Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 21
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 21
After closing the door, Lion returned to the kitchen, packed Rickshel’s share of the cookies, and was reheating the cooled drink when he wiped a cold sweat from his brow.
“Whew.”
He’d almost let Grandfather’s question trip him up.
‘You never answer that kind of question.’
Long years of corporate life had taught him a handful of things.
First, never make material demands.
You only ask for something when you’ve produced results.
And by his own reckoning, he hadn’t yet produced any results worth mentioning.
Even if he asked, there was no way it would be granted—and it would only leave an unpleasant aftertaste.
So it was better to pretend he hadn’t noticed and move on.
Of course… the truth was, Lion genuinely didn’t want anything.
He was perfectly content with his current life.
“Anyway, I should at least go hand over the snacks first.”
He also needed to tell the boy he could rest now.
With those thoughts, Lion headed toward Rickshel’s room.
And then…
“Urgh! This isn’t it!”
The moment he opened the door, the sight of Rickshel savagely tearing up the paper in his hands filled his vision.
‘Whoa, what’s going on?’
For an instant, the story of a certain master potter came to mind.
The one who smashed every unsatisfactory piece of pottery to uphold his belief in quality…
‘Is this that sort of thing?’
Well, Rickshel did have a fairly strong perfectionist streak.
The bread-making incident had shown as much.
In any case, Lion stepped inside, carefully avoiding the papers scattered on the floor.
“Rickshel. Studying hard, are we?”
“…Ah, Brother. When did you arrive?”
Fortunately, Rickshel quickly collected himself and greeted Lion.
‘T-to be seen like this, like a child…’
Judging by how red his ears had gone, he seemed deeply embarrassed.
“D-did you, by any chance, see?”
Yeah. He had seen everything.
“No? Nothing at all.”
When Lion offered a white lie, only then did Rickshel exhale in relief.
“Phew. I’m glad. It wasn’t exactly a flattering sight. But what brings you here? All the way to my room…”
“Ah, nothing special. You must be tired, so eat up first.”
Lion cleared the papers strewn over the table and set down the cookies and drink.
“You made these yourself? Good heavens, thank you. I’ll enjoy them, Brother.”
Even without any explanation, Rickshel realized Lion had made them and began eating the cookies and drinking the beverage without a trace of suspicion.
“Wow! They’re truly delicious. This hot drink, too.”
“Glad to hear it. It’s good for you, so take your time.”
It was also good for training and recovering from fatigue, but there was no particular need to mention that.
Compared to the first time he’d seen the banana sweet potato and had blown up at it, the reaction was so different that Lion felt quite proud.
“Please have some yourself, Brother.”
“Shall I?”
He’d already eaten more than enough cookies, but he didn’t refuse Rickshel’s invitation and unhurriedly chewed on one.
The kid needed a break like this.
‘It reminds me of munching snacks in the break room.’
Thick, burnt instant coffee and bagged crackers.
Those had been the moments he could still breathe during his grueling office days.
‘Still, what on earth is he working on that uses this much paper?’
Was he solving some difficult magical formula?
Around the time Rickshel had emptied even the drink, Lion casually tossed out a question.
“So, is this an assignment Grandfather gave you? Looks like it’s been rough.”
“Ah, it’s not that. The assignment the Family Head gave me has all been tidied up already.”
And indeed, on one side of the desk, a neat stack of documents was held down by an elegant paperweight.
“Then extra studying on your own?”
“Mm, something similar.”
If it was similar, then either way, he was overworking himself studying something, right?
It was a good thing he’d gone and spoken to Grandfather.
“From now until the coming-of-age ceremony, it’s fine to take it easy.”
“…Pardon?”
“I got permission from Grandfather. You’ve looked exhausted lately.”
“Th-that’s…!”
A tremor ran through Rickshel’s eyes.
Brother was paying this much attention to his condition!
But…
He couldn’t do that.
“It isn’t the heir lessons or the Family Head’s assignments that are doing this. That…”
As Rickshel hesitated, looking troubled, Lion asked playfully.
“Don’t tell me it’s a love letter?”
“…”
“Right? You’re about to be an adult soon too, so that’s definitely an age to be interested…”
“It was because of your coming-of-age ceremony, Brother. The one that’s happening soon.”
“Aha.”
Almost for the first time, Rickshel ignored Lion’s words and delivered his own piece.
“My coming-of-age ceremony? Is this about the family ritual?”
Within House Asteri, there was a single ritual that those who came of age underwent.
A ceremony inside the “Library Labyrinth,” said to have been created by the first Asteri.
Truth be told, it wasn’t all that important.
‘It’s a formality.’
Even in the game from his past life, the Library Labyrinth existed. It guided the entrant to acquire the magic they needed most and functioned as a kind of skill-acquisition ground.
It was called a labyrinth, but because it carved a path toward where the books were according to the user’s level, there weren’t even any forking roads.
According to Lion’s memory, someone who reached the end of the labyrinth could bring out a special item, but…
a special item from a prestigious mage family—it had to be something incredible.
‘Is he worrying over nothing because he thinks it might be dangerous?’
No need to worry, really.
Wasn’t it a place so safe that, while impenetrable if you intended to break through, you could simply use it as a “library” if you accepted everything?
Before the possession, the original Lion Asteri had even holed up in that library and used it like a hideout.
Of course, Rickshel with his strong perfectionist streak might still get anxious.
Or maybe he was straining himself because he was afraid Lion would make a fool of himself…
“No. To be precise, it’s about the clothes you will wear, Brother.”
But what came out of Rickshel’s mouth was completely different from what Lion had imagined.
