Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 172
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 172
“Something from the past… Yes. It happened to cross my mind today.”
The Second Prince agreed with Lion’s words and continued slowly, his tone a little sluggish.
What this sword was, and how he had kept it close on the advice of someone who had taken him in as a child.
And lastly, even his feelings toward his mother.
“I’ve rambled on. In any case, it’s all just the past now.”
“Do you mean it is no longer the case?”
“If you mean do I miss her, no. If you are asking if I resent her, then yes. How could I not?”
“Because of the curse?”
“That is…”
The Second Prince’s dry lips parted, then clamped shut.
He had been about to answer yes, but his voice locked up for some reason.
Of course, the resentment for condemning him to a lifetime of suffering was undeniably there.
But that wasn’t all.
“I… don’t know.”
“I see.”
“Does it matter?”
“Yes. May I examine that dagger?”
“I don’t mind, but…”
Kyle sensed something instinctively as he answered.
‘Could this be the clue to breaking the curse?’
If so, it would also explain why the Criminal Underworld Leader had told him to keep this dagger.
‘But there hasn’t been any reaction until now.’
The Second Prince was no fool.
He had looked into the dagger in his own way, wondering if it might be a clue.
But no information had surfaced, rendering the Leader’s instruction to keep it rather pointless.
It was just a crude dagger that wouldn’t even fetch a decent price. Nothing more.
So how on earth had this man noticed something?
Though his mind was full of questions, Kyle’s mouth gave a different answer.
“As you wish.”
“Thank you.”
Lion enhanced his ‘Expert’s Eye’ skill and slowly examined the dagger in his hand.
Fortunately, the pendant was doing its job perfectly, so he didn’t have to worry about being caught using Mana.
With the disguise tool on top of that, all Lion had to do was refrain from acting like a nervous wreck.
‘Let’s see…’
Ignoring the Second Prince’s gaze, Lion focused on the dagger, and…
[Updated hidden item information.]
Soon, a hidden clue revealed itself before his eyes.
[Cradle of a Benevolent Curse]
-An artifact for absorbing curses, crafted in the Criminal Underworld and never used even once.
-Through a special method, the user’s curse can be transferred to the dagger for one time only, but a decisive material is lacking.
-Place the unhappy childhood of a grown child in this cradle, and move on to a wider world.
‘Lacking a material, huh.’
Lion examined the missing material and soon smiled.
Fortunately, this was something he could resolve right here.
‘Let’s see how to use it first.’
Lion began reading through the usage instructions written below.
The method was simple enough that even a young boy could do it if he set his mind to it.
It was to stab oneself with this blunt dagger.
In the exact spot where the curse had begun to spread.
In the Second Prince’s case…
‘It would be the heart.’
Curses one is born with are mostly branded onto the heart.
It gradually spreads through the body, reaching the extremities of the limbs, and in the final stage, the curse extends even to the face.
‘Though honestly, dying comes first, before that happens.’
Whether by suicide or death from shock.
Because the pain alone, when it has spread to the arms, is no ordinary agony.
Anyway, if he stabbed himself, he’d fall into a deep sleep, and in the meantime, the curse spread through his body would be transferred to this dagger.
This resembled quite closely a recipe Lion had obtained when his alchemy reached the Skilled tier.
Specifically, the Curse Doll and the Curse Reflection Doll.
‘If you had to classify this…’
you could call it a ‘Single-use Curse Absorption Doll.’
The Second Prince’s mother must have been a person of considerable skill.
Perhaps she was someone who used Black Magic.
Lion slowly examined the blade.
The blade was so blunt and crude it felt intentional.
Even a child would know this couldn’t draw blood.
Even if stabbed with it, rather than bleeding, it would only feel like being poked with a dull stick.
If someone had the ability to transfer a curse to another object, they could have made a remarkable artifact that compensated for the missing material.
But she hadn’t.
‘…I can roughly guess what was in her heart, though.’
Why she had made the curse-breaking artifact into a dagger.
And also why she had made it so the curse could only be transferred by stabbing oneself.
‘She must have been thinking of the time when he’d be so miserable because of this curse that he couldn’t go on.’
The Second Prince’s mother must have had to harden her heart.
Since she was in a situation where she had to place a curse on him, ironically, to save her child.
Fated to die without ever seeing her child’s face, she would have planned more meticulously than anyone.
There was much to think about and much to believe in.
First, she needed the unconditional faith that the child would somehow endure.
She had to hope that he would grit his teeth and rise, turn his resentment into a source of strength, trudge through the mire, and survive even if his hands and feet were covered in calluses and scars.
To hold on tenaciously, even if it meant resenting his mother.
‘That must be why she didn’t leave any instructions on how to use it.’
So that he would keep good people around him, meet someone he could open up to about this dagger, and wait until he could end this curse.
‘…And also for the opposite case.’
The Second Prince’s mother had to imagine the death of her unborn child.
