Doctor Elise

Chapter 1

Preface

[This is an emergency! This is an emergency!]

The captain’s shaky voice blared throughout the interior of the plane.

[Ladies and gentlemen, our plane is currently deviating from our route due to an unidentified gas abnormality.]

At that moment, a loud boom came from one side of the plane. It was the sound of something exploding.

The gigantic Concorde passenger plane erupted in chaos.

“Eeek!”

“Save us! Ahhh!”

[Ladies and gentlemen, two of our engines have stopped. Please prepare for emergency evacuation immediately. I repeat, please prepare...]

Every face turned pale.

Emergency evacuation?

The plane was in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, ten thousand meters in the air.

An emergency evacuation meant certain death.

“Ahh! Save me! I can’t die like this!”

“Mommy! Ahhh!”

All of the passengers screamed in terror in the face of death.

At that moment, one Korean woman in business class clenched her fist.

Emergency evacuation? There’s no way we’ll survive if we evacuate here!

Her body trembled.

No! I can’t die like this again! I wasn’t happy in this life either, and I was finally taking steps toward my happiness!

Her name was Jihyun Song. She was a surgeon and a genius who had just been appointed to the Seoul National University School of Medicine as the youngest professor in its history.

I worked myself to the bone for this! I was just about to make up for my sins in my last life!

Master Surgeon.

Great Surgeon.

An unparalleled genius.

Monster.

There were countless names that people called her.

But so what?

She was about to die anyway.

I wanted to be happy in this life.

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

This was already her second pointless death.

Her past two lives flashed before her eyes.

***

Her first life wasn’t on Earth but a different world.

Elise de Clarence.

Born to a noble house, she rose to the position of empress, only to be executed after a terrible life of temptation and jealousy.

Why did I live like that back then?

It was a shameful past she hated to even think back on.

Though there was no way to see them again, she had nothing but regrets for the people she had wronged. Especially her family, her loved ones who lost their lives because of her. If there was a way to see them again, even once...

Of course, it was an impossible, pointless wish. Her sins stayed with her as a heavy weight on her heart.

And her second life was as Jihyun Song.

Born an orphan, she spent her life working tooth and nail.

Despite being an orphan, she graduated early from science high school and was admitted into Seoul National University. She then graduated medical school at the top of her class. Now, she had just become the youngest professor in the history of Seoul National University School of Medicine!

She had worked endlessly in order to make up for her sins in her first life by saving lives in this one. She was just about to embark on her dream and finally become happy! And now she was going to die!

There came another explosion, and the plane tilted.

She cringed in reaction.

Next came the thick smell of something burning.

She knew she was about to die. Even an emergency evacuation was impossible at this point.

She squeezed her eyes tight in response to the encroaching terror.

Ahh...!

But in that final moment, for some reason, she suddenly remembered her family from her first life as Elise.

Her stoic father.

Her no-nonsense oldest brother, who always thought of her.

Her kind second-oldest brother, who always cared for her despite her misbehavior.

Her precious family, whom she hadn’t appreciated at the time.

She wanted to see them. Could it have been because of the awful things she had done back then? Even though thirty years had passed, her longing for her past family had only deepened.

If I could only see them again... If only...

Just then, a bright light filled her vision just as she heard another explosion.

That was Jihyun Song’s final memory.

That was how her second life ended.

Act 1: Regression

Part 1 Regression-1

A woman soaked from head to toe in blood was bound to a hazy monochrome execution stand. Her fancy clothes, a signal of her noble status, had long been dirtied through her suffering.

Angered heroes yelled, “Die! Die!”

“You villainess!”

A stone arched through the air and struck her head.

A crimson trickle of blood followed, but no one sympathized with her. They offered her nothing but enraged curses.

“Do you have any final words?” the emperor asked in front of the execution stand.

Her once-husband’s eyes held nothing but cold disdain for her.

The emperor continued frigidly, “The marquess... your father and your brothers are all dead. All because of your crimes!”

She could only startle silently.

“They all worried about you until the end. They asked me to spare your life, if nothing else.”

Her eyes filled with regret and torment on hearing those words. But it was all too late.

“Make your amends from hell,” the emperor proclaimed coldly.

And then, the gruesome guillotine dropped on her neck.

***

The next scene was of a monochrome operating room.

