TIPI 09

Chapter 9

“Accelerated aging? What is that?”

Everain asked, and Lionel answered.

“Good question. To understand accelerated aging, you first need to know about the concept of slow aging.”

Lionel began explaining step by step.

“Slow aging, or the slow-aging diet, was a type of diet that was once popular in Korea…… no, I mean, somewhere in the East. To put it simply, the idea is that if you consistently eat healthy foods, you can slow down the rate at which your body ages. There were actually quite a lot of people who saw results.”

There had even been a time when Lionel had practically lived on beans while trying to practice slow aging, so she had no trouble explaining the concept.

Then Kaelen asked a question as though he had suddenly figured something out.

“Then is an accelerated-aging diet a diet that speeds up the aging of the body?”

“As expected of you, Assistant! How clever. Yes, exactly. So I’m going to feed His Grace an accelerated-aging diet and observe the changes in his body.”

Lionel folded down her fingers one by one as she listed the supposed benefits of accelerated aging.

“The expected changes include weight gain, increased blood pressure, skin problems, increased cholesterol levels, increased blood sugar levels, and so on. Gastrointestinal problems may also occur.”

After saying all that, she suddenly realized something.

This was, without a doubt, a garbage statement that completely betrayed the principles of being a doctor.

As Lionel suffered from a guilty conscience, Everain cautiously spoke up.

“Doctor. I am admittedly ignorant when it comes to medicine, but everything you just listed sounds extremely bad for the body……”

“Be quiet, Everain. If you don’t know anything, just keep your mouth shut and agree with me. Surely His Grace isn’t less intelligent than you, whose brain has apparently turned into muscle.”

Kaelen, who had somehow become a complete worshipper of Lionel, poked Everain in the side.

At this point, he looked like he would applaud even if Lionel started picking her teeth with a telephone pole.

Everain awkwardly closed his mouth.

However, Lionel defended him.

“You’re exactly right, my stock…… I mean, Sir Everain. This is an experiment designed to ‘change’ the duke’s body in one way or another.”

Lionel pointed at the duke.

Honestly, if she considered nothing but her academic curiosity as a doctor, she wanted to preserve his body exactly as it was and use it as official educational material.

But if she wanted to survive, she had to find a way to make him age until he eventually died.

“The duke hasn’t eaten a proper meal in three hundred years. So my idea is to awaken the aging cells inside his body with stimulating foods.”

“‘Cells’? What are those?”

“Ah, um. They’re the smallest units that make up the body. Very, very tiny cells come together to form our bodies.”

Lionel explained it as though she were reading one of those educational comic books filled with question marks that she had loved as a child.

Everain nodded, but he still looked full of questions.

“Do you really think it will work?”

“If he gains even one gram of weight or gets an upset stomach…… I think there’s a possibility.”

The assistant, the guard knight, and the attending physician all turned their eyes toward the duke at the same time.

Whether they would test it or not depended entirely on the immortal’s willingness.

Blasion accepted the idea much faster than Lionel had expected.

“I understand. Proceed.”

“Oh……? Really?”

“Did I not say it before? I trust you, Doctor, and I will follow you completely. I will do whatever you wish.”

A patient who actually listens is the best!

Feeling hope blooming in her chest, Lionel said,

“Good. Then I’d like to start the accelerated-aging diet immediately, but there’s something we need to do first. Assistant, could you prepare enough sheets of paper for everyone living in this mansion?”

“Paper? I can certainly prepare as much as you need, but what do you intend to use it for?”

Lionel smiled brightly.

“I’m going to start with some market research.”

A few days later.

I sat at the desk in the infirmary with a stack of papers in my hands.

The duke was sitting across from me. He seemed quite interested in the ‘questionnaire’ I had conducted.

“Meat, fish. Fruits and vegetables…… Hmm, just as I expected. People want to eat a variety of foods in balanced amounts.”

“As long as their stomachs are full, that should be enough.”

“Your Grace. I told you not to assume everyone else is the same as you.”

At first, the servants had reacted rather indifferently when they saw the questionnaires.

But as soon as they heard that the purpose was to create a new menu, their eyes suddenly changed.

“Does this mean we can finally escape this jerky hell?”

I nodded at the servant’s question.

“Yes. I’m going to order ingredients based on the results of the questionnaire.”

“Good heavens! I thought you were merely a doctor, but a savior has descended upon us! Thank you!!”

Not a single person failed to submit their questionnaire.

Based on the results, I created a diet with the perfect ratio of carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

At last, I completed a magnificent meal plan that looked like something straight out of a high school cafeteria.

“When did you say the new chef would arrive?”

