Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 66

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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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“So the woman who found the Elrusia Family Ring for him—that’s correct, isn’t it?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Beilks must be furious.”
Alax’s smile deepened.
“Look into her more thoroughly.”
“Of course. Though….”
“What else do you have to report?”
“You haven’t been coughing.”
“…Ah.”
“You were in poor health all morning, but you seem fine now.”
“…True.”
Alax’s eyes widened slightly.
Only then did he notice it himself—the cough that had plagued him since morning was now, remarkably, nowhere to be found.
……
His expression grew strange as he gazed at the shop where Seres was.
“Is it because of that tea?”
He let out a soft laugh, then turned quietly and departed.
The man who had been with him vanished just as swiftly.
Thud!
“Ugh….”
“What the—!”
As Alax walked down the street moments later, someone collided with him.
A middle-aged man reeking of drink immediately grabbed him by the collar.
“Open your eyes when you walk!”
“Indeed. One should keep one’s eyes open while walking.”
“What did you say, you bastard!”
The man disliked Alax’s faint smile and threw a punch without hesitation.
Just as the fist was about to graze his face, Alax crumpled to the ground as if he’d been struck, staggering pathetically.
“Watch where you’re going!”
“…Of course.”
Spit.
The man, believing his blow had landed and felled Alax, staggered away.
A peculiar smile played at Alax’s lips as he watched him go.
“Of course one should keep one’s eyes open.”
He rose to his feet, brushing dust from his trousers, his gaze following the man who had already vanished into the distance.
“That’s how you live long.”
* * *
“A monster?”
“Yes. The consensus seems to be that it was the work of a monster.”
“In the Capital?”
“Yes.”
“Has the Black Forest manifested?”
“No.”
At Kainel’s question, his advisor Del shook his head repeatedly, equally baffled.
“The Black Forest hasn’t appeared, yet a body bearing clear signs of a monster attack was discovered. Everyone is bewildered.”
A corpse had been found in an alley this morning, and everything about its condition suggested it had been killed by a monster.
The problem was that no Black Forest had manifested anywhere near that location yesterday.
“The dead man’s identity has not yet been determined.”
“A monster, you say….”
Such occurrences were not uncommon in the Persha Duchy.
There had been times when monsters living in the Ice Tree Forest descended into villages and caused incidents, even without the Black Forest appearing.
But a monster appearing in the very heart of the Capital?
And with no one else aware, killing only a single person?
“Truthfully, I’m uncertain whether such a thing is even possible in the Capital. Could it truly have been a monster?”
“Hard to say. What of the investigation?”
“It’s ongoing, though there seems to be little progress. They haven’t even identified what kind of monster it might be.”
Del slid a document forward slightly.
“The Imperial Court has requested assistance because of this. If you could examine the body, Your—”
“What about Seres?”
“Pardon? Seres?”
Del, mid-sentence, lowered the papers he’d been holding.
“I haven’t seen her since lunch ended. Shall I search for her?”
“Never mind.”
“Yes, sir. Then what about this matter…….”
Whoosh.
“……? Kainel? Where are you going?”
“To find her.”
“Yes… yes, sir?”
Find what? Kainel?
Without further explanation, Kainel simply left the study, leaving Del with nothing but a vacant stare at his retreating back.
* * *
“Grace…….”
“Artia?”
Eight years old, still shorter than Grace by a head, Artia padded into the room clutching a pillow to her chest.
Once again, she’d stayed up late playing and chosen to sleep at the Elrusia Estate rather than return to the Arcane Tower.
“Why aren’t you asleep?”
“Can’t sleep.”
Grace, equally young, let out a soft sigh.
“I told you not to read those ghost stories.”
“But Kai read them with me!”
The reason Artia couldn’t fall asleep was obvious enough.
Grace stifled a laugh.
“Come here.”
“Okay!”
She lifted the blanket and patted the side of the bed, and Artia brightened at once, scurrying over.
“Hmm?”
Then, in the doorway, another small silhouette hovering uncertainly.
