I Thought It Was a Common Transmigration - Chapter 136
2. The Lord’s Wife
Killian and I decided to make an inspection of the estate before winter set in.
The hierarchy in the castle was getting better and more organized, and we had gotten used to life in Ryzen, so it was a good time to go.
If Killian was the only one out, he’d be on horseback, but I wanted to see every inch of the estate with my own eyes.
Killian wasn’t about to leave me behind either, so he had like an open car to ride with me…… no, is it an open carriage?
We traveled around the estate in the little carriage, which was open overhead and in the front.
“Right now, the wheat sowing and fall vegetable harvest is in full swing.”
“The estate’s biggest production is wheat, and it’s quite good quality.”
Killian’s aide pointed out the different parts of the estate as we passed.
It was beautiful to see the ground neatly tilled after sowing, and the vegetable gardens full of sprouts.
In some places, villagers were gathered, hard at work harvesting pumpkins and carrots, while children not yet old enough to work ran around them, giggling and laughing.
As we passed by, the workers took off their hats and bent down to greet us.
‘Huh? What’s that……?’
I noticed something that bothered me, but I kept my mouth shut because we weren’t done touring the entire estate yet.
The carriage drove through the open fields and into the urban center of the estate where private houses were clustered.
It wasn’t as densely built up as the capital, and the market was a bit rudimentary.
However, it was not a small market.
“50% of the population of the estate lives here, on Mazuka Street, which is the main city center of the estate.”
True to the aide’s introduction, the street was quite crowded and full of life.
I couldn’t help but smile just watching.
Vendors shouting at the top of their lungs to buy their wares, people bargaining and paying for things in what felt like a fight, children wandering in front of steaming food stalls, neighbors greeting each other as they passed by……
But even there, I noticed something that bothered me.
‘Why are they doing that?’
Even in the fields, busy with harvesting and sowing, and even in this noisy market, I saw children sitting in wooden crates with blank faces.
Their mothers glanced over at them from time to time, but they were too busy working to really pay attention.
“Excuse me, Sir Altens. Who are those children? I saw some people earlier with their kids in boxes like that……”
At first, I thought the children were young and they were using them as cribs, but when I got closer, I realized that the children in the boxes were all different ages.
Sometimes they were looking enviously at the other children playing, and sometimes they were just looking blankly.
“Those are sick children. During the farming season, even the children have to work, so there’s no one to take care of them at home.”
“Ah……!”
“It’s not a plague, no plague has been reported on the estate yet, they’re just kids who probably were born disabled somewhere, or have a disease we don’t know the cause or cure for, like Crusoe’s disease.”
Only then did I realize why my eyes were drawn to those children.
Their faces looked like…… the faces of children I had seen in pediatric cancer wards in my previous life.
“Is there no hospital they can go to?”
“Hospital? You mean a clinic?”
“Yes. A clinic where there is a doctor. Or at least a pharmacist……”
Sir Altens, Killian’s aide, gave my question a repentant look. “Doctors are too expensive for commoners, and the best they can do is go to the pharmacists who deal in herbs.”
“But the medicine the pharmacists give them won’t be enough to cure what ails them, will it?”
“It’s hard for commoners from all over the Empire, not just Rhyzen, to get to a doctor. I don’t know about the wealthy commoners in the capital, though.”
I nodded.
It wasn’t Sir Altens’ fault that the commoners couldn’t get to the doctors.
Killian just stared at me, then smiled. “I’m sure you’ll have a lot to tell me when we get back to the castle.”
“You’re surprisingly perceptive.”
“It’s a strange feeling to be complimented on my perceptiveness by someone as unobservant as you.”
I wanted to protest, but I knew that if I said anything, he’d probably say something along the lines of, “You’ve degraded my love to lust,” so I kept my mouth shut.
As soon as we got back to the castle, I grabbed Killian and started the meeting.
“We must have a clinic available to the people of the estate. If the estate is to grow, the population must increase, and more important than increasing the birth rate is increasing the survival rate of the children and mothers who have already given birth.”
“I agree. But as Sir Altens said earlier, building a clinic doesn’t mean that the people of the estate will be able to use it, because doctors’ fees are expensive.”
“That’s why the lord should subsidize it.”
I was thinking of national health insurance.
It was because of the healthcare system in South Korea that I was able to continue my life even though I was poor and sick.
