Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 20

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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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Chapter 20

“What are you two doing right now! You know Arellin dislikes this!”
Fessione’s the best. More, keep going!
Though Fessione had arrived, the Spellom Twins were undeterred.
“Whoa, Your Highness has spoken.”
“Whoa~ Your Highness speaks~!”
Fessione had grown angry in a manner uncharacteristic of him, yet the twins showed no fear whatsoever.
“Arellin actually likes us, doesn’t she?”
“That’s right, we get along great.”
“Isn’t that so, Arellin?”
I don’t know, and I want to be alone.
“It seems Arellin dislikes you two?”
“That can’t possibly be true?”
“Right, there’s no way she could dislike us?”
Where does such confidence even come from?
The twins suddenly launched into provocation and distortion.
“Your Highness is lying to monopolize Arellin, isn’t he?”
“That’s right, Your Highness is very underhanded.”
“Your intentions are sinister.”
A two-against-one fight.
The outcome was predetermined.
“W-what are you saying?”
“Huh? Your Highness is stammering.”
“You’re guilty, aren’t you? You’re definitely guilty!”
“I’m not!”
“Arellin. Are you going to play only with His Highness~?”
“Why can’t we all play together?”
“Your Highness, are you jealous?”
“I’m not jealous?!”
Watching the twins giggle, I realized: the target had shifted. From me to Fessione.
From me to the Crown Prince.
‘My condolences, Crown Prince.’
Unlike usual, he must have rushed here straight from training—his damp hair clung to his eyes, and sweat beaded on his practice clothes.
And following behind him came Harun as well.
Oh? Our eyes met.
“…….”
Harun looked at me with an odd expression. What is it? Pity? If you’re going to pity me, just give me money.
Anyway, he’s quite handsome.
Jet-black hair like the night sky, eyes of pale sky-blue that remind one of a clear lake. Even the tear mole beneath his right eye.
At first glance, his sharp gaze and cold atmosphere fit the classic image of a Northern Duke perfectly. Had I not known the future, I would have assumed Harun was the Male Lead.
‘When you grow up, you’re destined to break many hearts.’
Before I could even grasp why Harun was looking at me with such pity, the children from the Gathering Group began arriving one by one, as if on schedule.
“Huh?”
“Um?”
“Eh?”
And the moment they arrived, I was bewildered by what unfolded.
“Then let’s ask Arellin about it!”
What? What are they talking about?
“Who do you want to play with, Arellin?”
“What?”
It seemed some incomprehensible conversation had progressed between the Crown Prince and the twins.
“Arellin gets to choose!”
“That’s right!”
“We’re having a proper contest!”
“A proper contest?”
The twins’ eyes sparkled.
“You want to play with us, right?!”
Even Fessione, who had clearly been talked into this by the twins, pressed on without backing down.
“You’d rather play with me, right?!”
What on earth is this commotion?
“…….”
I observed the twins and Fessione in turn, then moved.
My choice was.
“?!”
Grab.
“I’ll play with Duke Harun.”
Harun it was.

* * *

“……?”
Harun, suddenly caught up in this, stared at me with startled eyes.
Sorry.
“…….”
“…….”
Silence fell over the space.
“Oh, I didn’t see that coming.”
The twins were the first to speak.
Ciel’s eyes sparkled.
“I thought Arellin would choose His Highness!”
“Harun?”
“Actually, this is better.”
“It’s interesting, fun!”
Why are they acting like that?
Their eyes grew even more brilliantly animated, and the burden of their gaze pressed down on me. Seeing the twins so delighted left me confused.
Why are they so pleased, exactly?
“Oh, uh. Arellin?”
Meanwhile, Fessione’s shoulders drooped.
Looking like an abandoned puppy, his drawn expression was pitiful enough to make me want to reach out to him.
“…….”
Standing frozen in the midst of this newfound chaos was Harun alone, like a broken automaton.
‘I feel a bit sorry.’
I have no grievance against Duke Harun, but this moment, he was the safest choice.
Because he is…….
‘Definitely a Sub Male Lead.’
What is the essence of a Sub Male Lead?
Loyalty! Steadfastness! Devotion! Sincerity!
A sturdy pillar like hearty rice soup, quietly helping and watching over only the Female Lead from behind, solid and dependable!
In other words, it meant he wouldn’t speak unnecessarily, wouldn’t take interest in me, wouldn’t exhaust me, and wouldn’t demand anything of me.
Perfect. Absolutely perfect.
He was exactly the kind of person I desperately needed right now.
“Why Harun?!”
Fessione despaired.
“Your Highness lost, lost to Harun!”
“You two lost as well, didn’t you?”
“We’re fine with it.”
“We’re still in the stage of getting to know each other.”
“We’re just beginning!”
“But Your Highness is supposed to be close with her.”
“…….”
Fessione’s answer grew hollow, and he looked at me with those pleading eyes.
“Arellin…….”
Those puppy-like eyes gazed at me.
Swish.
My answer was refusal.
You’re just as exhausting as the rest.
I quickly hid behind Harun, and silence fell once more.
“…….”
Harun, flustered and frozen, at a loss.
“……!”
The Crown Prince in despair.
“Wahhhhh!!!”
The twins delighting openly.
Today’s gathering was doomed from the start.

