Chapter 43

“Drop the sword.”  

The person who seemed to be the leader of the group surrounding the apothecary spoke. They all had their faces half-covered with cloth. The leader had windblown brown hair tied back in a single knot, and like the others, the lower half of his face was covered. The scar peeking through his bangs and the gleam in his eyes alone left a powerful impression.  

“You’re one to talk.”  

“I get that you want to act tough in front of the lady, but at least drop the sword if you want to get out of here safely.”  

Even Edelis could tell that facing a dozen armed people alone would be too much for Sir Ferrin, even if he was a royal guard.  

“Get behind me,” Ferrin said.  

Edelis slowly moved behind him as instructed.  

“I heard you people hurt one of ours. And you were carrying swords, too.”  

“We had no choice. We were stopped while passing by and would not let go.”  

“Even in the slums, as someone running a vigilante group, I can’t just overlook that.”  

“Well, I’m not carrying this sword for show.”  

Sir Ferrin drew his sword from its sheath. Some of the people, armed with daggers or chipped blades, seemed a little intimidated. Still, confident in their numbers, they gripped their weapons tighter.  

“Uaaaaah!”  

As the vigilantes charged in, two figures dropped down from the roof of the apothecary.  

“You’re late!”  

“I’d say we showed up just in time.”  

“Are you alright?”  

“Ah, yes. I’m fine.”  

With the sudden appearance of Sir Pasis and Sir Raiden, everyone except Sir Ferrin was visibly startled. But the surprise was short-lived. The slum vigilantes lunged at them. Sir Ferrin focused on protecting Edelis while the other two knights handled the vigilantes. Even though the knights only struck with the flat of their blades, due to the poor weapons and overwhelming skill gap, the vigilantes were knocked out without a chance to resist. The vigilante leader, the last to stand, finally gave in when Sir Pasis disarmed him.  

“Ugh, you damn outsiders!”  

Hearing the commotion, the apothecary owner rushed out and looked around in shock.  

“What on earth happened here?!”  

“Are you alright, old man?!”  

“What are you talking about?”  

The apothecary owner seemed perfectly fine. Running up to Edelis and Sir Ferrin, he looked over the fallen people.  

“I don’t even have enough herbs to treat all these injured people! What were you thinking, getting into this mess?!”  

“They came in with swords and started making a scene. We thought they barged into your shop, so we all rushed over.”  

“Oh, good grief.”  

The owner pressed his forehead and sighed heavily.  

“They came to open an apothecary here! They’re going to supply good herbs—why would you do this to them?!”  

“Huh? But Roy said he got cut by them…”  

Under everyone’s gaze, the one called Roy started mumbling.  

“Well, I mean, I did get hit, but it was the sheath, not the blade…”  

“We were just trying to talk to the apothecary, but he wouldn’t let go of my clothes, so I had no choice.”  

“She looked rich but didn’t give us a single coin, so…”  

“You called the vigilantes just because begging didn’t work?”  

The vigilante leader, enraged, punched Roy in the face. He flew back with a crash, and no one went to help him.  

“…Looks like there was a misunderstanding.”  

“Yeah, seems that way.”  

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have acted without checking the facts.”  

When the vigilante leader bowed his head, the knights signaled to Edelis. She gave a small nod.  

“It’s alright. No one was seriously hurt.”  

“If we all disappear, the slum will be worse off without the vigilantes. Can you let me be the only one to take responsibility with the city guards?”  

“Boss!”  

The vigilante members murmured in protest, blaming Roy. Some who were close to Roy kicked him.  

“It’s alright. We don’t need to hand anyone over.”  

“Really?”  

“But I have one condition.”  

“Name it.”  

“I want you to escort the medicine safely when it’s brought in.”  

“Of course!” the vigilante leader said confidently.  

“And if possible, help with building the apothecary.”  

“Sure. We’ll be the ones using it, after all.”  

“Thank you.”  

The vigilante leader’s face flushed slightly, and the knights frowned. The only female voices he’d heard in the slums were from dying women, those screaming as they were sold off, or from people who despised the slum. A gentle thank-you was a foreign sound to him, stirring something inside.  

“Then I’ll be counting on you.”  

As Edelis turned to leave with the knights, the vigilante leader instinctively reached out to stop her. Though he couldn’t see her face under the heavy robe, something compelled him to act.  

“Wait!”  

Edelis looked back.  

“Will you come again?”  

“I’ll be back once the apothecary is built.”  

“Okay!”  

With that, Edelis disappeared with the knights. The vigilante leader stared in their direction for a long time.  

***  

Back in the palace, Edelis confirmed the amount of her privy purse* through the head handmaid.  

[*T/N: This is the royals’ personal stash of money.]

‘With this much, I could probably establish an academy.’  

The amount given to the empress was immense. Since their marriage, she had hardly spent anything, believing she’d be leaving soon anyway, so the money had piled up. But even if she built an academy, nobles would be the ones teaching there. Without their consent, it wouldn’t work. So she first called the finance minister to discuss using a large amount of money for the first time in her life.  

