Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 262

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

The Successor’s Clueless, But I’m Ready for Some Healing — Episode 262

Does that even make sense?

The shock lasted only a moment before Tieramatrak’s expression hardened visibly.
A child of men.
Traveling alongside Lion had brought him moments of amusement, of bewilderment even, but never before had he felt this particular displeasure.
Had he been younger, with his old temperament intact, he would have seized Lion’s body on the spot and razed this castle to ashes to sate his rage.

‘……Hmm.’

Yet Lion’s conduct intrigued him more than his immediate anger demanded he act.
That did not, of course, excuse what had transpired.
From his perspective, something impossible had occurred.
Though he existed now in spirit form, he was of a great race — a dragon.
So how could his essence emanate from a mere human family’s possession?
And worse still, from an object gathering dust in a warehouse?
Most insulting of all.

‘A portrait frame. Nothing more.’

A trinket these humans had fashioned to hold his likeness and honor him with it.
No matter how skillfully wrought, it was crude compared to anything a dwarf’s hand had crafted.
Even granting that this frame ranked among the finer human productions, it fell far short of merit in his eyes.
And more than that.
He had never bestowed protection or treasure upon this human family.

‘Have I ever given anything to humans?’

Tieramatrak shook his head inwardly.
Regardless, the past held no meaning now.
Destruction was the only answer.

—I don’t know what this is, but I’m reclaiming it. It carries my essence.

With that thought, he stretched out a hand with outward composure.

“Tieramatrak.”

Lion stopped him.

“Calm down. Wait a moment.”

—……

“Even if you reclaim your essence, you’re still in spirit form. No one knows what might happen.”

—That’s true.
—So Lion, could you retrieve it for me instead?

Lion didn’t answer Tieramatrak but instead examined the portrait frame with care.
To all outward appearance, it was nothing more than a worn frame no longer in use.
Perhaps once it had been quite luxurious, though it certainly seemed so no longer.
And yet……

‘The portrait itself hasn’t aged.’

A boy with flushed cheeks, smiling softly, gazing straight ahead.
Even a well-maintained portrait should show discoloration and fading after decades, yet this one showed none of those signs.
Yet the portrait frame itself was so worn and chipped in places, and yet the painting inside remained pristine.

‘Unnatural.’

Anyone who didn’t know better would have found it unsettling, even horrifying.
It was a portrait of the Grand Prince himself—not the Grand Duke, but his son.
The final likeness of the Duke’s own child, brutally murdered by the man he called father.
It made a certain kind of sense that people, paralyzed by dread, had shoved it away in a storage room like this.
But that was their concern, not his.
Fortunately, Lion could see what others could not.
The source sustaining this portrait.
If he carelessly severed that connection, the Grand Prince’s ghost would vanish entirely.

‘I wish it were ascension…’

But more likely—no, almost certainly—it would be true dissolution. Unmade, without so much as a proper death rite.
And so Lion made his decision.

“There we go.”

He hefted the frame up with a grunt and set it down carefully against the wall.
Then he turned his attention to the rest of the room.

“It’s too dark in here anyway. I’ll bring the portrait back to my room and examine it properly.”

-What?

Tieramatrak’s expression flickered with disbelief, but Lion ignored it without the slightest hesitation.

“Pus, anything else in here that strikes you as odd?”
“Kyeee!”

Apparently not.
That meant the portrait frame was almost certainly the anchor tying the Grand Prince’s ghost to this world.
Lion turned to Tieramatrak, who was still staring at him with a slack expression, and spoke plainly.

“But seriously—nothing at all?”

-Nothing. You shameless creature.
-You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Out of pity for that crybaby ghost….

“Have you ever actually given a piece of yourself to a human? Ever?”

-…….

Tieramatrak’s jaws clenched shut once more.

‘In any case.’

He knew. Lion was certain he knew. But he wouldn’t admit it.
Lion shook his head slightly and let his mind circle back to an earlier suspicion.
The connection between Tieramatrak and the Dragnas Family itself.
There were more than a few oddities about the whole affair.
A dragon who had lived for untold ages in spirit form without losing a shred of self—well, that was possible enough. He was a creature of legend, after all.
A dragon that belonged to myth itself.
But the Grand Prince?
He was just a child.

‘And yet his situation mirrors Tieramatrak’s own.’

What a curious coincidence.
And second.
Regardless of the reason, there existed something within the Grand Duke Dragnas Family that carried Tieramatrak’s essence.
Moreover, if it was placed in a portrait frame of a beloved son, wouldn’t it have been used as a sort of heirloom and charm?

‘And finally…….’

The name Dragnas itself.
Doesn’t it look like it was taken from Dragon?
Really, there’s hardly any need to call this a guess.

‘Because it’s fact.’

Historical records stated that the Grand Duke Dragnas Family were descendants of those who carried Dragon-Blooded Lineage from thousands of years ago.
Though the bloodline had long since died out, and all mention of the Dragnas Family had vanished from world history.

‘It’s the part Tieramatrak overlooked as well.’

