I hate to admit it.

—Leave it to me! —I impulsively said—. I’ll make sure you and the baby are healthy at the end of your pregnancy, even if I have to battle against Ereshkigal for your soul!

She conceitedly smiled once more, and told me to follow her to her room. I gave her a check up, and aside from her whining about Sylphie, everything about her health seemed fine. I continued to visit her on the upcoming months and monitored the baby’s development. She continued to be annoying and arrogant as ever, but I started to see a different aspect of her personality.

—You have done a pretty good job, Doctor —she said one rainy day after her check up—, in spite of your lack of bedside manners.

It didn’t answer to her provocations, despite how much I wanted to call on her hypocrisy. I couldn’t deny entirely her accusation either, other people, even well intentioned, have pointed to me that I could be a bit… discourteous, when dealing with patients.

—Ah, I just remembered, a friend got pregnant too; I’ll send her a recommendation for you. Take care of her —she added while I was leaving the room.

I didn’t thought too much of that, but a couple of days later, I received a letter from the Queen Erzebeth herself, asking me to watch over her pregnancy. I couldn’t believe the Queen could be the friend Rosanne had spoken about, but it was too much of a coincidence if that wasn’t the case. Besides, I didn’t receive any other letter at that time. I tried to ask her on our next meeting, but well…

—Madame, the friend you mentioned before, could it have been —I was saying, but she interrupted me.

—Why does her identity matter? If she has the money to pay for your services, that should be enough. It is up to you if you take her as your patient —she said, throwing me a glare.

I really couldn’t understand her. I didn’t ask further, and after our regular schedule I left the room. Just after the attendant had guided me to the door, I noticed I had left something back at Rosanne’s room. I tried calling back to the maid, but she was already gone. Having visited that mansion for almost five months at that point, I didn’t thought too much and went inside on my own, trying to look up for an attendant in my way to her room. I didn’t find even one, but just as I was about to knock on her door, I heard someone singing. It was a simple lullaby, but it was sung with so much love that I stood there and just listened to it.

—Doctor Conrad? —One of Rosanne’s attendants, Iridia, called for me, taking me by surprise —is something wrong?

—No, no, I just forgot something in the room —I whispered—, but I didn’t wanted to interrupt.

The maid got closer to the door, closing her eyes and smiling for a moment, until the song was finished. Then she knocked on the door.

—Madame, the Doctor came to retrieve something that he left behind. Could he come in?

—W-wait a moment! —I heard, but for a moment I didn’t recognized who had spoken.

A couple of seconds after, the same voice spoke, in a completely different tone—¸ come in.

I went inside, and to my surprise, there was no one inside except for Rosanne herself, who was wearing her usual scowl. There was nowhere on her room for someone to hide, and any record player that could play with that quality would be harder to hide than a person. The one that had been singing had to be the Madame, but it just seemed to be so out of character for her to do so.

I picked up the thing I had left behind, and left the room after giving a slight bow towards Rosanne. As I was walking away, I heard the attendant speak.

—Madame, that was a beautiful song you were singing.

—I-I don’t know what you are talking about. Escort the Doctor and make sure he isn’t forgetting anything else!

Next time I paid her a visit, she refused to talk to me, looking away with her eyebrows furrowed at all times. She still followed my indications, and by the end of it, even made an annoyed “hmmp!” sound to my recommendations.

The head maid, Carmila, apparently noticed this and chastised her, as she not-so-sincerely apologized on our next appointment. Things went back to normal, more or less, until the last months of her pregnancy. She was physically healthy, but her flow of mana started to become erratic. This was not entirely unusual during pregnancy, and since she had so little mana to begin with, it shouldn’t have been a problem. But for some reason, her mana spiked to levels higher than she should have had. It was a mystery that had me stumped, until I remembered who I was dealing with.

—This is just a hypothesis, but it could be that your actual state is caused due to your lineage. You might not have inherited any power from the blood of the dragons, but your child might —I told Rosanne.

By that point, there were only a few weeks until the expected date, and her condition had deteriorated quickly. She was unable to get up from her bed, and hadn’t consumed anything more than liquids. When she heard me, she gathered all her strength left and drew a smug smile on her face.

—That’s my daughter for you —she said. She turned to the window, trying to hide her expression from me, and stood in silence for a few moments—. I-if something happens… at least the child…

For some reason, those words infuriated me more than anything she had said before. I slammed my hand on the desk.

—I gave you my word before, Madame! I will make sure you and your child are alive and healthy at the end!

She looked at me in shook, and after a few seconds, she smiled warmly.

—Thank you. I’ll be on your care.

To fulfill my promise, I kept going to her residence every day, spending most of my time there. And by the last week, I stayed there all day and night. The maids gave me a room, but I barely visited. Her condition did get worse, so much that I don’t think I would have been able to treat her on my own. Fortunately, she had made arrangements to get many nurses and even some priest to assist me, though she forgot to even mention it.

Violett was born completely healthy, if a bit underweight. It was a bit weird that she didn’t cried out like many other babies I had helped deliver, but at that moment I didn’t noticed it fully. I was entirely focused on reviving her mother. Her heart and his flow of mana had just stopped. The priest kept healing her, while I sent surges of my own mana into her body to reactive both her heart and her flow. And it suddenly did, with enough strength to push me away from her for a moment. She was clinically dead for two minutes and fifty two seconds.

And just after a few minutes, she was already awake and talking. She was a bit disoriented, but that was nothing for someone that had been cut from Enki’s blessing for almost three minutes. Of course, I was the only one who knew about this, everyone else though her heart stopping was the only problem.

—That’s not normal… Just what kind of monster is she? —I remember thinking.

But when I went to see her, she was showering her daughter with affection, too focused on her to even notice me.

—Well… it doesn’t matter.