The Unfilial Heir Who Tries to Kill Me Tempts Me - Chapter 10

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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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Chapter 10.

“…What is this?”
“A Detoxifying Potion, sir.”
Now that I thought about it, Kaius was a patient too.
In fact, he’d been exposed to Black Magic far longer than the farmer I’d met in the Orchard. Some mad Black Magic sorcerer had even attempted to plant a curse directly into Kaius’s body.
If Kaius had been even slightly weaker than he was now, he’d surely have lost the use of at least one limb by this point.
Not that his current condition was entirely sound, either.
Look at that pallid skin.
I’d believe you if you said he was a corpse with his eyes closed.
Kaius’s lips twitched into a cold smile.
“Surely you haven’t forgotten that you’re the one who poisoned the Crown Prince to arrive here in the first place?”
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“And now you want me to drink this?”
His voice was glacial.
“Quite audacious, aren’t you?”
Charlotte had done what she’d done, so I couldn’t really argue—but I wished he wouldn’t look at me quite so terrifyingly.
This really was good medicine.
At this point in the timeline, Kaius faced Black Magic sorcerers nearly every day. Chronic headaches and exhaustion were his constant companions. And with insomnia robbing him of proper sleep, his nerves had grown increasingly frayed.
But that was my fault, wasn’t it?
I’d written it into the plot.
“Please, sir. No matter how underhanded I might be, would I really try something so obvious?”
I forced my expression into something as harmless as possible and offered him the potion bottle again.
“It will purify your body of Black Magic corruption. I made it stronger than what I gave the Estate Peasants. The effects are guaranteed. So think of it as… a bribe, perhaps? A way of asking you to stop planning my death.”
Kaius’s gaze fixed on the bottle. That was all. Even as my arm grew tired, he remained motionless, lost in thought.
Without his smile, his face was impossible to read, so I waited patiently for his response.
At last, Kaius lifted his head.
“…You’re definitely strange.”
His pale golden eyes scrutinized me intently.
“Did Transmigration do something to your mind?”
If I was being honest, something had gone wrong before the Transmigration too.
“Won’t you drink it?”
“No, I will.”
Kaius finally accepted the bottle and, without another word, downed it in one gulp.
“Come to think of it, I’ve built up some resistance to Black Magic. Best to test it before we give it to the Estate Peasants.”
He could have taken it properly, but no—he had to be difficult about it.
“Don’t come asking me for more later.”
I said it sharply, then picked up the basket I’d set down earlier.
Kaius’s penetrating gaze followed me—his expression still maddeningly inscrutable.
“You’ll need to stay alive if you’re going to have your revenge, won’t you?”
His eyes narrowed.
“You said you wanted to find him. That criminal.”
In the latter half of the original story, Kaius rolls through hell just as relentlessly as Fabian in order to destroy the hidden mastermind. That figure is a threat to the world itself—but more than that, he is Kaius’s lifelong quarry.
To achieve that, he can’t afford to be ailing now. A nation’s strength is its people’s health, after all.
Besides, unlike the original plot, I need this man’s cooperation desperately if I’m going to seize the Divine Artifact.
“I want to stay alive too.”
……
“So maybe you could change your thinking—keep me alive if you can.”
I really do want to go back, you unfilial wretch.
I shrugged as if to drive the point home and slipped out of the Alchemy Room. Kaius remained where he stood, watching me until the moment I closed the door behind me.

