Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 293

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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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293
Episode

The party held in Halbern ended in grand style.

“The Halbern party—the famed feast came with generous fare!”
“May the power of Halbern endure forever.”

The journalists were unanimous in their praise.
The expensive return gifts that Mehren had prepared with even more care than the party itself seemed to have completely won over the guests, including the press.
“Hmm.”
Mehren smiled with satisfaction.
“There’s a reason—we scattered Artifacts, after all.”
It was all thanks to the Magical Engineering mages, who kept crafting Artifacts and sending them as gifts whenever they got the chance, hoping to earn Arelin’s favor.
They spoke of repaying the debt of gratitude for allowing them to develop the Automobile, or some such thing.
They were only common Artifacts—temporary protection, modest vitality enhancement, emergency location transmission—but that made them all the better to distribute as party favors.
Even now, with Magical Engineering successfully brought to the masses, such items required careful preparation to obtain.
“They’ll be satisfied knowing it was put to good use.”
Having emptied an entire storage room this way, Mehren was contentedly smiling when he caught sight of something in the corner of his vision—a hill of letters—and let out a heavy sigh.
“Is this all that arrived this morning alone?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I see…”
Even Mehren, who valued propriety, found himself glowering at the accumulated letters with a look of disgust.
They weren’t just a few—they were piled high as a hill, making it impossible not to scowl.
At any rate, the person who would have to read all these letters wasn’t him…
“I’ll go report to the master for a moment.”

* * *

Mehren entered the bedroom of a certain man who had spent the previous night drinking himself senseless.
“Ugh…”
It had only been so long since his body recovered, and yet here he was, indulging in such reckless drinking.
‘What on earth happened last night?’
From halfway through the party onward, Mehren had realized that Valere truly intended to do nothing but make an appearance, and from that point on he’d been busy running about tending to guests, so he had no way of knowing what had transpired.
“It’s time to rise, sir. The Duke of House of Sperom and Duke Idikels, who were drinking with you, are long since sober and departed. Why is it only you can’t seem to get up? Hmm? And your constitution is superior to theirs, is it not?”
Valere, worn down by the nagging, awoke with a deep breath and replied in a hoarse voice.
“I’m a patient, aren’t I?”
“Some patient.”
Valere slowly opened his eyes, grabbed his head, and sat up.
“Shall I call the physician?”
“No.”
Mehren assumed Valere was suffering from a hangover as a result of last night’s excess, but the truth was something different altogether.
‘That cursed Artifact effect…’
There was no way Valere could escape the shock of the process in which such enormous power was being sealed.
Was this a side effect of having regressed too many times?
As Valere weighed how long this shock might last, he let out a long sigh.
Still, the fact that the Grand Mage had left without saying anything suggested it wasn’t a serious side effect.
“My stomach is churning, Mehren.”
“And what would you have me do about it?”
“I feel like I’m dying, my love.”
“Shall I kill you myself?”
He’d genuinely felt as though he was dying, but the reply that came was as cold as a winter storm.
Mehren thrust forward a tray while Valere sat there dazed with his eyes half-open.
On it were not rice, not soup, but merely a stack of inedible letters.
“What is all this…”
“Marriage Proposal Letters that arrived in Halbern this morning.”
Valere’s eyes sharpened at once. He took the tray and flung it straight into the ornamental magical fireplace, and Mehren watched in exasperation.
“You didn’t even read a single one…”
“What’s the point in reading them?”
Mehren clicked his tongue at Valere, who was making a satisfied expression after burning them all to ash.
“It’s a good thing I set this one aside separately. Here—take it.”
“What is it?”
“A Marriage Proposal Letter from the Imperial Court.”
Before Mehren could finish explaining that this one required a formal reply according to etiquette,
Valere tore the letter into shreds, reducing it to confetti.
“Hey, you bastard! Have you lost your mind?”
“If Empress Azeni says anything, just tell her you never received it.”
“Are you serious? The Imperial messenger delivered it in person and even got confirmation. Do you really think that excuse will fly?”
“If it doesn’t, so be it.”
Valere rose lightly, as though the matter held no weight whatsoever, then paused with a belated look of realization.
“By the way, where’s our daughter?”
Mehren regarded him with an expression of bewilderment at how to make a proper human being out of such a creature.
“The Magic Tower.”
“The Magic Tower?”
He’d sensed Arelin’s presence nowhere when he released a light wave of energy, so the unexpected answer made him ask.
Mehren shrugged and added,
“The mages whisked her away in a panic the moment the party ended yesterday.”
“Abduction…?”
“Hardly an abduction. Calm yourself.”
Valere, who had been looking ready to dash off to the Magic Tower that instant, flopped onto the bed with a sulky expression. His pouty face was so similar to Arelin’s that Mehren felt goosebumps prickle across his skin.
So this was the mystery of blood.
“Our daughter is far too popular.”
“There’s good reason for it.”
“And I raised her so well…”
“You raised her? The girl who ran off and only just came back?”
Valere’s brow furrowed deeply.
Though the detailed circumstances couldn’t be explained, he found it disconcerting that Mehren wouldn’t even sympathize with him, so Valere resorted to glaring at him instead.
“You understand nothing.”
“What could I possibly not understand?”
“Forget it. You understand nothing.”
“Look at you.”
Mehren couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh at the sight of Valere, who was pouting as though he were a sensitive young girl, pulling the covers back over himself.
“Come on, get up! There’s work to do!”
“I won’t!”

