Chapter 266

Chapter 266
## Chapter 266: Never Mind The Heir, I’ll Focus On Healing

“Understood.”

It certainly carried a different texture than before.

Perhaps even bordering on a lingering resentment, it seemed to react directly to the child’s voice.

If this pace holds, I should be able to gently coax it and slide my hand out alongside the object.

‘The corruption likely hasn’t advanced too far at this point.’

Applying Holy Water correctly will undoubtedly set things right.

Should the need arise, retreating straight back to the mansion to enlist Rikschel’s help remains a viable backup plan.

Lion tightened his grip on his hand, preparing to haul himself back, when—

Gulp.

The fissure widened further by the axe’s blow split apart even more.

Like an unfolding flower bud, the gap that previously barely accommodated an arm stretched wide, and a thick, black, sticky fluid bubbled up as though simmering on a fire.

The intuition screamed of danger.

It is rising.

Something resembling a hand emerges.

It fastens onto Lion’s forearm.

More accurately, it grabs and engulfs the body of Ghost, the son of the Grand Duke.

Without a second to process the shift, the Grand Duke’s son, who had been holding onto me, was drawn right into the abyss.

“……!”

Operating on pure reflex, Lion seized the nearly transparent leg of the Grand Duke’s son.

Splash!

He was dragged straight down into the murky black liquid.

That marked the final memory Lion retained of that day.

—

“Ugh, cough!”

Lion jerked upright, instinctively expelling the substance that had choked his throat and mouth.

Dark, sloshing fluid continually spilled from his lips, as though it had completely cut off his oxygen supply.

There was no leisure to register the taste, but the consistency was atrocious.

As his coughing fit dragged on, a gentle hand patted his back.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. I’m fine. Is the Grand Duke’s son safe…?”

…

Only then did Lion raise his head, which had been pressed against the ground.

‘Where am I?’

Without even bothering to wipe his mouth, he surveyed the surroundings.

His vision remained hazy, and most of his physical senses felt muted.

Lion locked eyes with the face of the Grand Duke’s son, which was etched with worry and remorse.

“You fell in right along with me while trying to save my life. I am deeply sorry…”

“It’s fine. But…”

He pieced together the sequence of events.

‘Still, it was unavoidable.’

If one must offer a flimsy excuse, it wasn’t as though he acted purely out of a surge of noble heroism.

Regardless, this represented Lion’s final opening, and the Grand Duke’s son served as the linchpin for resolving the crisis.

What would happen if the Grand Duke’s son simply vanished?

‘It’s merely a matter of time; the outcome remains identical.’

With the distracting element of the Grand Duke’s son’s voice removed, the influence of the entity presumed to be the Grand Duke would likely have surged once more.

‘Accompanying the Grand Duke’s son turned out to be the superior choice.’

Having concluded his internal justification, Lion drew a deep breath and casually broached a question he had pushed aside until now.

‘Then again, why is the voice so distinct?’

Much like Tiamatrak, the Grand Duke’s son’s voice wasn’t originally ‘audible’ in this manner.

It defies simple explanation, yet it felt as though a distinct will was being transmitted directly.

That precise dynamic explained why Tiamatrak functioned, while the Grand Duke’s son did not.

“No, I truly apologize. Instead, I will make certain you are not bored moving forward.”

“No. It’s fine. And I will soon…”

“…”

“I will be heading back…”

The Grand Duke’s son, whose speech frequency had plummeted midway through Lion’s sentence, wore an expression on the verge of tears.

His demeanor mirrored a child seeking forgiveness for a blunder.

That very sight stirred a sense of anxiety.

No, he already grasped the reality of their predicament, yet he was trying his utmost to ignore it.

“It will feel terrifying at first, but maintaining composure in this state ensures survival. Besides, a formidable Dragon remains by your side, does he not? Though meeting him right now appears difficult… Ugh. My apologies!”

