Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10

My body felt strange today—stranger than usual, anyway. It was already a wreck of a thing, but today it refused to cooperate even more than normal.
Moving my own body felt like operating a glitchy computer; the frustration was suffocating, as if I’d swallowed a million sweet potatoes.
I wanted to transmigrate into a healthy body instead.
“Arelin!”
And then the mansion erupted into chaos.
I tried to ignore it and close my eyes to sleep, but unfortunately the commotion had broken out near my room, so the noise was unavoidable.
What in the world was happening?
So I dragged myself out.
‘I should’ve just stayed in bed.’
Something tiresome had attached itself to me.
“Arelin, are you alright? It’s been so long!”
What was he doing here?
That was my only thought as Crown Prince Fession appeared as if the Estate belonged to him.
“Is your body okay? I heard you were sick! Are you really allowed to be up and around like this? Last time you said just running would make you collapse. Won’t standing this long be difficult for you?”
Fession poured out questions one after another, and when I showed no response, he waved his hand in front of my face.
“Huh?”
I felt dizzy.
I wanted a refund on this body.
“Are you in pain?!”
“What brings you here, Your Highness?”
“Huh?”
Fession rolled his eyes. He was making up an excuse.
“Oh! I came to visit you while you’re sick.”
“I see.”
That made even less sense.
Arelin and Fession were not close. It was a natural distance born from the fact that I couldn’t participate in the “vigorous, active play” that Fession enjoyed.
So why did he suddenly show up to visit me? What change of heart was this?
“I understand. You came to visit me while I’m ill.”
“Yes!”
Watching his bright, radiant smile—the one that said I should be happy he’d come—I found myself laughing hollow.
He was cute, I suppose.
But right now I didn’t have the emotional energy to enjoy that cuteness.
‘Just looking at him, he’s clearly been showered with love, raised without shadow, a clean slate.’
I knew this type well.
Good family, good parents, good character, good talent, good people surrounding him—raised without need for edges, living plainly and kindly.
Always welcomed and loved wherever he went, he’d internalized the assumption that naturally everyone else should love and welcome him too.
‘Musicians tend to have money anyway.’
And so, while I harbored no ill will toward Fession, I had no desire to grow close to him.
I understood the ending of this relationship too well.
“I’m grateful you made the effort to visit, but I’m afraid my poor manners have troubled you. Please forgive me.”
“Huh?”
“The disturbance in the household falls entirely on me as its master.”
Griam, who had quietly positioned himself behind the Crown Prince, suddenly looked at me with strange eyes. What was that about?
“What?! No!”
“Is that so?”
“Arelin didn’t do anything wrong!”
“I understand.”
Well, I was grateful he said so.
I offered hollow words of my own.
“Thank you for being upset on my behalf.”
“Ah! You… you were watching?”
What was this? Why was his face flushing? Was something wrong with him?
“Yes, I was watching.”
Honestly, I’d wondered why he was upset in the first place.
Maybe his noble blood objected to seeing me cursed out like a fool.
‘What does it matter.’
Being insulted from behind had been as routine as eating rice in my past life.
There had been times I was cursed to my face, and now I didn’t have the time or energy to be wounded by such things or squander my emotions on them.
‘But if I said that, he’d become difficult.’
They’d pity me, sympathize with me, or look at me strangely and say in shocked tones that I should see a psychiatrist. So I chose my words carefully.
“Thank you.”
In the end, that was all I had to say.
And yet at those words, the Crown Prince’s expression brightened immediately.
“Hehe.”
His eyes sparkled as he looked at me. The look of someone asking, ‘Didn’t I do well?’
What was this? Did he want me to praise him?
“It was nothing!”
“I see.”
“Well, I keep wondering if I overstepped. But I just couldn’t let it go, so…”
The sidelong glances he kept giving me made it clear his action was deliberate, conscious of me—but I couldn’t fathom his intention.
Kindness from a stranger is strange.
And it made me uncomfortable.
Especially when faced with kindness for no discernible reason, I couldn’t understand how to respond.
“Thank you.”
Surely he didn’t do all this just to receive a thank you.
“…Yes!”
Watching his expression brighten in an instant before me, I found I couldn’t understand Crown Prince Fession at all, so I tilted my head and then simply gave up trying.
“Trust me. If something like this happens next time, I’ll step in again!”
“No, please don’t if something like this happens next time.”
“Huh? What?”
The Crown Prince, who had been puffing up proudly, froze solid and repeated my words in bewilderment.
I realized my tone had turned serious without meaning to.
“I’m grateful you interceded on my behalf today, but your position could become difficult, Your Highness. Please let me handle things myself next time.”
“Uh… um…”
Fession’s eyes rolled.
“Did I overstep?”
Yes.
“No.”
But there was no way I could be honest about it. For some reason, Griam behind me had let out an admiring sound, but that was a secondary concern.
That man was strange too.
‘I need to get him out of here.’
I could feel the Childcare Unit shifting nervously behind me. My stamina was reaching its limit.
“Normally I’d offer you some juice, but the household is in disarray and my health hasn’t recovered enough, so I’m afraid I must ask you to leave.”
“Oh? Yeah, of course.”
“I apologize again for the poor showing, and thank you for today.”
“Huh? Um, yes!”
“Then I’ll see you out.”
“Uh, goodbye!”
Go on, then. It was annoying to meet you, and let’s not do this again.

