Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 283

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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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283
Chapter

What on earth had possessed me to do that?
A single, light kiss—but it felt like pouring the final drop into a cup held together only by surface tension, one push away from overflow.
Whatever patience he’d shown until now simply vanished. The moment something shifted behind his eyes, Fession stole the breath from my lungs entirely.
“-!”
The sensation of lip meeting lip was still unfamiliar. So soft, so yielding….
The sudden kiss locked my body rigid with tension. My heart thundered so loudly I could almost hear it, filling me with an absurd sense of guilt—as if I were doing something terribly wrong in this very moment.
“Arelin, breathe.”
Even his voice, pitched so low it was almost dangerous, was too much.
Tell me to breathe, then offer no time to do it—who did he think he was?
My lips parted of their own accord, and his breath mingled with mine in a way that made coherent thought impossible.
My fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, and through it I felt him smile.
“Arelin, I said breathe.”
“But I—”
—you just keep pulling me back in, damn it!
Before I could finish, our lips met again. He caught my lower lip gently between his teeth before drawing me back into that messy, desperate tangle—as though his own breath depended entirely on mine.
Fession finally released me only when I genuinely feared I might suffocate.
“-You!”
Eyes burning, tears clinging to my lashes, I glared at him hard enough that he swallowed his laughter.
I wanted to curse him, but breathing came first. Once I’d caught my breath, I beat my fists against his broad chest—and he simply let me, surrendering without resistance.
Which somehow made it worse.
“I nearly suffocated!”
“That’s why I told you to breathe.”
“How can I breathe when you keep covering my mouth?”
“Use your nose.”
No longer bothering to hide it, Fession laughed softly and reached up to brush my nose.
“Breathe through your nose in that position? Is that even possible?”
“I could show you.”
I shoved my hand against his face to stop him from using that as an excuse to kiss me again.
Where had he even learned this? The man was infuriatingly skilled.
“Ah.”
He looked at me with a pitiful expression, as if deeply wounded.
But not this time—your beauty attack won’t work on me.
That face had always weakened my resolve, but this time… this time….
“Ugh.”
Closing my eyes to resist his charms, I heard him laugh quietly.
“All right, no more kissing.”
Fession murmured this with reluctance dripping from every word. He kept his promise not to kiss my lips, but I couldn’t stop him—nor did I want to—from scattering soft kisses across my cheeks and forehead in a tender display of affection.
“I don’t want to leave.”
His sudden petulance made me almost glare before I caught sight of his pouty expression and laughed instead.
“We still have to go.”
“Sometimes I think you’re too cold about these things, Arelin. Couldn’t you show a little consideration for how much I hate leaving you behind?”
“I was just being practical. How is that cold? What answer are you fishing for?”
“That you wish I wouldn’t go either, or that you’d like me to stay a while longer.”
“And if we get caught?”
No matter how beautiful Fession was, some things simply couldn’t be done.
“Should I just kidnap you?”
He said it as a joke, but….
…or was it?
“You’re joking, right?”
Fession smiled softly without answering, and my unease only grew.
In the time we haven’t seen each other….
There was an uncomfortable feeling I couldn’t shake—as though Fession had developed some deep, hidden darkness I knew nothing about.
“It’s not like you won’t see me at all. Why are you so unsatisfied?”
“Because I’m going crazy missing you.”
“Missing what?”
“When you’re not in my sight, I feel unmoored.”
The night was too deep; I couldn’t quite make out what expression crossed his shadowed face.
Perhaps it was the stars glimmering faintly in the night sky that made this moment feel so special. Or perhaps it was simply how unreal this hour felt.
There was something mirage-like about him in this moment.
‘Does Fession feel the same way about me?’
Is that why he keeps reaching for me, confirming my existence, wanting to keep me by his side?
I didn’t know.
I couldn’t begin to understand where this longing came from, nor how I might quench this thirst of his.
And I wasn’t even sure if I was capable of laying this particular fear to rest.
All I could do was….
“I’m not going anywhere from now on.”
It was the only promise I could offer.
“Even if you told me to leave, I wouldn’t. I won’t pretend I’ve never wanted to die, but you went and saved my life without permission.”
You were the one who caught me, drifting endlessly as a Limited Lifespan Extra Character, unable to fit into this world.
Without you, wouldn’t I have simply accepted my fate and died quietly?
“Fession, you’re in serious trouble now.”
“…?”
“Because even if you push me away and say you’re sick of me, I won’t leave your side. You’ve sealed your own fate—you’re stuck with me for life now.”
Fession’s eyes widened before he laughed. As though the fact of it genuinely delighted him.
“That’s what I want.”
The soft curve of his eyes held a quality that utterly captivated me.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
His whispered words, spoken in that rich, deep tone, were unbearably sweet.
Sometimes I couldn’t decide whether what Fession had given me was salvation or a chain.
But…… I think it was salvation.
Because because of you, I wanted to live.
And even now, surrounded by countless troublesome constraints that in any practical sense should weigh on me, I find them nothing more than a trifle.
I just thought to myself….
I wish I hadn’t met you in words first. I wish this world hadn’t appeared to me as mere letters.
If things had been different, I would have gladly revealed every secret I held and shared everything with you.
‘But for some reason, whenever I try to speak, I get the feeling there are things I shouldn’t say.’
There was an instinct I couldn’t quite articulate, and my lips only trembled.
“All right, Arelin. I’ll go quietly tonight.”
Fession withdrew first.
“Tonight?”
“I’ll come again when I miss you.”
His voice had softened. I nodded in silence, and something gentle brushed against my forehead.
Kiss.
“Sleep well, Arelin.”
Fession left as he’d come—with an easy, breezy grace.
When I was younger, I used to lament daily why the mansion’s Security Magic never caught him.
“Mm.”
The sensation of his lips lingered against my forehead. I rubbed it absently and turned to head back to my room, when—
“…!”

* * *

I nearly screamed at the silhouette that appeared at the foot of the stairs.
The Regent Duke—I couldn’t say how long he’d been standing there—watched me with an expression equal parts complicated and something darker flickering behind his eyes.
“…”
“…”
Wait, what was he doing here?
My confusion and alarm were written plainly across my face.
“I came back in the early morning.”
“Ah, yes.”
“…”
“…”
And silence resumed.
I was the first to crack under the weight of it.
“How much did you see?”
“The two of you… pressed together.”
“…”
“…”
The Regent Duke seemed unable to bring himself to say the word “kiss” aloud, instead brushing vaguely over it. But I understood what he meant well enough.
‘I’m doomed.’
My worst fear had come to pass.
‘I thought no one would ever find out!’
The silent scream I was internally releasing seemed to provoke him. He shifted uncomfortably and spoke at last.
“So… did it feel that good?”
“Yes.”
It was an obvious question—why ask?
“…”
“…”
My unhesitating answer seemed only to deepen the melancholy in his expression.
So I was going to get scolded by Mehren, was I? And Father would probably jump in too—he already disapproved of Fession, so how much worse would he make this?
Thoughts spiraled past one another before a sudden realization struck me.
‘Wait—if he doesn’t say anything, this problem goes away, doesn’t it?’
“Uncle.”
“?!”
I’d always called him “mister” or “Regent Duke” as the mood struck, so when I formally addressed him by title, he actually flinched.
“How about a deal?”
A deal made in shadow—interested?

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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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