Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 171

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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? I’m not sure about that. Let me just focus on healing. Episode 171

His eyelids lowered, casting his eyes into shadow, yet they still gleamed softly in the darkness.
Was he hurt by what his brother had said?

‘Not at all.’

Ricshel gazed into the pitch-black void and sorted through the thoughts that surfaced.
It was Lion’s occasional, peculiar behavior.
Until now, he’d buried it beneath the assumption that whatever his brother wanted, he should do — but looking back now, there were things that felt distinctly odd.
When had this doubt first taken root?
Was it when he’d said he’d lent his strength to complete the sanctuary?
Or was it when Lion suddenly announced he’d visit House Bydentis himself for the seamstress and blacksmith?

‘No.’

By that point, he was already ignoring the doubt and accepting it.
Then he had to reach further back.

‘Sigh…….’

Ricshel exhaled a deep breath silently.
In truth, he didn’t even need to speculate — he could see it clearly.
The moment his brother had begun to suffer in silence.
It was obvious, wasn’t it?
The moment the Library consumed his brother.
Perhaps the very reason he’d worked so hard to ignore it until now was that he didn’t want to revive that memory.
Lion had emerged safely, and he’d even become the master of the Labyrinth.
Wasn’t that enough? Wasn’t everything resolved? That’s what he’d thought.
Had this situation not arisen, his thinking would never have shifted.
He would have simply…….

‘……sworn to protect him, and believed in that oath.’

Ricshel had been confident.
Objectively speaking, his magical talent was scarcely inferior to the Patriarch’s own.
He was bound to grow stronger still with time.
Moreover, even setting that aside, he could leverage the power of being “heir to House Asteri.”
Of course, right now all of it fell short.
But looking toward the future — wouldn’t he grow strong enough to protect his people?
He would become someone capable of resolving any problem that arose.
So no matter what his brother did, he would be able to shield him……or so he’d believed.
But now, in hindsight.

‘That was arrogance.’

It was presumptuous, laughable thinking.
That’s why his brother had found himself unable to tell him anything.
Ricshel mocked his own former pride.
Everything he’d believed until now was wrong.
For someone like Ricshel, who’d built his life on precise calculation, it would have been a moment worthy of shame.
Yet once he’d truly grasped it, rather than shame, he felt a strange sense of liberation.
Perhaps it was because a clearer path had revealed itself.
Ricshel set aside his personal emotions, pushing them far back in his mind, and turned his thoughts to the essential matter at hand.

‘The problem with Lion certainly began from the time of the Labyrinth.’

Ricshel’s sharp mind worked rapidly.
He recalled numerous hypotheses, condensed them, and forcibly derived a new theory.
Yes. The thread to unravel this matter is clear.
It must lie in that peculiar potion you created with Alchemy.

‘I need to investigate that first.’

How you managed to craft that potion through Alchemy.
What foundation lay beneath it.
What components made up the potion, and so forth.
The Patriarch likely knows the truth of it to some degree.
But…

‘The fact that he hasn’t told me.’

It must mean the time hasn’t come to reveal it.
By my nature, I would ordinarily have waited until the Patriarch chose to tell me himself.
But.
Ricshel lifted his downcast eyes, opening them wide as he fixed his gaze forward.

“There’s no need to wait.”

A faint murmur escaped his lips, and the corners of Ricshel’s mouth twisted upward.

‘I simply need to draw closer to the truth myself.’

Ricshel’s pupils gleamed with a soft light.
To say it again, this was not a matter of wounded feelings.
If anything…
Some dormant part of Ricshel had awakened…!
…
…

“Chirp.”

Nature, who had been watching the brothers’ light quarrel unfold, fluttered over and landed on Lion’s outstretched hand.

“Do you think he’s angry too?”
“Chirp.”

Nature glanced toward the room Ricshel had entered.
Noticing something, her expression soured momentarily before returning to normal.
Then she shook her head slowly.

“Chirp-chirp.”
“Right. He really does seem quite… angry, doesn’t he?”

Lion watched the closed door, taking Nature’s answer as confirmation.
There truly wasn’t much he could do.
He could go in and try to soothe his brother, certainly, but he couldn’t tell him the full truth of the matter.
Better instead to handle this swiftly and cleanly, without complications, and return to explain what he could of it all in greater detail.

Pat-pat.

Nature’s small wings tapped against the back of Lion’s hand.
Then she launched skyward with vigor, as if bidding him to trust her and attend to what lay ahead.

“All right. I’m counting on you.”

There was no helping it.
The matter had already begun.
The only choice was to resolve it quickly and cleanly!
Lion finished his preparations at once and left the room.
And Nature…….

“Chirp!”

With practiced ease, the spirit slipped through the door and darted straight into Ricshel’s chamber.

* * *

The Second Imperial Prince surveyed the room.

‘Immaculate.’

He had just finished “tidying up” before the man returned.
He had confiscated the emergency short sword and various throwing blades, and removed anything else that resembled a weapon.
He had taken the Merchant Lord’s advice to heart.
And what remained was…….
The Second Imperial Prince fingered something no larger than his palm, tucked inside his robes.

“I lay bare all that I am. Li…….”

