Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 179

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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 179

Whether to reveal publicly that Arelin was Sione’s daughter, or to bury the truth—this was the question that weighed heavily on Emperor Edward.
It was an extraordinarily important matter for him.
As emperor, revealing the truth seemed preferable; as a husband devoted entirely to Sione, concealing it seemed wiser.
“Valere, the Imperial response will depend entirely on what you say. You understand that, don’t you?”
Technically, it was the Emperor’s decision, but since the Emperor’s will was as good as the will of the empire itself, Valere saw no need to belabor the point.
The mess that the Regent Duke and Valere had already stirred up made it impossible to cleanly erase it all as if it had never happened.
Halbern had been caught in a sudden international lawsuit, which was itself a tremendous scandal—but the issue wasn’t even custody; it was parental rights itself.
Already, high society whispered and hinted that perhaps it was true: the Regent Duke’s child with Sione was being raised by Valere, not as his own.
If the truth were to be revealed, now might be the right moment.
But.
Valere smiled faintly.
“Arelin is my daughter.”
“…….”
“Yesterday, today, and always.”
At those dry, matter-of-fact words and the clarity in his gaze—as though reciting an immutable truth—Emperor Edward’s brow furrowed.
A relentless gaze tried to pry into him, searching for any crack in his resolve, but Valere’s smile remained steadfast.
He brushed aside even the suspicious looks that seemed to say, ‘Are you going to pull another cheap trick on me?’ with that same unwavering smile.
“That’s right. That’s exactly it.”
Emperor Edward let out a groan of frustration.
“Honestly, if I’d known this would happen, you should have just married some appropriate woman when registering her in the household records. Then there wouldn’t be a shred of doubt, no rumors about illegitimacy or her mother’s low status. And we wouldn’t be dealing with this mess now.”
“Marriage? Me?”
“For your daughter’s sake, if nothing else…….”
“Edward.”
A cold, cutting edge crept into that single word, silencing the Emperor mid-sentence.
“Would you marry another woman when Empress Azeni passes? For the children’s sake?”
“That’s a different matter——”
“It’s the same.”
“…….”
Emperor Edward noticed that Valere’s eyes had gone cold and sharp in a way that was unusual for him—colder than his chilling voice. He raised both hands in surrender.
“Fine, I misspoke. I overstepped.”
Edward didn’t know, but in certain dreams that haunted Valere, he had once married for Arelin’s sake.
Every time, they ended the same way: women driven mad by their hunger for Valere’s love, failing to give Arelin her medicine on time—tragedy.
It made no difference whether the woman was high-born or low.
Valere found it unbearable to watch women sobbing over Arelin’s cold corpse, saying they hadn’t known it would come to this.
In those dreams, Mehren was always gone—departed or driven out—so when Valere saw Arelin’s body, he would descend into madness as though it were inevitable.
Always the same terrible ending, as bitter dreams should be.
Now he was beginning to dimly sense that these were no mere dreams…….
‘It doesn’t matter what they are.’
What mattered was only that his daughter was still by his side, breathing, alive.
“I don’t care what anyone says.”
Such things were trivial.
“I’ll give my daughter only the best.”
“……You’ve become completely besotted.”
“On that note, Your Majesty, I’d like to collect the rewards I’ve deferred until now. Would you open the Imperial Treasure Vault for me?”
At the request to open the Imperial Treasure Vault, Emperor Edward’s expression darkened.
“You said you had no need for such things and no interest in them. What’s this sudden change?”
“It occurred to me that there might be something of use after all.”
Halbern’s vault was no less than magnificent in its treasures, but most were related to powers or non-human artifacts—nothing suitable to give Arelin.
The Imperial Treasure Vault, by contrast, overflowed with rare items and Elixirs sent not only from within the realm but from across the world.
Sperom’s vault had already been thoroughly cleaned out under the pretext of the automobile industry, so while he was here at the palace, Valere figured he might as well settle this account as well.
“Given the merit I’ve accumulated, I calculated that taking ten items or so would be fair. What does Your Majesty think?”
Emperor Edward stared at Valere’s smug expression—the unmistakable determination of a man resolved to extract every last thing—and raised the white flag.
“Fine, take it all. Take every single thing!”

