Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 223

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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 — Chapter 223

Lion and Ricshel, the two who possessed animal-like senses in their own ways, detected something in the current behavior.

“Wouldn’t it be better to restrain him?”

Clarentia offered her opinion first.

“That’s not a good approach.”
“Because it would crush Lion’s freedom?”

Ricshel shook his head firmly.

“My brother will achieve his goals one way or another. If we try to protect him by locking him away, it will only make things worse.”
“So the situation would become more secretive and deteriorate further.”
“Precisely. Rather, it would be more efficient for protection if we kept close watch over my brother’s every move.”
“That’s sound reasoning.”

One thing the intelligence network of House Bydentis had learned was that Lion turned out to be far more meticulous than they’d expected.

‘I didn’t know that when we met in Bydentis Territory before.’

He’d only thought of him as considerate, attentive, and somewhat—no, quite—peculiar.
Kind, if you put it charitably. But coldly speaking, he seemed like someone who couldn’t even take care of himself.
Like this pudding that had just arrived for dessert.
Of course, that was separate from the fact that he was intelligent.
So he’d thought that protecting him directly in Bydentis Territory and seeking his counsel might work.
At the very least, he’d been confident he could protect Lion if he kept him in sight.

‘I was mistaken.’

The Marquis of House Bydentis casually tapped the pudding, which was drenched with syrup on its broad surface, with a small spoon.
The pudding rippled but returned to its original form.

‘More versatile than I thought, and hiding far more than that.’

The Labyrinth. Magic. Alchemy. Spirit Summoning.
And Holy Power and Curses.
He appeared to be someone who loved nothing but carefree play, yet he wouldn’t easily reveal what he concealed beneath.

‘Considering that even his beloved family doesn’t know about it.’

That was simply his nature.
The Marquis of House Bydentis raised his spoon to cut through the pudding, then stopped.
To dig into that interior, he would have to dig recklessly, and he didn’t want to do that.
Just as Lion had waited for him, now he would have to circle around him.
To do that.

“Then let’s proceed with the plan until then, and now we need to decide what attire to wear as partners for the Emperor’s Birthday celebration.”

He needed to forge a strong alliance with Ricshel, who sat before him now.

“Yes. So that my brother doesn’t stand out at the party, the two of us must shine brightest. I’ve prepared attire for us. ……How does this suit you?”
“Not to my taste. We should commission Lion to design it instead.”
“Understood. Then the next matter…….”

The two began swiftly working through the mounting issues with strikingly direct conversation.
……It probably wasn’t the direction Lion had wanted, but they certainly worked well together.

* * *

“If you’d slip away now, we could have a proper conversation.”

Lion patted his full belly lightly as he stepped out of the Restaurant.
He’d eaten a bit more than usual, and his stomach felt quite heavy.
It was the kind of fullness that made him think he ought to do some light exercise before bed.
While entertaining that thought, the moment he stood before his door—

Scratch, scratch, scratch.
Pat-pat-pat-pat!

The sound of small front paws scraping against the door reached his ears.
The determined focus on one particular spot was undoubtedly Fus’s handiwork.

‘What’s this about?’

By this hour, Fus should have been asleep.
His daily routine was simple enough: run around excitedly all day, eat dinner until his belly was bursting, then sleep with his bloated stomach on display.

‘Something’s wrong.’

Lion opened the door cautiously, his expression still full of questions.
Then—

Whoosh!

Fus burst out through the doorway.
He was moving so quickly that he tumbled across the corridor carpet before scrambling to his feet.

“Whoa.”

Before Lion could even catch him, Fus stood up, shook himself briskly, and then reared up on his hind legs toward the bent-over Lion, jumping and wagging his tail enthusiastically.
It was quite endearing, but—

“Ow. You’ll hurt your back legs doing that.”

Lion scooped up Fus, supporting his hindquarters with both hands.
As a Magical Beast, Fus was doubtless far sturdier than any ordinary pet, but Lion couldn’t help his concern.

“Have you been good? Were you bored?”
“Eek!”

Fus sniffed eagerly at the lingering food smells on Lion’s body, then began licking his face enthusiastically.
This part was perfectly normal, but something still felt off.

“Why are you in such a good mood today?”

He was definitely acting differently than usual.
Lion glanced at the room to check if there’d been any accidents, but Nature emerged from the cuckoo clock house—or rather, its own dwelling—on the wall, shaking its head as if to say it had no idea either.
So nothing had been damaged.

“Then what is it…?”

Could it be that Fus had grown and developed more activity in the meantime?
That was a possibility.
When he’d first seen Fus, the creature had been tiny, like a newborn Maltese, but now it had grown to the size of a full-grown Maltese.
Moreover, between bouts of affection, Fus would pause and stare intently at one direction.
And furthermore—

‘Mana’s being released, isn’t it?’

Lion had felt Mana burst forth in resonance with his own use of it before, but never like this—moving of its own accord for the first time.

“Is activity really ramping up? Should we go for a walk?”
“……!”

