Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 234

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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 Matter. Let’s Just Heal. Episode 234

Lion’s first impression upon entering the Reception Room after traversing the corridor was this:

‘Shabby.’

Contrary to the ornate exterior walls, everything inside bore the marks of age—so worn that one would struggle to believe this was where the Imperial Family lived, let alone nobility.
Anyone who saw this would pity the Second Imperial Prince’s circumstances.
How little support must he have in the Imperial Household, if he couldn’t even replace a single piece of furniture?
Doubts that perhaps his reputation as someone taking control of the Imperial Household held no truth would not have been misplaced.
Lion himself had entertained such thoughts.
There was even that scar on his cheek.
And yet.

“Next time we meet, I’ll arrange somewhere nicer.”

From the Second Imperial Prince’s calm tone, Lion realized he had been worrying needlessly.

‘He’s choosing not to change it on purpose.’

Wasn’t it planned that the Second Imperial Prince would vacate his palace and move to the Crown Prince Palace soon enough?
And even that Crown Prince Palace would probably…

‘Won’t last three years?’

In any case, within five years at most, the Second Imperial Prince would be moving into the Emperor’s Palace.

“I find this just right, actually.”
“Then I’ll simply move these things along with you.”
“Ha ha ha. You joke well, don’t you?”
“It’s not a jest.”
“……….”

When Lion found himself at a loss for words, Kyle’s lips curled into a faint smile.
Yes. When someone spoke with such sincerity, it left him looking troubled like this.
So Lion truly did detest entangling himself in ‘bothersome matters.’
Kyle, in turn, respected that inclination and tried to avoid pressuring him as much as possible, but…

‘If I stop pushing altogether, he’ll withdraw entirely.’

He had to walk that line carefully.
If he wanted to secure Lion Asteri as a reliable ally.
Kyle personally brewed tea and handed it to Lion.

“My thanks.”

Lion gazed at the teacup now in his hands.
Ricshel’s parting warnings suddenly came to mind.
Inside the Imperial Palace, he should be cautious about eating and drinking, and if he absolutely had to consume something, he should take only minimal amounts.
It was probably meant as a precaution against the possibility of poison.
For someone with poison resistance and vast Mana reserves, mere toxins posed no threat, but Lion had neither of those advantages.

‘Though I do have some Mana…’

It was true that he lacked poison resistance.

‘Wait, does that mean my brother has resistance?’

There was only one way to develop poison resistance.
Ingesting small amounts of poison from childhood, conditioning one’s body to tolerate it.
……A successor truly cannot engage in such things.
Lion shook his head inwardly and drank the tea in his cup without hesitation.
Though his tolerance and Mana were both insufficient, Lion did have eyes, didn’t he.
This tea was simply an expensive one—nothing more. There was no poison in it.

“Huh.”

It was Kyle who was taken aback instead.
No matter how carefully one brewed it oneself, anything could happen within the Imperial Palace walls.
Yet Lion Asteri merely glanced at it briefly before tossing the entire cup into his mouth.

“Did Ricshel Asteri perhaps fail to inform you of the precautions?”
“He did inform me.”
“Then why did you do that?”
“Pardon?”
“Well, I… ugh.”

The Second Imperial Prince exhaled deeply and leaned back against the worn sofa, crossing his arms.
For a moment, he seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
His sharp aura remained unchanged, but the curse lifted, he appeared somewhat more at ease.

“Do you think I did something to the tea, and you just drank it anyway?”
“What did you do to it, Your Highness?”
“……I didn’t do anything.”

Kyle gazed at the ceiling for a moment, trying to compose an emotion he rarely experienced.
Originally, he had planned to coax and pressure Lion Asteri appropriately, but the situation was unfolding strangely.
……Yes.
He never thought he’d have the urge to lecture someone like this.

“Now I understand why Ricshel Asteri worries so much.”

In Kyle’s eyes, Lion Asteri trusted others far too readily.
Not only that—he even helped them.
He had done the same at Ester Hotel.
Despite disliking entanglement, when Kyle caught his eye, he posed as an anonymous righteous person and even lifted his curse.
Lifting a curse of such magnitude was no ordinary feat.
If the Temple ever learned of this, they would move heaven and earth to bring Lion Asteri into their fold.

‘Last time, it seems he managed to slip free.’

Back then, this fact had not been revealed, so it was more a matter of the Temple taking half a step back.
By that logic, he now held an important key to winning over Lion Asteri.

‘How should I handle this oddity…….’

Kyle wanted to bring Lion Asteri to his side.
This was an unchanging fact.
The position of National Advisor—the Empire’s teacher.
While the author’s exceptional ability was remarkable, what Kyle valued even more was Lion’s counsel.

‘Unfortunately, it seems the man himself is not aware of this.’

In any case, the virtuous tend toward virtuous action, so were Kyle to become Emperor and keep Lion at his side, it would be beneficial in many ways.
But if he could not have him, he had no intention of letting anyone else have him either.
And so, to form at least a somewhat closer relationship, he had gone so far as to invite him to the Imperial Household and even secured his sympathy…….

‘All settled by a single cup of tea.’

I never managed to bring up what truly mattered.
Worse still, private feelings kept bleeding into what I’d reasoned through with careful logic.
Decisions that were no longer mine alone—they’d become decisions for Lion Asteri.
That was the real problem.
While Kyle wrestled with these worries in silence,

“I owed you thanks for last time.”

Lion, having drained half his cup, spoke the words out plainly.

“You covered up my mistake.”

