The reason why she was surprised was that only apprentices, who have proven their skills and been acknowledged after a long time, were normally sent to the critical center.
Graham worried for a moment.
'Is it too early to send this child to the critical center?'
However, he shook his head.
'No.'
For some reason, he felt it would be completely fine to send this particular girl.
'It's not like I have anything left to teach her. It will be better if I teach her as we treat patients at the center instead
Also...
I feel curious and want to see her reaction when patients with serious injuries come.'
Graham had a prickly personality but medical knowledge was everything to him, and was itching to see what kind of sight this common sense-defying talent could show him.
*******************************************************************************
That night at the Marquis' place
"Elise."
"Yes, Father."
"Is everything all right at the hospital?"
Elise laughed and answered.
"Yes, it's been quite fun."
To be honest, she wanted to see to the patients more actively but her status was just an apprentice so there wasn't much that she could do for the time being.
"Really? It's not too difficult?"
"Yes, everything is fine."
Marquise El let out a sigh.
He wished she would quickly give up as he didn't want to see her suffer at all, yet it looked as if there was absolutely no chance she would just give up on her own. In fact, he could see her obvious enjoyment whenever she went to the hospital.
'In any case, in Teresa Hospital. Those guys are..."
After he secretly looked into Elise's hospital life he was shocked to the point of being speechless.
They dared to put the apple of his eyes in the vagrant's ward and ditch her there?!
It happened because they hid the fact that she was the daughter of the Clarence family but it was still hard to swallow back his rage.
'If Elise didn't try to stop me I would have fired everyone.'
The doctors at Theresa Hospital had no clue that if his daughter didn't stop him not only would everyone be fired, but a blood wind would have swept throughout the hospital and that young one, Graham, would've definitely been fired for sure.
'To think that they made such a delicate girl look after vagrants!'
It had been 10 days since she started to go work at the hospital but this child, who was already delicate, had lost even more weight.
'I want to force her to quit right now, but she likes it so much. Hah~!'
He felt so frustrated.
"All right, so where are you going tomorrow?"
"The critical center."
"What? The critical center?"
Marquis El furrowed his brows. He knew what kind of place the critical center was.
Wasn't it a harsh place where you had to see to serious and critical patients?!
'You're going to send such a weak child to the critical center?! I shouldn't have left these guys alone!'
He wanted to call for Head Director Goate and rage at him.
'What kind of apprenticeship were they doing?! That young guy called Graham must go! He's fired!'
He would have done it too if his daughter didn't laugh and speak such words.
"I will go and study hard. Father, I can do it so don't worry so much."
At the sound of her voice that asked him not to worry and trust her, Marquis El could only let out another sigh.
"...Elise."
"Yes, father?"
"If someone bullies you let me know. I won't let them off."
His voice sounded heavy, as if he would seriously hit the hospital with a bloody storm of termination notices.
At her father's love, Elise could only awkwardly smile. In any case, Elise was able to put her father's worry behind her and left for Theresa Hospital's critical center.
"My name is Rose. Starting today, I will be working as an apprentice. Please take care of me ."
"...!"
Everyone was so surprised that they stared at her.
'Who is she?'
'She looks like a lady of a noble house but is an apprentice? Why would she be in a place like this?'
A critical center is a place where patients with serious conditions are given immediate care, so only apprentices who went through a long period of training and had expert experience were allowed in the critical center. Therefore the three apprentices who were currently working at the critical center had, at the very least, went through three years of apprenticeship and was skilled to the point that they could almost officially become doctors.
Yet, how could that kind of girl come here?
"Lady, I think you came to the wrong place. This is a shelter, a place for the injured or patients in need of immediate care."
A young man who seemed to be the leader among the apprentices spoke out. The girl who looked like a doll yet held such elegant beauty made him choose his words carefully.
However, the girl nodded her head,
"Yes, I already know. My teacher told me to come to the critical center starting from today to work that why I am here."
"Who is your teacher, my lady?"
The young man asked taken back. However, a young man's voice called out from behind at that moment.
"It's me. I am this child's teacher."
".....!"
Everyone was surprised and looked at them.
"Professor Fallon!"
That prickly look, that handsome face. It was Baron Graham de Fallon.
"Hans."
"Yes, Professor!"
The leader among the apprentices, Hans, replied nervously.
