Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 253

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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 253

“You didn’t tie him up somewhere else?”
“I wouldn’t mix something like that up.”
“Fair point.”
We’d searched the building and its surroundings thoroughly, yet Luca was nowhere to be found.
I waited until the sun fully rose, hoping daybreak might change things, but unlike the previous morning, Luca never appeared.
‘Why?’
It would’ve been different if he’d left some other trace—blood, broken objects, anything. But the fact that Luca alone had vanished without a mark, as if he’d simply evaporated from that spot, made it impossible to turn away.
I searched one last time, though it only confirmed what I already knew: Luca was gone.
“Arelin.”
Fession called to me as I lingered at the scene, shaking his head quietly.
“…Right. If he comes to his senses later, he’ll return to the Mage Tower. Let’s go.”
A thought struck me then, oddly delayed.
“Fession, did you come alone?”
“No. With the knights.”
“Where are the knights?”
“The Ruins.”
Fession explained that since the incident stemmed from the Ruins erupting in the first place, he’d sent the knights to investigate there first.
“Then why did you…?”
“To find you.”
“Ah.”
So he’d sent all the accompanying knights into the Ruins and stayed behind to search for me alone?
Why on earth would he do that?
‘Wait—did he send them away because they’d get in the way of looking for me?’
Was he really reckless enough to wander this city alone, taking on unnecessary danger for such a trivial reason? That made no sense….
I shook my head in disbelief at my own thoughts, and our eyes met.
“?”
Fession tilted his head at me with a puzzled expression.
“Just had a strange thought suddenly.”
“A strange thought?”
“Yeah. Like, what if you sent them away because the other knights would get in the way? That kind of strange thought.”
“Mm.”
At my joke, Fession smiled with unusual gentleness and nodded.
“That is a strange thought, isn’t it? But that couldn’t possibly be true.”
Fession’s eyes crinkled as he smiled.
For some reason, the fact that he didn’t deny it made me uneasy.
Could it actually be…?
“…It’s not, right?”
I blinked rapidly.
Just as I was about to piece something together, Fession cut off my thoughts, speaking softly and tenderly.
“Let’s head back before it gets any later. There’s a lot we need to do.”
Watching Fession never fully deny it, I swallowed the sigh rising in my throat.
And I made a new resolve.
‘I can’t leave him alone next time. I just can’t.’
* * *
The city at dawn wore a completely different face than it had at dusk.
Though it had only been two days, so much had happened in that span that seeing the sunrise filled me with countless thoughts.
“You said something about becoming bound to the Ruins upon death?”
“I thought Luca was definitely dead, but he showed up fine the next day. He wasn’t even aware he’d died. But there were numbers carved into his wrist.”
On the day we first arrived, Luca’s wrists had been completely bare. We had no such markings, but I remembered noticing them because the people in Gairen had numbers on theirs.
“Everyone else in this city has numbers on their wrists too. They’re all different numbers, but everyone has them. I’ve been curious what they mean, but… they might be death counts.”
“They might?”
“Because even after dying, he comes back alive, I think he becomes bound to something when he dies. I suspect it’s the Ruins.”
Fession watched me quietly as I spoke my theory. Lost in thought about the unusually empty city we were walking through, I tilted my head when I caught his gaze.
“What?”
There were times when Fession looked at me like this, and I could never quite understand what he was thinking.
Usually transparent to the point of crystal clarity—why was he so opaque in moments like these?
“Did I say something wrong?”
“No.”
After a brief silence, Fession replied.
“It’s nothing much. Just as it always is.”
“?”
What was he talking about all of a sudden?
When I tilted my head again, Fession squeezed the hand he was holding, gripping it more tightly.
“Arelin, you won’t leave my side no matter what happens now, right?”
“Why would I leave your side?”
“Exactly.”
The pupils of Fession’s eyes grew heavy and deep.
His crimson irises still glimmered beautifully in the brilliant morning light, yet something about the weight in his gaze made my own mood grow still.
Caught in a sudden silence, holding his eyes, I felt as though I were being drawn into those pupils.
‘If Fession were a demon, I’d already be caught.’
Sunlight pouring down on us. The whisper of leaves brushing in the wind. The sensation of my hair being swept by the breeze. The fresh scent of early morning mingled with grass.
Moments I would normally pass without thinking, yet now transformed—as if the entire world were awakening in a solemn instant.
In the air charged with the sense that something was about to begin, as my own heart stirred, Fession whispered like a sigh.
“I don’t care what you are.”
I didn’t immediately grasp what Fession meant.
What was he suddenly saying?
Standing there blankly, I watched as Fession’s pupils brightened, taking me in without reservation.
“Even if you’re a ghost, or a person from another world, or a monster that came to devour me—it doesn’t matter.”
“…Wouldn’t that actually be a problem?”
I didn’t quite understand what he was saying, but he spoke with such earnestness that I didn’t want to argue. Still.
If I were really a monster that came to eat him, that wouldn’t be okay, would it?
‘Is it because he’s a Sword Master?’
When he said “a person from another world,” I did flinch for a moment….
“Why are you saying this all of a sudden?”
The answer came surprisingly easily.
“Because I’m afraid you’ll suddenly disappear.”
“Why would I?”
“That’s how I feel. I’m scared you’ll vanish without warning.”
“But why?”
“Sometimes you don’t feel like you belong to this world…?”
I blinked, too startled to do anything else.
‘How did he know?’
This one’s intuition was….
As though he’d expected exactly this reaction, Fession accepted even my startled expression with composure, which only left me more confused.
What was this? Did he know something?
Not expecting to have this kind of conversation with Fession, strange words tumbled from my lips.
“Would a kiss help?”
“Out of nowhere?”
“I thought it might make you feel less anxious.”
I didn’t know how to show my sincerity here, or what promise would satisfy him.
Watching me genuinely ponder this, Fession’s expression softened, and he gently swung the hand he was holding.
“This is enough for now.”
“You’re sweet.”
I reached over with my other hand to pet his hair, and Fession’s expression grew even lighter. It felt odd, like I was petting a dog.
“Getting to the Mage Tower seems to be the priority for now anyway.”
“That’s true, but….”
“And, Arelin.”
“Hmm?”
Meeting my eyes again, Fession spoke in a more serious tone.
“I’ve never seen numbers like that on anyone’s wrist.”
“…?”
“Those numbers—you’re the only one who can see them, aren’t you?”
In that moment, I grasped the identity of the unease I’d been feeling—that nagging sense that I was missing something crucial.
So that’s what I’d been overlooking.
“Ah.”
And there was something else.
A thought suddenly struck me, and I urged Fession forward.
“We don’t have time for this right now. We have to get to the Mage Tower, fast!”
* * *
I’d always known there were differences that set me apart from others, yet I often forgot them in my daily life.
Like how only I could see Stoke when I was young, or how I was immune to the Corruption that accumulated every time any mage used magic.
‘If Luca’s talk about his body feeling heavy was actually related to Corruption….’
All mages were born with Stellar Aura. It wasn’t as lethal as in Star-rank Mages, but when ordinary mages became corrupted, they exhibited signs of madness rather than overload.
Hoping I wasn’t too late, I arrived at the Mage Tower.
“Ah.”
I bit down hard on my lip as I saw the bloodstains visible from the entrance.

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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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