Not an easy thing.
In all his years, he had never willingly laid bare everything about himself.
And still less had he made the foolish mistake of exposing himself to someone whose very identity remained unknown.
The consequences of opening his heart were all too predictable.
Thus, until now, the Second Imperial Prince had never harbored the will to truly open his heart or forge a lasting bond with anyone.
Such relationships were better left undone.
Or so he had believed.
In truth, that conviction had not changed even now.
There was simply an exception.
That man.
He wanted to win the favor of someone whose identity he did not know, whose motives remained obscure.
Was it because he could lift the Curse?
That too was a fair answer.
But…….
The Second Imperial Prince chose to focus on something more fundamental, more direct.
Or, to put it in somewhat more childish terms.

‘It was delicious.’

The evening meal he had brought.
A meal unlike any he had ever seen—so warm it was almost scalding—accompanied by a broth whose subtle, layered flavor was exquisite.
And the act of placing seasoned meat atop rice…….
Stripped of all artifice, to speak plainly.

“…….”

Now, when it came time to say it aloud, the words scarcely came.
At any rate, it was preference rather than aversion.
……In any case, this time he resolved to be truly deliberate and speak only from the depths of his honest heart.
He wanted to win that man’s favor, no matter what.

‘Ah, there is one more thing.’

A trait of his he had learned through their conversations.
The man’s strength and weakness were sharply defined.
Toward those who came at him hard, he remained inexorably resolute and sharp, yet the moment he perceived weakness, he relented at once.
So perhaps, if he were to genuinely reveal his vulnerable self, the man might yield.

‘To do so…….’

I should take this out as well.

A soft whisper.

The Second Imperial Prince drew out the object he’d been fidgeting with from his robes.
It was a small decorative dagger that fit in the palm of his hand.
The scabbard had never existed from the moment he began carrying it, and the blade was duller than a toy sword.
Too plain and unremarkable to serve even as decoration.
It was the one thing the Second Prince—indifferent to possessions and relationships alike—had carried without fail since childhood.
If asked whether he kept it from longing for the mother who bore him and cursed him, he might once have said yes.
But as the curse’s torment persisted and he found himself sinking into profound depths each time, that sentiment had long since withered.
If he had his way, he would have hurled it into the flames on the spot.

“Keeping it with you will surely prove helpful.”

The one who had saved him from a rotting corpse in his youth and sponsored him had said so.
And even when he’d hidden it away against that advice, buried it in the earth, the decorative dagger would return to his possession each morning.
As a child, he’d thought it a cursed blade, but it was surely the Underworld’s leader who kept returning it.

‘Not someone given to sentiment.’

He’d even investigated out of curiosity, but it proved to be nothing extraordinary—just a decorative dagger.
Merely ugly and crude.
A small short sword not worth selling for coin.
The Underworld’s leader, whose age, true name, gender, and even appearance remained unknowable, had never explained why they insisted he keep it—a mystery that would remain forever unsolved.
Yet having come this far, he judged there was no harm in following the instruction, so he’d simply kept it as though it were a spent artifact.
Perhaps affection had grown for it somewhere in all that time, though who could say.
That was something no one would ever know.

“You’ve arrived.”

The Second Imperial Prince carelessly tossed the decorative dagger onto the table and rose to his feet.
He’d been lost in thought so deeply that he hadn’t noticed the footsteps of someone entering.
Had it been an assassin, he might have breathed his last at that unguarded moment.

“What were you thinking about, Your Highness?”

Fortunately, his visitor was not one to end his life, but one who could sustain it in any number of ways.
Lion glanced briefly at the decorative dagger before setting a meal down beside it without ceremony.

“Nothing much—”

The Second Imperial Prince began to speak as usual, then paused and opened his mouth again.

“I was remembering something from the past.”
“I see, Your Highness.”

Lion showed little reaction.
It had been evident from the moment he entered.
The Second Prince’s demeanor had become noticeably more friendly than before.
No throwing blades were visible, as if he’d conducted a thorough cleaning as instructed.
He’d even disarmed entirely, wearing casual indoor clothes rather than his usual traveling garb.
There seemed to be no weapons concealed in his shoe soles or within his robes.

“Eating in comfort is always best, isn’t it, Your Highness?”

Lion said nothing more and arranged the food as he always did.

“…There’s not much today.”
“Mm. I misjudged the portions a bit.”

The truth was he’d piled most of the side dishes onto his younger brother’s plate, but he couldn’t admit that.

“It should be plenty regardless. Please, help yourself.”

Lion set aside his pretense and began eating with the Second Imperial Prince.
The meal unfolded like any other.
He ate methodically, and answered whenever the Prince asked about an ingredient.
That was all there was to it.
Yet the Second Imperial Prince’s aggressive demeanor had softened considerably compared to before.
There was no denying it—it’s hard to treat someone harshly when they’re feeding you.
But then…….

A glance.

Lion’s eyes drifted toward a small decorative dagger lying carelessly on one corner of the table.

[Decorative Dagger]
-Has never been used even once.

‘I never expected it to stand out like this.’

He’d planned to finish his business quickly today and go placate his younger brother afterward…….
But he hadn’t anticipated finding the crucial clue to breaking the curse lying there so blatantly.
Once Lion finished eating and cleared the table, he spoke slowly.

“Did that dagger bring back memories of the past?”

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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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