Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 4

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

“Sigh.”
My house.
House Elrusia, into which I’d poured everything I had.
Surely the family hadn’t simply vanished? Collapsed in just three hundred years……!
“Ah, forget it.”
What do I know? There won’t be a soul left there who remembers me anyway.
Sprawled flat on the ground, Seres gazed up at the cloudless, crystalline sky, her mind pleasantly numb.
A strange mix of hollow resignation and dull resentment settled over her.
It was like being toyed with by some unknown force, only to catch a vicious blow to the back of the head when she wasn’t looking.
‘If Enoch were here with me now, I’d bolt in a heartbeat.’
Though normally he was a bit slow-witted and sweet-natured, the boy had an uncanny sense for reading moods.
Which is precisely why he’d slip away faster than anyone when he sensed her in a state like this—he knew all too well how exhausting it became when he got caught in her presence.
“Hey, wash this too.”
That was when.
“This one as well.”
“You can manage this much, can’t you?”
Voices drifted over from a distance, indistinct but audible.
Curious, Seres propped herself up on her elbows and caught sight of several figures gathered to one side, engaged in conversation.
One of them was a face she knew quite well.
‘Jay?’
It was Jay, the maidservant who attended to her.
The others surrounding her also appeared to be servants working in this household.
‘What are they doing?’
Seres decided to watch the scene for a moment.
“These clothes—the mistress holds them very dear, so you must handle them carefully.”
“Wash them with gratitude in your heart.”
“If you have any conscience at all, that’s what you should do. Don’t you all know who it is you have to thank for not starving—you servants of House Drow?”
‘The mistress’…….
The situation was becoming clear.
Unless Seres’s mother, who was said to have passed away in an accident years ago, had somehow returned from the dead, there was only one person in this place who could be called ‘the mistress.’
‘Was her name Agnes?’
The aunt’s name, that was.
These three were likely people Agnes had brought with her.
Just as Seres had guessed, she herself was a young noblewoman.
More precisely, a ‘House Representative.’
Because Seres was so young and had been left traumatized by her parents’ deaths, the formalization of her position as Baron had been repeatedly postponed.
Agnes had apparently wept bitterly at the thought of burdening this mere child so early with such responsibilities.
“But why are those clothes colored like that? How many times has she worn them……? Have they even been washed properly?”
“They’re just old. No amount of washing will fix something like that.”
“Honestly, if it weren’t for our mistress, everyone in this household would have starved to death by now.”
“That’s right—you’ve got to be lucky enough to have a good master.”
True words. No matter what work you do, life gets easier when you serve someone good——.
‘Wait a minute.’
Seres, who had been nodding along in full agreement with the servants’ remarks, suddenly stopped short as a realization struck her.
If Jay is their master’s subordinate, then isn’t that me?
‘…Are they just talking trash about me right now?’
The corners of Seres’s mouth began to curl slowly upward.
‘Eek! Master Grace, please don’t smile like that!’
It almost seemed like she could hear her disciple’s desperate cry—though surely that was just her imagination.
* * *
“What are you doing? Why aren’t you moving faster?”
“We’re incredibly busy. Hurry up.”
“Wash them thoroughly. I’m telling you again—these are clothes our mistress truly treasures.”
“…Understood.”
Jay, who had been keeping her head bowed, finally accepted the laundry the three servants handed to her.
This wasn’t something that happened once or twice a day—there was nothing new about it anymore.
‘At least they’re not hitting me today.’
On other occasions, they’d drop something sharp on her instep under the pretense of an accident, or deliberately hurl heavy items at her. Shoving her shoulder as they passed had become utterly routine.
But familiarity with something doesn’t make it acceptable.
Exhausted by the harshness of reality, I let out a sigh without thinking—and three pairs of eyes shot upward.
“Wow, did you hear that? You just sighed?”
“Unbelievable, really. Did we ask you to do something wrong? We asked for your help because we’re busy, and you’re giving us attitude?”
“I… I…”
“Anyway, you’re so slow! We told you we’re busy. Stop dragging your feet and hurry up—”
Splash!
“Ahhh!”
“A… aah!”
“What, what is this?”
