Time Healer Ceres
Chapter 3
“…! Oh, my goodness!”
The people who discovered she had opened her eyes all wore expressions of sheer shock.
“Seres!”
Among them, a middle-aged woman who had been the first to enter rushed toward Grace, her eyes welling with tears.
Grab!
“Seres, you! Just what were you thinking? Do you have any idea how worried your aunt was?”
…Aunt?
As the woman pulled the bewildered Grace into a tight embrace, she continued speaking rapidly in a trembling voice.
“No matter how hard things got, to think you’d try to take your own life!”
…I tried to take my own life?
What kind of nonsense is this?
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Seres, it’s enough that you’ve woken up.”
The woman, constantly dabbing at the corners of her eyes, flashed a bright smile and patted her shoulder lightly.
Grace stared intently at the hand touching her, then asked in a slightly annoyed tone.
“And who might you be?”
“…What?”
“I asked who you are.”
“O-oh my! Seres?”
“Seres…. That name has been grating on my nerves for a while now. Why do both you and that little brat keep calling me that?”
“Oh dear, oh dear….”
Oh dear, my foot.
Watching the middle-aged woman hurriedly cover her mouth with both hands, Grace clicked her tongue lightly.
‘Just what is going on here…?’
Could someone please give me a proper explanation?
“Ha… haha.”
Laughter was all she could manage.
“So, what you’re saying is….”
I definitely died, but I’ve come back to life?
“And in the body of a woman I’ve never seen before, at that?”
It took a full day just to get a rough grasp of the current situation.
“How did this even happen?”
She pondered it all day long, but a proper answer eluded her. I clearly died, so why am I inside someone else’s body!
‘Though she is a familiar face.’
She hadn’t seen her while alive, but there was one being she had met after death.
The woman she had seen in the deep darkness.
When she saw that woman—whose platinum blonde hair and pale violet eyes had been quite striking—standing in the mirror, she was absolutely flabbergasted.
‘She looks so innocent, yet she stabbed me in the back.’
No matter how much she thought about it, grabbing that hand seemed to be the cause. If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have taken it, no matter how pitifully the woman looked at her!
‘Why go through the trouble of reviving someone who died peacefully?’
She sighed, twirling a strand of the platinum blonde hair that flowed over her shoulder.
Seres Drow.
A woman who, for reasons unknown, had taken her own life.
She heard the girl was seventeen this year, and that the little brat she saw yesterday was indeed this body’s younger brother.
“Haha….”
Seventeen years old, huh?
“…I’ve rejuvenated.”
Should she be happy about this, or should she cry?
Grace… no, Seres, could only let out hollow laughter time and again.
Knock, knock.
A light tapping at the door preceded the entrance of the little brat she had seen yesterday.
A woman who appeared to be a maid followed behind him. In her hands was a tray of simple food.
“…….”
The boy approached and stared silently at Seres. His face looked as if he had a great deal he wanted to say.
“Hey, kid, do you have something to say to me? Go ahead.”
“…Antonion.”
“Antonion?”
“Yes. So stop calling me ‘kid.’”
Seeing the boy scowl as if he hated being called a kid, Seres let out a short chuckle.
It was because he reminded her of someone from the past.
‘Alti used to be exactly like that.’
Artia.
Like Kainel, he was a friend she had been with since childhood.
Back then, he was shorter than her and had a pretty face, so whenever she treated him like a younger brother, he would get angry just like that.
‘Who would have thought that little brat would eventually become the youngest Magic Tower Master?’
After briefly reminiscing, Seres turned her gaze toward the maid, who had been cautiously watching her ever since entering the room.
“Um, Lady Seres. Are you feeling alright?”
“Nothing hurts in particular.”
“That’s a relief.”
A long sigh of relief escaped the maid’s lips.
“Lord Antonion was so worried while you were unconscious. He came by every single day to check on you….”
“Jay, stop talking nonsense.”
“Ah! M-my apologies.”
