Chapter 36
“Mom…”
“Oh my goodness, Jen…!”
But after Ceres gave the child something to eat, it didn’t take long for her to realize that her judgment had been correct.
The small, frail voice that came out of the child was faint but clear—and tears welled up in the woman’s eyes.
The awful heat that had been pouring out of the child’s body moments ago was also completely gone.
“She’s just a bit better for now. It’ll take time for her to fully recover. Keep giving her the medicine for about half a month. I’ll tell you what ingredients to get, so go to the nearest herbal shop and have it made.”
“Thank you so much!”
No matter how many doctors she’d shown her child to, there’d been no improvement. What in the world had this woman done?
The mother bowed repeatedly, both confused and overwhelmed with gratitude.
Watching her with an odd look, Ceres casually asked a question.
“You’ve been near an Applie tree recently, haven’t you?”
“An… Applie tree?”
The woman quickly nodded.
Applie trees were common fruit trees found even in the nearby mountains.
Their tiny, red berries—no bigger than a pinky nail—grew all year round. Sweet and fragrant, they were loved by children and adults alike.
“There’s a kind of bug that lives off those trees,” Ceres said.
A very small insect, almost invisible to the naked eye.
“Sometimes, if you get bitten by that bug, you’ll end up suffering like your child.”
Normally, being bitten didn’t cause much of a reaction—just mild symptoms. But very rarely, the condition would worsen drastically, like in this child’s case.
It wasn’t a common affliction, so the average physician would never recognize it and would just keep prescribing cold medicine.
“Thank you so much! How much do I owe you—?”
“Forget the money.”
“Pardon?”
She wasn’t even officially working as a healer right now. Taking money would actually be illegal.
Ceres shook her head at the woman, who was already reaching for her purse.
“Just let me ask you something.”
“Yes! Ask me anything.”
The woman nodded eagerly, her eyes saying she would do anything she could in return.
“The Ellicia family… are they always like that?”
“What do you mean, ‘like that’?”
“Letting nobles go in first and making everyone else wait endlessly?”
Ceres asked, though she already expected what the answer would be.
Still, she held on to a faint bit of hope—
Maybe it was just bad luck today, maybe things usually weren’t this unfair.
“I mean, it’s my first time standing in line there, but from what everyone else said, it’s always like that. You have to wait days if you’re not a noble.”
The woman’s shoulders sagged.
Ceres already knew it was true, but the image of a noble strolling past while a critically ill child waited outside—it made her blood boil all over again.
“That manager… he’s not new, right? He’s always the one at the gate?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it…”
Ceres barely swallowed the curse that was about to slip out.
She met the eyes of the child in her mother’s arms—
those round, innocent eyes staring at her curiously—
and clicked her tongue softly, exhaling a short sigh.
“You put someone who isn’t even a healer in charge of the front gate?”
Even back when she was still there, the line outside the clinic had always been long.
But back then, it didn’t matter whether you were a commoner or a noble.
No matter how high your status—even royalty—if you wanted treatment from the Ellicia family, you had to stand in line.
The only exception was for emergencies. A patient in critical condition was always seen immediately, even if they came late.
“That’s why the gatekeeper’s job was so important.”
When she had been the head of House Ellicia, Ceres had considered the gatekeeper position the most crucial.
Treatment was only possible while the patient was still alive.
Assessing a patient’s condition and deciding the priority of treatment—
that wasn’t something just anyone could do.
Back then, a skilled healer had always been assigned to that role.
“But the one they have now doesn’t even know healing arts?”
Thinking back to the manager she met earlier, Ceres let out a bitter laugh.
So that fool had been handling the front every day—not just temporarily?
“They’ve really lost their minds.”
“Pardon?”
Startled, the child’s mother blinked in confusion.
Antonian, who had been quietly standing beside her all this time, stepped in quickly.
“She wasn’t talking to you. Don’t mind her—she just does that sometimes.”
“O-okay…”
Even after that, Ceres muttered under her breath, eyes flashing with anger.
Antonian let out a long sigh.
What had gotten his sister so worked up again this time?
Was it that manager from earlier?
“Whatever the Ellicia family’s doing, what’s it got to do with us? Just calm—”
“My head’s a mess right now. Here, take some candy and go play over there for a bit.”
“Don’t treat me like a kid!”
Antonian growled in protest, but then saw Ceres’s expression and swallowed hard.
He didn’t dare say what he was really thinking:
Do you even remember that we came here to get your own check-up, Ceres?
We walked an hour to get here!
And besides—
“But seriously, how did you know that kid’s illness came from those bugs that live on Applie trees?”
Before she’d lost her memory, Ceres had lived a life completely unrelated to healing.
So how could she possibly have known that?
“I studied a bit while trying to make medicine for Yulia,” she replied offhandedly.
When said with confidence, even a lie could sound perfectly true.
If they didn’t believe her—oh well.
As expected, Antonian’s expression turned uncertain.
In the end, he sighed deeply and decided to focus on the reason they’d come to House Ellicia in the first place.
‘Maybe I should remind her that we came here for her check-up…’
“Those lunatics.”
“…”
Never mind.
Seeing the cold fury in her eyes, Antonian wisely shut his mouth.
Whatever composure he had left was trampled under her simmering rage.
“Jay.”
“Yes?”
“Did something happen to the lady?”
“Not sure. She’s been like that ever since she came back from her outing with Master Antonian yesterday.”
Mark, whose arm had recently healed, was back helping out at the shop for the first time in a while.
His movements were still a bit stiff, but he could handle light tasks just fine.
Before long, he’d probably be able to return to full work in the kitchen.
“She doesn’t look like she’s in a good mood.”
“Tell me about it.”
Ceres’s mood today was absolutely terrible.
She wasn’t saying anything sharp or acting any differently—
but even when she was silent, the air around her felt cold.
“Hey… is Duke Persia here or something?”
“No.”
“Then why does the air feel like this?”
“Keep your voice down. Seriously—lower it.”
Even the customers seemed to sense the icy tension coming from her. They all kept quiet, watching her warily.
Ding.
The shop door opened, and a small figure entered.
“Big sis.”
Little Yulia ran toward Ceres and hugged her tightly.
The moment she saw the child, the cold expression melted into a faint smile.
All around, people let out quiet sighs of relief—finally, they could breathe again.
“Yulia?”
But Ceres’s brow furrowed slightly when she noticed the redness around Yulia’s eyes.
“You’ve been crying?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“Big sis…”
Ceres looked up at Colin, the butler standing behind the tearful girl.
“Well…”
Colin sighed.
“It seems that Dave’s father has been arrested.”
Ceres immediately grasped the situation.
Dave’s father—Nox.
Recently, he’d been taken away by the guards after being reported by his neighbors.
He had been running around outside day and night, screaming like a madman.
And the things he’d shouted… were horrifying.
‘I’m sorry! I—I didn’t mean to! I never meant to kill her! I swear!’
‘Aaaah! Fine! I killed her! I killed you, damn it! So please, stop haunting me!’
‘Uhh… ughhh! Please… please… stop…!’
Once in custody, Nox confessed to everything.
He admitted to killing both his wife and son.
He hadn’t even tried to defend himself, as if his mind had already broken.
“Big sis…”
“…Yeah.”
“Dave… Dave is…”
“…”
And so it seemed that word had reached Yulia—
that Dave had been killed by his own father.
“Does the academy have no sense of discretion?”
How could such news spread even to a child this young?
Then again, the rumor that Dave’s mother had run away with him after having an affair had already been circulating among the kids before.
“None of this is anything children should be hearing.”
