Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 234
Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing — Chapter 234
Lion’s assessment upon entering the reception room off the corridor was this.
‘Worn.’
Unlike the splendid exterior walls, every object inside was old, to the point you’d hardly believe it was a royal residence—no, even a noble’s residence.
If someone else saw this, they’d probably feel sorry for the Second Prince.
How few allies he must have at the imperial court, to be unable to even replace his furnishings properly.
You could easily end up with conjectures like maybe his supposed tightening grip on the imperial court wasn’t actually true.
Even Lion wasn’t entirely free of such thoughts.
There was even that scar on his cheek.
But—
“Next time we meet, I’ll arrange to receive you in better quarters.”
The Second Prince’s matter-of-fact tone made Lion realize his concern had been unnecessary.
‘So he’s deliberately not replacing them…’
He had plans to leave the Second Prince’s palace soon for the Crown Prince’s palace, after all.
And even the Crown Prince’s palace would probably…
‘Maybe three years?’
Anyway, within five years at most, the Second Prince would enter the emperor’s palace.
“I find this level just right, actually.”
“Then I’ll simply move these furnishings as they are.”
“Hahaha. You joke well.”
“It isn’t a joke.”
“…”
When Lion found himself at a loss for words, Kyle let a chuckle curl the corner of his mouth.
Yes. When he was this sincere, the man made exactly that sort of troubled face.
He truly was the type who hated getting entangled in “troublesome affairs.”
Kyle, respecting that side of Lion’s nature, tried to keep such pressure to a minimum, but…
‘Because if I stopped altogether, he really would extricate himself.’
The only option was to tread that line carefully,
if he wanted to secure Lion Asteri as a solid ally.
Kyle personally steeped tea and handed it across to Lion.
“Thank you.”
Lion peered down at the teacup in his hands.
Just then, Rickshel’s emphatic warnings came to mind.
He’d said to be careful about what he ate or drank inside the imperial palace, and if he absolutely had to drink something, to take only the tiniest amount.
No doubt a precaution against the possibility of poison.
Someone with poison resistance and vast mana wouldn’t be affected by mere toxins, but Lion didn’t exactly qualify.
‘Well, I do have some mana…’
It was true he had no poison resistance.
‘Wait, so my little brother does have resistance?’
There was only one way to build poison resistance.
Conditioning the body by ingesting small doses of poison from childhood.
…Being the heir really wasn’t something anyone should have to do.
Inwardly shaking his head over and over, Lion drank the tea in the cup without hesitation.
He might lack resistance and sufficient mana, but Lion did have his Eyes.
This tea was simply an ordinarily expensive tea; it hadn’t been poisoned.
“Huh.”
It was Kyle who was the startled one.
No matter that he’d steeped it himself, the imperial palace was the sort of place where anything could happen in the meantime.
Yet Lion Asteri had looked it over briefly and just tipped it into his mouth.
“Did Rickshel Asteri perhaps not give you the necessary precautions?”
“He did.”
“Then why?”
“Pardon?”
“What a, haah…”
The Second Prince let out a deep sigh and leaned back against the worn sofa, folding his arms.
For a moment he seemed to be choosing his words.
His sharp presence remained undiminished, but it seemed that with his curse lifted, he’d relaxed in his own way.
“You must have known I might have done something to the tea, and you drank it anyway?”
“Did you do something to it?”
“…I didn’t.”
Kyle gazed up at the ceiling for a moment to master an emotion he rarely felt.
Originally he’d planned to win Lion Asteri over with a suitable mix of persuasion and pressure, but things were taking a strange turn.
…Right.
He’d never imagined he’d feel the urge to scold someone like this.
“I see now why Rickshel Asteri worries so much.”
In the Second Prince’s eyes, Lion Asteri trusted others far too readily.
It wasn’t just that he trusted them; he even went so far as to help them.
It had been the same at the Easter.
Despite hating to get entangled, he’d seemed unable to ignore Kyle and, posing as an anonymous benefactor, had even lifted his curse.
Lifting a curse of that magnitude was no ordinary ability.
If the Temple ever learned of it, they’d employ every means at their disposal to pull Lion Asteri into the Temple.
‘He seems to have slipped away cleverly last time, though.’
On that occasion the fact hadn’t come to light, so it had been closer to backing off a step.
From that perspective, Kyle now held the key card for winning Lion Asteri over.
‘What should I do about this eccentric…’
Kyle wanted to bring Lion Asteri over to his side.
That was immutable fact.
The position of National Preceptor, the Empire’s teacher.
The man’s special abilities were astonishing, but what Kyle valued even more was Lion’s counsel.
‘Though, regrettably, he himself doesn’t seem to realize that.’
In any case, a virtuous person had an inclination to do virtuous things, so once he became emperor, keeping Lion close by would be beneficial in many ways.
However, if he couldn’t have him, he had no intention of letting anyone else have him.
That was why he’d invited him to the imperial palace to build at least a somewhat closer relationship, and had even secured the pity card…
‘And a single cup of tea has thrown me off.’
He hadn’t even gotten to the important discussion.
On top of that, private sentiments kept attaching themselves to what he’d been considering rationally.
Decisions made not for himself, but for Lion Asteri.
That too was quite the problem.
While Kyle was mired in these internal worries and concerns.
“Thank you for last time.”
Lion, having drained half his tea, said it flatly, almost offhand.
“You covered for my mistake.”
A mistake?
He was dismissing helping someone—to the point of vomiting blood—as merely a mistake?
Kyle pressed a hand to his throbbing temple and answered.