The Son of the Grand Duke extended a hand, pointing toward a specific vector.

That space initially appeared entirely empty, yet an entity slowly materialized into view.

A gaunt silhouette with pale skin, draped in deep corruption, and framed by blond hair.

In short, it was ‘me’.

‘Damn it…’

No matter how many bizarre scenarios he had weathered, didn’t this cross the line?

‘An out-of-body existence…’

For perhaps the first time, Lion comprehended that the incident he triggered was no ordinary mishap.

‘I lack even a basic blueprint to untangle this.’

Overwhelmed by a wave of disbelief, Lion ambled toward his own physical vessel resting on the floor.

Fortunately, operating in a spiritual state meant his feet neither sank nor drifted aimlessly in mid-air.

‘Feeling overwhelmed is one matter, but prioritizing inspections comes first.’

Lion calmly evaluated the condition of his body.

And then…

“…Hoo.”

Relief washed over him; he appeared to still be breathing.

His chest rose and fell in a subtle rhythm.

Did this explain why the Fragment of the Spirit Sword failed to trigger?

However…

‘The corruption continues to advance.’

His robe had long since disintegrated, and his white gloves were stained pitch black.

The wrist veins visible beneath the surface were similarly tinted dark.

The moment that creeping darkness reached his heart or mind…

‘…the consequences will be dire.’

Therefore, a countermeasure must be uncovered before that threshold is crossed!

First, checking whether a return to the physical body remains possible is paramount.

Lion swallowed hard and reached out to touch his shell—

『Quest not accepted.』

A sharp spark flared, forcibly repelling his hand.

‘The quest wasn’t accepted?’

Before confusion could fully take root, an additional prompt materialized.

『Finding the Lost Child』

-A guardian desperately searches for their offspring.

-Yet why must they remain at a distance? Could unique circumstances be at play?

This implied that clearing the objective would grant reentry into his physical form.

‘The quest likely manifested because…’

Presumably, the item in question belongs to the Hero.

‘It beats having zero options, though…’

Lion swept his gaze slowly across the surroundings.

The landscape remained a void of absolute darkness, save for his dormant body and the Son of the Grand Duke.

The corrupted residue he spat out earlier had vanished entirely without a trace.

‘That reminds me…’

Lion glanced down at the Son of the Grand Duke, who had maintained a tight grip on the hem of his garment the entire time.

“Young master. Is there a specific reason you keep holding onto me?”

“Well… letting go of your hand causes you to keep drifting toward an unknown pull.”

He added that following that unseen current might have led him to a familiar face, yet he deliberately chose not to.

“I need to make amends for the mistakes I caused…”

He clearly carried a heavy burden over dragging Lion into this mess.

Since Lion was hardly in a position to brush it off lightly, he chose to accept assistance from the tearful Son of the Grand Duke.

Not to mention the title of the quest itself.

‘It is titled “Finding the Lost Child”.’

In essence, the role might involve acting as a guide.

“In that case, shall we attempt moving in that direction together?”

“Really? Is… is that truly alright?”

The Son of the Grand Duke cast a worried glance back at Lion’s physical shell.

“It still appears alive… Yet if the connection snaps, returning becomes impossible… experience taught me that much.”

Evidently, this young Son of the Grand Duke had run numerous experiments over the span of fifty years.

That background likely explained his reckless willingness to court trouble.

“It’s fine. Action is required regardless.”

“Then… in this direction.”

Accepting the quest, Lion intertwined his fingers with the Grand Duke’s son and stepped slowly into the shadows.

‘This environment defies all logic.’

Even if a botanical bud were to burst open on a massive scale, it wouldn’t forge a spatial expanse large enough to walk through indefinitely like this.

As they walked until their physical bodies faded completely from view, bizarre vistas began to emerge around them.

A semi-transparent entryway to an ancient fortress came into focus.

No, this place is…

‘Dragnas Castle.’

