Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 47

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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 long time ago.”
Artia had always used Teleportation Magic for him, since he disliked traveling by carriage. So of course he’d grown accustomed to it.
‘No, wait—I’ve used it recently too.’
Hadn’t he used a Teleportation Scroll not long ago to bring Yulia back from the Sanatorium?
“Hmm.”
Cheyeon nodded slowly.
He’d mentioned knowing a mage before—probably he’d been exposed to it through that person.
“Anyway, about the Elresia House Patriarch.”
“The Elresia House Patriarch?”
“How long has he been Patriarch?”
“Why the sudden question?”
Cheyeon threw him a puzzled look at the abrupt inquiry.
“I’m just quite interested in the Elresia County House.”
“Why?”
“Just because.”
Just because? That was all he’d say?
Cheyeon swallowed the question that rose to his lips.
By now he knew well enough that pressing would get him nowhere.
“Just under three years.”
“As I thought.”
“As you thought?”
“What happened to the previous Patriarch? Did he die?”
“Yes. He died of illness, they say.”
“Illness? What kind?”
“I don’t know. He suddenly fell ill, and they say he passed away in less than a month.”
“Less than a month…”
“It wasn’t an accident—just the House Patriarch of all people dying of some mysterious ailment caused quite the uproar for a while.”
“……”
At any rate, it had been a sudden death, not from accident.
Yet the dead Patriarch hadn’t taught his successor where the true ring was kept—which meant he’d never intended to pass it on to him in the first place.
‘Three years.’
By now, he must be burning up inside.
He likely already knew the ring he wore was a fake.
The Elresia County House held a Family Council every three years, where all the family elders gathered to comprehensively evaluate everything the Patriarch had done over the past three years.
One of the crucial things the Family Council checked was whether the Patriarch had kept the Patriarch’s Ring safe.
‘A fake could never fool them.’
The true ring possessed a special ability.
Everyone in the Elresia County House knew this—not just the elders.
In fact, didn’t the whole world know?
‘So he must be going mad.’
With the Family Council drawing near and the elders’ pressure mounting, yet the ring he possessed was fake and the true one’s whereabouts unknown, he must be on the verge of losing his mind.
By now, the current Elresia House Patriarch’s anxiety must be unbearable.
“What are you going to do about what the Elresia House Patriarch asked of you?”
At the Imperial Palace, Creel, the Elresia House Patriarch, had asked Cheyeon to install a Defensive Magic Circle—across the entire Elresia County Mansion.
Apparently unnerved by the Black Forest that had appeared in the heart of the Capital, he’d demanded protective magic to ward off Monsters.
“This is why the wealthy are insufferable. The rich always get richer, as they say. Wouldn’t you agree, Seres?”
“…Anyone listening would think you were a pauper.”
Someone who could pull 5,000 gold out of his pocket without blinking had no business complaining.
That’s something I should be saying—someone drowning in debt.
“Ugh.”
Cheyeon’s displeasure with the request was evident; he kept pouting.
“I don’t like it. It’s created more work for me.”
Inscribing a magic circle large enough to surround a mansion of that size was an enormous undertaking. It would require substantial manpower and resources.
“So you’re not going to do it?”
“I don’t know yet. The person in charge will verify it first and submit a report.”
“You’re the one making the final decision anyway.”
“Probably.”
“Hmm… If you do end up taking it, could you include me in the team going there? I’ll do whatever odd jobs need doing.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Just. I wanted to.”
“…….”
What was this? Did she really have some connection to the Elresia County House?
‘But Creel didn’t seem to know Seres at all.’
Cheyeon studied her with bewildered eyes for a moment, then nodded slowly.
“All right. I’ll look it over for now.”
* * *
Bang!
“Damn it.”
Creel, the Patriarch of Elresia County House, couldn’t suppress the curse that tore from his lips.
In his hand was a piece of paper, crumpled and creased beyond recognition.
It was an official document from the Council of Elders, stating that a Family Council meeting would be held in two months.
“Where in the hell did he hide it?”
Nearly three years had passed, and he’d torn the house apart—yet hadn’t found even a trace of the real ring.
Under the unbearable pressure, Creel’s irritability only deepened.
“Cursed old bastard!”
He’d never imagined the ring worn by his predecessor—his master—could be a fake.
Creel glared at the Red Ring on his own finger with lethal intensity.
‘Had he known all along?’
That I meant to kill him?
There was no other reason to hide the real ring—there couldn’t be.
“Sigh.”
The plan had been flawless.
The poison he’d used to assassinate his master had no antidote—it was something so potent that no one could even suspect poison.
How he’d rejoiced in secret, watching his master waste away over a month and die.
