Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 11

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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 11

Mehren pressed his burning forehead with the heel of his hand. The lack of deep sleep lately had left his body in shambles, but the real problem was how sharp his nerves had become.
The atmosphere in the Halpern Residence had deteriorated right along with him. It was entirely his fault. But.
“Steward.”
“Yes, Mehren. What is it?”
“Should I really be concerning myself with such matters?”
Outwardly, Mehren was the manager of this Capital residence, but while he oversaw the estate’s assets, Gregory the steward handled all the practical work of hiring and dismissing staff.
It was only natural. One man couldn’t possibly manage over five hundred employees.
“I apologize, Mehren.”
“You certainly should be apologizing, Steward.”
Mehren’s voice turned glacial.
“Do you understand how much today’s incident has soiled Halpern’s name?”
……
Such trivial gossip wouldn’t shake a reputation of their standing, but then again, this was hardly a house that rose and fell on such matters.
The incident would likely not leak outside, but the problem was that it had happened at all.
“But the real issue isn’t even that.”
Mehren knew his own worth and importance better than anyone.
A key figure juggling dozens of critical posts. And the sole, irreplaceable link between himself and Grand Duke Halpern.
Who was Grand Duke Halpern?
‘The only duke who possessed power to rival the royal house itself.’
Naturally, Halpern had accumulated countless enemies over the years—external threats and internal conspiracies alike.
There was reason the old saying about Halpern went: “Trust not even your own father.”
‘Is this a move to destabilize Halpern?’
The incident had targeted Arelin, but he’d grasped at once that it was clearly aimed at him.
In this residence, Arelin was Mehren’s one Achilles heel—the one thing he couldn’t control.
‘I’ve been far too shaken lately.’
Mehren washed his face with cold water.
It was uncharacteristic. Even accounting for Arelin’s sudden change in behavior, his emotional turbulence had been excessive.
‘Have I grown old?’
Perhaps he should retire.
Even leaving work seemed impossible these days, so he doubted his lord would ever grant him retirement—yet Mehren clung to that sliver of hope anyway.
“I will handle today’s matter cleanly, within my authority.”
“See that you do. I’d prefer to keep seeing you around for a long time.”
Gregory’s lips twitched slightly under Mehren’s thin, predatory smile.
These days, Insult to Nobility no longer cost a man his life, merely massive compensation.
The perpetrator’s reputation would be shattered, employment doors would slam shut, and what remained of their life would be spent in squalor, forever regretting this moment.
Even if by some miracle they found work, Halpern had the power to strip away even that meager fortune.
“Well then, shall we find out which clever bastard orchestrated this little stunt?”
By now his blood was truly boiling, and he’d found the perfect target for his frustrations.
He was about to go out and legally dismantle whoever had done this, squeeze them dry, and vent some of his own venom in the process.
The door burst open with a bang, and Dylan came rushing in.
“Mehren—!”
“I haven’t eaten those ears yet, Dylan. What is it? I don’t recall teaching you to come crashing in like that.”
“That’s not the point! Mehren, right now—!”
“Propriety is always a critical matter. Did you wish to receive further instruction?”
“Miss Arelin has collapsed!”
“Lost consciousness—what?”
Dylan caught his breath, harsh from the run, and shouted again.
“Miss Arelin has collapsed!”
Mehren went blank for an instant, then rocketed from his seat.

* * *

Fortunately, Uni, who oversaw Arelin’s health, had been present when she collapsed, so her condition hadn’t worsened further.
“Fetch the physician!”
“He’s on his way!”
“Should we contact the Magic Tower?”
“Perhaps the Temple should be notified as well?”
While the servants raised their panicked voices with suggestions, Uni calmly assessed Arelin’s state.
“The seizure symptoms have already begun……”
A seizure she hadn’t witnessed in years, despite meticulous care. The dormant power within Arelin’s small frame was showing signs of runaway.
Mehren arrived moments later, voice sharp with demand.
“What is the lady’s condition?!”
“I—I’m not certain. She suddenly collapsed, and now she’s having a seizure……”
“What is the physician doing?”
“He examined her earlier and went to prepare medicine. He said tonight would be difficult.”
Mehren’s brow furrowed as he swept back his hair.
“Why is she having a seizure all of a sudden……”
“The doctor said today’s incident may have been excessive psychological stress, or it could be related to her underlying condition. The young lady only seems well because of her medicine—her health was never truly robust.”
“Medicine. Medicine—yes, there is medicine. Has she taken it?”
“Yes? Yes, she did—wait……”
Uni’s eyes widened in realization.
“One moment!”
Mehren frowned, unsure what was happening. He exhaled slowly.
He was about to follow Uni when—
—
A small, faint voice.
So quiet that no one could hear it without straining their ears.
Yet Mehren heard it and froze as though something had broken inside him.
“Mother……”