Of course, it was impossible to replicate that system here. People here would rather buy another loaf of bread with their money than pay a premium that would cost them their life savings.
“I told you I remember my previous life, right? In my previous life, we had something called ‘national health insurance,’ and everyone paid a certain amount of money into it, depending on their income level. Those with more money paid more, and those with less paid less.”
“So you save it up and then use it when you get sick?”
“It’s more complicated than that, but in a nutshell, yes. The government invests the premiums collected and makes a profit, and people can go to the hospital when they’re sick for less money.”
Of course, this only works when there are a lot of people with health insurance. It also required the cooperation of doctors.
But I really wanted to establish a similar system in Ryzen.
“The people of Ryzen probably don’t have the money to pay for insurance right now, so we’re going to substitute paying for medical care by doing public service, and the lord will cover 70% of the cost.”
Killian rubbed his jaw. “But if people flock to the clinic, we can’t cover all the costs.”
“No. We’re going to have to build a road across Mount Philiac, remember? Considering the wages of the laborers, it’s not a losing proposition, and besides, 30% is paid by the people themselves, so no one’s going to go to the clinic when they’re not even sick.”
Hiring people was going to happen anyway, and paying their wages in one lump sum was a burden even for Killian.
If we called it “paying for health insurance,” and hired people for free, then covered their medical expenses over time as they went to the doctor, we could do both at the same time without hurting our finances.
“Hmm…… that sounds good, I guess we should start thinking about getting a doctor.”
“We’ll need to design the system in more detail, so we’ll need competent administrators, and we’ll need to spread the word to the people quickly, so we can minimize the backlash when we start working.”
Killian grinned. “My wife, apparently, is the goose that lays the golden eggs.”
“Please don’t dissect my stomach for the eggs.”
“Come here, Edith.”
I had never been able to resist Killian’s sudden, informal calls to me.
Because that’s when a respectful guy is hot.
I stiffened and slowly walked over to him, and he swept me up in his arms. He sat me on his lap and kissed me everywhere.
On my lips, on the tip of my nose, on my cheeks, on my forehead……
I wonder if one day I’ll be able to accept Killian’s outpouring of affection as a matter of course, and give it back to him?
While I was thinking about that and enjoying his warm embrace, Killian asked me quietly.
“In your previous life, were you ever…… very sick?”
Killian hadn’t quite processed my previous life story yet, but he was at least making an effort to believe me.
“Um…… I had a disease that would have caused me to die.”
Killian swallowed hard, not answering.
“I was fifteen, and I was saved because I had health insurance, because we had high medical technology, and because I was lucky enough to get a matching organ from my brother’s body, but at the time…… I didn’t really want to live.”
“Why……?”
“My parents found it annoying that I was sick, and my brother told me to go to hell.”
Killian’s hand wrapped around my shoulder twitched.
“Did Shane happen to be your brother in your previous life?”
“Not really, but when I was first reincarnated as Edith, I was creeped out because Shane was just as much of an asshole as my previous life brother.”
Killian slowly stroked my shoulders and back.
It was a warm touch, like he was comforting Choi Soo-na, who had never been able to say she was in pain.
“Now that I think about it, my brother was the one who saved my life, and he was the one who killed me. He always told me to think that I was alive thanks to him.”
“If I had been with you in your previous life, I would have cut his throat.”
“Hahaha! In my country, it was a felony to slit someone’s throat no matter how wrong they were. No matter how high up you are, you can’t do that.”
“……that sounds like an unreasonable world to me.”
I giggled and told him some more stories about law and order in my previous life.
Killian was intrigued, but couldn’t relate to how the death penalty was almost never carried out.
I continued to talk about health insurance and the healthcare system.
Killian kept asking, “Is it magic?” and was left speechless when I explained that it wasn’t magic or anything, just human knowledge and technology.
“I was someone who was indebted to that medical technology and healthcare, and I knew how lonely and unhappy it was to be sick, so I wanted to give a little bit of hope to the sick people here.”
Killian nodded and hugged me tightly again. “Every time I hear about your story of your previous life, it breaks my heart that I wasn’t there for you.”
“Thank you for making me feel better. In my previous life, no one would have cared that I was gone, but with you here to comfort me, it doesn’t matter.”
I meant it.
I had once been heartbroken, wondering if anyone would care about my disappearance, but now I am okay.
Because I have my own person by my side who cares about me whose heart aches for me.