Time Healer Ceres

“Huh? W-wait... medicine?”

“You know what my aunt did to Julia, right?”

Of course he knew. That was the very reason she had ended up in prison!

Don’t tell me... p-poison...!

Viscount Micro’s expression hardened. Was she saying Agne had poisoned him? Just like she had done to Julia?

“It’s not poison.”

“...It’s not?”

“No. I said it wasn’t poison. Instead...”

When Ceres hesitated again, Viscount Micro grew more and more uneasy. What exactly had Agne made him take?

“Have you been feeling unusually tired lately? Like your strength keeps leaving you?”

“H-how did you know that?”

...How else? Because I looked into it.

Even a healthy person wouldn’t last long if they were juggling multiple households.

Through her investigation, Ceres discovered that he had been frequently buying medicine to restore his stamina. Even without that, the dark circles beneath his eyes made it easy to see that he was very exhausted.

“Oh my!”

“What? What is it?”

“Y-your hair...”

“What about it?”

“Here... your hair...”

Ceres reached out and touched Viscount Micro’s hair.

Whoosh.

His dark brown hair instantly turned white. At the same time, his youthful face began to age rapidly.

“Ah! Your face too!”

“What?!”

At Ceres’s startled cry, Viscount Micro shot to his feet and hurried over to the mirror in his office.

“W-what is this?!”

A horrified scream escaped him. The reflection staring back at him was that of an old man who looked well past seventy.

Watching the elderly figure in the mirror move exactly as he did, Viscount Micro finally realized that it was himself. His face went pale.

“Oh no... What should I do? Aunt Agne said the medicine would start taking effect around now.”

“T-this... Is this because of the medicine Agne gave me?”

“Yes... You saw how Aunt Agne’s hair turned white, didn’t you? That’s the medicine. She must have taken it by mistake... I think she tested it on herself before giving it to you, Uncle. Sigh...”

“Y-you...! Damn it! Agne, that crazy woman!”

The gentle expression Viscount Micro had always worn fell apart. He screamed like a demon, frantically touching his face over and over again. Tears streamed down his face as he stared at the impossible sight before him.

“There’s a medicine that can cure you...”

“...What?”

Words that sounded like a lifeline reached him. Viscount Micro immediately looked up, his eyes trembling as he stared at Ceres.

“A-a medicine? You mean there really is one?”

“Yes. I was told there’s a medicine that can restore your original appearance.”

“What kind of medicine is it? Where can I get it?”

At his desperate questions, Ceres hesitated. She put on a troubled expression. Viscount Micro grew more anxious.

“Well, the medicine is extremely expensive... Even Aunt Agne had difficulty getting her hands on it.”

“I don’t care how much it costs. Just tell me! How can I get that medicine? Where do I find it?”

“Y-you’re really going to buy it?”

At Ceres’s hesitant question, Viscount Micro nodded furiously. He looked as if he would sell everything he owned if it meant obtaining the medicine.

Ceres smiled to herself.

Just as I thought.

She had heard that he was incredibly particular about his appearance. Even a single wrinkle was enough to make him spend the entire day taking care of his skin.

If you had only taken Aunt Agne’s money, I might have let it go.

But that wasn’t all. Her uncle had known from the start what Aunt Agne was doing, from poisoning Julia to stealing money from the dukes. Yet, he chose to look away and let it happen.

I even heard he would occasionally visit the bank to check how much Aunt Agne’s fortune had increased.

Not only that, he had secretly been looking into hiring an assassin. Thankfully for Agne, the truth came out and they divorced before he could carry out the murder himself. If things had gone differently, Aunt Agne might have already been dead.

He didn’t try to stop her. He was only interested in taking his share of the money.

There was no point deciding who was worse. They were both the same kind of person. In the end, they really were a perfect match even when it came to cheating.

“If the medicine doesn’t work, you’d better be prepared for what happens next.”

The Viscount who had always appeared gentle finally dropped his facade. He threatened young Ceres without hesitation.

“Y-yes, please don’t worry.”

...This b*stard. He’s suspicious until the very end.

Although Ceres kept a frightened expression on her face, she smiled even wider inside.

***

Ceres spent several days buying time under the excuse of finding the medicine. Once Viscount Micro had prepared the money, she began bringing him a bottle each time he called for her. Today would be the final one.

“Ah...”

Viscount Micro stared at himself in the mirror and let out a quiet gasp.

“Finally...”

He looked like he might burst into tears at any moment. He touched his face with extreme care, as if he was afraid that his youthful appearance might disappear and he would turn back into an old man again.

“You’ve finally returned to how you looked before.”

“Yes.”

Though it had cost him a fortune.

Viscount Micro stared at the small medicine bottle lying discarded to the side. A single bottle had cost him 100,000 gold. It was an absurd price.

I had to take several bottles of it, too.

At first, his hands trembled. He had spent a fortune on the medicine, yet he saw almost no improvement in the beginning.

Still, he couldn’t complain. It wasn’t as if the medicine had no effect at all.

“I told you, didn’t I? The effects would be small at first, but they would become much greater later.”

Ceres smiled as she watched Viscount Micro stare at himself in the mirror.

Of course, I didn’t make the effects obvious at the start.

If she had, he might have decided the money was a waste once he saw some improvement and stopped the treatment halfway through. That would’ve been troublesome, so she only let him see a small change at first.

Then, at the very end, she turned back a significant amount of time all at once.

“It really was worth every coin.”

A total of 900,000 gold. It was an enormous sum. When he first heard the price, he thought he had misheard. How could a single bottle of medicine cost that much?

And to think he had to pay the entire amount upfront before receiving it... It had nearly driven him mad. But he couldn’t exactly choose not to take it.

“You know how much Aunt Agne treasures her hair, right? Even so, she gave up on restoring it because the medicine was simply too expensive.”

“I know. I know.”

Agne had spent nearly the price of a house every year, with a little exaggeration, just to care for her hair. Yet even she had refused to use this medicine because of the cost. That alone showed how expensive it was.

Still, it hurts.

In the end, he had to sell all his businesses to afford the medicine. He would even have to leave this house soon after using it as collateral to borrow more money.

Now that the treatment was over, the amount he’d spent felt painful. But back when he was staring at his old and wrinkled face, money had been the last thing on his mind.

Even so...

There was no need to worry. He had them, after all. They might be divorced women, but they were wealthy and capable. With their help, he could easily get back on his feet.

“M-My lord.”

“What is it?”

“You need to come outside.”

“Hmm?”

Seeing the servant’s flustered expression, Viscount Micro looked puzzled and headed outside. Ceres also stood up and followed behind them.

“What? Who do you think you are?!”

“I’m the woman who’s going to become the Viscount’s wife!”

“What are you all saying? Is Ardo the person you’re talking about?”

“Hah!”

Four women stood in the living room, their faces filled with disbelief and anger. Unable to believe the situation, they kept asking each other who they were.

“Gasp!”

When Viscount Micro entered the living room behind the servant, he froze. At the sight before him, he instinctively took a step back.

W-why are they here?

Why were the very women who should have never met all gathered in one place? Viscount Micro swallowed the scream rising in his throat.

“Ardo!”

“You...!”

“Who are these women?”

“H-how... How could you...?”

The moment the women saw Viscount Micro, their anger erupted.

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