“Because you didn’t seem to want to be found out.”
“As you can see, I’m quite well-protected, you see.”
If they learned of that ability, it looked like it would lead to outright over-protection.
The Second Prince swallowed what he’d been about to say and asked instead.
“Are you all right physically?”
“I’m perfectly fine. There’s no need to worry.”
It wasn’t as if he’d coughed blood as the price for dispelling the curse, after all.
His body had simply become overloaded when receiving the main character’s items.
That was why lately he’d been trying to avoid anything linked to the main character as much as possible.
It meant his body wasn’t ready yet.
Lion had, in his own way, spoken only the truth, but…
‘So there are aftereffects after all.’
Kyle resolved not to take Lion’s words at face value.
Had Lion known this inner thought, he’d have felt rather aggrieved.
“…”
Kyle fell into thought.
In truth, there was much he’d wanted to press or deduce when he met Lion Asteri.
Why didn’t he tell his family the truth when he was so close to them?
Wasn’t it obvious that this was leading to excessive protectiveness?
Also, Lion had said there was a certain “purpose” behind lifting Kyle’s curse, and he hadn’t been able to uncover what that was, either.
Not even regarding that “Jack.”
But the other side clearly had no intention of revealing any of it.
How could an outsider like himself break through a wall that even his family couldn’t?
Nevertheless, one thing.
The way to make Lion Asteri treat him as a “trustworthy ally” of sorts had become clear.
“I’ll help you.”
“With what?”
“With anything.”
Lion Asteri wasn’t the type to hide his power in order to commit some monstrous crime.
First of all, that power had lifted a “curse,” and he also used spirit arts.
Broadly speaking, these were not the techniques of evildoers.
And more than anything, the man’s goal was far too evident for him to be capable of such terrible deeds.
Absolute peace and the maintenance of his daily life.
He didn’t know what exactly he was trying to accomplish, but knowing that goal left no room for suspicion.
He would keep the man at his side as long as it didn’t derail that firm destination.
“You look as if you want to ask the reason.”
“Yes.”
Lion could only be bewildered.
Had the Second Prince always had a personality like this?
He was a man with clear objectives, and someone who knew how to separate public from private.
Regardless of any feelings of gratitude toward him, Kyle would surely not let go of a card he held.
So Lion had assumed the Second Prince would propose some sort of trade.
Something like, “I’ll conceal your special abilities, so assist me a few times.”
He’d even prepared a few escape hatches in case that happened.
Because situations like this had come up often.
But…
‘He’ll just help?’
Without even asking for reasons?
“You must think this is a strategy unlike me.”
“Honestly, yes.”
“It’s simple. I happen to be greedy.”
The Second Prince laid out his feelings as rationally as he could.
There were many reasons he could list.
The first was, of course, that this would strengthen his ties with House Asteri.
Moreover, House Bydantis had joined them as well, so the power Lion Asteri possessed was greater than expected.
Up to that point, it was understandable.
‘Well, that much makes sense, I suppose.’
In any case, from the Second Prince’s position, it was a plausible enough inference.
And the second reason was a little unexpected.
“The Temple’s movements are unusual.”
It was a subject concerning the Temple, not the imperial court or the central nobility.
‘I haven’t heard anything about the Temple plotting something.’
No matter how much Lion walled himself off from politics and lived free and easy, he wasn’t ignorant of the information that reached House Asteri.
Among it, he’d never heard anything about the Temple behaving oddly.
In reality, hadn’t the Temple only just begun to properly reorganize and move again after the Archbishop awakened from a long slumber?
Even if one Sanctuary had been completed, that wouldn’t exert a staggering influence…
Though, honestly, something did nag at him.
Namely, the person right in front of his eyes.
“You were on the verge of being exposed.”
“Exactly.”
There was no way the Temple was unaware of the curse placed on the Second Prince.
Only, for some reason, the two sides had been treating it as if it didn’t exist.
Because the Temple didn’t wish to get involved in power struggles.
But now that the Archbishop had begun to act, if the Second Prince’s heaviest curse had been lifted, the story changed.
They would undoubtedly come looking.
And Kyle,
“I have no intention of handing him over.”
he said with a crooked smile, making his resolve clear.
Well, Lion had no desire for that either.
Living solely on the satisfaction of doing good deeds wasn’t so easy.
His current life—appropriately free and comfortable—was the best.
‘The reasons are fairly valid.’
Besides, for Lion’s part, if the alternative was living at the Temple as a saint beyond a benefactor, wasn’t it better to move occasionally on the Second Prince’s side?
And here, House Asteri’s influence was strong, so he wouldn’t be overworked.
But—
Just two reasons felt insufficient to justify the generous offer of “I’ll help.”
“And the third reason is…”
Unlike a moment ago when he’d answered without hesitation, the Second Prince paused and then shook his head.
The third reason was simple gratitude.
He had already repaid him with a miraculous item that could save a life, but what the Second Prince had gained was far greater.
Still, when he tried to say it aloud, it felt a bit… off.
“Well. That’s the gist of it for now. I’m not asking for an immediate answer; I’m simply conveying my intentions, so take your time thinking it over.”
The Second Prince concluded briskly and rose from his seat.
“There’s time before the two of them arrive, so allow me to show you around the imperial palace.”
Lion gazed at the Second Prince with an odd look, then gave a soft laugh and stood.
Jack was the same, and the Second Prince too—they were both fundamentally terrible at expressing themselves, it seemed.
“Let’s treat that cheek first before we go.”