Clothes, all of a sudden?
“Can’t you just wear something appropriate? And it seems like Grandfather is preparing the party.”
Rickshel’s expression turned grave in an instant.
“You saw?”
“Saw what.”
“The clothes Grandfather prepared.”
“…I haven’t seen them?”
“This is it.”
As if he’d been waiting for those words, Rickshel swiftly pulled a clothing design sketch from a drawer.
And it was…
“Ghk.”
Extremely… avant-garde.
Shoulder pads reminiscent of PiccolX from DragXX Ball, with skinny trousers and high heels?
And what was with the colors?
The three primary colors, on one outfit?
“The Family Head has a fatal flaw. Namely, his complete lack of any aesthetic sense.”
“…”
Not just a complete lack—at this level, wasn’t it… catastrophic?
“He’s been dressed perfectly fine so far.”
“That was thanks to Head Housemaid Sylvia. She has retired.”
“She has retired.”
And she was now his own personal maid.
‘Sylvia… no, Elvia must have been handling an enormous amount of work.’
Simply preventing him from wearing clothes like this was a monumental achievement in itself.
An 8th-Circle Archmage showing up at a party in an outfit like this?
It was obvious that House Asteri’s prestige would suffer a massive crack.
The situation had rapidly become serious.
“So I thought I’d try putting something together myself…”
Rickshel smoothed out one of the crumpled sheets and showed it.
It displayed a formal outfit with a much better design than before.
“Oh? This much looks…”
“Do you think it’s acceptable?”
“It looks accepta… wait a moment.”
The front of the drawing showed the silhouette of a perfectly ordinary suit, so why was the back scooped out like a dress?
And wasn’t it hanging in tatters, as if it had been in an explosion?
“I thought an unexpected twist suited you, Brother, so I designed it this way.”
As he spoke, Rickshel smiled bashfully.
A twist was a twist, but still…
“Are you going to wear something like that too?”
“No. I’ll dress plainly, of course. Since you are the star of this party, Brother!”
Aha.
He’d found the weak spot of House Asteri’s people.
Their fashion sense was insane.
It was not just ordinary insanity.
‘It’s radically, spectacularly insane.’
It was absolutely certain that if he walked out in this, no one would ever speak to him again!
‘Wow, even for someone like me who poses as an eccentric, this is too much.’
Lion, barely suppressing the urge to rip the fashion draft apart, carefully folded it and handed it back to Rickshel, keeping his smile in place with effort.
“These clothes are nice, too, but… how about we go get our coming-of-age ceremony outfits fitted together? If possible, let’s have Grandfather’s fitted at the same time. It’ll look more affectionate that way, don’t you think?”
Please say yes.
“Ah, would that really be all right?”
“Of course! Of course! Ah, and while we’re at it… you know the party plan Grandfather is working on? I’ll take a look at the paperwork for that, too.”
“Understood. I’ll organize it and have it sent to you.”
“Thank you.”
This couldn’t go on.
It was a problem for his dignity… and for all of House Asteri.
“All right, then. For now, have a good rest tonight, and let’s go out either tomorrow or the day after.”
Unlike women’s dresses, men’s formal wear came together relatively quickly, so it would be fine.
As for the fabric, they could just take some of the cloth stored in the family.
Right now, materials weren’t what mattered.
What mattered was an eye for design that could produce the most ordinary, neat look possible.
And luckily, Lion knew a few people like that.
“…It’s a good thing I baked so many cookies.”
Lion returned to the kitchen and murmured to himself as he packed the cookies.
No wonder he’d felt like baking a large batch.
* * *
“…So that’s what happened.”
“I see.”
The first person Lion sought out was, naturally, Elvia.
Elvia wore a peculiar expression, as if she’d been expecting something like this.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t think I’ll be of much help either. I have no sense for these things myself.”
“…”
Right. So that was the concept for the new maid, Elvia.
Lion decided to respect Elvia.
“In that case, if something looks really wrong, could you at least advise me?”
“Yes. I don’t know if I’ll be helpful, but I’ll give you my most sincere opinion.”
“Thank you. And these are cookies and a drink.”
“You’re giving them to me as well?”
“Of course. You helped me bake the cookies. Yours is the biggest share. And I still have plenty of other people to ask, so don’t worry.”
With a reassuring grin to tell her she didn’t need to fret, Lion gathered up a huge bag.
“So I’ll just step out for a moment. I won’t be long.”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”
* * *
Lion left the mansion before Rickshel.
Before joining up, he planned to stop by Mudu’s house and share the cookies with the children.
And while he was there, he intended to ask about the person he’d had his eye on.
“Oh my, Young Master!”
The moment he stepped into Mudu’s yard, Leah, who had been hanging laundry, and the children came running over in surprise.
“How did you manage to come here with a bag that big?!”
“It’s the Young Master!”
“Young Master!”
“Have you been well?”
“Of course. We’re always well! Please, come inside first.”
Lion didn’t refuse and stepped into the house.
As always, it was cozy, full of sunlight, and well kept.
“Here, presents first.”
Lion pulled four wrapped cookie packages out of the bag.
“One bag for each of you. I made them.”
“You made them, Young Master?”
“How’d you make ’em? Wow! Sweets!”
“S-something this precious…”
“It’s fine, take them. They’re a bribe, see.”
“…”
Leah, who had been staring at the children who’d snatched the gifts and fled far away for fear they’d be taken back, blinked her round eyes at the word bribe.
Her expression was utterly baffled—she couldn’t fathom what sort of bribe the young master of House Asteri could possibly be giving to her, the mere wife of a blacksmith.