“Please, wait a moment. Mélodie-sama, may I see your hand?”

    “Verruca vulgaris”

    Falma used his divine eye to confirm the disease – “verruca”, more commonly known as “warts”. Falma took Mélodie’s hand and brought it near his face to inspect the blood vessels under the warts.

    “These warts were caused by viruses”

    Falma explains the concept of viruses to Mélodie. Warts usually form in places where the skin is injured so Mélodie, as a craftsman, must have hurt her hands a lot.

    “Currently, there are no drugs which can cure this virus”

    The human papillomavirus (HPV) has infected deep into the skin of Mélodie’s palm.

    “No way… it won’t heal? It’ll be very embarrassing if this increases”

    “However, there may be drugs which can treat this… please give me a moment”

    It was impossible to judge the effectiveness of liquid nitrogen as a treatment using Falma’s divine eye, so he checked some other drugs instead.

    “Salicylic acid”

    “Glutaraldehyde”

    There’s a way to soften the stratum corneum of the wart, but it’s not always effective. In this case, it doesn’t seem like it will work for Mélodie.

    At the same time, Lotte had just returned to the pharmacy from her errand and saw Falma unexpectedly grabbing Mélodie’s hand and bringing it close to his face. She was startled and quickly hid in the pharmacy’s shadows.

    “I wonder if I’ll have to leave the de Medicis family’s mansion if I get married… maybe I’ll only get to see Falma-sama at the pharmacy”

    Meanwhile, Falma had finished examining Mélodie’s hand. He was completely ignorant of what had just happened, and instead began to explain the treatment process.

    “There’s no way around it. We’ll freeze the warts using liquid nitrogen. After that, you can return to your mansion for some tea”

    There’s no cure for verruca vulgaris, so the typical treatment is to use liquid nitrogen to freeze the skin until it becomes necrotic. Then, the infected area can be shaved off little by little. It’s normal to not use any anesthesia when treating with liquid nitrogen. However, there may be a sharp pain, so it was important that Mélodie didn’t accidentally activate her flames.

    Mélodie is a flame arts user, so if she accidentally evaporates the liquid nitrogen, then the treatment can’t continue.

    “Ok”

    Mélodie looked puzzled.

    “What would you prefer? A way that may hurt more, but takes less treatments, or a way that may hurt less, but takes more treatments?”

    “I’m in pain, so it’s better if it doesn’t hurt”

    Mélodie was scared.