Time Healer Ceres

“What’s so important about eating...”

“What? You’re not eating? Then do you want me to force medicine down your throat until you’re full, or will you just sit quietly and eat? Choose.”

“......”

Grace had always been particularly strict when it came to meals. Whenever he sulked and refused to eat, she would start pulling out all kinds of medicine, as if she really intended to shove them into his mouth if he kept it up.

Recalling those distant memories, Kainel rose from his seat.

Come to think of it, there was a stew Grace always made for him whenever he had no appetite...

“...This.”

Was it just a coincidence?

When he took a closer look at the food Del had brought in, Kainel’s expression turned strange.

***

“Wouldn’t it be better to prepare something fresh for His Excellency?”

“Well...”

“To serve food from outside to the Grand Duke... if His Majesty were to hear of this, I would be the one punished.”

The head chef still looked dissatisfied.

In the end, Del had brought the food from outside. But no matter how popular it was, the thought of serving such a thing to the Grand Duke didn’t sit well with the head chef.

“I heard the reviews are good.”

“But...”

Click.

The head chef and Del, who had been lingering outside Kainel’s office the entire time, quickly approached the maid as she stepped out of the room.

“Ah...!”

The moment they saw the plate she was holding, both of their expressions filled with surprise.

Soon, a smile spread across Del’s face. The plate was completely emptied without a trace left behind.

“I suppose I will have to stand in line again tomorrow.”

Whether it took one hour or two, it no longer seemed like something he couldn’t endure.

SLAM!

“—!”

At that moment, the office door opened and Kainel stepped out, a coat already in his hand like he was about to head out.

“Where is it?”

“...Pardon?”

“That food. Where did you ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) buy it?”

***

“Ceres! A letter came from Dave!”

“A letter?”

Julia came running over while holding a small envelope.

It seemed she had somehow managed to get in touch with him. But despite it being the news she had been waiting for, her expression wasn’t bright and instead looked troubled.

Ceres bent her knees to meet her gaze and patted her back.

“What’s wrong?”

“...I think the man he’s living with is hitting him.”

“What?”

“Look.”

Ceres took the letter Julia handed her and began to read it. The handwriting was somewhat clumsy, each letter pressed down hard.

Just as Julia had said, the contents were very concerning. Most of it spoke about his mother having an affair and the man she was now living with being violent. There was even a line saying that at this rate, he felt like he might die.

“Dave said his mom gets hit too. That man must be really bad.”

Julia spoke faster as she went on, clearly worried about him.

“Ceres, shouldn’t we tell Dave’s dad? He said to let him know if we heard anything.”

“...We should.”

Nodding, Ceres folded the letter again.

“I’ll deliver it myself.”

“I want to go with you.”

“No. Stay here with Colin.”

“......”

After seeing the look on Ceres’s face, Julia didn’t protest like she usually would. She simply pressed her lips together in silence.

Butler Colin watched Ceres with concern as she tossed aside the apron she was wearing. Her expression was far from good.

“My lady, will you really be alright going alone? Perhaps I should accompany you...”

“No. I think I need to look into something first.”

“Look into... what exactly do you mean?”

“I was going to let it pass at first since it felt like overstepping. But...”

The hand gripping the letter tightened.

“...How dare they try to use my sister?”

“...Pardon?”

Use?

Colin couldn’t understand what Ceres meant at all, but he quietly pulled Julia behind him and took a step back. The faint curl at the corner of Ceres’s lips showed that getting any closer to her right now wouldn’t be wise.

“Ceres... are you angry?”

Julia’s eyes widened.

She had seen that expression before. It was the same face Ceres had made when she came to the Recuperation house to take her away.

“I’ll be back.”

Leaving the two, who instinctively sensed that something serious had happened, Ceres immediately stepped out of the shop.

***

Knock, knock.

“Who is it?”

Unlike before, the door opened almost immediately. Dave’s father appeared.

“Oh? You are...”

After recognizing Ceres, he looked at her with confusion.

“A letter came. From Dave.”

“...From Dave?”

“May I come in for a moment?”

“Of course, please come in.”

The man quickly opened the door wider and ushered her inside.

“Did Dave really send word?”

“Could I trouble you for some tea first? My throat is a little dry.”

“Ah, y-yes, just a moment.”

The man hurried into the kitchen and soon returned with something to drink. Only then did Ceres hand over the letter she had brought.

When his eyes quickly scanned the page, they soon filled with tears.

“Dave... my Dave...”

“It seems the child is in danger.”

“...Hk, sob...!”

“Shouldn’t we report it first? We need to find him.”

“...Y-Yes, of course.”

“Unfortunately, there was no address in the letter. It would’ve helped if he’d written one, at least.”

The man wiped away his tears in a hurry and spoke with resolve.

“We have to file a missing person report. I will find him no matter what!”

“Do you know what happens next? If a missing report is filed and no confirmation of life or death is made after a certain period, the person is declared dead. One year for those missing in Black Forests, and five years elsewhere.”

“...What?”

“Ah, you didn’t know?”

At Ceres’s casual remark, the man’s eyes widened as if he were hearing it for the first time.

“Report it to the guard first. We need to move quickly.”

“Y-Yes.”

“I’ll just finish this tea and be on my way. You can go ahead. It’s not like I’m going to steal anything from here.”

After a brief hesitation, the man seemed to decide that reporting the matter came first. He nodded and hurried out, intending to show the letter to the guards.

Tap.

A moment later, Ceres set the teacup down and muttered coldly.

“I’m not stealing.”

Just taking a glimpse of the past.

Ceres swept her gaze over the house before placing a hand against the floor.

At first, nothing happened. The only difference was the thin layer of dust that had settled over time.

“......”

But as a little more time passed, the scene began to change. Faint, indistinct stains slowly started to surface here and there.

Ceres didn’t stop. She continued to reverse time, and the blurred traces gradually deepened in color. Then, at a certain point in the past, the state of the house became clear.

“...Ha.”

A hollow laugh slipped from her lips. She had expected as much.

A sea of blood. There was no better way to describe it. Blood had seeped into every corner, staining the floors and walls alike. For a moment, Ceres couldn’t bring herself to speak.

“So it really was the smell of blood remover.”

There is a chemical used to remove bloodstains from clothing when treating a patient’s wounds. When she first came to this house, that scent had lingered heavily in the air.

It carried a faint sweetness, enough that someone unfamiliar with it might dismiss it without much thought. It could’ve been a simple nosebleed, or a minor injury.

But the insurance?

Rechecking policies under the names of his runaway wife and son. Asking how long it takes after filing a missing person report for someone to be declared dead.

Is that something a normal person would do?

There was no choice but to be suspicious.

Still, it didn’t feel right to act on suspicion alone without any authority.

It’s not like I have definitive proof.

So she had let it be for the time being.

“How dare he try to use Julia?”

As soon as Ceres saw the letter from Dave, disbelief flickered across her face. The writing looked forced, as though someone had deliberately pressed the pen down to imitate a child’s hand, which resulted in an awkward script.

“For someone who doesn’t even recognize his own son’s handwriting, he certainly put in the effort.”

She had seen Dave’s writing once before through Julia. He had sent a letter along with a small hairpin as a gift. She remembered it clearly because the handwriting was unusually neat and refined for a child.

But the letter that arrived today was different. The letters leaned slightly to one side. It looked like they were written with the left hand.

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