Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 250

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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, I Know Not—But I Shall Heal | Chapter 250

One day before.

“Brother.”

Ricshel had finally finished his business at the Imperial Palace and returned to the Estate.
Lion greeted his younger brother warmly after so long apart.

“Are you well? How is your health?”
“I’m fine. You’re the one who’s been through the wringer.”

He’d inadvertently burdened his brother with additional duties on the Emperor’s birthday, dragging him about here and there.
And on top of that, he’d ended up uncovering an incident within the Imperial Family itself.

‘I feel a bit sorry, actually.’

When he had a spare moment, he ought to make some delicious treats for him.
That apple pie he’d made not long ago might go over well.

‘Urhil was satisfied with it too.’

He’d brought that apple pie—minus the sleeping powder—and Urhil had eaten it quite enthusiastically.
In fact, apparently it hadn’t made him drowsy at all, because the next day he even sent word thanking him for the delicious treat.
It seemed a blood sugar spike of that magnitude posed no problem for him whatsoever.

“Not at all. I haven’t done much, really. And…”

Ricshel lowered his voice and spoke softly.

“The Archbishop sent Licht the priest this way, I hear—but nothing happened between you and him, correct?”

…He had forced him to sleep, true, but only for a brief moment, and in that time Elvia had safely gone on her leave, so genuinely nothing had occurred.

“Right. Nothing happened at all.”

There had been problems, strictly speaking, but Lion saw no reason to burden his brother with worry over such minor matters when he’d already worked himself to exhaustion, so he lied without hesitation.

[Penalty Applied.]
[Remaining Penalties: 3 → 2]

Eh?

Lion’s gaze shifted abruptly to the penalty notification.
A new message had appeared in the penalty window, which had been quiet until now.
And yet Lion’s body remained utterly unchanged.
There was truly not the slightest shift.

“Brother?”
“Ah, Tiamatrak was calling me for a moment.”

-What’re you talking about? I wasn’t doing anything.

[Remaining Penalties: 2 → 1]

“That dragon spirit, you mean.”
“…He’s a good one.”

-I do have a pleasant disposition, after all.

Lion felt cold sweat bead across his brow as the Penalty counter ticked downward at an alarming pace.
Wait—could it be…?

‘A lie countdown?’

But then why hadn’t anything happened yet?
Meanwhile—

“Brother, are you truly all right?”

Ricshel, who read emotions with uncanny precision, pressed the question again.

“Of course I am. Though I’m famished now that you mention it. Have you eaten? Shall we dine together?”

[Remaining Penalty: 1 → 0]

With that final notification, the Penalty window that had been obscuring Lion’s vision dissolved like morning mist.

Remarkably, nothing happened at all.
Relief mingled with an unsettling unease.

“Yes, I came hoping to share dinner with you, brother.”
“Good choice. There’s nothing like home cooking. Come on, let’s go.”

So the day passed without incident, and night gave way to morning.

—Aaaaahhh! Human! Lion! Wake up this instant!

Lion was jolted from sleep by Tiamatrak’s shrill, frantic voice.

“Mm… groan…”

His eyes refused to open properly today. Lion burrowed deeper into the expansive bed and its quilted warmth, unwilling to rise.
The bed—vast enough to be several times his own width—felt more inviting than ever before…

‘…Wait.’

Something felt wrong.
Lion rolled across the mattress once, twice.
For a bed of its considerable size, he should have hit the edge by now—ordinarily he would have.
Yet…

Fumbling in the darkness—

His hands found only the center of the bed, nowhere near its edge.

—Hurry and get up already!

Something was terribly wrong.
Lion’s eyes snapped open and he pushed himself upright—only to collapse forward instantly.

Thud.

His head felt leaden, and his body went limp.

‘Not dizziness, surely?’

A fever? That was possible, but…
He’d coughed blood before, so perhaps the Penalty was ravaging his body in some deeper way.
Lion pressed his forehead and cheeks with his fingertips.
At least there was no fever.
His cheeks were soft?

“……Hnng?”

That wasn’t all.
The voice that had escaped him just now was far too young to belong to Lion.
Realizing something had gone seriously wrong, Lion quickly sat up and tried to dismount from the bed as usual, only to stumble again.
The bed was too tall!
Fortunately.

-Whoops. That works too.

Tiamatrak quickly tossed a cushion beneath Lion as he was falling, preventing disaster.
Of course, he would have bounced back up even if he’d hit the floor hard.
Lion rushed straight to the mirror.
And then.

“Haaaaaa……!”

This is absurd.
He exhaled deeply, pinching the bridge of his nose with small, childish fingers.

-So you’ve become a little kid?

“Yeah.”

He’d grown younger.
Not by a couple of years—more like a full fifteen years of rejuvenation.
At least the one saving grace was that only his body had reverted; his physical condition remained unchanged.
However.

[Due to current Penalty, all abilities are restricted.]
[Growth is limited.]

He suspected the true nature of the Penalty for ‘rejuvenation’ was exactly this.
Having seen so much through sheer stubbornness, the Penalty was restricting his growth during that span of time.

[Remaining time: 71 hours 59 minutes]

At least the end time for the Penalty was displayed.

“Cheep.”
“Nature. Whoosh.”

The tamed beast and spirit that he’d already bonded with seemed unaffected, as if they weren’t included in that restriction.

‘That’s actually a mercy.’

He couldn’t imagine what would have happened otherwise.
And his Mana.
Lion closed his eyes and sensed the Mana Circle within his body.
The flow was frozen, but the Circle itself remained intact.
If that was the case, he wouldn’t suffer Mana Shock either.

“Phew. So it’s not just Elvia taking a vacation.”