The fortress that, prior to the eradication of the Grand Duke’s household, stood in all its proud majesty…

This must be someone’s preserved memory.

And that someone is likely…

‘The Grand Duke.’

If so, navigating forward meant guiding the Grand Duke’s son through the labyrinth of the Grand Duke’s own recollections.

Maintaining mental fortitude would keep the situation manageable.

“This location is… my father’s memory.”

The perceptive Grand Duke’s son, perhaps grasping the gravity of the situation, quieted down considerably.

The small hand within his palm tightened its grasp.

Had he not been a ghost, cold sweat from sheer nervousness likely would have poured off him.

Despite his mature cadence accumulated over decades of spectral existence, he remained fundamentally a child.

And the final image the Grand Duke’s son witnessed regarding the demise of his family was…

‘Death.’

Lion refrained from empty words, instead tightening his grip around the Grand Duke’s son’s hand.

“I-it’s fine. I am all right. Decades have passed now… so. Yes.”

The Grand Duke’s son halted momentarily before resuming a determined stride.

Unlike the barren void experienced earlier, a flurry of sights, sounds, and shifts began to manifest around them.

The vision of someone sprinting toward him, dropping to their knees with arms flung wide, and pulling him into a tight embrace.

The memory of racing his son up the stone staircases of Dragnas Castle, step by painstaking step.

Echoing through corridors and lingering outside chambers.

Every single fragment…

“…Yes. He used to play with me just like that.”

It formed the shared history of the Grand Duke and his offspring.

Lion waited patiently, his gaze holding the reverence one might reserve for a priceless artifact.

Of course, resolving the quest swiftly before the corruption spread further remained an urgent priority.

‘The current state is manageable.’

Furthermore, navigating this quest would prove virtually impossible without the cooperation of the Grand Duke’s son.

Above all else…

‘Right beyond this point.’

It marks the bedchamber of the Grand Duke’s son.

Opening that door would likely reveal the Grand Duke waiting within.

However.

‘His exact condition remains a mystery.’

Will he appear as the devoted father of memory, or as a being stripped of reason by corruption, one who ultimately turned on the child he cherished above all?

‘There is no way to know.’

Certainties were few.

The reality of his deep affection for his child was undeniable, just as the reality of his fatal act was absolute.

One singular truth stood clear, however.

‘If I were placed in the shoes of the Grand Duke’s son.’

And if a grandfather, or family members, were to turn against me, however improbable…

Provided the realization came that malice played no part in it.

“…I would still care for Father.”

Indeed. Resenting him without reservation felt unlikely.

The emotional warmth and affection demonstrated during this brief span under a year bore a genuineness that could never be faked.

For Lion, known also as Baek Yi-hyun, these were sensations he had never previously experienced.

“My thoughts exactly.”

Lion playfully shook their joined hands.

“Still, feel free to cry if the fear becomes overwhelming.”

“I-I refuse to cry! The only reason tears fell before was because hearing that voice…”

The Grand Duke’s son offered a hasty excuse, sniffled audibly, and courageously pushed open his own chamber door.

Through the parting crack, a hazy, ominous smoke seeped outward, defying any positive impressions.

As though born from a severely flawed choice.

It formed a desolate sanctuary where no mortal could tread with ease.

Stepping forward with unexpected resolve, the young Son of the Grand Duke entered the enclosure.

Lion followed closely in his footsteps.

And inside.

“……”

A humanoid silhouette gripping a blade stood tall.

The corrupted entity, shattered to a degree where calling it human felt charitable, lumbered in their direction.

Then.

Clang.

The weapon slipped from his grasp, striking the floor as he dropped awkwardly to his knees and extended his arms outward.

Observing that posture, Lion…

“Go to your Father.”

He offered a soft smile and voluntarily released his grip.

The Grand Duke’s son bolted forward in a blur, burying himself in the embrace of the Grand Duke—his entire universe.

And slowly, gradually.

…The Grand Duke began to reacquire his original form.