Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 113

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

Chapter 113

Few people in Halbern Manor could talk Mehren down when he was truly angry.
The first to feel his wrath were the guards assigned to watch Arelin.
“Even if this wasn’t meant to be a close guard detail, how could you let her out of your sight without immediate protection?”
Six knights knelt in silence, unable to offer a word in their defense.
With five noble children requiring protection, the number of assigned guards exceeded twenty, six of them from Halbern’s own order—yet even a brief lapse in vigilance was unforgivable to Mehren.
He had nearly lost Arelin entirely. That thought alone made mercy impossible.
“I’m fine.”
Arelin pleaded desperately for understanding.
“Miss.”
“Really. I was alone for only a moment.”
“Yet you said your heart ached, did you not? The experts will be the judge of whether you’re truly well.”
“I really am fine—”
The guards were dragged away to the Saren Order for questioning. Formal discipline would follow, but first they would be drilled relentlessly until they were deemed “ready again.”
The medical team assembled from the Temple, Magic Tower, and Medical Guild—the same specialists summoned during the Sharit incident—were called back to Arelin’s side.
Priestly Blessing and Healer’s Magic both had limited effect on Arelin’s delicate constitution, as they had learned long ago.
‘Just in case.’
Mehren poured Halbern’s astronomical wealth without hesitation.
‘It’s not even my fortune.’
Wealth accumulated over generations barely showed a dent at this rate of spending.
“Aren’t you busy?”
Arelin peeked over the edge of the bed where she lay.
“No. I’m not busy.”
“That’s a lie.”
…
“If you’re busy, you can work.”
Arelin smiled prettily, as if reassuring him. Mehren, knowing how gracious the gesture was, could only feel his throat tighten.
He clasped her restless hands firmly and shook his head with resolve.
“Even if all my business crumbles, I’ll be here. Nothing is as important to me as you are.”
Growing up alone as an orphan, he understood. What it meant to have someone at your side when you were ill.
He had once desperately craved that warmth himself.
‘But the one who stayed beside me back then wasn’t quite a guardian.’
Pushing away the memory of a worried young boy, Mehren looked instead at this small child—similar yet different from that boy in his recollection.
There had been a time when he deliberately left that space empty, knowing his place. But those doubts had long since been swept away.
Arelin bit her lip, looking guilty.
“You’ll hurt yourself.”
He gently pressed her tender lip to keep her from biting it further, then retrieved a Fairy Tale Book.
“I’ll read to you.”
“Okay.”
The work piling up was no concern of his. Arelin was sick.
It was partly defiance, too.
The lord had returned, finally freeing him from the exhausting role of regent—only for that shameless figure to pile even more duties upon him.
‘I’m exhausted.’
What if he just took Arelin and ran?
It might not be such a bad idea.
With a decade’s worth of accrued leave, he could take at least a year of paid vacation.
‘The more I think about this, the more appealing it becomes.’
Tempted by the thought, Mehren was already drafting a specific plan to spite his lord when he turned his head.
“Ah.”
By then, Arelin had drifted off to sleep with soft, peaceful breathing. At the sight of such serenity, Mehren’s stern mouth finally relaxed into a smile.

