red haired herbalist.

03

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chapter three
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busy making a herbal soup with fried eggs on the side, yuta was greeted by his landlord early in the morning. "yuta-ssi! i have some freshly baked bread for you" she said as yuta sniffed the air, the aroma of the bread filling his small room.

"it smells great!" he said, pouring the soup in a bowl and putting the eggs on a plate before giving them to the landlord. "you didn't have to" she said with a smile, but took the dish yuta made anyway as it looked too irresistible. "please, you've given me a place to stay till i get job, this is the least i can do to thank you for your kindness!" he said, taking the bread.

the landlord chuckles before asking, "how are you getting used to living in clarines?"

"oh, it's great here! i'll be going out to look for a job today"

"good luck with that! after all, only ones who work get to eat" she said patting him encouragingly on his shoulders before leaving the house.

yuta soon finds himself outside, wandering the town in search for a job. although there are so many options, nothing sparks his interests. he roams around for a couple of hours, until he comes across the town pharmacy. he could have gone there first considering he's a herbalist himself, but the pharmacy was quite far away from his place.

entering, he is surprised to see how big the place was for a town pharmacy. he walks up to the desk and meets and old man. they greet each other before yuta enquires if he could get a job there as a herbalist, and tells him he was already one in tanbarun.

"we don't actually need anyone at the moment" the old man says, his fingers running through his white beard. they soon move to lift up his glasses and rest them comfortably on his nose, before he continues, "your hair though..." he trails off, observing yuta's hair before a woman working behind the desk tells the man it could rude to talk to someone about their appearance that way on their first meeting.

yuta was disappointed as he really wanted to have this job. his head drops and eyebrows form a frown.

it doesn't last long as his attention then goes over to a tall, but young boy standing next to him. he seemed quiet but was so focused on getting his herbs from the pharmacy's impressive supplies.

"that boy is a child prodigy in the field of medicine" the old man says when he sees yuta had noticed the young, lean boy, yuta looking at the boy as he selects a bunch of herbs he's never even seen before. "its not easy to get a job in the royal court, but this boy at a young age became a court herbalist" he continues as yuta looked at the man.

"court herbalist?" yuta asks, eyebrows raised, letting the man know it was surprising.

"yes" he replies, taking out a beige sheet of paper, giving it to yuta, "they hold a test once in year. since you say you're already a pharmacist and educated in this field, you'll just have to learn a bit more and you might have a shot at an apprenticeship within the castle"

yuta has a look at the paper and sees the boy leave the shop, hearing a few more words from the old pharmacy owner, "i'm sure you already know this, but only the most knowledgeable and skillful pharmacists can become court pharmacists"

🌹

he makes his way to the palace, standing in front of the huge golden gates with the wisterian crest. "how can we help you sir?" one of the royal guards ask yuta. knowing that jaehyun is a prince and would definitely busy at this time of the day, he ditches his plan of asking jaehyun, "i'm here to see youngho-ssi, or taeyong-ssi," he says. his cloak flies off his head due to the breeze, uncovering his hair.