Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 257

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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 Have No Idea. Let Me Just Heal — Episode 257

He’d declared war on his grandfather in pajamas inside the carriage, true enough.

‘But this is… stranger than I expected.’

Nothing had actually happened.
Lion waited for dinner to finish preparing, wandering slowly around the carriage.
Quite some time had already passed since boarding.
This would be their last meal before reaching the Great Barrier.
And yet Lion had been… remarkably undisturbed!
His movements weren’t restricted, and his grandfather hadn’t actually monitored his every step.
Rather, as they drew closer to the Great Barrier, his grandfather had only grown busier with paperwork.
So for all his grandfather’s forceful declarations, things had been far more peaceful than expected.

‘I thought he might at least lock me away…’

Instead, it felt oddly more liberating.

—Ugh… how boring.
—Humans are always lying.
—Though you were the best, Lion!

“Peep!”

Nature’s wings fluttered with displeasure as she watched Tiamat trailing behind Lion, complaining at the noise.
Pus, delighted to be in a new place, had his nose pressed to the ground, sniffing here and there.
Even amid that commotion, Lion’s thoughts continued to unfold.

‘Hmm, did Grandfather just mean to intimidate me?’

That would make sense, wouldn’t it?
There was a contradiction in bringing him this far only to restrict his actions.
And…

‘Grandfather would have thought this through to the end.’

If that were true, wouldn’t he have left Pus and Nature behind?

‘Still, just in case—I should move as discreetly as possible.’

With that thought, Lion gently stroked Pus, who had come to his feet and was wagging his tail furiously.

“Chirp! Sniff, chirp!”
“Oh, you like it that much here? Your mouth’s absolutely covered in grass.”

Lion wiped the wet grass from Pus’s snout with a handkerchief and, while he was at it, gave his paws a quick wipe too.
Though he’d been hatched a while ago now, Pus glanced nervously and withdrew his paws before Lion could finish.

[Pus dislikes having his paws wiped.]

“Oh, really? Want me to give you a bath instead?”
“…Sniff!”

Perhaps recalling how unpleasant the last bath had been, Pus actually offered his paw himself.

“There, there. You don’t like baths either, do you?”

He’d go into hot springs happily enough, but apparently a proper bath was another matter altogether.
But in the meantime, how did you manage to wander into so much?

“What’s this tangled in your fur? Emergency rations?”

Lion plucked out the grass caught between the beast’s fur one by one, murmuring playfully as he examined it.

‘This is… as I thought.’

He’d suspected as much when Pus grew noticeably more cheerful the closer they drew to the Great Barrier, and now it was confirmed.
Lion stared at the tuft of grass lying on the ground.

[Discolored Grass]
-A plant exhibiting signs of contamination caused by Demonic Energy.
-Unlike ordinary weeds, it carries a slight toxicity.

The proximity to the Great Barrier had left its mark—the grass contained compounds he’d never seen before.
Demonic Energy.

‘Still faint, though…’

If contamination had spread this far even outside the Barrier’s immediate vicinity, whatever lay beyond would be far from trivial.

“So don’t just pick up and eat whatever you find on the ground, understand? Promise me?”

Lion scooped Pus up in his arms and rubbed his face gleefully against the beast’s fluffy nape.

“And if you spot anything strange, bring it to your father. I’ll trade you snacks for it.”
“Squeee!”

Pus reacted enthusiastically to the mention of treats, and the two of them were in the midst of play when Elvia approached.

“Young Master. Dinner has been prepared; shall I escort you?”
“Yes. Thank you.”

Lion walked toward the distant lights.

“I would advise against venturing too far. The Head of House is deeply concerned.”
“Ha ha ha…”

He’d gathered from a recent conversation that Grandfather’s worries ran deep.

“And indeed, the danger is all too real. Especially this path—the Head rarely uses it, so the corruption is severe.”
“Then there are other routes?”
“Indeed. Three in total, if I’m not mistaken.”

One would be House Asteri—specifically the path carved out for Grandfather alone.
The other two would be…

“The Imperial Family and the Temple, I’d wager?”
“As expected of you, sir—your insight is sharp.”

There was little need to puzzle over it, really.
The Great Barrier had been installed beneath the Empire’s soil, so naturally those with authority over it would possess their own means of access.
The same logic applied to the previous Archbishop and Saintess who had constructed the Barrier alongside Grandfather.

But this raised yet another question in his mind.

“Are the passages maintained separately?”
“Generally speaking, yes—though I understand inspections are conducted every few years with organized teams.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, we did once, a few years back.”

Elvia rolled her eyes slowly across the forest before continuing.

“Since this is my first time coming this far, it’s difficult to make a fuller assessment, but I don’t believe the danger level is critical just yet.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. If problems arose at this level, those who’ve spent time with me would have been corrupted long ago.”

That logic held water.
As they drew near the carriage, Elvia let slip a remark almost casually.

“Still, once we reach the Great Barrier, it would be wise not to stray from the family head’s side.”

Lion was about to ask what she meant when he noticed Elvia pressing her index finger to her lips—he simply nodded in response.

‘She’s giving me a hint.’

She must have overheard whatever conversation took place in the carriage earlier.