* * *

After the visit had ended and the Crown Prince and Griam had left the Estate, Griam reflected on what had just transpired.
‘What on earth was that?’
That was the eloquence of a seven-year-old? He recalled the image of Arelin he’d just witnessed.
The weary, indifferent manner that was even enough to exhaust the Crown Prince’s spirits if one wasn’t careful.
And that expression of utter indifference that never wavered throughout.
‘Now that I’ve seen it in person, I understand a bit.’
Why the Crown Prince had begun to be smitten with Arelin.
There was something different about her, certainly. What exactly it was proved difficult to articulate, but seeing her in person made it clear.
This child was different from other ordinary children.
‘Still, I felt a bit sorry for him.’
Thinking back on what had happened, he couldn’t help but pity the Crown Prince.
He’d been rejected outright.
‘Perhaps now that His Highness has been rejected once, he’ll exercise some restraint.’
Griam held onto this hope and looked toward the Crown Prince.
“Griam.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“I think Arelin actually likes me.”
“…”
What nonsense was this?
As Griam stood frozen in shock, Fession spoke with sparkling eyes.
“She even gave me advice for my own sake—don’t you think so?”
Griam wanted to correct this delusion.

* * *

Round two had begun.
‘It’s like some endless raid where bosses keep spawning.’
No sooner had I sent off the Crown Prince than the next opponent appeared and held me down.
The Childcare Unit.
The butlers and maids who made their living caring for me.
“I am garbage. Garbage that won’t burn…”
“Humans burn in fire. Only the bones won’t burn easily.”
“Bones burn in fire too, you know.”
What was wrong with these people all of a sudden?
Perhaps it was better now than dealing with the Crown Prince because this was happening in my own room.
‘When was my room ever this small?’
It was rare to see the entire Childcare Unit—all the butlers and maids—in attendance together.
The dissonance struck me as they gathered around, looking at me with eyes full of apology and bodies language that screamed regret.
Why were they sorry?
“Did you curse me out?”
The people who had been bowing their heads like criminals startled violently and trembled.
“No!”
“What are you saying!”
“Us?!”
I sighed as the Childcare Unit gasped and protested.
“Then why are you sorry?”
I know you didn’t curse me out.
Call it petty revenge or the only thing I could do—all I had ever been able to do against those with malice was hide and avoid.
Even these people would suck up to me in hopes of catching my eye, waggling for scraps of benefit to come their way.
“But why are you acting like criminals?”
I genuinely could not comprehend it.
Why were they behaving this way?
“It’s because… we couldn’t protect you.”
“We couldn’t earn your trust.”
Uni, the maid responsible for monitoring my health and managing my medicine, choked on her words.
“It is our duty and our joy to protect you, care for you, and raise you well.”
I couldn’t understand this. They weren’t even family.
Was it just work to them?
“Why would it be a joy?”
“Because we love you, of course.”
“You… love me?”
I felt as if I’d heard something I shouldn’t have.
“Why?”
Why… why would you love me?
Wasn’t it just work? You cared for and tended to me because it was your job, didn’t you? There was no personal feeling in it, was there? Had I been mistaken all along?
As we stood frozen, facing each other in mutual shock, my vision suddenly blurred.
“Huh? Young miss?”
Uni’s worried expression appeared first. Why was she looking at me with such concern…?
“I feel dizzy…”
Had I moved too much today and made myself dizzy?
Then it happened.
Thump. My vision went black.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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