Doctors watched their patient anxiously.

“The patient’s spleen ruptured! His blood pressure is too low!”

“What about the transfusion?!”

“We’re already doing it! But he’s losing too much blood.”

The patient’s eyes fluttered. They were in a terrible state.

Could they save him?

That was when the door to the operating room opened, and a woman entered.

“How is the patient?”

A small woman—no, “petite” was the more accurate word for her. She was the kind of woman who seemed like she would faint at the sight of a drop of blood, the kind of woman who seemed completely unsuited for a harsh operating room like this.

Yet, the doctors’ expressions shifted strangely when they saw her.

“Professor!”

It was as though they had seen their salvation.

The woman asked in a calm voice, “We’re all prepped for surgery, yes? How is his blood pressure?”

“It’s in the sixties.”

This was the level of severe shock, yet the woman remained unshaken, merely nodding in response.

As she pulled on her gloves, she turned her eyes to a male doctor in good physical condition.

“Chief Kim.”

“Yes? Yes, Professor!”

“Why are you so tense?”

“Well... the patient’s state is...”

The woman smiled at those words. It was a gentle smile, the kind that calmed nervous minds.

“Chief Kim, what should we do now?”

He hesitated.

“Go on.”

“After opening his stomach... we have to find the source of the bleeding and cauterize that vein. And after we see the severity of the spleen rupture, we decide whether or not to excise it.”

The woman nodded as if it was no big deal.

“That’s right. Exactly. That’s what we’ll do.” She continued, “Listen closely. We’re going to save this patient. His situation may not be very good, but I think we can save him. Don’t you all agree?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The doctors began to feel their anxiety settle down at her calm words.

That’s right. They could do it, no matter the patient, as long as they had this youthful but strong woman with them!

“Scalpel.”

The moment they began surgery, her expression changed. She transformed from a delicate woman into a steeled surgeon who fought at the crossroads of life and death.

“Beginning the incision.”

The scalpel cut through the abdominal wall.

Blood spraying from the artery soaked her pale face, and thus the battle began.

***

Jihyun’s eyes flew open. “Another dream...”

She shook her head.

They were dreams of her past lives as both the empire’s villainess, Elise, and the surgeon Jihyun Song.

“But what exactly happened here?”

She looked down at herself.

“I’m sure I died...”

And yet she was still alive.

And in an incredibly familiar body at that!

She exhaled deeply and looked into the mirror in disbelief.

She saw a beautiful, doll-like face framed by white-gold locks: Elise de Clarence.

She had returned to her first life.

Just how is this possible?

She sighed.

She was sure that she, Jihyun Song, had died, and in a mysterious plane accident at that.

However, when she opened her eyes, she had returned to the body from her first life—to when she was sixteen years old in fact.

I have no idea.

She shook her head.

Regardless, I’m alive.

It had already been ten days since she regained consciousness. She couldn’t have been more confused, but she was much calmer at this point. She may not have understood how this happened, but she had decided to accept it.

“My lady, my lady. I’m coming in.”

“Ah, sure. Come in.”

A young maid dressed in a maid uniform entered with food.

“Here you are, my lady.”

“Mm, thanks.”

The young maid carefully set the food down on the table before glancing cautiously at her.

“Um... my lady?”

“Mm?”

“You aren’t feeling sick, are you?”

“I’m fine. Why?” Jihyun was surprised.

“Ah, just... You seem a little different. You’re also so lethargic compared to normal...”

She tilted her head, puzzled, before realizing what the maid meant.

Ah, because my personality is usually...

Contrary to her doll-like appearance, Elise de Clarence, her first life, had had a terrible personality.

She got irritated and threw tantrums at the drop of a pin, and she would even throw objects regularly. There were quite a few servants who had been injured merely for unfortunately getting on her bad side.

This is still on the calm side for me. I had a temper, but I hadn’t committed any particularly big crimes yet. But when I get older...

She thought back to the awful things she had done and shuddered.

The empire’s grandest house, House Clarence, ended up falling because of her. The sight of her beloved family dying remained a heavy weight in her chest even during her second life.

I won’t let that happen this time.

She had returned to Elise’s body, so she had to live Elise’s life to some degree.

She wasn’t sure exactly how to go about it though, since she had lived as a surgeon doctor on Earth.

