Chapter 77 Faith with Doubt

Outside Diana’s room.

After witnessing Diana’s coughing of blood, Anastasia had a frightened expression on her face as memories of her coughing blood when she had tuberculosis resurfaced in her mind once more.

“Dear…brother…what’s happening to Diana?” Ana asked as tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

Anastasia’s hands trembled slightly as she held on to Alexander’s arms tightly and took in what happened inside Diana’s room.

“I told you before right…Princess Diana has tuberculosis. The same as the one you had months ago,” Alexander said as calmly as he could, trying his best not to make Anastasia worry even more.

“Tuberculosis…if…Diana has tuberculosis…then you can save her as you did to me right dear brother?”  she pleaded and looked up at Alexander with hopefulness glimmering in her azure eyes.

“Of course, I will treat her. It’s the reason why she came all the way here to our country,” Alexander said, kneeling down in front of her and placing a hand on each of her shoulders. “Don’t worry.”

“Thank you very much, big brother,” Ana said as she smiled at him sweetly, making a blush appear on Alexander’s cheeks.

Alexander sighed heavily as he stared into his sister’s innocent blue eyes. She shouldn’t have brought her here in the first place. The scene of Diana having hemoptysis must’ve been a terrible sight for her.  The reason why he brought her here to the palace is to show Diana proof that his medicine works.  Although he is confident that his medicine would work on her, it’s still prudent to show proof to someone who would surely doubt his medical knowledge.

Wiping the tears from Anastasia’s eyes, he gently cupped her cheeks with his two hands and spoke.

“Okay, I will treat Princess Diana now,” Alexander glanced at Rolan who was standing behind his back. “Take her to her room please,” he ordered.-.

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Rolan said before grabbing the princess’ arm and pulling her out of the hallway.

Alexander watched them disappear from his view and exhaled heavily before turning towards Diana’s room. If Diana is already coughing that ample amount of blood, that means she’s already at a critical stage. He couldn’t afford to mess this up, not when the heir apparent to the Britannia throne is at stake. This is a double-edged sword, if he succeeded then the Britannia Empire would owe Ruthenia Empire a huge debt that he could use in his country’s interest, if not, the Britannia Empire would surely use this as casus belli, and possibly declare war with them.

Not to mention, during the Rutho-Yamato war where Ruthenian warships fired upon Britannia’s trawler fleet, the relationship between the two rivals has been precarious since.

Not yet…he couldn’t afford to go to war with the strongest naval power in the world.

Alexander stood up with a determined look plastered all over his face and slowly walked toward Diana’s door.

As he was about to turn the knob, his hand froze midway because he heard footsteps coming from his right.

He glanced in the direction of the sound and saw Dmitri Semenov, the royal doctor of the Romanoff Family.

“I got here as soon as I received the news,” Dmitri said, panting lightly due to exertion.

“It’s fine, you were just in time,” Alexander said. “Did you bring the medicine?”

“Yes, Your Majesty…the streptomycin and the isoniazid are in my bag,” Dmitri informed.

Alexander nodded as he opened the door and entered the room. Once the door was shut behind him, he walked towards Diana’s bedside.

As he approached her, her butler, Lancelot, was wiping the blood off around her mouth using a clean cloth while rubbing his free hand to her back in a circular motion in hopes of stopping her cough.

“Is it better now, Your Royal Highness?” Lancelot asked.

“Yes, thank you, Lancelot,” Diana answered and coughed twice, causing Lancelot to frown.

“Are you really, okay?” Lancelot asked with concern in his voice.

Diana gave her butler an assuring smile before nodding.

“Yeah, I’m good. Sorry for making everyone worry,” she said, her voice hoarse from the coughing she’s done ten minutes ago.

“How long has this been happening?” Alexander walked forward, getting their attention.

“There’s no clear interval, Your Majesty,” Lancelot answered. “Once a month, twice a month, once a week…there are times that she wouldn’t cough off blood in a month.”

“I see,” Alexander rubbed his chin in thought. “Still, she’s at her critical stage. Since she was diagnosed with tuberculosis by the great doctors of Britannia Empire, there’s no need to waste time on any more tests, we’ll administer the medicine, Doc, get ready,”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Dmitri Semenov nodded in response and grabbed his medical bag.

