Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 131

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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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Episode 131

Rocke Castle didn’t match the bright, sunny atmosphere of the Southern Empire. Others called it dignified, imposing—but to me, it felt oppressive.
“It’s gloomy.”
A castle takes after its master, I suppose.
I grimaced thinking of the kidnapper who wanted to become my father.
“My lady, you don’t seem afraid of the master at all.”
“Strange, isn’t it?”
“All the children cry when they see him.”
“Perhaps it’s because you’re his daughter?”
What kind of logic was that?
How did her reasoning make such a jump—from meeting him for the first time to deciding I wasn’t afraid because I was supposedly his daughter?
I scowled at the maid who spouted this senseless argument, but—
“Kyahahaha, how adorable.”
I only got coddled. Blast it.
Why am I so cute?!
“Oh my, are you upset?”
“Shall we have some cookies?”
“What would you like for dinner, dear?”
“I’m not a baby!”
I insisted to the maids treating me like an infant that I was a child, not a baby—but it fell on deaf ears.
“Oh dear, upset just because we said dinner instead of a meal?”
“How about a sweet treat instead of cookies?”
These people were impossible.
“Hand over the sweets.”
Though I didn’t refuse what they offered me.
“Kyaha, so cute.”
“You’re so soft.”
“Absolutely precious.”
The maids crowded around me. Already accustomed to this treatment from the Childcare Unit, I batted away their clinging hands while lamenting my fate once again.
The world would not leave me in peace, not even for a day.
Though I couldn’t entirely blame them for their behavior.
When your lord was this terrifying, gloomy, and murderous, it was natural to lose your composure at the sight of a cute little child like me.
“But truly, you’re not afraid of the master?”
I’d been confined by the emperor—how many days had it been now? I couldn’t even remember.
In any case, my recent routine started each day the same way: meeting the Regent and demanding to be sent home.
It was strange that I made such demands so bluntly; it was even stranger that I didn’t cower before the Regent.
Everyone else seemed to live crushed under his oppression.
“I am afraid.”
“!”
How could I not be, with those piercing eyes?
“I’ve just gotten used to it.”
For all his savage appearance and atmosphere, the Regent had done nothing to me.
He still spoke in that distant tone, but now I’d come to see it as his natural manner—and somehow it felt gentler than before.
‘I can’t quite put my finger on the difference.’
And despite my throwing daily tantrums demanding to go home, lying sprawled on the floor, and even breaking what appeared to be a treasured porcelain piece—

“Summon the physician.”

He’d worried about my safety before the porcelain’s.
He’d even fussed over a minor scrape I’d gotten, treating it with great care—it was almost embarrassing.
When he saw that I was throwing tantrums by lying on the bare floor, he complained the ground was dirty, had new carpets laid throughout, and—
This bastard was definitely a bastard, but he felt like a kind one. My feelings had become decidedly mixed.
‘I need to cause more trouble.’
I’d show him I was difficult to raise. Then he’d send me home, surely?
Fortunately, I had an excellent reference material for mischief—my teacher, so to speak: the twins.
Never in my life did I think I’d find myself praising Sperom’s mischievous nature.
“Let’s go.”

* * *

Ludwig felt a fresh sense of joy reading the report that had reached him. Meanwhile, his adjutant German stood before him tasting a hell of suspense.
Gulp.
The longer his lord’s silence stretched, the more acute the suffocation—as if his head might detach from his body at any moment.
German floundered in that tension for what felt like dozens of minutes.
“So.”
Finally, Ludwig spoke.
“This is what Arelin has destroyed in the past week?”
The porcelain pieces and frames, the decorative items sent for restoration—their number was incalculable. The furniture, dishes, and flooring replacements numbered in the dozens.
Converted to coin, it amounted to damage worth an entire castle.
For the first ten days after arriving at Rocke Castle, she’d stayed confined to her room without moving a finger. Then suddenly, as if possessed by a spirit, she’d begun roaming everywhere, causing chaos in her wake—the servants trembled as they chased after her.
Even German held his breath, uncertain what rebuke might fall.
“The girl is quite spirited.”
“…I beg your pardon?”
Ludwig chuckled and had the list of Arelin’s damages displayed like a trophy in his office.
“Instruct the steward to modify the castle’s interior so the child can run about safely without injury.”
“Ah? Yes? Oh, understood. I’ll relay that at once!”
“Any other reports?”
German, caught off guard by Ludwig’s unexpected reaction, fumbled before finally composing himself.
He cleared his throat and continued.
“Well, it concerns Duke Terrence, sir…”
A different tension hung in the office now.
“He hasn’t left yet?”
“No, sir. He still resides in the castle and continues to request an audience with you.”
Ludwig drummed his fingertips against the desk before delivering his decision.
“Ignore him.”
“Should we perhaps take him hostage?”
“Duke Terrence?”
His lips curved into an amused smile at the suggestion.
“German, do you know why Phytal and Albrecht have not warred despite centuries of history between them?”
German blinked stupidly. Ludwig laughed with delight.
The two empires had long since caused friction beneath the surface.
But why stop at two empires?
They were in constant conflict and dispute with the multiracial empire of Shugra and the Uuyo Union, a paradise for halflings and demihumans alike.
The accumulated grievances and friction had become so layered that their origin was forgotten—a time bomb waiting to detonate at any moment.
Yet continental war never came. The reason was simple.
‘Because Albrecht, holding clear superiority in strength, has no desire for it.’
“One does not contend with those who bear the divine gift without protection.”
What made Albrecht the most flourishing empire of men?
It was entirely due to divine providence—incomprehensible by ordinary logic.
Just as the forgotten blessing of the gods, left behind in Phytal, protected that land.
“Let him go. If the Albrecht emperor is as arrogant as they say, he’ll never lift a hand for Halbern unless we provoke him first.”
Ludwig trusted in the arrogance of a satiated predator that had won everything too easily.
A beast too full to bare its claws merely because prey squirmed.

* * *

For the first time, I lamented not having the Golden Eye.
“If I had it, I could have destroyed much more.”
From my experience watching Ciel and Noel at the Imperial Palace, Halbern, and Sperom’s manor, I’d managed to smash plenty of expensive-looking things—but it clearly wasn’t enough.
“Keep going.”
I was actually being encouraged.
The Regent hadn’t even resorted to replacing the castle’s furnishings and decorations with cheap substitutes.
“Ugh.”
This wasn’t working? Why wasn’t it working?
In any other household, they’d have come running to scold and punish me by now for causing this much chaos—so why wouldn’t he punish me?!
“A formidable opponent.”
Father was unpredictable and confusing, but the Regent was simply a formidable opponent.
How would I overcome this crisis?
Lost in deep thought, I was navigating a side passage I’d managed to map out while avoiding the servants’ eyes when—
“Ow!”
I wasn’t paying attention and bumped my forehead into someone’s back, tumbling down.
“Oh?”
The other person was startled too, gasping before going still.
“A child?”
“Huh?”
“Arelin Sigria Halbern?”
“…?”
Who was this person, knowing my full name?
I took the offered hand and stood up, finally seeing the man’s face clearly.
Deep blue hair reminiscent of the ocean depths, blue eyes. Wait—
“We haven’t met before. My name is Terrence. I’m the Duke of Terrence.”
A man with clear, resonant diction that struck my ears like a news anchor spoke to me with a trustworthy smile.
I’d found him. Someone who could help.
“Sir!”
I charged straight at the stranger.
“Please help me!”

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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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