But there was one thing she was certain of: she was absolutely dead set against repeating a life full of regrets.

“Marie.”

“Yes? Yes!”

The young maid Marie jumped in surprise at her gentle tone.

What is she doing? She’s not about to nitpick something and beat me, is she?

The young maid was fully aware of her young master’s viciousness, and fear filled her eyes.

“It’s today, right? My punishment ends today?”

“Yes, my lady.”

At present, Elise had been confined to her room after angering her father, Marquess Earl.

It was better that I was being confined.

Thanks to that, no one had come to seek her out. If someone had seen her in her confused state, they would have found it strange.

“Um, my lady. The marquess actually wanted to see you at lunch.”

“Father did?”

“Yes, he said to join the family lunch.”

Jihyun was surprised.

The family lunch?

“Is everyone attending? Father, Stepmother, and both of my older brothers?”

“Yes, of course. The vice commander of the Rifle Knights is away, but the rest of the family should be present.”

Jihyun’s heart fluttered.

She would finally get to see her family from her past life again.

It was a long-awaited reunion, spanning two lives and deaths.

***

It was nearly lunchtime. Jihyun stood before the dining hall of the estate in a dress.

I have to go inside.

Time ticked by as she hesitated to open the doors.

Lunch had already begun, and her entire family had already gathered.

How am I supposed to treat them?

The reason she was hesitating? Because she had no idea how to face her family after thirty years.

I missed you all so much.

Living on Earth during her second life hadn’t erased her family from her first life. If anything, she had wanted to see them all the time, possibly because of the crimes she had committed.

But...

Because she was still “Jihyun Song, the surgeon” in her mind and not “Elise, the daughter of the marquess,” she felt awkward about facing them again.

However, she shook her head.

What are you hesitating for, Jihyun? You’re seeing your family again. The family you’ve wanted to see for thirty years.

As soon as she opened the door to the dining hall with a creak, her family stopped their conversations and turned to look at her.

The moment she saw them, time stopped for Jihyun.

Ah...

She covered her mouth with a trembling hand.

There had never been any need to worry about how she would face her family.

Her father, who had loved her stoically and died after being framed for her crime.

Her second older brother, who had always taken her side with boundless affection but had been sent to the battlefield because of her and died.

Her stepmother, who had cared for her like her own child even while wasting away from illness but whom Elise had hated.

They were alive and watching her.

That fact shook her to the core.

“Elise? Is something the matter?”

Just as her father asked in surprise, a teardrop ran down her cheek.

“Ah, ah...”

She quickly wiped at her face, but her tears refused to stop and continued to fall.

“Lise?! What’s wrong?”

Her brother, who had always treasured her, dashed to her side in surprise.

“Was your punishment that hard on you? I told you, Father. Even if she did make a mistake, confining her to her room for ten days was too much. Don’t cry, my sweet little sister. Come here.”

Her brother Chris pulled her into his arms.

His warm embrace, the familiar warmth she finally experienced again after thirty years, made the tears continue to flow.

Big Brother, I’ve felt so sorry all this time, really. Really... I promise I won’t let this life go the same way.

Her second older brother had joined the war in the Crimean Peninsula because of her. She recalled when the estate received the notice that he had been killed in battle. She would never repeat that hopelessness.

Chris patted her shoulder as he held her.

“Lise? Lise?! You must have had such a hard time. Don’t cry. You’re almost of marrying age. You can’t be crying like this.”

Her father and stepmother approached as well.

“I told you that was too severe, dear. Even if she did make a mistake.”

“Ahem, I... I apologize. It seems I was too severe. I-I made a mistake, so don’t cry.”

Her stoic father apologized, flustered.

But Jihyun didn’t hear anything they said.

They’re alive. They’re all alive. This isn’t a dream.

She stepped back from Chris’ arms.

“I... I’m all right.”

She then faced her family. Her tears wouldn’t stop, but she smiled through them anyway. It was a smile that held the return and pain of her past life, as well as its nostalgia.

“Father, Mother, and Chris.”

“What is it, Elise?”

She said the words she had been carrying in her heart for a long time, for thirty years.

“I love you.”

She then closed her eyes. Another tear fell.

“And... I’m sorry, truly.”

That was how she returned to her first life.