Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 137

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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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“What? You’ve already met Seres? When? Where? How! Without me? Wow, you traitor! And you call yourself my friend!”
“I invited you to come along, but you said you didn’t want to. You were the one who said you couldn’t bear to see her.”
“That doesn’t mean you’d sneak off and see her alone like some coward!”
Ignoring Duke Elkein’s outburst, Duke Noroa rose from his seat and approached Seres.
“Seres, Seres! What brings you here? This unexpected meeting is such a delight. Did you come looking for me?”
“His Majesty sent someone. He summoned me to the palace.”
“His Majesty?”
Duke Noroa’s gaze, which had been dancing about with childlike joy, turned directly toward the Emperor of Devrika.
His smile remained, but the light in his eyes as he regarded the emperor held not a trace of warmth.
“I wonder why you would call for our Seres. I must confess, I’m quite curious about your reasons.”
“……….”
The Emperor of Devrika found himself momentarily at a loss for words. The look in Duke Noroa’s eyes was as if he were facing an enemy.
One wrong word and he’d risk being attacked outright. He’d never seen him display such open hostility toward anyone before.
“Do you all know this child as well?”
“All, Your Majesty? What do you mean by that?”
“Duke Schweiz mentioned it to me. That this child…….”
The emperor trailed off, his gaze shifting toward Seres.
“……?”
Seres tilted her head slightly at that look. She had no connection whatsoever with Duke Schweiz. Why was he looking at her when speaking of that man?
But the Emperor of Devrika’s next words shattered her expectations entirely.
“He said she’s his child.”
“…I’m sorry?”
“…Insane.”
“…Ha.”
At the emperor’s words, everyone in the room wore an expression of utter bewilderment. Seres, of course, was the most stunned.
‘Duke Schweiz, you mean that Schweiz?’
But why would he… Seres’s mouth fell open in confusion, and then something stirred in her memory.
‘Could it be that he……’
Didn’t Noroa—or rather, Uncle Zino—mention before that there were others besides him who wanted to see her? He’d asked if she’d be willing to meet them.
Could Duke Schweiz be one of them?
“Seres is his child? She’s mine!”
Seres, still reeling from the shock, now had to contend with yet another bewildering outburst.
Who on earth was this person?
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you know that when there’s no mother, an aunt becomes the mother? Of course she’s mine.”
“By that logic, shouldn’t an uncle become the father when there’s no father?”
“With children, the mother matters more than the father!”
“What law is that from?”
“Ugh, quiet. Anyway, that bastard has always been like this! Always looking so harmless, and then he stabs you in the back like this! It’s so damn infuriating to be…….”
Duke Elkein ground her teeth as she vented her frustration, when her eyes suddenly locked with Seres’s. In that instant, her gaze trembled as though shaken by an earthquake.
Her mouth opened and closed several times. After a long breath, her voice emerged—slightly trembling.
“…Little one.”
“………”
Again.
At her call, something in Seres’s chest ached. The pain contained in her voice reached Seres perfectly, unfiltered.
‘Uncle Zino was like this too.’
She too… Why? Why did they all look at her with such painful eyes? That sorrow was so deep it unsettled her own heart.
Seres spoke coolly, as if rejecting the strange feeling she was experiencing.
“Did you also get money squeezed out of you by my aunt?”
“Roze.”
“Yes?”
But that resolve crumbled almost immediately.
“Call me Aunt Roze.”
Her voice was so tender that one might doubt it came from the same person who’d been shouting moments before.
“Little one.”
She stepped closer and pulled Seres into her arms. At that sudden embrace, Seres’s body went rigid.
She could have slipped away easily enough… but didn’t.
She could have pushed those arms away right now… but couldn’t.
“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry.”
“…….”
Her apology carried the weight of unshed tears, and Seres exhaled silently at the sound of it.
It seemed all but certain that this woman, too, had been squeezed dry by her aunt—just like Noroa.
‘I really do need to pay her a visit.’
