00. Prologue

At the entrance of the forest near the village. From early morning, the sound of footsteps walking along the trail could be heard. The person hurriedly emerging from the forest with a bag larger than her own body slung over her shoulder was a woman with a gentle impression wearing a cloak. An ordinary human who looked too weak to believe she had been wandering alone in the forest where darkness had not yet fully disappeared.

“I’ve picked Canel fruits and Shakaron berries…… And this amount of Hasheen leaves should be enough for a while?”

A satisfied smile spread across the woman’s face as she rummaged through her bag to check today’s harvest. As she navigated the familiar trail and entered the village, villagers who had started their busy morning began to appear one by one on the streets. As soon as she entered the village, pushing back the hood she had been wearing, people who made eye contact with her greeted her warmly.

“Oh, Olive! Busy from the morning again today?”

“I need to gather ingredients daily to keep them fresh. Did you sleep well?”

She passed by, receiving greetings from the elderly blacksmith owner guarding the entrance to the village. A middle-aged man sweeping in front of the fruit shop also waved with a bright smile.

“Hey, Oli! When can I make a reservation this week?”

“If it’s an emergency, you’re always first priority, so you can come right away without a reservation.”

The fruit shop owner, saying she was indeed reliable, discreetly slipped a few fruits into her ingredient basket. I really don’t need this! As she bowed her head in greeting, morning greetings from villagers flew to her without giving her a moment to rest.

“I told you not to wander around alone. If something happens to Friche, it would be a disaster for our village.”

Oli, Olive, Friche, and so on. The woman called by various names was actually named “Olivia Friche.”

She probably didn’t realize it, but with her shy smile and polite bow whenever she made eye contact, she was quite a popular figure in the village. Because she was pretty, kind, lovely, gentle, and capable. A truly clear and simple reason.

Being so popular, she finally reached home after greeting each person who enthusiastically welcomed her. Her house was a small cottage on the outskirts of the village.

What made it special was that despite the small cottage, the yard was quite large and filled with olive trees and lime trees. The reason most villagers called her “Olive” was because the olive trees filling the yard made a strong impression on people. For those urgently looking for the cottage, the olive trees that immediately caught the eye were more memorable than the true meaning of her name. Simply put, to people, Olivia was “that person from the olive tree cottage.”

“Everyone is so diligent.”

The color of the sky gradually changed. As she looked up at the sky turning from deep navy darkness to clear blue, she increasingly felt that a new day had begun. Olivia swallowed the villagers’ welcoming but somewhat overwhelming morning greetings that still tingled in her ears with a smile.

“First, I need to organize and dry the gathered ingredients……”

Having lived alone for several years now, she had unconsciously developed a habit of talking to herself. Without anyone listening, she muttered to herself with a melody as she sat at her workbench and processed the freshly gathered ingredients. With practiced skill, her fingertips were nimble and precise as she washed, trimmed, and sorted the materials.

“Olive!”

Olivia’s shoulders jumped at the sudden shout that interrupted her peaceful morning work. Soon after, with a loud crash, the cottage door flung open. Belatedly, the bell attached to the door jingled, awkwardly announcing the visitor’s presence.

“Ah, hello, Noah.”

“My baby! P-please look at my baby quickly!”

Sweating profusely from rushing over, Noah urgently approached her and held out the small creature he had been carrying. Startled by the sudden action, Olivia blinked in bewilderment. But when the small creature appeared from his arms, her expression changed instantly.

“Oh my, why is it injured like this?”

Setting aside the ingredients she had been preparing, Olivia gestured toward the examination table. After quickly washing her hands and returning, she examined the condition of the puppy that Noah had carefully placed down. One leg seemed injured somehow, with its white fur completely soaked in red liquid. Olivia’s lime-green eyes sparkled with a serious light. After examining the wound for a while, she sighed deeply and relaxed her body.

“Why, what? How is it? Is it badly hurt? Is it serious?”

“Hmm, no. The wound isn’t that big……”

Olivia’s ambiguous gaze turned to the puppy whimpering on the bed.

“Phoebe, how did this happen? Hmm?”

At the sudden question, the whimpering puppy became quiet for a moment. Puppy Phoebe looked suspiciously at Olivia, moving her black, round eyes around. Even when she tried to coax an answer by gently caressing Phoebe’s soft cheeks with both hands, Phoebe didn’t give in. Having no choice, she made a slightly stern expression with a “Hmm!” Then Phoebe slightly raised her head and rubbed it against her hand as if being affectionate.

“Myung! Myung-myung! Myung!”

The cottage filled with the sound of the puppy barking enthusiastically. A high-pitched and cute howl that matched her small body continued urgently with “myung-myung.” Olivia placed her hands on her hips, nodding and focusing on the puppy’s words. Like a teacher listening to an excuse. Meanwhile, the owner, Noah, looked alternately at the puppy and Olivia with a puzzled expression.

—Myung! I just wanted to taste the juice a little, but the bottle suddenly fell.

“That doesn’t mean you should pretend to be hurt.”

Surprisingly, Olivia could actually understand what the puppy was saying. The real story behind what sounded like just a dog barking to ordinary people’s ears pierced straight into Olivia’s mind.

She could understand everything animals said.

This was the most secretive of Olivia’s capable abilities. It was a secret she hadn’t revealed even to her mother and younger sibling, who were the most precious to her, and even she herself didn’t know why or how this inexplicable innate ability had come about. Born with this ability, she initially thought everyone could understand animal speech like her. But as she grew up and realized she was different from others, Olivia never told anyone about her special secret. Besides, even if she did tell someone, no one would believe such a fairy tale-like story.

After listening to Phoebe’s excuses for a while, Olivia gently tapped the puppy’s nose and wiped the red-stained fur several times with a wet towel.

“Fortunately, she’s not injured, just stained with beet juice. It seems she tried to taste the beet juice you left and accidentally spilled it.”

“Is that all? Haa, I really thought something terrible had happened.”

“The stain won’t come off with washing, but it will naturally return to its original color as the fur sheds over time.”

“Myung-myung!”

—Give me beet juice too! I like beet juice!

“Umm, and Phoebe says she wants to share beet juice next time, yes, that’s right.”

Olivia glanced at the puppy’s expression as she added the last words. Relieved, Noah burst into laughter and rubbed Phoebe’s fur.

“At times like this, it really seems like Olive can understand what dogs are saying.”

“I’ve been observing and learning for years now, so I’m a professional. Ahem.”

Olivia habitually diffused the situation with an appropriate laugh. Noah, as if it was just a joke, chimed in with “Yeah, that’s right!” and hugged the puppy preciously again. Having taken over her adoptive mother’s work as a healer for several years now, jokes about how she “really seems to understand animal speech” had become a kind of compliment to her abilities, and people often spoke that way.

“Sorry for causing a commotion over nothing this morning.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m actually relieved it wasn’t something serious. Please come anytime if anything strange happens. Bye, Phoebe!”

Olivia waved her hand to the cute Phoebe who was nestled in Noah’s arms, while waving away his apologies with assurances that it was fine.

“Ah, Noah. Could you flip the sign on your way out?”

“Sure. Have a good day!”

With another cheerful jingle of the bell, the door closed. As Olivia had requested, Noah changed the ‘close’ sign to ‘open’ and left the yard, cradling Phoebe. Watching through the window, Olivia smiled to herself and headed back to her workbench.

The day of Olivia Friche, the village’s only animal healer and apothecary, began busily a little earlier than others today as well.