-Hmm, I’m not sure what happened, but it looks like you’ve figured everything out?
-But seriously, you’re strange. How did you even get younger?
Isn’t this the kind of dream many humans don’t often get to experience?

Tiamatrak seemed to be getting a rush of dopamine from this situation itself.
Then again, where else would one ever witness something like this?

‘At least it’s just a Penalty, so there shouldn’t be any additional complications.’

The problem was having to live like this for four days.
The Penalty mechanism likely triggered because of that ‘lie’ I told yesterday.

‘So if I tell another lie during the Penalty period, will it extend the time?’

This was something I needed to test.
If I happened to slip up and lie carelessly, the duration might spiral out of control.
After deliberating, Lion spoke.

“I absolutely must avoid causing any trouble from now on.”

-Huh? All of a sudden, you’re telling a lie that won’t even work……

Ignoring Tiamatrak’s bewildered expression, I glanced at the Penalty window……

[Time Remaining: 71 hours 58 minutes]

“…!”

It held steady.
Fortunately, it seemed I didn’t need to worry about every word and gesture.
Of course, not lying at all would have been ideal, but wasn’t that simply how life worked? A little white lie here and there was sometimes necessary.
Especially for someone like me.
If I spoke nothing but truth and others ended up in difficult positions because of it, I’d have no face to show them.

‘And ideally, this form shouldn’t be discovered by anyone.’

This was the sort of thing that practically invited misunderstanding.
There was no way this situation could resolve itself naturally.
Even if I tried to explain, I had no idea how to account for it.

‘No matter how I think about it, holing up in the Labyrinth would be the better choice.’

Lion clenched both fists tightly……
But if things were that easy, it wouldn’t be a Penalty, would it?
Lion was discovered far too easily.
It was inevitable, really.
Even if I managed to avoid Ricshel directly, there was no way to evade the eyes of the servants scattered throughout the Estate.
And so Lion…

“……”
“You surely didn’t tell me there was nothing wrong with you, did you, brother?”

…found himself dragged to Ricshel’s room.
Lion sat in a chair custom-made for children and had to endure Ricshel’s gaze head-on.
Though in that moment, I did think—couldn’t I smooth-talk my way out of this with Ricshel somehow?

“Lion!”

Ricshel’s door flew open, and Grandfather stepped inside.
He should have been attending to external matters—how had he come?

“What is this form…! Are you hurt? Are you well?”

His grandfather examined himself with visible alarm, turning this way and that in a manner quite unlike his usual composure.
He was likely remembering Lion’s childhood Mana Shock.

“Grandfather, I’m fine.”

Lion forced a brighter smile to reassure him.

“Tiamatrak says three days should take care of it.”

—That’s right, that’s right! We agreed to keep our stories straight!

“Sigh… You don’t know the cause either?”
“Well…”

As Lion hesitated to answer, Ricshel spoke up instead.

“As long as my brother is safe, that should be sufficient, shouldn’t it, household head?”
“…You’re right. Ricshel’s words are wise.”
“Ha, you were worried?”
“How could I not be?”

Patrick watched the diminished Lion smiling softly at his grandfather, and found himself awash in complicated feelings.
First and foremost, the young Lion had never smiled like that.
Or rather—couldn’t have.
He was a child for whom pain far outweighed painless hours.
It wasn’t only the Mana Shock.
Beyond that, Lion’s body had existed in a state like a flame about to sputter and die.

‘If only he had smiled like that when he was young.’

Patrick’s mouth turned bitter.
Though this feeling stood apart from what he would say aloud.

“For the next three days, keep him by your side.”
“Yes?”
“I will care for my brother well, household head.”

Without even being told more directly, Ricshel had already accepted the charge.

‘Wait, my brother?’

Surely even if his body had become a bit smaller, there was no need for that, was there?

“Grandfather, I haven’t actually become a child…”
“You have become a child.”
“No, my mind is still an adult…”
“Then tell me—can you climb into bed by yourself?”
“It might be a bit difficult, but shouldn’t it be possible?”

Lion pressed his defense desperately.

“Tiamatrak or Nature could help, too.”
“Chirp.”

At that, Nature—who had kept vigil at Lion’s side in silence until now—crossed her wings in a gesture of refusal.

“My brother, do not worry. I shall keep you from being bored—reading books to you, sharing meals, playing in the sand in the Garden together.”
“…”

Look, I’m telling you—I’m not a child.
Lion opened his mouth to fire back, then thought better of it.
Ricshel’s expression was flushed with excitement.

‘……Right.’

Lion accepted his fate of being coddled by Ricshel and regained his composure.
At that age, it wasn’t unreasonable to want a younger sibling at least once.
The problem was simply that it was impossible in reality, so he’d never let it show.

‘And if it hadn’t been Ricshel, I’d have had to explain this whole situation.’

In truth, Lion had accepted it readily only because of the “Penalty”—but reversing one’s physical age was no trivial matter.
Moreover…….

‘If anything, it smells less of divine blessing and more of ties to the Demon Race.’

The old rumors—sacrificing other lives for Rejuvenation, bathing in the blood of the young—still persisted in this world.

“……What about Father Licht?”

No matter how much Lion had helped the Sanctuary, surely the priest would regard this as anything but ordinary.

“If you mean that priest, I don’t think you need to worry.”
“Hmm?”
“It’s just……that man won’t care what form you take, will he?”
“…….”
“……?”

Both Ricshel and the old man wore expressions that plainly asked: how could you possibly not know that?

“To him, you ceased to be merely a Divine Messenger long ago.”

Hm…….
This was a different problem altogether—better not to meet him.
Unless he wanted to be dragged off to the Temple.

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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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