Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 162

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Successor or not, I’d rather just heal — Episode 162

“You recognize it, then. Yes. I cannot undo the other one.”

The voice was unnaturally low and somber, layered with complex emotion.
Lion could dimly sense what those feelings were.
But he neither pried deeper nor offered any response.
It was the least he could offer.
A Curse.
Fifty years had passed since the war with the Demons ended, yet even now there were humans who wielded Demon magic—Curses among them.
It was the most prominent example of such dark practice.
For an “appropriate price,” one could inflict permanent suffering on another, ultimately stealing their very life—a form of sorcery as ruthless as it was effective.
The materials required matched the cruelty of the effect; even the lowest-grade Curses demanded substantial quantities of blood and flesh.

‘The First Imperial Prince likely cast something of this nature.’

And that alone explained why the Second Imperial Prince was suffering so severely—coughing blood, wracked with agony.
But those marks on the Second Prince’s forearms.
The Curse traces that likely extended across his entire body were High-Grade Curses.

-The material required for a High-Grade Curse is the human soul.

That was what Lion had read in the library before.
The Temple possessed similar passages in its archives.
And here lay the compounding tragedy: the Second Prince bore not one but two Curses simultaneously.
Ordinarily, such a thing should have been impossible.
Once someone fell under a Curse, they could not be cursed again unless the first was lifted.
The Curse itself became a rope that bound the soul, allowing nothing else to take hold.

‘But this…’

There existed exactly one exception.

-To be cursed from the moment of birth itself.

A Cursed Birth.
And the one who cast such a Curse was, with high probability….

‘The Second Prince’s mother.’

Though he had no idea why.

‘An ordinary person would have gone mad from the pain or taken their own life.’

Yet somehow, the Second Prince had endured—surviving through that torment and his cursed existence.
It should have been impossible.
What circumstances allowed him to bear even the Curse itself?
Or perhaps….

‘….now is not the time for speculation.’

Lion let his thoughts slip away and exhaled softly.

“What do you mean, it cannot be undone?”
“Just as I said. The one who cast the Curse no longer exists in this world.”

Lion nodded slowly.
There were two ways to lift a Curse.
The first was to forcibly break the Curse itself.
And there’s one more way a curse can be broken: the cursed target directly kills the caster.

‘I suspected as much.’

The caster must be dead.
The Second Imperial Prince spoke with perfect composure as he said it.
Even if he’d never felt anything for his biological mother to begin with, how long had it taken him to speak of her death with such detachment?

“I see.”

Lion kept his own voice level and let his mind work through the problem.
The curse caster was already dead.
Which meant the only path left was to forcibly dissolve the curse itself.

Under normal circumstances, it would be a simple matter of running to the Temple.
No matter how severe a High-Grade Curse—even one binding a soul—the Temple lifted such afflictions freely.

‘They see Demons as beings who defy divine will, after all.’

A High-Grade Curse might even have drawn the direct intervention of an Archbishop.
But.

‘He can’t go there.’

The Second Imperial Prince couldn’t afford to seek the Temple’s aid.
Not even the smallest scratch could be left behind.
If the First Prince’s faction learned of his Cursed Birth—

‘I don’t want to imagine what they’d tear into him.’

Perhaps such men were even more monstrous than Demons themselves.
Still, he must have been glad to find me.

‘And he seems to think of me as nothing more than a wandering priest.’

Lion studied the Second Imperial Prince’s unmasked face.
Pallid, hollow-eyed. Lips thin and desiccated. The rough texture of his skin resembled the bark of a dead tree—far more the grave-keeper’s visage than any prince’s gilded mask.
He bore the air of one conducting an endless funeral, alone.
Yet his eyes burned with fierce, unquenchable fire.
Those crimson irises seemed to glow with a blood-soaked light, and yet also blazed like the sun itself or the heart of a furnace.
These were the eyes of one who craves life, who hungers for vengeance.
That he’d shown Lion such eyes meant—

‘It’s a kind of declaration.’

A declaration that by any means necessary, he would secure Lion’s aid and carve out his own future.

‘How do I handle this.’

Lion fell into thought.
However sympathetic the Second Imperial Prince’s plight might be, it wasn’t reason enough to reveal his true identity in aid.

‘It will come to light eventually.’

But not now.
And yet he couldn’t simply refuse outright and feign ignorance either.
Why?

‘Because I think I can solve it.’

I’d need to examine it more closely, but with the Second Imperial Prince’s cooperation and Lion’s Alchemy theory, there was a real possibility of success.

‘Though I’ll certainly have my hands full.’

This wasn’t just an ordinary Curse—it was a High-Grade Curse.
Even obtaining the materials would be quite the ordeal.
But why agree to help at all?
Part of it was the compassion I mentioned earlier, but…….
I could sense it instinctively.

‘If I could break the Second Imperial Prince’s Curse……’

If I freed him completely, some answer would emerge.
The Old Bottle.
More precisely, information about what lay inside it.

‘I need to gather even the smallest pieces of the puzzle.’

Once those fragments accumulated, a vast picture would surely reveal itself.

But…….

‘The problem is what to do about that Second Imperial Prince.’

Say Lion lifted his Curse for him.
What then?
He’d certainly demand something else.
Or he might use this as leverage to make me one of his inner circle.
No, absolutely. I’m certain of it.

