Crown Prince Sells Medicine

Oriental Medicine Clinic.

In every neighborhood, there lies a traditional medicine clinic. However, it is a medical facility sought out only by those in need. Such was the state of Korean Oriental Medicine Clinics. But Raciel, formerly known as Lee Han-eeun, aimed to change that.

‘Of course. That’s how we avoid bankruptcy!’

His motivations were not driven by lofty ideals of advancing traditional medicine or altering people’s perceptions of these clinics. It was simply a matter of survival, preserving the clinic’s income. He needed to cover the daunting monthly rent and loan interest payments, which were as terrifying as being conscripted twice.

Raciel always made an effort.

Patient care was paramount. He strived to be as kind as possible, patiently lending an ear to the elderly with slow speech and movement. He never grew impatient and always listened attentively to his patients. When children visited the clinic, he paid even closer attention.

Traditional herbal medicine was bitter and tasteless. Acupuncture could be painful and intimidating. Consequently, the Oriental medicine clinic was often seen as an unfamiliar and frightening place, particularly by young patients.

Raciel approached the children kindly, making sure not to be overbearing. He met them at eye level, sharing interesting stories to capture their curiosity. Naturally, the tension in the children would dissipate.

He had become skilled in this technique.

He employed it once again.

“The kids always tease me. They mimic my actions.”

“They even mimicked you? That’s too much.”

“They did. So, I ended up having a fight yesterday.”

“Oh dear. You must have been upset.”

Raciel sympathized with him. George, the anxious little boy, pouted his lower lip.

“But… I lost. Suddenly, I felt strange, and everything went dark.”

“Went dark? Felt strange?”

“Yes.”

“Did it hurt?”

“Not really…”

The child shrugged. Raciel took his hand, offering warmth and support, encouraging the child to open up.

“Sometimes, I feel strange all of a sudden. My body feels eerie, and then I feel like I’m floating in the sky… and then I fall to the ground. After that, I can’t move.”

“You can’t move?”

“No, I can’t. Just like that. My body trembles, goes numb, the sky feels far away, and I hear strange sounds. I scream, laugh, cry, and then I come back to my senses. But I feel weak all over.”

“That must have been frightening.”

“Yeah, it was.”

“But you managed to endure it each time? You’re brave, George.”

“What’s the point of being brave? They tease and hit me, saying I was possessed by a devil, foaming at the mouth, and doing strange things.”

“It’s not a devil, George.”

“….What?”

“Really. Trust me.”

Raciel comforted George by patting his back. His words were not mere consolation. They held truth and fact. While listening to the story, he discreetly assessed the child’s pulse by subtly touching his wrist. Through the natural and covert application of pulse diagnosis, he gained a clear understanding.

The findings were as follows.

[Comprehensive analysis: The subject is generally healthy. However, signs of epilepsy caused by irregular brain waves have been detected. This may lead to a serious tonic-clonic seizure.]

‘…Epilepsy.’

A condition commonly known as seizures.

It was a condition where individuals led normal lives most of the time but experienced convulsions throughout their body and lost consciousness due to sudden and inexplicable surges in brain waves.

The symptoms were much more distressing than one might imagine. Although it stemmed from abnormal brain waves, the pain was often misunderstood by those unfamiliar with the condition. Moreover, it turned out to be a more prevalent illness than most people realized.

Raciel recalled a statistic he had come across before. It indicated that nearly one in every 100 individuals suffered from epilepsy.

“Even among celebrities, there were many who suffered from epilepsy. It is said that Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union, the artist Vincent Van Gogh, and the famous author Dostoevsky also experienced epilepsy.”

And now, this child was also facing the same condition.

‘I can only imagine how much pain he has been through.’

As Raciel looked at the child, he couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of sympathy. Even in modern South Korea, individuals with epilepsy often encounter prejudice and biased views from those around them. Despite being a serious medical condition that requires care and support, there were instances where people treated them as if they were strange. Sadly, such instances were not uncommon.

In a modern society like Korea, if this is the case, how much judgment and discrimination must this child have faced here?

