Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 141

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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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“…Hmm.”
At the words from the one giving orders, Duke Elcaine let out a hollow laugh.
“I don’t want to. Why should I follow your orders?”
“Because I arrived first.”
“There’s no order to paying debts. Whoever puts down money first wins!”
“I have more money than you anyway.”
“You, you!”
Duke Elcaine, who had been making a genuine effort to keep the conversation civil for once, finally exploded again.
“Now you’re disrespecting the Eastern Region! I have plenty of money too! Just because you have a few more mines than us, you flaunt your wealth like this? We have plenty of mines! Plenty, I tell you!”
Granted, they could not compare to the abundant high-grade mines of the Western Region, but that hardly made him a fit target for such insults.
“Fine then, I’ll just handle it myself.”
“…….”
“…….”
The eyes of the two men locked in argument turned toward Duke Noroa, who was smiling faintly.
Once they saw him, both fell silent.
Duke Noroa, master of the Southern Region and owner of the golden breadbasket.
Not merely the breadbasket—he held several premium mines as well, along with numerous profitable enterprises his house had maintained for generations.
“Perhaps I should just settle it alone?”
“Don’t be absurd. I said I’d handle it.”
“Both of you stop. I was here first.”
Click.
The parlor door opened, cutting off the renewed quarrel, and two figures entered. It was Kainel, the Grand Duke of Persha, and his aide, Del.
“…….”
Kainel took his seat without a word, and he forced himself to suppress the smile trying to rise to his lips under the piercing gaze of the three dukes.
Just as it had been in the last council chamber. He could feel their wariness and underlying hostility plainly.
“What’s happening here… yo.”
Kainel had begun to slip into casual speech out of habit, then let the sentence trail away.
‘Friends of my late parents.’
Recalling the words Seres had spoken last time, he clicked his tongue lightly. He had not forgotten either her warning glance, tinged with caution.
“I hear you possess a Debt Document pertaining to our Seres.”
The reason the three dukes had sought out Kainel today was singular: after witnessing Seres in Kainel’s company at the imperial council chamber, they had investigated the matter and uncovered the truth of the debt.
They had long been aware that Agnes, that woman, had incurred substantial debts for House Drow.
They had been planning to settle those debts soon enough. What they had only just discovered was that the Grand Duke of Persha had paid them all in her stead.
“I hear you even drew up a contract.”
They had learned that Seres’s appearance at the imperial council chamber was not because she was the owner of a Tamer Artifact, but because of a relationship bound by the Debt Document that the Grand Duke of Persha held. Upon learning this, they had immediately sought him out.
“Why does it concern you?”
“That contract seems like something I ought to tear up.”
“On what grounds?”
“Because I am the guardian of our Seres.”
Duke Noroa’s eyes crinkled as he smiled sweetly.
“Wait, wait! Don’t try to slip in ahead of us like that. That contract—hand it over to me.”
“Both of you, step aside. That Debt Document—give it to me right now. I’ll settle it for you at once.”
Following Duke Noroa, Duke Elcaine and Duke Schweiss likewise pressed Kainel, one after another, with no deference.
“…….”
Watching the three of them in silence, the corners of Kainel’s mouth finally curled into a crooked smile.
“Now you want to?”
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
His casual remark silenced all three of them at once. He had touched their rawest nerve.
“Better late than never. We mean to settle it now.”
It was Duke Schweiss who broke the silence. His expression remained cold and impassive as he faced Kainel, and he released a silent, shallow sigh.
“There is no reason for the Grand Duke of Persha to hold a Debt Document incurred by House Drow. Hand it over.”
At Duke Schweiss’s firm words, Duke Elcaine, as if in approval, sent an encouraging look and nodded eagerly.
“Hmm.”
Kainel’s smile deepened. His aide Del, watching quietly from beside him, let out a long sigh within himself.
‘He’s displeased.’
Though not to the extent of Seres, Del had served Kainel long enough to read his expressions to some degree.
“If I refuse?”
Kainel’s voice grew languid, as though Del’s guess had hit its mark—a predator savoring the moment before tearing into prey.
Watching Kainel’s lips curl higher, Del gave a slow shake of his head.
“You’re refusing, then.”
The problem was that those people weren’t the sort of prey that could be easily consumed.
