Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 204

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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 Doesn’t Know, But I’ll Just Heal | Chapter 204

In the end, Barg had to confess everything himself.
He’d made some sort of contract with Jake, and as a result, during Jake’s stay here, he could engage in Unlimited Sparring—or so he explained.
Jake, who had been listening silently to Barg’s account, merely shrugged his shoulders.
The gesture made his position unmistakably clear.

“Sigh…….”

When Lion exhaled deeply, Barg’s spirit deflated entirely.
He had made a mistake, that much was true.
In a sense, wasn’t this the same as sabotaging the Young Master’s plans?
Besides, it was clear that Lion had been absorbed in some sort of work in the Labyrinth before hurrying back.

‘He must be furious with me.’

And this time, Barg’s expectation proved accurate.
Lion was angry.

“Barg.”
“Y-yes, yes.”
“Do you have any idea how serious a contract can be?”
“……What?”

What differed from Barg’s expectation was that his offense wasn’t about being a nuisance.

“Answer me.”
“N-no, I didn’t…….”
“If you draft a contract carelessly, serious problems can arise. Even specialists deliberate for days before signing one. That’s what a contract is.”
“I’m s-sorry…….”
“Thank goodness your counterpart was Jake. In any case, this sort of thing must never happen again.”
“Yes…… I apologize. I’ll be more careful.”
“Go back and reflect on what you’ve done.”

The rebuke was sharp—far harsher than one would expect from Lion—yet so fair that Barg had nothing to say in his defense.
Besides, Lion was worried for him, wasn’t he? That was evident in every word.
Knowing this, Barg said nothing further, lowered his head, and withdrew from the room.

Click.

After the door closed completely.

“…….”

A brief silence fell.
And what broke that silence was.

“This is really…….”
“I’m so sorry! Are you hurt?”

Though nearly simultaneous, Lion’s voice carried more force.
Lion apologized loudly, then reached out and cradled Jake’s face in his hands, examining the wounds carefully.
His grip was quite firm, and Jake’s skin pressed inward, causing the wounds to open slightly.

“Good heavens, such scars on that beautiful face!”

Lion withdrew a Potion from his pocket, dampened a handkerchief with it, and gently patted the wounds on Jake’s face.
Then.

“…….”

Before Jake could even speak, the wound vanished without a trace.
Not even the faintest scar remained.
As if delivering a killing blow to any doubt, Lion wiped Jake’s cheek thoroughly with a handkerchief, then brought a mirror to let him see his own face.

“Barg is a member of House Asteri, so I take responsibility for the wound. And I’ll discipline him properly later.”
“…….”

The wound had vanished cleanly, and an apology had been extracted to boot.
On top of that, Lion had promised to punish Barg afterward.
With everything resolved so smoothly, Jake’s mouth simply sealed shut—his plan to make a scene over the wound had evaporated entirely.
He’d never imagined the matter would be handled so effortlessly.
And yet…….

‘He’s deliberately avoiding what I asked for.’

Whether disciplining Barg or up until now, Lion Asteri had never asked what price Barg had demanded in exchange for the Unlimited Sparring.
What’s more, he’d cut off the opening for Jake to bring it up himself.

“And thank you.”
“Thank me?”

At the sudden gratitude, Jake’s eyebrows narrowed slightly in the mirror’s reflection.

“Yes. You could have extracted far more from Barg, but you didn’t.”
“I may already have taken quite a bit.”
“If you had, you’d have left the estate already.”

Jake exhaled lightly.
It was true.
Despite spending days with Barg, Jake still hadn’t properly grasped Anxiety itself.
After all, the time to precisely understand an emotion he’d never consciously experienced his whole life was far too short.
Even with Barg’s help.

‘At least I managed to get this private audience with Lion Asteri.’

But even that advantage had already slipped into Lion’s hands.
The wound was healed, and an apology had been received.
Pressing him now on whether an apology truly settled matters would only worsen the impression.

“…….”

When Jake gave no reply, unusual for him, Lion smiled quietly to himself.

‘I’ll let this one slide.’

That thought had come entirely because Barg’s body bore not a single deep wound.
For one who had risen to lead the Underworld to be stronger than Barg was only natural.
So no matter what sparring they did, the odds of Barg winning were nearly zero.
In fact, it was fair to call it training guidance rather than actual sparring.
Barg had Knight Order Commander Rickson, after all.

‘But it’s still different.’

Of course, Rickson’s instruction itself would be excellent.
Either way, Barg had to learn to live among people from now on.
Rickson’s teaching wouldn’t be confined merely to Swordsmanship.
And Barg, now that the Eclipse Symptoms had faded…….

‘It must have been a lack of something on my part.’

And it was Jake who happened to fill that gap.
He was fully aware that what Barg had requested wasn’t “sparring” but “instruction.”
Yet he’d quietly obliged that annoying, troublesome request anyway, which meant…….

‘Well, I suppose that’s enough to call it a pass.’

It was a sign that he’d made a considerable effort in his own way.
So Lion decided to step back from this point on.
He’d never wanted to maintain their rift indefinitely anyway.

“You’ve been quite generous with your time, haven’t you.”
“It wasn’t particularly difficult.”