A mistake?
He helped someone and coughed blood for it—and he’s brushing that aside as mere error?
Kyle pressed his temple with one hand, working at the dull ache there before answering.

“You seemed not to want it known.”
“As you can see, I’m already quite carefully watched. If word got out—”

If they learned what that ability was, the guardianship would become suffocating.
The Second Imperial Prince swallowed what he’d meant to say and asked instead.

“Are you well?”
“Perfectly fine. There’s no need to worry.”

Besides, he hadn’t coughed blood as payment for breaking a curse.
His body had simply overloaded when he took the original’s object—that was all.
So lately he’d been careful not to touch anything connected to the original.
His body wasn’t ready yet.
Lion was simply stating facts, but—

‘There’s clearly still an aftereffect.’

Kyle decided not to take Lion’s words at face value.
Had Lion known what Kyle was thinking, he would have protested quite indignantly.

……

Kyle fell into thought.
There were actually many things he’d wanted to press Lion Asteri about, many things to infer.
Why wouldn’t he tell the truth when his bonds with family were so strong?
That surely couldn’t be the source of their overprotection.
And he’d clearly said there was a ‘purpose’ to breaking Kyle’s curse, yet he wouldn’t reveal what it was.
Even this ‘Jack’ he kept mentioning remained a mystery.
But it seemed Lion had no intention of ever telling him these things.
If family couldn’t break through that wall, how could an outsider like himself?
And yet—one thing had become clear to him.
There was a definite way to make Lion Asteri see him as ‘a trusted ally.’

“Let me help you.”
“Help me with what?”
“With anything.”

Lion Asteri wouldn’t hide his strength just to commit some heinous crime.
That power had been able to break a curse, and he used Spirit Summoning too.
These weren’t techniques the wicked typically employed.
And more than that, his aim was far too clear for anything so monstrous.
Absolute peace. The preservation of everyday life.
Whatever he was planning, there was no room for doubt about his destination.
Kyle would keep him close, in ways that wouldn’t spoil that unwavering endpoint.

“You’re dying to know why.”
“Yes.”

Lion couldn’t help but be puzzled.
Was the Second Imperial Prince always like this?
The man was single-minded in his ambitions, capable of separating public from private interest.
Whatever gratitude he might feel, it was certain he wouldn’t relinquish the leverage he held.
So Lion had anticipated that the Second Imperial Prince would propose some sort of deal.
The usual kind: I’ll keep your special ability hidden, so help me out a few times. That sort of thing.
He’d even prepared several escape routes in advance.
This happened often enough.
But then……

‘He just wants to help?’

Without even asking why?

“You’re probably thinking this is unlike me.”
“Frankly, yes.”
“It’s simple. I’m ambitious.”

The Second Imperial Prince laid out his emotions as rationally as possible.
There were plenty of reasons to cite.
The first was naturally that it would strengthen his bond with House Asteri.
Moreover, with House Bydentis joining the fold, the power Lion Asteri commanded was more formidable than it appeared.
That much made sense.

‘So far, anyway.’

From the Second Imperial Prince’s perspective, it was a plausible enough calculation.
The second reason was somewhat unexpected.

“The Temple’s movements are not ordinary.”

This was about the Temple—neither the Imperial Household nor the central nobility.

‘I’ve never heard talk of the Temple doing anything major.’

No matter how much Lion distanced himself from politics and lived in leisure, he wasn’t ignorant of the intelligence that reached House Asteri.
But he’d never heard that the Temple was acting strangely.
In fact, the Temple was simply reviving now that the High Priest had awakened from his long sleep, beginning to reorganize and move properly.
Even if a single sanctuary had been completed, it wouldn’t have vast consequences—or so one might think.
Yet honestly, something nagged at him.
The man standing right in front of him.

“You were almost exposed.”
“Correct.”

The Temple couldn’t possibly be unaware of the curse hanging over the Second Imperial Prince.
But for some reason, both sides had been treating it as though it didn’t exist.
The Temple had no desire to get embroiled in power struggles, after all.
However, if the Second Imperial Prince’s heaviest curse had been lifted at this moment when the High Priest was beginning to act, everything would change.
They would certainly investigate.
And Kyle would not.

“I have no intention of handing him over.”

He flashed a crooked smile, making his resolve crystal clear.
Well, Lion had no interest in that either.
Living on nothing but the satisfaction of doing good deeds was hardly easy.
His current life—moderately free and abundantly comfortable—was the best he could ask for.

‘The reasoning is actually quite sound.’

Besides, it would suit Lion better to move occasionally at the Second Imperial Prince’s behest than to live out his days at the Temple, transcending righteousness to become a Saint.
And since House Asteri’s influence was considerable here, he wouldn’t be overworked.
But.
Offering such a favorable condition—”I will help”—on the grounds of merely two reasons felt somehow incomplete.

“And the third reason is…….”

The Second Imperial Prince, who had been answering readily just moments before, now fell silent and shook his head.
The third reason was simple gratitude.
He had repaid Lion with a Blessed Object capable of saving a life, yet what the Second Imperial Prince had gained was far greater than that.
But when he tried to voice it aloud, it felt awkward.

“Well. For now, that will suffice. I’m not asking for an immediate answer—I’ve merely conveyed my intentions. Take your time considering it.”

The Second Imperial Prince finished speaking quickly and rose from his seat.

“We have time before those two arrive, so I’ll show you around the Imperial Capital.”

Lion regarded the Second Imperial Prince with an odd gleam in his eye, then let out a soft laugh and stood.
Both Jeck and the Second Imperial Prince—they really do struggle with expression, don’t they.

“Let’s treat your cheek first, though.”

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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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