[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke novel Chapter 239

Chapter 239: Using A Love Guide

"Do you want me to call you Grandma?" Xion asked, half-joking, half-serious.

"Oh, no!" Nazia waved her hand in vehement refusal. "I’d be much happier if you dropped the titles altogether."

"...Okay."

Xion was slightly thrown by the strong reaction. It felt like an oddly intense rejection, but he didn’t press the issue. Not everyone wanted a surprise grandson, after all.

Contrary to what Xion assumed, Nazia’s thoughts were far too simple. She was just saving herself.

Becoming Xion’s grandmother, tempting as the title was, also meant becoming his partner’s grandmother. And that was a complication Nazia wasn’t prepared to face.

Just imagining that icy, soul-piercing glare from Darius was enough to shake her straight back to her senses.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to accept the role. She just didn’t dare.

So, with practiced grace, she smoothly steered the conversation away, toward something that might ease her brooding master’s burdens.

"There’s been some unrest among the Archduke’s vassals lately."

The shift in tone sobered Xion immediately.

"Why? I’ve only heard praise on the way here. Some people are even considering moving north."

"But most don’t survive the journey," she said with a weary sigh.

"And that’s part of the problem. The villages already here don’t want to take in more mouths to feed when they’re barely managing their own. It’s caused some resentment."

Resources were scarce after all. And with winter deepening, hunting would soon become a deadly gamble. The colder it got, the fewer animals there were, and the more lives risked just to find them.

Xion nodded slowly.

No matter how prosperous the land was, there were always those villages which were on the verge of collapse. Not to mention how the bitter cold was already claiming lives with each passing day.

"I hope this gets better," Xion mumbled.

"That’s what I wanted to speak with you about." Nazia leaned in slightly as she continued.

"If you have the time, maybe you could help His Grace with some of these matters. You’ve likely noticed, he never shares his burdens. It worries me that he might make himself sick again like was in the past."

Mentioning Moonshade Affliction was a taboo in the castle.

But not out of fear. No, not anymore. Now, it was a silence born of sorrow because that name carried too much pain.

Nazia had seen His Grace struggle just to draw another breath while hiding his misery behind clenched teeth, trying hard not to make a sound.

The young lord had learned early that the sound of weakness invited wrath, especially from his father.

Darius wasn’t this talkative or even flirtatious when Xion had left him. He had been curious about what might have changed him so much.

"Odd you say... Can you perhaps elaborate on that?" There was a strange glint in her eyes as she asked. _{freēwēbηovel.c૦m}

If Xion hadn’t been so focused on thinking how to word it out without giving away those strange remarks Darius had made, he might’ve noticed that she looked just like those aunties ready for some juicy gossip.

It hadn’t just been odd. The whole day, not including the time he was asleep like a dead log, had been a burst of haze and fondness and oh gods, that strange flutters in his stomach.