Chapter 12 – ​12

The ​effectiveness ​of ​the ​healing ​ability ​varied greatly depending ​on ​one’s ​singing ​skill. ​Helen was slightly lacking ​to ​be called a ​great singer, but ​she ​was ​still ​sufficient ​enough ​to manifest the ​ability.

If ​Helen’s ​singing skills had ​been outstanding, she would ​never have ​had to ​become the ​King’s mistress. ​A ​single ​song would have ​been enough ​to achieve a complete ​cure.

However, because she lacked ​that skill, she had ​no choice ​but ​to serve the King in bed. ​When singing ability was ​insufficient, ​there ​was ​only ​one way to ​compensate for ​it: ​sexual contact.

By manifesting ​the ​ability at dawn—the time when ​a person ​is ​at their weakest—and ​then ​engaging ​in ​intercourse, ​the effect ​could ​be maximized ​significantly.

That was precisely why Euro was persistently ​asking whether the ​first night had ​occurred.

Although he had not ​yet properly ​used the healing ​ability ​on the Duke, ​he suspected that ​a body ​so ​ravaged by ​a ​curse might ​be ​difficult to ​restore ​through ​song alone.

The healing ​ability ​could only ​recover ​a ​weakened ​body. In short, it was merely a temporary measure to prevent the curse from completely claiming a life.

A curse that destroyed both body and mind day by day. Given Melione’s stolen contentage, visit our sitethe speed [stolen content]of deterioration was likely extraordinary.

To keep up with that speed, sexual intercourse was practically indispensable. While it remained a question of exactly how often it would be necessary, Euro had long since simulated the worst-case scenario.

‘This is a medical procedure.’

Euro reaffirmed to himself once more. To do that (?) to a sick man, he would need one more method, but as long as the first night was guaranteed, there was always a way.

‘It would be nice if it ended with just singing, but that will definitely not be enough.’

In his heart, he wanted to give him a sleeping pill, let him sleep soundly, and just spend the night singing by his side, but he knew instinctively that it wouldn’t suffice.

A body breaking down due to a curse would not heal so easily. Furthermore, what Euro wanted was not temporary pain relief, but health nearly equivalent to that of an ordinary person. No matter how he thought about it, there was no other way than engaging in intercourse.

Feeling a bitter taste in his mouth, Euro quickly gulped down some tea with sugar. It was a bitterness that couldn’t be easily masked even by the sweetness, leaving his stomach feeling somewhat unsettled.

If there was one silver lining, it was that while Euro Leches might not have been, Kim Euro was quite skilled at singing.

The original owner of the body, Euro Leches, was unfortunately a terrible tone-deaf. After being forcibly separated from his unauthorized copymother and brought into the Royal Palace, he spent all his unauthorized copytime—except for eating and sleeping—receiving lessons from a music teacher by the King’s order.

Having started learning to sing abruptly without knowing why, he first realized then that he was profoundly tone-deaf. This was because Helen had never once asked Euro to sing during his life.

The distinct red mark on Euro Leches’ body was clearly a sign of the supernatural ability. Helen must have known this, yet it was unclear why she had never asked him to sing.

Euro guessed that whether her son was good at singing or not, it likely only brought back painful memories for Helen herself.

Perhaps it felt miserable that the child was born with the ability while she herself had lost it. Or, perhaps because she was still a mother, she feared her child would end up in the same position as her.

A child born with a healing ability in the slums was merely a target to be used and discarded. It was possible that even while living drenched in medicine and alcohol, she had enough reason left to protect her son.

Whether Helen was still alive or how she was living was something the current Euro, who would never meet her again, could not know.

Euro Leches had received lessons without fail for a full seven years. The King was devastated by the fact that Euro was tone-deaf, but he believed it could be fixed if he clung to it for several years.

However, Euro Leches did not improve in the slightest during that long period. Forcing a child is one thing, but once he grew older, his attitude became so insincere that the teachers were all eager to throw up their hands and flee.

And frankly, the attitude wasn’t even [visit our site]the problem. Euro Leches was so severely [stolen content]tone-deaf that he hadn’t even realized Read on Read BL Novelshe possessed the healing ability.