Fus, understanding the word “walk” with uncanny timing, wriggled out of Lion’s arms and landed softly on the ground, then darted off nimbly in some direction as if to say follow me.

“…….”

But that was toward the Labyrinth, not the Garden?
There was no harm in going, so Lion followed where Fus led.
The moment Lion entered the Labyrinth with Fus, the creature was already bounding off somewhere else.
With quick, light feet, the small body pulled surprisingly far ahead.
Along the path Fus tore through, clumps of grass came loose and fluttered away in the breeze.
Lion followed at an unhurried pace, taking in the cool night wind.

‘A night walk isn’t bad at all.’

And beyond that, his companion Magical Beast darted before him while Nature, nested overhead, shifted about with a familiar sensation that naturally eased his body into contentment.

‘It has been quite a full day, though.’

Since dawn, he’d set up tents to collect dew and gathered new shoots.
He’d used a Warp Scroll to visit the regions of Asteri.
He’d obtained Pomegranate Wine, completed an evening meal with a well-matched pair, and all was settled.
True, he’d heard warnings to be cautious of the First Imperial Prince, but there was no need to concern himself with that now.

‘And I have no reason to avoid him anyway.’

If anything, should the First Imperial Prince provoke him first, Lion was prepared to welcome it with open arms.
Well, he’d think about that when the time came.

“But where are we going?”

At his voice, Fus spun around a couple of times in place, then slipped straight into the thicket where sharp berries hung in profusion.

“Hmm…….”

Clearly an invitation to follow.
An ordinary person might have hesitated, saying there’s no way they could go in there.

Whoosh.

Lion naturally lowered himself and began crawling through the thicket.

“Sigh.”

He heard a long-suffering sigh from Nature behind him, but Lion merely laughed it off.

“Fus has never called us this way before. So let’s just be patient.”

He thought it wouldn’t be far—just a bit more ahead.
Though crawling through thickets like this was new to him, he knew the layout of the Labyrinth well enough.
But unfortunately, Lion’s assumption proved wrong.
Because Fus didn’t stop.

“Huff, pant…….”

High Crawling Movement through the brush, twisting his whole body to dodge branches, writhing forward. He even had to lie flat and squeeze through gaps between fallen logs!
Rolling around so much it felt like his army days, even Lion found himself thinking, ‘Is this really right??’
By the time his stamina was finally depleted,

“Phew!”

The long obstacle course had ended, and he’d finally reached a clearing where he could stand upright.

“Ah… my goodness…”

He’d have to stop thinking he could just exercise casually like this.
Lion staggered to his feet on trembling legs, breathing hard, and looked around.
Judging by how dark it was, he’d come quite far from the cottage.
Lion concentrated Mana into his eyes.
His violet eyes began to glow softly in the darkness, and now the surroundings came into sharp focus.
He’d wandered through this forest countless times, but this area was entirely unfamiliar.

“What could be out here that made Father lead me this far?”

Fus was digging frantically between the roots of a nearby tree, oblivious to Lion’s presence.

‘Between trees?’

Come to think of it, he’d first discovered Fus inside a hollow tree.
Did Magical Beasts have an affinity for burrowing into trees?

‘There was nothing about that in my Beast Taming knowledge.’

Which meant there had to be a reason Fus had brought him here.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have led Lion all this way.

‘Should I dig along with him?’

Lion took the Hoe and gently began digging between the tree roots alongside Fus.
He hadn’t dug into the earth like this since falling into the Labyrinth long ago—it stirred old memories.
Compared to then, his digging speed and technique had improved dramatically.
Back then he’d had to pour every ounce of effort into unearthing a single Reward Box.

‘Why does this feel so satisfying?’

He continued hoeing with absent-minded contentment.

Tick.

The Hoe struck something solid with a dull metallic clink.

“Hm?”

He was still puzzling over it when—

Scrape-scrape-scrape!

Fus’s front paws accelerated dramatically!

“Whoa?”

The digging was so frantic that half his body was about to disappear underground.
And sure enough—

Flail, flail.

“Squeak! Squeak!”

Its short hind legs kicked frantically at the empty air and the ground.

“Oops.”

Lion quickly grabbed Fus’s body and pulled it back like drawing a carrot from the earth.
Once Fus was dragged outside, caked in dirt and grime, it immediately shook itself off with vigorous shudders.
The ground Fus had been digging was so saturated with moisture that clods of mud sprayed across Lion’s face like a fine mist.

“Sigh. You’re definitely taking a bath the moment we get back….”

Glint!

Lion was mid-complaint when he spotted something gleaming inside Fus’s mouth.
It looked like an uncut Raw Gemstone.
If it was a Raw Gemstone found in the Labyrinth, it would be quite valuable—but!
To Fus’s owner, Lion, that wasn’t the important thing.
He had something far more pressing on his mind!

“What did you eat!”

After all, when a pet started suspiciously chomping on something, it was the owner’s duty to snatch it away at once!
Lion quickly pried Fus’s mouth open and extracted the contents.

Thump, rolling away….

The seemingly valuable Raw Gemstone tumbled coldly across the ground.

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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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