Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 189
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 189
Petrick stopped walking and headed straight toward Lion.
“Why are you standing in the corridor in this cold?”
“Come on, it’s not cold.”
The interior of the Asteri mansion was temperature-controlled just as perfectly as Hotel Easter.
That was naturally thanks to Petrick, who had gone to extra trouble out of concern for Lion, who had always been especially sickly.
Even so, it seemed his grandfather still worried.
“Have you eaten?”
“No. I haven’t eaten yet.”
“…You haven’t eaten?”
Was the food not to his liking?
Or was his physical condition poor?
Just before Petrick’s expression hardened with all sorts of worries, Lion grinned playfully and added,
“Since you were coming back today, I planned to eat together.”
“Hoh.”
At those words, Petrick felt all the fatigue he had built up melt away.
‘When did he grow up so much?’
To say he wanted to eat with his grandfather…
He felt both proud and a little sorry.
If he had come on time, his grandson wouldn’t have had to wait here on an empty stomach.
‘If only that damned Emperor hadn’t spouted nonsense.’
Petrick clicked his tongue inwardly but soon revised his thought.
‘…Very well. Even if my own feelings were injured, this is something Lion must decide for himself.’
Since things had turned out this way, he might as well casually inform him of the earlier situation over the meal.
“Let us go in.”
“Yes, sir.”
Arriving at the dining hall with Lion, Petrick noticed something had changed.
‘There are two wine glasses.’
A wine glass had always been placed at Petrick’s seat,
where he occasionally enjoyed a drink with his meal.
But at the seats of Rickshel, who was a minor, and Lion, who had only just reached adulthood, no wine glass had ever been set before.
Yet this time, a glass had been placed at Lion’s seat as well.
‘I did say that back then.’
That I’d received good liquor at Easter and to let me know when the time was right.
“I just felt like today was the perfect day for it.”
“…I see.”
He had indeed been thinking of having a drink alone once he returned to his room, so this could be called the right moment.
Once Petrick took his seat, the servants attending him tactfully withdrew from the room.
Only Alex, the head chef, personally served the food.
He placed the dishes, then finally filled the glasses at each seat.
Dark liquor rippled in a transparent glass adorned with antique glasswork craftsmanship.
“It is a blended drink made according to Young Master Lion’s recipe.”
“Hm.”
Petrick raised the glass and checked the aroma.
At first he thought he caught a honey-sweet fruit fragrance, but a bitter, familiar scent pressed in behind it, so it didn’t feel like a purely sweet drink.
‘Not bad.’
Petrick did not much care for sweet foods.
Naturally, that included sweet drinks as well, so he had worried that the liquor Lion had taken pains to bring might not suit his palate…
‘This much is perfectly drinkable.’
Petrick slowly swallowed a sip of the blended drink.
“…!”
And then, without realizing it, he gulped down one more mouthful.
He had assumed a blended drink would have a strong artificial feel, but it was not so.
The first sensation of berries was better described as refreshing than sweet.
Just as a little sweetness crept up, a bitter and dignified richness came and, so to speak, tidied the inside of his mouth.
At the finish, a fragrant aftertaste lingered briefly, then vanished cleanly.
It was more palatable than expected… no, more palatable than he could have imagined.
“Did you put black tea in it?”
“Yes. I steeped the tea you enjoy quite strong and blended it in.”
Having said that, Lion emptied his glass a little.
‘As expected of Alex.’
It might have been a somewhat unfamiliar method, but he had executed it perfectly according to the recipe.
Perhaps it was because he had been in charge of his grandfather’s meals all along that everything had fallen into place so smoothly.
Of course, it suited Lion’s own palate remarkably well too.
‘It goes down easily.’
Maybe because the proof had been diluted with tea, the finish was smooth going down.
It was just right for sipping while eating dinner and side dishes.
“Ha.”
Petrick couldn’t help but chuckle at the mention of mixing black tea.
‘He used to hate bitter things so much as a child.’
The black tea Petrick favored was quite astringent and bitter.
The idea was to use the intensely bitter taste to rouse his concentration when it had scattered.
For Lion, who didn’t like bitter things, it must have been quite an adventure.
“If it was a blended drink, you could each have had the flavor you wanted. Why did you choose this?”
“Because it’s better to share a new experience.”
“…A new experience, is it.”
Was it because of the word experience? The thought he’d had just a moment ago resurfaced.
—Hooo. I never thought I would come to worry about something like this.
If not for Lion, would Petrick Asteri—an Archmage and the head of a prestigious mage family—ever have agonized over a mere “grandson’s friendship problem”?
Petrick held the drink in his mouth once more.
‘So what I felt was growing pains.’
The emotion he had simply considered unpleasant and disagreeable had, it seemed, been the ache of being exposed to a new experience.
‘That I, of all people, should feel such an emotion.’
You live long enough, you see everything.
It seemed he had to go at least this far to keep pace with his spirited grandson.
Now that he had thought it through and realized this, he felt as though the headache connected to the Second Prince was subsiding entirely.
Petrick swallowed the bitterness prickling his tongue, then casually asked,
“Ahem, today at the Imperial Court…”
In Petrick’s eyes it was casual, but from Lion’s perspective, the tone was remarkably awkward.
Because his grandfather was not the type to recount a situation in meticulous detail.
‘Maybe this is the first time he’s ever done it.’
Lion had to hurriedly cover his mouth with his glass to stifle the laughter threatening to escape.
