[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Cute Child Who?

"To accept an apprentice, one must mix their blood and offer it to the goddess Myrtia. That dagger is enchanted to amplify the wielder’s deepest desires. Although, this might be the first time it had driven Allen with such intensity."

That was, without a doubt, the longest sentence Darius had uttered since Xion had known him.

Xion ran a hand through his dark hair, brushing aside the unruly strands that tickled his eyes. Sitting quietly in the carriage had given him the clarity to reflect on the chaos of the day.

Hearing Rael’s soft voice, carefully telling him the ins and outs of the situation, had already soothed half his anger and lingering fear. The rest dissipated when he glanced across the carriage.

Unlike the first day they had met, when Rael lounged lazily against plush cushions, his posture now was alert. He sat there with his back ramrod straight.

And for a moment, Xion noticed the way Darius rubbed his fingernail over the tender skin of his thumb.

His long hair was still cascading carelessly over his shoulders, yet those green eyes looked at him straight.

If one thing was evident to Xion, it was the blatant worry in that intense gaze.

A child who ought to be fretting over which snack to eat next was worrying about the burdens of his people. Not only that, Rael also did not want him to harbor any ill intent for Allen.

Such thoughtfulness, without any doubt, was the rarest.

Such a considerate child... and so very cute!

With a deep frown, his delicate face scrunched into an expression so tender and childlike that it resembled a soft, round bun.

An inexplicable urge surged through Xion. He wanted to reach out and poke his cheek. Maybe even pinch it lightly to see the always cold-faced Rael’s reaction.

While restraining himself from doing something that might potentially land him under yet another gleaming sword of a particular knight, he sighed.

"Got it," Xion said with a gentle smile. His oceanic eyes twinkled under the streaming golden sunlight.

Rael blinked and then said no more. Though, Xion could see how Rael’s back had relaxed.

Xion had a very simple thinking process. Survive.

If something was not immediately life-threatening, he would set it aside to deal with later.

Anyway, if they were important enough, he would have to think of them, and he would do so when urgently needed.

If they did not spring up in his life later, that meant they were not that important to worry about in the first place.

So, just like that, a certain silly activist threw the recent situation in the corner of his mind and focused on something more interesting.

"Your Grace, have you learned swordsmanship?"

Back on earth, Xion had a hobby. It was movies and animes. He especially liked to watch those showing cool fighting scenes with weapons like swords, bows, axes- you name it.

Earlier, when he almost lost his life and was about to say bye-bye to this world, a little twig- no, the little angel saved his life.

That, too, in such a cool way!

Xion was not the least bit ashamed to admit that he was impressed by a kid of eleven to the point that when he looked at Rael, his eyes shone even brighter than the brightest star in the dark night.

Darius, meanwhile, had been observing Xion carefully.

How peculiar, he thought. Xion did not act like the usual healers Darius was accustomed to.

Unlike the bloodshed and greed, he was familiar with, Xion had a certain innocence in the way he saw the world.

It was as if in this silly healer’s world, saving others without any personal gains was normal. He expected the world to be kind. Xion had been so gentle and so strangely warm.

It was baffling. Suspicious, even.

Darius had initially assumed that Xion’s actions were driven by a desire for fame.

Yet, the meager amount this absurdly naive and humble boy charged for his treatments had long eliminated any notion of greed for gold.

Greed. What a delightful little word.

Looking at the radiant smile that made him squint his eyes; Darius repeated the sudden question in his mind. Swordsmanship?

"But the instructor... well, he didn’t teach me much. He was far too scared to come near the devil."

Darius smirked slightly and Xion could tell the devil was little Rael.