Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 34

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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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“…….”
A truly strange woman.
Why does she keep touching on these childhood memories so carelessly?
Though it’s surely kindness offered without any particular meaning.
An omelet loaded with vegetables.
Since childhood, when he’d always been a picky eater, Grace had made this for him often.
Scrape-scrape.
And as always, he found himself carefully picking out the bell peppers she’d chopped fine and hidden inside, one by one.
“…you.”
Now she’s dropped the formal speech entirely.
Kainel watched Seres scrunch her face with visible displeasure each time he removed a piece of pepper, and let his fork move just a touch faster.
‘…irritating.’
But why had he come here again today?
Because of the stew?
Facing Seres with her expression twisted into a full scowl, Kainel found the remaining bell peppers and swept them all deliberately to one side with a flourish.
* * *
“Where on earth have you been?”
The hour when darkness had deepened.
Most had already fallen asleep in the late night, but Antonien was pacing anxiously outside the mansion.
Unable to stay still in one place, he craned his neck to scan the surroundings with worried eyes.
“Huh?”
Then, catching sight of a familiar silhouette in the distance, Antonien hurried toward it.
“Sister!”
“Antonien?”
“Why are you only just getting back now!”
“What’s wrong? What’s the matter? Why aren’t you asleep?”
“That’s what I should be asking you! Where have you been?”
“Me? Just taking a walk.”
“Again?”
At Seres’s flat reply, Antonien’s brow furrowed sharply.
“What kind of walk goes out morning and night every single day?”
“It’s not every day.”
“That’s not the point right now!”
These days, Seres would vanish—not just in the early morning, but every night—and take hours to return home.
“If you’re going to walk, just stroll through the garden inside the house!”
“Our house garden is boring.”
“That’s not what matters! I’m asking where you keep disappearing to at this ungodly hour!”
“Just here and there.”
“Here and there where exactly— Sister! You’re bleeding from your nose!”
“…Damn it.”
The real problem was that Seres had been getting nosebleeds more and more frequently. And every time, it happened after one of these walks!
“Seriously! What have you been doing out there!”
“It’s nothing. I just push myself too hard on these walks.”
“Are you sure it’s really just walking? What kind of walk makes you push yourself that hard!”
“Hey, be quiet. You’ll wake everyone up.”
What’s gotten into him?
Seres watched Antonien with puzzled eyes as he bristled more sharply than usual today.
He wasn’t exactly the cheerful sort by nature, but he’d never been one to get angry without reason either.
What did you eat this evening?
“…Sigh. Here, wipe the blood.”
As Antonien watched Seres block her nose with the handkerchief he’d offered, his expression grew even graver than before.
“Sister.”
“What?”
Why did he call me so seriously like that? It makes anyone nervous. What is he about to say?
“Let’s go see a healer.”
“What?”
“You’re bleeding too often. Something’s not right.”
“I’m telling you it’s nothing. I know my own body better than anyone.”
“Stop being so stubborn!”
“Why does this wretch keep talking so loud?”
“Oh, come on!”
Seres blinked at the sight of Antonien fuming.
What on earth was he so angry about? What had she done wrong?
“Tomorrow, you’re coming with me to see a physician.”
“No, really, I’m fine. I’ll cut back on my walks anyway…….”
“Don’t lie to me!”
But I’m not lying.
She’d learned this morning that Dave’s father was approaching the end. Apparently the man was nearly gone.
More than a few people had witnessed him screaming at all hours of the day and night, bolting out of the house.
Some said they’d seen him weeping, saying he was sorry. Nearly half-mad, by all accounts.
‘Either way, things will reach their conclusion soon enough.’
There’d be no reason to buy time after that.
But Antonien seemed to be taking the situation differently.
“Is it the money?”
“What?”
“Are you not going because you’re worried about the physician’s fees?”
Watching Antonien’s eyes grow red, Seres scratched her cheek awkwardly.
Well, true, our household certainly doesn’t have much to spare.
But I’m not foolish enough to endure illness because of that.
“Fine.”
Even though it pains me to part with the money…….
Yes. Let’s go, then.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Antonien’s rigid expression softened at last.
“Then tomorrow we’ll go to the Elrusia Countess House.”
