Never Mind the Heir, I’ll Focus on Healing - Chapter 83

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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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Heir, who? I just want healing. Episode 83

Lion smiled as he watched Clarentia eagerly sipping the Body-Melting Hot Chocolate.

‘I knew she’d like it.’

Though really, wouldn’t it be harder for her to dislike it?

[Body-Melting Hot Chocolate (★★)]
-A thick chocolate beverage that melts away your weary body and spirit in an instant.
-On those days when you’re exhausted and worn down, why not take a warm sip? It will comfort you in your fatigue.

Rich chocolate is, after all, the finest remedy for dispelling exhaustion and restoring vitality.

Slurp.

The moment the thick, viscous liquid entered her mouth, the sweet aroma and subtle bitterness of chocolate drifted through her nasal passages.
Modern hot chocolate requires starch to achieve this thickness, or so it’s said, but with excellent chocolate and milk rich enough in fat to rival fresh cream, there was no need for such things.
Simply combining good ingredients together could yield such exquisite flavor.

‘I didn’t expect her to drink it so readily, though.’

Truth be told, he hadn’t planned to insist if she’d refused.
What Clarentia, Marquis Bydentis, truly needed wasn’t sugar, but rather to learn how to rest.
Not merely lying limply in bed, nor mimicking the sleep of ordinary people, but genuinely taking time to care for herself.
That was what mattered most—discovering how.

“They taste wonderful paired with bread as well.”

Lion opened the lid of a container on the side of the table.
Inside lay Churros.

“The chef prepared them specially for you, Marquis. They’ll be perfect dipped into the chocolate.”
“…….”

Clarentia, naturally, made no move first.
Anticipating as much, Lion unhesitatingly picked up a Churro and dipped it deeply into the hot chocolate before bringing it to his mouth.

Crunch.

Though it had cooled and hardened slightly, dipping it in the warm chocolate softened it to just the right texture.
Yet it retained that distinctive crispness…….

“Mmm.”

Delicious.
Lion smiled with satisfaction, then dipped another Churro deeply and pushed it into his mouth.
The occasional crunchy bits of coarse sugar provided an interesting texture.

“…….”

Clarentia watched in silence as Lion contentedly enjoyed his tea time alone, as if she didn’t exist.
And below, even the pet bird pecking up breadcrumbs that had fallen from the table.

‘Is it really that delicious?’

To be honest, the hot chocolate had been unexpected.
The chocolate milk she’d tasted in the past seemed thinner than this…….

A soft whoosh.

Before long, Clarentia held a churro in her hand.
She dipped it in the chocolate just as Lion had done, then pushed it into her mouth.

“……!!”

It was delicious again.
She couldn’t remember the last time she’d tasted something sweet and indulgent instead of survival rations.
One bite after another.
As Clarentia nibbled away at the churro…

[Your companion spirit’s eyes open to a new taste!]
[‘Nature’ has taken a liking to churros!]
[Warning: Giving human snacks too frequently may spoil your spirit’s habits.]

“…….”

Lion glanced at Nature as the notification floated before his eyes.

‘She could eat human food?’

Whether to call this growth or not was a bit ambiguous.
Still, since it was a first time, a little shouldn’t hurt.
Lion tore off a corner of the churro he was holding and set it down in front of Nature.

“……!”

Nature forgot to let out her usual chirp and snatched the churro with her thin legs, devouring it ravenously!
Watching Nature’s impromptu feast, he noticed the cup had emptied entirely.
Clarentia, too, had drained hers while pretending not to.
The timing was perfect.

“Was the beverage to your liking?”
“It wasn’t bad.”
“You have some on your face.”
“…….”

Clarentia wiped her mouth at lightning speed.

“I apologize for entering your room uninvited, Duke. Actually, I came because I had something to give you.”
“You have something to give me? What is it?”

Lion retrieved a box from his bag.
He’d packed it carefully, worried it might break during the journey.

“…….”

Clarentia accepted the box and immediately opened the lid.
And then,
For the first time, deep cracks appeared in her expressionless face.
Her widened eyes contorted for a moment, then closed as if to hide her trembling pupils, and when they opened again, she had returned to her original impassive state.
Yet the necklace—clearly a thing of profound meaning—remained in her hands, which turned it over silently and carefully.

“Do you know what kind of necklace this is?”
“I don’t know precisely. But I was able to determine that it belongs to House Bydentis.”
“……I see.”

Clarentia asked nothing further.
Not how he’d obtained it, nor how he’d come to realize it belonged to House Bydentis.
And why she returns it to me.
The silence stretched longer than expected.
In the spacious room, only the sound of clockwork ticking could be heard.
Only when the ticking ceased to grate did Clarentia’s lips part slowly.

“First, I want to say thank you.”

Her gaze remained fixed on the necklace.
Her fingers traced it tenderly, as if caressing something precious.
She paused, seeming to wrestle with something, before placing the necklace back on the table.

“As you said, this necklace does belong to House Bydentis. You could call it a family heirloom. But it has no special properties.”
“I see.”
“……So I suppose I simply forgot about it without realizing.”

Clarentia’s brow twisted in pain as she spoke.

“This was something I treasured quite dearly. It was my mother’s keepsake, after all.”

