[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke novel Chapter 214

Chapter 214: Bad Decisions of Irresponsible Adult Xion

Nine long hours.

That’s how long Xion had been locked inside his lab. And the results, while not exactly comforting, at least proved he wasn’t wasting his time.

There was a strange poison in the blood that was killing the victims. It wasn’t natural, nor was it entirely magical.

Once it started spreading, it burned through the veins like fire. The excessive heat attacked the internal flesh, turning it into something like charred remains.

The result was a thickening of blood until it was almost sludge, and then came the bleeding.

Or rather, the vomiting of blackened blood.

He had also brought back the dried leaves the merchant’s wife mentioned.

But there were no traces of toxins present in the leaves. In fact, Lady Norva, Lord Varnehold’s wife, had vouched for it too. Said she drank it every winter to avoid catching a chill.

She was right. The tea worked exactly the same way. But this time, it had resulted in the opposite.

The dried leaves had intensified the symptoms. The fever might have scorched the girl for a week before forcing her to vomit black bile.

She didn’t even make it past the third day before coughing up blood.

"So... what now?"

The system finally broke its silence. Because of course it did. Couldn’t miss a chance to rub salt in his open wound.

"You know it’s poison. Big achievement. But you don’t have an antidote. You don’t even have a name. How very... competent of you."

Xion, slumped on the chair, didn’t even bother opening his eyes. "If you’re here to gloat, feel free to disappear back into your system space and sulk quietly."

"Disappointed that your shiny AI companion isn’t clapping for you? You wound me."

The system let out a long, exaggerated sigh. "Honestly, it’s not my fault you’re poor and can’t even afford the cheap stuff anymore."

"...Don’t start." Xion had no desire to hear the talk about how irresponsible he was as an adult.

"No, no, really. Let’s talk about your financial decisions. Let’s revisit the time you spent your last five hundred points building a small cottage for that old woman."

"It had automatic heating!" Xion argued, then immediately regretted wasting the energy.

He had spent most of his points building hospitals and schools, buying books, setting up supplies, and trying to make it all look like something that could’ve been produced by human hands.

And to make it more believable, the system enchanted each book to look like it had been handwritten by him. Though it took a bit extra point, it worked.

But in the process, he’d somehow fallen deep into system debt. And the interest rate was worse than any loan shark in a capital city.

It took him six months of non-stop healing to pay it back.

Six months of treating infected wounds, broken bones, magical burns, and every stupid injury the villagers could throw at him.

Now that he spent more time teaching than treating, the merit points had slowed to a painful crawl.

Still, it wasn’t like he regretted it. Mostly.

Of course. Poison was always the solution to this version of the system. Ever since it evolved, it had developed a very... casual relationship with the concept of murder.

He was past the point of being tired. His muscles had long since stopped protesting. Now, they simply refused to budge even an inch.