Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 132
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 132
The hour had grown quiet after the priests had overheard what they should not have.
“…”
Lion lay comfortably on the bed, silently listening to the two of them talk.
Naturally, none of this story was true.
‘They’re both pretty good actors.’
Of course he hadn’t worried about his brother, but even Licht was completely immersing himself in his role and throwing himself into the performance.
All while clutching a scrap of paper in his hand.
‘It was smart to organize their lines ahead of time.’
It was obvious the priests would come to the room, so they had turned that around and written a script.
Lion had only supplied the ideas, of course; the one who had brought them to life was Rickshel, who had thoroughly absorbed the family’s heir lessons.
The result: the two were delivering a passionate performance exactly according to the script!
“I’m sorry. I was unable to learn even that.”
“Are you saying that even the temple is useless?”
“Even with this level of ability, if divine power doesn’t work…”
“…Enough! I don’t want to hear any more uncertain talk. My brother will be looked after by his family; we don’t need the temple’s help. And wouldn’t my brother also wish to be with his family?”
Wow. It was so impressive it gave him goosebumps.
Rickshel must have learned such things through various training in his heir lessons, but Lion had never dreamed that Licht would be able to keep up to this degree.
After all, even Lion, who had written the script, felt that there was truth in Licht’s words.
‘Though his facial expression still didn’t seem quite right.’
His face was stiff with the knowledge that he was lying, and he kept glancing at the paper to check his lines.
Compared with his younger brother, he was certainly awkward.
But in the end, as long as they didn’t get caught, what did it matter!
Besides, given the situation, to anyone eavesdropping it would sound fairly convincing.
It would probably come across as something like: Licht’s position had become quite difficult! Maybe.
‘As expected, the outside had gone quiet as well.’
The outside, which had been noisy a moment before, became as silent as if cold water had been poured, all thanks to one decisive line from Rickshel.
Perhaps the fact that he had lifted a chair and slammed it down had also played a part.
Very nice.
The setup that the ‘honored guest’ had little time left to live,
and the priests who had even ‘accidentally’ overheard it!
Lion nodded to himself at how smoothly things were going.
“Peep, peep.”
Nature, who had returned from delivering the letter, seemed worn out as well, flopping onto the bed and rolling about.
‘Like those rest stop potatoes.’
Rest stop potatoes—small, round, golden potatoes generously dusted with sugar—were a delicacy among delicacies.
Pop one of those tender, crumbly potatoes into your mouth, and the undissolved sugar crystals would crunch like star candy, making the taste truly exquisite…
Grrrowl!
“Ah.”
He was hungry. Now that he thought about it, the commotion had kept him from eating.
‘I should finish this up quickly, get back, and eat first.’
While Lion lay there thinking leisurely to himself, he felt a piercing gaze from somewhere.
It was none other than his brother, who had been delivering his passionate performance.
He flinched.
The sharpness of that look was so intense that even Lion, who had been relaxed, was momentarily startled.
“Brother. Are you hungry? Surely the temple didn’t even properly serve their guest a meal?”
Rickshel lowered his voice, as if to prevent any sound from leaking outside, yet he still created a rather eerie atmosphere.
“Huh? No, it’s just today…”
“I am sorry. I failed to arrange your meal because I did not handle matters properly, Benefactor.”
“…?”
No, why on earth are you apologizing there?
Lion stared at Licht, who had apologized without hesitation, with a dumbfounded look, but it did no good.
“I will take care of the matter as quickly as possible.”
“Yes. I will assist.”
“…”
It seemed that some kind of agreement had been reached between the two of them.
Well, yes. That would probably turn out for the best, wouldn’t it?
He had thought it would be nice if they got along, anyway. Hmm, it would be fine.
Rickshel and Licht whispered back and forth a few more times in low voices, then, as if they had firmly decided on their positions, they moved away from the door.
“Then I will go out first.”
“Yes. Please do.”
Licht carefully shut the door and exited the room.
So far, this was a part of the plan that Lion knew.
Licht was first to express his opinion that he would unconditionally follow the Benefactor’s decision.
However.
“Brother. First, please accept this.”
“This is…”
Lion examined the headpiece, which looked like a thin crown.
[Escape Circlet]
- Allows you to change your appearance as desired, once.
- Adds an adjustment effect that makes the user look genuinely unwell, in case they fail to escape from night self-study.
‘…So night self-study exists here, too, I see.’
Well, of course you’d want to run away. There are so many fun things outside!
He fully understood.
And the fact that he knew about this item…
‘So Rickshel has experience running away, too.’
It was a relief that he hadn’t lived his life as nothing more than a model student.
“Cough! This is merely an item I was recommended because a similar hairpin didn’t appear at the magic item shop.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Then that’s a shame. Running away from night self-study in secret has its own special appeal, you know.
No, more importantly.
“Did you stay behind just to give me this?”
In the original plan, Rickshel was supposed to leave at the same time as Licht.
The gist of it was that the family would express their intentions on behalf of Lion, who had overexerted himself to complete the sanctuary.
After wrapping up the situation like that, they would exit the temple with Rickshel, as quietly as possible.
After that, they had arranged things so that Licht would guide the flow of events with a nuance like: Now that the sanctuary’s work is complete, let’s restore and compensate for the damage it caused.
