I Became the Cure for the Cursed Prince - Chapter 132

Lucas’s voice rang through the room. It was loud enough to shake the walls.
There was a tension in the air, as if he might throw the glass in his hand across the room at any moment.
Leon couldn’t understand why Lucas was so angry.
Was he really that unwilling to belong to Theian?

Would combining the two nations mean Lucas no longer had a place to return to?
Had he always been holding onto the thought of going back?

In the midst of the storm of thoughts spinning in his mind, Leon watched as Lucas turned to leave the room.

“Lucas, if you take even one more step, I’ll believe you’re thinking of leaving me.”

Lucas stopped in his tracks.

“I already told you. I need time to clear my thoughts.”

“You can do that here. I won’t say anything if you want silence.”

Leon’s desperate voice made Lucas hesitate.
He wanted to walk out, to ignore everything and escape the conversation.
But his feet wouldn’t move.

Leon pressed a hand to his chest, his expression tight with frustration.

“I don’t even know what I said that made you so angry. But if you walk away now, what am I supposed to do while I wait? Can’t we just let it go for now?”

Lucas wondered if he had been asking too much by expecting Leon to understand, even without him saying anything.
Maybe it was selfish to expect that.

Still, he couldn’t help feeling hurt.
If it had been anyone else, he wouldn’t have gotten this angry.
It was only because it was Leon.

Which made it all feel so pointless and childish.
But once emotions boil over, they don’t settle easily.

And more than anything, it was deeply disrespectful to speak about dissolving a nation in front of its former Grand Duke.
Leon should have been more careful.
He should never have brought it up so lightly.

“You’re asking me to rip out my roots. That’s selfish.”

Leon stayed silent.

“Of all things, to bring up the idea of merging Rion so casually. Do you even see me as your partner?”

That question struck something in Leon.
It was as if the last strand of patience snapped. His eyes turned red, and veins stood out on his temples as he scowled.
Then suddenly, his expression grew cold.

“And demanding that the imperial heir be registered as someone else’s adopted daughter—was that reasonable?”

“That request wasn’t mine!”
Lucas’s body trembled with anger.

“I didn’t ask for that, and I never intended to.”

He had no intention of sending Elisha away, which was why he hadn’t told Leon the full truth.
Leon looked at him with a bitter smile, barely concealing his own fury.

“You didn’t intend to? Then what if Michelle and Sion both die on the same day? Then what? Will you go to the North yourself and rule it?”

“Leon, how can you say something like that?”

Lucas wanted to scream.
How could Leon think of him as someone so irresponsible?
They had spent so many years together. How could he still doubt him like this?

He wanted to laugh in disbelief, to throw it all back in Leon’s face.
But the tightness in his throat made it hard to breathe.

“Why not? If you won’t send Elisha and you refuse to unite the nations, then what’s left? You plan to go yourself, don’t you? Because for you, the country always comes first.”

How could he say something like that, so calmly, so coldly?

Lucas’s eyes burned, and his vision blurred.
Tears were threatening to fall, but he bit down on his lip to hold them back.

This wasn’t just an argument between partners.
This was about the future of the Grand Duchy.
He couldn’t allow himself to cry now.

Without another word, Lucas turned, opened the door, and stepped out of the room.
He heard something crash behind him, but he didn’t go back.

He just needed a moment alone.

He needed some time alone.

Leon had thrown the teacup and even knocked over the table, but the anger would not leave him.
He stood in the center of the room, staring at the door Lucas had walked through.

He could not understand where things had gone so wrong.
He wanted to chase after Lucas, to ask him what was really happening.
He wanted to apologize, even without knowing the reason.
But his legs would not move.

He sat in silence for half the day, motionless like the dragon statue in the palace garden.
Eventually, he responded to urgent matters when Ermon came to him with documents that needed approval.

Time passed like fog. One day, then two.
Leon had no sense of how quickly the hours slipped away.
He spent all of them thinking about Lucas.
And the longer it went on, the more tightly his chest felt, as if he could not breathe.
He missed Lucas so much it hurt.

Several times, he went to the room where Lucas was staying temporarily.
He knocked, but each time the attendant quietly asked him to come back, saying Lucas needed more time.
Even so, Leon remained outside the door, unwilling to move until Lucas appeared.

But Lucas never came out.
An invisible thread was stretched between them, drawn tight but refusing to break.

