Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 112

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

Chapter 112

For a while, everything went smoothly enough that I’d almost forgotten my body was a wretched, unreliable thing.
I let my guard down, I suppose.
But I never imagined I’d have to pay for it like this.
“Ugh.”
A sharp pain lanced through my chest, and my ears began to ring as though my hearing had shattered.
The murmur of surrounding voices faded into distance, and through my dimming vision I caught sight of an antiquated-looking robe hem.
“Are you alright?”
The White Robe caught my eye before the archaic tone of voice did—a White Robe embroidered with golden thread, stars and all.
A mage. It had to be a mage.
“Gasp, cough.”
I’d only just turned the Magic Tower upside down days ago, and now I was meeting a mage here? What kind of curse did I have to be this unlucky?
Startled, I gasped, and felt gentle hands supporting my back as I coughed.
“Take your time.”
“Ah… ugh.”
“That’s right. Breathe.”
My mind raced with the compulsion to flee this instant, but my body refused to obey.
Fortunately, the mage showed no sign of recognizing or apprehending me—only tended kindly to my condition.
In the midst of it all, what a lovely voice.
“Yes. Once more, just like that.”
What would a lullaby sound like in a voice like this?
I breathed slowly to the rhythm of that bewitching voice—the kind that could command a solo concert at a grand arena—as if I were listening to a song.
As white light blossomed at the mage’s fingertips against my back, my breathing eased considerably.
That familiar resonance…
‘Vitality Magic.’
As my breathing improved, my unease only deepened.
The consciousness that had wavered at the brink of dissolution returned in full; sensation crept back into my limbs. The chest pain vanished as though it had never been.
I had nearly collapsed in the street from that sudden attack.
“Thank you so very much.”
The moment my condition stabilized, I bowed deeply in gratitude.
The mage accepted with a nod rather than words, and as the reversed hood fluttered, I caught a glimpse of their face.
‘Pointed ears?’
Were they non-human?
“Well then, I’ll be on my way.”
Either way, the sooner we parted, the better. I moved to slip away quickly, but—
“Child.”
I was caught again.
“Y-yes?”
I swallowed hard.
Could they have seen through me? Did they know I was the one on those wanted posters?
The mage rose from their crouch, and I realized just how impossibly tall they were.
Was it because they were non-human?
I also discovered they were an extraordinarily beautiful person—though with a delicate, ethereal quality.
Perhaps it was the slenderness of their frame; despite their height, they conveyed an impression of fragility.
‘From below, the hood doesn’t hide their face.’
Those golden eyes, fixed quietly upon me, reminded me inexplicably of someone.
Their unwavering gaze felt unbearably heavy.
‘Could they have sensed the Ether?’
I’d transformed it into an ornament to keep it from being torn away, but could it be detected even then?
Their eyes, dispassionate and emotionless, dissected me methodically. Wrapped in that otherworldly, mysterious presence, I was crushed beneath an indefinable weight.
I had to flee, now—
“Show me your palm.”
“I’m sorry? My palm?”
My hand was seized before I could respond, and I jerked reflexively. Their gaze fell on the mark on my palm—a falling star.
The mineral-like eyes grew distant and thoughtful, silence falling between us.
What was this? Could they see it?
“…”
“…”
It had been so long since anyone had pointed it out that I myself had nearly forgotten the marking existed on my palm.
‘How did this mage come to recognize it?’
It was strange. The mage at the Grand Duke’s residence had never noticed.
I knew I should hold my tongue under that searing gaze upon my palm, but curiosity overtook caution.
“Can you… see it?”
The quiet golden eyes met mine.
“Do you know what this is?”
“A Blessing.”
Not a tracking device?
“A Blessing that conceals and protects your essence, child.”
“Ah…”
I’d assumed it was something sinister, so the unexpected answer made me blink.
So the Unknown Stalker was acting with good intent after all?
“Who left this upon you?”
“Um…”
I didn’t know how to explain an inexplicable, obsessive Unknown Stalker that no one else could perceive.
“But then, you wouldn’t have seen them, would you.”
As though privy to even that detail, the mage released a long sigh.
Should I just let it pass, or should I speak?
As I stood frozen at that crossroads, the mage’s long fingers suddenly traced the mark on my palm.
“Wh—?”
The pattern that had resisted every attempt at erasure lost its light and vanished.
So easily? Just like that?
“Whatever you have seen, let it slip from memory.”
Their soft words carried a force behind them. It pressed gently inward, then shattered against something within me.
Why… didn’t it work?
“A mortal who becomes entangled with an Immortal is bound for misery.”
Their eyes gazed downward with ineffable sadness, and kind fingers brushed my hair.
I couldn’t find words to respond, so I stood frozen—until the mage suddenly looked away.
“Arelin!”
A familiar voice.
I reflexively turned my head and saw Fession sprinting toward me, face drained of color in shock. The twins and Harun were behind him.
“Ah.”
When I looked back, the mage who had filled my entire vision had already vanished.
“What in the world…”
That strange, dreamlike sensation lingered—so much like what the Unknown Stalker left behind that I found myself dwelling on it numbly.
What on earth was that?
“Arelin, are you hurt?”
The voices of the approaching children scattered my thoughts.
“We found you!”
“What happened?”
“Why are you sitting down like that?”
“Are you sick?!”
Their cheerful clamor drew a laugh from me without thinking.
Unexpectedly, I felt reassured.

