Time Healer Ceres
Chapter 12
<012>
“…What are you talking about?”
Agne’s hand, which had been bringing the teacup back to her lips, slid back down. Watching Ceres wear that peculiar smile, she felt an inexplicable, ominous chill.
“I happened to get my hands on something very interesting recently.”
As if to confirm that feeling, Ceres set something down on the table.
“I put quite a lot of it in there.”
Agne looked down with a gaze that demanded to know what she was up to, and her eyes instantly flew wide.
A small, hexagonal glass bottle!
“Th-that is…!”
Wasn’t that the very vial she had given to Director Arnold? The one she had told him to feed to Yulia little by little!
If she had put that in this tea…!
“Ugh!”
Agne gagged immediately. She didn’t stop retching for a long time, as if desperate to throw up everything she had swallowed.
“You… you!”
A moment later, Agne lifted her head, her face pale, and glared at Ceres with eyes full of rage.
‘How dare she!’
How dare she feed her such a thing? And of all people, it was that stupid girl Ceres!
“Hmm, that’s strange.”
Despite facing that furious gaze, Ceres’s expression remained calm.
“Why are you throwing up?”
“What?”
“I’m asking why you’re vomiting when you don’t even know what this is.”
“That’s because! This bottle is pois…!”
“…….”
Watching her aunt freeze, Ceres clicked her tongue lightly.
Between that director and this woman, they both certainly had a talent for digging their own graves.
“I only showed you the bottle. Why are you so terrified when you don’t even know what’s inside?”
Ceres hadn’t uttered a single word about it being poison.
“That…!”
Only then did Agne realize her mistake, her eyes darting frantically. She tried to stammer out an excuse, but Ceres was faster.
“The director already confessed everything.”
“What?”
“He gave a full statement saying it was you, Aunt, who gave him this poison and told him to feed it to Yulia.”
“What! Don’t lie!”
Was she expected to believe that? That Arnold told her everything?
‘There’s no way.’
Instinctively, Agne toyed with the ring tightly fitted on her left hand. Hadn’t they even made plans to settle everything and leave together once it was over?
And now she was saying he betrayed her? It was absolutely impossible!
“I’m sure you know this medicine well, Aunt.”
Ceres picked up the vial on the table and gave it a gentle shake.
“If you consume a small amount, it destroys the body very slowly, but if you consume a large amount all at once…”
As she trailed off and made a light slicing motion across her throat, Agne’s face turned even whiter.
“I put everything that was left into the tea.”
“Ugh!”
At those words, Agne began retching again. As if what she had just thrown up wasn’t enough, she even shoved her fingers into her mouth to force the contents out.
“How is it? How does it feel to have swallowed poison?”
“Ugh!”
“I wonder if you can understand a little of how Yulia felt?”
Ceres stood up and lightly patted the back of the woman who wouldn’t stop vomiting. She even smoothed her hair softly as if telling her to calm down.
But that tender touch only made Agne’s skin crawl. Shuddering, Agne hurriedly took a step away from Ceres.
“Why don’t you stop vomiting? I didn’t actually put it in.”
“…What?”
She didn’t? There was no poison in the tea?
Agne stood with her mouth agape, looking even more shocked than before.
“Am I crazy? Why would I become a murderer because of someone like you?”
“You, you…!”
“Why should I get my hands dirty when it’s a matter that can be easily settled by the law?”
“I-I didn’t do anything!”
Finally coming to her senses, Agne began a belated attempt at damage control.
“I don’t know what the director said, but it’s all a lie!”
“Right, right. Be sure to insist on that in court.”
Responding dismissively, Ceres picked up something she had discreetly placed on the seat where she had been sitting. It was a transparent orb slightly larger than an adult’s fist.
“…What is that?”
“A Video Storage Orb.”
“What? That crude-looking thing is a video orb?”
…Crude?
Ceres scratched her cheek, feeling a bit embarrassed. Did modern video orbs not look like this?
She had just pulled it out of her Subspace; she hadn’t realized it was such an old version that it looked crude. Had technology advanced that much in the meantime?