“If only he hadn’t tried to hand the succession to someone else—if only he hadn’t meddled from the shadows even though he knew how hard I’d struggled all these years. It’s his fault, not mine!”
He’d slept less than an hour a day, devoted entirely to study and work, all to win his master’s favor.
Yet that master had made plans to pass the succession not to him, but to another.
When Creel learned this by chance, he felt a betrayal he couldn’t deny.
And so he had formed it.
A plan to assassinate his master.
Conveniently, there were those who knew everything and extended their hands to him, and the poison they gave him proved perfectly effective.
The will they’d forged—purporting to be from his master, passing the succession to Creel—was so flawlessly written in his master’s hand that no one suspected a thing.
“If only the ring had been real…….”
Then it would have been perfect beyond measure.
But the ring he’d ended up with was a fake.
Until now, he’d managed to conceal it somehow, but when the Family Council convened, he could hide it no longer. He would have to demonstrate the ring’s power.
“What do I do?”
He couldn’t tell anyone else, couldn’t ask for help. If he did, he might be stripped of his position as Patriarch on the spot.
The Elresia County House invested greater power and meaning in the Patriarch’s Ring than any other family, and without it, he would lose all authority as Patriarch.
‘Then again.’
If someone were to cause the Patriarch’s Ring to disappear, he would never forgive that person either.
“Sigh.”
Another long breath escaped Creel’s lips.
He stared at the brutally crumpled official document and pressed his fingers hard against his temples, as if his head ached.
Knock knock.
“Come in.”
A butler hurried into the room at the sound of the knock.
“What is it?”
“A message from the Mage Tower, sir.”
“Is that so?”
Creel’s stiffened face brightened quickly. This must be the response from the Mage Tower regarding his commission.
Surprised by the swiftness of their decision, Creel hurriedly read through the documents the butler handed him.
When Creel first learned the ring was fake, the first thing he’d done was expand his power and influence.
He’d employed every means to build relationships with nobility, and had worked day and night to establish connections with the Imperial Palace.
‘If I cannot find the real ring after all.’
Then I’ll need something to persuade the Council of Elders.
Even without the ring, someone had to assume the position of Patriarch eventually.
‘So then?’
Since things had come to this, he decided he would strengthen his position to tilt the situation in his favor.
In other words, getting him to say something like, “All right, you keep running the House.”
And that plan was proceeding rather smoothly.
‘If the Mage Tower would only lend me its weight!’
Then I’d be standing in the most advantageous position imaginable.
He’d been working for some time now to forge a connection with the Mage Tower, trying this and that, but it hadn’t been easy.
The problem was Cheyeon, the Mage Tower Master, who proved far less accommodating than expected.
He’d requested a meeting countless times, asking for just a moment of the man’s time, but it had never materialized once—always the excuse of being too busy.
As a final gambit to establish some sort of link, he’d decided to submit a request to the Mage Tower itself.
The timing was fortunate too—the Black Forest had recently appeared in the Capital, making it the perfect justification.
It would require a substantial payment, certainly, but when his position as House Patriarch was at stake, such an expense was trifling.
“Hmm?”
As Creel continued reading through the documents, his eyes grew progressively wider.
He was already quite pleased that his request had been accepted, but the contents held something far more astonishing.
“The Mage Tower Master himself is coming?”
Cheyeon’s name was listed as the assigned administrator for this task.
* * *
“Welcome, please come in.”
Creel, the Elresia County Patriarch, greeted Cheyeon and his entourage warmly, unable to hide the smile spreading across his face.
Who could have imagined that the Mage Tower Master himself would visit for this undertaking?
Cheyeon, for his part, wore a mask-like smile across his entire face.
“You seem quite prosperous.”
“Pardon?”
“Installing Defensive Magic Circles doesn’t come cheap.”
“Ah, haha, it’s an investment in my household’s safety—such costs are well worth bearing.”
“Ah, your household’s safety. You’re quite the devoted Patriarch.”
“Ha, you’re too kind. Please, come this way.”
Creel led the way forward, and Cheyeon followed behind him, his smile never wavering.
“Hey.”
“What?”
Seres slipped quietly to his side and spoke in a low voice.
“Why did you even come along on this?”
Seres had only learned this morning that Cheyeon would be joining them for this task.
Why the Mage Tower Master would insist on personally overseeing such a minor operation was a mystery not only to her, but to everyone else as well.
‘Is the Master unwell?’
‘Is there something fun about that place?’
‘We’re not going on holiday, are we? This is work, right?’
‘If Cheyeon is going, then maybe it is a holiday?’
She barely managed to swallow the words, “How have you survived all this time?” before they escaped her lips.

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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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