“Kai?”
…She should have confiscated that book when both of them were looking at it together.
“Come here.”
“I’m not… I’m not scared, okay?”
“I know. Just come.”
“…….”
She rose and took his hand, drawing him toward the bed.
“Go to sleep now, both of you.”
The two children settled on either side of her and lay down.
Unlike Artia, who’d been whining about insomnia moments ago and now drifted off almost instantly, Kainel continued to shift restlessly.
“Get some rest.”
Pat, pat.
Her hand moved gently across his back, and only then did Kainel gradually settle.
…….
A Ginkgo Tree older than six hundred years.
Its golden leaves gleamed in all their autumn glory, and beneath the magnificent ancient trunk, Seres lay sleeping.
Was she dreaming something pleasant?
When Kainel spotted the faint smile on her face, he exhaled with something like displeasure.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Winter hadn’t yet arrived, but the wind carried a bite.
He stepped closer and draped his outer coat over her.
Swish!
“……!”
Kainel’s eyes widened in surprise. The moment he was about to release the fabric, Seres’s hand shot out and seized his wrist.
Caught off-balance, he tumbled forward as she pulled him into her embrace.
“Rest… sleep now…… Rest…….”
Pat, pat.
Her voice still thick with slumber.
It seemed she’d sensed his presence in her sleep and drawn him close instinctively…….
…….
Kainel, eyes still shut, continued to gaze at her as his hand gently patted her back, even as she drifted deeper into her dreams.
Pat, pat.
His rigid body gradually loosened.
Pat, pat.
His eyes slowly closed.
Pat…….
As if he were sinking into the memory of a day from childhood.
* * *
“How much longer is this going to go on?”
“Would you mind staying like that for just a little while longer?”
So that’s not actually answering when it will end.
Seres, who had woken from a brief nap, found herself questioning whether she was still dreaming.
‘Why am I holding this person?’
There was indeed someone she’d wrapped her arms around like a doll in her sleep—Kainel.
‘What is he doing here?’
Seres sat in stunned confusion for a moment, trying to process the situation, before she hurried to get up from the bed.
But someone quickly moved to stop her.
“Please, just a little longer.”
It was Del, Kainel’s attendant.
She wasn’t sure when he’d started watching or why he was reacting like this, but Del stood there with an expression of such overwhelming emotion, repeatedly shaking his head in what looked like wonder.
Thirty minutes had passed since she woke, and still the situation remained unchanged.
“It’s been so long.”
“……?”
Long? Since what?
Del gazed at Kainel, who lay deeply asleep, his face layered with countless emotions.
Shock, bewilderment, and relief.
‘When was the last time I saw him sleep so peacefully?’
When Del first discovered Kainel asleep beside Seres, he had to doubt his own eyes.
What am I looking at right now?
Is Kainel actually sleeping? And beside someone else? So… contentedly?
Since he’d begun serving him, he couldn’t remember ever seeing him sleep so soundly.
He’d seen barely any brief rest recently, let alone deep sleep.
As the sleep-inducing herbs piled up day after day, his own sighs accumulated alongside them.
‘But…….’
What was the meaning of this sight? How was he supposed to interpret it?
Del quickly pressed both hands over his mouth, terrified he might let out an exclamation without meaning to and wake him.
But as Seres and Del conversed, Kainel showed no sign of waking—as though he were making up for all the lost sleep at once.
‘Sigh.’
Seres let out a soft breath and gazed quietly at the sleeping Kainel.
How long had it been since she’d seen him sleep this close to her?
‘When he sleeps, he really does look like a gentle lamb.’
It was no wonder Artia had joked that he needed to be drugged and kept asleep continuously.
As she smiled at the old memory, Kainel’s closed eyes slowly opened.
The two of them found themselves face to face at a distance where she could hear his breathing.
Yet neither felt embarrassed nor awkward.
“…….”
“…….”
They simply gazed at each other in silence.
“Are you going to keep doing this?”
“…No.”
It was Seres who broke the silence first.

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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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