Time Healer Ceres - Chapter 88

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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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“Unfortunately, there was someone following her, so I could only observe her for a very brief moment.”
“An intelligence operative, was it?”
“Yes, sir. Apparently affiliated with the Sky organization.”
“Why would someone from Sky be tailing Baron Drow’s daughter?”
“I’m still looking into that myself, sir.”
Sky was well-known enough that even Aleks was familiar with the information network.
But why would they be following Seres?
“The Dark Light Sword.”
The last thing Jutel had seen was an unusual blade Seres had wielded when she dispatched the monster.
“The more we learn, the stranger she becomes.”
Where had she come from? How had someone so utterly unremarkable suddenly begun causing such a disturbance?
A woman who had shown nothing extraordinary until now kept doing things that nagged at him relentlessly.
“It seems we should keep a careful watch on her.”
“Is that why you told me to enter the Academy?”
At the grudging question, the man nodded and offered a faint smile.
“Being in the same space should help us grow closer more quickly, wouldn’t you say?”
Aleks let out a long breath.
The Seres he had observed was not someone who gave away her trust easily.
Her attitude toward him was markedly different from how she treated his brother, Chaien.
‘Please look after me going forward, senior.’
‘Me?’
‘Pardon?’
‘I’ve only just transferred back in, so I’m barely managing my own affairs.’
‘Oh, I was just being polite…’
‘Then never mind.’
‘……’
It was as though every time he stepped forward, she shoved him back twice as hard.
‘She doesn’t seem to care much about the prince’s title either.’
Having watched how she treated his brother and Grand Duke Persha, he’d long known she was someone unmoved by rank or station.
Still, he hadn’t expected her to dismiss him so openly—a prince of the realm.
“You understand, don’t you? As long as dead souls don’t emerge through the Black Forest, the flowers here cannot bloom either.”
“I know.”
“Without this flower, extending your life will become impossible, sir.”
“……”
Without a word, Aleks turned away—but the man smiled softly, plucked a pristine white blossom, and approached him with it.
“Please, take it.”
In an instant, the flower darkened to black and was drawn into a transparent glass vial, becoming a black liquid that sloshed within.
As Aleks accepted the vial, a short sigh escaped his lips.
“And this as well.”
The man then handed him a black gem, roughly the size of a child’s fist.
“It’s particularly large this time.”
“It’s S-Rank.”
“…S-Rank?”
“Since S-Rank stones are precious, I hope this time you won’t fail.”
“……”
The man’s face bore a bright smile, but the expression on Aleks’s face as he received the black gem had grown heavier and darker than ever.
* * *
Munch, munch.
“Is it good?”
[Squeal! Squeal!]
Seres watched Kamangyi with fresh curiosity as the creature thrashed about in the cream as usual, buried in it.
“What exactly are you, really?”
The way it moved through shadows from place to place, the way it manipulated monster shadows freely as a weapon—
These were abilities no ordinary monster should possess.
‘Artia.’
What in the world had you picked up?
[Squeak?]
Kamangyi, its face smeared with cream, blinked its tiny eyes as if to ask what she meant.
Seres reached out and lightly tapped the creature’s cream-covered nose with her finger.
Puff!
Handing a fresh slice of cake to the irritable creature, Seres sank back into thought.
Chirp, chirp!
One slice was all it took—the little thing’s mood brightened instantly, and it broke into song.
‘It was an S-Rank Black Forest.’
Kamangyi—or rather, the Black Egg—had been found in an S-Rank Black Forest that Seres herself was entering for the first time.
An S-Rank Black Forest.
When she’d first ventured inside, not only Seres but Kainel and Artia had been thoroughly shaken. It was so utterly unlike an ordinary Black Forest.
‘It was as if we’d stepped into another world entirely.’
An alien landscape greeted them at every turn. Even the air felt different, and everything her body sensed was profoundly strange.
Adapting to this new environment within the darkness had been anything but simple.
‘The moment we found the Black Egg…’
It was when we defeated the boss.
After nearly five hours of grueling combat, they’d barely managed to bring it down.
Had it been when all three of them collapsed from exhaustion? That’s when something caught her eye.
‘A very small black hole.’
It sat directly behind where the boss had fallen.