How much rejection, isolation, and suffering had the child endured under the false assumption of being ‘possessed by a devil’?

“Nevertheless, it’s not a devil. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes. After all, I am the crown prince. I always know what’s right.”

“How?”

“Just tell anyone who disagrees with me to come to the Star Palace.”

“Are you going to scold them, Crown Brother?”

“What’s with this ‘Crown Brother’? Just call me ‘brother’.”

“…”

“Anyway, if anyone teases or bothers you with strange things, I’ll give them a scolding they won’t forget.”

“So, I won’t have to suffer anymore?”

“…”

The child asked hesitantly.

Was it because this was the first time someone outside his family took his side? Raciel fell silent, sensing the child’s subtle hope in that question.

He couldn’t provide a hasty answer. It was heart-wrenching. It was a question he didn’t dare to answer definitively. Raciel’s expression turned slightly troubled.

‘It’s good that we’ve identified epilepsy. I’m relieved, and I want to treat him as well. However…’

The problem lay in the fact that the child’s illness was epilepsy. Raciel couldn’t determine the underlying cause of the epilepsy.

Had his pulse diagnosis skills, which he honed while establishing his oriental medicine clinic, fallen short? Or was it the palpation skill he acquired in this world? Even with the skill, he couldn’t pinpoint the cause of epilepsy.

‘The level of my palpation skill is too limited.’

He had attempted multiple times.

Yet, all he could discern was the broad category of the “comprehensive opinion” he had seen earlier. To achieve a more precise diagnosis, he would need to significantly enhance his skill level.

‘Epilepsy can have a wide range of causes. To identify them properly… Sadly, it’s not possible with traditional medicine alone. A thorough examination is necessary at a hospital. CT scans, EEGs, blood tests, liver and kidney function tests, urinalysis, lumbar punctures, blood cultures… Not to mention MRI and PET-CT scans.’

All those procedures had to be conducted, and only with a specialist’s interpretation of the results could the cause of epilepsy be accurately determined.

But what about here?

‘It’s impossible.’

Even in Korea, when a patient with epilepsy visits his Oriental medicine clinic?

You have to tell them it won’t work here. Traditional medicine clinics were primarily visited for immune enhancement, improving constitution, and maintaining overall health. In cases like these, patients needed to go to a large or general hospital. Wandering aimlessly from one Oriental medicine clinic to another might delay the right time for proper treatment. As a conscientious doctor, he had always advised his patients with these words.

Honestly, he felt a bit lost.

‘Even without the necessary testing equipment…’

How could he identify the underlying cause? And without knowing the cause, how could he provide appropriate treatment?

Sigh

An involuntary sigh escaped Raciel as he pondered. It was challenging to conceal such thoughts in front of the child.

But then…

“…Um, brother?”

The child’s voice called out to Raciel, snapping him out of his thoughts. He noticed something was amiss in the child’s expression.

“I… I feel strange…”

“Huh?”

The child, gripping Raciel’s sleeve tightly, had a nervous twitch at the corners of his lips. It wasn’t just his lips; even his eyelids trembled irregularly, almost imperceptibly.

“I… I’m cold.”

His face appeared incredibly pale.

It was as if he had just awakened from a terrifying nightmare or was about to descend into a harrowing one. Suddenly, the child’s entire body convulsed, as if struck by lightning.

“Could it be?”

Raciel had a sense of impending doom.

“…Uh, ugh…”

The child’s expression contorted.

His eyes rolled back, and his neck jerked backward, with his shoulders tensing up. His entire body stiffened and trembled as if being electrocuted. It was a generalized tonic-clonic seizure, a manifestation of his epilepsy.

“Oh no.”

Raciel swiftly reached out, catching the child before he fell.

‘Why now, of all times?’

He felt flustered.

On some level, he understood.

‘It’s probably because he was suddenly called to the Star Palace and became tense.’

Could the child’s mental state have triggered the seizure? Raciel speculated as he gently laid the child on the ground. Chaos erupted around them in the meantime.

