Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 161

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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 161

Valere’s eyes curved gently with amusement.
“Why are you staring so intently, my daughter? Are you that curious about your father’s favorability?”
“No.”
I refused flatly, but Father narrowed his playful, gleaming eyes and lifted the corners of his mouth as he spoke.
“Let me tell you then—one hundred. Infinite love. Thick as family bonds.”
“Really?”
Why does everything sound like a lie when Father says it?
As I sent him a suspicious look, Father chuckled and pulled me into an embrace.
“Of course it’s true, my dear. Unlike our cold-hearted daughter, your father is simply overflowing with love.”
“What spite is this? That’s exactly why I don’t give you my love.”
“Ow, that really hurt.”
Father pressed his chest as if wounded, even as his fingers had been poking at my cheek just moments before.
As long as he looked happy, it was fine.
“But why is my favorability only at forty-five? Am I really that disappointing to you?”
“Hmm.”
I thought about it, comparing it to Mehren’s ninety-nine.
Considering my baseline favorability with strangers was negative fifty, it seemed rather high for the length of time we’d known each other.
Mehren and the Nursing Corps had been part of my life since infancy, but Father…
“What’s with that insolent look?”
Though Father feigned displeasure with a stern expression, I let out a sigh at his playful tone.
“Treat me well.”
“How much more than this?”
“Just… treat me well.”
“If I treat you well, you’ll like me more?”
“I can’t promise that.”
Father laughed in delight.
As we stood forehead to forehead, bickering back and forth, Mehren watched us with a slight shake of his head.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you curious too? About my favorability?”
“No, sir.”
“One hundred. Absolute Trust. Absolute Affection.”
……
His eye-smile, gentle and warm, seemed capable of beguiling anyone today as well.
Fortunately—or unfortunately—the only two people in this room were immune to Valere’s eye-smile.
“You know, I trust no one but you.”
……
Mehren’s expression grew troubled, his brow furrowing.
Father spoke as though making light conversation, but if you examined it closely, every word he uttered carried genuine sincerity without a trace of falsehood, which gave the listener an unsettling feeling.
“Yes, my lord. Then allow me to share mine as well.”
Mehren smiled broadly.
“Seventy-seven. Firm Distrust. Affection.”
“What? That’s too harsh!”
“Consider what you’ve done to me all this time.”
Caught between the two bickering adults, I found myself lost in thought.
‘Isn’t that fairly high, though?’
They said anything above seventy was love…
Right, friendship is a form of love too.
“Ah, daughter. Did that fellow do this?”
The “fellow” Father spoke of could only be one person: Ludvich, the Regent Duke.
“No, he didn’t want to, so I didn’t push it.”
Father’s eyes gleamed in a peculiar way.
“Is that so? Wait a moment.”
……?
What on earth was he planning?
Father disappeared briefly, then returned, dragging the Regent Duke with him.
The Regent Duke, suddenly seized, scowled and muttered curses until he caught sight of me, at which point his expression softened.
“Scan this one.”
“Huh……?”
What is happening here?
“Tsk, that foolish boy.”
Mehren pressed his forehead, and I could piece together what was happening.
So our father wanted to compare rankings. How very like him.
“Daughter, what do you think it’ll be? Still negative fifty?”
“Amusing. But it’ll be above zero, at least.”
“From you?”
Father laughed openly, and the Regent Duke bristled.
“Fine. Let’s settle this right here.”
……
Father looked at me with eyes gleaming bright and alert.
Whirrrrrrr—
The Favorability Scanner activated. Watching the Regent Duke tense for some reason, I saw the number appear.
[Me → Target]
[♡ -72 Firm Distrust / Compassion]
……?
I blinked blankly.
?
?
An odd silence fell over the room.
“Pffft—ha!”
Unable to hold it in, Father burst into laughter, shattering the silence. Even Mehren couldn’t hide his pity for the Regent Duke in the face of my iron-like favorability score.
“Negative seventy-two……”
Ludvich stared at the number on the scanner as though his kingdom had just crumbled.
A lower favorability than someone I’d just met.
And yet, knowing it was his own doing, I felt not the slightest sympathy.
“Ha ha ha. Negative seventy-two. Firm! Distrust!”
“Stop it.”
“Stop what? Negative seventy-two?”
Having found his opening, Father gleefully teased the Regent Duke.
“I’m asking nicely—stop.”
“Asking nicely? What does ‘nice’ have to do with it?”
“Quit fooling around.”
“What are you saying? Negative seventy-two can’t seem to hear it?”
“You insolent bastard.”
The moment their eyes met, the two adults began bickering like children. I sighed heavily, and Mehren patted my back in sympathy.
“My favorability toward you is negative seventy-two.”
“What? Mine is negative one hundred and below—Absolute Distrust, Absolute Displeasure. Understand?”
“Ha. My feelings are nothing but Absolute Distrust, Absolute Displeasure. Just being in the same room disgusts me.”
“Likewise.”
Watching the two growling adults, I sighed once more.
“When will you two grow up?”
“Indeed, my lady.”
I turned to Mehren.
“Mom, I want to read.”
“Very well. Shall we go to my office?”
“Yes, let’s go.”