That way, the matter of Peter’s adoption would be resolved as well.
“Brother, is your body truly all right?”
“Of course. Absolutely.”
From Rickshel’s question, Lion was able to understand why the boy had stayed.
‘He must have been worried about me.’
Even though he knew it wasn’t real, he had worried anyway.
Besides, the emotions from acting might have lingered in his body.
You know how actors sometimes suffer aftereffects when they practice method acting.
The still-young Rickshel needed enough time to pull himself together.
‘Oh dear, I wasn’t being very considerate.’
But he couldn’t very well stay here soothing him; Licht probably wouldn’t be able to handle that large crowd of priests on his own.
Lion deliberated for a moment, then, making a point of acting energetic, he got up and moved around.
“Maybe because I got splashed with holy water, but my body feels great.”
“Is that the truth?”
“Can’t you tell just by looking at me?”
“I can’t tell.”
Hmm. So he couldn’t tell.
Lion shot a glance at a mirror on one side.
His hair was a bit disheveled from rolling around, but other than that he looked exactly the same as usual.
In fact, his skin looked even better than usual—maybe thanks to the holy water?
“Anyway, I’m really fine. I’m just a little hungry.”
“Ah.”
At that, as if finally realizing the fact of his hunger, a fighting spirit reignited in Rickshel’s eyes.
“Understood. Please wait just a moment; I will settle everything and then come to get you.”
“Yeah, yeah. Oh, we’ll eat together, right?”
“…Yes! If you’re all right with it, Brother, I’d like to eat out today.”
Oh, eating out sounded great.
Lion nodded readily, and Rickshel left the room, leaving behind a meaningful remark about finishing things quickly.
And then…
“…It got awfully quiet?”
Not a single sound could be heard from outside the room…
How could there be that many people and not even the slightest murmur?
“Nah. Let’s not think about it.”
They’d manage somehow.
Lion flopped back onto the bed.
Was it because this was the Archbishop candidate’s room? The sunlight was pleasant and the bed was cozy—the perfect atmosphere for a nap.
“Maybe I’ll sleep for a bit.”
Come to think of it, he had barely slept while racking his brain to deal with what had happened at the sanctuary.
Now the matter seemed to be resolving itself, and perhaps because he had seen his brother’s face, the tension in his body eased and his eyelids grew heavy.
“Peep…”
Nature, already half-asleep, made a noise that might have been a snore or a reply, and nested on Lion’s chest to sleep.
Lion stroked Nature’s soft fur for a moment… then he drifted off into sleep.
* * *
Lion slowly opened his eyes.
‘This is…’
It was inside a dream. He could tell instinctively.
Lion scratched his head for no particular reason and muttered.
“Was I that tired?”
A lucid dream… he had experienced a few of those back when he used to nap while working furiously.
But…
‘For a lucid dream, it’s incredibly vivid.’
Even when you become aware that you’re dreaming, a dream normally doesn’t go the way you want it to.
Usually you’d either get swept up in the dream’s events or it would change and you’d wake up naturally… except.
“It’s quiet.”
There was no trouble at all moving his body.
Lion walked through the dream wherever his feet carried him.
After what felt like a few minutes… a background gradually took shape.
Moist soil and grass sprouted, and the air felt as if it held a touch of humidity.
Then came water-filled channels and a fountain connected at the center.
This place was the sanctuary.
‘Maybe because it’s a dream, the layout is a bit different.’
Moreover, there were no butterflies.
Just as he was thinking what a peculiar dream this was—
“So you are that honored guest.”
A strange voice came from somewhere.
It was a voice he had never heard before, neither in reality nor before his possession.
“Do you know me?”
At some point, a person was standing beside Lion.
He was a tall, middle-aged priest with a few streaks of grey in his hair.
‘A face I feel like I’ve seen somewhere.’
He was definitely someone Lion didn’t know, so why did he feel familiar? As he was pondering, a piece of information surfaced in his mind.
It was… a portrait.
No matter how little heir training Lion had received, as the eldest son of House Asteri he had still been required to learn the basics.
One of those was memorizing the faces of the empire’s famous figures.
And that person was undeniably…
“Are you the Archbishop?”
“Hahaha. You’re quick to catch on. Truly worthy of Lord Petrick’s grandson.”
“…”
Only then did Lion realize.
This was not a lucid dream.
Strictly speaking, it was as if the Archbishop had invited him through a dream.
Could divine power do something like this?
“Don’t be too tense. I invited you because I wanted to convey my gratitude to you.”
The Archbishop smiled gently and gestured to Lion.
Before he knew it, a table and chairs had appeared near the source of the spring, and on it, the sanctuary-made holy water was poured like tea.
The scene didn’t feel as though it was hostile toward Lion.
No, rather, it even gave the impression that he would bury everything that had happened here in secrecy.
And since he had once received the gaze of the God of Eternal Flame, that intuition, at least, wouldn’t be wrong.
Besides…
‘This worked out perfectly.’
Wasn’t there something he wanted to ask?
About the ‘Seal.’
“Then shall we chat for a little while?”
“Oh ho. A fine choice.”
And so, in the dream, Lion began a private audience with the Archbishop.