Time Healer Ceres

“My son... my son is very sick! How much longer do I have to wait?”

“Please wait. It’s not your turn yet.”

“It has been five hours already! Why is no one allowed inside? How much longer are we supposed to wait?!”

“There are already many patients waiting inside.”

“Th-That can’t be!”

Anxious tears welled up in the woman’s eyes. Her child’s condition was worsening by the minute. It was unbearable to simply stand there and wait.

Should I go somewhere else?

But she had tried. Nothing had worked.

This is the last place...

Clack, clack.

At that moment, a luxurious carriage approached the main gate. The attendant who was speaking with the woman hurried over.

“Welcome, Lord Clio.”

After checking the crest engraved on the carriage, the attendant broke into a bright smile, so different from the indifferent expression he had shown the woman.

“I’m feeling rather stiff today.”

“Yes, of course. Please come inside.”

“Much obliged.”

The man, who appeared to be in his early fifties, closed the slightly opened carriage window and passed through the gate without delay.

“Ah.”

“...Haah.”

“We’re getting pushed back again.”

Sighs slipped from the crowd watching nearby. They were used to nobles cutting ahead of those who had been waiting since dawn.

However, that did nothing to ease the bitterness they felt.

“H-Hey! What about us? When can we go in? Please, let us in already! Why do only they get to?!”

The woman rushed forward and clung to the attendant, her eyes red.

Why was someone who came later allowed in first? But the answer never changed.

“Please wait.”

“My son is very sick!”

Of course, she knew. Expecting to be treated the same as a noble was unreasonable. But this wasn’t something she could just accept right now. The heat radiating from her child’s body was only growing stronger.

“Please... just...!”

The woman grabbed the attendant’s arm with all her strength. He recoiled as if something filthy had touched him and shoved her away.

“I said wait!”

Thud!

“Ah!”

“Do you think you’re the only one suffering here?!”

The woman staggered and fell. Because she had been holding the child with only one arm while clinging to him, the child slipped from her grasp.

“J-Jen!”

“...Mm...”

A faint groan escaped from the child on the ground. He didn’t even have the strength to cry or move.

“Ugh!”

The woman tried to rush toward him, but her movement was hindered. She had twisted her leg in the fall.

At that moment, someone reached him first.

“—!”

A pale hand gently lifted the child into her arms. She placed her hand against his forehead as he lay barely conscious.

“The fever is high.”

The one who spoke with a quiet click of the tongue was Ceres.

“How long has the child been sick?”

Startled for a moment, the woman quickly approached Ceres.

“A-about half a month. I took him to other clinics, but it didn’t help...”

That was how she ended up here. She had heard that all the most skilled healers were gathered in this place.

But in the end, she couldn’t even make it past the main gate.

A helpless parent, left with no choice but to watch as her son’s life slowly slipped away.

Ceres patted the woman’s back as she struggled to hold in her tears.

“Let’s move somewhere else.”

She couldn’t properly examine the child while standing like this.

“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

The attendant, who had been watching, raised his voice in disapproval and approached them. He was trying to stop her from taking the patient away.

There were always people like that. Clinics nearby would sometimes take away patients who had been waiting in line.

And now, right in front of House Ellesia, she dared to take one so openly.

“...F*ck off.”

“W-What?”

The attendant looked startled at the curse that landed in his ears. For a moment, he wondered if that young lady had really just sworn at him.

“Yes. F*ck off.”

Was that not enough? Should she go further? She had picked up quite a bit while working at the shop. The regulars were especially foul-mouthed.

Still holding the child, Ceres slowly turned to face him, a faint smile forming at the corner of her lips.

“How amusing.”

Though he had ignored an urgent patient, he still didn’t want to lose one to someone else.

At that smile, Antonian flinched and stepped back. He knew that look well. His sister had completely lost her temper. If he didn’t want to get caught up in it, the best thing to do was stay out of her way.

“Oi, you.”

“W-What?”

At her blunt call, the attendant’s face twisted further. Has she truly lost her mind?

“How long have you been trained in healing?”

“Huh?”

“I asked how long.”

“Why would I need to learn healing?!”

The attendant raised his voice, his face flushing red like the very idea was absurd.

“...You haven’t learned it?”

Ceres laughed incredulously.

“Someone who has never learned healing is in charge of the front gate?”

It was beyond ridiculous. Her smile deepened.

“Ugh...”

“....”

Ceres was about to say more, but paused at the faint groan coming from the child in her arms.

“Let’s move somewhere else, somewhere I can lay the child down.”

“Ah, yes!”

The mother, who had been anxiously watching the exchange, hurried ahead. Ceres followed after her, her gaze colder than before.

***

“Your Excellency?”

Del turned to Kainel in confusion at the sudden order to stop the carriage. When his master opened the window and looked outside, Del followed his gaze and frowned.

“It seems there’s some trouble.”

A child and what appeared to be the child’s mother were laying on the ground.

“Hm?”

Just then, someone approached and lifted the child. Soon after, a curse rang out.

Oh?

Del stared at the young woman, who spoke calmly yet left the attendant speechless.

She looks familiar.

Where did he see her before?

“....?”

There was someone else watching the woman just as intently. It was Kainel.

“Do you know her?”

Del found it strange. No matter how much of a commotion there was, Kainel never paid attention to things that didn’t concern him. This was the first time he had seen him look at someone with such interest.

“The one who feeds me.”

“...Pardon?”

The one who feeds him? What did that mean?

“Ah.”

Only then did Del remember where he had seen her. She was the woman from the stew shop!

“And...”

“And?”

“.....”

“....?”

Someone who kept bothering him.

Kainel didn’t take his eyes off Ceres as she walked away with the child in her arms until she became a dot in the distance.

“We’re leaving.”

“Huh? What about the consultation?”

Del had been urging him for a long time to visit House Ellesia for treatment, and only today did he finally manage to persuade him to come. Kainel’s insomnia had been getting worse.

But now he wanted to leave just like that?

“Look into it.”

“Look into what?”

“That woman.”

At Kainel’s order, Del belatedly turned his gaze back outside. Was he referring to the woman from earlier?

Surprise flickered across his face.

“Understood.”

Still, Del soon nodded without hesitation. He didn’t know the reason, but the fact that Kainel was showing interest in something at all was a welcome change.

“Since we’re already here, would you not consider getting examined before we leave?”

“....”

“...Let’s go back.”

When Kainel closed his eyes without another word, Del sighed heavily. It seemed they would have to return another time.

***

“Mom...”

“Jen! Are you awake?”

Tears filled the woman’s eyes.

When she first followed Ceres and moved away, she wondered if she was making the right choice. Even if she felt angry and desperate, should she have stayed and waited for her turn in front of House Ellesia?

But in that moment, when everyone else had turned away, she saw Ceres lift the child from the cold ground. Before she knew it, she found herself following her as if drawn in.

The woman had brought Ceres to the inn where she was staying. As she watched her examine the child, her heart couldn’t settle.

Was I right to do this? What if something goes wrong? What am I supposed to do then?

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