“I’d like to build a clinic each in the slum and in the residential district.”  

At her proposal, the finance minister’s expression darkened.  

“If Her Majesty insists, it’s possible to build them, but finding staff to work there will be very difficult.”  

“Yes. That’s why I was thinking of starting with apothecaries instead of full clinics.”  

“…Apothecaries?”  

The minister looked confused. Nobles usually went straight to physicians and took their prepared medicine. In slums and common neighborhoods, people used herbalists who handed out herbs as best they could. So simply selling herbs through apothecaries wouldn’t be a legal issue.  

“Even the people in the slum know whether they have a cold or stomachache. They just can’t get medicine, even when they know.”  

“But an apothecary can only treat simple illnesses.”  

“In a place with no doctors, anything more serious would be untreatable anyway.”  

“…”  

“Trying to be perfect from the beginning will only stop us from starting. We have to treat what we can first.”  

Seeing him hesitate, Edelis pushed harder.  

“We’ll start small—with ointment for scrapes, cold remedies, and mild painkillers.”  

“That wouldn’t require too many herbs.”  

“Right. And we don’t need the finest noble-grade ones either. They just need basic access to basic medicine.”  

“But the slum dwellers likely can’t afford even low prices.”  

“I’ll make it cheap—maybe even free, if they keep a few promises.”  

“Are you planning to cover that cost…?”  

Edelis grinned, and the minister rubbed his forehead.  

“You’re planning to use the privy purse, aren’t you?”  

“If I skip just one dress, I could supply hundreds of people with medicine and food.”  

For months, not just one day. Even one of the jewels Lehan bought her could fund it all. And lately, she hadn’t even bought a single dress.  

“I didn’t know Her Majesty was such a person.”  

She understood why he said that. Her mother died young, so she hadn’t attended many social events. Later, she discovered the book and lived in hiding, afraid of being recognized. Then suddenly, she became empress. People probably just saw her as a lady who stayed quietly in her estate after her debut.  

“Well, it’s better than wasting it on luxury, right?”  

“…I suppose so.”  

She did feel a twinge of guilt, remembering the time she asked Lehan to buy her a necklace, hoping to look like a frivolous empress. But technically, he already had it—so she didn’t consider that real indulgence.  

“In conclusion, from a financial perspective, it’s feasible.”  

Edelis clenched her fist. One step closer to her goal.  

“But if someone steals the herbs or causes trouble at the apothecary, security costs could exceed the privy purse budget.”  

“That’s fine! The slum vigilantes agreed to help with that.”  

“Pardon? You didn’t go to the slums yourself, did you?”  

Edelis only smiled. They’d never come into the capital. She had to go out to meet them. But the empress going to the slums? Without a report of any guards moving?  

“If anything had happened to Your Majesty, the slums would no longer exist.”  

“Haha…”  

Edelis gave a sheepish laugh, but the minister was serious. If anything happened to her, Lehan would have razed the place.  

“In the end, things worked out, but please be careful.”  

“I will.”  

Later, Edelis spoke with Lehan. He’d already been briefed by the finance minister. While he hadn’t received the detailed reports yet, he was ready to support her no matter what.  

“So, Lehan, what do you think?”  

“If you want to do it, then do it all.”  

“That’s a bit too easygoing, don’t you think?”  

Edelis giggled. The finance minister had been so worried, but Lehan just said go ahead.  

“My wife wants to do it.”  

“What if I wanted something unreasonable?”  

“Even if everyone else strongly opposed it, I’d still support you.”  

Edelis remembered him saying he’d be “the emperor who ruins the country.”  

‘Then I guess I have to be careful not to ruin it myself.’  

***  

Edelis’s initiative was framed as “relief for the poor,” so the nobles didn’t oppose it outright. Helping the suffering was a noble’s duty, after all. But they strongly objected to giving herbs to the poor for free. So Edelis decided to go around that.  

‘I’ll host a tea party and collect donations. They won’t oppose it if it’s funded that way.’  

It was a donation, after all. Using charity funds to sell herbs for profit would be worse. She planned to add a huge portion of her own privy purse to those donations under the same charitable label. Many opposed the idea of building apothecaries at first.  

“Why build them in the slums, of all places?”  

“People there treat themselves with things that hardly qualify as herbs. I just want to offer them basic care.”  

“Wouldn’t it be more reasonable to build them in the residential areas for commoners?”  

“That’ll come next.”  

“Then why start with the slums?”  

“They can’t become self-sufficient if they’re not healthy. And even a small illness hits them hard. If an epidemic breaks out, it’ll spread from them.”  

Even after that explanation, most nobles remained doubtful. But many noblewomen attended her first tea party to make an appearance—and donated generously. Even the wives of opposing ministers gave money, making it awkward for their husbands to continue resisting.  

In the end, they agreed to build the apothecary with donations, and Edelis would cover the herbs with her own funds. The apothecary was built quickly, and the herbs delivered safely with help from the vigilantes.  

On the day of the grand opening, Edelis returned to the slums.  

“You can’t sell the herbs? Why not?!”