‘Then I’d be caught up in his schemes mercilessly.’

On top of that, I’d end up plunging headlong into the political arena.
I don’t want that.

‘I have no intention of getting tangled up in any more headaches.’

Lion groaned inwardly.
And he made a decision.
Yes. Either way, I have to lift the Second Imperial Prince’s Curse.
Only then can I obtain even a small clue—but!
I had no intention of letting the Second Imperial Prince manipulate me like this.
The one fortunate thing was that I held the final say in this game.

‘Well, there’s no helping it.’

Lion sighed deeply within himself and made his resolve.
Yes.

‘I’ll run a benevolent deception.’

I’ll appear as virtuous as if painted that way, and make it seem as though I have subtle but firm principles.
Then, after resolving even his Curse, I’ll disappear without a trace!

‘If all else fails, I can always take a few months’ rest in the Elf Kingdom.’

It would be possible anyway, since they don’t suspect I’m Lion Asteria.

‘Though it does leave a bad taste in my mouth…….’

Still, those who can live should live, shouldn’t they?
With his resolve hardened, Lion drew upon his salesman’s instincts and opened his mouth with as much composure as he could muster.

“Before that, there’s something I’d like to ask you.”
“By all means.”
“What will you do after you become emperor?”

The Second Imperial Prince’s crimson eyes fixed upon him through strands of hair.
He seemed to be gauging Lion’s true intentions.
Lion remained unmoved by that gaze and waited for the prince’s answer.

“You must know that discussing the throne while His Majesty still lives and breathes constitutes treason.”
“Yes.”
“And yet you still ask?”
“I do.”
“I thought you claimed to have no interest in politics or power.”
“That’s correct.”
“Then what’s your purpose?”

In the end, Kyle found himself forced to ask the same question once more.

“You won’t believe me, so I cannot answer.”
“Then you’re saying you won’t lift my curse? You understand full well what that means.”

Bloodlust rippled from the Second Imperial Prince’s body.
It was sharp enough to make the skin sting, yet Lion did not flinch.
After all, he was certain—no matter how fierce the prince appeared, he could not kill him now.

……

Kyle fell into thought.
He could not fathom what this man truly wanted.
Did he genuinely have no interest in power whatsoever?
Then why had he approached him at all?
Merely out of fascination with the curse itself?

‘There’s no such thing as a truly kind heart.’

Kyle had tasted both the bottom and the apex of the world.
The depths seeth with the hungers of the wretched, and the highest point of the pyramid harbors a greed no less intense—the desire to gaze down upon all beneath from the greatest height.
And hadn’t the man himself spoken it aloud?
That he had a purpose.
Kyle decided to answer the man’s question.

“Have you ever seen the slums? People who scrape by on begging and petty theft, and most of them starve anyway.”
……
“At the very least, I have no wish to see them die of hunger. That’s the first thing I’ll do as emperor. But.”

The Second Imperial Prince exhaled softly and brushed his face with a dry motion of his hand.

“That’s not the answer you’re hoping for, is it.”

Did it really come to this?
He’d thought he’d already surrendered his pride long ago, but sitting in this high place, fighting so elegantly, pride somehow bloomed anew where none should have grown.

“I want to live.”
……
“Is there any answer more precise than that?”
……I see.

Lion gazed into empty space.

[‘Curse Mark’ information will be updated.]

[Benevolent Curse Mark]
—A curse carved with one’s life, born from a love so fierce it cuts living flesh, sealed upon a cherished child with utter devotion.
—But perhaps now truly is the time you must part ways?
—The clue you seek may lie closer than you think.

Just as he’d suspected.
The text was written in a format that would trigger a Sub-Quest.
And yet…….

‘Hmm…….’

His assumption about hidden secrets had been correct, but the content was not what he’d anticipated.

‘Time to part ways? Truly?’

Lion’s mind worked quickly.
A benevolent curse. The time to part ways.

‘……Wait.’

A hypothesis formed in Lion’s mind.

‘The price of a High-Grade Curse was the caster’s own soul.’

From the description, Kyle’s mother had cast the curse for his sake.
Likely to shield him from something far more terrible than the curse itself.
At that time, her love must have been genuine.
She truly had loved her son enough to give her life.
But then.

‘Did the soul used as curse material truly die?’

What if.
What if the curse had twisted her original feelings, and she now tormented her own child from within?

‘It’s possible.’

And if he understood correctly, the target of the Second Imperial Prince’s curse—
Kyle’s mother, in other words—
might have foreseen this very situation.
That’s why, with no other option, she’d resorted to the curse as a means.

‘If that’s the case, then the nearby clue’

would be a direct clue. Or perhaps a physical object.

“……Then speak what you desire. To resolve this curse, I will grant whatever you ask.”

Unaware of these thoughts, Kyle exhaled softly and urged Lion forward.

“Do you mean you will grant any condition I request?”
“I do.”
“Then…….”

Lion at last spoke his desire, raising his index finger.

“First. Do not attempt to discover who I truly am.”

He unfurled another finger.

“Second. When and how I lift the curse—that is entirely my decision.”
“How arbitrary.”

These conditions thus far were insurance to keep his identity hidden.

“And third. Tell me the room number where you’ll be staying.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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