Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 203

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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 203

Mehren steeled himself as he entered the private reception room set aside for him alone.
From the moment he’d stepped into the royal ball hosted by the Imperial Household, a meeting with the Emperor had become an inescapable inevitability.
“It’s been a long time.”
As Mehren lowered his head in formal greeting, Emperor Edward offered his salutation in a voice that struck just the right balance between warmth and authority.
“Your Majesty and Your Majesty the Empress—I am honored to be received.”
“Please, dispense with the formality. Raise your head.”
At Empress Azeni’s words, Mehren finally lifted his gaze.
Emperor Edward’s expression sharpened briefly at the Empress’s gracious welcome, but such nuances were second nature to Mehren by now.
“So you’ve finally stopped playing dead?”
……
“After the Grand Duke’s whereabouts became obscure, even his proxy vanished from his post. I was beginning to worry that Halbern might be struck from the noble registry altogether.”
“I apologize, Your Majesty.”
Emperor Edward laughed generously.
“It seems El Sionel treated you well—your face has brightened considerably. I can’t fathom where you’ve hidden your years, my lord. I’d believe you were still in your twenties.”
“I’m well into my thirties now, Your Majesty.”
“Precisely my point.”
Emperor Edward himself, for all his words, appeared no older than his years warranted.
“Your Majesty, enough.”
Seeing him continue to pick at an old acquaintance he’d only just laid eyes on again, Empress Azeni finally intervened.
The air shifted at once, heavy with sudden gravity.
Mehren’s instincts told him precisely what conversation was now to come.
“Duke Mehren, the young lady you brought with you today—”
Tense glances crossed the room.
“Surely not?”
“Yes.”
No lengthy explanation was needed; all understood. Emperor Edward asked carefully.
“Can it truly be… that *she* herself?”
“Would I fail to recognize a child I’ve raised for seven years?”
At Mehren’s weary but unequivocal confirmation, both the Emperor and the Empress fell into their own separate contemplations.
“Sione…”
Empress Azeni, gazing upon that unforgettably familiar face, found her thoughts turning to the friend who still visited her dreams.
Emperor Edward, by contrast, was seized by thoughts of the catastrophe the past fifteen years had wrought.
“It’s cause for joy. True cause for joy. Really, it should be nothing but cause for joy.”
Why did Emperor Edward, who had long promised to relinquish the throne the moment his heir came of age so that he might retire with his beloved Empress Azeni to some place of perfect contentment—why did he still cling to the imperial seat?
The answer lay in the fact that his heir, Fession, was flawless in every way save one: he had become a bomb that might detonate catastrophically if handled even slightly wrong.
The Emperor, who had been groaning under this burden, abandoned all pretense of dignity and clung to Empress Azeni.
“Sister, what am I to do?”
“Your Majesty, please maintain your composure.”
“Sister, if Fession learns of this—I can’t even imagine his reaction. What do you think he’ll do?”
“He’ll be pleased, surely.”
“Will he? Just pleased? Why can’t I imagine anything good coming of this?”
……
“You know our son isn’t in his right mind. I’m afraid of him now. He’s stronger than me these days.”
“Honestly. Edward!”
“Should I simply replace the Crown Prince with Terion? It’s not too late, I think.”
“Terion hasn’t even studied Imperial Studies. What are you saying?”
“We can start him on the curriculum now. I never received heir training either.”
“Stop this foolishness and maintain your dignity, Your Majesty.”
“Sister, let’s just hand over the throne and go somewhere with good water and clean air. Just the two of us. What do you say? Mm?”
Emperor Edward grasped Empress Azeni’s hand with careful, tender devotion.
“All I need is you, Sister.”
The Empress remained unmoved by his poignant plea. As always, it was Edward whose resolve crumbled.
“This realm is blessed to have you as Empress, Sister. I don’t know what we’d do without you.”
“Edward, you’re the Emperor. Come to your senses.”
Empress Azeni, observing the Emperor’s deteriorating mental state under extreme duress, quietly summoned the head chamberlain to escort him out, then cleared her throat.
“I apologize for the unseemly display, Mehren.”
“Think nothing of it. The strength of your marriage is a blessing to the realm.”
Empress Azeni offered an ambiguous smile.
“Will you be returning to Halbern now?”
Now it was Mehren’s turn to offer an ambiguous smile.
Arelin had returned, but Mehren found his current life far more satisfying.
And yet…
“Even if I return to Halbern, I’m afraid it would be impossible for me to vouch for Arelin’s standing.”
“Yes. That’s likely.”
Empress Azeni agreed readily.
For the past fifteen years, the most frequent occurrence in the Capital had been imposters claiming to be Arelin.
All targeting the Crown Prince.
The House of Halbern, which had sunk beneath the surface at precisely the worst moment, was already a family little known to the world—and now both its lord and his proxy had vanished without trace.
The noblewoman was said to be dead, yet there had been no body, no funeral rites.
When word of the Crown Prince’s condition became public, all these circumstances provided some with dangerous encouragement.
Now the people of the Capital associated “Arelin” first with the Crown Prince’s Forbidden Subject, and second with the inevitable question: “Another impostor?”
This was the very circumstance Mehren had never been able to fully explain to Arelin.
“The most certain method would be if the Grand Duke of Halbern himself returned to authenticate her.”
Even the Halbern Guardian Stone, which responded only to those of Halbern blood, could only be activated by Valere, the Grand Duke of Halbern, should he retrieve it.
“Therein lies the problem.”
Mehren offered a bitter smile.
The situation had become so hopelessly tangled that he couldn’t even fathom where to begin unraveling it.
‘I hope Arelin doesn’t happen to encounter the Crown Prince and come to harm because of it.’
He’d warned her to avoid trouble, but unease crept in regardless.
‘Surely something like that won’t happen, will it?’

