Time Healer Ceres

“You’re joking, right?”

The look she shot them clearly said, There’s no way anyone could say something so idiotic and mean it.

The nobles were momentarily caught off guard. That surprise quickly gave way to indignation.

“How dare you!”

“Who gave you permission to speak?”

“How can a mere attendant interrupt this meeting!”

It didn’t matter that she’d arrived with Grand Duke Persia. She wasn’t even a high-ranking noble, yet she’d inserted herself into a conversation and voiced her opinion. Such behavior was completely unacceptable.

Yeah, yeah. You’re all amazing.

As if she’d wanted to get involved in the first place.

“I only spoke up because listening to you was so frustrating.”

“W-What?”

“What did you just say?”

Ah, looks like she’d said that out loud.

Ceres scratched her cheek and flashed an awkward smile. Enoch was always nagging her about that habit of blurting out whatever was on her mind.

But what can I do?

The words were already out.

“I said it was frustrating.”

“Hah!”

“The nerve!”

“How dare an attendant talk to us that way!”

Good grief. They’d asked what she’d said, so she answered. Why were they even more offended now?

What do they expect me to do about it?

And while she was technically working for Kainel, she wasn’t actually his attendant.

I’m just a debtor who owes him a little money.

...Well, maybe not a little. She owed him quite a lot, actually.

Scrape.

“....?”

The nobles who’d been glaring at Ceres flinched when Grand Duke Persia suddenly rose to his feet.

He’d been silent the entire time. What was he doing now?

“Sit.”

“Huh?”

“I said sit.”

“...Me?”

Why would she sit there?

Kainel gestured toward the seat he’d just vacated. Ceres blinked several times.

What was he thinking?

“Your Excellency, what exactly are you doing?”

“Why would you seat an attendant there...?”

The other nobles looked just as bewildered. What Kainel said next only left them more stunned.

“She is attending today’s meeting as my representative.”

“Pardon?”

Ignoring the nobles’ astonishment, Kainel took the equally bewildered Ceres by the arm and settled her into the chair.

“Would you like some water?”

He even went so far as to find a glass and offer it to her himself.

A long sigh escaped Ceres.

What’s gotten into him now?

Watching Kainel, who looked one step away from causing a scene, she shook her head.

“This is ridiculous!”

“How can an attendant be given the authority to act as a representative?!”

“Who are you calling an attendant?”

“What?”

“I don’t recall ever introducing her as one.”

“Um...”

Wasn’t that the obvious conclusion? She’d been waiting on him this whole time.

“If you have something to say to me from now on, say it to her instead. Keep in mind that anything she says carries the same weight as my own words.”

With that, he stepped back.

The gesture made his intentions perfectly clear. He had no intention of taking any further part in the meeting.

The nobles weren’t the only ones caught off guard. Even the Emperor and the Crown Prince looked surprised.

They’d suspected for some time that the two shared an unusual relationship. But granting her the authority to act as his representative?

That was on an entirely different level.

“So...”

One of the nobles glared at Ceres, his expression sour.

“What exactly do the likes of you have to say?”

“...The likes of you?”

A chilly voice rang out from Kainel, who had supposedly stepped back.

“I suppose that’s how you’ve always seen me as well.”

“Y-Your Excellency, that’s not what I meant!”

“Have you suddenly developed short-term memory loss? I could’ve sworn I just said that anything directed at her is directed at me. Or perhaps, you’re saying you’d never use those words toward me because hearing them yourself would be unpleasant?”

The temperature around Kainel plummeted. It wasn’t just their imagination. The air itself was growing colder.

“Ugh...”

The power of frost was starting to seep out.

The noble’s face turned deathly pale. The cold aura was bearing down on him without restraint. His jaw trembled as though the cold had seeped straight into his bones.

“Grand Duke Persia, that’s enough.”

Unable to sit by and watch any longer, Crown Prince Aseraian stepped in. But Kainel ignored him completely. His attention remained fixed on the noble before him.

