Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 160
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 160
Kyle slowly surveyed the interior without making a sound.
“Whoa!”
“You got three whole coins?”
“No! That was everything I had!”
There weren’t many people, but among them, gambling with Egg Coins was steadily under way.
For the most part, most people lost, and a very few walked away with a considerable haul of coins.
“Hahaha!”
A man who seemed to have some skill burst into a hearty laugh and raked in the Egg Coins from the table.
“Anyone else?!”
A relatively young voice and an attitude unafraid of standing out.
In a way, he could be called an eccentric, but…
‘Not Lion Asteri.’
Still, since he’d been here a while, he seemed a good candidate to extract information from.
As it happened, the man must have noticed him, because he called out to Kyle in a loud voice.
“Hey, why don’t you come over and play a round?”
“Are you addressing me?”
“Yeah. You, mister. The one who just walked in.”
No need to loiter around. This worked out well.
Just as Kyle was about to slowly make his way over—
“…!”
Kyle’s movement halted for an instant.
Then he headed not toward the man but elsewhere.
“What? Did he chicken out?”
“Hahaha!”
Though he could hear open mockery, Kyle quickened his pace and hurried toward an unoccupied area.
‘There.’
A door that appeared to lead to a lounge caught his eye.
He opened the door somewhat roughly and checked inside; fortunately, no one was there.
Everyone was either obsessed with gambling or had left after losing, it seemed.
In this situation, that was truly fortunate.
Kyle went to the farthest corner and, covering his mouth with a handkerchief, let out the cough he’d been holding in.
“Cough.”
When the harsh coughing ended and he pulled his hand away, black blood had stained the handkerchief.
‘Tch.’
Kyle wasn’t surprised at the sight of the pitch-black blood.
If anything, he clicked his tongue inwardly.
‘I thought I could hold out for at least a day.’
It seemed the aftermath of overexerting himself at the hunting grounds had caught up with him.
Or perhaps the First Prince’s spite had intensified.
To be coughing up blood—this was starting to cross the line.
‘Ha.’
Kyle wore a chilling smile instead.
The further the line was crossed, the better. Because he could give his own blood and flesh and take the bastard’s bones in return.
It was a battle of time.
If he held on until the Emperor’s Birthday, victory was his.
Just as he was thinking this and steadying himself—
“Are you all right?”
Someone’s voice reached him.
‘I failed to sense a presence?’
This was his own carelessness.
Kyle calmly replied as he folded the handkerchief to hide the blood soaked into it and tucked it into his coat.
“It’s nothing. Something caught in my throat.”
He naturally turned his head to look at the other person.
Fortunately, there was a strong smell of alcohol, and the unsteady gait suggested the man was quite drunk.
‘It was wise to use polite speech.’
There was no need to speak casually to just anyone and draw attention here.
Kyle’s only objective had been that one person from the start, after all.
So he could simply deal with this drunkard casually and be on his way.
‘I don’t even need to knock him out.’
He was already drunk, and the odds that he’d seen the blood being coughed up in that interval were extremely low.
Besides, even if he had, he wouldn’t be this calm about it.
“That’s a relief, then.”
“Yes.”
Kyle deliberately gave a short reply to cut off the conversation.
But regrettably… the other man didn’t seem inclined to let it end.
“I thought you might be seriously ill. Haha. Ah, still, I think it’d be better not to go near that gambling table earlier.”
“…”
A predicament. He had no intention of dealing with a drunk.
Given his true nature, he’d have knocked the man out, shoved him into a corner, and gone about his business.
But this was Easter, and there was nothing to be gained from unnecessary trouble.
Kyle sighed and answered the drunk’s rambling.
“What’s the reason?”
“It seems someone at that table knows their way around gambling. Already has over ten Egg Coins, it seems… the staff are troubled, apparently.”
“And what about you?”
“Haha.”
The man merely shrugged without answering.
Presumably, he’d already been cleaned out.
“Well, truth is, I’m not all that interested in gambling anyway.”
Kyle let out a chuckle at the obviously transparent remark.
If he had no interest in gambling, there was no reason for him to be here.
“Looks like you got cleaned out at that table.”
“Ah, think what you like. Hmm, the fact your attitude hasn’t changed despite my warning suggests you still intend to go.”
“…And if I do?”
Kyle felt a faint irritation, then, with a sudden realization, his eyebrow twitched beneath the mask.
The pain he’d been feeling from his half-brother’s petty malice had noticeably subsided.
Just as he was feeling puzzled by the other man—
Clink.
Kyle instinctively caught something that glittered as it flew through the air toward him.
This was…
“An Egg Coin.”
It was identical to the coins he’d received at the hunting grounds.
“In this place, these Egg Coins are worth more than a fortune.”
“I know. It seemed better to bet on you than to go up against those gamblers directly.”
“And what makes you trust me?”
“My gut.”
The man then sat on the sofa and leisurely leaned back as if he truly had no further interest.
It was puzzling, but if he thought of him as the type who throws money around when drunk, there was nothing strange about it.
“If you win, let’s have a drink together.”
“…”
Kyle shifted his eyes toward the man leaning comfortably on the sofa without turning his head.
