Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 200

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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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The Successor Can Wait — I’ll Just Heal, Thanks | Chapter 200

Perhaps because of the peaceful landscape unmarred by any disturbance, Jack found himself unable to break free from a train of thought that had crept in unbidden.
His imagination, suppressed all these years by the need to walk a knife’s edge in reality, writhed about of its own accord.
What if.
If Kyle and he had been born in a place like this, in circumstances where they could have anything they desired.
If they’d had a family that believed in them unconditionally, that steadied and supported them.
Wouldn’t our lives have been so different from what they are now?
Perhaps I too might have hands unscarred, soft and smooth, never having once touched anything rough.
Could I have lived by trust rather than suspicion?
Would it have been peaceful then?

……

Jack’s lips moved silently before he snapped back to awareness with a start.

‘What was I… just thinking?’

The strange flight of fancy had been cut short, but Jack was shaken nonetheless.

He’d envied others’ lives often enough.
How could he not covet a life lived without blood on one’s hands, peaceful and comfortable?
But that didn’t mean he’d ever wanted to step into that world himself.
Life wasn’t fair.
Better to do anything than waste away envying others.
So he’d built something instead.
With no family, he’d claimed Kyle and his grandfather as kin; with no home, he’d made the Underworld his own.
With no dreams of his own, he’d devoted himself to fulfilling Kyle’s—his brother in all but blood.
He’d struggled to preserve his own vision of paradise.
This was the heart with which Jack had lived until now.
And he’d climbed high enough that he could say he’d achieved it to a considerable degree.
From a nameless orphan boy, he’d become Jack, who held all the power of the Underworld in his grip. Kyle, too, would soon reach his goal, wouldn’t he?
And Kyle would…

Then wasn’t that the best outcome possible?
Even if he studied Lion closely to imitate his perspective, there was no need to feel this kind of unease.
Rather, it was normal—just like when he first came to the Asteri Family Estate.
After all, while I’ve been struggling, he was the ‘aristocrat’ living in comfort.
Then why…

“Me?”

Why throw such a question at him now, when Lion had shown no interest mere moments ago?
Jack pressed down his temper and replied in a cheerful tone.

“Which part, exactly? Is it because of that one over there?”

Jack shifted his gaze toward Barg and studied the beast-human.

“I confess, it’s my first time seeing a beast-human revert to their true form from so close. But since you’ve fitted the leash so carefully, Young Master, I don’t see why I should feel uneasy, do you?”
“No. That’s not it.”

Lion folded the sketched paper and paused, then spoke lightly.

“Every time you’re anxious, you talk too much.”
……
“You don’t seem to realize it.”

At Lion’s words, Jack fell silent.
He had no choice.
This had never happened before. He’d never lost a conversation in the first place.
Even if he found himself in an unfavorable position during a single encounter, he’d always secured the upper hand over the long term.
That was his other strength, his edge beyond raw force.
So why couldn’t he make anything work in front of Lion Asteri?
And besides……

‘Why can’t I fight back?’

Uneasy, he said.
About what, exactly?
That his relationship with Lion Asteri would fall completely apart?
It would be a painful blunder, certainly, but it wouldn’t unravel everything.
Lion Asteri himself was the type to stay quiet as long as you didn’t provoke him.
More than anything, he had no interest in power or petty conflicts.
If anything, he was simply someone with a keen interest in ‘people.’
Then there was no reason to feel uneasy about this.
Jack was aware of at least that much.
So then, why?

“The thing is, I rather enjoy seeing you so anxious. But wouldn’t it be awkward if someone else found out?”
……Ha. You have questionable tastes.
“Everyone has one bad habit or another, don’t they?”

Mine, you see, is that I poke my nose where it doesn’t belong.
Lion rose from his seat, playfully trying to lighten the mood.
Though the atmosphere didn’t grow any lighter at all.

‘Lord. Just look at his eyes.’

What good was forcing a smile when he stared like that, all fierce and unblinking?
Lion, for his part, had meant to maintain indifference for a while, but that expression……
It was the kind of look that would cause trouble if left alone.
Since that wasn’t what Lion wanted, he resorted to gently needling Jack like this.

‘He doesn’t seem to realize it himself, so this should keep things quiet for a while.’

Of course, there were other motives at play.

“Ah, then how about we do this instead?”
“This instead, you mean?”
“You’d like to have a proper conversation with me again, and I have my questionable tastes. So why don’t we make a deal of it this time — trade one for the other?”

For Jack, it was an opportunity.
When none had existed before, the other man was offering him a chance to spar properly.
But……

“So the Young Master’s bad habit is finding out what makes others anxious?”
“Well. That’s what this transaction amounts to, yes.”

Lion shrugged, but inwardly he sighed.

‘So that’s how it goes.’

To be fair, Lion had never harbored any vulgar taste for hearing another’s anxieties directly, nor had he developed one now.
Let him say it once more—his counterpart simply possessed such a unique disposition that he tailored his approach accordingly.