* * *

Thud.
The back of my head throbbed from where it had struck the closed door, though the pain faded quickly.
“Who are you?”
The sharp, frigid tone jolted me back to awareness.
Unlike the bright corridor, the darkened chamber was lit only by moonlight filtering through its windows. The shadow cast by the figure who’d shoved me against the wall made it impossible at first to discern who held me pinned.
But how could I not know?
That voice.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I could finally make out the delicate lines of the face pressed so close to mine, and without thinking, I held my breath.
Those eyes—the same impassive gaze I’d seen during the processional not so long ago—bore down on me with icy indifference.
My heart lurched violently.
I had no words. I found myself doubting whether the man I was seeing was truly Fession.
Yet if this man before me was indeed Fession, then surely those fifteen difficult years had been no easier for him than they had been for me.
Only now, face to face with this utterly transformed Fession, did I truly feel the weight of those fifteen years.
‘Was he in more pain than I was?’
When the treatments grew unbearably painful and I wished for death, I would think of the people waiting for me.
When my memories began to fade, I would ask my teacher to show me fantasies drawn from my own recollections.
Again and again I would rehearse them, until I could paint them clearly behind closed eyes.
In my imagination, Fession was always radiant as the sun itself, his smile so bright and pure it could dissolve any shadow in an instant. I held fast to the belief that when we reunited, it would be him greeting me with that same joyful warmth.
Never anything like this.
The moonlight through the window caught the clean lines of his face.
Gone was every trace of the innocent, cherubic boy he’d been. In his place stood someone sharp, austere, cold.
He’s grown beautifully.
I’d always thought I wasn’t the type to be captivated by a man’s appearance, yet here I was, utterly enchanted.
When my hand reached out unbidden, Fession—who had been motionless until then—let out a hollow laugh.
“What game is this supposed to be?”
Beneath long lashes, crimson eyes swallowed the darkness whole, gleaming with suspicion and doubt. That piercing gaze froze me where I stood.
It was then that Fession opened his mouth.
“I have to admit—of all the impostors I’ve seen, you’re the most convincing. You really do look like me. If I weren’t the original, I might have been taken in.”
……?
“Who sent you? Who convinced you that with a face like this, you could make me fall for you? How much did you pay for it? How much of you is real beneath all the alterations? Is there anything left of your original face?”
What is he saying?
This is my real face!
I stood paralyzed by the sudden barrage of accusations and derision.
Indignation nearly made me flare up, but I forced myself to respond with maturity.
“Your Highness, I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
“Even the voice is similar.”
Fession covered his face with one hand, his warning dropping to a glacial whisper.
The killing intent he released made my skin crawl with dread.
“If you want to live, get out of my sight.”

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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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