Graham was someone who was hit here and there by the upper class in the hierarchy of the hospital but to the apprentices, he was like a man from the heavens. A professor who was like the sky to them.
Everyone especially respected him for his skill which made him known as a genius.
"This child will be trained here starting today. I will be the one training her most of the time but when I am not here or when I am busy please take care of her."
Hans couldn't help but wonder when he heard she would be trained at the critical center.
'That girl is being trained here? Can she do it?'
The training at the critical center was not your usual apprenticeship training.
The critical center was a place that served as the accident and emergency department so the apprentices had to help the doctors with critical patients and had to sometimes directly treat patients. She would have to see many critical patients with wounds that could make your heart fall to the stomach..... Can a girl that looks so delicate be able to handle and endure that?
'She looks like she would faint at the sight of a single drop of blood so how can she see to a critical patient?'
Either way, it was a command from a professor he respected so he nodded his head in understanding.
"Yes, I understand."
"That's good, I am going to a meeting right now so teach her what she needs to know about the situation here and where the supplies are."
"Yes!'
After Graham left Hans approached Elise.
"Lady Rose?"
"Yes, Senior. You may simply call me Rose."
"Al-alright."
A calm tone of voice and a doll-like face. Hans, who was at a vigorous age, couldn't help but slightly blush.
'She's so pretty. This is the first time that I've ever met someone as pretty as her.
She's obviously a noble, right?'
He couldn't help but think that due to her elegant demeanor.
There were cases: financial problems, if a noble house falls to ruin, their status goes back to being commoners due to the flow of time, they are unable to inherit the title or they especially lack inheritance. Nobles would try to become doctors for they are an existence that is acknowledged and respected in society.
Hans' father happened to have come from one of the minor noble families.
"Please follow me."
"Yes."
"This is where we see patients who are wounded and this is where we put all the IV solutions together. Do you know when we use these?"
Hans kindly explained this and that to her.
"The professors can't be on call here for 24 hours a day, so when patients arrive, apprentices like us will see the patients first and then give a report on them. Then different doctors in charge will come to treat them. In this way, the critical center is run."
It was set up in a similar system to the ER on earth.
After all, in Korean hospitals when a patient first comes to the emergency room an intern or a 'resident' will first meet with them and then notify the doctors in charge of that field as they are needed.
"These are the tools for surgery. Sometimes, when a patient who needs immediate care comes, we will do emergency surgery right here."
"Yes."
"I will directly show you what we do with this next time when we have a patient."
He felt his heart race as he saw her sweetly reply to his explanations. To think such a cute girl would come after always spending all his days with dark guys!
His voice slowly grew in strength.
"This tool is..."
However, at that moment a voice sharply rang out throughout the center.
"Professor, there's a patient here!"
".....!"
Hans looked at Elise and answered back in a trustworthy voice.
"Let's go, Rose. I will show you how to treat patients."
However, his face stiffened when he saw the patient.
*Pant Pant*
"My breath!"
A tall, skinny young man was rapidly giving out short shallow breaths.
He was heaving his chest and it looked quite serious.
"My ch-chest...!"
*Pant Pant*
He had so much trouble breathing he couldn't even finish his words properly.
Hans urgently cried.
"He's a patient with a chest contusion so please bring an electrocardiogram for the heart! And please call Professor Fallon!"
It wasn't a patient that someone who was just an apprentice could handle.
As the nurse went to call Professor Graham, who was in charge, Hans tried to quickly examine the patient.
"Dear Patient, please just wait a moment! We will quickly examine and then treat you!"
Then it was at that moment.
Elise, who was at the side, had been biting down on her lip.
'This is not the time to be examining his heart. This patient's problem is not the heart!'
As she watched this patient, one conclusion came up in her mind.
Judging by his state his problem was definitely 'that'.
'Looking at the state of the patient, he looks like he can't endure until Professor Fallon comes so what should I do?'
She was a trainee on her first day at the critical center and she had no right to attend to this patient and any current authority over him belonged to Hans at the moment.
However, she didn't ponder long.
"Kuugh-!"
The patient gave out a wordless scream and his eyes rolled over as he fainted!
"Patient! Patient! Please come to your senses! Here! Please bring Professor Graham over! Quickly!"
Hans was confounded and cried out.
It was at that moment Elise took over.
"Senior."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry... Can you please lend me a stethoscope?"
"What?"
"Let me borrow a stethoscope. It's urgent. Quickly!"
