Time Healer Ceres
Chapter 23
“…No.”
“Then have you ever missed an interest payment?”
“Never!”
Of course.
I had already confirmed that even if they were late elsewhere, they had never missed a single interest payment here.
In fact, I didn’t even really need to look into it. The answer was obvious if I thought about it for a moment.
‘The original Ceres was someone who was far from bold.’
There was no way a girl like that would try to stiff Croy’s gang, who were notorious for their malice.
She hadn’t been able to pay back a single cent of the principal, but she would have tried her best to scrape together the interest and pay it on time every month.
“Then why did you touch my employee?”
“…….”
Croy swallowed hard.
If he told her that he had planned to ruin the shop so he could take it over for cheap and do whatever he wanted with it, would he get beaten again?
Possessing at least that much sense, Croy simply kept his mouth shut.
Whack!
“Are you ignoring me?”
“No, ma’am!”
Of course, even if he kept his mouth shut, the beating remained the same.
“If you have something to say in the future, say it to me. Don’t go bothering my innocent employee for no reason. If you’re going to act like a thug, come and do it to me.”
“…….”
Isn’t she basically saying don’t do it at all?
After getting thrashed like this, no matter how stupid someone is, how could they possibly come back?! To get beat up again?
“Answer me.”
“Ye-yes, ma’am!”
Having roughly settled the situation, Ceres surveyed the men who still had their hands raised high.
Even though she was the one who ordered it, they were in a truly pathetic state—covered in wounds and groaning as they sat on the floor.
“One by one, starting from that side. Come here. I’ll treat you.”
“Huh?”
Treatment? What kind of treatment all of a sudden?
At the command to approach one by one, everyone instinctively flinched.
Was she going to hit them again instead of treating them?
Regardless, Ceres looked at the leader, Croy, and smiled brightly.
“But my treatment fees are a bit expensive.”
Which meant.
“Let’s call it even for next month’s interest with this.”
“…….”
“Answer.”
“Ye-yes, ma’am!”
Whatever you want, ma’am!
Everyone there, including Croy, nodded their heads vigorously as if it were their only way to survive.
Chapter 7. Have You Seen the Blue Stone?
“Hey, did you hear the news?”
“What news?”
The stew shop, Where Your Steps Linger, was bustling from the morning as usual.
The mercenaries, who had been waiting to soothe their hangovers, swarmed inside the moment the doors opened.
“I heard Grand Duke Persia showed up at the Imperial Council meeting this time.”
“What? Is that true?”
Since it was the day after the Imperial Council meeting, the mercenaries’ interests were naturally focused on one thing.
Depending on the results of the meeting, the areas they had to defend could change, and their future plans could be derailed, so everyone was on high alert.
“Wow, that monster finally came out into the world?”
“They say he still looks exactly like he’s in his twenties.”
The thing that drew the most attention was, of course, Grand Duke Persia, who had revealed himself after breaking a long silence.
“Does he really not age?”
“That’s why he’s called a monster.”
“As expected, the Ice Mon—”
Clang!
“……!”
A bowl of stew was placed on the table where the mercenaries were talking with an exceptionally loud thud.
The two men, wondering what was going on, looked up and met Ceres’s gaze—she was staring at them quite coldly—and promptly shut their mouths.
‘What? Did we do something wrong just now?’
‘We didn’t fight, we didn’t break anything while drunk, and we waited quietly until the food came… Ah, is she mad because of your face? That’s it.’
‘Wash your neck and wait, you bastard.’
The two mercenaries rolled their eyes, reflecting on their actions just now.
“The stew is out.”
“Uh?”
“It won’t taste good if it gets cold.”
“Ah…….”
The two men, immediately understanding the subtext to shut up and eat, moved their spoons hurriedly.
“…….”
Ceres watched them for a moment before returning to the kitchen and stirring the bubbling pot of stew with a ladle.
‘Kai came to the Capital?’
In the meantime, Ceres had intentionally avoided hearing news of Kainel. She felt like she would want to go find him if she heard anything about him.
Why wasn’t she going to meet him?
…Because they would end up fighting.
‘That bastard, he definitely won’t believe me.’
No matter how much she told him she was Grace, he was not the type to believe it. He was more realistic than anyone else.