At Antonion’s annoyed rebuke, Jay hurriedly apologized and bowed politely toward Seres.
“My name is Jay.”
Seeing her introduce herself without being asked, it seemed she had already heard that the revived Seres had lost her memory.
“If you need anything, please let me know at any time.”
Seres nodded lightly and stood up from her seat.
‘By the way….’
Step.
Creak—
Step.
Creeeak—
“…….”
As she walked toward the table where the meal had been placed, Seres clicked her tongue at the bizarre sounds piercing her ears.
Step.
Greeeeak—
…Is this a condemned house?
The bed she had slept in last night was also atrocious. It made such strange noises at the slightest toss or turn that it was difficult to get any proper sleep.
But it wasn’t just the bed. With every step she took, an unpleasant sound echoed from the floorboards.
Looking closely, the furniture and all the items in the room were so worn out that they looked like they would crumble into dust at the slightest touch.
“Is this perhaps the room of a noble lady who is neglected by her family?”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“I’m asking why the room is in this state.”
It was dilapidated, but given the size of the mansion and the presence of a maid, it seemed they were indeed a noble family.
Wasn’t the dress worn by the woman who claimed to be her aunt yesterday quite luxurious as well?
‘And yet….’
Look at the clothes she was wearing now.
They seemed to have a decent texture and looked clean, but that was it.
The color was completely faded, and the ends of the sleeves and the hem of the skirt were so worn that the threads looked ready to unravel at any moment.
‘These two aren’t much better.’
Looking closely, Antonion’s clothes weren’t much different.
Jay’s clothes, as a maid, went without saying.
“It’s because we’re a ruined family.”
“A ruined family?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
Antonion clamped his mouth shut as if he didn’t want to say more. Then, he quickly left the room as if he were running away.
When Seres sent a questioning look toward Jay, the maid wore a troubled expression for a moment before she, too, hurried outside, saying she would return once the meal was finished.
“Hmm.”
After watching the two of them disappear, Seres looked at the food on the table and clicked her tongue.
A piece of bread that looked incredibly hard and a bowl of stew with almost no solid ingredients to be found.
Wasn’t this a bit too half-hearted a meal to give to someone who had just come back from the dead?
“A ruined family, huh.”
As Antonion said, it didn’t take long to understand the meaning behind those words.
“The weather is disgustingly nice.”
The garden was completely unmaintained, overgrown with thick weeds.
It might have been beautiful and grand in the past, but now it was nothing more than a bleak, desolate space.
Settling herself in a corner of that garden, Seres stared blankly at the sky.
The clear sky, without a single cloud, felt particularly grating today.
“Three hundred years.”
A hollow laugh leaked from Seres’s lips.
It was only natural, as her mind, which she had barely managed to pull together, had drifted away again after learning a new fact.
‘What?’
‘Pardon?’
‘What year did you say it is?’
‘It’s the year 1513.’
‘…That’s insane.’
‘Ex-excuse me?’
‘Wow… this is crazy.’
‘U-um… Lady Seres?’
While talking with Jay, the maid who had come into the room to clean, Seres learned what year it was and had been dazed for quite some time.
‘Since I died in 1213.’
That meant exactly three hundred years had passed.
The absurdity she felt upon learning that fact was beyond words. Just what was I doing for three hundred years?
‘It did feel like I was in a deep sleep.’
When she first opened her eyes in the darkness, it was true that she felt as if she had woken up from a very long slumber.
But who could have guessed that three hundred years had passed?
“Ha.”
After gaining a new life, the first thing that came to mind was, of course, the Elercia County she had led.
She had intended to quietly pay them a visit once she got used to this life.
Of course, she had no intention of claiming, “I am Grace Elercia!” and demanding the position of the Head of the Family.
Who would believe a situation that even she found unbelievable?
However….
‘I was just curious if Enoch was doing well.’
She was worried that the clumsy fellow might have been taken advantage of by others.
‘But three hundred years?’
It was all useless thought. They said that much time had passed—not even the bone dust of her disciple would remain.
