Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 187

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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? No thanks, just healing for me. Episode 187

“Why?”

That was the first thing that struck her—confusion.
The Second Imperial Prince had written to inform her personally of Master’s injury.
Given Master’s nature, the injury must have come from protecting or defending the Second Imperial Prince. That much was certain.
If that was the case, wasn’t this actually an excellent situation for Jack, her business partner?

“House Asteri clearly shows genuine sincerity in making the Second Imperial Prince emperor.”

Human politics were always tangled and convoluted, but even so, the basic logic held up, didn’t it?

‘……Then isn’t this just spite?’

Freyanya furrowed her brow and sank deeper into thought.
At first she’d thought that damned Jack was simply being spiteful for no reason, but thinking it through again step by step, she found herself doubting that conclusion.
After all, didn’t humans often hide their true feelings behind a mask?
Jack was the very embodiment of the human archetype Freyanya had come to understand.
So then…… could this actually be goodwill?
The moment she thought it, a dam broke in her mind and the logic came flowing through.

“Could he have recognized Master’s abilities?”

Was that why he meant to take Master to the Underworld and put them to work?
This was plausible.
Master was so versatile that Jack might very well have coveted whatever abilities they possessed.

‘But how much does Jack actually know?’

He probably knows about the Alchemy, at least.
He likely knows Master came from the Elven kingdom…….

‘But Spirit Summoning—does he know about that?’

How much should she reveal? How much should she conceal?
Master hated drawing attention to themselves!

“This won’t do!”

She hadn’t intended to disturb Master’s well-deserved peace, but now that a letter had arrived, it would be faster to ask Master directly.
That way she’d know exactly how much to keep hidden!
With anyone else, she would have simply handed over everything she knew, using laziness as her excuse.
Despite Jack’s disagreeable nature, he was generous with his own people and gave them everything. Lavishly.
Freyanya had certainly benefited from that generosity.
Though she’d also been worked to the bone for it.
But now that same focus was turning toward Master, wasn’t it?
This was a very, very different situation.
Fragile Master might not live to a natural end!
And humans already had such short lifespans to begin with!

“I need to see Master. Come on, Salamander!”

The moment Salamander leaped onto her shoulder, Freyanya hurried forward, making her way without hesitation toward Master’s quarters.

* * *

While Freyanya had been raising a fuss since morning,
Lion was…….

“Oh, it’s growing so fast?”

He was inspecting the Mushberry sprout shooting up vibrantly beside the Moonflower.
The Mushberry was growing far faster than he’d anticipated.
It hadn’t grown much yet—you had to look closely to even see the shoots—but the stalks were definitely thickening.
Perhaps it was the rich nutrients of the Labyrinth at work.

“The Moonflower’s still thriving too.”

The Moonflowers he’d planted before had already bloomed abundantly, adorning the space with even greater beauty.

“Chirp.”

Nature, nursing on the Moonflower’s nectar, chirped in apparent contentment.

“That’s right. You like it too, don’t you?”

These past few days, Nature had grown quite fond of the Moonflower’s honey, snacking on it regularly.
Every so often, he’d pluck a few of the prettily bloomed flowers and gently place them atop the egg.
It was honestly rather amusing to see petals perched like a little hat on that massive egg, and since both the egg and Nature seemed satisfied with the arrangement, Lion had to bite back his laughter.

“Come on now, you’ll be hatching soon enough. Then you can join Nature in sipping honey and all the rest of it.”

By then, he’d need to have this little garden plot well-maintained so the hatchling could experience it firsthand.
Lion watered the flowers and Mushberry with his watering can, then headed back inside the hut.

“It should all be dry by now, I’d think…….”

He meant to check on the Soybean Paste Blocks he’d laid out on straw to dry.
He touched one gingerly with his hand…… and yes, the surface felt thoroughly rough and desiccated.
And it had begun to emit its characteristic smell—that distinctly earthy fermented aroma, the kind that could be called either pleasant or slightly off, depending on one’s mood.

‘I think I hated this smell as a kid.’

He remembered wrinkling his nose at the street vendors’ fermented soybean paste, calling it foul.
But when had that changed?
Sometime during those grueling Newcomer days, when work left him exhausted and half-starved, he’d begun craving it—mouth watering at the very whiff.
A steaming bowl of rice topped with the paste, paired with grilled fish and pickled vegetables on the side: back then, that had been a feast fit for kings.

“All right, I’d say they’re ready to move.”

Lion tied each Soybean Paste Block crosswise with twine he’d plaited from straw.

“They won’t fall apart, will they?”

He picked one up and gave it a gentle shake; thankfully, it held firm—no crumbling, no unraveling knots.
Lion carried the Soybean Paste Block outside and hung it from the eaves of the hut.
His cozy wooden hut had suddenly taken on the appearance of a rustic village homestead, complete with dried vegetables dangling from the roof.

“Not bad.”

There was a certain charm to it, he thought.
When autumn came, maybe he’d string up some dried persimmons too.

“All right then. I’ve finished today’s work, so I suppose I should head out and get some breakfast.”

Lion stretched languidly and emerged from the Labyrinth.

“Oh, you startled me.”

And then he saw her.
Freyanya, panting and waiting for him.

“M-Master! There you are!”
“Were you looking for me?”
“Yes!”

Come to think of it, he hadn’t reviewed Freyanya’s Alchemy in quite some time.

