Francis

Francis has a reputation as a respected physician not just in Hananis, but throughout the whole region.

Her keen sense of smell allows her to diagnose diseases with just a single sniff, and the medicine she creates from her hand-picked selection of herbs is extremely effective.

People come from near and far to seek care at Francis's clinic, and she always tries her hardest to bring them relief from both their physical pain and their mental distress. Her beautiful appearance sometimes intimidates people, but her warm smile, gentle voice, and genuine concern for her patients always wins people over.

"Remember, love is the cure for all types of pain.♡"

Even though her catchphrase might be a little eccentric, all of her patients know that Francis's beliefs are genuine.

Francis has always been bright and hopelessly optimistic, even as a young child, with the tendency to shy away from conflict and rush to people's aid.

She was treated like an oddity and outcast due to being half-cat beastkin and half-dog beastkin, but she never let this mistreatment get her down. Instead, she saw it as a challenge to overcome using the all-encompassing power of love.

"Conflict and hatred are diseases of the heart. And like other diseases, they can be treated."

Having held that belief since childhood, Francis decided to study medicine and become a doctor.

After becoming a practitioner of medicine, Francis was soon known as unquestionably the best healer in all of Hananis.

Her supernatural sense of smell gave her the ability to diagnose any ailment, and her extensive knowledge of herbs allowed her to craft medicine with ease. Francis paid close attention to her bedside manner, and unlike many other physicians, she also tried her best to heal issues with her patients' hearts and minds.

Her breakthrough techniques and treatments soon became the talk of the entire nation, and royal physicians from Manafall traveled all the way to Hananis to observe Francis attending to patients in her clinic. Yet none of this praise and glory mattered to Francis. In fact, the only thing on her mind was creating the ever-elusive "elixir of love"a miracle drug that would cure a person of even the deepest wounds in their heart.

Francis never stopped wondering how she could cure her patients of the wounds on their hearts.

One day, she was attending to a rather unusual patient: a man who was very, very angry. Francis intuitively knew that his ailments didn't stem from any physical cause, but instead persisted because he had no outlet for his anger.

"Your anger has become a disease. It is pain that has embedded itself deep within your heart," she said, gently patting the man on his shoulder.

This gave her an idea: what if she could diagnose diseases of the heart with her nose, like she could with other diseases? So she took a big whiff... and was immediately disappointed. There was no scent. Her keen sense of smell was of no help when faced with an illness did not have a physical source.

Francis was disappointed by this realization, but she didn't resign herself to her fate. She instead turned to her trusty syringe and workbench, surely, like everything else, this could be solved with the correct medicine, right?

Some time later, the man returned to the clinic, this time to profess his love to Francis.

Francis was taken aback, but she soon welcomed the development, as it was a natural result of the injection she gave him.

"I also love you. I love all of my patients, and everyone else around me."

In that moment, Francis realized that she was on the right track, the drug that she had injected him with must have awakened the power of love within him! She could hardly contain her excitement. This was the "Elixir of Love" that she'd been seeking, the drug with the power to heal hearts.

From that day forth, Francis began administering the Elixir of Love to every patient who came to her clinic. After all, she thought, everyone has been through painful experiences, and everyone could benefit from more love in their lives!

Surely the Elixir of Love could cure them of all of their anger and pain. However, the drug didn't always work, sometimes, it would fail to have any effect on the pain in the hearts of her patients. Other times, it would violently awaken emotions that very much were not "love..."

But Francis was not going to give up. After all, love doesn't just happen overnight.

Francis realized that her Elixir of Love wasn't complete yet. She spent her days researching ways to make it even stronger.

She agonized over the meaning of love, and how to instill that meaning into a more concentrated dose. She continued her work until she finally made a more potent version of the Elixir of Love that could awaken stronger emotions than before. Surely, she thought, this would finally be able to cure those diseases of the heart.

Unfortunately, the fact that her Elixir of Love was more potent meant that its side effects were also more potent.

One day, a man who had received a dose of the improved Elixir of Love returned to the clinic and showed signs of an unhealthy infatuation towards Francis. Maybe this infatuation could have been considered "love," but it had been amplified to a point it had become dangerous. As she kicked the man out of the clinic, a realization struck Francis

"This isn't true love."

Love is a profound emotion, it cannot be toyed with. Love stems from understanding and appreciating the little details about the people around you, and no amount of herbs and medicine could ever hope to replicate that experience.

Francis finally admitted to herself that her approach had been flawed from the start: a perfect Elixir of Love that could be administered via syringe did not exist.

But she did not give up. In order to truly cure people of everything that ailed their hearts, she still needed an "Elixir of Love," no matter what form it took, or how much additional research was required to get there.

"I can't stop now. This is something that I can do for the world, and it's something only I can do."

She whispered to herself. "I'm going to continue my quest for true love, until that fateful day when all pain is purged from everyone's heart and replaced with nothing but love, love, and more love!"