“The family head is the one who visits the Great Barrier most often. He likely keeps to safe routes.”
“I see.”
“Yes. And since the family head worries easily, try not to give him cause for concern. If you truly anger him, won’t Young Master’s free time only shrink?”
“Got it. I’ll keep that in mind.”

Elvia drew her finger down slowly and offered a faint smile.

‘At least there’s that.’

If the two of them coordinated their efforts, he’d have no choice but to follow along with nothing to show for it.

“And… please, do be careful.”
“Ah.”

This final meal before heading to the Great Barrier meant saying goodbye to Elvia once more.

“Of course, should you need me in any circumstance, I will appear… but.”

Elvia’s brow drooped noticeably as she continued, her tone tinged with reluctance.

“In places where Demonic Energy runs strong, I sometimes lose control of my power, and I may not be able to handle things… cleanly.”
“…”

Now he understood why his grandfather had never taken Elvia anywhere near the Great Barrier.

‘She’d end up smashing the whole place.’

Though before all this, she’d been restricted to moving only around the Asteri Family Estate anyway.

“In any case, since this is our last meal together, wouldn’t it be nice if you ate with me too?”
“That’s…”
“Since it’s the last time. Yes?”

Elvia had a strong sense of her role as a servant, so even in moments like this she refrained from dining together. It had always bothered him, and now seemed like the right time to share a meal.

“…Um.”

‘This won’t do.’

Her life as Elvia was still far too new.
She had decades ahead of her in this body, and if she got tangled up in troublesome matters, she’d miss watching her precious puppy grow up.
So it was better to decline, much as she regretted it — or so she’d decided in that moment before refusing.

Bright, gleaming eyes.

The puppy launched a heart-wrenching gaze attack at her.
What could she do about this?

“When we’re back at the Estate, you won’t ask for things like this.”

If she’d been her original self.
Or if she simply hadn’t glimpsed that pitiful look on the puppy’s face.
If that moment hadn’t overlapped with the one she was living now.
She would have refused cleanly, surely.

“…Very well. It shall be so.”
“Great! I’ll head on ahead then — come slowly!”

Lion bolted toward the campfire, afraid Elvia might say something different.
Watching him scurry off like that ridiculous pup he was, Elvia couldn’t help but laugh and shake her head.
Even a witch like herself had to yield to him.

‘Patrick must be completely helpless against him.’

That’s why he was probably shut away like that, drowning in paperwork.
Had made a declaration of war and was now fretting about it constantly.

“When will they grow up?”

The puppy, Patrick…
In Elvia’s eyes, they both had a long way to go.

* * *

As Lion was enjoying a rather pleasant supper.
The First Imperial Prince, Therus, lay curled beneath his blanket, gnawing on his thumb.
It was a habit he’d fallen into whenever anxious — lately his nails had worn down to nothing.
Yet no one in the First Prince Palace dared point out this unsavory habit.
In part because Therus had always been a reckless troublemaker, and calling attention to it risked him making their lives hell in response — but there was another reason too.
There were rumors circulating through the Imperial Palace of late.
That the missing persons incident which occurred in the Empress Palace was actually the First Imperial Prince’s doing.
Vicious whispers like that.

‘Damn. Damn. Damn, damn, damn!’

Therus was innocent!
Of this incident, anyway.
Yes, he’d cursed that wretched bastard child, but this wasn’t his work.
It was his mother and Lepidence Marquis who’d done it!
In fact, Therus had overheard the conversation between his grandfather and his mother directly.
And as a witness to it…

‘There’s the Archbishop.’

But the Archbishop didn’t seem at all inclined to help him.
There was a small deal between them, yes, but that alone wasn’t enough.

‘I can’t discern his true intentions at all.’

No information about the Archbishop had surfaced.
Even if the First Imperial Prince found himself in the position of a fledgling bereft of its mother, he possessed at minimum a baseline of intelligence-gathering capability.
And yet.
He could not fathom what cause the Archbishop dreamed of pursuing.
One thing alone was clear—this man was no ordinary player.

‘And in this situation, even Father won’t grant me an audience.’

Not that he could blame the Emperor. A bastard child who would become Crown Prince, then Emperor—his neck would snap like a twig the moment that ascension became real. Of course the Emperor would turn his face away.
Just months ago, the three of them—himself, his mother, and his ally—had plotted to overthrow the Second Imperial Prince.
How had the situation deteriorated so catastrophically?

‘Why did his power suddenly swell so enormously?’

Unfortunately, the First Imperial Prince’s mind could not grasp it.
But one thing.
Just one thing was certain.
If he continued to rely solely on the small deal he’d made with the Archbishop, he would be the first to suffer humiliation.

‘I must survive.’

Whether it was survival instinct or something else, Therus’s stone-hard mind began to turn, grinding slowly into motion.
More precisely, his instincts were awakening to identify which person in this situation could keep him alive.
Pure survival instinct—not the teachings of countless imperial tutors or dusty books.
Trusting only that herbivore’s intuition, Therus changed into the clothes of an attendant he’d favored when sneaking out to the Hot Spring, and moved forward.
And at the end of that path.
Knock, knock.

“…I told you to stay perfectly still and quiet.”
“……”

It was none other than the bastard he despised most deeply.
The Empire’s Second Imperial Prince.
Kyle.

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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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