"-?!"
While Hans stood there flabbergasted, Elise grabbed the stethoscope off his neck.
"I am sorry! I will give you an explanation later!"
".....!"
There was no time to give a detailed explanation.
She took the stethoscope to his thorax (bosom) and listened to his lungs.
As she listened, her face slowly stiffened.
'As I thought!'
She couldn't hear anything from the lungs.
With these factors and his skinny body, tall height, abrupt chest pains, and rapid shallow breathing, it all came to one conclusion.
'It is definitely pneumothorax!' (collapsed lung)
Her assumption was precise.
'If it's like this then at least 70 percent of the lung on the left side must have been crushed. No, it may not be just that...!'
She swiftly touched the carotid artery.
Then her countenance paled. She could barely feel anything from his carotid artery.
'It's not just a simple pneumothorax... It's tension pneumothorax!'
Tension pneumothorax...
'Tension pneumothorax is when the accumulation of air in the pleural space is under pressure, compressing the lungs and decreasing venous return to the heart!
If it's not taken care of right now it will lead to death!'
"Please give me a syringe."
"What?"
However, Hans hadn't come to his senses quite yet.
Unlike the usual calm voice she used, she cried out in a strong voice. That was how urgent the patient's condition was!
"Quickly, give me a syringe! One with the thickest point!"
"....!"
Thankfully, the nurse understood what she was saying and brought the thickest syringe at the center to her.
"Here!"
The needlepoint was almost as big as a nail.
Hans was flabbergasted and asked.
"Wh-what are you going to do with that?"
She didn't bother to answer. No, there was no time to answer.
She took the syringe as if it was a knife and thrust it directly into the patient's chest.
Poke!
As she inserted the large needle, it bore into the 2nd intercostal space in the midclavicular line and blood squirted out onto her face. However, she didn't even blink an eye.
'Not yet. A bit more!'
She inserted the needle even deeper.
"Kagh!"
At that petrifying scene, someone let out a scream.
Hans face also blanched white.
To think she could just pierce a needle into the area where the heart, aorta, and lung were all collected in one space! If she made one mistake it could lead to immediate death!
"You, you...! What is this?!"
Then it was that moment...
The reason why she was surprised was that only apprentices, who have proven their skills and been acknowledged after a long time, were normally sent to the critical center.
Graham worried for a moment.
'Is it too early to send this child to the critical center?'
However, he shook his head.
'No.'
For some reason, he felt it would be completely fine to send this particular girl.
'It's not like I have anything left to teach her. It will be better if I teach her as we treat patients at the center instead
Also...
I feel curious and want to see her reaction when patients with serious injuries come.'
Graham had a prickly personality but medical knowledge was everything to him, and was itching to see what kind of sight this common sense-defying talent could show him.
*******************************************************************************
That night at the Marquis' place
"Elise."
"Yes, Father."
"Is everything all right at the hospital?"
Elise laughed and answered.
"Yes, it's been quite fun."
To be honest, she wanted to see to the patients more actively but her status was just an apprentice so there wasn't much that she could do for the time being.
"Really? It's not too difficult?"
"Yes, everything is fine."
Marquise El let out a sigh.
He wished she would quickly give up as he didn't want to see her suffer at all, yet it looked as if there was absolutely no chance she would just give up on her own. In fact, he could see her obvious enjoyment whenever she went to the hospital.
'In any case, in Teresa Hospital. Those guys are..."
After he secretly looked into Elise's hospital life he was shocked to the point of being speechless.
They dared to put the apple of his eyes in the vagrant's ward and ditch her there?!
It happened because they hid the fact that she was the daughter of the Clarence family but it was still hard to swallow back his rage.
'If Elise didn't try to stop me I would have fired everyone.'
The doctors at Theresa Hospital had no clue that if his daughter didn't stop him not only would everyone be fired, but a blood wind would have swept throughout the hospital and that young one, Graham, would've definitely been fired for sure.
'To think that they made such a delicate girl look after vagrants!'
It had been 10 days since she started to go work at the hospital but this child, who was already delicate, had lost even more weight.
'I want to force her to quit right now, but she likes it so much. Hah~!'
He felt so frustrated.
"All right, so where are you going tomorrow?"
"The critical center."
"What? The critical center?"
Marquis El furrowed his brows. He knew what kind of place the critical center was.
Wasn't it a harsh place where you had to see to serious and critical patients?!