‘Right—I got so absorbed in the Soybean Paste Blocks I lost track.’

It made sense that Freyanya, burning with such fierce passion for Alchemy, would hunt him down with such urgency.

“I know I haven’t been checking your Alchemy lately—”
“That’s not it!”

Freyanya glanced around nervously, then pressed a letter into his hands—crumpled and damp from sweat.

“Please read it……!”

Although she knew there was no one from the Underworld at the House Asteri besides herself, Freyanya whispered as quietly as possible.

“…….”

Of course, Lion hadn’t yet grasped the situation, so he could only feel puzzled—but given how hard she’d evidently run, sweating like that, it had to be important.
He unfolded the letter to see, and……

“Hmm.”

It was indeed quite a difficult predicament from Freyanya’s perspective.
But then again.

‘Should this really be shown to me?’

After all, Freyanya was currently staying at the House Asteri, but she belonged to the Underworld, didn’t she?
And she held quite a high position there—or rather, she was a Half-Elf, if he recalled correctly.

‘Strictly speaking, isn’t this a breach of secrecy?’

Not that he wasn’t grateful for her telling him, of course.

“What would you like to do? I’ll defer to your judgment, Master.”
“……Hmm.”

It was true that if Freyanya disclosed everything, it would create complications.
For one, the fact that she could use Spirit Summoning would be exposed, and quite a bit about Alchemy might leak out as well.
But.

‘That much should be manageable, shouldn’t it?’

The truth was, Freyanya didn’t know that many details.
She knew nothing of Magic use, nor of what happened at the temple.
Of course, it was better to keep things hidden as much as possible—but with the intelligence networks of the Underworld and Jack, these were things they’d eventually learn anyway.
So then.
The information Jack most wanted—how Lion’s relationship with the Second Imperial Prince was discovered—that wouldn’t come out.

“You’ll be okay with keeping this quiet?”
“……Well, I’ll have to put up with Jack’s sulking, but I can manage that much.”
“His sulking?”
“Hmm… Well, perhaps they’d reassign me somewhere else for about ten years or so?”

Wasn’t ten years of banishment quite a serious matter?

‘Maybe it’s fine because she’s a half-elf….’

But from a human perspective, it was rather poor news.
Besides, even if Freyanya said nothing, it was obvious that the Second Imperial Prince would simply send a second or third person to harass her instead.

‘Hmm. Then there’s no helping it.’

He’d tried to avoid getting involved, but now they kept poking at him from every direction.

“How about we do it this way?”
“This way would be….”

Lion drew out a portable fountain pen from his pocket and scribbled something onto a crumpled piece of paper before handing it back.

“This is….”
“Don’t open it. If Jack gives you trouble, just hand this over to him. Understand?”
“……!”

Freyanya’s eyes widened in surprise before her brows drooped with emotion.

‘M-My master would go this far for me…!’

She didn’t know what it was, but it surely held power to prevent him from tormenting her.
If so, this might contain information or an answer of tremendous value.

“But wouldn’t this put you in a difficult position, Master….”
“Well, it should be fine. I might even come out ahead.”

Lion murmured and let out a soft chuckle.

‘If the information’s going to come out anyway, better I sell it and get paid for it.’

Lion didn’t know the Underworld organization well.
When he played In the World, he hadn’t paid close attention to the story either.
But there was one thing—just one thing—he knew for certain.
That whenever a transaction took place in the Underworld, payment was absolutely required.
It was a rule that even Jack, the leader, could not override.
Knowing how troublesome the rule was themselves, they seemed to use it only as “one of those things the insiders use.”
But once you invoked this principle, you had to proceed by the rules from that point forward.
Of course, it was information that no one outside the Underworld proper would know.
He’d learned it while leveling his secondary character, the Assassin.

‘I thought I’d never use this in my entire life.’

Since they were pressing so openly, he had no choice but to keep muddying the waters on his end too.
And if they really did produce what he asked for, it would be no losing proposition.

“So don’t worry and just go for it. Got it?”
“Master……!”

The gratitude Freyanya felt was beyond imagination.
Had there been a lethal dose of emotion, she would have died on the spot.

‘I was foolish to feel even slightly disappointed!’

And yet he would do all this for her!
I was just trying to figure out how to brush off Jack’s words……

‘What an idiot I am!’

Instead of making excuses, I should have been thinking about how to squeeze information out of Jack that would actually help my Master!

‘Come to think of it, I’ve done plenty for the Underworld already.’

If that was the case, then I could consider any remaining debt settled.

Which meant if Jack spouted nonsense, I could hand in my resignation and return to House Asteri without hesitation!
In truth, the knowledge I’d received from my Master was beyond any price.
Then……

“Understood. I’ll make sure to deliver the message!”
“Good. Say, have you eaten breakfast? Want to grab some together if you haven’t?”
“No, I haven’t! There’s something I need to do right away!”

She’d suddenly become full of passion……

“W-well, if that’s the case, I’ll go get breakfast.”

Lion glanced sideways at Freyanya as he turned to leave.
And then.
Freyanya stood alone in the empty hallway, steeling herself.
To devote herself completely to her Master!
From a distance, Elvia—who had been watching the entire scene—clenched her fist and let out a silent, satisfied laugh before slipping into the darkness.

‘The little half-elf looks like she can handle it on her own.’

There was no need for her to step in.

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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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