Even a dragon who knows all things must have limits in understanding human affairs.
From a dragon’s perspective, human history would be far too fragmented, wouldn’t it?
Or perhaps…….

‘The dragon might have chosen not to know.’

I don’t understand the human heart, so how could I grasp a dragon’s?
In any case, this was Lion’s conclusion.
Dragnas’s ancestor was likely Tieramatrak.
More precisely, it was probably Tieramatrak when he came to the human world for amusement.
Well. Therefore…….
Just as Lion was about to open his mouth regarding the next step.

—That’s only half.

Tieramatrak cut in with a reluctant voice.
His frown remained sharp and his posture remained crooked—he clearly did not approve of this situation.

—That grand duke, or whatever he is, will have the other half.

“Fair enough.”

—Recover both pieces for me.
—I gave them as a gift long ago, and that was never how I intended them to be used.
—Well, I must have died a thousand deaths by now, so I might as well claim them back.
—……

Tieramatrak glanced sideways at Lion, as if fishing for a reaction.
Lion seemed to expect something to come from him…… but.

“Sure. Why not.”

Lion simply agreed without pressing further.
The location of the Grand Duke’s soul and the Hero’s last destination discovered by his grandfather were likely the same place anyway.

‘We’ll have to go there regardless.’

And Lion had no intention of probing someone else’s wounds.
If they wanted to speak, he would listen. Otherwise, they simply weren’t ready, and he would wait.
Whether the other was a child or a dragon made no difference.

—No…….
—Usually, wouldn’t you be curious about something like that?

It was Tieramatrak, in fact, who looked flustered.
Until just moments ago, he hadn’t really wanted to say anything.
He wasn’t the type to share such stories with others.
But he never imagined that a response would come back so utterly indifferent!

“I’ll tell you when the time comes. But first, go find out what floor this warehouse storage is on.”

—You’re really… a strange one.

“Arooo!”

Pus, who had an uncanny knack for understanding his master’s insults, growled at Tieramatrak and lunged at him.
Then he snapped viciously at the empty air.

—Agh! Crazy beast! You’re getting saliva all over me! Argh!
—In any case, master or beast alike!

A few minutes after he’d left in such a dramatic huff.

—Fourth floor, end room. There’s a door among those piles of cargo.

Tieramatrak reported back as usual after gathering information about the warehouse.
At least a few minutes of clearing his head seemed to have improved his mood somewhat.

—Are you going out to check right now?

“No. First I should go near the Great Barrier with grandfather and then decide.”

The Great Barrier wasn’t something Lion could survey in a single day, even if he set his mind to it.
And since this was truly a “danger zone,” the moment we went outside, wasn’t there a chance grandfather would appear and drag Lion back into the room?
If that happened…

‘It’d all be over before I could properly investigate.’

My head shook of its own accord.

“Let’s head back for now.”

Lion hoisted the enormous portrait frame and waddled out, unsteady on his feet.
At the sight of him teetering precariously, Tieramatrak sighed and took the portrait frame from him instead.

“Oh. Thanks.”

—Sigh… Let’s go. Come on.

It was a moment when one could feel Patrick Asteri’s burden.
In any case, thanks to that, the three of them managed to return to the room safely!
It helped that the lower floors were somewhat noisy.
And the next day.
Something happened.

* * *

“A ghost appeared?”
“Y-yes, so we’re told.”
“Sigh…”

Patrick, who had been struggling with matters concerning the Great Barrier, exhaled deeply.
Near the Great Barrier, lower-tier demons were exhibiting abnormal behavior—and Patrick had to receive this absurd report.

“Th-that is, Marquis. There were multiple witnesses just last night. Some saw feet moving through the darkness, others claimed to have seen a portrait painting drifting through the air itself.”
“A portrait painting?”
“Yes, a portrait of a child, they say. You understand—this ancient castle contains neither portraits nor paintings of any kind.”

Patrick closed his eyes tightly, pressing a finger to his aching brow.
Rumors spreading through the castle—that much he had already anticipated.
But he hadn’t expected them to explode into something like this within a single day.
And on top of that—

“These pathetic rumors made the Temple Organization’s priests depart earlier than usual?”
“…Yes, sir.”
“Leave.”

The mage who had delivered the report bowed hastily and fled the room.
Patrick set down the papers from the Grand Duke’s desk and let out a groaning sigh.

‘The plan has fallen apart.’

According to the original schedule, the priests should have arrived on the very day his grandson departed.
That way, Lion could assess the situation more easily.

‘Separate from what I’ve been monitoring, of course.’

Now everything would become complicated.
Before his grandson could even shake off his travel fatigue, he’d have to escort him about in all directions—

Whoosh!

As Patrick released his aura, the candles illuminating the room flared intensely.

“There’s no choice.”

Patrick washed his face and rose to his feet. Lower-tier demons could be disposed of with a mere flick of a finger, but that ‘madman’ was a different matter entirely.
So he would have to hurry.
Patrick left the room and entered the Grand Prince’s Room where his grandson was staying.
And there—

Patrick felt a dull throb settle at the base of his skull. He quietly closed the door.
It would cause another uproar if anyone else found out.

At that moment—

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————