Instead of defending herself, Jay had been chewing her lip as memories of everything that had happened flooded back—but at the sound of those screams, she jerked her head up.
Her mouth fell slowly open. All three of the maids were soaking wet.
What on earth had just—?
“Hmm, did I not use enough water?”
That familiar voice rang out.
The three maids, still reeling from the sudden shock, whipped around.
Now they saw who stood behind them, and their eyes flew wide open.
“Seres!”
Seres stood there with a large empty bucket in one hand, appearing to mull something over intently.
The three maids realized at once who was responsible for their current state and came charging at her.
“What is the meaning of this?”
“Did you just splash us with water? How dare you!”
“This is insane! How could you—!”
The three maids were flabbergasted. That it was none other than Seres who had doused them was simply beyond belief.
She’d come back from death’s door, and now she’d lost her mind?
This was the same woman who couldn’t even raise her head in the face of their open contempt and scorn—suddenly resorting to violence like this?
“What? You asked me to do the laundry, didn’t you?”
“I… beg your pardon?”
“I was going to wash the clothes you’re wearing too. You have to soak them first, right? This is my first time doing laundry, so I wasn’t entirely sure.”
“That’s not—!”
“You mean to do laundry here and now?”
“Yes.”
Wait—did she just nod?
“Is there a problem?”
There are far too many problems!
Watching the three maids sputter, unable to form words, Seres tilted her head as though she genuinely couldn’t fathom why they found it so absurd.
Then she stepped toward the laundry basket and picked up the soap.
“You said you were busy, right? It’ll go faster if you wash them on.”
“On…?”
“The sun’s nice today anyway. They’ll dry quickly.”
“That’s… that’s impossible!”
“How could we possibly wash clothes while wearing them—!”
“Stop joking around!”
“Joking?”
A thin smile crossed her face.
Seres’s lips curved upward slowly.
“Have I ever played games with you three? I didn’t know I was on such terms with you.”
…!
The three maids swallowed hard.
What expression was that…
Had she truly lost her senses? Did she really mean to wash their clothes here, right now?
Those cold, expressionless eyes that spoke only earnest truth sent a chill down their spines.
“You don’t like that?”
“Of course not!”
“I see.”
Still not understanding why they objected, Seres tilted her head and took a step closer to them.
“Then take them off.”
“I… what?”
“Take off your clothes.”
Thud.
A sharp intake of breath.
The three maids retreated hastily, none waiting for the other. It was an action none of them fully understood.
‘Why did we step back?’
Had they actually grown frightened now that Seres had drawn near?
Of all people—the one they had always found so contemptible?
“If you don’t want to wash them on, you’ll have to take them off.”
“I—that is—”
Footstep.
Flinch!
The three maids had no choice but to admit it: they were afraid of Seres right now.
Their minds couldn’t grasp it, yet their bodies reacted first.
‘Her eyes…’
Those eyes that had always looked so defeated, so easy to dismiss—they were nothing like that now.
Simply meeting her blank, unreadable gaze sent shivers down their spines.
“So you want me to do your laundry? That means…”
Footstep.
“Take them off.”
“I—that is—”
“No, no, please!”
“We’ll do it! We’ll wash them ourselves!”
The three maids scrambled away from Seres without hesitation, terrified that if she got hold of them, she truly would wash their clothes while they wore them.
“Why? You said you were busy.”
“No! We’re not busy at all!”
“That’s right! Not busy in the slightest!”
“Hmm, not busy?”
“Yes!”
As the three maids bobbed their heads with desperate fervor, the corners of Seres’s mouth curved upward once more.
“So you pawned off your own work on someone else when you weren’t even busy?”
“That is—”
“We—we thought we were busy, but now that I think about it, we really weren’t busy at all.”
“Yes! We were mistaken!”
The three maids babbled excuses without even knowing what they were saying.
“Is that so?”
Seres regarded them coolly for a moment, then clicked her tongue as though disappointed.
She pressed the soap she’d been holding into the nearest maid’s hand, then took back the laundry from Jay and returned it to the three of them.
“Then do your best.”
After reminding them to wash it thoroughly, she left the spot as casually as if nothing had happened.
“Se—Seres, come with us.”
Jay, who had been studying the mood, quickly followed after her.
……
……
……
A heavy silence lingered in the space the two had left behind.

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