Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 144

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

Chapter 144

Arelin’s personal physician, Warren, found himself in yet another dire crisis.
‘How did I end up in such a mess?’
He couldn’t fathom the reason. When he’d regained his senses, he was already thrust into the situation of needing to restore the ailing Arelin to health.
At least he wasn’t facing it alone this time.
‘Having colleagues… that’s actually rather comforting.’
Halbern had deep pockets. With lavish donations, priests from the Holy Temple, healers from the Magic Tower, and backup physicians from the Physician’s Guild were called in without pause—all of them reassuringly competent.
The trouble was that despite all this, Warren harbored an overwhelming urge to submit his resignation.
‘I want to retire. I desperately want to retire!’
When Mehren had designated himself as temporary guardian and drawn his line, it had been grueling enough; now that he’d become her official guardian, Warren felt wrung out like a spent dishrag day after day.
And now, recently, a second difficult client had been added to the roster: the Grand Duke of Halbern himself.
‘No, hold on. I can endure this. For the sake of my small, precious hospital!’
But today, a third difficult client had joined the fray.
The Regent Duke of the Southern Empire, Ludwig.
“You claim to be the attending physician, yet you don’t even know your own patient’s diagnosis? How does that make sense?”
“Well, you see……”
Warren couldn’t make heads or tails of this situation.
Who was this distinguished gentleman, and why had he suddenly appeared?
Though, to be fair, a conscientious physician probably shouldn’t ask such questions.
“Forgive me, but what is your relationship to the patient, exactly…?”
……
Stop.
Ludwig, who had been making a scene about why Arelin hadn’t awakened for a week, abruptly fell silent.
A brief, heavy pause.
“I’m her father.”
“A fraud claiming to be her father.”
Valere corrected Ludwig’s statement. Warren was utterly lost.
‘Two fathers?’
What manner of life have you led, Arelin?
As Warren stood bewildered, Valere and Ludwig turned their gazes upon each other with lethal intensity.
“Since I am Sione’s legal husband, naturally it is I who am Arelin’s father.”
“As long as Arelin bears the Halbern name, I am her only father.”
“What stubborn nonsense you’re spouting.”
“And who exactly is the one being stubborn here?”
Ludwig smiled coldly. Valere closed his eyes, wearing a smile that could enchant anyone.
Caught in the crossfire was the medical team.
The attending physician Warren, the Blessing Prayer shuttle priest, and the Vitality Magic shuttle healer all trembled pitifully.
“Are we about to die today, do you think?”
“Stop your whimpering and cast more Vitality Magic, brother.”
“Priest, I’ve completely exhausted my mana!”
“And I’ve exhausted my Blessing Prayers for the day……”
The priest’s Blessing Prayer and the healer’s Vitality Magic were merely temporary measures to boost Arelin’s Self-Healing Power, since her Self-Healing Power didn’t respond to standard healing prayers and spells.
“Just pretend. Fake it.”
“Sincerity is what matters.”
As the medical staff labored desperately to avoid meeting their end today through some misunderstanding in this lethal atmosphere,
Mehren, who had finished his administrative duties, arrived to find his guardians locked in a contest of wills before the patient. He issued an order of expulsion.
“Both of you are being loud and unhelpful. I’d appreciate it if you’d leave.”
The two troublemakers were cast out without so much as a murmur of protest.