Yet she had never even thought to search for it.
A dry laugh escaped her lips.
Lion said nothing, merely watching in silence.
There were no words he could offer her now.
She would have no use for hollow platitudes either.
What she needed was simply someone present—someone to listen.
Not a servant bound to protect her, nor a follower who blindly obeyed.
A stranger, in a way.
Perhaps she needed a conversation partner who would accept whatever she said without judgment.
Baek I-hyeon had been such a person in her childhood.

‘Because that’s the only way I could speak my true heart.’

A stranger who asked her to bear no burden, to carry no weight she needn’t carry.

“And your mother had the necklace at the end?”
“From what I remember, yes. The last time I saw it, my mother was wearing it.”

Clarentia looked down at the necklace in her hand.
When she was young, it had seemed nothing but an old, unfashionable trinket.
Yet the gem was so large and lustrous that it overflowed from her palm, and she had once thought to secretly try wearing it herself.

“It was likely a gift from my father, who was meant to become the next Family Head.”
“…….”

As Lion understood it, the Marquess and Marquise of House Bydentis had met sudden death on the same day, at the same hour.

“Poisoning. It was potent enough that even my father, trained as he was, could not withstand it.”

Lion closed his eyes, then opened them.
A poison strong enough to kill a direct heir of a Swordsmanship family… her mother, the necklace’s original owner, would have fared far worse.

“The funeral began, and all I could do was weep the whole time.”

“Clarentia.”
“You must have been so grieved to lose your parents.”

“My brother tried to comfort me, but nothing could console me.”

In the end, Clarentia could not endure the entire funeral—she collapsed.
Only her grandfather, the Family Head, stood firm until the very end.
watching his children and their spouses die, yet utterly alone.
The necklace disappeared around that time as well.
For some reason, grandfather never searched for it.
So I assumed it had simply been stored away somewhere.
After a few more years passed, grandfather’s health deteriorated sharply, and he passed away.

“After the second funeral ended, as I stood alone before the grave, my brother came and whispered to me.”

“Ah. Clarentia.”
“Now you’ve truly lost everything.”

…….

And that’s when I understood, watching him whisper with such affection in his smile.

“That all of this had been his doing.”

I screamed as though coughing up blood, demanding the reason.

“Aren’t you curious? How strong and beautiful the power is that you gain from killing someone precious?”

“That was when I received the answer: he’d gained his power at the cost of their deaths.”
…….

A madman, then.
Lion’s brow furrowed.
The root of all this was Clarentia’s brother.
The eldest son of House Bydentis—now dead.

‘And this method of gaining strength by killing…’

It was the way of Demons.
More than that, it had been strictly forbidden ever since the war with the Demons ended, yet somehow he had restored and used it.
All because he was curious.

“He likely spoke so freely of it to me because I was weak. I had never once held a sword until that moment.”

And that very arrogance brought about his death.

‘But how?’

How had Clarentia, who hadn’t so much as gripped a sword until then, managed to win that fight?
At that question in Lion’s eyes, Clarentia rose from her seat and walked toward something across the room.

“There’s something he overlooked.”

Clarentia retrieved a sword from one side of the wall and drew it from its sheath.

Ring!

The sound alone spoke to how fine the blade was.
The sword’s surface was—pure white, or perhaps transparent.
What was certain was that it bore none of the texture one normally felt from metal.
When Clarentia handed it to him, Lion’s hand moved by instinct, brushing across the blade.
And then, without meaning to, he stopped.

[Bydentis Holy Sword (Unmeasurable)]
-A sword forged to protect House Bydentis. It grants tremendous power, drawing upon the wielder’s emotions as collateral.
-It is devastating to Demons, but functions as an ordinary blade against humans.

“I cut down my brother with this.”
“…….”

Which meant Clarentia’s brother—no, that bastard—had already crossed a river from which there was no return.
Not a contract with Demons, but a choice to become a true Demon himself.

“You’ve grasped the true nature of the blade.”

Lion nodded mechanically.

“It’s a Holy Sword.”
“That’s right. A blade forged for the purpose of annihilating Demons.”

Lion forced himself to hand the sword back with studied composure.
From the description—the ability to sweep away Demons, the designation Holy Sword itself—it was easy enough to assume it was a blade imbued with sacred power.
But.

‘Is this really a Holy Sword?’

The auxiliary function seemed rather malicious.
The matter of Emotions as collateral.
Some might argue that in exchange for such overwhelming power, surrendering one’s emotions was a small price to pay.
But where does the endpoint of emotional depletion truly lie?
Ultimately, it destroys both oneself and everything around you.
Given that the blade hung on the wall like a mere ornament, she wasn’t using it now—yet that observation only deepened his unease.

‘This is where it began.’

Clarentia’s emotions hadn’t worn away naturally.
Her newfound strength, her awareness of Elvia—all of it bore the mark of this blade’s influence.
Of course, a single sword alone couldn’t turn someone into a superhuman overnight.
Clarentia herself must have bled and labored for it.
Her skill now was undoubtedly genuine.
She demonstrated extraordinary prowess even wielding a different sword.
But years ago.
Back then, she must have used that blade.

‘Wait. If that’s the case…’

Lion reached out and took the Necklace from the table.

“Your Grace. Would you examine this Necklace together with me?”

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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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