Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 172

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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 172

“Arelin, are you here alone?”
I felt a moment of puzzlement watching the girls approach me hesitantly.
My reputation had surely plummeted—people’s opinion of me should have tanked completely.
It was strange to see girls my age, who normally kept their distance and wouldn’t even glance at me when I was alone, walking over to me now.
Had they come to start some absurd quarrel again?
“What is it?”
I could have ignored them or turned them away.
‘But somehow, it’s harder to do that with girls my own age.’
Perhaps because I secretly yearned for a female friend.
Having learned of friendship through novels and comics, I harbored a faint, wistful longing for “the bonds of girls”—the kind you read about.
Though I doubted now that I could ever have such a thing.
“Well, it’s… that….”
The girls exchanged glances among themselves before asking me something, as if they’d made a decision.
“Arelin, are you very close with Cheiyen?”
“?”
“Do you know what Cheiyen likes?”
“??”
Why are they asking me this?
“I’m not close with him and don’t know much about him.”
My blunt response left the girls looking confused.
“Then why is Cheiyen being so familiar with you……?”
“We were surprised—he’s never friendly like that with anyone!”
Perhaps he was trying to play some elaborate prank on me?
I wanted to complain about how much he’d tormented me, but first I gave a clarification to prevent any unnecessary misunderstandings.
“I think it’s just because we happened to run into each other a few times by chance before.”
I wasn’t lying.
The chance encounters were real, after all.
“Ah, so that’s it!”
Fortunately, the girls seemed to accept my explanation. Though it didn’t feel entirely convincing…….
“Still, you’re unfriendly with everyone, Arelin.”
“I’ve even seen you be harsh to His Highness and the Demon Twins.”
What is my image, exactly?
Yet despite my reputation being in ruins, the girls’ eyes held something favorable.
It was the kind of gaze I’d often received when I perfectly performed sheet music I’d never seen before, by ear alone.
“……?”
As I frowned under the weight of their gleaming stares, one of them asked a question.
“How exactly did you two become close?”
But I just said we weren’t close.
Girls, did you not hear a word I said?
I could feel their eyes on my cheeks, glimmering with the wonder of what I could possibly have done to make “those kinds of” boys keep hovering around me.
‘This is unfair.’
I really haven’t done anything!
If anything, I wished they’d all just disappear from my life.
My mood soured instantly, and my expression turned sullen, which made someone laugh.
“You really do dislike it.”
“It’s strange. Isn’t this a situation everyone would want?”
“Right. Maybe it’s because she’s the young lady of Halbern Ducal House?”
By this point, even I—slow as I was—could see what these girls’ true purpose was.
‘Cheiyen is their target?’
These innocent lambs are being deceived.
All of you, run away—the other side is nothing but a demon wearing a human shell!
“Arelin, between His Highness the Crown Prince and Cheiyen, which one do you like better?”
What kind of obvious question is that?
“Fession, obviously!”
How could you even compare our cute, clever, beautiful, and handsome Fession to someone like Cheiyen?
You’re asking me to compare trash with light!
Apologize to the light immediately!
The girls’ eyes went wide at my immediate, passionate response.
“Wow…….”
“Oh…….”
But excitement gave way to embarrassment, and I clamped my mouth shut. Seeing my cheeks flame crimson, the girls’ eyes sparkled with delight.
“Arel!”
Right then, from a distance, Fession came running the moment he heard his name.
“Arel, did you call me?”
“No, I didn’t, so go back.”
“That’s odd—I could’ve sworn you called me.”
Fession tilted his head and glanced around my surroundings, his expression becoming complex—somehow hostile yet cautious, somehow displeased.
The girls, who had always flocked to Fession like moths to a flame to catch his attention, seemed to sense his mood and grew tense.
Fession addressed the girls firmly.
“Don’t hurt Arelin.”
“Y-yes, of course!”
“Be good to her.”
“Y-yes, yes, we will!”
Why would he say something like that?!
The embarrassment was all mine to bear.
Yet while I was mortified, I found that I wasn’t unhappy about it—though I couldn’t quite understand why.
“Should I really go?”
When I pushed him away to leave, Fession looked disappointed. Those face attacks were fatal to my heart…….
“You wanted to play ball, didn’t you? It’s something you enjoy.”
“But still……”
“Finish playing and we can be together afterwards.”
Fession, his eyes brimming with reluctance, finally relented.
“Okay!”
Strange—he was just smiling the way he always did, but when Fession smiled, it felt as though warm spring sunlight was shining brightly down on me.
Perhaps I’d fallen for him.
“His Highness really…….”
“Did you see his expression when he came running?”
“I’ve never seen His Highness look like that before!”
I could hear the girls murmuring their own comments, but I paid them no mind.
I don’t care, I’m not listening.