'You're going to send such a weak child to the critical center?! I shouldn't have left these guys alone!'
He wanted to call for Head Director Goate and rage at him.
'What kind of apprenticeship were they doing?! That young guy called Graham must go! He's fired!'
He would have done it too if his daughter didn't laugh and speak such words.
"I will go and study hard. Father, I can do it so don't worry so much."
At the sound of her voice that asked him not to worry and trust her, Marquis El could only let out another sigh.
"...Elise."
"Yes, father?"
"If someone bullies you let me know. I won't let them off."
His voice sounded heavy, as if he would seriously hit the hospital with a bloody storm of termination notices.
At her father's love, Elise could only awkwardly smile. In any case, Elise was able to put her father's worry behind her and left for Theresa Hospital's critical center.
"My name is Rose. Starting today, I will be working as an apprentice. Please take care of me ."
"...!"
Everyone was so surprised that they stared at her.
'Who is she?'
'She looks like a lady of a noble house but is an apprentice? Why would she be in a place like this?'
A critical center is a place where patients with serious conditions are given immediate care, so only apprentices who went through a long period of training and had expert experience were allowed in the critical center. Therefore the three apprentices who were currently working at the critical center had, at the very least, went through three years of apprenticeship and was skilled to the point that they could almost officially become doctors.
Yet, how could that kind of girl come here?
"Lady, I think you came to the wrong place. This is a shelter, a place for the injured or patients in need of immediate care."
A young man who seemed to be the leader among the apprentices spoke out. The girl who looked like a doll yet held such elegant beauty made him choose his words carefully.
However, the girl nodded her head,
"Yes, I already know. My teacher told me to come to the critical center starting from today to work that why I am here."
"Who is your teacher, my lady?"
The young man asked taken back. However, a young man's voice called out from behind at that moment.
"It's me. I am this child's teacher."
".....!"
Everyone was surprised and looked at them.
"Professor Fallon!"
That prickly look, that handsome face. It was Baron Graham de Fallon.
"Hans."
"Yes, Professor!"
The leader among the apprentices, Hans, replied nervously.
Graham was someone who was hit here and there by the upper class in the hierarchy of the hospital but to the apprentices, he was like a man from the heavens. A professor who was like the sky to them.
Everyone especially respected him for his skill which made him known as a genius.
"This child will be trained here starting today. I will be the one training her most of the time but when I am not here or when I am busy please take care of her."
Hans couldn't help but wonder when he heard she would be trained at the critical center.
'That girl is being trained here? Can she do it?'
The training at the critical center was not your usual apprenticeship training.
The critical center was a place that served as the accident and emergency department so the apprentices had to help the doctors with critical patients and had to sometimes directly treat patients. She would have to see many critical patients with wounds that could make your heart fall to the stomach..... Can a girl that looks so delicate be able to handle and endure that?
'She looks like she would faint at the sight of a single drop of blood so how can she see to a critical patient?'
Either way, it was a command from a professor he respected so he nodded his head in understanding.
"Yes, I understand."
"That's good, I am going to a meeting right now so teach her what she needs to know about the situation here and where the supplies are."
"Yes!'
After Graham left Hans approached Elise.
"Lady Rose?"
"Yes, Senior. You may simply call me Rose."
"Al-alright."
A calm tone of voice and a doll-like face. Hans, who was at a vigorous age, couldn't help but slightly blush.
'She's so pretty. This is the first time that I've ever met someone as pretty as her.
She's obviously a noble, right?'
He couldn't help but think that due to her elegant demeanor.
There were cases: financial problems, if a noble house falls to ruin, their status goes back to being commoners due to the flow of time, they are unable to inherit the title or they especially lack inheritance. Nobles would try to become doctors for they are an existence that is acknowledged and respected in society.
Hans' father happened to have come from one of the minor noble families.
"Please follow me."
"Yes."
"This is where we see patients who are wounded and this is where we put all the IV solutions together. Do you know when we use these?"
Hans kindly explained this and that to her.
"The professors can't be on call here for 24 hours a day, so when patients arrive, apprentices like us will see the patients first and then give a report on them. Then different doctors in charge will come to treat them. In this way, the critical center is run."
It was set up in a similar system to the ER on earth.
After all, in Korean hospitals when a patient first comes to the emergency room an intern or a 'resident' will first meet with them and then notify the doctors in charge of that field as they are needed.
