Time Healer Ceres

“This is the pendant from back then.”

Duke Schweiss sighed quietly. As he gazed at the pendant, memories of that time seemed to resurface. A hint of affection flickered in his eyes before quickly fading.

“It’s already damaged, but I couldn’t bring myself to throw it away.”

“Damaged?”

Not broken, but damaged?

Ceres found the choice of words strange. Was “damaged” really the right term to use for something like this?

“This wasn’t an ordinary pendant.”

His younger brother was a timid child who struggled to express what he wanted to say. This pendant was something he’d made for that very reason.

“There’s a recording stone inside.”

“A recording stone?”

“Yes.”

He had told his younger brother that if there was something he couldn’t say to him or their parents, he could record it here instead of keeping it bottled up. He’d even commissioned the Magic Tower to create it specially.

“The child used it like a diary.”

He recorded the things that happened throughout his day, along with the words he wanted to share with his brother and parents. He never once took the pendant off.

“I tried to repair it, but...”

He’d wanted to restore it somehow, hoping that it might contain his brother’s final moments or perhaps a clue that could lead him to the culprit.

But his efforts were meaningless. The recording stone inside was already destroyed, and he was told that there was no way to repair it.

Did he have something he wanted to say?

He couldn’t stop wondering why that young child had treasured this pendant so much. Even after all these years, he still couldn’t bring himself to throw it away.

“A recording stone...”

Ceres examined the pendant hanging from Duke Schweiss’s neck more closely. If it was only this much...

“That one.”

“Hmm?”

“May I fix it for you?”

“...What?”

Duke Schweiss stared at her in confusion, unable to understand what she meant at first.

“I think I can repair that pendant.”

When she added that, his expression shifted into the greatest shock Ceres had ever seen from him.

***

“His Highness wishes to see you.”

Marquis Merial spoke to the grandson sitting before him. He tried to sound as calm as possible, but the tremor in his voice betrayed him.

“Is that so?”

As if amused by his reaction, the man smiled faintly then brought the teacup to his lips.

Marquis Merial, who was unable to look away from his movements, flinched when their gazes met and quickly lowered his gaze.

That day...

Has it been a blessing or a curse?

After losing his son long ago, he’d always brought his grandson along with him, intending to pass the family business down to him one day. That day was no different. He’d visited the newly purchased mine with his grandson to inspect it.

But then the mine collapsed. Despite the many people who were there, not a single scream could be heard. Only he and his grandson had survived, trapped inside a narrow crevice. Yet even that small shelter was on the verge of collapsing.

And then, at that moment, a voice reached him.

– Choose. I will save one of your lives.

“Ch-Choose?”

– If you sacrifice yourself, I will save your grandson. Or... if you abandon your grandson, I will save you instead.

“—!”

It was a voice that sounded like salvation in a moment when death was closing in. He made his choice.

“G-Grandfather...”

He forced himself to ignore the faint voice of his grandson beside him.

The life he wanted to save was his own.

After Marquis Merial abandoned his grandson’s life, he lost consciousness. When he finally opened his eyes again, everything was already over. Only two people had escaped the collapsed mine alive: himself and his grandson.

No... the one who had once been his grandson.

His grandson, who’d been lying beside him covered in blood, smiled faintly and spoke to him.

“Please take care of me from now on, Grandfather.”

Remembering that expression and the tone of his voice sent a chill down his spine. It was nothing like the grandson who had always shrunk back whenever he stood before him.

That was when he realized. Someone else had taken over his grandson’s body. And that being was the same one who had saved him inside the mine.

“I heard all three dukes have arrived in the capital.”

“...Yes.”

“Have you met Duke Schweiss?”

“Not yet.”

At Marquis Merial’s answer, his grandson, Veilks, let out a soft chuckle.

“I heard he’s still searching for them.”

“.......”

“The one who killed his younger brother years ago.”

Marquis Merial’s brow tightened at Veilks’s words. How did this man know about that?

Long ago, there was a reason he needed to stop the former Duke Schweiss from leaving. The method he chose to keep him from departing on business was kidnapping his young son.

The second son was the perfect choice.

The kidnapping had gone more smoothly than expected. Who would have ever imagined that someone would dare lay a hand on the son of a duke?

“You said your identity was exposed?”

“My apologies. It was due to a mistake by my subordinates...”

Perhaps they had grown careless because the child was only ten years old. The boy had overheard the identity of the organization that had kidnapped him. If they returned the child, there was a high possibility that the identity of the person behind the order would also be revealed.

“Take care of it.”

“Understood.”

From the beginning, he’d never intended to let the child live. The surest way to protect a secret was to silence the person who knew it forever.

After that, once the child’s body was returned, the former Duke Schweiss devoted every moment of his life to finding the culprit until the day he eventually stepped down as duke.

Back then, the capital... no, the entire Empire trembled beneath the storm former Duke Schweiss unleashed. Everyone knew that if they caught his attention for the wrong reasons, they could be accused of being responsible for his son’s death and have their entire family destroyed.

Even after handing the title down to his eldest son and stepping away from his position, he never stopped searching for the culprit.

Even the current duke is the same.

The current Duke Schweiss was still searching for the person who’d killed his younger brother. Of course, since he never left behind a clue, no trace connected to him had been found even after all these years.

But...

That didn’t mean he could rest easy. The news that the three dukes had returned to the capital, and that Duke Schweiss himself was staying there, was enough to put him on edge.

“Wouldn’t it be better to deal with them as well, so they won’t cause problems in the future?”

The “them” Veilks referred to was the organization that had killed the child under his orders.

“They have supported our family for a long time.”

Whenever something needed to be handled in secret, he had relied on their help. It was the same in the past, and it remains the same now. Abandoning them when they hadn’t left behind a trace would only be a needless loss.

“It can’t be helped. If that’s your decision, Grandfather.”

“......”

Watching his grandson smile, Marquis Merial forced himself to ignore the unpleasant feeling creeping up from deep within him.

“It’s fortunate that the three dukes’ intelligence networks aren’t as powerful as they once were.”

“...That’s right.”

Four years ago, it was Veilks who had used the most trusted subordinates of the three dukes to bring their intelligence networks crashing down. Thanks to him, they were able to carry out countless schemes in secret for the past four years without having to worry about the ducal families.

Of course, the ducal families’ intelligence networks have recovered now.

Even now, thinking back on that time left him amazed. Veilks had managed to interfere with the ducal families with ease, who had seemed as impenetrable as an iron fortress. He also handled the aftermath perfectly. The traitorous subordinates were eliminated before they could reveal anything.

“Here. This is a gift.”

“—!”

Veilks handed a small bottle to Marquis Merial. The moment he saw it, the Marquis’s eyes lit up. He snatched the bottle from him, opened it immediately, and poured the liquid into his mouth.

After swallowing it all in one gulp, a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

“Haa.”

Ever since taking this medicine, his strength had returned. His aging and exhausted body felt like it had become young again, filled with renewed vitality.

Veilks smiled faintly as he watched him. Seeing how delighted the old man became every time he took the medicine, a sudden thought crossed his mind.

Would he still smile like that if he knew?

That the very first dose he took in the mine was made from the life of his grandson.

As Marquis Merial looked regretfully at the empty bottle, Veilks’s smile grew even deeper.

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