“Tomorrow.”

“Good. Then I’ll make sure they can cook based on this menu.”

Phew. That’s one thing taken care of……

Just as I was finally beginning to relax, I suddenly felt someone’s gaze and raised my head.

The duke’s purple eyes were staring directly at me.

“……Is there something you want to say?”

“You work very hard. Since when have you been working so diligently?”

I gave a small laugh.

“I’ve always been diligent.”

“Judging by your previous workplace, however, it seems you weren’t exactly appreciated there.”

How dare he suddenly dig up my painful past……

I narrowed my eyes and glared at the duke.

“Does Your Grace know the suffering of a contract worker? You don’t even know what I went through, so don’t make careless comments.”

“What happened to you?”

“Don’t even get me started. When I was working at the hospital, the chairman kept insisting that he would introduce me to a good man. He made such a fuss that I eventually agreed to go on the blind date.”

I thought, ‘He must be an incredible man if he’s making such a big deal about him.’

“And? Was he an impressive man?”

“No. That crazy chairman himself showed up. He said, ‘Surprised?’”

The duke suddenly turned his head away for a moment before facing forward again.

In that brief moment, I became convinced that he had just completed a laugh-suppression challenge.

The duke asked in an expressionless voice,

“So? What happened?”

“What do you think happened? I immediately called it off and left. I wanted to quit the hospital right away too, but I had debts to pay……”

“It is not too late even now. If you wish, I can deal with him.”

The duke spoke in a low voice.

I initially laughed, thinking he was joking, but after realizing he was serious, I shook my head.

“It’s fine. Besides, his wife caught him doing that kind of thing and beat him up right in front of the hospital. He quit the hospital himself afterward.”

“In any case, that worked out well for you.”

“Right. But I also got fired pretty quickly because I was caught trying to form a union. I wanted to help the ladies who worked in the hospital cafeteria, so I tried to organize one. So in the end, none of it really mattered.”

It had been a short and rather bitter hospital career.

I finished the story with nothing but bitterness lingering in my heart.

“Your Grace, never, ever go to a blind date, okay? Let’s make sure we maintain a strict boundary between employer and employee.”

“I have no intention of ever going, so rest assured.”

We both stared at each other with completely serious expressions and firmly agreed that we would never see each other at a blind date.

Good. This dry relationship is very desirable.

Satisfied, I turned my attention back to the chart.

I thought we would simply return to our respective work.

But then—

“I am not as foolish as that chairman.”

“……?”

“I would never lose a good employee like you—someone so diligent and passionate about everything you do—because of some trivial desire.”

After leaving those words behind, the duke walked out of the infirmary.

I remained behind, staring blankly at his retreating figure for a moment.

“……Was that a compliment?”

It was a compliment, right? He was complimenting me for working hard, wasn’t he?

The sudden compliment somehow made my cheeks feel hot.

I placed both hands against my cheeks to cool them down.

“Doctor Frencia. The questionnaire results are…… Huh? Are you feeling sick? Your face looks red.”

Kaelen had entered the room.

I quickly turned my head away and pretended nothing was wrong.

“Ah, i-it’s nothing. More importantly, Assistant, I need you to take care of this.”

I handed him a note I had prepared in advance.

“Please order everything listed here. These are ingredients specifically for the accelerated-aging menu.”

“Yes, understood.”

Kaelen quickly scanned the note before asking me,

“You ordered a lot of chicken, didn’t you? A whole sack of sugar, a whole sack of garlic? Why do you need so many spices?”

“Spices?”

I immediately denied it.

“Garlic isn’t a spice. It’s a famine-relief crop.”

“……Pardon?”

“You roast it and eat it. Boil it and eat it. Eat it as it is.”

I saw it.

I saw Kaelen’s green eyes tremble slightly.

He seemed to be debating whether he should question the words of the physician he so respected or simply let it go.

In the end, Kaelen changed the subject.

He was a man who knew how to survive in society.

“So, what are you going to make with all of this?”

The main culprits behind accelerated aging are chronic inflammation, reactive oxygen species, and advanced glycation end products (*AGEs).

The things that accelerate these processes include refined carbohydrates that rapidly raise blood sugar, excessive sugar, processed meats, fried foods, and so on.

I planned to gather ingredients that perfectly satisfied all these conditions and create a diet that went beyond accelerated aging and reached light-speed aging.

All so I could leave a flaw—my mark—on the duke’s otherwise perfect body.

“What am I going to make……?”

I smiled mischievously.

Just thinking about delicious food for the first time in ages made me smile for no particular reason.

“Chicken and tanghulu.”