* * *

Arelin’s physician, Warren, was currently facing a grave professional crisis.
Entirely because of the source of his funding—no, his employer—interrogating him with those sharp, piercing eyes.
“Physician. If I recall correctly, you gave your professional opinion that Arelin was healthy enough that there would be no issue with her going out.”
“Lord Mehren. That was genuinely fine, but… why is this happening?”
“Are you asking me?”
“No, no! I’m just confused myself—”
Warren swallowed hard.
‘Is he trying to buy my medical judgment with money?!’
He wanted to snap back, to demand what Mehren thought he knew about medicine.
‘But I need to keep quiet. I need the hospital’s operating funds.’
It was far too much money to refuse.
In exchange for caring for one adorable, clever child, the stipend more than covered his perpetually struggling private hospital. Pride was easy to set aside for that.
“The examination results showed no inflammation or abnormal signs whatsoever. Neither the Magic Tower nor the Temple found anything alarming. After special care and exercise, her condition has only improved. So suddenly, why—”
And she hadn’t missed a single dose of that Unidentified Medicine delivered from the royal palace.
“My abilities must have reached their limit. I suppose that’s all I can do.”
“If you’ve reached your limit, then every doctor in every medical association across the world has surpassed theirs.”
Urgh.
The physician had done his best.
The real problem was having been given the nearly impossible task of treating a Rare Disease whose very diagnosis remained unknown.
Mehren offered a carrot to soothe the physician and brought the matter to a close.
But the real issue arrived with the actual master of this household.
“What did you do to make the child collapse?”
Valere, stripping off his gloves after arriving in formal attire, listened to the report on Arelin and smiled beautifully.
On the surface, it was a warm, captivating smile—but…
“Physician, was your salary unsatisfactory?”
“No, Your Highness. Absolutely not!”
“Then you dislike my daughter?”
“That, that couldn’t be further from the truth.”
Warren silently swallowed new tears at this fresh crisis.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“There is no problem!”
“If there’s no problem, why has my daughter collapsed?”
“That, well—”
“You can’t answer. So it must be that you dislike my daughter after all?”
“Absolutely not!”
Warren poured forth a detailed account of Arelin’s charm and loveliness as methodically as a scholar presenting a thesis at a medical conference.
Valere listened with arms folded and head tilted, nodding at every correct word, when suddenly his gaze shifted.
Why did his eyes change all at once?
What did I say that hit his button?
“Tell me, do you have feelings for my daughter?”
“What?! Of course I do. Medical interest!”
“You know her well.”
“That’s only natural—”
From age one to her present age of seven, the physician had been at Mehren’s side caring for Arelin.
Wouldn’t it be stranger not to know her well?
But the protest died on his lips as he met Valere’s cold gaze. Warren felt his throat go dry—and knew it was no mere feeling.
“Hmm…”
Valere’s long, graceful eyes narrowed as he looked Warren up and down, assessing.
As if calculating whether to kill him or let him live, Warren found himself able only to swallow hard.
“That joke wasn’t funny, my lord.”
Mehren, watching from the side, intervened.
Warren felt genuine relief.
“It wasn’t a joke.”
“Stop threatening the physician, my lord.”
“I wasn’t threatening him.”
“Stop interrogating the physician.”
“I didn’t interrogate him.”
The way he deflected, standing right in front of a witness, was practiced perfection.
“What’s gotten into you, my lord?”
Valere smiled. It would be beneath him to admit that it bothered him—that a mere doctor knew more about his daughter than he did.
Mehren, well aware of what lay beneath that smile, let out a long sigh and rubbed his face. Valere promptly raised both hands in apparent surrender.
“I’m scared, honey.”
“How dare you speak that way—”
“What did you say? I can’t hear you well, honey.”
“Don’t call me that!”
His hand went out in an instant. Valere’s back took a merciless beating—clearly not the first time this had happened.
Warren quietly covered his mouth.
‘Could those two actually be—?!’
His eyes trembled as if an earthquake were running through them.
A topic already spreading like wildfire among the manor’s servants! He had just witnessed firsthand the hot gossip the Saren Order had been spreading around the household.
The great debate: “Those two are just playing around out of friendship” versus “No, they’ve actually become family.”
The ratio, for the record, leaned 4 to 6 in favor of the “they’ve become family” faction.
“Ow.”
“Since when do you pretend to be in pain? We both know these barely graze you.”
“I pretend to be hurt so there’s satisfaction in hitting me.”
…
At Valere’s parting jab, Mehren’s fists clenched tight.
“You! Bring it on! You deserve what you get!”
With punches coming in staccato rhythm, Valere dropped the act and wore a wounded expression.
“So Mehren likes hitting? I hate being hurt.”
“Shut your mouth before I actually hire an assassin.”
Warren turned his back, pretending he heard nothing.
Whatever rumors spread from here, he knew nothing about it.

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