Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 25
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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 25
“Why does Arelin dislike moving around so much?”
“Then why does Your Highness enjoy moving around so much?”
“I enjoy moving around?”
Fession tilted his head in confusion.
“You’re rushing about all day long, aren’t you?”
What he enjoys most is ball games, of all things.
A creature fundamentally different from me, who wants nothing more than to lie down all day.
“So I do move around all day!”
Fession’s eyes widened as if he’d just had an epiphany.
“I never realized it.”
…….
“Is Arelin a genius?”
Am I… being mocked?
“It’s something everyone knows when they look at Your Highness.”
“Wow, really? So Arelin has been watching me all along!”
…….
“I had no idea you were paying such close attention to me!”
“I wasn’t watching quite that closely.”
No matter what I said to deny it, Fession’s ears seemed unable to hear me—he was already moved.
“I wish I could play ball games with Arelin sometime!”
“Your ambitions are quite admirable. But that’s an impossible dream.”
“If Arelin exercised with me, wouldn’t it become possible someday?”
Is he serious?
“You can do it! I’ll help!”
“I don’t need help.”
I fled in panic from the clinging Crown Prince.
“Arelin, Arelin?!”
* * *
Griam, the Crown Prince’s Chief Chamberlain, was normally a man of considerable status whose position gave him little reason to fear anything.
“It seems the Chamberlain has hidden honey somewhere in the Halbern Estate.”
Unless his counterpart was Mehehn, the Grand Duke Halbern’s proxy.
“Ha ha ha. As if I would.”
“You came yesterday, and today, and you’ll come tomorrow, I hear?”
…….
“While I cannot stand in the way of the Crown Prince’s wishes, I thought perhaps we should maintain some propriety.”
A smiling face. Clearly both were smiling.
Yet it was chilling. A dagger flew through his chest and buried itself deep.
“Ha ha. How could a mere chamberlain defy his master’s will?”
“I understand it is also your duty to guide the Crown Prince away from misguided paths.”
…….
Misguided paths? Was he suggesting the Halbern Estate was some lair of evil?
Had this been the Imperial Palace, the situation would have been different. But this was the Halbern Estate.
Mehehn had won by decision.
‘Just smile.’
Unable to think of how to respond, Griam simply maintained a gentle, amiable smile.
“Tsk.”
Mehehn, dissatisfied with something, rose to his feet.
For the first time, Griam was grateful that Mehehn was one of the busiest men in the Albrecht Empire.
“I shall be watching.”
…….
After Mehehn delivered his threat disguised as something else and disappeared,
“Phew.”
Griam looked at his young master, who continued to laugh and giggle despite everything.
“You should know just how hard I’m working to support you…….”
* * *
Mehehn watched from the window as Arelin and Fession bickered together comfortably.
Arelin, perpetually looking troubled, and Fession, beaming with endless brightness.
“Mehehn?”
Mehehn found himself asking Dilan the question before he quite knew what he was doing.
“Do you think there would be no problem allowing the Crown Prince’s visits to continue as they are, Dilan?”
“Pardon?”
“I’m asking whether there would be any issue in allowing the Crown Prince to come and go without interference.”
Dilan blinked slowly. It was the first time Mehehn had ever asked him such a question. And yet…….
‘With such a complex expression on his face, no less.’
Why he was asking this of him remained a mystery only until Dilan’s gaze followed Mehehn’s to the small girl framed in his line of sight. In an instant, upon seeing Arelin, he understood.
“But surely you already know, don’t you?”
“Know what?”
“That the young lady needs a friend her own age.”
…….
He could have prevented Fession’s visits, could have prevented Griam’s visits as easily as he wished. The reason he had not.
A glimpse of humanity rarely visible in Mehehn—at that, Dilan’s smile deepened.
“It will be fine.”
…….
Mehehn did not respond, only watching Arelin. Dilan’s smile grew richer still.
‘Despite your pretense, you are worried about the young lady.’
It was the first time she had refused to attend the musical gathering, and he had permitted it, though inwardly the matter weighed on him.
“Children grow by these experiences.”
Mehehn exhaled a soft sigh.
“You seem to know much about children for someone younger than I, Dilan.”
“I have many nieces and nephews.”
…….
Mehehn rubbed his face briskly and turned his body with renewed composure.
“Report to me immediately if anything occurs.”
“Yes, understood.”
* * *
A week into the Crown Prince’s daily visits, and the Halbern Estate had begun to change bit by bit.