He had settled into a relaxed posture, as if he’d lost all interest.
Since he was drunk, he might already be asleep.
But—
‘A suspicious character.’
Not a question of ally or enemy—just, literally, suspicious.
He didn’t seem like a mere carefree idler, but Kyle couldn’t speculate further yet.
At first he’d wondered if it might be Lion Asteri, but it wasn’t.
‘This isn’t the composure of someone barely past adulthood.’
Lion Asteri was just a whelp who’d barely had his coming-of-age ceremony recently, wasn’t he?
But this man… he was certainly a young man, but the odds were high that he was a person of seasoned experience.
‘If he’s not part of the First Prince faction.’
There would be no downside to making him an ally.
Especially if he was someone who could resolve this pain…
‘No. I can’t jump to conclusions yet.’
Kyle set aside the train of thought, tucked the Egg Coin into his coat, opened the door, and walked out.
“I’ll be back shortly.”
Leaving behind words brimming with confidence.
Click.
After the door closed.
“…Oh.”
The man—
No, Lion Asteri— let out a peculiar sound of admiration.
Just as he’d entered the right sector and was getting a feel for how things worked, that fellow had caught his eye.
Exuding a strange aura that could be felt even through his disguise.
It seemed suspicious, so he’d followed… and then.
The man coughed up blood, then hid it as if it were nothing.
So he’d quickly checked the handkerchief.
[Blood-Soaked Handkerchief]
-A handkerchief made from fabric woven by artisans from beyond the continent.
-Stained with the blood of one accursed, its value is greatly diminished.
High-grade fabric from beyond the continent.
He’d seen it before in House Asteri’s fabric catalog.
It was a priceless fabric that stood shoulder to shoulder with Elven Tresses and Fairy’s Breath.
Andrie had practically spat while explaining that even most wealthy people couldn’t easily acquire it without connections.
‘Then at minimum, a marquis household or higher.’
But even with high rank…
‘The odds of being cursed are low.’
And even if someone were cursed, the Temple wouldn’t simply ignore it.
Which meant he was probably concealing the fact that he was cursed from the outside world…
What kind of madman would hide being cursed?
Anyone would want to find the cause eating away at their life as quickly as possible and get purified somehow.
However. There was one exceptional case.
Someone for whom hiding the fact that they were cursed right now was advantageous.
A person who had to stake even their own life to overcome the current situation.
And as it happened, there was exactly one such person.
‘The Second Prince.’
A figure who was neither legitimate nor the eldest son, but had barely clawed his way up from the very bottom to the position of prince.
Many enemies, few allies… for now.
So he must be trying to draw in the Criminal Underworld here at Easter.
That must be why he’d arranged to meet Rickshel here in a few days.
Though why he’d already come and was acting like this, he didn’t know.
In any case, it was the most likely possibility.
‘He appears frail on the surface, minimizing direct pressure.’
Objectively speaking, it was a fairly plausible plan, wasn’t it?
Above all, he was thoroughly concealing his strength while steadily growing his power behind the scenes.
If he released everything he’d kept hidden at the most decisive moment, he could crush the First Prince’s legitimacy and the like.
But that was only in theory.
‘There’s a madman who actually does that?’
Not just anything—a curse.
It was no different from walking around with a time bomb embedded in his body.
Moreover, if his mental strength wavered even slightly, the whispers of the curse would gnaw at him all the more.
‘…This one’s dangerous.’
No matter how desperate the situation, to use even himself as a tool.
But paradoxically, it wasn’t incomprehensible.
It meant he was that desperate, didn’t it?
If he couldn’t become Crown Prince, his life was as good as dead anyway.
So he was using everything as a last resort.
Even his own life.
Fine… let’s grant that this guy could do that.
‘But what about the Emperor?’
Useless as he might be, he was still the Emperor of this nation.
Which meant at least basic information reached his ears, and he would know about the Second Prince’s curse.
And yet he remained silent.
‘It’s obvious without even looking.’
He knew the Emperor’s character well from what he’d heard everywhere.
Most of it was insults, but if he filtered and summarized it into one line, it was this:
-A shameless bastard who cares for nothing but himself.
A prince born of his own shameless acts. He was clearly neglecting him, certain the boy would be of no use to him.
Since he was cursed anyway, and the Second Prince had no intention of breaking it, the Emperor likely meant to let him slowly wither and die.
“Hoo.”
Lion quelled the emotion boiling up inside him with a light sigh.
Not that getting angry would accomplish anything.
But it was true that, on a human level, fury was rising.
‘…Normally, it’d be better to pretend not to know in a situation like this.’
But he couldn’t just let it pass.
Staking everything, even himself, grinding himself down as he raced toward his goal?
It all sounded plausible in words, didn’t it?
And this was also for Lion’s own sake.
Lion recalled the old bottle sleeping in his inventory.
The more he learned about curses, the more it would help.
‘…Well, to do that.’
He’d have to start by loosening the Second Prince’s tightly shut heart.
Lion looked again at the door as it clicked open.
As it happened, the person presumed to be the Second Prince was entering.
He tossed an Egg Coin toward him with a flick.
“You lied.”
“I did?”
“Yes. Those gamblers said they’d never even seen you.”