* * *

Vast plains stretched out before me in a single gaze.
“Why can I see the horizon from here?”
This was my birthday gift.
A city was soon to be built on this land.
“Since it’ll be your city soon, you should see it at least once, don’t you think?”
I’d come to the Barren Wasteland at Father’s suggestion.
“It’s strange. Looking at the map, it seemed smaller……”
Why was it so vast?
“Wow.”
“It’s huge!”
The twins who’d tagged along with me marveled constantly from my side.
“A city is going to be built on this empty land?”
Fession, of course, couldn’t be left out.
……
Harun, naturally, was included as well.
Ciel’s golden eyes sparkled.
“I’ve never heard of anyone receiving a city as a birthday gift!”
Truly, I’d never seen such a gift either.
“I received an island.”
“I got a Manor.”
“I was given a castle.”
“I received a sword.”
Ciel, Noel, Fession, and Harun murmured in turn. Their gifts were hardly ordinary either.
I kept my mouth closed quietly, being the one who’d received a city. Not that there was much of a city to speak of yet, but……
“But Fession, aren’t you getting a territory soon? Isn’t that basically receiving a city?”
“That’s not a city built specifically for me, though.”
“Well…… I suppose that’s true.”
I wanted to argue that my city wasn’t really mine either, but it lost all meaning when the front page of the Albrecht Times had run a major story about how I’d received “my” city as a birthday gift.
The city was being built with every detail—from the district layout to the building designs—controlled to make it clear it was a city for Arelin of Halbern.
“Arelin, it’s easy to give an existing city.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“It’s certainly easier than building a new city from scratch!”
Ciel and Noel went on at length about how extraordinary and absurd this situation was.
In essence, they were saying that building a new city cost more than twice as much as giving an existing one.
‘Of course it would!’
Even by modern standards, building a city was a state-level undertaking.
‘Is this really okay?’
As I watched the construction of several buildings with unease, Mehren approached with a smile.
“Does it please you?”
There was nothing for my tastes to matter—this was happening regardless.
“But, Mother……”
“Yes?”
“Who are those Magic-users over there? I feel like I’ve seen their faces somewhere.”
“Ah.”
Mages were using Magic to do the work that modern heavy machinery would handle, at each building site.
‘That must be why he promised such fast construction.’
Mehren smiled ambiguously.
“They volunteered.”
“Really?”
“Voluntarily.”
……
At my steady gaze, Mehren looked off into the distant sky.
His peaceful expression suggested Father had done something again.
‘Could it be connected to the mages loitering around during lunch hour lately?’
The image of mages who couldn’t work up the courage to speak to me, lurked nearby, heard the noon concert, were moved to tears, and then left—it all felt unsettling.
I’d deliberately avoided them out of awkwardness, but was there actually something there?
“In any case, you needn’t worry, Arelin. It’s all voluntary participation from the mages.”
“I see……”
From what I gather, they’re researching my illness, being mobilized for automobile development, and now for city construction—all voluntarily. Right.
“How did Father end up catching their attention like this?”
Mehren laughed as if that weren’t it, but there was no way I could know the truth.
After surveying the vast plains where the city was being built and returning to the Manor, the twins began pestering me.
“Arelin! The Favorability Scanner!”
“Yeah, the Favorability Scanner!”
Ah, here it comes.
“Do we really have to?”
“Yes!”
Faced with the twins’ firm resolve, I reluctantly pulled out the Favorability Scanner.
Honestly, I had no confidence.
Confidence that a high favorability would appear.

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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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