* * *

“Arellin, eat this!”
Why…….
“Arellin, this one’s delicious too!”
Why is this happening to me…….
“Arellin. This one tastes even better!”
How did things come to this?
“…….”
‘Help me.’
I looked desperately at Harun.
Harun glanced at me and my surroundings, then offered me the meat he had been about to eat.
Not that—something else.
Rescue me from this mess!
“This one’s even more delicious!”
Fessione quickly inserted himself, ate the meat Harun had offered, and set down something else instead.
What a pointless move, Crown Prince.
“……!”
Harun looked aggrieved. His sharp gaze trembled with such sorrow that it almost broke my heart.
To turn the cold beauty into a pitiful one in an instant—what tremendous power.
“Wow, His Highness is blocking Harun.”
“I saw it too. Definitely saw it.”
“Your Highness, that’s cheap.”
“Right, so cheap.”
“Shut up!”
The twins and the Crown Prince quarreled again. It seemed the twins were one-sidedly savoring the Crown Prince’s distress, but…….
‘I’m exhausted.’
I had clearly chosen Harun.
I said I’d play with Harun. So shouldn’t I only play with Harun?
Yet reality gave me the Crown Prince clinging persistently, the twins, and Harun reading the room.
‘What is this?’
All the other children became background characters, and I grew weary.
This sudden surge of popularity event—it’s too much for an extra like me.
Whether it was Fessione, the twins, or Harun, there wasn’t a single child in the Gathering Group I didn’t know, yet they were all such stars that I’d never crossed paths with them until today, and now I was entangled with all of them.
“Ha…….”
The Albrecht Empire has several powerful noble houses. Among them, the mightiest is Halbert.
To put it simply, Halbert’s power overflows to the point of being able to stand as equals with the imperial family itself, and according to the novel’s explanation, this all stems from a secret Halbert possesses.
‘It was a setting I couldn’t immediately make sense of.’
Do they blackmail others with their secrets and extort money?
In the novel, Halbert functioned as a catch-all for all manner of plot hooks—whenever something happened, it was explained away as “Halbert’s doing in the shadows,” so details never really emerged.
Moreover, after Arellin’s death, Halbert declined, and no one ever learned why.
Mehan left, and even the Duke of Halbert fell to ruin…….
Well. That wasn’t important anyway.
Since it only functioned as background in the novel, no one paid it any attention.
‘I should have paid attention!’
I regretted it, but it was too late.
In any case, unlike Halbert—which seemed formidable in terms of worldbuilding but amounted to nothing in practice—there existed houses of genuine power and influence.
The first was Spellom, which controlled all commerce throughout the Empire.
“Arellin!”
“My name is Arellin, actually.”
The second was Mvibisk, which had for generations borne the Empire’s military might.
“…….”
“……? What is it, tell me in words.”
How could they be so opposite?
Unlike Spellom’s little devils, who deceive with angelic faces, Harun carried a cold and icy beauty that made one shrink merely by his proximity.
A chill so sharp that one wrong glance would invite contempt, yet Harun was actually a gentle soul.
Harun Berg Mvibisk.
Mvibisk’s prodigy, guardian knight of the Crown Prince.
‘The Sub Male Lead of this story.’
I began to understand why Chloe, the Female Lead of this narrative, harbored such fervent and bashful feelings for him.
‘It’s the face.’
With a face like that, it’s entirely possible.
To be honest, the Male Lead, Crown Prince Fessione, possessed an almost unrealistic beauty. The kind of looks that, if he set his mind to seducing someone, they’d have no choice but to fall.
But perhaps because of that very thing?
There was an odd side effect—he seemed somehow distant.
The twins? How they gave such angelic faces to those little devils is beyond me.
They looked like they’d stepped straight out of a religious painting, yet they had the most glaring flaw: their personality.
Compared to them, how trustworthy is Harun?
A typical Northern Duke’s image.
Though it strains belief that someone fitting the archetype of a loyal, dependable Male Lead is merely a Sub Male Lead, his jet-black hair and pale blue eyes—lighter than sapphire—impart a refreshing feeling to all who behold them.
“Arellin, why haven’t you looked at us since earlier? Have you taken a liking to Harun?”
“Arellin, does Harun appeal to you?”
The twins grumbled as if miffed. But I paid them no mind.
‘Help me.’
I looked to Harun.
“…….”
But again, Harun misunderstood my plea for help.
“Why are you two bothering Arellin?!”
Harun brought Fessione into the fray.
Is this right?
“Your Highness, Your Highness, this isn’t bothering her.”
“That’s right, Your Highness, Your Highness. What don’t you understand? We were simply building camaraderie!”
“Right, isn’t that so, Arellin?”
“Our words are true, aren’t they, Arellin?”
I’m trapped in hell.
Unaware of my true feelings, the gaze of the other children—envious, jealous, resentful, spiteful, angry—pricked at my cheeks like needles.
“Arellin?!”
“Arellin!”
“Arellin!”
I want to be alone. Turn me into a pariah again.

* * *

It was exhausting.
“……Miss.”
The moment I returned, Mehan let out a troubled voice upon seeing me clinging to him without the slightest intention of letting go.
“Miss?”
Do not disturb. Your young lady is currently recuperating.

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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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