Black eyes met Kainel’s cold silver gaze with a feral gleam.
“That’s right. I refuse.”
“Understood.”
Duke Schweiss rose from his seat at once.
“What? You’re just giving up?”
“Schweiss, are you really leaving it at that?”
It was Duke Elcaine and Duke Noroa who found themselves taken aback by his quick surrender. Surely they weren’t capitulating this easily?
“Seres, we’ll have to settle this directly with the boy.”
He’d been trying to resolve things quietly without burdening the child, but if Grand Duke Persha was going to come at him like this, there was no other option. He would have to meet with Seres and handle it in person.
As he turned to leave the reception room, he glanced back at Kainel one final time.
“I’d prefer this to be the last time we meet on personal terms. My apologies for the intrusion.”
At the sight of him drawing a clear boundary with measured courtesy, Kainel’s smile deepened.
“I suspect we’ll see each other again.”
……
A strong gust suddenly rushed through the reception room. But the wind died down just as quickly, as if it had never been, and Duke Schweiss departed without another word.
“We should be going as well. If you change your mind later, do send word. We’ll come running at once.”
“That bastard won’t go straight to Seres, will he? Let’s hurry!”
Duke Noroa and Duke Elcaine gave up trying to persuade Kainel and left their seats.
“Will it be all right to let them leave like this?”
With all three dukes gone, Del cleared away the teacups that had been sitting before them, asking his question with careful hesitation.
Del had already investigated the relationship between Seres and the three dukes thoroughly. Of course, he’d reported it all to Kainel as well.
He’d uncovered through his investigations that they’d been extorting enormous sums of money from Agnes, Seres’s aunt, all the while posturing as if they were caring for the children.
Yet watching the three dukes offer not a single excuse when confronted with Kainel’s barbs about what right they now had to concern themselves with Seres, Del felt genuinely impressed.
“It displeases me.”
“What does?”
“All of it.”
The way those three carried on as if Seres were truly their own child, the way they seemed to believe they were closer to her than him.
“…Seres smiled.”
When she looked at them.
It was only the briefest moment, but from that single expression, Kainel understood clearly: Seres had already opened her heart to them.
She was not one to give up her space easily, but once she decided someone belonged to her, she would never let that hand slip away.
“Since when did you see that.”
Recalling the way they’d regarded him with displeasure, like parents interfering in their daughter’s friendships, Kainel let out an exasperated laugh.
“Even so, sending these three off like this doesn’t seem right at all.”
“What doesn’t.”
“If Miss Seres finds out… didn’t she tell you not to treat them carelessly?”
……
The irritation that had filled Kainel’s expression hardened gradually, and his crossed legs straightened into proper posture.
“…We didn’t fight.”
“You picked a quarrel, though.”
“…I did my best.”
“Yes, yes.”
Del shook his head and picked up the teacups, heading for the door. Watching him go, Kainel’s brow furrowed deeply.
“I really did do my best.”
Chapter 40. A Gift of Comfort
Slurp.
“…You want more?”
“Of course.”
“Sigh……”
A long exhale escaped Rott’s lips—he was the vice guildmaster of the Black Guild. His eyes, fixed on Skal the guildmaster sitting across from him eating Stew, reflected a weary resignation.
“And you wanted to come here looking like that.”
“You promised we’d eat Stew if I came back alive.”
“That doesn’t mean you were supposed to come wrapped head to toe in bandages.”
“They didn’t wrap my mouth.”
…I sincerely wish I could wrap that mouth for you.
The Black Guild, which had been the first to enter the S-rank Black Forest, had fortunately suffered no casualties. Though there were certainly plenty of grievously wounded among their ranks.
It was the guild master Skal who suffered the gravest injuries of them all. He’d returned looking as though his subordinates had simply hurled him aside and fled—scarcely a patch of him left unscathed.
Two days had passed before he finally stirred, and his first words upon waking were…….
‘When… when do we go to that… haa… when do we go?’
He was asking when they were going to the Stew Shop. Rot had barely managed to restrain himself from smacking the man across the head hard enough to knock him back unconscious, heat rising in his chest at the sheer absurdity of it all.
After all the worry he’d poured out while Skal lay senseless—the injustice of it all burned in him still.

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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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