“Ah, the child!”

“It’s the evil spirit. He’s possessed by an evil spirit!”

“Crown Prince, step away!”

The guards and palace attendants panicked. Gardin, taken aback, shouted for them to back off. Demian gripped the hilt of his sword in silence, his eyes shining with determination. The child’s sister, a maid, stifled her sobs, covering her mouth with both hands.

“It’s dangerous, Your Highness!”

“Stay away from the child!”

The palace guards rushed over, ready to snatch the child away and cast him aside, as if trying to separate Raciel from a wicked entity.

“Enough!”

Raciel involuntarily shouted.

Everyone flinched.

Quickly, Raciel addressed the frozen crowd surrounding him.

“It’s not an evil spirit. He’s ill, suffering from a disease. Stop causing a commotion. Stay quiet.”

“…”

“Right now, the one experiencing the most misery and pain is this child. A patient needs care and protection.”

“…”

“Someone, fetch a pillow.”

“Ah, understood.”

One of the guards hurriedly ran off. Meanwhile, Gardin cautiously approached.

“Your Highness, the child… appears to be in great pain.”

“Of course. Just look at him.”

Indeed, George lay on the floor, his entire body convulsing irregularly. He would tense up and then relax, repeating the cycle. Compassion filled Gardin’s eyes.

“Should we wipe away the foam from his mouth with a handkerchief?”

“No, absolutely not.”

Raciel shook his head.

Placing a towel or anything near the mouth during a seizure could cause harm. The entire body, including the muscles in the jaw, involuntarily contract. Carelessly introducing an object could result in biting and potentially blocking the airway.

“So let it be. I’ve positioned his head to the side, so the foam won’t obstruct his airway.”

“Should we… hold down his arms or legs?”

“No, we shouldn’t do that either.”

The body’s nerves are in disarray. Attempting any forceful manipulation or massage could cause the patient to involuntarily apply excessive pressure to the muscles. In the worst case, it could lead to muscle strain or even rupture.

“So what can we do….”

“Nothing. We just need to keep a watchful eye. When the seizure subsides, he’ll appear as if he’s fainted. That’s when we can begin taking care of him.”

It was disheartening to admit it aloud. The feeling of helplessness, the inability to take immediate action, was uncomfortable. Raciel waited for the seizure to pass, unbuttoning the child’s shirt and loosening his belt.

However, amidst it all,

Gradually,

Slowly,

He sensed something peculiar in the child.

‘…Hmm?’

It was the flow of mana—the movement of mana coursing through the child’s body. He could faintly perceive the wild and tumultuous flow and path of mana, much like observing ink spreading through water.

‘Why am I able to sense this?’

Initially, it caught him by surprise.

But soon, he realized.

‘The Asrahan Core Technique.’

The secret technique of the royal family that he had inherited. The Core Technique specialized in the absorption, manipulation, amplification, and release of mana.

‘It is said to possess a unique trait of sensitively detecting the flow of mana.’

The novel “Devil Sword Emperor” provided detailed information on this. As soon as that thought crossed his mind,

‘Wait a minute.’

Realization dawned upon him.

Mana was the manifestation of qi circulation. And now, through the Asrahan Core Technique, he could perceive the flow of mana within the child’s body. In essence, he could precisely diagnose the circulation of qi throughout the child’s body.

‘Perhaps… I might be able to identify the cause of epilepsy.’

There was a chance.

No, he believed he could do it.

With the knowledge of meridians he possessed, and the ability to understand qi circulation through the Asrahan Core Technique, what if the two were combined?

‘Maybe, a diagnosis as accurate as an MRI could be possible.’

If he could achieve such a diagnosis, he might be able to provide treatment for the child’s epilepsy. Raciel glimpsed a glimmer of hope.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

In that moment of determination,

Raciel gently touched the child’s shoulder. He activated the circle around his heart, utilizing the maximum output. It was his first attempt at his unique Asrahan precision diagnostic method, combining it with the Asrahan Core Technique.