Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 155
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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 155
Since I’d recovered enough to walk on my own, the sound of violin echoed through Halbern Manor again in the afternoons after lunch.
A time to savor the gentle music I played lightly after the meal.
Today, there was a special guest during that hour.
Roughly a hundred High-ranking Mages from the Magic Tower.
“You’re really sure I should play?”
Looking back and forth between Father, who had taken his seat with a dubious expression, and the assembled mages, Father broke into a grin.
Something felt uneasy about this.
“Father said I shouldn’t play the violin in front of mages.”
“But you already performed.”
“That was…….”
A mage running wild, mages panicking.
I wanted to say there was no help for it, but Father was right. It felt somehow unfair.
As I pouted, Father laughed heartily.
“How adorable.”
“I’m quite cute, aren’t I?”
Father, who had been pressing his cheek against mine, took a deep breath.
A contented exhale.
Compared to when we first met, Father wore such a comfortable smile that one could feel the generational difference, and he spoke lightly.
“If you don’t feel like playing, you don’t have to. I’ll throw them all out.”
“It’s not that…….”
I understood the full explanation, so I knew why every single High-ranking Mage without exception had taken their seats, and why they gazed toward me with such gleaming eyes—which made it difficult to ignore them.
To have an audience waiting for my performance was a bit ticklish.
“I’ll do it.”
As if he’d expected it, Father stroked my head.
“I already squeezed the mages for quite a bit.”
“Are you bragging?”
Watching Father boast, I sighed without meaning to.
When will our father ever grow up?
Then again, if Father did mature, I’d feel let down in my own way.
‘Father…….’
In truth, he was my great-uncle by blood, and Father had never even married—we became father and daughter through complicated circumstances—but knowing the truth didn’t change this relationship one bit.
I hadn’t acknowledged Father as Father simply because he was Father.
In my past life, the only memory with him was his one-sided request to “understand your mother.”
This time, I already have so many memories with him.
“But if you get tired during the performance, stop whenever you need to.”
Given the sheer number of mages present, Father cautioned me to forestall any unexpected incidents.
So why try it in the first place?
To find the limits of the Purification Ability—or whatever it was—during this chance.
You have to know your limits to use an ability well, apparently.
“Got it.”
After Father left, I took the stage alone—a makeshift platform the servants had assembled together with all their effort.
Once I stepped onto the stage, I felt the weight of countless gazes: the Nursing Corps, the knights, the servants, and the mages.
“Let’s go, Ether.”
Hummmmm—
Ether, jealous enough now to tolerate no other violin, transformed into a silver violin, which I positioned between my shoulder and chin.
The moment the Silver Bow met the strings.
Zing—.
Spring arrived.
* * *
It felt as though a spring breeze was blowing from nowhere.
The bright and warm melody instantly transformed this place into another world.
The warm sunlight of a fair spring day, the peaceful countryside scene of early spring flowers lifting their heads—the timbre summoned such an image.
Beethoven, Violin Sonata No.5 in F Major, Op.24 ‘Spring’ Mov.1
Beethoven, Violin Sonata No. 5 in F Major, Op. 24, “Spring,” First Movement.
Valere, who had been watching Arelin as she sat and played, found himself smiling without realizing it.
‘She’s a completely different person.’
While performing the violin, Arelin showed none of her usual indifference and detachment.
The moment when she, who ordinarily wore an attitude of not caring what happened, became genuinely serious.
Sometimes she wore an expression of inexplicable pain, yet when facing the violin, her expression grew so solemn and grave—like a knight before battle—that it made onlookers somber as well.
With such an expression, she caressed the violin with tenderness and delicacy, drawing forth a beautiful melody.
Though I’ve heard it many times, seen it many times.
It was something like magic.
“What exactly did you do to the mages?”
“This and that.”
Mehren sat beside Valere with a grimace.
“If you make an enemy of the Magic Tower, it’s we who suffer.”
“Make an enemy?”
Valere laughed as though he’d heard a funny joke.
“That won’t happen. The mages could never abandon Arelin.”
Valere gestured with his chin. When Mehren turned his gaze, he saw the mages shedding tears in silence, quaking with soundless sobs of emotion.
Mehren turned away with a wry expression and let out a small sigh.
“Sigh.”
“What troubles you now?”
At Valere’s remark, which came without prompting, Mehren flinched.
‘Should I tell him that Arelin’s biological father isn’t the Regent Duke?’
This was the worry gnawing at Mehren lately.
But the answer was already decided.
“I heard something interesting from the Regent Duke.”
“What’s that?”
“That Arelin’s biological father isn’t him.”
Watching Valere show not a flicker of surprise, remaining perfectly calm, Mehren’s frown deepened.
“You’re not shocked?”
“I was.”
“You’re lying.”
Valere shrugged.
“Did you suspect?”
“Well, somewhat?”
Every time he met his sister in those infinitely repeating dreams, the thought had crossed his mind—maybe it was like that.
“But our sister is truly remarkable. Don’t you think?”
In a foreign land without a single ally, in a situation where breaking and fracturing were inevitable, she struck a counterattack instead.
An ordinary, average person would never even conceive of such a thing, and even if they did, they wouldn’t act on it.
“What am I going to do with this troublesome woman?”
He spoke as though perplexed, yet Valere didn’t look perplexed in the slightest.
“Do you remember, Mehren?”
“What do you mean?”
The moment Arelin could walk, she had everyone gather for a performance.
“Ah, that terribly solemn piece?”
“The performance lasted longer than usual too.”
“Yes, but why…….”
“That music—it was a Requiem.”
Mehren’s eyes widened.
“Arelin’s way of holding a funeral for her sister.”
Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine,
Grant them eternal rest, O Lord,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
And let perpetual light shine upon them.
Dona eis requiem.
Grant them rest.
Valere chuckled, remembering the answer Arelin had given when asked what she had spoken at the end of the performance.
“Our sister didn’t have much parental fortune, but she had filial fortune. Don’t you think? Her only brother never even thought to do such a thing.”
Mehren watched Valere with complicated eyes.
He’d almost retorted—that you only did it because you wanted to believe your sister was alive—but instead, Mehren simply nodded.
“Arel is a dutiful daughter.”
“She is.”
Valere recalled a question he’d once asked Mehren.
Was what I was trying not to lose a final thread of connection to my lost sister, or was it my daughter Arelin?
Then Mehren couldn’t answer, and Valere couldn’t be certain.
“But what does it matter? It’s so precious now.”
It no longer mattered.
In the bright and refreshing melody of the violin playing a radiant spring, Valere recalled the unfamiliar emotion Arelin had given him—a sensation left behind in childhood so distant now it was nearly forgotten.
-Be happy, Valere.
You’re right. I’m happy, sister.
* * *
The performance concluded successfully.
When the High-ranking Mages tried to rush toward Arelin in tears, Valere blocked them.
Going forward, they agreed with Mehren on a schedule to visit two or three at a time in rotation.
And.
“You haven’t forgotten our agreement, have you?”
“Of course not. We swear on our honor to find a way to restore Miss Arelin’s health!”
Valere and the mage Hege exchanged a meaningful look.
“……?”
Thus did such strange scenes gradually become part of Halbern’s daily life.
The Regent Duke Ludvich, who had left for the Lemuren Kingdom, returned within a week.
“Arelin, I have something to tell you.”
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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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