From the moment the boss died, they had only ten minutes before the Black Forest vanished completely.
‘That reckless curiosity was the real problem.’
Artia, forever driven by curiosity and utterly incapable of resisting her urges, had fearlessly thrust her hand into that hole.
And what she’d pulled out was the Black Egg itself.
Chirp?
The creature born from that egg: Kamangyi.
As Seres kept staring, Kamangyi tilted its head once more with a questioning tilt.
“More cake?”
Puff!
Seres retrieved another slice from the one set apart on the table and handed it over.
Gulp!
Chirp!
Hack!
“I don’t know what you are.”
But one thing was certain.
‘You’ve got a terrible temperament.’
She’d given it homemade cake, not some expensive confection—and the moment it took a single bite, it stretched out its stubby little legs and kicked the whole thing away.
Watching this finicky display, Seres shook her head slightly and pulled out an expensive cake instead.
You only get away with this because you helped save Yulia.
Chapter 24. Trauma
“Think it might snow?”
A small forest behind the Academy building, where few people ventured.
Lately, Seres had taken to spending her free time here. It was quiet, undisturbed—perfect for rest.
She’d made a quick lunch of bread and planned to use the remaining time for a nap.
Lying beneath a tree, Seres gazed up at the heavy clouds overhead.
‘The cold doesn’t bother me.’
But if snow came, she wouldn’t be able to use this place anymore, would she?
You couldn’t very well nap in a snowfield. She’d have to find another quiet spot.
“Hey, lift your head up straight.”
…Hmm?
“I’m asking you. Where’ve you been crawling around?”
“I couldn’t say. Where do you think I’ve been crawling around?”
That was when a familiar voice drifted toward her where she lay.
Seres lifted her head to look, and her eyes widened—there was Prince Aleks, surrounded by several male students.
‘What in the world is this about?’
It was clear they were bullying him, but had these people lost their minds?
Nobles harassing a prince?
Even she, who’d always been known for her audacity, had never gone quite that far.
‘I’ve mocked the Emperor plenty of times, but never to his face like that.’
Seres watched them with something almost like admiration in her gaze.
“What house are you from anyway? The fact that you won’t even say your name tells me you’re from some backwater provincial clan.”
…What? Don’t they know he’s a prince?
From what she could gather, they seemed entirely ignorant of Aleks’s true identity.
‘It’s been ages since she stepped outside.’
From childhood, her body had always been frail—she’d spent so much time convalescing that she rarely set foot in the Capital. Seres already knew this much from Chaien, the Arcane Tower’s master.
Still, whenever someone from the Imperial household entered the Academy, whispers always circulated beforehand. So this situation struck her as distinctly odd.
‘Could she have hidden her status and enrolled here on purpose?’
But why would she?
“My family? Is that really important?”
“Good grief, look at this one.”
Laughter—the kind that carries disbelief—escaped from those gathered around Aleks.
“You seriously can’t read the situation right now?”
What kind of fool was he?
Seres found herself at a loss watching Aleks stand there with that stupid grin.
‘Bad luck from the start, this one.’
Jairel, the instigator of the bullying, had taken a dislike to Aleks from the moment he’d first appeared in class.
Those pretty, almost androgynous features, the perpetual smile that slipped out so freely—it all rubbed Jairel the wrong way. The way the other girls melted at that smile annoyed him even more.
“You think this is funny?”
“My apologies. I just find it amusing when people act so childishly.”
“…What?”
Jairel’s expression went slack.
The smile had been bright enough, but what lay behind it was so utterly unfamiliar that for a moment he wondered if he’d heard wrong.
“You little—!”
Jairel’s face flushed red as he grabbed Aleks by the collar.
‘Tch.’
Seres, who’d been watching the whole scene unfold silently, let out a short sigh beneath her breath.
She’d briefly considered just looking the other way and passing by.
‘But she is Chaien’s sister, after all.’
Just walking away didn’t feel right.
Seres slowly rose from her seat.
Or rather, she tried to.
Crack!
“Ugh!”
“What—what is this?”
…Yeah, really—what was this?
Seres found herself frozen mid-motion.
Because Jairel, who’d been reaching his fist toward Aleks, was now sprawled on the ground, groaning.

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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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