[BL] Accidentally Becoming the Healer of the Deranged Archduke-Chapter 341: What Is Zen?

Zen.

It meant silence. Like one was supposed to experience in the embrace of death. Cold, yet serene.

Darius instantly caught Xion’s hand in his own. "Where is it?"

"What is it?" Xion asked. His hazy blue eyes were suspiciously growing darker.

Normally, he would’ve let it go. If Darius asked, he would have simply tossed the palm-sized stone sitting in his pocket into his hands. But not this time.

There was a gnawing feeling in his gut that if he didn’t get to the bottom of this, he would regret it.

And regret was never pleasant. It never had been.

Darius stilled for a moment, silently wondering if he should or should not answer.

And if he did, how was he supposed to explain that he was planning a bloody hunt?

"Darius." Xion leaned forward, catching a silver strand from Darius’ temple and tucking it behind his ear—just as Darius had done to him, countless times.

"Tell me what Zen is exactly."

Perhaps he realized there was no other way, or maybe the Archduke was simply tired of playing the part of a gentleman.

His next words were blunt enough that Xion’s mouth parted in disbelief.

"Goddess’ wrath."

Xion blinked, trying hard to digest what he had just heard. The senior transmigrator, Sakura Mei, had written in her diary about this.

She had used her system to retract the defensive layer, and then the Zombie Orcs multiplied like parasites.

Every city had its own group of trained soldiers to locate and fight in the dungeons where the Orcs usually dwell.

Even the North had that. One that was led by none other than old man Berry. That was the reason why Berry was hardly seen in the castle.

"What does that mean?" Xion pressed on. The nagging feeling was creeping up his spine all over again.

His instincts were not just alerting him, they were screaming at him to do something.

But screaming for what? To hand the stone over to Darius?

Or to keep it as far from him as possible?

Darius pushed himself off the ground and sat beside Xion.

Dropping a kiss on his curious kitten’s cheek, he tried to speak like he was explaining it to a child.

"Quite literally. It’s a stone that brings destruction without sound.

Zen is said to be the last remnant of the goddess’ fury—born the day humans dared to enrage her sacred angel."

While Darius was explaining to him, Xion had already asked his system to scan the stone.

The results weren’t too far from what he had thought.

[Host, this is the S-level item. Something that has been banned by the higher management. Even we, with all those merit points, can’t buy it.]

The system said after scanning the stone, which Xion didn’t even get the chance to take a look at. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Xion fell into a deep contemplation. So Sakura had used this Zen to destroy the protective shield around Eldoria Lunerith.

Now that she was gone, no one knew how to control it.

But that didn’t stop people from obsessing over anything tied to the divine.

[You know, host. If Zen were detonated within the city limits, even your merits points might not be able to save the people in time.]

"Why do you want it?" Xion’s fingers trembled slightly.

He thought that he hid it well, but Darius noticed. He always noticed.

The usually talkative healer had gone quiet, asking only questions now, and that alone put the Archduke on edge.

"We’re hosting a Winter Ball. This will be the prize," Darius said, trying to sound nonchalant. As if this little trigger of destruction wasn’t meant to be used.

Albeit a bit, Xion’s tense shoulders relaxed. As long as Darius didn’t intend to use it... it was fine. It had to be.

"Can you give it to me? I don’t want you to get hurt." Darius rested his chin on Xion’s shoulder.

His arms wrapped around the slender waist, pulling him close. The familiar scent of herbs filled Darius’ senses, and they instantly calmed him.

"Oh," Xion muttered. He was truly a bit reluctant to do that. But he also didn’t have any excuse to refuse. After all, he was the one bringing this up.

If he had known earlier what Zen truly was, he might’ve just hidden it.

At least until he figured out why his nerves were drawn so tight.

Sighing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out the cloth-wrapped stone, placing it gently in a large palm.

"Promise me you won’t get hurt."

"I won’t."

But Darius didn’t even glance at the sachet. He simply set it on the bedside table, next to a few unfinished parchments—and left it there.

He continued to hold Xion while his mind was thinking of all the ways to get ’the hunting’ done sooner.

The earlier they deal with those damning people trying to get their hand on Xion under the banner of justice, the better it was for his sanity.

If he received one more of those insufferably polite letters from Silas, gently persuading him to hand over Xion, he might just ride out and slit the man’s throat himself. Consequences be damned.

Or at least that was his intention until Serena warned him.

"If you dare act like a madman, do it on your own. Don’t you dare harm my son."

One of these days, he was going to snap at that priestess of the night. No, seriously, why couldn’t she simply help?

Sure, there were restrictions on her, but what was the point if they couldn’t even save Xion?

Hence, even when there was a warning in her tone, he still went ahead and finally found Zen.

Although it was indeed Wrath, he hadn’t told Xion the full truth.

Zen was something that could swallow the places without making any noise. It wasn’t the city of ruin like Ferni, or even the Uzera. Zen could destroy cities the size of Myrthiana.

If he managed to activate it, he wouldn’t even need to wait for Winter hunt to deal with that damned Silas.

Because this little stone had the power to drive someone mad. Even if he couldn’t activate it, the stone had the power that would corrupt the senses of the holder.

It unearthed desires buried deep within and forced their bearer to act on them.

Silas was someone covered with thick black fog. Darius didn’t doubt for a second that he would do something stupid after being influenced.

Just one push and all the problems would be solved.