Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 177
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 177
At the same time the Second Prince was enduring his own storm of inner turmoil,
Lion arrived safely back at his room.
The sitting room was chilly, which meant Rickshel likely hadn’t come out since he’d gone into his own room.
It looked as though he’d moved the demonic beast egg to that room as well.
‘Actually, that works out.’
He’d planned to handle things without Rickshel knowing anyway, so moving quietly like this was for the best.
Lion slipped quickly into his room, locked the door behind him, and dispelled the disguise.
He didn’t know if it was because he’d coughed up blood earlier, but his insides felt easier than before.
At the very least, it seemed he could hold out long enough to get things sorted.
Lion stole a glance at the mirror in the room.
‘A fine sight I am.’
A cursory look showed red traces lingering around his mouth, and the back of his hand and his sleeve were the same.
Lion first stowed the bloodied clothes in his inventory to destroy the evidence, then scrubbed the bloodstains clean with a towel he always carried.
He knew, of course, that it would be better to just keel over and rest right away instead of doing all this…
‘Because if I don’t, I won’t be able to manage in the morning.’
In any case, by rushing through the motions he managed to resolve matters fairly quickly.
Lion swept both hands lightly over his pale, drawn face and collapsed onto the bed.
‘Come to think of it, checkout is tomorrow, isn’t it.’
Which meant he also had to get ready to go back…
Never mind. Right now he was too sleepy.
Lion cut off the train of thought and fell into a deep sleep exactly as he had first lain down.
* * *
Not long after Lion had fallen asleep, Rickshel rose from his bed.
He’d meant to wait for his brother, but it seemed he’d nodded off without realizing it.
Normally he could easily stay awake for a whole day, but perhaps being next to his brother’s spirit had unconsciously put him at ease.
‘Has Brother returned?’
He stepped outside and saw that the door which had been open was now firmly shut.
He must have gotten back safely.
‘I hope he didn’t overdo it.’
Rickshel stood before Lion’s door and let out a soft sigh.
Knocking felt like it would wake his brother from a sound sleep, but he still wanted to check on his condition.
‘…Yes. It’s still early morning, so I’ll wake him after I go out.’
Disrupting a good night’s rest out of a selfish desire to check on Brother’s condition was hardly proper conduct for a younger brother.
Besides…
‘There’s also what happened yesterday.’
Now that it was morning and he was thinking clearly, he felt he had pushed his brother too hard.
Hadn’t he actually threatened him?
Saying he wouldn’t help the Second Prince.
He’d ended up adding to his brother’s burdens.
In truth, if the Second Prince truly displeased him, he could simply cut off his support without Brother ever knowing. Yet he hadn’t.
‘I still have a long way to go.’
Rickshel inwardly chastised himself with sharp censure and returned to his room to prepare to go out.
Today was their last day staying at the hotel, so he needed to make a final inspection.
And while he was at it.
‘To also check the Second Prince’s face.’
In any case, resolving matters at this hotel required him to meet with the Second Prince and the Guild Leader once more.
‘Originally, I’d intended to introduce Brother as well…’
So that outwardly, it would create the impression that Brother was also carrying out a task assigned by House Asteri—but that had become unnecessary.
Moreover, as a personal wish, he hoped Brother would not encounter the Second Prince in the future.
The Second Prince was quick on the uptake.
And if he set his mind to it, he could gather information and easily figure out that the man he’d met every night was Brother.
‘Though of course, I would make it difficult for him.’
Still, it was better to minimize contact as much as possible.
In any case, Brother must have been very tired all this time, so he ought to escort him back to the comfortable mansion and let him rest properly.
And while he watched over Brother’s rest…
‘I’ll have to search for the truth.’
That is, the truth of some enormous event that even Brother was still only speculating about.
Just as Rickshel reached this conclusion and was about to open the hotel room door—
“…”
He felt like he was missing something.
Since when had Brother slept with the door locked?
It was true that he usually kept the door firmly locked.
He’d heard it was to prevent the other servants from getting caught up in any unforeseen trouble.
But when nothing was amiss, he never went so far as to bolt the door.
Which meant…
In an instant, his heart plummeted.
Rickshel turned away from the exit and headed for Lion’s door.
And just as he was about to force open the magically locked door—
“Yaaawn.”
Still drowsy, Lion opened the door and let out a long, languid yawn.
Rickshel examined Lion carefully.
Perhaps because he was worried, his brother looked markedly unwell today.
Or had he simply pushed himself too far?
“Good morning. Yawn. You said today’s the last day, right?”
“…Yes. It is.”
Lion, however, seemed more leisurely than usual.
Of course, he had muttered that he was a little tired after meeting the Second Prince…
‘Is it my imagination?’
Maybe the memory of yesterday was making him more sensitive today.
“Wait just a bit. I’ll come out with you.”
“Pardon? Won’t you be tired?”
“Even so, technically it’s my first outside activity. I can’t exactly skip it.”
Saying that they’d be going back to the mansion soon anyway, so what was there to be tired about, he patted Rickshel lightly on the shoulder.
“Anyway, just give me a moment.”
“…Understood.”
Rickshel nodded and watched the door close again.
Click.
Once the door was fully shut, Lion let out a sigh of relief.
‘They haven’t caught on, right?’
Whether through misfortune or good luck, Lion had woken up quite early today.
Naturally his body hadn’t recovered completely, but thinking it was actually for the best, he hurriedly downed an internal-injury recovery potion he’d made previously, along with a painkiller potion.
