Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 291

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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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291
Chapter

The Twins grinned and pointed to one corner of the party hall.
Even as the venue remained crowded, there was one spot conspicuously filled with ladies my age, all gazing at their object of admiration with unmistakable longing—
“Our father?”
At my look of distaste, the Twins giggled.
“What do you think—don’t any of them look like they could be your new mother?”
They seemed intent on teasing me.
“As if.”
It was simply pathetic from where I stood.
“Why not? Someone could always sneak into the Grand Duke’s bedchamber with enough determination.”
“Ha.”
“Aren’t you worried?”
Ciel and Noel tilted their heads in confusion.
“What’s so appealing about ladies my age that they’d throw themselves at our father?”
“Well, the Grand Duke is handsome, isn’t he?”
“And the Grand Duke is rich, isn’t he?”
Were these two really suggesting that all our father possessed was good looks and wealth?
‘They’re not wrong, though.’
Somehow persuaded, I tilted my head thoughtfully, and Ciel pressed on with conviction.
“The Grand Duke of Halbern’s beauty is even renowned overseas—surely his being slightly younger wouldn’t disqualify him?”
“That’s true; father’s face is presentable enough.”
I even find myself captivated by it sometimes.
“And he’s the Grand Duke of Halbern—what else could be wrong?”
Noel added that such credentials would be enough to make any lady swoon on the spot.
“What could be wrong? Of course there’s something wrong!”
The problem is our father himself.
“You two really don’t know our father at all.”
“?”
“Allow me to enlighten you.”
“?”
“Our father only has eyes for me and Mehren.”
“No way.”
Ciel looked at me as if that could possibly be true.
This fool—our father is the most devoted man alive, yet you’d spread such slander. Wait, actually, I’ve traveled through 213,546 parallel worlds, and I’ve verified it thoroughly.
“Right, Sione?”
As it happened, there was someone present who had also traversed parallel worlds like I had.
I sought his help to prove father’s innocence, but—
“I only have eyes for you, Arelin.”
Fession spoke with eyes dripping honey and an excessively tender voice.
……
I’d chosen the wrong person to ask.

* * *

Empress Azeni departed before midnight, taking Sirua with her.
Though Sirua seemed reluctant to leave, he was dragged away by the Empress’s hand and gave Mehren a parting warning that he would return again.
‘I’m not sure why he felt the need to warn me, but…’
The Empress also left after saying, “Wait for me,” foretelling something to come.
“Wait for what, exactly?”
Mehren found himself seized by inexplicable dread, but—
“I’ll just leave it all to Valere. I’m not the Grand Duke, after all.”
He ended his deliberation with remarkable simplicity.
“Lord Mehren!”
And no sooner had the Empress vanished than this suspiciously popular middle-aged man was swept up by a horde of middle-aged men, and—
“When I regress… I’m going to find Mehren first, right out on the street, and take him with me.”
Finally, a middle-aged man who had been eyeing him for ages let such words slip from his lips.
Ah, what to do with this SSS-rank talent—a man lacking in nothing, be it paperwork, practical affairs, eloquence, hospitality, or management?
The Duke of Sperom tormented himself with the fact that he could not have Mehren.
“When I regress—!”
Valere, sipping his drink beside the Duke of Sperom, flinched every time the word “regression” was mentioned.
“I absolutely must have Mehren—!”
Watching the Duke of Sperom go on like this, the Duke of Idiclkes grew even more grave.
“Tell me, Valere. Should we really let Simon carry on like that?”
“Let him enjoy himself.”
“…Is this what they call the leisure of the fortunate?”
Valere, knowing that as long as Arelin existed, Mehren would be his, smiled with easy confidence.
It was a subtle smile with the corners of his eyes drawn down, yet at the sight of that smile, everyone present caught their breath.
‘That beauty certainly has devastating power.’
The Duke of Idiclkes nodded, thinking it might even be a more effective charm ability than the Imperial Court’s innate power of affection.
‘Though when I consider that Empress Azeni is still enthralled by Sione, perhaps that holds true?’
There was another man present whose life had been ruined by that very Sione.
‘The Regent Duke Ludwig.’
The man who once held such despotic sway was nowhere to be found; these days he appeared as gentle as a lamb, all venom drained away.
‘Hmm.’
For the Duke of Idiclkes, who had spent years in the Southern Empire working at his side to prevent the outbreak of war, it was a curious sight.
Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I had tested the waters during the greeting earlier.

