Ah, What Should I Do?! (4)

The princess’s condition did not resolve easily.

The first medicine used was topical, but because the initial response wasn’t fast enough, the poison had already spread through her body. It wasn’t the sort that attacked the heart, so it spread in a way that made her die slowly.

So the next medicine chosen was oral.

That one seemed to take effect for a while and stabilize her, but in the end she vomited it up, which only made her suffer more.

“It’s… all my fault…”

Blaming the heat on her drunkenness, Princess Riana had ignored the warning not to open the window—and opened it anyway, which caused all this trouble.

Ingrad was a place known as the Demonic Frontier. She had felt so at ease here that she had relaxed her guard, and this was the result.

‘I’m so sorry… what do I do?’

Princess Riana pictured the man who must be making medicine for her now. She had thought she felt nothing in particular, but as time passed her gratitude grew, and by now she felt deep affection.

Moreover, his competence—and the way he was extraordinarily kind, unlike most nobles—kept tugging at her heart.

Even more, the way he faced her appearance head-on without letting any base desire show—his unshakable composure—struck her as strange and unexpected, and it made her curious.

Yet she had come to a place she didn’t need to, and through a mistake had become a burden; that frustrated and upset her.

More than the thought that she might die, the guilt hurt her more. Just then, the door opened and the man whose face she wanted to see walked in.

“How are you feeling?”

His curt tone, his even gaze—when he dealt with her, that cool look toyed with her heart, Princess Riana thought. Then Viscount Ingrad suddenly came closer and spoke.

“Are you feeling any better?”

“…If I say yes… it would be a lie. I made a mistake.”

“It’s all right. Everyone makes mistakes. We still have medicine, so you’ll be fine soon.”

“There’s… another medicine? I should take it, right…?”

“Yes, it’s taken—though where you ‘take’ it is a bit unusual.”

‘Where you take it? Is there anywhere other than the mouth?’

She tried to think fast but nothing came to mind. She thought she must have misunderstood him—but then a thunderbolt came out of his mouth.

“The place to administer it is the anus. The poison acts on the colon, so it must be delivered directly to the colon. The process will be unfamiliar, even painful… but if you want to live, it must be done.”

She wanted to say she absolutely couldn’t do such a thing. How could she… into her anus?

Just imagining inserting medicine there made her feel she would die of embarrassment. Even though dying now wouldn’t be strange, this—this would make her die of shame, she thought. But Viscount Ingrad, unaware of her turmoil, kept speaking mercilessly.

“Life comes first. Shame is meaningless before life. Your Highness’s life is not yours alone. Look around you. Please steel yourself and accept the medicine.”

She wanted to ask how such a shameful thing could be done, but the real problem was who would administer it.

Should she order the knights?

Or the maids?

Even if they were women, who among them would have the nerve to administer medicine to the princess’s anus?

‘Will I… end up dying because I can’t accept the medicine…?’

Thinking she might go down in history as the first princess to die of shame, she felt all her efforts would be wasted—and her eyes turned to the man before her.

‘Yes… if it’s Viscount Ingrad… he might save me… and not make it shameful.’

He had seen her flaws and let them pass, and had made it possible for the woman called Riana to exist as she was now. She decided to trust him.

“What… should I do?”

“It isn’t complicated, but you’ll need to endure considerable embarrassment. And if possible, a woman should do it…”

He looked around, but no one would meet his gaze. Of course it was burdensome; so the princess gathered her courage and asked:

“Could you, Viscount Ingrad, administer… the medicine?”

Everyone stared at her in shock as she looked around and continued:

“Even if we ask a maid or a knight, without expertise they won’t do it properly. And you are a ‘state-run pharmacist’ recognized by the empire. Leaving my status aside, I’m a patient; I judge that appropriate treatment by you, a pharmacist, is necessary.”

Princess Riana’s breathing turned rough. The long speech played a part, but so did her shame.

But the most important issue was that the poison had spread quite far; her body was being eaten away.

She felt herself dying. There was no room for hesitation. So she asked Viscount Ingrad once more:

“You will… save me again, won’t you…?”

His face looked complicated, as though he had much to say, but he said he understood. He left one maid in the room and asked the rest to step out. Hearing that, Princess Riana’s eyelids slowly closed, and she lost consciousness.