“Well, it’s old, but it records just fine. It captured the scene of you jumping to conclusions and vomiting perfectly.”
“…!”
Agne’s expression twisted as far as it could go.
“How dare a thing like you!”
Now that the panic had passed, her rage finally seemed to be boiling over.
Step.
After staring at Agne indifferently for a moment, Ceres took a step toward her. With both hands on Agne’s shoulders, Ceres brought her face close, one corner of her mouth curling upward.
“Exactly. How dare I.”
“You…!”
“How dare a thing like you touch a child?”
“…!”
The gaze Ceres held at this close range was colder and sharper than ever before. The moment Agne felt goosebumps erupt all over her body, Ceres leaned in even closer and whispered low into her ear.
“Get out.”
“…What?”
“I said get out of this house right now.”
“Aaaagh!”
In that instant, Agne screamed at the horrific pain radiating from the shoulders Ceres was touching. Only then did Ceres smile brightly as if nothing had happened and stepped back a few paces.
“I’ll give you one hour. Please be out by then. No matter how good my personality is, I can’t exactly live with a murderer who tried to kill my sister, can I?”
“Ugh… uuuugh….”
With an expression mixed with resentment and terror, Agne glared at Ceres but ultimately couldn’t say another word.
“Ah, for your information, it won’t do any good to go looking for Director Arnold. He’s already been handed over to the guards and is under investigation.”
“Wh-what?”
“It might be better for you to turn yourself in before I report you, Aunt. That way, you might at least be able to plead for mercy in court.”
“…!”
Ceres grinned, shaking the Video Storage Orb. Agne’s lips trembled violently.
“One hour.”
Delivering her final warning, Ceres turned around and leisurely left the room as if she had no further business there.
“Y-you…! Aaaagh!”
Unable to contain her fury, Agne began hurling whatever household items she could grab.
‘What do I do now?’
What should she try to fix first? Had Arnold really confessed everything? That she was an accomplice?
“Ma-madam?”
“What is…! Oh, ohhh!”
“Gasp!”
A moment later, the maids who had heard the commotion came rushing into the room. However, their expressions as they looked at Agne were strange. Stricken with horror, the maids couldn’t even speak properly.
“Pant… pant…?”
Agne, huffing and puffing in her uncontrollable rage, furrowed her brow even deeper at the sight of the dazed maids.
“Ma-madam, your hair…!”
…Hair?
“It’s pure white….”
…What?
Watching the maids stutter and fail to finish their sentences, Agne clicked her tongue. What on earth were they blathering about?
“What about my hair…?”
As Agne stepped in front of the mirror, her eyes gradually went wide. Thinking she had misseen, she rubbed her eyes several times. But the reflection in the mirror didn’t change one bit.
What… is that?
Is that really me?
“Ugh… Kyaaaaagh!”
A scream more desperate than any before erupted from her throat. It was because the hair in the mirror had turned snowy white. Her lustrous, thick brown hair was gone, replaced by brittle, thin, and pathetic-looking strands that held no strength at all.
“H-how could this…!”
Agne couldn’t even form a sentence. Why had her hair suddenly ended up in this state? Agne couldn’t keep her wits about her at the sight of herself having gone completely white-haired.
“Ma-madam, please, first calm down….”
“Aaaaaagh!”
Even after that, Agne’s screams continued to ring loudly through the Drow Barony.
*
One month later.
“Ugh, damn it. Maybe I should have just taken the settlement money?”
Ceres brushed back her falling hair in annoyance. She had recovered most of the money that had been handed over to Agne and Director Arnold under the guise of medical expenses. The problem was that even with that money, she couldn’t pay off the accumulated interest, let alone the principal.
“Ah, so annoying.”
They had offered settlement money and begged for leniency, but she had refused.
‘Would you settle with people who tried to kill your little sibling? My pride won’t let me do that.’
‘Aaaagh! Seres Drow, you devilish thing! I will never forgive you…!’
‘Whatever.’
