Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 28

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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 28

“Miss.”
Mehen looked down at the small child dangling from her like a pendant.
She’d grown accustomed to it after experiencing it a few times now.
“Miss?”
At first, she’d found it confusing and worrying—the way Arelin would cling to her legs or shoulders, bury her face, and remain still for a while. But now Mehen had begun to understand roughly when these moments would come.
‘She’s depleted her energy, hasn’t she.’
She’d just received a report that the Crown Prince had clung to her particularly badly today.
“Are you feeling all right, miss?”
Without a word, Arelin pressed her face firmly into Mehen’s leg.
Whenever she displayed behavior she hadn’t shown before, it was surprising and bewildering—yet Mehen found she didn’t dislike discovering these new facets of Arelin.
“Mama.”
……
Though admittedly, moments like this were awkward.
Mehen hesitated for a moment.
“Mama.”
……
“Mama?”
Arelin pressed for a response, urging her on. Unable to help it, Mehen suppressed her discomfort and opened her lips.
“Yes.”
At the reluctant answer, Arelin laughed. Her brief, fleeting smile was rather endearing.
There was something almost mischievous about calling her “mama” deliberately, knowing it made her uncomfortable—yet Mehen found even that charming, which made the whole thing more awkward still.
‘At least she refrains when there are outsiders present. I suppose I should be grateful for that.’
As Mehen stood there with an astringent expression, unsure what to make of her own perplexing heart, the thoroughly refreshed Arelin lifted her head.
“I listened well and was obedient, so you have to grant me a wish.”
“Shouldn’t it be I who asks for a wish, having received so many Praise Stickers?”
“Regardless. A wish.”
Arelin pouted.
“You won’t grant it?”
Mehen let out a quiet laugh.
“No, I will.”
When she acted like this, she truly seemed ‘childlike.’
“Tell me what you want.”
Mehen reached out and touched Arelin’s plump cheek. The soft, yielding sensation felt quite pleasant to her.
“Anything is fine, so please tell me freely, whatever you wish for.”
Whatever ‘wish’ it might be, she was prepared to grant it without hesitation.
Arelin, who had been grasping at the front of her garment with stubborn fingers, spoke while keeping her head down.
“……Read me a Fairy Tale Book.”
Mehen found herself momentarily at a loss for words.
“When I sleep.”
Arelin carefully lifted her head.
“Is that not all right?”
……
She should answer, but for a moment, her voice wouldn’t come. Unprepared for such a request, Mehen seemed to malfunction briefly.
‘I thought she’d wish for something grander.’
A wish befitting the word itself.
Perhaps something like ‘I want to buy this’ or ‘Get me that,’ or maybe ‘Let’s go somewhere.’
Yet what emerged was this simple, humble desire.
“Yes. By all means……”
She barely scraped out the words, and the child’s face brightened at once.
“Wonderful!”
When the previously tense child laughed, it was like witnessing the full bloom of flowers, and Mehen’s heart grew heavy.
“I thought you’d be too busy, and it would be hard.”
“……I have time to read you a Fairy Tale Book.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ll read it to me every day?”
Her eyes sparkled with anticipation, bright and luminous.
“Every day might be difficult.”
Disappointment flickered across her eyes.
“But I will do my best.”
Seeming pleased with that answer, Arelin laughed.
“Okay!”
As Mehen lifted the small form into her arms and headed toward the bedroom, she felt the weight of the child’s complete trust in her.
‘Have I still not come far enough?’
She’d thought she was gradually fitting into her role as a guardian, but perhaps that wasn’t the case.
A bitter smile rose to her lips.
Watching Arelin smile happily at such a simple thing, Mehen reflected on herself.
“It’s time for you to sleep now, so I’ll read it to you right away.”
“But you just arrived. Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m certain.”
“Don’t you have more work to do?”
“I have time to read to you.”
“Wonderful!”
Her rose-quartz eyes, which hadn’t expected this, gleamed like polished gems, bright and radiant.
Mehen seized the moment to ask about Arelin’s life recently.
Though she received reports in writing and in person, and visited when she had time, what she heard directly from Arelin was different.
“Are you getting along well with his Highness, the Crown Prince?”
“No.”
……
Taken aback by this unexpected answer, Mehen’s brow furrowed.
“Would you ask Mehen to keep Pesion from visiting?”
Mehen brushed back Arelin’s hair, wondering what she meant by such a request, before deciding to simply ask.
“Do you dislike his Highness?”
“I don’t hate him.”
“Then?”
“It’s uncomfortable.”
……
Not hatred, but discomfort?
Before Mehen could turn that meaning over in her mind, Arelin spoke again.
“He’s too kind.”
……
“So I feel like I’m the bad one.”
They’d arrived at the room. As Mehen paused, Arelin leaped from her arms and spoke with conviction.
“I don’t want to hurt him. And I hate being hurt.”
“……I see.”
It seemed childish in some ways, yet not childish at all in others.
As Mehen hesitated, unsure what to say, Arelin continued.
“I can’t live long anyway. If I get close to the Crown Prince, it will only make things hard for him.”
“Please don’t speak like that. No one knows what will happen in the future.”
“Really?”
Arelin laughed.
As though she knew nothing at all.
“Read me the Fairy Tale Book.”
She retrieved the book as though she’d prepared it beforehand and headed toward the bed. Watching Arelin, who was already waiting there, Mehen let out a heavy sigh.