* * *

When Grand Duke Halpern first brought the child home, people’s shadowy curiosity had focused in a different direction.
‘Whose mother could this child possibly have?’
An infant brought by an unmarried duke stirred unseemly imaginations.
Some whispered she was born of a courtesan; others speculated she was an illegitimate child of noble, unmentionable blood; still others insisted she was the result of some deeply clandestine affair the duke maintained.
Mehren lent credence to none of these theories.
“A reclusive misanthrope like Grand Duke Halpern with a courtesan? A lover? A mistress? Ha. The notion that he reproduced asexually would be far more convincing.”
The child was indeed Halpern’s blood. His Guardian Stone, which resonated only with his own bloodline, had confirmed it in Arelin.
Thus the rumor that had once set the Capital ablaze—’Arelin might not actually be Grand Duke Halpern’s daughter’—had died out, leaving only the persistent curiosity: who was her mother?
Some speculated she might be the fruit of true love.
“You’re writing romance fiction about Grand Duke Halpern now. Is that how all modern romance novels are born?”
If anyone in this world truly knew Grand Duke Halpern—that is, Halpern—it was Mehren.
Grand Duke Halpern in love?
There was no more ill-fitting phrase in existence: the words “love” and “Halpern” belonged to different languages entirely.
“Love? How absurd. That man has left hundreds of women in tears, lived exactly as he pleased, and will likely end up dead somewhere—run through or expired from excess. The very picture of sensible nobility.”
Mehren’s cynicism had gradually quieted the gossip, though people’s interest proved stubborn.
Some even accused Mehren of using his harsh dismissals as a smokescreen to shield the truth.
But what did he care about idle speculation and the private affairs of his employer?
Mehren had no interest in such rumors, only annoyance at the people who pestered him with their questions and theories.
Had they not seen Grand Duke Halpern with their own eyes? Why speak such nonsense?
And as for the child’s mother? He had no interest whatsoever.
‘There must be a story behind it all.’
Absent some compelling reason, a man wouldn’t simply hand over a newborn to someone else’s care and then bury himself in the Northern Fortress, in an endless war that mankind called its final line of defense.
But one thing Mehren was certain of: whatever that “hidden story” contained, it was not the grand love affair the gossips imagined, nor was it some sordid tale of jealousy and betrayal.
Let whatever unsavory truths lurked there remain buried.
More pressing than such mysteries was the concrete reality before him: the burden of raising a child.
Yet his concerns were his own; the child’s would be different.
As the subject of rumor and incident and secret history, the girl would naturally wonder about her parents.
How could she not be curious about people she’d never seen?
Yet, remarkably, the child had never once asked about her mother.
Not once, though she easily might have.
Mehren had rehearsed careful answers in anticipation of the day she would ask, but the questions never came.
She had grown up without ever seeking her absent father, just as she never sought her mother.
At some point, it had become so natural that Mehren stopped wondering about it himself.
He had simply assumed she wasn’t curious.
But perhaps that wasn’t true at all.
“Mother…… mother……”
Perhaps she had only been holding it back.
“Mother……”
Everything he thought he knew came crashing down.
From the rubble, buried emotions clawed their way to the surface.
“Mother……”
A voice calling out to mother in anguish.
Weak from her frail body, breaking and fading, so quiet that without listening closely, one couldn’t even discern whom she was calling for.
His throat tightened.
There was an old saying: a person’s true longings revealed themselves in the name they cried out when in pain.
Mehren had never believed such things.
When he suffered, he called out to no one.
Perhaps that was natural for an orphan—someone who had learned the world’s cold foundation before ever knowing anyone’s gentle warmth.

“Would you come with me?”

Not until he’d met the man who would become Grand Duke Halpern.
Yet even so.
What was this feeling in his heart as lips parted to call the name of someone he’d never laid eyes on?
“Mother……”
What moved her?
How could she call out for a mother she’d never known?
His throat burned. Mehren loosened his tie, dissatisfied, and sank into a chair.
Until now, Mehren had always adhered to the principles he’d set for himself. Once decided, he never broke them.
There was a clear line between him and Arelin. Not family, merely guardian and ward.
Mehren did not wish to cross that line.
And yet.
Damn it all, what did any of it matter.
The child was crying.
“I’m here, young lady.”
Mehren pulled the small body close and let out a long breath.
“……It will be all right now.”

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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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