The Dying King Asked for a Woman Physician novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Sickroom
On a bright still morning in the second month of winter, Yeon-suk walked the whole path around the pond.
She did it in her quilted pink jacket with a stick in one hand.
Seo-wan walked beside her with two fingers resting lightly on the girl's wrist.
Ko Dal-su came behind carrying a blanket, a flask of barley tea, and an expression of deep, private suffering.
"It's a hundred and twenty steps," said Yeon-suk. "I counted."
"You did a hundred and thirty yesterday."
"I was showing off yesterday. Today I'm pacing myself."
"Your pulse says the same."
The girl's cheeks were pink from the sun and not from fever.
She had gained weight.
She had not coughed a drop of blood in forty days.
When she breathed, the right side of her chest sounded to Seo-wan's ear like the left.
The sore place at the top of the lung had closed.
It would not stay closed unless she kept up the windows and the eggs, and Seo-wan meant to see to that for years.
They came to the gate of the old Queen's wing, where the mud wall had been whitewashed.
Over the gate hung a new board with five characters in a clean square hand.
The Women's Infirmary, First Ward.
Behind it, in the yard, the dead plum tree stood in a patch of sun.
"Doctor," said Yeon-suk. "Look."
On the tip of the lowest branch, small and hard and bright green, was a bud.
Seo-wan had been sure the tree was dead.
"I told Brother it wasn't," said the Princess. "He said I couldn't know."
"You couldn't."
"I'm a patient. We know things."
Seo-wan laughed.
On the pavilion across the water a tall man in a plain blue robe stood watching them.
He had no guards and no hat, and the morning wind moved in his hair.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of The Dying King Asked for a Woman Physician are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend