Doctor Hailey

“Hailey Salisbury!”

Bang, bang.

“Young Lady Hailey Salisbury! Young Lady Salisbury!”

Amidst the thunderous calls, Hailey struggled to open her eyes.

The pounding on the door persisted.

What’s happening? She had barely drifted into sleep, having spent the night concocting herbs.

Rubbing her eyes, Hailey hurriedly tied her hair back.

Just as she reached for the door to her lab,

Bang!

The door shattered right before her. She gasped, instinctively covering her mouth with both hands.

Is this a dream? What’s happening?

The intruder seized Hailey’s wrist, barking out,

“Hailey Salisbury, as Chief Royal Investigator, I arrest you for violation of narcotic control laws and illegal clinical experiments.”

Soon, knights bearing boxes flooded the room.

“Search every corner!”

Following the Chief Investigator’s command, the knights began to ransack the laboratory indiscriminately.

“What are you doing! You can’t handle things so recklessly!”

Hailey protested, struggling to free herself from the man’s grip.

But her struggles were futile.

They were agents of the royal investigative agency.

For her, a mere Medical Academy student who practiced swordsmanship daily and trained to apprehend criminals, stopping them was an impossible feat.

They stuffed everything from her lab into boxes, deeming it evidence of a crime.

“You can’t treat them like that!”

Hailey’s voice rang out.

But the knights paid her no heed.

“I had just prepared it, and I haven’t even finished recording the results…”

Her fist trembled with anger.

Hailey confronted the Chief Investigator, shouting out,

“Let go of my hand! This is all a misunderstanding about drugs and illegal experiments!”

Surprisingly, the Chief Investigator released Hailey without a word, silently crossing his arms.

He simply waited for the knights to complete their evidence collection.

In that moment, one of the knights dumped herbs into a pile, proceeding to pack them into a box.

“Stop it at once!”

Hailey rushed forward, seizing the box of herbs.

“Are you out of your mind? It’s useless if they’re all mixed up!”

She had invested countless hours in researching herbal efficacy!

This wasn’t Korea, where anesthesia could be procured from the hospital upon request!

For her mother’s surgery, general anesthesia was absolutely necessary.

However, in the Raven Empire, such anesthesia was non-existent.

Here, surgery meant enduring the pain by drinking alcohol, biting down on a cloth, or gripping a handkerchief.

So Hailey resolved to develop anesthesia herself.

If she could produce anesthesia, she was confident in her surgical abilities.

In her past life, she was Dr. Kim Hyejin, a triple-board-certified surgeon in general surgery, neurosurgery, and thoracic surgery.

Since the age of five, Hailey had begun recalling fragments of memories from her past life through her dreams.

Her decision to enroll in the Medical Academy was only natural.

Studying diligently, she absorbed the increasingly vivid medical knowledge from her memories, becoming a prodigy. At the age of twenty, she was assigned her own research lab, the youngest ever.

Through relentless daily research, she was on the verge of achieving effects similar to modern anesthesia with her herbal concoctions.

“Oh, it would be wise to cooperate with the investigation and keep quiet. If you don’t want to get into trouble.”

The Chief Investigator’s tone already seemed to regard Hailey as a full-fledged criminal.

“Are you still half-asleep and unable to grasp the situation? You’re being arrested at the scene of the crime. Pull yourself together and either confess or just go back to sleep without making a fuss. Oh, could it be that you can’t sleep without drugs already?”

Hailey glared silently at the Chief Investigator.

“Oh dear, using your name seems to have upset you. With your distinguished family background, you’ve grown too cocky. The Salisbury Family spells nothing but trouble. Especially you, Hailey! I always knew you’d end up in trouble.”

Oh, so she was deeply connected to the royal family after all?

Even so, how dare the author, referred to as the Chief Investigator, insult the distinguished family?

Hailey was taken aback, yet she spoke slowly.

“Chief Investigator, repeat my charges.”

The Chief Investigator’s eyebrows twitched at her icy tone.

“Violation of narcotic control laws, illegal clinical experiments.”

“So you’re arresting me?”

“Of course!”

“Explain the reasons precisely.”

Instead of answering, the Chief Investigator smirked and kicked a box filled by his knights.

Thud, thud. The box, pushed back by the consecutive kicks, came to a stop in front of Hailey’s shoes.

It was a wooden box without a lid, revealing its contents clearly.

Inside were not only herbs but also experimental records crumpled and stained with random herbs mixed in haphazardly.

Hailey bit her lip to hold back tears.

“Are you still boldly protesting even with these narcotics laid out in front of you?”

The Chief Investigator’s sneer intensified.

“I’ve been conducting drug raids diligently since my days as an investigator, but it’s the first time I’ve seen such a variety of drugs all at once. It’s quite a valuable educational material for the investigative team. Just possessing narcotics alone is a serious crime. Moreover, these drugs…”

Bending down, the Chief Investigator picked up a herb from within the box.

Sniffing it, he threw it back into the box.

Then, covering his nose and mouth, he coughed.

“Phew, it’s potent. This drug undoubtedly induces loss of consciousness. Among narcotics, it’s considered the most inferior. Does this drug make you feel endlessly happy? Couldn’t you find happiness with the title of Heiress of the Salisbury Family? Being a noble on the surface and a drug dealer behind the scenes.”

“I’m a medical practitioner. They’re all for medical and research purposes. They have nothing to do with my family.”

“No need for excuses, you’re the current offender.”

The Chief Investigator cut off Hailey’s words.

“As expected, you’re doing a splendid job of holding onto Count Salisbury’s ankles. Excellent.”

Hailey’s expression stiffened.

Indeed, from the beginning, they weren’t after me, but Dad.

The royal family being wary of the Salisbury Family wasn’t something that happened overnight.

The Chief Investigator didn’t need to explain kindly. It was a well-known fact among the aristocracy.

Despite their status as a distinguished and noble family of the empire, the Salisbury Family was viewed merely as a thorn in the side by the royal family.

“They might be considered a distinguished family, so it’s only natural to be wary.”

Despite retaining the title of Count, their influence in central politics surpassed that of most dukes.

Yet, despite this, Dad always showed loyalty to the royal family and used the family’s power for the good of the crown.

However, directly persecuting someone like Dad presented various challenges even for the royal family.

So.

As a noble young lady, she didn’t bother taking the entrance exam for the prestigious academy that everyone else attended,

She didn’t mingle in high society,

Instead, she chose to attend the mostly commoner-populated Medical Academy,

“It seems I was chosen because I’m insignificant.”

They were determined to use me to utterly ruin the Salisbury Family.

Hailey swallowed a sigh.

“From drug offenses to illegal clinical experiments. And they say the Heiress is committing crimes while attending a place like the Medical Academy, and the Salisbury Family is a noble family?”

The Chief Investigator clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“To criticize both the family and the academy.”

Hailey clicked her tongue too.

Yet, countless people were dying at this very moment from minor illnesses.

Even with just basic hygiene knowledge, the empire could have saved many lives.

However, due to the prevailing disdain for medicine, medical advancement in the empire was slow.

“Both the Salisbury Family and the Medical Academy are utterly useless. These worthless academies, which use the national budget to produce drug offenders and nurture them, should have been abolished long ago. It would be better to build more temples for the Sun Faith with that money.”

Another hindrance to medical advancement was the Sun Faith, which ruled over the entire continent.

Hailey chuckled.

“Breaking into someone’s lab from the crack of dawn, smashing things, rummaging through, confiscating items, threatening with arrest. Is this how the royal investigative agency works? Is arresting innocent people part of your investigation?”

The Chief Investigator wagged his finger in Hailey’s face.

“There’s already overwhelming evidence, yet you’re still stubbornly resisting. It’s not up to criminals to judge whether I’m cooperative or not. Now, is everything collected?”

“Yes!”

The knights answered in unison.

Hailey glanced around.

The desk was now completely empty.

Even the books on the shelves were all packed into the box without missing a single one.

Her research notes,

The herbs she had researched dozens of times,

Even records of those who willingly participated in her experiments.

Everything disappeared into the box they brought.

Hailey felt utterly drained.

“Let’s go! Follow me! Thanks to you, your illustrious family will soon be driven out of the empire too.”

Who could the real mastermind possibly be?

Even if the royal family restrained influential figures, there was no reason to outright reject them like this.

Hailey concealed her confusion and retorted.

“The Chief Investigator doesn’t seem to fear that illustrious family.”

“Do you still think you’re noble even as a criminal suspect?”

“I am Hailey Salisbury, whom you’ve been calling since early morning. I am the one and only Heiress of the Salisbury Family, the most distinguished family in the empire. Even if I were a criminal, how much more fearful would it be for you to arrest me, an innocent person?”

“You’re really insane. What’s there to fear from a family that will perish because of the likes of you?”

The Chief Investigator snorted.

“What family are you from, Chief Investigator? You seem to be more obsessed with the family than I am.”

Slap!

Hailey’s face turned away. A searing pain followed.

Soon, a tingling sensation made her raise her hand to her cheek.

With a trembling gaze, she turned to look at the Chief Investigator.

Slap!

This time, Hailey’s face turned away in the opposite direction.