* * *

The Water-Gold Gathering.
The Crown Prince’s childhood friends and the carefully selected future of the Empire, chosen by the Empress Azeni, were scattered about, playing freely.
Standing out above all was Pesion, the center of this gathering.
“Your Highness, today―!”
Next came Harun, who was always beside Pesion. The other children clustered around the two of them.
“Ugh, His Highness is too far away.”
“I wanted to talk too.”
There were children who succeeded or failed in drawing close to Pesion, and when that happened, they ended up grouping together by themselves.
“Can’t be helped. Let’s play among ourselves.”
“Sure.”
The girls gathered with girls, the children with books with each other.
Within this Water-Gold Gathering, organized by such natural divisions, there existed a strikingly isolated and unique presence.
“Hmm.”
Namely, the little devils of Sperom.
The twin brothers Siel and Noel were precisely that.
“Siiigh.”
“Heeegh.”
On any other day, these twins would have rushed to the forefront, making the place raucous and chaotic, but today they were limp and drooping like wilted spinach.
“Look there—the twins.”
“How unusual for them to be so well-behaved.”
Perhaps because these twins normally bounded about noisily, wreaking havoc and devastation wherever they went?
The sight of them sitting quietly in one spot was such a rare spectacle that everyone’s eyes went wide with wonder.
“It’s quite rare to see the little devils so quiet.”
“It truly is extraordinary. Whatever’s come over the young lords?”
“Thanks to this, things are quiet, peaceful, and… most satisfying indeed.”
The attendants’ satisfaction rose as a welcome side effect of being freed from the constant high alert caused by the twins’ mischief—but the relief was short-lived.
After a short time had passed, they began to dread a new horror.
“Could this be the calm before the storm……?”
“How major of a prank are they planning that they’ve been this quiet?”
“I almost wish they’d just pull some minor prank already.”
Whether the attendants worried or not, the twins Siel and Noel were absorbed in their own thoughts.
“This is boring.”
“No fun.”
There existed people who would perish if things weren’t entertaining, and the twins were precisely that.
Why had things become so tedious?
“Siel, what do you think?”
“Noel, could it be because of that?”
“Siel, I was thinking the same thing.”
“Noel, so was I.”
The two exchanged a meaningful glance.
After deliberating, Siel and Noel reached their conclusion.
“It’s because Arelin isn’t here!”
“It’s because Arelin isn’t here!”
That was it.
The entire cause was simply that Arelin was absent.
“It was so much fun!”
“It was thrilling!”
“The way we could tease His Highness was absolutely exhilarating!”
“And Harun too!”
The twins, who had been ranting away, now realized something.
This was it!
This was the reason things had been boring lately!
Because their favorite plaything had been taken away before they could finish tormenting her!
“Argh.”
To lose their cherished toy in the middle of enjoying it—how vast their heartbreak was.
“Noel, I heard some intelligence. Apparently, His Highness has been meeting with Arelin in secret, without us knowing.”
“What?! That’s betrayal!”
“Absolutely!”
Sparks flew from the little devils’ eyes.
“We need to take our revenge, don’t we?”
“We absolutely do!”
“Let’s tail His Highness!”
“Good idea!”
“And!”
Whisper, whisper.
The little devils began to snicker and plot their sinister scheme.

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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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