* * *

I had thought their familiarity would pass quickly, but the girls’ efforts to befriend me continued for days.
When Fession or the Demon Twins were nearby, they only hovered at a distance and didn’t approach, but when I was with Harun or alone, they came forward as if they’d been waiting for their chance.
“Harun, you really…….”
“……?”
I had to admit he was as I’d thought.
Fession continued to radiate an ominous aura that discouraged interference, and the Demon Twins simply lived up to their fearsome reputation.
But Harun.
How perfectly respectable.
“Would you like to be my son-in-law?”
“?”
“If I had a daughter, I’d marry her off to you.”
“You’re seven years old.”
I know that!
But my previous statement was sincere. I could understand why Harun was so popular.
“With Harun, you’d earn money and manage the household yourself.”
“……? Manage? That’s what servants are for.”
“Right, servants would handle it.”
“Then why……?”
“It’s just a figure of speech, that’s all!”
“…….”
Just look at him now.
If the Demon Twins were here, they’d pounce on my words and try to twist them against me, but Harun simply accepted it quietly.
How could anyone dislike such a person?
“Harun doesn’t talk much…….”
“And he’s never hurt anyone!”
“He’s even kind to us.”
That’s not kindness, I thought—that’s just silence.
Still, I watched the girls continuing to approach me with a tepid expression.
What was this favorable atmosphere?
‘It must be because Leslie is gone.’
Leslie, who had been the highest-ranking female among us, had disappeared under the pretext of long-term recuperation.
Not everyone favored me now—the group had split down the middle.
The Cloe faction and the Arelin faction.
“Look at her—Cloe seems not to understand basic etiquette despite being from a baronial house.”
“Tsk, how could she play around with commoners who don’t know their proper place?”
“I heard Cloe’s teacher is also a commoner? Maybe that’s why?”
These noble-blooded young ladies resented Cloe for being a newcomer who had garnered more attention and popularity than the established families—resented her so much they were even willing to pull me, whom they usually ignored like a cow regards a chicken, into their circle.
‘That “commoner without proper standing” is a Star-rank Mage.’
If a Star-rank Mage set their mind to it, they could burn an entire continent.
Thinking of that, their comments were absolutely ridiculous.
‘Though I suppose if their minds were a bit more developed, they might understand—but from a child’s perspective, their own family always seems the greatest.’
Tsk tsk, Mages were not the kind of people you should mess with.
‘Of course, at our house they all behave quite demurely and gentlemanly…….’
I thought of the Star-rank Mages who attended my midday recitals without fail.
They all appeared perfectly normal on the surface, but having read novels, I knew better.
The Magic Tower was a collection of lunatics.
‘Still, ordinary Mages are fine. It’s the Star-rank ones who are the problem.’
They’d grind entire monster habitats to dust in the name of research.
One Mage once disliked a feudal lord and sealed off his domain’s borders with a Barrier of Flames that burned for one hundred eighty days.
Another turned a living person into a brain in a jar just to test Mind-reading Magic.
‘At least they don’t commit crimes or act inhumanely.’
Even the brain in the jar had been a volunteer for the experiment.
‘Best to steer clear of Mages if I can.’
So I wanted to avoid them…….
But the Magic Tower, having become something like allies with Halbern recently, had become a matter very much involving me.
Already, after my midday recitals ended, Mages would fidget beside me, gazing at me with an intensity almost too much to bear.
And the moment I so much as said hello, all chaos broke loose.
“Arelin?”
I looked back at the girl calling my name, snapped from my thoughts.
“I mean, is being beautiful all there is? Honestly, I don’t see why Cloe is considered so pretty.”
“Isn’t that level of appearance common? Surely someone like Arelin is what real beauty looks like!”
“The young men fawning over Cloe like that is really pathetic to watch.”
“She’s always attached to Cheiyen too—surely the two of them aren’t actually close, are they?”
I let the familiar words of jealousy and spite pass through one ear and out the other, but their hopeful eyes bored into me.
“You think so too, don’t you, Arelin?”
What are they talking about?
I simply blinked in silence, and another question flew at me.
“What do you think of Cloe?”

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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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