* * *

Valere returned to Halbern Manor, having carefully selected Elixirs and Artifacts from the Imperial Treasure Vault that would benefit Arelin.
The manor, now shrouded in the gentle twilight, was enveloped in a warm and peaceful silence.
So different from the Halbern Manor of his childhood—where there had been no warmth at all, only constant vigilance toward others and sharp, cold tension.
Could the same place really transform so completely?
At moments like this, Valere sometimes found himself wondering if he was dreaming.
Perhaps this was the dream, and the real him was already mad, wandering through darkness…….
“You’ve returned at last, sir?”
Pulled back to reality by that familiar voice, Valere turned his head.
Mehren, who always carried documents, was oddly holding a small Fairy Tale Book.
The sight was both fitting and oddly out of place, and Valere felt that strange sensation again.
Halbern’s prodigy, carrying a fairy tale instead of files…….
“You came from the Magic Tower?”
“Ah.”
Valere remembered why he’d gone out.
“No, I was at the Imperial Palace.”
“Summoned?”
“…….”
Mehren clicked his tongue. A look that said ‘I knew this would happen’ fixed itself on Valere.
“I told you before—you should report at proper times, sir.”
“That bastard?”
Valere deflected with a question, ignoring Mehren’s reproach. Mehren sighed.
“The Regent Duke read the Magic Tower report you gave him, and it seems he remembered something he needed to do. He went out.”
“Good. I hope he disappears for good and never crosses my sight again.”
“And yet you’re doing well enough now.”
Valere answered by shrugging, then gestured toward the Fountain Pen that Mehren held tightly.
“What’s that? I’ve never seen it before.”
“A gift from Arelin.”
Mehren smiled—such a gentle smile that Valere found himself speaking without quite meaning to.
“It suits you.”
“And you, sir?”
“Don’t I get a gift?”
Mehren looked at him as if to ask, ‘What more could you possibly want?’
“Hmm.”
When Valere’s face fell with disappointment, Mehren—it seemed he’d only been teasing—let out a low chuckle and handed over a well-wrapped case.
Valere received it with a flush of delight, examined it for a moment, and then handed it back.
“I’d rather receive it directly from my daughter.”
“Very well.”
Mehren took the case back without comment.
“So, where is my daughter?”
Valere followed Mehren as he led the way.
Arelin was asleep in her room.
“How ador——”
“Shh.”
Mehren gestured for silence, whispering softly.
“She’s been playing well, eating well, and sleeping well all day.”
Valere, sitting on the edge of the bed and watching the sleeping child, bowed his head.
At the sound of her gentle, even breathing, the anxiety that had lurked in his chest washed away.
That gnawing fear that perhaps she was ill, or worse—already gone.
All of it stemmed from those dreams.
‘Come to think of it…….’
He hadn’t seen his sister’s phantom in a while. Not recently.
When had that started?
Turning it over in his mind, he recalled.
Perhaps it was from the moment he first allowed himself to feel happy…….
‘Was there lingering guilt because my sister told me to be happy, yet I couldn’t obey?’
It was a strange thought.
He brushed her hair back and touched her plump, rounded cheek. The child’s warm, soft skin was so alive.
“When I was young, I always wondered why my sister was so kind to me, when she wasn’t even my mother. What did I do to deserve it?”
Valere turned over in his mind feelings he hadn’t understood when he was only receiving.
“This must be what it feels like.”
No matter what I give, it feels worthwhile.
I begrudge nothing.
She’s so precious.
I could die for her if asked.
It’s like and yet unlike the way I feel about my sister.
I’ve always thought I’d give up my very life to protect this child.
I knew I could die readily, without hesitation…….
“What’s changed? Tell me.”
What on earth could have transformed me?
“Why do you smile like that?”
“Because I’m happy.”
This feeling…….
I can feel it again.
Holding the warmth in his palm, treasuring it, Valere couldn’t tear his eyes from Arelin.
Not for a very long time.

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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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