Time Healer Ceres

Kainel slowly sat up. Ceres rubbed her freed left arm and grimaced.

“Ow, my arm’s numb.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s around three o’clock. We received another message from the palace regarding the body discovered in the capital... Your Excellency?”

Del trailed off mid-report when Kainel suddenly brushed past him without so much as a response.

“Where are you going now?”

“Looks like someone’s embarrassed.”

“Huh?”

Embarrassed? Who? His Excellency?

“What nonsense is that? That’s about as believable as spring coming to the Persia Grand Duchy.”

“I’m serious.”

By the time Del turned around, Ceres was already on her feet, lightly dusting off her clothes.

“But... what did you just say? A body?”

“Ah, yes. A body was discovered this morning near Delasi First Street...”

“W-Wait a second. Delasi First Street?”

This morning? Could it be...

“Was it a man by any chance?”

“They’re still confirming the identity, but yes, it was a man.”

“......”

Ceres recalled the man who had come by the shop late last night.

She had jokingly thought there was no way he’d die the moment he left the store... but surely he wasn’t actually dead?

His coughing did sound pretty serious...

But he didn’t look sick enough to die overnight.

“Is something wrong?”

“Um... I was wondering if it might be someone I know.”

“Hm?”

Ceres pushed her hair back with an irritated sigh. Now this is going to keep bothering her.

“Could I see the body?”

“Pardon?”

***

“This way.”

Following the guard, Ceres headed toward where the body was being kept. As she walked, she glanced sideways.

“Why are you here?”

The one walking beside her was none other than Kainel.

Ceres had only come because Del said he’d arranged permission for her to inspect the body, but somehow, Kainel was already there when she arrived.

“The task was originally assigned to me.”

His voice carried a note of emphasis.

“I’m not the one following you. You’re the one following me.”

With that, he continued walking ahead.

Del quietly followed after him, the corners of his lips twitching upward.

When Del mentioned that the Imperial family wanted him to examine a corpse, he barely seemed interested. So, why did he suddenly decide to come along?

And right after hearing that Miss Ceres wanted to see it too.

As always, Del kept his curiosity to himself.

“Here.”

Guided by the guard, they entered a room where a corpse lay stretched across a bed, its body ripped apart by something sharp.

Del instinctively checked Ceres’s expression.

The corpse was in far worse condition than he had expected. He worried that the sight might shock her. From the start, he had been hesitant when she asked to see the body. No matter what, this was hardly something a young noble lady should witness.

But once she mentioned that the victim might be someone she knew, he had no choice but to bring her along.

And yet...

“Hmm. He died instantly.”

...Why was she so calm?

If anything, she seemed unfazed. She stepped closer to inspect the wounds more carefully, leaving Del staring at her in a daze.

I knew she wasn’t ordinary...

Watching how casually she treated Kainel already made that much obvious. However, staying this composed in front of a gruesome corpse was another matter.

Del shook his head before turning to the guard beside him.

“Has the identity been confirmed?”

“Yes. The deceased is a man named Zento, believed to be in his early forties. Apparently, he was known around the neighborhood as a thug.”

“A thug?”

“Yes. People say he was notorious for getting drunk and causing trouble. Someone reportedly saw him intoxicated while heading home that night.”

“I see.”

The more Del listened, the less sense the situation made.

By all accounts, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. The man was simply going through his routine before ending up dead at the hands of a monster.

While the two continued talking, Ceres silently examined the corpse herself.

It’s not him.

Though half the face was intact, this wasn’t the man she had seen yesterday. Not only the face, but the build was completely different.

Should I be relieved?

Click.

“....?”

At that moment, someone else entered the room. Del turned his head, his eyes widening briefly before he regained his composure. He lowered his head politely and stepped aside.

The one who had entered was Crown Prince Aseraian.

“So the Grand Duke is here as well.”

The Crown Prince greeted Kainel with a smile. Kainel answered with a slight nod before turning his gaze back to the corpse. Aseraian did the same.

A mysterious corpse was discovered in the middle of the capital. Everyone seemed to agree that the victim had been attacked by a monster. That alone was enough to leave people shaken.

After all, no Black Forest had formed. The idea that a monster attack could happen in the capital without warning was impossible to believe.

“Still no clue what kind of monster did this?”

“No, Your Highness. Every mercenary captain in the capital came to inspect the body, but none of them could identify it with certainty.”

“That’s troubling.”

The most important thing right now was determining what monster had attacked the victim. Only then could they begin piecing together what had happened.

However, even veteran mercenary captains who spent years hunting monsters couldn’t come to a conclusion...

“Shakera.”

“It’s a Shakera.”

At that moment, two quiet voices broke through the silence.

“Shakera?”

Aseraian’s gaze shifted toward the source. Both Kainel and Ceres were still examining the corpse.

“The wounds look like they were torn open, but they’re unusually deep. Monsters with teeth this thick and long aren’t that common.”

“You can tell just from the wounds alone. I don’t know why nobody recognized it sooner. That sticky saliva with the fishy stench already gives it away.”

“But it’s better to make sure... Ah, look. There’s a small puncture wound in the abdomen. It was struck by a tentacle. The burns around the wounds mean the creature releases heat at the same time it attacks.”

“A monster like that could only be...”

“Shakera.”

Everyone could only stare blankly as the two carried on the conversation naturally.

What is this strange sense of familiarity?

The way they exchanged observations made it seem like they had done this together countless times before.

Kainel Persia, at least, was understandable. For 300 years, he had protected the Persia Grand Duchy while facing endless monsters. There was no one on the continent who knew more about monsters than the Grand Duke of Persia himself.

But...

What about that young lady? Even seasoned guild leaders failed to identify it, yet she figured it out just by examining the wounds.

What exactly is going on between those two?

How did she become acquainted with the Grand Duke of Persia?

Until recently, she had merely worked as Cheion’s temporary secretary. But during the last Imperial meeting, she stood beside the Grand Duke.

Cheion looked irritated. Was this the reason?

Aseraian had thought it before, but the more he watched her, the more unusual she seemed.

“Shakera isn’t a monster you see often... What could have happened here?”

“That’s what we’ll have to find out now.”

...Also, there was something else Aseraian had been wondering this entire time.

Was she really speaking to the Grand Duke of Persia that casually?

Even his father, the Emperor himself, rarely addressed that man informally. Has there ever been anyone who spoke to the Grand Duke comfortably before?

“Look at this part.”

“Hmm.”

Despite Aseraian’s astonished gaze, Ceres and Kainel stayed focused on the corpse, seemingly oblivious to everyone else around them.

***

“—Anna married the Prince and they lived happily ever after.”

“Yaaawn... Ceres.”

“Hmm? Do you want me to read another one?”

Maybe it was because they hadn’t spent much time together lately due to how busy things had been, but Julia seemed especially clingy tonight.

Ceres tucked the child into bed and continued reading through the stack of five storybooks Julia had brought with her.

She was used to this sort of thing. Back when Artia was younger, he used to cling to Grace and whine until she read him a story.

“Does marrying a prince make you happy?”

“Um...”

As if. The moment you marry into royalty, your life is basically ruined.

You end up walking on thin ice every single day.

Well, maybe someone who enjoyed dangerous political battles would find that life enjoyable.

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