Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 102

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“There’s no way something like that could happen!”
“A small Black Forest? That’s absurd!”
“I’ve never even heard of such a thing.”
Seres’s mouth twisted into a wry smile.
Well, it was a reaction she’d already anticipated to some degree.
As she’d said before, if she hadn’t witnessed it with her own eyes, she would have laughed them off just as mercilessly as they were doing now.
‘But what else can I do? It’s the truth.’
If this had been a one-time occurrence, she might have simply observed the situation more quietly.
But these phenomena were already happening all across the empire, weren’t they?
Then there was no point in hiding it anymore. They had to face it directly and find a solution.
“The Warning Device malfunctions that frequently?”
After the Arcane Tower distributed new Warning Devices with shorter effective ranges, they had begun going off regularly even in areas where no Black Forest had appeared.
And after each false alarm, a corpse bearing the marks of a monster attack was invariably discovered.
“And you’re calling that a simple mechanical malfunction?”
This was suspicious enough that even a child would question it.
Why were they all so intent on denying that monsters were involved?
Out of fear? Laziness?
‘Are they serious?’
How long did they intend to keep this up?
“It’s possible, is what I’m saying.”
Bryson, the marquis who had referred to Seres as “a creature like that” moments before, still wore an expression of unmistakable displeasure.
Why on earth did he have to sit in the same room and conduct such a conversation with that thing?
“It’s hard to imagine the alarm sounding so frequently if it weren’t malfunctioning….”
“Are you suggesting that Chaien, Master of the Arcane Tower, made a faulty device?”
“That’s—! No, no, I meant something else—!”
“Mm, what a pity. He’d be quite disappointed if he heard that.”
“…!”
Bryson’s gaze shot hastily toward the head of the table.
Though the Emperor of Devrika said nothing, his eyes gleamed with unmistakable sharpness.
Not a single nobleman in the room was unaware of his extraordinary affection for Crown Prince Chaien.
“Your Majesty, I merely meant—!”
Click.
“There’s a problem with my Warning Device?”
In that moment, the conference hall doors swung open.
When Bryson and the other nobles saw who had entered, their eyes widened.
“Chaien?”
The Emperor of Devrika and Crown Prince Aseraian shared the same shock.
His appearance in the Imperial Conference Hall without being summoned was highly unusual.
But what disturbed them even more was something else.
“Your hair is….”
The luxuriant locks that had fallen past his waist were now cropped short, just below his ears.
Perhaps because of this, the atmosphere he carried as he entered the conference hall seemed entirely transformed.
Snap.
With a light flick of Chaien’s fingers, something materialized from empty air and unfurled across the table before Bryson.
It was a map.
“You see those circles? The red ones and the blue ones.”
Bryson, who had flinched repeatedly at the sudden display of Magic, cautiously directed his gaze to the map.
“Red marks where corpses bearing monster attack wounds have been found. Blue marks where the Warning Device activated.”
Everyone in the room, not just Bryson, examined the map Chaien had laid out.
And they understood immediately what he was trying to demonstrate.
“Still want to claim it’s a malfunction?”
“….”
Numerous red circles and blue circles overlapping in a perfect, unmistakable pattern.
Those who saw it could offer no further objection.
* * *
“Seres.”
As Seres was leaving the conference hall, she stopped at the sound of Chaien’s voice calling her name.
He approached with a faint smile, his eyes searching her face carefully.
“How are you feeling? Better now?”
“Yeah. As you can see.”
Now that she thought about it, today was the first time she’d seen Chaien since that day?
Realizing this fact, Seres scratched her cheek.
Remembering her behavior in the carriage, she felt a little embarrassed.
Only two people had ever witnessed that side of her.
‘Kai and Alti.’
Now it was three.
“It’s fine.”
Chaien’s smile deepened.
Seres, who had been watching him in silence for a moment, let her gaze drift to his shortened hair.
“Why did you suddenly cut your hair?”
The longer style had suited him so well.
“Just… why? Doesn’t it suit me?”
“No.”