“…Where?”
“The Elrusia Countess House. I heard they’re famous for the Healing Art.”
“No, wait. There’s no need to go all the way there…….”
“Is it because you don’t have the money?”
…….
Watching Antonien’s eyes threaten to redden again, Seres found herself with nothing left to say.
Chapter 10. This is the Elrusia Countess House?
“We’re walking?”
“Yes.”
“We have a carriage.”
“I know. The one that hasn’t been used in so long it’d be no surprise if it fell apart tomorrow.”
“…It may look that way, but it’s actually quite sturdy.”
Seres patted Antonien’s head as he pouted, brushing off his concern.
“I’m not taking it anyway.”
“Why not?”
“Walking is easier.”
On the day they were to visit the Elrusia Countess House.
Seres had made excuses and dragged things out for days, trying any way she could to avoid going, but in the end she could only surrender to Antonien’s relentless, fierce gaze.
The boy had more stubborn streak than she’d given him credit for. Who does he take after?
“You’re really going to walk the whole way?”
“Yes.”
Declining Antonien’s suggestion to take the carriage once more, Seres set off ahead on foot.
“It’ll take over an hour on foot.”
“I know.”
Watching Seres insist on walking such a distance, Antonien let out a short sigh.
Now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember ever seeing Seres ride in a carriage since she’d lost her memory.
Even when she took Julia to the Academy, he thought she always walked.
“Why don’t you ride, at least.”
“No.”
Could she be embarrassed by the old, worn carriage?
‘No, that can’t be it.’
She refused to buy herself new clothes even when he asked, continuing to wear those threadbare rags that were nearly falling apart at the seams.
“So why exactly won’t you take the carriage…….”
Antonien watched Seres already walking far ahead of him and shook his head softly, as if to say there was no stopping her.
He doubted she’d answer any questions anyway.
Antonien hurried after her and asked something else instead.
“Do you know the way?”
“Of course.”
Confidence colored Seres’s reply.
Of course she did. After all, she’d been the head of the Elrusia Countess House.
She could find it with her eyes closed——
“Not that way. We need to go right.”
When had this building been constructed?
“That’s not the right street. Take the middle path.”
And when had this path appeared?
Who decided to go around building new streets everywhere?
“Sister.”
“Hmm?”
“Just follow me.”
“…All right.”
In the end, Seres followed behind Antonien with a sullen expression on her face as he took the lead.
Watching Antonien mutter constantly about why he should trust her directions, she had nothing to say in her defense.
‘Three hundred years is a long time, I suppose.’
But still—could things really change this much?
Poor old souls like me!
“There it is.”
“…Yes.”
The Elrusia Countess House.
As the mansion gradually came into view, Seres found herself slowing her steps without thinking.
‘It’s the same.’
So much had changed, yet how could the manor’s appearance remain so utterly unchanged?
Looking at the exterior, which bore scarcely any difference from when she had lived there, she felt oddly strange.
The place where I spent my entire life.
The place where I wagered everything.
And——
‘The place where I met my death.’
It was only an hour’s distance from the Drew Marquis Estate, yet her feet refused to move forward.
I knew this place so well, but now it was a place I no longer knew.
“Sister?”
“Yes.”
Seres, who had stopped for a moment, began walking again at Antonien’s call.
* * *
“Sigh.”
“Mother, my legs hurt.”
“Just be patient a little longer.”
“How much longer do we have to wait?”
“I’ve been out here since six o’clock.”
“We have to get treatment today no matter what.”
“It’s been three days already. If we don’t get seen today……”
An endless line stretched around the Elrusia Countess House.
Some had come supporting elderly mothers, while many others stood holding fretful children in their arms.
Those who had sought treatment from local physicians but found no relief had gradually converged on the Elrusia Countess House, clinging to one last hope.
Yet for some, the time left to hold onto that hope was not long.
“Excuse me! Excuse me!”
“What is it?”
A woman rushed urgently toward the steward guarding the main gate of the Elrusia Countess House.
In her arms was a boy who appeared to be around three years old.
The child hung limply as if unconscious, his breath coming in quick, fevered gasps. To any observer, his condition appeared dire.

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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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