Time Healer Ceres
Chapter 6
She burst into laughter once more and threw the window wide open.
The weather remained exceptionally sunny.
Yet, unlike moments ago, the clear sky no longer provoked a sense of irritation.
Was it because she had vented her frustration, however slightly, elsewhere?
‘Ah, seriously! Grace-nim, do you realize how rotten your personality is?’
‘I know, I know.’
If her disciple had been by her side, he would have nagged her again, telling her not to take her anger out on others. He would have asked if she realized just how foul her temper really was.
A faint smile played on Ceres’s lips again.
Then, noticing a small flowerpot sitting at the edge of the windowsill, Ceres picked it up.
Whether due to neglect or something else, something parched and dead was planted inside. No matter how closely she looked, she couldn’t tell what kind of plant it was.
Whoosh.
But in the next moment, the state of the flowerpot in Ceres’s hands began to change.
The parched, dead plant rapidly returned to life, sprouting green leaves before finally bursting into small purple buds.
“It was an Elans flower.”
Having identified the plant, Ceres didn’t stop there.
A moment later, the purple flower withered even faster than it had bloomed, and the fresh leaves shrunk back in an instant.
Soon, everything vanished, leaving only a single small seed in its place.
“It’s a very good medicinal herb for reducing fever.”
Ceres gave a satisfied smirk at the seed’s healthy condition, but then she froze.
Letting out a short sigh, she dropped the seed back into the pot.
“What am I even doing?”
Habits are terrifying things.
She didn’t even need to collect these kinds of herbs anymore.
“Tsk.”
Ceres buried the seed in the soil once again.
Just as before, the plant grew rapidly and bloomed into full flower.
‘It really is fascinating.’
The fact that she could still use her abilities even though her body had changed.
The power to turn back time.
A mysterious force that could rewind the time of an object or a person to the past, or fast-forward it into the future, regardless of the target, as long as she touched it.
This ability had played a major role in her saving so many people that she was called a Saintess.
It solved everything if she simply returned the part of the patient causing them pain to a time before it hurt.
‘Of course, there are exceptions.’
Congenital diseases one is born with.
There was nothing she could do about those with this ability of hers.
That said, her healing arts hadn’t gained fame solely based on this peculiar ability. It wasn’t something she could use whenever she pleased, either.
‘It has its own side effects.’
Using it on something small like this flowerpot was fine, but overusing it took a toll on her body.
It could cause excruciating headaches, and in severe cases, she would lose consciousness. Spilling nosebleeds was a common occurrence.
‘That’s why Kai absolutely loathed it.’
She had collapsed in front of him once, and after that, he would glare at anyone who came for treatment as if he wanted to kill them.
‘It was a total hindrance to business.’
Customers were terrified by that murderous look in his eyes that clearly told them to get lost immediately.
He had been caught by her and kicked out more than a few times because of it.
“Anyway, the important thing is that this ability remains, right?”
Was it an ability attached to the soul?
She was relieved that she could still use the power to turn back time despite the change in bodies.
‘I fixed the bed right away, after all.’
The misery of sleeping on that creaking bed the first night—it was awful!
She had rewound time on the bed the very next day before going to sleep. That day, she realized that a person could be sufficiently happy just by having a comfortable place to sleep.
‘It’s quite useful.’
She couldn’t help but marvel at her own ability once again.
Of course, there were times when she had cursed and resented this power.
‘When I realized it didn’t work on me at all.’
That was back when she lived as Grace Elercia.
Right after finding out she had an incurable disease, she tried using the ability on her own body, but it was useless.
She tried time and time again, but all she got in return were the horrific side effects she paid as a price for using the power.
Back then, her heart had twisted with spite, and anger had flared up within her.
She had spent a while hurling all sorts of curses, asking why it would save everyone else but not her, and what kind of shitty ability this was.
‘Well, that was only for a short while.’
She soon accepted her situation, and if anything, her mind became more at peace.
Knock, knock.