At the thought of Aunt Agne, Seres’s gaze hardened with fresh displeasure. Exactly how much had they all extracted from her?
“Hah hah…….”
Meanwhile, the Emperor of Devrika, who had been observing the whole affair quietly from the sidelines, let out a deflated laugh.
He’d summoned the two Dukes partly to ask about Schweiz and Seres’s connection, but now it seemed clear he didn’t know either of them as well as he’d thought.
‘I’ve never seen Elkein look like that before.’
How was he supposed to interpret that tender expression? It was as if he were gazing upon a long-lost child he’d finally found.
‘What exactly is their relationship?’
Schweiz, and the other two Dukes as well—he was genuinely curious what their connection to Seres might be.
“Seres, is that child Schweiz’s—”
“No, no, no. Absolutely not.”
“She’s my daughter!”
Before the Emperor could finish his sentence, both Duke Noroa and Duke Elkein vehemently denied it.
“All right, all right. How about you all sit down and discuss this calmly?”
“Ah.”
“Hrm, ahem.”
At the Emperor’s words, Duke Noroa and Duke Elkein only then realized how much they’d gotten carried away, and both let out sheepish coughs.
“Seres, come sit over here.”
“Come on, little one.”
The two Dukes took hold of Seres’s hands and led her forward. Finding herself seated unexpectedly between them, Seres let out a short sigh, utterly bewildered by the situation.
“Let’s save the details for later…….”
The Emperor of Devrika was intensely curious about the relationship between Seres and the three Dukes, but for now there was something more pressing he needed to ask.
“Seres, would it be all right if I simply called you by your name?”
“Of course, Your Majesty.”
“I summoned you today because there’s something I wanted to confirm.”
“Please ask.”
The Emperor of Devrika nodded, his expression becoming somewhat curious. He’d noticed it before, but everything about Seres—her manner of speech, her every gesture—was utterly unlike that of ordinary noble ladies.
Everything she displayed before him was so controlled, so restrained, that not a single wasted motion could be found.
It was the feeling of standing before the Captain of the Royal Guard. To feel that from such a young lady—it was extraordinary.
‘She’s quite different when she’s with Chaien.’
He’d seen his son Chaien and Seres together a few times, but when they were together, she carried none of this air. If anything, she seemed more at ease then.
“Hmm.”
Still, that wasn’t the matter at hand. The Emperor of Devrika, regarding Seres with renewed interest, broached the main subject.
“Some of those who survived the S-rank Black Forest incident recounted something quite interesting.”
To this day, it remained unknown who had cleared the S-rank Black Forest. Even from Persha, the one he’d considered most likely, he’d received no definitive answer.
‘It wasn’t you?’
‘No.’
‘Then do you happen to know who cleared it?’
‘I’m not certain.’
‘…Not certain?’
At that response—not “I don’t know,” but rather “I’m not certain”—the Emperor of Devrika became convinced the man knew something after all.
Yet because he would offer no further answer, the Emperor still hadn’t unraveled the mystery of who cleared the S-rank Black Forest.
But then.
‘A Flower Field?’
‘Yes. Several survivors reported that when they came under attack by Monsters, their surroundings suddenly transformed into a Flower Field. And the Monsters could not penetrate into that Field. That’s how they managed to survive.’
His aide had brought him an intriguing account yesterday. Among those who’d escaped the Black Forest, there were some who’d experienced something extraordinary.
‘There was also reportedly a young rabbit in that Flower Field.’
‘A young rabbit, you say.’
And the moment he heard those words, a face came to mind.
“Tell me—were you also in the S-rank Black Forest at the time?”
It was none other than Seres, who had become the Master of the Tamer Artifact. He’d already heard reports that the moment the Tamer Artifact chose its Master, flowers and grass had bloomed luxuriantly all around.
“It was you who saved those people, wasn’t it?”
As if certain of what answer would come, the Emperor of Devrika posed his question, and Seres responded with a silent, shallow sigh.

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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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