Chapter 296: A Peaceful Illusion
“You mean the ‘Red Crow’? Haha, it’s so funny how your head is always filled with that guy.”
The man chuckled, and his laughter made the table shake, causing the coffee in his cup to ripple nonstop. He pushed up his glasses that had nearly slipped off from laughing too hard, then took a sip of his black coffee, no sugar, no milk. Judging by his face, the bitterness didn’t bother him at all; he was clearly enjoying the fun of the moment.
“And your mind is either on ‘life’ or ‘death’ all day. Boring guy. You’ve got no right to talk about me.”
The girl leaned against the wall, frowning at the man sitting there, clearly annoyed by him.
“Haha.”
“Ugh, you’re still laughing? Disgusting. Cyan Hawk, look at the kind of lunatics you’re bringing in.”
“......”
The man with short gray-blue hair, the one called Cyan Hawk, suddenly looked up when he heard his name mentioned. After watching the two bicker for a moment, he stayed silent, rustled the newspaper in his hand, then flipped to the next page.
“Pot calling the kettle black.”
That was all he said, in a tone that didn’t care about anyone’s feelings.
“Huh?! Cyan Hawk! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
The girl, Grey Dove, exploded like a volcano at his words. She glared at Cyan Hawk, who had returned to his usual silence. His indifferent expression annoyed her to no end. If they weren’t allies, she might’ve already drawn her longbow and shot him, though she wasn’t even sure her arrow could break through his shield.
“Pfft…”
“And you’re laughing now, Blue Sparrow?!”
Grey Dove snapped again when the woman with long rose-gold hair burst into a chuckle over the scene. Grey Dove glared at everyone like she was the only clown in this circus, here for others’ amusement.
“It’s nothing, Grey Dove. You know how I am. I just like this kind of lively mood. When everyone’s talking and laughing together, it feels like family, doesn’t it?”
Blue Sparrow took off her gloves after baking and set a freshly made cake on the wooden table. The warm, sweet smell seemed to lift Grey Dove’s mood right away. Her dark expression softened a lot, and her attention shifted to the steaming bread on the table.
“Phew… Fine, I’ll let what just happened slide.”
Grey Dove walked over to Blue Sparrow and started eating the fluffy, just-baked bread. For her, food always came first. After all, she had barely ever eaten a full meal growing up.
“Kids will be kids.”
Like he was tasting fine wine, White Dove swirled his coffee cup and watched Grey Dove, who had already forgotten her earlier anger just from the smell of cake. His words were teasing, calling her “dumb” in a roundabout way. But deep down, maybe the adults around her were just a bit envious of her simplicity.
But sadly, Grey Dove was “Grey Dove.”
If she were just an ordinary girl, it would be one thing. But the way things were now, she was just another piece on the board for the House of Nightingales. Every person in that room was the same. Even though Grey Dove looked and acted like a child, they all knew the truth, she was completely insane.
This little one who constantly talked about the “Red Crow” was like most people in the House of Nightingales, filling the emptiness in her heart with something extreme.
And in the end, just like she had said earlier, the difference between any of them was simply “life” or “death.”
After all, they were just subordinates of the Second Prince. People who didn’t really matter.
Even if they were given special titles, there would still come a day when they’d be used up and thrown away.
White Dove was originally just a doctor, but the way he treated people was completely different from Rachel.
Rachel specialized in alchemy. Her focus was more on "changing things." For example, instead of curing her illness directly, she chose to remake her entire body. Now, Rachel could no longer be considered human. She had become an “alchemical creation.” She even gave up her original appearance for the sake of studying alchemy.
But White Dove was truly just a pharmacist. He only wanted to save people.
Pulling a seriously ill patient back from the edge of death should be something worth celebrating. But sometimes, because they were still human, those patients couldn’t bear or understand the pain that came with it.
Changing a body part or organ is different. When you replace something, you throw out the broken part and put in a new one. But what White Dove did was try to fix the damaged part instead.
One method says, “Throw it away and get a new one,” while the other says, “Do everything you can to fix the original.”
White Dove always believed that alchemical life forms were just artificial products, not the original person anymore.
Rather than believing in vague ideas like souls or consciousness, White Dove chose to believe in what he could see. The living bodies of real people right in front of him.
Both he and Rachel wanted to save lives. But the more their paths diverged, the further apart their goals became.
White Dove accepted alchemy, or rather he acknowledged the power and usefulness of alchemy. After all, some alchemy materials are necessary in medicine. But he stubbornly refused to view alchemical creations as real “people.”
And the “life and death” he always talked about? That was simply about respecting other people’s wishes.
He had seen far too many patients who were trapped, wanting to live but unable to, and wanting to die but not allowed to.
So he broke the unspoken rules of the medical world and developed a special drug. An assisted dying medicine that contained hallucinogens.
‘Doesn’t it sound gentle, just by the name?’
—That’s how White Dove once described it.
It was a deadly poison, but it carried a name that sounded kind and peaceful.
He knew how to make the ingredients for euthanasia. He also knew how to create hallucinogens. All he did was mix the two together.
He would do his best to treat anyone who wanted to survive. But when he met someone in pain, someone who couldn’t be saved, he would give them this special medicine.
The drug’s effects were different for everyone. Some people might feel it in a few seconds, others in a few minutes. For those with special body conditions, it might take longer. Every case needed careful observation. But at the very least, as they walked toward death, their pain would be replaced by a beautiful illusion, something they truly wanted to see. They could die in peace.
They wouldn’t die alone. In their dreams, everyone they loved would be there waiting for them.
That was White Dove’s obsession. His personal sense of “justice.” A twisted belief that had taken root in his heart.
He just wanted to save more people, because at his core, he was a doctor. And a doctor’s job is to save lives.
Of course, letting someone die without pain is also a way of saving them. A way to free them forever.
At least he respected his patients’ wishes. Just like he always said,
“Let those who want to live, live. Let those who want to die, die.”
He really was that simple of a man, with that simple of a wish.
White Dove took a gulp of his bitter black coffee, quietly looking around at everyone in the room. He didn’t say another word. He just leaned back in his chair, letting the bitter taste linger on his tongue.
Hoo...
How far had things progressed now?