Nothing would look bad on your face.
‘It’s just…’
When I looked at your long hair, it always reminded me of someone, and I liked that.
“Should I grow it back?”
At his earnest question, she let out a soft laugh, gently smoothing the black strands that had fallen forward across her cheek.
“It’s beautiful now.”
“…That’s actually a problem.”
“Hm?”
“I cut it so I wouldn’t look beautiful.”
“What?”
Seres’s expression turned puzzled, and Chaien lightly tousled her hair.
As her eyes widened further, a soft smile bloomed across his lips again.
“Seres.”
Kainel’s voice rang out in that moment.
He stood at the entrance of the Imperial Conference Hall, staring at her intently—as if commanding her to come at once.
‘Again. Again.’
Why that expression again?
Watching Kainel with his mouth still twisted in displeasure, even though the tedious meeting had ended, Seres took a step toward him.
Before that temperamental man could flare up any worse, she needed to get him away from here.
Whoosh.
But Chaien caught her hand.
“Chaien?”
“……”
“……”
What were they doing?
The gazes of Chaien and Kainel, holding her hand, clashed.
Why were they suddenly glaring at each other?
“Don’t go.”
“What?”
“I need to talk to you.”
“Now?”
“Yes.”
“Mm.”
I suppose I should explain what happened then, at least roughly.
He must have been quite shocked by how I was in the carriage.
“Go on ahead.”
“…You want me to go alone?”
Kainel’s brow twitched.
“You’re telling me to leave you behind and follow that woman?”
“Yes.”
“It’s not even quitting time yet…”
“I know it’s not quitting time. Pay yourself overtime if you’re worried about it.”
Lately, that man wouldn’t stop whining about quitting time.
I can read a clock, you know.
“I’ll finish talking and come right away. Just wait there.”
“……”
Kainel, who had pulled out his off-duty card, found his eyes narrowing further when it proved useless.
“What are you doing? Aren’t you leaving? Your advisor is waiting outside.”
But faced with Seres waving him away with a light flick of her hand, Kainel finally had no choice but to turn and go.
Not before casting a cold glance at Chaien with a final warning to behave himself.
“Let’s get going too.”
Chaien, who had answered that glare with a bright smile instead, took Seres’s hand deliberately and led her toward the exit.
Watching him go, Seres tilted her head.
“…? Did something good happen?”
When they’d entered the conference hall just moments ago, the atmosphere had seemed strangely subdued.
“Because I’m happy.”
“About what?”
“About everything.”
Chaien’s gaze fell to their joined hands, and he gripped them tighter without quite realizing it.
As if to say he would never again see her pull away from him and turn toward Grand Duke Persha.
He held on all the more firmly.
“Come on.”
Chaien, who had paused for a moment, then swiftly led her out of the conference hall.
“…my boy.”
“Yes.”
Meanwhile, there were two pairs of eyes watching the entire scene from the edge of the conference hall with considerable interest.
“Do you know what’s happening there?”
“I’m not sure, Your Majesty.”
They belonged to the Emperor and Crown Prince Aseraian.
The two of them watched intently as Chaien and Grand Duke Persha engaged in a subtle contest of wills over Seres.
“Still, though…”
“…?”
“It looks like your brother won.”
The Emperor smiled warmly as he watched Chaien leave the conference hall with Seres.
‘That doesn’t seem to be what matters right now.’
Who was this woman Chaien had brought with him?
If this incident caused Chaien and Grand Duke Persha to become enemies?
‘Does that not concern you at all, Your Majesty?’
Watching his father, whose way of thinking seemed slightly skewed when it came to Chaien, Aseraian quietly shook his head.
* * *
“…what is all this?”
“Teleportation Spell Books.”
“No, I understand that much.”
But why were there so many?
Following Chaien, who had promised to show her somewhere warm, Seres arrived at a greenhouse filled with flowers blooming out of season.
Stepping inside, she fell silent at the sight of so many Teleportation Spell Books stacked in one place.
“I prepared them for you.”
“All of these?”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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