“Your Majesty, please. You should return now. If you keep doing this, you might collapse.”

Despite Ermon’s quiet pleading, Leon still felt no hunger.
Then it hit him—Lucas was probably not eating either.

He wanted nothing more than to break the door open and go inside.
But he still did not know exactly why Lucas had been so upset.

Seeing each other now would not bring answers.
They would only end up hurting each other again.

“Ermon, make sure Lucas has something to eat.”

That was all Leon could manage to say.
And with those words, he finally turned to leave.

Even while they argued, both Lucas and Leon tried their best not to let the children notice.
They thought it wouldn’t be obvious, since they were always busy and didn’t get to spend much time together anyway.

But when a child truly cares about their parents, it doesn’t take much to notice.
Even without a word, everything was clear to them.

Elisha bit down on her lip to keep herself from crying.
Dea stared with intense focus, holding back his emotions.
Andrea let out deep sighs over and over again.

After a long silence, Elisha was the first to speak.

“This can’t go on. We have to do something.”

Dea replied with little enthusiasm.

“It’s not like there’s anything we can do.”

“So what? Are you saying we should just sit here and do nothing?”

The two glared at each other, eyes narrowed.

Their fathers fighting was already upsetting enough, and now even her siblings were at each other’s throats.
Andrea felt like she was going to explode.
They were already ten years old. How long were they going to keep acting like children?

Andrea sighed and spoke up.

“Stop it. I have a good idea.”

Elisha and Dea both turned to her at the same time.
Their eyes were sharp, clearly demanding an explanation.

In truth, Andrea didn’t have a plan.
She had only said it to stop the other two from arguing.

She quickly began to think, and then said,

“First, we have to figure out what started the fight.”

Elisha answered right away.

“And how are we supposed to do that?”

“You can tell just by looking. They’ve both been too busy. That’s what caused all of this. They didn’t have time to talk to each other properly, so they ended up arguing.”

Dea nodded seriously.

“That makes sense. When we went to the North, Aunt told me not to bother Father. She said he already had too much to do, even without us. But even if that’s true, what can we do? We can’t do their work for them.”

Elisha stood up straight.

“Why not? We’ll help them ourselves.”

“How?”

“Well, you see…”

Elisha’s eyes sparkled as she began to explain her grand plan in full detail.

Dea thought to himself, This isn’t it, but since he couldn’t think of anything better, he ended up agreeing.

Andrea, relieved that she had stopped the argument between the two, quietly let out a breath.

Outside, things were noisy, but Lucas still couldn’t bring himself to get up.

It had been a long time since he had felt this kind of fatigue. His entire body ached.

Clutching his pounding head, he closed his eyes again. A servant came in quietly, replaced the cold porridge with a fresh hot bowl, and left without a word.

He knew he needed to eat something if he wanted to regain his strength, but right now, he didn’t want anything.

A sigh slipped out from between his dry lips.

After dealing with state matters from his bed, he had spent the rest of his time thinking about Leon.

At first, he believed Leon had changed. That the wise, thoughtful Leon he knew was gone.

But the more he thought about it, the more he realized that Leon hadn’t changed at all.

He was the same man who had made sure every room he stayed in, including the office and the children’s rooms, faced south.
The same man who always rushed to handle any talk about the Grand Duchy of Rion and carefully watched Lucas’s reactions.
The same man who would panic and come running if he could not reach Lucas for even half a day.
The same man who refused to help when Lucas had tried to conceive.
The same man who had dismissed most of the servants, keeping only the omegas nearby.

The list of things tied to Leon’s obsession was far too long to count.

And through it all, Lucas never truly faced it.
He never tried to talk about it seriously.

Instead, he just pitied Leon and tried to comfort him.

He had told himself it was because Leon had grown up away from his parents.
Because he had lived under the constant threat of death.
Because it was natural for him to cling tightly to those who showed him love.

Lucas had told himself all of it was understandable.

He had closed his eyes to the truth.

Even when that obsession had long since crossed the line into something dangerous, into something like illness.

Even Leon’s desire to merge the Grand Duchy of Rion with the empire, just to keep Lucas by his side, was something Lucas had to take responsibility for.

Lucas rested his arm on the window frame and quietly looked out toward the direction of Leon’s office.

It was not far. From the window, he could see people passing by.

Since the day Leon had stood outside his door and then walked away, he had not returned.

Leon had not come looking for him again.

Support