I jumped out of my bed and suddenly shouted.
In hopes nobody heard me, I covered my mouth immediately afterward... Wait, rooms in our house have built-in sound barriers, why am I concerned?
Holy crap! How could I forget that?!
I sat back down on my bed and calmed myself down.
Think...
The Duke is well and alive right now since Jasmine is only 17 years old but...
He would soon die because of a pandemic that they called the "Dark Plague" which spread in the whole Empire when she was around 20. Now that I'm forcing myself to recall it, the current Emperor also dies alongside him since they went together to investigate the disease. This prompted His Highness, Marin to take the crown, which inevitably made him busier, thus starting the serious part of the novel.
I forgot what the specifics of the disease was but I remember it being similar to a fever! It's similar but I think it's deadlier since magic couldn't even stop it.
I remember its similarity to fever because I kept joking to my screen to just buy medicine pills in the pharmacy. Of course, my shitty brain would remember my shitty jokes.
At least now, I remember. But how could I forget about that? I said I remember the major events but those major events are probably only romance events. So pointless!
Was I too occupied with how my life was as Jessica and how I would continue to act as Nera here? That I forgot the story of the very world I'm in!
But... how do I tell this to Jasmine?
If I tell this to her now, she and her brother would make the antidote much earlier but without the specifics of the sickness itself, it would be hard, even for them as genuises in the Empire. But my words would give them a head start.
If I don't, she would get her character development and the story would progress how it did in the novel.
Jasmine in the novel was greatly close to her adoptive father that it broke her when he died. She became colder to everyone and the Crown Prince tried to help her as much as he could to regain the sweet Jasmine that he loved. Marin made time for Jasmine despite his position, as well as the death of his beloved father.
This in return, made Jasmine fall in love with him even more, without her noticing.
Ah, how I remember the sweet moments so easily but not the major events!
...
I'm sorry Crown Prince Marin, you won't be able to do this because...
That doesn't matter now! They're living in the same world as me as breathing humans! I'll feel guilty for the rest of my life if I don't do anything about it.
And now that I'm thinking about it, it's a pandemic that will be affect the whole Empire, so my family might get it too.
No! I will not watch my family get hurt.
Jasmine is now my friend too, not just a character that I admire from a screen. I should help her as much as I can.
Now the question is, how?
I can't just straight out tell her that her adoptive father will die soon if she doesn't do anything about it. That's so stupid, even for me.
I racked my brain for a bit longer but gave up and immediately fell asleep due to mental exhaustion.
The tea party and the newly recalled plot from the novel are just too much for me to handle.
***
The next day, I woke up and did my morning jog then went to my mother's study. I found Felya with my mother inside the room. They both taught me etiquette which exhausted me even further, mentally.
Finally, after long hours of draining lessons, I finally got time for myself.
"So, are you going to continue practicing with your sword now?" Felya asked after we had lunch.
"I'm gonna go to the library for now."
I need to read up on previous epidemics or illnesses. I hate this. I keep coming to the library but I still haven't read a single romance book in this world! I'm so tired...
Felya leisurely nodded her head, slowly getting used to this side of me. She still continued to follow me on my way to the said room.
Usually, I would've said, 'Yeah, what else am I going to do?'
Me too, me too. I nodded my head with her. I am surprised at my actions as well, but this is for the sake of our lives, this isn't something I can ignore.
I stopped on my tracks on the way to the library and looked at Felya.
Wait, isn't Felya smart? Wouldn't she know about this?
But wouldn't it be suspicious if I suddenly told her about it?
'I'm just curious.'
Bullshit! She wouldn't believe a word if I said I was curious about something that isn't related to being a knight.
Related to being a knight...
Ah!
"Hey, Felya. I'm gonna go and read about illnesses."
"Huh, why would you read about that?"
I clicked my tongue. I knew she wouldn't buy it if I said that excuse. She knows me too well.
"I feel like I need to as a knight. You know, I need to prevent health issues within my body." My voice shook as well as my hands but I think I hid them properly.
Felya blinked a few times.
"Oh, how intuitive of you."
She bought it! I sighed out of relief in my head.
"Let me help you then! I know a lot about health."
Yes! This will lessen my reading time on these stupid books.
"Thanks. That would really help."
"I bet you don't even want to read these."
"I really don't."
"Then, I'll summarize them for you the best I can." She chuckled.
Goddess bless for my cousin.
I smiled at her and we went ahead to the library.
Reading through a few books about diseases and with the help of Felya, she listed down the major ones with their most common symptoms, causes, and their 'antidotes'. She wrote them in the easiest way possible so that I can understand.
Felya was explaining out loud so I heard most of the specifics of each sickness, and as expected, this upcoming pandemic is not the same.
Most of their causes were about mana deficiency. The diseases here don't even come close to what Jessica's world had. They're worse.
Mana naturally makes the body stronger so if a person has a lack of mana, they're immediately called weak, it's also a disability to have an extremely small mana storage.
In this world, healers are the ones who have the most mana out of every other type. Healers are considered as specialists, they don't have an affinity to any natural element but they can control the mana in the air and feel mana in any living organism. Basically, their mana storage is the mana outside their body.
So most of the 'antidotes' here are healers adding more mana to the specific part of the body in order for it to be 'healed'.
At least, that's what Felya explained. Even I didn't know that magic healing worked that way.
As far as I can remember, fever is caused by a virus in the world I lived in. All diseases were caused by a virus or a lack of something in the body. Maybe that's why people here have yet to discover the power of the physical body since mana can solve anything.
I think mana deficiency and mana exhaustion is the closest to a fever in Jessica's world so maybe that could be a clue as to what the Dark Plague is...
I don't think the antidote that Jasmine made was ever specified in the story and even if it was, I wouldn't have remembered any of it.
But I do recall that she physically made an antidote. It was with various herbs that Jasmine and her brother discovered that were good for the body.
It takes two geniuses driven in a corner to discover that there are other ways to heal the body, rather than with magic.
But now, I'm here to help them. It won't be as urgent as they did it and they won't have the specific illness to study, but I would be able to guide them early on.
I guess? I don't even know much about fevers. The body heats up and then... it hurts? Ugh...
I crash my head on the table which made Felya flinch.
"I think we're already done here. I've already listed the common ones so I think you'll be alright."
"Thanks," I mumbled and stood up, lazily.
She patted my head and told me, "You survived one hour here, I'm surprised."
I slowly chuckled and nodded, "I'll sleep for now," I told Felya and we parted ways.
Now, I have to go back to my room and think about how I tell this to Jasmine.