Ceres, who had been reminiscing while admiring the scenery outside the window, turned her head at the sound of knocking.
She saw the maid, Jay, stepping cautiously inside.
“Seres-nim.”
“What is it?”
“Well… Agne-nim is looking for you.”
“Aunt?”
“It’s probably because of what happened earlier… Ah, I heard Agne-nim is very angry… It’s all because of me…”
Tears welled up in Jay’s eyes.
What kind of lies had those three told to frame Seres-nim this time? They must have made up all sorts of things, true or not, to pin the blame on her…
“What happened earlier? What thing?”
“Pardon…?”
Contrary to Jay’s worries, Ceres asked back as if she had completely forgotten what had happened just moments ago.
“I’ll be back.”
“No, wait…!”
Leaving behind Jay, who seemed to want to say more, Ceres quickly walked away, even giving a light wave of her hand.
“Oh, what should I do?”
Watching Ceres vanish in an instant, Jay stomped her feet in anxiety.
Sighs continuously escaped her worried lips.
“Welcome, Seres.”
Unlike Antonion or Jay’s concerns, Agne welcomed Ceres with a look of pleasure.
A soft smile was etched on the woman’s face as she even served tea she had brewed herself.
“I heard you were looking for me?”
Ceres, who paid little mind to Agne’s reaction, asked for her business as soon as she sat down.
“What is it about?”
“…….”
At that, Agne’s brow furrowed slightly before quickly smoothing out.
‘Perhaps what those girls said is true.’
Earlier, when the three maids came treading to report that Ceres had suddenly splashed water on them, Agne had snorted in derision.
She had assumed they were trying to shift the blame to Ceres to avoid getting in trouble for ruining their clothes.
Ceres, of all people? Not a chance.
She had such a timid personality that she would walk through the garden carefully for fear of stepping on a crawling ant; so how could she have splashed water on the very maids she found so difficult to deal with?
‘That’s certainly what I thought…’
But seeing Ceres sitting before her now, she could definitely feel that the atmosphere was very different from before.
‘She could never even lift her head properly in front of me, like a child who had committed a crime.’
It was she who had made her that way.
How much effort had she put in to achieve that?
She had taken great pains to ensure that her stupid niece, Seres Drow, who was lost after losing both parents at once, would trust and rely only on her.
‘Seres, do you really think so?’
‘Pardon?’
‘Yes. If that is your choice, I shall respect it.’
‘Ah… yes.’
After returning to her maiden home under the pretext of being concerned for her young niece and nephew, Agne hadn’t said much about what Ceres did for a while.
Instead, she created the worst possible circumstances so that whatever the girl did would never see the light of day.
‘Look at this. Is this the only result you got after insisting on doing it your way?’
‘Tsk, I told you that you should have spoken to me first. What is this?’
‘My goodness… why did you order such a thing, Seres? You’ve ruined everything.’
‘Tsk, tsk. Your choices lead to these kinds of results.’
After a few months of this, Ceres had reached a point where she couldn’t do anything on her own.
She felt fear at the thought of deciding something by herself, and she came to value the opinion of her aunt, Agne, more than anything else.
‘She was that kind of child.’
So what was this relaxed demeanor now?
“Surely you didn’t call me here just to drink tea?”
Instead of being anxious about what she might say, the girl was actually urging her for an answer.
Agne’s expression took on a peculiar light.
“We received word from the Sanatorium.”
“The Sanatorium?”
Ceres tilted her head slightly at the unexpected news.
What is she talking about all of a sudden?
As she just stared blankly, Agne let out a deep sigh.
“They say Yulia has collapsed again.”
“Yulia?”
Who is that now?
“Oh dear… Seres, do you not even remember Yulia?”
‘Would I?’
At the question with such obvious intent, Ceres stared intently at the woman before her without any particular answer.
Agne nodded lightly as if she understood everything and cleared up Ceres’s confusion.
“Yulia is your younger sister.”
“…My sister?”
There was another sibling?