He would probably draw his sword first, asking how she dared to pull such a trick.
‘If I showed him the magic stone he gave me as proof, he’d go even crazier, wouldn’t he?’
He’s the kind of guy who would demand to know where I stole it from, half-kill me first, and then interrogate me.
“Ah, my head hurts.”
Just thinking about that situation made her head throb.
‘I’ve got a bit of a temper too, don’t I?’
Since she had zero intention of letting him hit her, she would probably draw her sword as well. Then, either way, neither of them would walk away unscathed.
“But, a monster?”
Ceres frowned, recalling the conversation the mercenaries had just had.
He had never been called by very nice titles in the past either, but a monster.
‘…Is he being called that because he doesn’t age?’
Ceres let out a deep sigh.
Kainel—she was the one who had stopped his time.
The Grand Ducal House of Persia, Kainel’s family, had ruled the North for generations.
There was a unique ability passed down only to the Head of the Family of Persia.
The Power of Freezing.
The Persia family was also a family of swordsmen, but because of that ability, many people mistook them for a magic family.
However, it was different in nature from the mages who used mana.
‘Should I call it a unique power transmitted through blood?’
The problem was that the power affected the body.
Successive Heads of the Family of Persia usually did not live past thirty.
‘So I used it.’
What?
The power to control time that she possessed.
She had stopped his physical time in his twenties, just before it would have started to deteriorate rapidly.
She had locked his body’s time forever so that it wouldn’t break down any further.
Because there was no other way to save him.
‘I was going to release it later.’
When she herself grew old and much time had passed, she intended to give him back his time then.
But she hadn’t been able to, had she?
‘How was I supposed to know I’d die so early.’
Even so, it would have been ridiculous to give him back his time and die just because I was about to die, telling him he should die now too.
“But a monster……”
He was being called that?
‘Damn it…….’
It felt disgusting. What did they know about him to talk like that?
Ceres let out a short sigh.
“Ceres-nim, an order for two stews.”
“Okay.”
New customers must have arrived, as Jay entered the kitchen and placed an order.
Then, seeing the pile of dishes stacked on one side, she made a crying face, rolled up her sleeves, and immediately started washing dishes.
“…….”
In the meantime, Ceres, who had dished out two bowls of stew, watched Jay for a moment before picking up the bowls herself and heading out.
“Lina! Open your eyes, eyes!”
“…Where is this?”
“We came to eat. Get it together.”
“…Do you want to try talking to the Tower Master for three hours every day too?”
“No, I’ll pass.”
A young man and woman were seated in a corner of the restaurant.
Unlike the man who looked fine, the woman sitting across from him was in a terrible state.
Her eyes were hollow as if she hadn’t slept for days, and she had a soul-less expression, looking like she might collapse at any moment.
“Is this what it feels like to have your energy drained……?”
“Then why did you show that video to the Tower Master?”
“I didn’t show it to the Tower Master, I showed it to my Master!”
The woman flared up at the man who was clicking his tongue.
“Seriously. What is that magic stone anyway?”
“My point exactly.”
The woman, Lina, slumped onto the table as if her mind and body were exhausted.
The act she had performed out of affection for her Master had, as a result, acted as the main cause of her chronic fatigue and hair loss, driving her crazy.
A magic stone she had accidentally discovered at a magic shop she visited a while ago.
Since a magic stone with special attributes was fascinating, she had saved it as a video. She had really wanted to show it to her Master, who was very interested in such things.
“I was crazy. Why did I film that?”
She felt like going back to find her past self and beating her up.
The moment she showed that video to her Master, the trouble began.
Bam!
‘Hieek! T-Tower Master?’
‘My magic stone, my magic stone!’
‘Pardon?’
‘My magic stone, where is it?’
‘T-the magic stone?’
The root of the problem was her Master showing that video to the Tower Master.
Cheion, the Tower Master, who saw it, immediately sought out Lina and began to grill her about the magic stone.
‘Did you go back to that shop?’
‘Did you see my blue stone again?’
‘The woman? You really don’t know where she lives?’
‘Why? Why? Why don’t you know?’
…Why, why?
Why does the Tower Master repeat the same questions for three hours every single day?
Why? Why!