When he had no strength left to endure, when every step brought him to the edge of a cliff and someone held a sword at his back…
when he thought death would be better…
when he wondered whether death might bring peace and resolved to end his life, even with that tiny dagger…
Wouldn’t she have wanted to tell him to try living just one more time?
He wasn’t certain, but that was what ran through his mind.
Lion looked at the blunt blade.
It hadn’t been made blunt from the start.
It had been ground on a stone and deliberately used roughly until its edge was ruined so it wouldn’t appear sharp.
The reason was…
‘Because she didn’t want to hurt him.’
He felt a mix of emotions.
To save him, she had to send him toward death. To live, he had to be guided to stab himself.
But even so, she had blunted the blade because she hoped he wouldn’t feel pain.
This… was not something even Lion, who had accumulated countless experiences, could easily understand.
However, one thing was certain.
Kyle’s mother had loved her only son.
‘Though, if there’s one thing I’m curious about…’
Why had the Criminal Underworld Leader taken the Second Prince in?
According to rumors, the Leader of the Criminal Underworld had no interest in the Imperial Court or power.
No one knew why, but that’s how it had always been.
But…
‘Not this time.’
For some reason, the Criminal Underworld was trying to come out into the open.
Perhaps they had only recently taken an interest in power.
‘Ah, never mind.’
He had no intention of getting involved any further anyway, nor did he have any such plans.
If he got really curious, he could just casually ask Freyania about it later.
“Can that sword break the curse?”
“Yes.”
He didn’t mention that a material was lacking.
Because Lion could resolve it on his own while the Second Prince slept.
Instead, Lion carefully received it with both hands as if it were a holy relic and passed it back to the Second Prince.
“You must follow my instructions from now on.”
Because the Second Prince had to fall deeply asleep.
“Understood.”
“First, hold that dagger with both hands and stab it into the source of the curse.”
Lion finished speaking and looked at the Second Prince.
No matter how blunt, a sword was still a sword.
Even the now-docile Second Prince would surely resist if told to suddenly stab himself in the heart.
Of course, Lion had prepared a suitable excuse for this…
“What happens after?”
“…You aren’t asking why it has to be done this way?”
“It’s no time to be picky.”
“…”
“Are you worried about me?”
The Second Prince instead looked at him and chuckled softly.
“I would imagine you have many questions.”
“Because you told me not to be curious.”
“I hope you will continue to do so.”
He clearly had an ulterior motive, but since he wasn’t saying anything, Lion had no choice but to let it go.
Lion continued.
“After that, you will fall into a deep sleep. The curse will be completely transferred to that dagger. I will stand watch over you during that time.”
“What do you mean by stand watch?”
“I can tell you no more.”
At his firm words, the Second Prince looked at the dagger in his own hands.
‘The answer was closer than I thought.’
So that’s why the Criminal Underworld Leader told him not to throw away the dagger.
He had thought it was merely decorative.
Certainly, if this were before, he would have regretted not revealing his identity, wishing he had known this earlier.
‘If not for that man.’
He probably would have gone his whole life without realizing the answer was right under his nose.
And from the looks of it…
‘This dagger alone probably wouldn’t have solved it.’
Did ‘stand watch’ literally just mean watching to see if he slept well?
It must mean he would handle any changes that occurred while he slept.
‘He should have burdened me with it.’
He had clearly stated he had an objective, yet he had taken no action.
He just ate with him and talked.
Rather, he filled in the gaps for the Second Prince.
He was exactly like a mentor.
“Hmm.”
A mentor. A mentor, huh.
‘If I became Emperor, there would be no one more worthy of the position of National Preceptor than him.’
The Second Prince controlled his expression as he plotted something in his mind.
“…”
“Nothing. Let’s proceed then.”
They had just finished their meal, and his body felt oddly languid.
It was a fitting time to say goodbye to the curse that had tormented him his entire life.
The Second Prince immediately raised the dagger and stabbed it precisely into his heart.
Thwump.
The sword clearly did not pierce him.
Rather, upon touching his chest, the sword pushed back as if resisting.
Yet, he could hear the sound of a blade piercing flesh from somewhere, and strangely, it didn’t feel bad.
‘What a fascinating experience.’
The Second Prince’s thoughts didn’t make it to his lips, and he immediately fell into a very deep sleep.
“Sweet dreams.”
Lion caught his collapsing body and laid him down against the sofa.
“Well then, shall I get to work on making the missing material?”
Lion immediately began pulling out materials from his coat.
One of them was a sharp carving knife, its blade so well-honed it glinted under the light.
Yes.
From now on, Lion was going to draw the Second Prince’s blood!
“Here we go. Just a little sting.”
The missing material, caused by the hesitation of a mother who couldn’t bring herself to wound her son with something she had made.
It was a crystal made from Kyle’s blood.
And at that moment.
The Second Prince, Kyle, opened his eyes inside a dream.
Before his eyes was…
“…”
There was something, its entire body covered in chains.
It had a human shape, but it had been so grotesquely warped by some kind of energy that he wasn’t sure if he should even call it a person.
Kyle knew instinctively.
That this was his mother.