Everyone looked on helplessly, wondering how they were supposed to stop that ill-tempered monster.

“Lord Kainel.”

A quiet voice cut through the tension.

Whoosh.

The effect was immediate. The cold vanished from the hall like it had never been there.

“Go bring me another glass of water.”

At those words, everyone in the hall looked at Ceres like she’d lost her mind.

Who did she think she was ordering around?

Why? He said he’d serve me.

It’s not like she asked him to.

And it’s definitely not because I’m getting back at him for making me wait on him all this time.

He had offered, so she was just letting him do it.

Besides, for all his faults, he’s always been good at following orders.

Tap.

The hall seemed to freeze all over again. This time for an entirely different reason.

Kainel had actually gone and fetched the water. And now, he was setting it down in front of her.

“You said I was the one in charge, so stop butting in.”

Ceres lowered her voice as he stepped closer.

“I was worried you’d punch that man.”

“Me?”

“You’ve done it before. Right in the middle of a meeting.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, I only hit people. Unlike certain individuals, I don’t kill them.”

“I don’t kill just anyone either. I only kill people who deserve it.”

“Then what was that murderous aura earlier?”

“Well, maybe he deserved it.”

“You absolute lunatic. Try showing some restraint for once.”

The people in the meeting hall looked even more bewildered than before.

We can hear you.

We can hear every word!

The room was so quiet that even their hushed voices were carried clearly. No one present had hearing poor enough to miss what they were saying.

What is this?

What’s with that casual conversation?

While everyone sat there dumbfounded, Ceres slowly swept her gaze across the nobles.

Her eyes settled on the man who had been insisting that the deaths were the work of a serial killer.

“A human did this? Do you really think so?”

“Well...!”

Whoosh!

“Gah!”

In an instant, Ceres’s hand shot toward him.

“The victim’s heart was ripped out in one go. Half their head was torn apart. And you still think a human did it?”

“Th-That...!”

Tap.

“Eek!”

Ceres lightly poked the noble’s side.

“The right side of the body was torn open and chewed up so badly. Are you saying that was done by a person too?”

“Um...”

“I suppose there are all sorts of lunatics in the world. If there’s really someone insane enough to pull out a person’s organs and eat them, that’s a horrifying thought.”

The noble swallowed hard. No more words came out.

Then again, perhaps that was to be expected from Grand Duke Persia’s representative.

What was with that look in her eyes? When her gaze settled on him and her hand touched his skin, he felt as though he were the corpse she was describing.

“Have you ever seen a body killed by a monster?”

“O-Of course!”

“Wow. Despite that, you’re still insisting on such a ridiculous theory?”

The noble’s face turned red. The others who shared his opinion didn’t look much better.

Across the Empire, mysterious corpses had been turning up one after another. Rumors spread that monsters were appearing without warning, killing people, then vanishing without a trace. Public anxiety had reached an all-time high.

To make matters worse, people claimed the deaths were the work of evil spirits and began selling fake holy relics in droves. Needless to say, the number of people flocking to the temples had more than doubled.

The easiest way to calm the public was to give that fear a clear target. If the government announced that these incidents were the work of a serial killer, caught a convenient suspect, and executed them, much of the panic would disappear.

But...

“This is obviously the work of a monster.”

Grand Duke Persia’s representative clearly had no intention of helping them do that.

If anything, she’d become more merciless than before. The look she kept throwing at them practically screamed, “Stop spouting nonsense.” It only made their faces burn hotter.

“I heard the Black Forest alarm went off again when the latest body was discovered.”

“It could’ve been a malfunction.”

“Exactly. No one actually saw the Black Forest appear.”

“If it was a small Black Forest, that’s entirely possible.”

“What do you mean?”

“A small Black Forest?”

The nobles didn’t bother hiding their displeasure. A few even laughed outright because the idea sounded absurd.

After looking down on them like they were fools, she had somehow managed to come up with a theory more ridiculous than serial murder.

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