“In any case, should you find yourself inclined to accept the deal, do inform my servants at any time. Then.”

Lion finished speaking in haste and rose from his seat.
If he lingered too long and let his discomfort show, matters might spiral out of hand.

“Fuss, Barg. Let’s be on our way.”

Watching Lion depart with a wave toward the two beasts, Jack closed his eyes tightly and released a string of particularly vulgar curses—barely audible.

“Unease.”

Of all the deals to stumble into, he’d chosen one that reeked of trouble.
But what else could he do?
He’d have to find it.

* * *

“Damn it.”

Jack greeted the morning with a curse in his guest quarters.
He’d never been one for deep sleep, but these past days he hadn’t managed so much as a single hour’s rest.
And the reason was none other than the task Lion Asteri had set before him.
True to Lion’s prediction, Jack had done nothing for days but contemplate the source of his anxiety.
Not only had he been tailing and watching Lion, but he’d neglected even the affairs of the Underworld itself.

“Have you yet found the answer?”

Jack’s attendant asked respectfully as he brought fresh clothes.

“No.”

Jack muttered grimly and suddenly seized the attendant’s shoulder with an iron grip.

“What do you think?”
“I’m not certain what you mean, sir…….”

The attendant stifled a groan beneath the bone-crushing pressure of that grip.

“I’m asking what you think my unease is. Or what do you suppose Lion Asteri believes my unease to be? You’d know, wouldn’t you? You accompanied us to the Bydentis Territory.”

Crack.

The grip tightened by degrees.
Brick, Jack’s driver and right hand, maintained his composure nonetheless.
It was rare but not unheard of for Jack to show such a side.
He wasn’t venting his anger deliberately on another—it was simply that he couldn’t command his own strength.
Brick spoke what he thought plainly and calmly.

“I cannot say, sir. Nor should I presume to discern your feelings.”

He added that during their time in the Bydentis Territory, Lion Asteri had shown no sign of such agitation.
Yet the hand at Brick’s shoulder did not release.
Brick fell silent for a moment, then added to his words.

“Rather than asking me, sir, wouldn’t it be better to ask someone who knows anxiety well?”
“Someone who knows anxiety well?”

Jack’s grip on Brick’s shoulder went slack.
Brick finished the remaining preparations with composure and stepped back.

“……That’s right. It is.”

After all, even days of racking his brain had yielded no real answer.

“I’m not some mage chasing eternal truths.”

Why should he torment himself in pursuit of enlightenment?
It was a remark somewhat harsh for a member of a Magic clan to voice, but Jack had no time to concern himself with such propriety now.

“The one who felt the most anxiety within this estate……”

The answer came at once.
That creature who watched him constantly and harbored a subtle hostility—the one who had been present in that very place.
A beast-human with crimson fur.
His name was Barg, if Jack recalled correctly.

“Shall I call him in discreetly, sir?”
“……That won’t be necessary.”

Jack turned his gaze toward the guest room door.
From a great distance came the sound of footsteps.
Heavy, as if from something more than human, yet without the plodding weight—the distinctive tread of a wolf.
And then.

Knock. Knock.

A rap upon the door.

“For whatever reason, it seems he has business with me as well.”

Jack nodded, and Brick went to open the guest room door.
Standing there, exactly as expected, was Barg alone.
He wore casual clothes, as if he’d come straight here upon waking, and carried no sword.

‘Quite bold, this one.’

Or was it simply careless?
For a beast-human to enter unarmed, no matter the circumstances.
Moreover, his eyes betrayed unease—as though reaching this place had cost him great resolve.
Perhaps he was planning something reckless.

‘Still, he has good eyes.’

For all the uncertainty in where he chose to look, his pupils held a steady clarity.

“I’ve come to make a deal with you, sir.”
“Hmm. A deal, is it.”

Everyone and their mother wanted to make deals.
He’d likely overheard Jack’s conversation with Lion Asteri in that forest.
As convenient as that was, Jack didn’t accept the offer immediately.
Instead.

“This way, please.”

He guided Barg to the parlor table with a rueful smile, escorting him directly.
Lion Asteri might have swayed him, but Jack wasn’t the type to be manipulated by just anyone.
Besides…….

‘Deals from someone who’d been caught by slave traders usually follow the same tired pattern.’

Where the trader was, whether he was alive, whether he could be killed—that sort of thing.
This creature would probably be no different.
Jack poured tea himself and posed the question.

“A transaction only works when both sides benefit, after all. Why don’t I hear what you have in mind first, and then I’ll decide?”

Barg didn’t touch the teacup; instead, he wrung his own clothes in his hands. Then, as if steeling himself, he opened his mouth.
And what came out differed, in a small but significant way, from what Jack had anticipated.

“Could you… could you spar with me just once……?”
“…….”

Jack paused to consider.
Was it standard conduct at the Asteri Family Estate to…….
Throw people off-balance? he wondered.

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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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