* * *

Halbern Manor was in a state of considerable disorder.
Though her condition had improved, Arelin remained unconscious; Valere and Regent Duke Ludwig had been keeping vigil at her bedside for over a week, forgoing sleep; the Saren Knights had returned in an incomplete state as well; and now the Regent’s retainers were added to the mix.
Mehren felt it was time to start addressing the matters he’d put aside due to the urgency of Arelin’s treatment.
“So, how did this situation arise, my lord?”
“Your manner of speech has stiffened again.”
“This is hardly the moment for jesting, sir.”
After issuing the expulsion order from Arelin’s chamber, Mehren dragged Valere to his own study.
Though he hadn’t slept properly in over a week, his haggard appearance still retained an air of decadent allure.
Mehren found that handsome face irritating, even as it worked tirelessly.
“So explain to me why these uninvited guests have descended upon Halbern, my lord.”
At Mehren’s biting question, Valere opened his mouth.
“I led soldiers to the Border and staged a demonstration.”
“I’m aware of that much.”
“When that didn’t work, I devised an abduction operation.”
“…?”
“I infiltrated Rock Fortress to execute the abduction plan, but found Arelin ill and collapsed. So I tried to bring her back, but we were discovered.”
“…??”
“And then, instead of stopping me, he said he’d come along himself.”
“?????”
What did I just hear?
Are these people insane?
Mehren felt confusion washing over him—the sequence of events defied all rational comprehension.
At any rate, he could now understand how they’d returned to the manor so rapidly.
They’d taken a Gate openly, then.
Well, it was the fastest method available.
“What about the troops positioned at the Border?”
“I haven’t decided yet.”
……
Mehren felt a surge of emotion for a moment, but then remembered that Valere hadn’t slept properly in a week, and he held himself in check.
“Go and rest. Sleep. Otherwise you’ll collapse too.”
“I don’t think I can……”
“Why? Are you suffering from insomnia again?”
“No.”
Valere shook his head.
“Unless I see Arelin wake up, I feel like I’ll die.”
Some indefinable anxiety wouldn’t let him rest. Out of sight, he couldn’t shake the dread.
What if she was already dead?
“She’s not dead. I’ve seen this happen before—I know. She’s just… genuinely sleeping.”
……
“Once she’s had her fill of rest, she’ll wake. Don’t torment yourself like this.”
Mehren himself wasn’t without worry, but seeing Valere and Ludwig in such a state somehow steadied him.
And yet Valere remained anxious.
“What if Arelin doesn’t wake up again?”
His fearful, shrinking form was so unfamiliar that Mehren found himself at a loss for words.
It was always Mehren who faltered and trembled like this.
“I’ve accumulated too much sin.”
Valere laughed bitterly at himself.
“Is this… retribution?”
Sin? What sin was he speaking of?
“Valere, what sin could you possibly—”
“Mehren.”
“Hmm?”
Valere’s eyes deepened.
“My father didn’t die of illness.”
Like a confession.
“He died by my hand.”
The words were cast out abruptly.
“I killed him.”
Mehren’s movements stilled. For a moment, he couldn’t comprehend what he’d just heard.
“Haven’t you ever thought it strange? Halbern’s rise, my succession, the purges that followed. Not even once? You, of all people, so clever?”
“That… was……”
Mehren hesitated.
It wasn’t so much that he hadn’t known—rather, he’d deliberately closed his eyes and ears to it.
He’d told himself it was a domain he could neither understand nor should know about.
“Yes, you suspected something was wrong, didn’t you?”
Valere had never intended to share such truth with Mehren either.
If Mehren learned the truth and became disappointed enough to leave him, Valere couldn’t be sure what sort of monster he might become.
So the ‘previous’ Valere had decided to shut that door of ugly secrets and bear it alone.
“Want me to tell you? The real truth about Halbern?”
A story known only to Valere now.
Mehren, who had always waited for his lord to speak first, couldn’t resist this sweet temptation.

* * *

In a dreamy haze, consciousness drifted like a feather.
When she’d briefly regained consciousness, she thought she’d seen Mehren, fevered with longing—but it must have been a phantom born of her yearning.
Her whole body had felt beaten and aching, yet now it felt so warm and comfortable, as though cradled in someone’s arms.
Why…?
[──.]
Through the blur of her vision, a pale face came into view.
Eyes the color of carnation pink, as though touched with rose quartz. Hair the color of platinum, flowing softly like a waterfall.
‘Mother.’
A moment that felt like a dream from long ago.
Back then, she’d simply marveled that such a beautiful person could exist, thinking her something other than human.
[My child.]
A voice tender and affectionate.
[You are my everything.]
Soft lips brushed her forehead before withdrawing, and her eyes opened.
“Ah.”
It really had been a dream.
She blinked slowly, dazed.
“Huh?”
But why am I fine?
She tilted her head in confusion, then froze as a familiar ceiling came into focus.
“Wait…?”
Why does the ceiling look like… our house?

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