It was fortunate the drink blended from black tea and liqueur was such a deep color.
‘But so that’s what happened.’
Though it had reached him through his grandfather’s lips, he could glean a great deal.
First, that the Second Prince, now freed from his curse, had taken flight.
He did not know the precise inside story, but it seemed the man was not only pressuring the Emperor but was reclaiming all the things he had not been able to obtain, one by one.
‘And most likely, the Emperor’s power as well.’
Well, that was none of Lion’s business, so he could let it pass with a shrug.
‘This bastard was told not to come, and now he’s subtly invoking it.’
Since it had come out through his grandfather’s mouth, it probably had nothing to do with ‘Jack.’
“Ordinarily I would have refused it on my own, but I judged that was not the direction you wanted.”
“Hmm.”
“What do you wish to do? If you prefer, we can treat it as though you never heard it.”
Having finished, Petrick fixed his grandson with a grave gaze.
He had been the one to decide that this was a problem Lion could manage.
But Lion might not yet be ready.
In that case, Petrick was fully prepared to remove what was burdensome.
His grandson’s growth?
Of course, it was joyful and welcome.
But if Lion felt pressured by it, would that not be the most pointless thing in the world?
Lion would grow, no matter what. Perhaps in directions even Petrick himself did not know, he was even now growing at this very moment.
So he must not coerce a growth that only he himself could see.
“…No. On the contrary, it worked out well.”
“Worked out well?”
“Yes. I’ve just had a good idea.”
“And what might that be?”
At his grandfather’s question, Lion grinned and shrugged his shoulders.
“Since it’s come to this, I think it would be better if everyone was in on it together.”
“Hoo.”
A peculiar light flickered in Petrick’s eyes, catching the intent.
The Emperor had certainly said that Lion Asteri’s assistance was essential for the party’s perfection.
And that he thus wished Lion would visit the Imperial Court at least once.
But—
‘He didn’t say only Lion Asteri should visit.’
Another noble house would never have thought of this approach.
Because it meant trifling with the Emperor’s words.
But this was House Asteri.
And what was more, it was none other than Petrick Asteri who had received those words directly.
“When you say everyone, whom do you intend to bring?”
“Those who came to my coming-of-age ceremony.”
Many nobles had visited the ceremony, but the guests who had come as honored visitors were few.
The First Prince and the Second Prince.
And…
“You mean the Marquis of Bydantis.”
“Yes. Since she, of all people, is handling all her duties alone, wouldn’t she be a good person to seek advice from? And I think it would be a good experience for Rickshel, too.”
It was a fairly sound strategy.
If they visited as a group like that, the Second Prince, and of course the First Prince who was currently confined to quarters, would be unable to pull any tricks whatsoever.
Petrick let out a roaring laugh on the inside.
Wasn’t it embarrassing, how he’d worried about the Second Prince trying to handle his grandson?
The Second Prince wasn’t handling Lion—this rascal Lion was training the Second Prince.
‘As expected of my grandson.’
He’d fretted over how a boy so soft and gentle would make his way in this harsh world, and now here he was, displaying such a dependable side!
Clink!
Petrick and Lion touched their glasses together.
With each glass they emptied, one then two, their conversation grew longer and longer.
They’d had enough to drink, and their worries had been resolved too.
And naturally, the type of drink began to change.
From the blended drink to wine. From wine to potent spirits.
By the time both their faces were somewhat flushed red, Lion lightly broke the ice.
“Grandfather!”
“Ahem, yes! Speak.”
“There is something I must tell you, actually! During the confinement I grew bored, so… I went into your room, Grandfather.”
“What? I—I see.”
“Hic! And I found a diary.”
“…”
Petrick experienced a miraculous phenomenon in which his mind, which had been slightly tipsy, sharpened to perfect clarity in an instant.
‘…A diary, he says.’
And he steeled his heart.
He had only ever written one diary.
It was almost a journal, really, written about his own daughter, Lala.
‘Yes. He would have been curious.’
Petrick drew a deep breath.
He still had to shield his own heart whenever he brought up Lala’s story.
No matter how long he’d let it be, the wound from back then had never healed, let alone scarred over.
‘What was he curious about?’
Why she had died?
Why he had not been able to save her?
Or did he resent him?
Even if he resented him for not saving his mother, Petrick was prepared to accept it gladly.
In that matter, Petrick would always be a sinner.
…But the sound that came from Lion’s lips was entirely unlike anything he had expected.
“And so, I learned that you were just as good a father as you are a grandfather to me.”
“…!”
“I just—I’m sorry for looking without permission, and I’m grateful.”
Drunk, Lion smiled foolishly and drained his glass again in one go.
“If I were my mother, I would have been so thankful, too.”
And Rickshel would feel the same.
“…You’re drunk.”
Instead of the words ‘I’m sorry’ or ‘thank you,’ something else slipped out of Petrick’s mouth on its own again.
The slight difference from usual was that Petrick’s words happened to be correct as well.
Because Lion slumped forward onto the table right after he said them.
Petrick sprang up from his seat at Lion’s collapse…
“Pfoo…”
And at the sound of weary breathing, he let out a long-held sigh.
‘He says something like this and then, carefree as you please, falls asleep.’
It somehow exasperated him.
And then…
Petrick clenched and unclenched his fist.
He felt the strange sensation of the sin he had been hiding all this time being absolved.
All thanks to that single word. Gratitude.