[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke

There hadn’t been many people Xion had loved in his life. Minato-sensei was one of them. Honestly, he was the only one Xion ever considered a true elder.

As for his middle school teacher, Misaki-sensei, he’d lost contact with her a long time ago. Now, only pleasant memories of her remained.

Elderly love was the only kind of love he had known in his short life.

Where would he find a lover? More importantly, where would he find a fiancé?

To Xion, the word fiancé felt distant. It was like a fantasy, something that existed in stories but was never meant to be real. At least, not for him.

So, what did he just hear?

"What?" Ray was the first to voice his disbelief.

Darius ignored his knight and took a seat in one of the chairs.

Xion, still in a daze, numbly followed his lead, sitting down as if his body was acting on instinct rather than understanding what was happening.

However, this time, Darius found the distance between them too far.

Were the chairs always placed this distance? How did he never notice it?

While musing to himself, he reached out and grabbed the arm of Xion’s chair. In one smooth motion, he directly dragged it forward until they were mere inches apart.

Xion could only blink at the archduke with obvious confusion and bafflement in his eyes.

"Nikolai has a royal decree to marry you," Darius finally told Xion. "It can’t be revoked unless one of the parties commits a heinous crime."

Xion felt his heart plummet to the pit of his stomach.

"What?" His voice trembled, panic seeping into his words. "Why? H-how could that be?"

Xion was on the verge of crying.

And how could he not? All he had ever wanted was a simple life.

After replaying every interaction with the prince, he could think of only one possible reason for this absurd situation.

I hate my face!

Nikolai was just like his perverted brother, Soren. The prince too was just attracted to his looks and nothing more.

"I-I don’t want to..." Xion whispered. His voice was barely audible as many disgusting memories of being touched and forced rushed to his mind. They were of little Xion Vaelis when he was taken away by Caspian.

And then there were his own when he was chased by those perverts when he was in high school. How those hands rushed to tear his clothes away, how they wanted to parade him naked and upload his video on the internet.

Xion subconsciously clenched his fingers. His gaze was lowered, fixed on the tablecloth. "No. Not again..."

A few such words escaped his lips, but his voice was so low that only Darius heard them.

The room became more oppressive and stifling. Ray knew his grace was angry. At Nikolai? At Xion? He could not tell.

Regardless, he wanted to plead for Xion. It was not like it was Xion’s fault. Although it was precisely because of Xion that they had to rush back without even achieving their goal, Ray did not want his grace to scold Xion.

It was not easy to find such a silly healer.

Just as he opened his mouth to speak, a hand was directly placed on his mouth.

Allen, sensing the tension in the room, swiftly dragged the stupid knight out. His Grace and teacher needed some personal space to sort out the situation. And they should not act as useless presence.

Honestly, Allen hadn’t expected Darius to move so fast.

The alchemist had assumed it would take time for the archduke to realize that his feelings toward Xion were different. At least, it was very different from the way the archduke had treated anyone around him.

Based on his calculations, it should have taken much longer. But now...

Allen could only hope that everything would turn out fine.

Inside the room, Xion was already on the verge of breaking down.

"I-I only talked to him for a bit. That’s all. So why? W-why is this happening?"

All of his pent-up frustration boiled over. The humiliation of being accused of being a pervert, being thrown into jail, being treated like some kind of criminal.

Then, the absolute filth of that prison...

Of course, he had been afraid. How could he not?

In his entire life, the worst thing he had ever experienced was being beaten.

High school humiliation was at the top of his nightmares, and it had taken him almost a year to muster the courage to step outside of his room again.

Yet, here he was, forced to relive it all. Ah, no. Not just relive it.

He had actually experienced the worst version of it all.

His fingers trembled in his lap as he struggled to hold himself together. But no matter how hard he tried; the silent tears still fell.

And before he could even register it himself, a soft whimper left his lips.

It didn’t take long before a hand tilted his chin up. Darius sighed lightly as he rubbed his thumb under the glistening eye, and wiped the water drop away.

"Why are you crying?" Darius’s voice was much softer than usual. Something not even Ray had heard.

The Archduke had imagined it many times, how Xion would look when he showed others emotions rather than just being happy.

Yet, the warm touch on his finger did not bring him the anticipated joy. Instead of the satisfaction he had expected from finally seeing Xion’s raw feelings, a strange heaviness settled in his chest.

Nikolai made you cry... The thought made his eyes narrow.

"I don’t w-want to m-marry him." Xion fumbled out the words. His voice was shaking as he struggled to hold back his sobs.

But he still failed, miserably at that.

The tears kept falling, like pearly drops of rain, wetting both his face and Darius’ fingers.

Darius recalled the way Xion had once held onto him in the carriage. Without much thought, he mimicked that moment.

In one smooth motion, he pulled Xion onto his lap, cradling the trembling boy against his chest.

His movements were a little awkward as his large hand hesitantly patted Xion’s back. The archduke was unsure of how to comfort someone so visibly shaken up.

"Then don’t," Darius murmured so gently. "I never said you had to."

Xion was thoroughly flooded with his gushing emotions. So much that he didn’t even notice the way he had melted into Darius’ hold, nor did he feel the clumsiness in the archduke’s comforting gestures.

All he knew was that he needed this warmth.

Burying his face in the crook of Darius’ neck, he clung to Darius with all his might.

From stupidly dying, and waking up in this world, from Soren’s molestations and humiliation to Eli’s betrayal, from Rael’s lies to Minato sensei’s loss...

All of it had jumbled together and became a hideous mess of thorns, poking his heart until he could not bear it anymore. Until he could not breathe properly.

Xion needed something that could anchor him to reality, someone to tell him that everything would be fine.

And Darius becomes such a constant for him. Xion’s special anchor that was willing to hold Xion protectively against the huge waves of sorrow.

Like a thirsty traveler in the ocean, to Xion Darius’ embrace was an oasis. A heaven where he could let out all the frustration.

Xion wanted to become selfish. Just for this once, he wanted to hold onto such an oasis and soak into the warmth.

And so, he surrendered to the moment. He let the tears fall freely.

With each of his whimper and sob, all the helplessness that had been weighing him down was swept away.

His fingers curled into the expensive fabric of Darius’ shirt, gripping it so tightly that the fine material crumpled under his touch.

Xion ruined the costly cloth completely.

However, no one paid any attention to it. No one said a word about it.