“Wait!” Diana chimed in, stopping both Alex and Dmitri in their tracks.

“What is it, Your Highness?” Lancelot inquired.

Dmitri also turned towards her and waited for an answer.

“I still can’t trust you, Alexander…” Diana uttered.

Alexander clicked his tongue, her lack of trust in him is getting on his nerves.

“Diana, I know you can’t trust me because of my past and my ineptitude in academics but, you don’t really have much of a choice.  If you can’t trust me, fine. Trust Doctor Dmitri Semenov instead, he was with me when the treatment was given to my sister to make sure it is done properly. Or you can call this off and return to Britannia in three days. I will not administer the medicine without your permission,” Alexander said firmly.

Diana bit her lower lip, trying to come up with another reason for her distrust but she couldn’t. As much as she would like to know the mystery behind his knowledge, what he just said to her was right. She has a choice here. She can choose to be treated or not.

There was no cure in Britannia Empire and the doctors there are at wit’s ends, trying to come up with one. But here in Ruthenia, there’s one and it saved one person, which is the Imperial Duchess Anastasia. The only problem is that it was claimed to be created by the person she didn’t expect.

Diana’s suspicion was justified. She looked up at him once more and saw his determined look. It is as though he is determined to save her with the medicine, he supposedly synthesized.

Why go that far? Diana asked herself, Why would Alexander go this far lying to her? Is he that desperate for recognition? And he must know the consequences if the cure doesn’t work. That there would be war between their countries if his medicine didn’t work. After all, his father would think that Alexander killed her and thus a justification for war.

No one has to be a genius to realize the risk Alexander is getting into. She’s certain that he is aware of it. Her hate towards him grew when he was picking on her ten years ago and that’s just it. He’s bad at academics, granted, but if she looked closer, there’s this aura around him that she couldn’t discern. Like something changed within him.

Like a completely new man.

Should she not look in the mouth of the gift horse here? Take the medicine he stole credit for in order to live longer and succeed her father?

Diana has decided she would take her chances here.

“Fine…I accept…You have my permission to administer your medicine to me,” Diana said, rolling up her sleeve, and exposing her slender arms.

Alexander smiled “Great…Dmitri, proceed with the injections.”

Dmitri sat beside Diana and grabbed alcohol-soaked cotton and rubbed it around her deltoid muscle area. After he made sure it was all cleaned and disinfected, Dmitri prepares the syringe containing diluted streptomycin.

“He will inject the medicine now, it’s going to hurt a little…” Alexander said before Dmitri presses the needle into her arm.

“Ouch…” Diana winced while clenching her fists. The contents inside the syringe are emptied into her bloodstream.

Dmitri quickly removed the syringe from her skin and grabbed a cotton swab, placing it over the injected part.

“We’re going to administer streptomycin once a day…along with this,” Alexander revealed a small glass pill bottle in his hand.

“What’s that?” Diana asked with a curious gaze.

“It’s isoniazid pills. A medicine that I created to combine with streptomycin for a speedy recovery,” Alexander said. “Basically, these two drugs are protein-inhibitors. Streptomycin works by interfering with the binding of formyl-methionyl-tRNA while isoniazid works by interfering with the synthesis of the mycolic acid, which is a fatty acid found in the cell wall of the streptomyces griseus, a bacterium responsible for tuberculosis,” Alexander explained fluidly.

Diana’s eyes widened as she listened to his explanation. It was short and subtle but the way he spoke sounded like he has knowledge of this topic…Or a well-rehearsed speech. Not unlike the local politicians in her homeland of Britannia. All reading from scripts in a bid to win votes with false promises.

“You’ll take this medicine for six months straight. There’ll be side effects but that is manageable. I’ll have Dmitri write a detailed report and instructions so your doctors there will know what do to,” Alexander added. A lie to appease Diana. He would be the one writing it since he’s the one knowledgeable.

“Thank you…” Diana inadvertently replied with a sincere tone.

Alexander scoffed softly “Don’t thank me yet and don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not like I treated you because of anything, rather it was for the national interest of Ruthenia Empire…after all, you’re an important figure,”

‘Hoh…” Diana mused. “Well, if the medicine works…that is,”