“We should prepare a special diet for the Crown Prince…….”
“The Crown Prince has mentioned…….”
Based on information provided by Griam and his retinue of attendants, the maids and butlers prepared everything to ensure Fession’s stay was without issue.
And then.
“Ugh…….”
There was one person who found all of it tedious.
I had underestimated the Crown Prince’s patience. The conviction that this interest was merely passing and would fade if I continued to ignore him was becoming increasingly uncertain.
“Arelin―!”
I was pushing down my head and forcing myself to chew food that wouldn’t go down, when an uninvited guest entered the dining hall.
What little appetite I had vanished entirely.
“Young lady, you must finish your meal!”
“I’m not hungry.”
Emma scolded from beside me, but her words didn’t reach my ears. The culprit himself had arrived.
“Arelin! There you are!”
He didn’t sneak around or run away—Fession always made such a theatrical entrance.
“Hello!”
A greeting that was nothing special, nothing remarkable.
And yet, with Fession’s radiant smile, I could almost see the gloomy dining hall brighten with light.
……Hello.
I think I’m going to exorcise myself.
“You were eating? But why are you eating so little?”
“I’m having trouble digesting.”
“Why can’t you digest?”
As if you’d know the answer.
Why don’t you ask my stomach instead?
“Let’s eat more!”
…….
“To be healthy, you have to eat well!”
My head throbbed.
Life was already difficult enough; these days, this lunatic Crown Prince was making it unbearable.
“Arelin, did you sleep well? To be healthy, you have to sleep well!”
“Here, eat this! To be healthy, you have to eat well!”
“To be healthy, you have to live regularly.”
“Wake up! Come on, let’s move—to be healthy, you have to exercise!”
“You need to walk! A stroll, a stroll!”
Annoying. Tedious. Exhausting!
I had no idea where he was getting this information from, but the fact that someone who already couldn’t sit still for a moment was now nagging me constantly made me feel like I was about to lose my mind.
‘Is there anyone who can remove this creature?’
I looked around to see if anyone would help, but…….
“Well done! That’s exactly it!”
“As expected of the Crown Prince!”
Everyone was united in their support of Fession.
‘Are these people my caregivers? Or are they Fession’s retinue?’
Lonely. I was desperately, achingly alone.
“I heard about it! To become healthy, you need to eat a balanced diet with all the nutrients!”
“Yes, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats.”
“Carbohydrates, proteins, and fats? What is that? Is it a monster’s name?”
“Carbohydrates, proteins, fats… things like that.”
“Is it magic?”
…….
I desperately scanned my surroundings for someone to save me.
Help!
“Don’t the young lady and the Crown Prince make a wonderful pair?”
“The Crown Prince must really like the young lady!”
“It would be nice if the young lady would accept him a bit more.”
Never mind the clueless caregivers—shouldn’t Griam, the Crown Prince’s own Chief Chamberlain, stop this somehow?
“Your Highness…….”
Right. He’s utterly powerless on that front.
In the end, humans are always alone.
‘When will he ever get tired of me?’
My patience was about to snap long before Fession ever grew bored with me.
“Come on, let’s go now. For a stroll!”
A hand suddenly extended toward me.
I stared down at his white, small hand for a moment, then bit out,
“Aren’t you busy?”
“Huh?”
“Your Highness, you must be busy.”
Even if he was young, Fession was royalty.
More than that—he was the Crown Prince, destined to inherit the throne.
With Imperial Studies and sword training and all manner of duties, how could he afford to be doing this every day?
‘He must be carving out whatever little free time he has to come here.’
Which made it all the more confusing.
Why would he go to such lengths to see me? And every single day?
“You must be busy, so there’s no need to come here every day…….”
“Why would you say that?”
“Pardon?”
“We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Fession smiled.
A smile so bright it was almost unbearable—a smile as luminous as the sun. It was difficult to withstand.
“I am busy, sure. But it’s okay!”
“Why…….”
“I come because I want to.”
His clear, ingenuous eyes pierced through me.
“I like playing with you, Arelin. Don’t you feel the same? It’s boring to be alone at home all the time.”
…….
A kindness I had never received from anyone in my life—pure, guileless, transparent kindness without a shred of malice.
In the moment I faced this sinless regard, untainted by damp wickedness, by calculative schemes of use, by demands for repayment or hidden intent,
I found I could say nothing at all.
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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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