"These are the tools for surgery. Sometimes, when a patient who needs immediate care comes, we will do emergency surgery right here."
"Yes."
"I will directly show you what we do with this next time when we have a patient."
He felt his heart race as he saw her sweetly reply to his explanations. To think such a cute girl would come after always spending all his days with dark guys!
His voice slowly grew in strength.
"This tool is..."
However, at that moment a voice sharply rang out throughout the center.
"Professor, there's a patient here!"
".....!"
Hans looked at Elise and answered back in a trustworthy voice.
"Let's go, Rose. I will show you how to treat patients."
However, his face stiffened when he saw the patient.
*Pant Pant*
"My breath!"
A tall, skinny young man was rapidly giving out short shallow breaths.
He was heaving his chest and it looked quite serious.
"My ch-chest...!"
*Pant Pant*
He had so much trouble breathing he couldn't even finish his words properly.
Hans urgently cried.
"He's a patient with a chest contusion so please bring an electrocardiogram for the heart! And please call Professor Fallon!"
It wasn't a patient that someone who was just an apprentice could handle.
As the nurse went to call Professor Graham, who was in charge, Hans tried to quickly examine the patient.
"Dear Patient, please just wait a moment! We will quickly examine and then treat you!"
Then it was at that moment.
Elise, who was at the side, had been biting down on her lip.
'This is not the time to be examining his heart. This patient's problem is not the heart!'
As she watched this patient, one conclusion came up in her mind.
Judging by his state his problem was definitely 'that'.
'Looking at the state of the patient, he looks like he can't endure until Professor Fallon comes so what should I do?'
She was a trainee on her first day at the critical center and she had no right to attend to this patient and any current authority over him belonged to Hans at the moment.
However, she didn't ponder long.
"Kuugh-!"
The patient gave out a wordless scream and his eyes rolled over as he fainted!
"Patient! Patient! Please come to your senses! Here! Please bring Professor Graham over! Quickly!"
Hans was confounded and cried out.
It was at that moment Elise took over.
"Senior."
"Huh?"
"I'm sorry... Can you please lend me a stethoscope?"
"What?"
"Let me borrow a stethoscope. It's urgent. Quickly!"
"-?!"
While Hans stood there flabbergasted, Elise grabbed the stethoscope off his neck.
"I am sorry! I will give you an explanation later!"
".....!"
There was no time to give a detailed explanation.
She took the stethoscope to his thorax (bosom) and listened to his lungs.
As she listened, her face slowly stiffened.
'As I thought!'
She couldn't hear anything from the lungs.
With these factors and his skinny body, tall height, abrupt chest pains, and rapid shallow breathing, it all came to one conclusion.
'It is definitely pneumothorax!' (collapsed lung)
Her assumption was precise.
'If it's like this then at least 70 percent of the lung on the left side must have been crushed. No, it may not be just that...!'
She swiftly touched the carotid artery.
Then her countenance paled. She could barely feel anything from his carotid artery.
'It's not just a simple pneumothorax... It's tension pneumothorax!'
Tension pneumothorax...
'Tension pneumothorax is when the accumulation of air in the pleural space is under pressure, compressing the lungs and decreasing venous return to the heart!
If it's not taken care of right now it will lead to death!'
"Please give me a syringe."
"What?"
However, Hans hadn't come to his senses quite yet.
Unlike the usual calm voice she used, she cried out in a strong voice. That was how urgent the patient's condition was!
"Quickly, give me a syringe! One with the thickest point!"
"....!"
Thankfully, the nurse understood what she was saying and brought the thickest syringe at the center to her.
"Here!"
The needlepoint was almost as big as a nail.
Hans was flabbergasted and asked.
"Wh-what are you going to do with that?"
She didn't bother to answer. No, there was no time to answer.
She took the syringe as if it was a knife and thrust it directly into the patient's chest.
Poke!
As she inserted the large needle, it bore into the 2nd intercostal space in the midclavicular line and blood squirted out onto her face. However, she didn't even blink an eye.
'Not yet. A bit more!'
She inserted the needle even deeper.
"Kagh!"
At that petrifying scene, someone let out a scream.
Hans face also blanched white.
To think she could just pierce a needle into the area where the heart, aorta, and lung were all collected in one space! If she made one mistake it could lead to immediate death!
"You, you...! What is this?!"
Then it was that moment...