‘What are you thinking… woman…’

She must have known it was an unreasonable request. The justification sounded nice: state-run pharmacist. But I was closer to a quack.

All I did was follow the recipes that surfaced in my mind. I was merely playing the role of a pharmacist by relying on my Aptitude in Pharmacy.

Still, even as she slipped into unconsciousness, the princess believed in me and leaned on me.

I could feel that—but the problem was that the suppository was a potion type. It couldn’t be ‘fed’ by mouth. It had to be delivered via the anus. I turned to the remaining maid, Seria.

“Please go to the lab and bring me some droppers.”

“Droppers…?”

“Given where this has to go… there’s no other way.”

Blushing, glancing between me and the princess, Seria ran out. Soon she returned with several droppers and handed them to me.

Her hands trembled with nerves.

Administration was already quite delayed; honestly, I doubted she could survive, but it was time to try regardless. Then, unable to stop her trembling, Seria dropped a dropper and shattered it. I said to her:

“Please wait outside, and no matter what you hear, don’t let anyone in.”

Even this was an extreme measure. The guards—or anyone—would want to watch over her, but I wanted no one to see what passed between the princess and me.

It was merely… the process of administering medicine, I told myself. After confirming Seria had left, I turned the princess onto her side as if preparing for a colonoscopy and lifted her skirt.

Even just seeing her like this, it was undeniable she was beautiful enough to set one’s heart racing—but now was no time to make a mistake from stray emotions.

I carefully tugged down her undergarments to expose the anus, then filled a dropper with the potion.

I briefly regretted not making a solid suppository, but this world had no IVs, and likely no syringes either. There was no choice. I brought the filled dropper to Princess Riana’s anus.

As I slowly slid the tip into that tightly puckered spot—

“Ah…”

With a single word, the princess’s consciousness flickered back. She stiffened and trembled.

“I… I’m sorry.”

“N-no… p-please continue.”

She knew it couldn’t be helped, and I couldn’t stop mid-course. From time to time, glimpses of her private parts drew my eye, but I couldn’t allow myself to err. Steadying my breath, I emptied the dropper, then, withdrawing it, pressed a wad of cloth to prevent leakage, and took up a fresh dropper to draw more medicine.

“How much… do you need to put in?”

To her cautious question, I considered the dose and answered:

“Twice more.”

“Twice… more… sob…”

I understood her sorrow, but hoped she wouldn’t cry. Each time she sobbed, the barely puckered anus tensed and relaxed, letting a little medicine seep out.

I couldn’t say that out loud; I simply used the cloth to catch it. Realizing her situation, Princess Riana forced herself to hold back her tears.

After administering two more doses, I asked:

“It will take some time for the medicine to absorb… shall I stay with you?”

At that, she lowered her skirt slightly to cover her backside and said:

“Yes… please. It might be my last, and I want to be with the person I wish to be with.”

In any other situation, it would have been a lovely line.

A faint stink rose from the medicine that had leaked out when she cried, but I got used to it quickly. For now, only our breathing filled the room as I kept my eyes fixed on her anus in silence.

Then, breaking the silence, she asked:

“I ended up showing you… like this…”

“You’re a suffering patient. There’s no need for shame.”

“Many nobles would laugh, wouldn’t they…?”

“They won’t. This secret will not leave this room.”

“Will it… really? I trust you, my lord, but…”

She seemed wary of Viscount Muriel. That was understandable. Even if it was due to poison, she had exposed her anus to an unrelated man. And if, under the pretext of treatment, she had been toyed with, scandal would not be surprising. But I doubted the Empress would allow that.

If we kept silent, the palace would likely keep quiet as well. And if Viscount Muriel had any sense, he would hold his tongue.

It would be an internal matter of discipline—but to keep this secret, we might have to stake our lives.

“I’m not leaving this domain, and the knights are loyal. The maids might gossip, but I assure you, my maids are discreet.”

“I’ll trust you…”

Princess Riana said no more. After roughly the time my Pharmacy Aptitude indicated, she began to show signs of recovery. Confirming her improving condition, I quietly gathered a few potentially unpleasant implements and slipped away. Thus, the venomous spider incident seemed to come to a close for the day.