“Do you not mind allowing your abilities to languish this way? Many lords in the Southern Empire still await you with longing.”
“You—”
“Yes?”
“Do you feel nothing at the sight of that smile?”

The owner of ‘that smile’ the Regent Duke indicated was none other than Arelin.

“I have already resolved to spend my remaining years protecting that smile.”

With no more to say, the Regent Duke returned to sipping his wine.
The Duke of Idiclkes, having nothing further to add, withdrew. It was then, as the Duke of Idiclkes was turning over their earlier exchange, that—
“But Valere, why in the world are all those mages even at this party?”
The Duke of Sperom voiced the question that had been on his mind.
Though Magical Engineering and mages were familiar enough, nobles rarely forged direct ties with the Magic Tower itself.
The reason, of course, was not that nobles lacked interest in the Magic Tower, but rather that the Magic Tower—which commanded all manner of Artifacts, Magical Engineering, and Healing Magic practitioners, wielding money and power as it pleased—held no interest for the nobility.
Their sole concern was the pursuit of truth, yearning toward the stars.
“Mages are naturally a reclusive lot who won’t set foot outside the Magic Tower unless dangled the bait of patronage for magical research.”
Even Sperom, the most intimate with the Magic Tower and the most connected among Imperial nobles, saw only a mage or two answer party invitations when pressed for research funds—and never more than that.
For the Duke of Sperom, seeing so many mages clustered together at a party was unprecedented.
Though they retained their characteristically closed and clannish nature, unwilling to mix with others.
Then Valere answered, seemingly unbothered.
“My daughter is a mage.”
“…?”
“So they came to congratulate her.”
“…??”
This is the first I’m hearing of it?
Was that genuinely the case, rather than a cover story?
“Wait… Arelin is… actually a mage?”
More than just a mage, she was a Star-rank Mage, though Valere saw no reason to share such details and left it at that.
“What? But—?”
The Duke of Sperom and the Duke of Idiclkes fell into confusion.
Yet Valere’s gaze merely darkened as he regarded the gathered mages.

* * *

In truth, there was a reason the mages had all converged on Halbern’s party like this.
First, obviously, because a legendary figure—a Grand Mage—was present;
second, to have a chance to meet Arelin, a Star-rank Mage, the first in the Magic Tower’s entire history to be blessed by every star;
and finally, because Mehren had prepared an extraordinary quantity of Mana Stones as tokens of gratitude exclusively for the mages.
Mana Stones already served diverse functions in magical research, yet over the past decade or so, some peculiar automotive industry had been drawing Mana Stones away like a vacuum cleaner, leaving ordinary mages unable to glimpse quality stones at all.
With Mana Stones offered as party favors, even the most dedicated mages found themselves desperate to obtain invitations.
“Phew, it’s Halbern after all. Wealthy families really do spare no expense on gifts.”
“Only Halbern could manage Mana Stones as tokens of gratitude? It’s been ages since I’ve held such high-quality stones!”
But why had Star-rank Mages, for whom Mana Stones held no urgency, come at all?
“When does this party end?”
“We need to take Arelin away soon.”
“Before the Grand Duke objects, right?”
“What power could the Grand Duke possibly have to come alone to the Sky Tower?”
“Umm… I think he might have come before, actually?”
“?”
They were preparing an elaborate scheme—namely, a kidnapping.

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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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