[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke
Chapter 103: An Old Friend

Chapter 103: An Old Friend

Author’s note- Just a little notice to... well, steady your hearts if you are an emotional person.

Xion’s fingers twitched, itching to reach for something that could ground him. His mind screamed at him to react, to question, to demand, but his body refused to obey.

He hesitated for a moment, then pointed a trembling finger at his face. "A-are you talking to me?"

"Of course, I am talking to you, Xion Aijawa."

Xion exhaled slowly, forcing himself to breathe.

It’s not real.

What I’m seeing is just someone from this world. It’s not what I’m thinking.

It’s not real. It’s not real... It’s not real... It’s not...

He forced his mind to repeat it, over and over, until his breath no longer caught in his throat, until the tightness in his chest eased just enough for him to think.

But the old man seemed completely unaware of the storm raging inside him. Or perhaps he simply didn’t care. His next words made Xion’s heart tremble.

The old man chuckled. A deep, knowing laugh that made Xion even more dizzy.

"It’s not every day I see an old friend. So I am a bit excited."

Old friend...

Xion’s lips parted, but no words came out. His throat tightened as he struggled to form the name, to give voice to the impossible thought clawing at the edges of his mind.

"Sensei..."

The rest of the words remained trapped on Xion’s tongue, refusing to cross the barrier between thought and reality. Because if he said it out loud, it would become real.

And reality seemed more elusive to him.

"I am also excited to meet an angel, you know." The old man winked at the stunned Xion.

Long black eyelashes trembled along with those parted lips, "A-angel? I am not-"

He was about to protest, to deny, to grasp onto whatever fragile sense of logic remained. But then Minato raised a hand.

Just one simple gesture and Xion stopped.

"Don’t be so surprised," the man continued with a slight smile on his face. "In fact, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time," Minato said so while his head rested against the cold pillar.

Though Minato remained seated on the floor, making no move to stand, his smile was filled with the same warmth and love Xion remembered.

Why are you not hugging me? Xion felt his eyes getting dry. His gaze fell on the familiar face filled with wrinkles which he had almost forgotten.

However, now that he was looking at the old man, It felt like just yesterday that a twelve-year-old him was clinging to Minato-sensei’s sleeve, demanding pasta for dinner.

He could still remember the way he had shamelessly wrapped himself around Minato-sensei’s legs, refusing to let go, whining and pouting until his teacher finally sighed and agreed to stay a little longer.

Only then did Xion notice that under the cover of the duvet, the old man was missing both legs.

"You-" Xion rasped.

How did this happen? Why are you here? Why are you hurt?

He wanted to ask so many questions. However, when he opened his mouth, all the words died on the edge of his teeth.

Suddenly, his tongue seemed to forget how to spell correctly, and his mind buzzed with a static noise that made him wince.

"Don’t fret, Xion. These legs are the result of the Blight Rot." Minato patted the place beside him, silently inviting Xion to take a seat.

Until then, Xion hadn’t even noticed how stiff his legs had become. His mind felt detached from his body, his movements sluggish and uncoordinated. Still, he forced his feet to move forward, one step at a time.

But just a few steps in, his strength gave out.

With a dull thud, his knees hit the cold ground.

He did not even bother to stand up. He crawled until his back rested against the same pillar as Minato.

"I’ve heard the air whispering that you cured someone of Blight Rot. I would have been lucky if I met you earlier. Am I right doctor Xion?"

There was a playful smile in Minato’s grey eyes as he teased the younger male, but Xion could not laugh.

A wrinkled hand gently rubbed his knees, "Don’t worry about me, my child."

Xion’s gaze dropped to the frail hands resting in his lap. Beneath the cover of the long sleeve, he could see the patches of blue creeping up Minato’s arms, staining the skin hidden beneath the blanket.

The rot had already taken hold.

Even his arms were decayed in places. His fingers, twisted and wrapped in bloody bandages, looked as though they had been broken and reset far too many times.

Xion swallowed hard.

Minato’s condition had long passed the point of saving. There was no cure.

No hope...

A sudden wave of helplessness washed over him. Despite being in so much pain, Minato was left here, in the burning sun, to decay.

"Y-you can come with me," Xion tried not to let his voice tremble.

Xion’s fingers hovered over the edge of the blanket, torn between the urge to pull it away and the fear of what lay beneath.

Minato must have noticed his hesitation because he chuckled softly.

"The pope left me here so I could die peacefully. And by that, they meant alone," he mused as if recounting some trivial detail and not his own death. "Apparently, I stink of death. But don’t I have you now?"

Xion’s throat tightened. Before he realized it, a single tear slid down his cheek, tracing the path to his chin.

He said nothing.

Instead, he leaned in, resting his head against Minato’s frail shoulder.

His fingers clenched until his knuckles turned white, "Sensei, can’t we go back? I will take you to the best hospital, okay?"

Minato remained silent for a long time before speaking again.

"The goddess watches over you. But it is not just the goddess who has taken notice. Others are watching as well. Be careful of whom you make your ally."

A little golden ring hovered in the air before it fell onto Xion’s lap.

"It can keep the wearer safe, but it won’t last long." With every word spoken, the weary voice grew softer. "Find the holy book, and you will know what you want..."

Before Xion could respond, the old man closed his eyes again as if the conversation had ended.

Xion sat there for a moment longer, waiting... until his tears stopped falling. Until he felt the person beside him begin to turn cold.

"Sensei?" he called deliberately, even though he already knew it.

There was no breath left in the old man’s... No, in his dear Minato-sensei’s body.

"Sensei?" His hands shook as he hastily wrapped the falling body in the duvet. His arms tightened around the person in his embrace as if holding on just a little longer could change the inevitable.

"Y-You left me again..."

There was no sound of heavy sobbing or wailing. No desperate cries to the heavens. No more tears rolled down his face.

Instead, something inside him caved in.

One moment, there had been a familiar warmth. And the next, there was nothing left.

A part of him wanted to stay like this, unmoving. He wanted to pretend for just a little longer that his teacher was only sleeping. That if he waited, he would wake up again.

"Sensei, I am scared.... Please w-wake up. You didn’t call me angrykitten yet..."

The body in his arms grew stiff.

It felt too heavy.

Xion had thought he had no more pieces left to break, but...

The hollowness carved through his chest. It left behind an emptiness he couldn’t grasp, couldn’t describe, couldn’t even begin to mend.

Ah, he did not even want to mend it.