***

“Ugh, I’m exhausted.”
The next day, by the time I emerged with the basket of potions, the sun was already high overhead.
I’d stayed up all night just to make Magic Potions. Even during my third year of high school, I never sacrificed more than eight hours of sleep.
But thanks to that sleepless night, I had more than enough Magic Potions now.
When I arrived at the Orchard, farming was already in full swing. Unlike yesterday, many Estate Peasants were out working.
Good. They’re doing well.
The contaminated land was now dotted with saplings, and several crops were already sprouting new growth.
Since the earth had been freshly regenerated by magic, the plants would grow at a terrifying pace over the next few days. Which meant my snacks would become abundant too.
Very good indeed.
“You’re working hard, aren’t you?”
“Cough… Oh, a mage?”
The farmer who spotted me wore an expression of surprise.
“I beg your pardon—what brings you all the way out here? Cough, cough.”
“Did you say a mage has come?”
“That woman is a mage?”
“Not a Black Mage, surely?”
“She is a Black Mage, but apparently she can also use White Magic.”
“Then… she’s different from those wicked ones…?”
“Ah, stop your questions.”
The Estate Peasants scattered about began to murmur and crowded toward me. Some faces I recognized from yesterday; others were new.
I stood holding a basket and observed them carefully.
Some merely looked tired, but most had grown pallid, and nearly all bore dark circles hanging down to their jaws.
Any later, and I’d have had patients to spare.
“Mage, truly, we are grateful. Cough, thanks to you, our harvest yield will grow in no time. We were so worried about what to do with all this land….”
“Indeed, upon my word! I planted trees just this morning, and they sprouted like magic—can you believe it? I thought it was a spell!”
Well, it was the work of magic, after all.
People who yesterday had kept their distance from me now rushed forward, beaming with broad grins.
Not a witch, but a mage.
It sounded better than I’d expected.
“Cough, but truly, what brings you here?”
“Oh, I came to give you this.”
I held out the medicinal box I’d been carrying.
“It’s a nutritional tonic and Detoxifying Potion combined. It’s good for your health, so please take it.”
“A… Detoxifying Potion?”
“Yesterday I noticed you all looked unwell and were coughing. That’s all from the lingering effects of the Black Magic that poisoned this land. Some of your neighbors have already collapsed, haven’t they? If you give this to them too, they’ll recover.”
Go on, show your gratitude and call me mage again.
“Ah, I see…”
What? Why that response?
A lukewarm reply came back.
I’d expected them to clamor for the medicine, but the Estate Peasants only exchanged hesitant glances with one another, none of them quite bold enough to reach out.
“You’re not going to take it?”
An elderly woman asked cautiously.
“It really is safe… isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry?”
“I don’t mean to doubt you. It’s just that you’re suddenly being so kind….”
I understood.
They were grateful for the land’s restoration, but I hadn’t yet fully shed the suspicion of being a Black Mage.
A bit deflating, but fair enough.
These peasants had suffered at the hands of Black Mages before. Their wariness was well-earned.
“It’s perfectly harmless medicine. Even the Duke took some yesterday.”
“The… the Duke?”
“Yes. He downed it in one gulp.”
I decided not to mention that he’d volunteered himself as a test subject.
But my assurance fell on deaf ears. The peasants remained unmoved.
Now I was starting to feel genuinely hurt.
What? I’d stayed up all night making this.
“Why would I restore your land only to poison you? If something happened to you, who would tend my snacks—I mean, the fruits?”
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
An awkward silence hung in the air.
These people, really.
I was about to feel genuinely wounded when suddenly a hand thrust through the crowd. It belonged to the farmer from yesterday—the one who’d shouted “Witch!” and collapsed in the field.
“Ah, never mind. Either way, sick is sick, isn’t it? I’ll take some. Cough, cough. My cough is driving me to death!”
Gulp.
The farmer swallowed the potion in one go.
The surroundings fell silent.
“…Hey, are you… all right?”
“Gasp.”
“Why—why! What’s happening!”
The farmer slowly released his grip on his throat, his eyes widening in astonishment.
“The cough… it’s gone?”
“What?”
“No more coughing! My throat doesn’t hurt! I feel like I have my strength back!”
The farmer who’d been wheezing just moments before began bouncing on the spot, practically vibrating with energy. Color bloomed across his face.
The Estate Peasants who’d been staring blankly at him suddenly snapped awake as if struck.
“Wait, really?”
“Then me too, me too!”
“Well, don’t just stand there—grab one each!”
The moment of silence shattered as the Estate Peasants surged forward, snatching up the potions with eager hands.
“It’s true! My cough is completely gone!”
“My muscle aches just vanished!”
“What in the world…”
I told you so.
“There’s plenty—take one each. And share some with your neighbors too.”
“Yes, Mage! Thank you, thank you so much!”
“What are you doing, Aiden? Shouldn’t you give the Mage a basket of tomatoes!”
“Oh, right, I was just about to.”
One of the farmers hurried off and returned with a basket overflowing with tomatoes and strawberries, pressing it into my arms with repeated, earnest bows and invitations to visit anytime fruit was needed.
“Long live the Mage!”
“A benefactor! A true benefactor!”
Ha. Yes.
Get well soon and grow my fruit abundantly. I’ll make good use of it.

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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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