Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 154

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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 154

The manor was unusually bustling today.
“What’s going on?”
I asked while swallowing the medicine Uni handed me, and Rena, who had been organizing books nearby, answered.
“It seems some mages have come to visit.”
“Mages?”
“Yes, sir. The Grand Duke is personally attending to them.”
“Really?”
What reason could mages possibly have for coming to Halbern?
I tilted my head, but then a thought flickered across my mind and I went still.
‘Don’t tell me they came looking for me?’
The kidnapping incident had buried it from memory, but I suddenly recalled performing in front of a Runaway mage—and the chaotic reaction of the mages around me.
‘They must have already discovered that I possess Ether.’
So much had happened since then that I’d forgotten about it entirely, but the mages had been searching for me, even distributing flyers.
“Oh, what a life.”
When will peace ever find me?
Hum—
“It’s your fault, Ether.”
While I sat closest to the truth, Uni and Rena, armed with limited information, were making their own guesses about why the mages had come.
“Since such renowned mages from the Sky Tower have arrived, might it be something concerning the young lady’s health?”
“Oh, yes! Surely the Sky Tower mages might know something about the young lady’s condition?”
“Hmm, perhaps…?”
I answered vaguely while watching their bright, hopeful smiles, though I suspected otherwise.
Most importantly, I already have an all-knowing sage in my hands.
[Cooldown until next question: 11 days, 20 hours]
My next question was already decided.
I would ask about the information that had been blocked the last time I questioned how to live longer.
‘I’m curious about my remaining lifespan too.’
By simple calculation it should be roughly [D-482], but for some reason I had a feeling that passing out might have affected it.
When I collapsed, I had genuinely suffered.
“I do hope the mages discover something useful!”
“Don’t you think so, young lady?”

* * *

‘I told you things would go smoothly!’
Hege, a Star-rank Mage and an elder among elders bearing a five-star Selection, felt cold sweat break across his brow the moment they arrived at Halbern Manor and faced the crisis awaiting them.
“So, why are you looking for my daughter?”
They had come to catch a tiger in the tiger’s den, only to face something far worse than a tiger—a hundred-year-old water serpent.
‘How did I forget this?’
Typically, a single Star-rank Mage from the Sky Tower received treatment comparable to a power broker of an entire kingdom.
And there were roughly a hundred of them.
The mages, who had never been slighted anywhere, had rushed in thoughtlessly by the hundreds—and therein lay the blunder.
But they had their reasons.
After receiving the Star Selection, they had been bound by the Cycle of Destruction from which they could not escape. Now, finally, there was hope they could cast it off. How could their eyes not gleam with madness?
“I asked you, why are you looking for my daughter?”
His face was smiling, clearly smiling—
Beautiful features so perfect they were known even to the Sky Tower, and yet why did a chill run down their spines?
“Has the cat got your tongue? Why is there no answer?”
Mage Hege swallowed hard.
Why had they forgotten? That in Halbern…
“Or perhaps you’re hiding some scheming that’s too awkward to tell me?”
…there lived their natural enemy.
“N-no, that is not…”
It made sense that they would be.
For to mages, those with Abilities were something like a natural predator.
Though the Sky Tower and Halbern had never been in direct conflict or opposition, the mages instinctively avoided those with Abilities.
‘Because Abilities are the only thing that can interfere with Magic.’
Magic, by its nature, was a discipline that took a long time to systematize, implementing phenomena through laws and rules.
Abilities, by contrast, were a force that realized itself even while ignoring laws and rules—their very source still unmapped.
To put it simply: mages laboriously searched for and built a path to some ‘destination’ over many years, while Abilities simply teleported you straight to that ‘destination’ at the push of a button.
How alien was a power that could skip the process and summon specific results as easily as pressing a switch?
‘And Halbern is something like the sovereign of those with Abilities.’
More than anything, Abilities could affect Magic—which meant they could interfere with it.
It was only natural that Star-rank Mages would shrink back like rats trapped in a cage.
‘Damn it, what do we do now?’
‘Wasn’t the Grand Duke supposed to be at the National Border?’
‘Don’t ask me—I have no idea!’
While every Star-rank Mage was descending into confusion, there was one mage confused for an entirely different reason.
Robert, the red-haired mage, stared at Valere with an expression of blank astonishment.
‘How is that man still alive?’
It was the man he had met at the Foundation Ceremony Imperial Palace—the one who had ventured into the Other Side World with his bare hands to pay respects to the dead.
And that man was alive.
Moreover, his identity was the Grand Duke of Halbern?
‘Hah. He lived up to his reputation.’
Just as Hege and the other Star-rank Mages were wondering whether they should retreat, overwhelmed by Valere’s presence,
one mage pulled something from his pocket.

