Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 100

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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 100

I was thrown into confusion.
No matter how much Father resembles a trashy romance novel male lead, this wasn’t it.
Now that I thought about it, why wasn’t Father the male lead?
Pathetic with an enormous dark past, burdened with serious secrets, family fortune destroyed, raised under garbage parents, maintaining only one friend—an awful human relationship—nonsensical, appearing mentally ill, possessing numerous personal character flaws—he was the very definition of a textbook male lead archetype.
Wow, he’s really the complete opposite of Fession.
“I think this one must be Mother…”
Such an intense instinct couldn’t be ignored. So what was Father?
‘But thinking about it coldly, there’s no guarantee that Father is actually my biological father, is there?’
When I actually saw Father, I didn’t have as strong an instinct as I did looking at this portrait.
I still felt distance, and something slightly awkward.
I’d thought it was because I simply wasn’t close to the entity called Father. Or wasn’t I?
“Hmm.”
Father or uncle?
Schrödinger’s father?
“Let’s drop it.”
I don’t know.
What does it matter if he’s my biological father or not!
If he feeds me, puts me to bed, and raises me, then he’s my father. That’s all that matters.
I decided I’d think about secrets of birth and all that nonsense only if someone told me.
“But where is he, really?”
The portrait gallery was enormous.
Where exactly was he hiding?
It was when I scratched my head and emerged into the main hall.
“Huh?”
The second-floor corridor, which had been outside my field of vision due to the high ceiling, caught my eye. On a whim, I climbed up and found Father sprawled on a Couch Sofa, living the good life.
“Father!”
Only the master of the Halbern Manor himself could move freely through the countless devices and traps of this vast estate.
Perhaps that’s why Father typically stayed in places where no one else dared venture.
“Father?”
I scurried over and drew close, only to hear him emit a quiet groan.
‘It seems he used his Ability a lot because of me.’
Knowing that Ability always came with Side Effects and Aftereffects, I felt worried.
“Does it hurt?”
Whether he’d been asleep or not, his long eyelashes—fanned out in graceful arcs—trembled and rose.
Pale violet eyes focused on me.
Was something actually wrong with him?
“Were you sleeping?”
“No.”
Father exhaled softly, his gaze meeting mine. Suddenly, a staring contest commenced.
“…”
“…”
I couldn’t lose.
I held my eyes firm and steady, and Father smiled softly. My victory, then.
“This is new.”
“What is?”
“Us facing each other like this. Laughing together.”
His languid voice trailed softly.
“It’s strange. The you I know always had her eyes closed. Why are you moving?”
“Me?”
“Your voice too. I feel like I’m hearing it for the first time.”
Father’s hand reached out, expression adrift in confusion.
“My daughter…”
A pale, slender hand brushed my cheek. Despite his delicate appearance, his fingers were firm, touching me with the carefulness of one handling porcelain.
“You’re alive. Warm. Is this a dream?”
“It’s not a dream.”
“Is that so?”
A deflated laugh escaped him. Father gazed at me with unfocused, drowsy eyes.
“I’ve been dreaming.”
“What kind of dream?”
“A dream where I lose you.”
Along his almond-shaped eyes, densely-set lashes undulated slowly.
“No matter what choice I make, no matter what I do, I always lose you.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
Valere smiled faintly.
“Sometimes I kill you myself. Because you seem to be suffering, because I go mad. And then Mehren leaves.”
When Mehren left, Father whispered as if divulging a secret held for ages—he would become a monster.
“He’s my last remaining Humanity.”
The existence that prevented him from ever forgetting, in any moment, that he was human. The one person who never changed, regardless of circumstance. The only human he truly trusted.
“Only that fool.”
Father laughed, saying that the only one who made the same unwavering decision in any situation, at any moment, was that child.
The story his slow, languid voice spun seemed detached from reality, making me wonder if Father was truly ill somewhere, yet simultaneously it conjured a dream I’d once had.
A dream where I died, Mehren left, and Father disappeared.
‘Does Father dream like that too?’
“Sometimes I send you to the Imperial Palace, entrust you to other houses, ask the Magic Tower or the Temple… but then you die even sooner.”
Father’s voice grew heavier, his hand pressing to his forehead.