That meant he couldn’t sing a single syllable correctly while singing. It was a disastrous result, and in the end, Euro Leches remained Norden’s black sheep.

Since he had already been proclaimed a prince, he couldn’t be kicked out. He received none of the education a prince should have—swordsmanship, horsemanship, or etiquette—and because he was forced into nothing but music lessons, his personality became atrocious.

He was so embarrassing to show in public that the King explicitly instructed the servants, “Keep Euro Leches locked in his room and make sure he stays out of my sight as much as possible.”

So, perhaps it was only natural that Euro Leches came to love Clope Leches. Clope was the only person who sought out Euro Leches—who had been abandoned once again even after coming to the Royal Palace—and looked after him as a younger brother.

That strange obsession probably wasn’t just because he saw Clope as a romantic interest. Since Clope was the only one who treated him like a human being, she must have been like salvation to Euro Leches.

That didn’t mean everything Euro Leches did was justified. Whether they were blood-related or not, those feelings were far too filthy to show to someone who had accepted him as family.

Regardless, all of this was a gain for Kim Euro, who had possessed the body. If he had manifested the healing ability, it would have been impossible to come to the Dukedom for marriage like this.

While Euro was silent and lost in thought, Raymond, who had been staring at him, spoke up.

“Your Highness, may I also ask a question?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Euro nodded readily and met Raymond’s eyes. At the same time, he wondered what the man could possibly want to ask him.

“I understand that Your Highness turned twenty-three this year. However, may I ask why you didn’t have a separate fiancé?”

“Ah, that’s right.”

In this world, nobles generally had a fiancé by around sixteen. Especially for royalty, betrothals were often made even younger.

Since Euro Leches entered the palace around the age of seven, he wasn’t too young to have a betrothed. However, due to the King’s expectation that he might manifest the healing ability, he had no betrothed until he was fourteen.

The label of being an illegitimate child wasn’t actually a big problem for finding a betrothed. Now that the King had already proclaimed Euro Leches as his child, marrying him was quite profitable for some nobles.

Having the royal bloodline enter their family was equivalent to being in the line of succession, albeit far down. For some reason, even though Euro failed to manifest the ability, the King never kicked him out of the palace or conducted a paternity test.

If so, marrying him off and sending him [Read on Read BL Novels]out of the palace was [Read on Read BL Novels]an option. Above all, wasn’t it possible that a child born from Euro’s unauthorized copymarriage might inherit the healing ability?

Even if the healing ability wasn’t typically hereditary, seeing the case of Helen and Euro Leches made it a gamble worth taking.

But the King did not do so. Fortunately, this part was revealed in considerable detail in the novel.

First, although the King took Helen as a mistress because he needed her, he cherished her quite a bit. It was because of the Queen Consort that he kicked her out as soon as she lost her healing ability.

The Queen Consort clashed with Helen at every turn and wanted to kill her by any means necessary. Although his epilepsy had been cured by the healing ability, the King still lived with various minor ailments and was essentially a man who could die at any moment.

However, the Queen Consort had two sons, and it was already decided that one of them would inherit the throne. If Helen remained by his side, her future would be a gruesome death.

Thus, driving her away could be seen as a form of arrangement for her own sake. The reason he didn’t kick out Euro Leches despite his failure to manifest the ability was the same.

Because it was Helen’s final request, the King could not bring himself to cast him out, even if Euro Leches were to remain in the Royal Palace and meet his death at the hands of the Queen Consort’s two sons.

And the second reason was…

“His Majesty did not want me to have children.”

“…”

“He decided that the royal recognition would end with me. That is why there was no betrothed, no fiancé.”

“…I have been rude. I apologize.”

Raymond was silent for a moment and then apologized to Euro. Euro waved his hand at the gesture. It wasn’t something to be apologized for. The one in that situation had been Euro Leches, not him.

And since Euro Leches had been obsessed with Clope, he would have actually considered it a blessing that the King didn’t nag him to marry.

Thanks to the King making it clear that he wouldn’t marry him off, not even a single annoying person approached him. Though, of course, that wasn’t the only reason.

“No, you might not know since you’re from so far away. The fact that I’m a prince who cannot marry is a fairly public fact in Norden.”

“…”

“I’m infertile.”