Jake answered Lion’s remark curtly.
For Jake, it truly hadn’t been difficult.
Playing with a strong little boy was rather easy. All he had to do was roll around with him.
Nothing that required any real thought.
Moreover, when he’d looked after Kyle, he always had to keep vigilant, never knowing when the curse’s agony might threaten him, but with Barg there was no such need.
The boy was sturdy.

“Did you play with the Second Imperial Prince in that manner when you were younger?”
“Something like that.”
“I envy you.”
“……Envy me?”
“Yes. I wasn’t able to play with him that way.”

As you know, my body was quite frail back then.
At Lion’s follow-up, Jake fell silent.

“So I’ve long regretted not being able to play with my brother when we were young.”
“…….”

Jake couldn’t parse Lion’s intent.
Wasn’t he suddenly broaching something deeply personal?
Lion Asteri was similar to him.
He didn’t welcome intrusions into his inner world.
That’s what Jake had thought……so why was he doing this now?

“So one day, when my health had recovered, we had that conversation. I told him how sorry I was that as his brother, I hadn’t been of help to him during his childhood. I’m sure he’d had to solve even small worries all on his own.”
“……Ah.”

Jake understood then.
Lion Asteri was now offering him a hint, using his past as an example.
What that anxiety truly was.
In other words, the guilt of having done nothing, and the restlessness that came with fearing he might become utterly useless to Kyle——that’s what he was explaining.
That’s how he was laying it bare.

“……And how did things unfold after that?”
“He told me that my mere presence, in good health, was enough.”
“……!”
“I’ve never experienced being a younger brother myself, but surely the heart is the same for all. They simply hope you’re well and unharmed. Because you’re family.”

Perhaps only Lion, who knew the truth of Kyle and Jake’s circumstances, could have spoken such words.
Not a single person in this world knew of the relationship between Kyle and Jake.
They understood it only as that of a helper——nothing more, nothing less.
Jake had steered things that way deliberately.
For fear something might happen to Kyle, whom he thought of as a younger brother.
After all, this was a figure destined to become the Emperor of the Empire, and he was afraid that the filth of the Underworld might stain him and hinder his path.
But the person standing before him now is not, he’s told.

“……An interesting story, indeed.”
“Isn’t it? There really is no substitute for asking directly. Ha ha.”

The one who’d posed the riddle had just given him the answer.
It was Jake’s complete defeat.
Moreover, it had even resolved the lingering anxiety he’d been carrying.

“I suppose it’s time I headed back.”
“I see.”
“Yes. There’s someone I’d like to contact.”

Jake rose from his seat and threw his cloak over his shoulders.

“Thanks to your consideration, I’ve been able to see the whole of House Asteri’s world quite thoroughly.”
“That’s fortunate, then.”
“So much so that I’d like to come again.”
“…….”

Hmm, that’s rather much.

‘I’d prefer it if, when he comes again, some of that poison has worn off first.’

Even if things resolved smoothly now, there was no telling when he might suddenly turn spiny as a hedgehog.
That’s just the sort of man he was.

“Though, next time, I wouldn’t mind if you came to see the world I live in, Lion.”

Jake’s lips curved into a sly smile at Lion’s reaction, and he produced a small Silver Emblem from his breast pocket.

“This is…….”
“In the Underworld, there’s no more reliable credential than this.”

It meant the master of the Underworld himself was vouching for his identity.

“I’m grateful.”

Lion tucked the Silver Emblem into his pocket, hoping fervently he’d never have need of it.

“You needn’t trouble yourself with seeing me out. After all, I’m just a merchant, am I not?”
“Quite so.”

He was departing as the merchant Jade, not as anything else.
Jade offered a soft bow and left the room.

Click.

Lion looked at Barg, who still stood there with his spirits utterly dampened.

“…….”

Ordinarily, he would have simply walked past.
The transaction was done, after all, and Barg was of no further use.
And besides, how troublesome the creature had been these past days with his sparring.
Not that it had been difficult, mind you.
But offering words that needn’t be offered—that’s just asking for trouble.

“Hm.”

So everything he was about to say was nothing but an indulgence he could afford thanks to his own fickle nature—a waste of time, pure and simple.

“Thanks to you, I’ve had some truly good conversations with Lion.”
“Yes…….”

Barg flinched at Jake’s words.
If it was good for Jake, it couldn’t be bad for the Young Master, could it?

‘I’ve really done it now……!’

Barg’s tail had begun to droop when it suddenly curled inward.

“If I should happen to face severe punishment, perhaps you’d be willing to tell him this—that I lost thanks to you, Barg.”
“Eh?”

Barg seemed utterly lost as to where this conversation was heading.

“Ah, and something I noticed during our sparring—you weren’t deliberately targeting the neck. Ha, if you keep holding back like that, you might fail to protect what matters. Well then.”

With that, Jade turned and made his way toward the guest room.
He intended to leave as soon as he finished preparing.
Back to where he’d come from.
And…….

“Since I’m indulging myself anyway.”

He needed to pick the right moment today.

“Brick.”
“Yes. Understood.”

Brick, who had been waiting in the guest room, immediately produced a Crystal Orb for communication and handed it over.
Jade smiled and reached out to contact his only family, who must be struggling hard in the Imperial City right now, indulging in this one small plea.

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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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