「※PERSON WANTED※
Protagonist of the Mage Tower Event! Conqueror of the Secret Room! Prospective Apprentice of the Grand Mage—Contact us immediately!」

The very same flyer that had once bustled through the streets!
Hege’s eyes lit up immediately.
“That is precisely it, Your Highness. The reason we have come! It is because your daughter is the protagonist of the Mage Tower Event—and the Conqueror of the Secret Room no less! We have a duty to raise her into a proper mage of standing!”
“Well said, well said!”
Valere’s eyes narrowed with amusement.
“Interesting. Go on.”
“Your daughter surely entered the Secret Room by neutralizing the Magic placed upon the tower with her extraordinary mana—a talent that appears perhaps once in a thousand years—”
“Get to the point.”
Valere smiled, watching Hege’s desperate attempt at persuasion, his lips curling up at the corners.
“Ah, the point, you say…?”
“You didn’t move the Sky Tower for some reason like that.”
Hege intuited it as he watched Valere, who stood with his arms crossed, regarding him with leisurely intensity.
‘This bastard knows everything.’
Was it because of his connection to Halbern? He was uncanny.
Hege couldn’t even begin to guess how he knew such ancient and secret truths of the mages, but at this point, speaking in riddles was pointless.
The mages revealed their hand first.
“Do you happen to know of the Purification Ability, Your Highness?”
“Somewhat.”
“We have come seeking it.”
“As I suspected.”
Hege’s eyes sharpened with intensity.
“I must ask first—is the Purification Ability part of the Halbern bloodline?”
“No.”
“Then…?”
“Our family line has nothing as pure and cute as that kind of Ability.”
So he was implying the family had Abilities that were neither pure nor cute?
Hege stopped thinking. Just the imagination terrified him.
“I will speak plainly. The Sky Tower has need of your daughter, Arelin.”
“What do you intend to do with my daughter?”
“That is naturally—”
“Do you think I don’t know the nature of mages?”
The Star-rank Mages swallowed hard.
A few of the guilty-looking mages flinched.
Truthfully, if the opportunity arose, they would have loved to study the “Purification Ability”…
‘But that won’t happen.’
It was a rare chance to watch those who had always held the advantage now squirm as the absolute underdog.
Valere, who had been smiling slowly, twisted his lips.
“I love my daughter.”
“…?”
Of course you do.
“So if she gets even slightly hurt or ill, I honestly don’t know what I might do.”
Was this…a threat?
“If you wish to remain on good terms with me, you should know I hold the Grand Mage in considerable esteem.”
And this is how you treat someone you respect?!
The mages’ eyes trembled finely. They had plenty to say, but they desperately choked it down.
“O-of course, that is as it should be.”
“Hah.”
“…We simply need to prevent a Rampage.”
The Star-rank Mages present here were all relatively stable. The ones truly at risk of Rampage were isolated in the highest reaches of the Sky Tower.
And one more thing, a fact that made their hearts beat even faster—
Hege admitted how recklessly they had all been behaving and made a promise to Valere.
“We will ensure no harm comes to Arelin.”
Valere, who had been silently observing the increasingly deferential mages, tilted his head slightly.
“Effort alone won’t do.”
His eyes, a deep violet hue, gleamed with a terrible radiance like those of a predator gazing upon prey.
“If one has received a kindness, it is only natural to repay the favor—that is human virtue.”
It was reasonable, clearly reasonable, and yet why did it sound like something entirely different?
“Now then, what are you going to offer me?”
A silence descended.
The mages, blinking and sweating coldly, tried in their own way to understand the situation they now faced.
So, right now.
…Were we being shaken down?!

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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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