And more than anything…
“…”
“…Good morning?”
With a face full of displeasure and its fur fluffed to the maximum, Nature was now glued tightly to Lion’s side.
The reason he hurt less than before he’d fallen asleep was probably thanks to Nature.
And Nature looked… extremely angry!
Expecting a scolding to rain down, Lion braced himself.
Plop.
Contrary to its sulky expression, Nature simply climbed silently onto Lion’s shoulder and perched there.
It seemed to have realized that Lion hadn’t deliberately abused his body.
“…”
Honestly, he was a bit taken aback.
He’d fully expected to be scolded, but instead it was worried and taking care of him.
It was yet another first experience for him, and Lion found himself frozen, unable to make any move for the first time in a long while.
‘…Yeah.’
When he thought about it, wasn’t that true?
He hadn’t been sick because he wanted to be.
It was true that he’d been trying to obtain clues about the hero, but he hadn’t intentionally entered Story Mode.
It was something even Lion hadn’t known about.
But all the same, he’d hidden his condition, so he’d assumed he would be met with anger.
What was the reason?
Honestly, he still didn’t quite know.
But one thing was certain.
“Were you worried?”
“Peep.”
Nature was worried about Lion, and though it was upset that its master was hurt, it wasn’t blaming him.
At that strange warmth, Lion let out a small laugh.
“Peep…”
“Ah.”
At the outright laugh, Nature, unable to suppress its indignation, fixed Lion with a steady stare.
Its eyes practically said, “You’re laughing?”
The moment it occurred to him how fiercely intimidating the tiny creature could be—
“Ow, ow, ow!”
Nature, who had been sitting on his shoulder, leaped up and chomped down hard on Lion’s earlobe, pulling at it.
“Okay! Okay! I’m sorry!”
After a bout of tussling like that, his body recovered swiftly and naturally.
Recovered to the point that he could converse with Rickshel just as he had a moment ago, as though nothing had happened!
Lion changed into a fresh set of clothes, opened the door again, and shouted to advertise his health:
“Let’s hurry and go!”
“…”
Rickshel detected a slight dissonance in his brother’s demeanor, but without pinpointing anything strange, he left the room with him.
It was only later, after Lion had employed similar methods two or three more times, that he finally realized something had been wrong with his brother at that time.
* * *
Around the same time.
“So. You gave away the former generation’s memento, is that it?”
“That’s right.”
“To someone whose identity you don’t even know?”
The Guild Leader—Jack—who had met the Second Prince first fixed a steady gaze on the Second Prince, who had shamelessly admitted to everything.
The Second Prince maintained an expressionless face under that stare and drank the tea placed in front of him.
“Hmmmm.”
The Guild Leader draped an arm casually over the sofa, slouched in his seat, and made an ambiguous sound.
Then he broke into a grin and spoke.
“Shall I kidnap him?”
For such a light tone, the remark was quite terrifying, but as if he’d expected it, the Second Prince set down his teacup and replied.
“We agreed not to.”
“I didn’t agree to anything.”
Jack’s eyes glinted as though the Second Prince’s reaction greatly intrigued him.
The Kyle he knew wasn’t the sort to do something rash.
Especially the act of handing over Former Jack’s memento—just because the other party happened to like it—was something he’d never shown in all the years Jack had looked after him in place of the previous generation.
‘It’s not that he was under a restriction.’
If anything, just as Kyle had said, the curse that had tormented him all his life had been lifted.
Perhaps because of that, Kyle was considerably more… docile than usual.
To the point where it felt like seeing him as a child again.
Of course, he was glad and happy to see the docile side of the kid he regarded as a younger brother, but…
Well, that was that.
“I’d like to meet him too, you know.”
“He’ll already have left. So don’t get interested.”
Hmm. Just as I thought.
At Kyle’s firmness, Jack smiled with his eyes and felt certain.
‘So you do know his identity.’
Yet the fact that Kyle was still trying to hide that identity meant he’d been strongly impressed.
Which made Jack want to meet him even more, actually.
Just what kind of person was he, to have turned the little brother he’d raised to be utterly ruthless suddenly soft in an instant?
‘Well, I’d have been happy if he were an ordinary person, but.’
Unfortunately, weren’t Kyle and himself both figures who’d literally crawled through the muck?
When Former Jack was alive, the training had been harsh, but he’d never felt his life was threatened.
But after that old man passed on, they’d literally had to trudge through every kind of cesspool.
And even now.
The location had changed to the sunlit Imperial Palace and the surface world, but the work ahead remained the same.
Survive, relentlessly.
To do that, Kyle for now…
No, perhaps for the rest of his life, it was better for him to live like a well-sharpened sword.
Because even rolling around in a field of dung was better than being in the Underworld.
“Aww, come on. Let me meet him too, all right? Your Highness~.”
Jack hid his true feelings and threw out playful banter, pestering him.
While they passed the time that way.
“Mm. Can’t anymore now.”
Sensing a presence outside, Jack brushed off Kyle’s clothes lightly, then returned to his seat and sat down.
A little while later, three voices became audible.
The first was the manager, Willi; the next was the prim heir of the prestigious mage family.
And the last was…
“Sorry to keep you waiting. I overslept.”
He was the man rumored to be the eccentric of that prestigious mage family.
It was Lion Asteri, who was only present because formal procedure required it.
‘Hmmmm?’
Jack glanced sideways at Kyle, then broke into a wide grin.
This was getting rather interesting.