“If I raise you myself, you die even sooner.”
Father mumbled incomprehensibly, as if intoxicated by sleep.
“I need to… raise you well.”
Was this a Side Effect of his Ability? Or an Aftereffect?
Either way, he didn’t seem normal. I couldn’t leave him like this.
“Father.”
Dry, parched eyes looked at me.
Eyes that had yearned for something so long that even their thirst had become chronic.
I reached out and cupped his cheek. His face pressed into my hand, taking its shape.
“I’m here.”
“…”
“I’m not dead yet.”
Blink—his long lashes fluttered like butterfly wings, moving slowly.
“What if I kill you?”
Father’s hand came to rest on my cheek.
“What if I can’t bring you back?”
Suddenly Father seemed very childlike to me. He was clearly a grown man. When he came to rescue me, he seemed so dependable.
“Why are you smiling?”
“Because you’re acting like a child.”
My body is the small one, but in this moment, Father seems far more childlike than I am.
“Then we try again.”
I touched his cheek gently and pressed my forehead to his. A cool chill emanated from him.
“I can wait. You’ll always come to rescue me anyway, won’t you?”
His breathing stopped. His eyes went wide without blinking, their color deepening to a richer purple.
“… I could…”
“…”
“Hurt you.”
“You won’t.”
If this had been before, I might have taken it as a death threat. But not now.
“Look—you can’t even touch me properly right now.”
How could he possibly kill me when he’s so afraid of touching me wrong, of breaking me?
His eyes glistened with moisture, their pale violet hue becoming translucent and luminous.
Now I understood something of the truth in Father’s answer to my question about why he hadn’t come to see me all this time.
It wasn’t a death threat. It was a confession.
“Father.”
I still didn’t know what this man was thinking as he looked at me.
Does he even think of me as his daughter?
I’m not sure about that either.
What kind of relationship do fathers and daughters usually have?
What do they talk about, what do they do to build that bond? I had a father once, but it’s as if I didn’t, so I don’t really know.
“I don’t hate you, Father.”
“I see.”
“I think I even like you a little.”
The important thing was—
“I want to get closer to you.”
“Why?”
Valere’s eyes narrowed, as if gauging my sincerity.
“You didn’t even pay me attention before.”
I shrugged.
“You called me an elder.”
“You are an elder. You’re older than me, aren’t you?”
“…”
Father gazed at me intently before laughing soundlessly.
“I can’t resist you.”
Father sat up and swept his hair back. Even in moments like this, his decadent eyes and beauty made me smile.
His face is fascinating, really.
“Are you thinking more clearly now?”
“Yeah.”
As if reluctant to let my hand go, Father leaned toward me.
“Warm.”
He rubbed his cheek against my much smaller hand, then opened his eyes. At last, his gaze held focus and clarity.
“Did you come looking for me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I didn’t see you this morning.”
Mehren had a hand in it too, but ultimately, I simply wanted to see Father.
“Aren’t you eating?”
“I do eat.”
“Then why didn’t I see you this morning?”
“Well…”
Seemingly at a loss for an answer, Father wore only an ambiguous smile, and I frowned at him.
“Are you avoiding me?”
“No.”
“Then let’s eat together.”
“All right.”
“And let’s take walks together too.”
“All right.”
“And—”
“Yes. And?”
“Play with me!”
A faint smile graced the corner of his mouth, beautiful in its subtlety. With his lips languidly stretched and his eyes surrendered in gentle submission, Father whispered in a voice that was pleasant to hear.
“More.”
“More?”
“Tell me more. What else do you want?”
His low voice inviting me to speak freely if there was anything I desired made me break into an unconscious grin. He really does seem like a father.
“Hold me.”
“If my daughter wishes it, of course.”
Father rose and lifted me into his embrace with one arm. Mehren usually holds me with both arms.
Nestled in that spacious hold, our foreheads touching, I couldn’t help but laugh.
This embrace felt like it would truly protect me from any hardship. It felt so reassuring.

* * *

Mehren’s eyes briefly doubted what unfolded before him.
Arelin nestled obediently in Valere’s embrace. Valere and Arelin getting along?
‘It looks good, so why do I feel unsettled?’
As Mehren’s expression grew subtle, Valere’s eyes crinkled with amusement, needling him.
“Darling, are you pouting?”
A Fountain Pen flew skyward faster than an answer came.

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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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