* * *

“Master.”
The red-haired mage who had been pacing anxiously brightened at the sight of Mercedes.
Robert, the once-promising Star-rank Mage.
He now endured what could only be called a punishment of historic proportions—serving as attendant to the incomparable Archmage Mercedes—for his failure to properly handle the disturbance that had occurred in the Tower during his watch.
“Robert.”
The problem was that this Archmage was an utterly inscrutable being.
Just now, having vanished without warning only to reappear, Mercedes had given Robert’s frightened heart barely time to settle back in place.
“You frightened me by disappearing so suddenly. Where on earth did you go this time?”
Age unknown. Gender unknown. Nationality unknown.
The only confirmed information was that this Archmage had lived for an extraordinarily long time—a towering figure before whom even the Emperor of Albrecht would defer.
In the Magic Tower, Mercedes was practically a divine presence.
“You know you mustn’t move about so freely, Master. You’re an Archmage whom the entire world watches. You understand, don’t you?”
Mercedes observed the stammering, pleading Robert and opened their hand, then closed it again.
“I saw something… curious.”
“Eh? Something curious to you, Master?”
Robert’s expression betrayed an unguarded thought—’Is there such a thing?’—but the Archmage didn’t deign to reproach him for the impertinence.
Instead, they seemed lost in other thoughts, saying nothing.
They had come to view a rare dragon corpse being put up for auction.
Drawn by a powerful resonance, they had moved almost without thought, and there encountered a small child.
‘Most curious.’
But tangled together, compressed into that small frame, was something that had captured Mercedes. It was very well disguised—some ‘thing.’
A hairline fracture that would have gone unnoticed without close inspection.
And yet, even after close examination, even the all-knowing eyes of the Archmage could not read its true nature.
Above all else—
“Robert.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Issue a Level 1 Alert to all the Magic Towers.”
“I beg your pardon?”
Robert momentarily lost the thread of the conversation, his head tilting in confusion.
Unfortunately, Mercedes made no allowance for their disciple’s bewilderment. Their voice, mysterious and crystalline, delivered a warning.
“The sealed Nightmare of the Star has awakened.”

* * *

Halbern Manor had been thrown into chaos for the first time in a long while—the cause being the “health crisis” of the young mistress who had gone out.
“Oh my, our dear lady!”
“Next time, we must insist at least one of the Childcare Unit accompany her when she leaves.”
“We were careless because the children wanted to play together. From now on, I will never let the young mistress leave unattended.”
The Childcare Unit wept openly.
“Please… don’t shut me out…”
And Mehren—
“My family physician.”
“I am so very sorry. Please forgive me. It was entirely my fault.”
—was in the process of interrogating the doctor.
Since becoming an “adoptive mother,” Mehren’s usually dormant ferocity had been unleashed, sweeping through Halbern Manor like a tempest.

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