Unlike what Aqua might have imagined, Maria was not spending her afternoon strolling gently through the hospital gardens, laughing with children, handing out sweets, or sitting beside elderly patients while listening to their stories.
Normally, that was exactly what she loved to do.
Whenever she visited the hospital, she would brighten the wards, kneel beside the sick, brush hair away from feverish brows, bring handmade gifts, and play silly games with the children until they forgot, even for a moment that they were ill.
But today was different.
Right now, Maria stood inside a dimly lit operating theater.
The room was heavy with the scent of sterilizing herbs and alchemical disinfectants.
Crystals embedded into the walls cast a cold white glow over everything, reflecting off polished metal trays filled with surgical instruments.
She wore a full surgical gown, gloves, and a mask that concealed the lower half of her face.