* * *

Arelin was attending a mage’s funeral.
Though the party had ended quite late into the night, there was no issue with the ceremony for Star-rank Mages blessed by the stars taking place in the early dawn, when the sun’s light did not yet outshine the starlight.
“When a Star-rank Mage dies, they become a star.”
There was no falsehood in that statement.
Jemello was cradled in the arms of the star that had blessed him and became a star himself.
“Well then, it’s time to proceed with the final rites.”
“Jemello’s research projects are as previously announced. Whoever wishes to continue his work, step forward and receive his research journal.”
“As for his possessions, they shall be distributed according to the deceased’s wishes…”
And thus Luca came to inherit Jemello’s Staff.
“Really? Am I truly able to receive this?”
“Since you’ve carried on Jemello’s final wishes, it’s rightfully yours.”
“The Staff was crafted by fastidious Jemello himself, so it’s quite fine.”
What was surprising was that Jemello had left a bequest for me as well.
“This is…”
A Music Box on which a young girl played the Violin. When the spring was wound, a melody flowed out—one so old I couldn’t even remember when I’d performed it.
Clair de lune by Claude Debussy.
Though it was originally composed as a piano solo, I’d arranged and performed a version for violin.
What was this hollow feeling?
I watched the other mages as I listened to the Music Box’s playing.
“There’s no chance of Jemello coming back to life, is there?”
“There is no such magic as resurrecting the dead.”
“…or so we’re supposed to say.”
Everyone’s gaze turned toward a certain place in the Sky Tower.
“Sigh… what is this world coming to? A Phenomenon Against Heaven has actually occurred.”
“Will the world really perish? But the Saint of Lemuren never made such a prophecy, did she?”
“How should I know? If you’re curious, go research it yourself.”
With the bequests distributed and the funeral concluded, the Star-rank Mages scattered to the winds of their own accord. Among them, I caught sight of a gesture calling me over, and I moved reluctantly in that direction.
From afar, those old hands were unfolding their characteristic newbie love toward Luca, now the youngest of the Sky Tower, teaching him this and that, but there was no time to get distracted by that.
The door creaked open, and I locked eyes with a man who stood quietly inside.
I bit my lip without thinking, then sighed and opened my mouth.
“Hello.”
The man, whose kind expression suggested he’d never committed a crime in his life, smiled gently and returned the greeting.
“How do you do.”
In the glass casket beside him lay an elderly man, eyes closed, whom the House of Gremwat was desperately seeking.
Yes, that elderly man was Duke Gremwat.
And this man was…
“Please, call me Jailo.”
The first son of Duke Gremwat, brought back from the dead—Jailo.

* * *

The mages were the first to discover Jailo. Because everyone was in disarray—much like having been dead and come back to life—the people hadn’t recognized the revived man’s face.
That’s right. Revival.
This man had returned from death.
The mages who learned this fact were so shocked by the Absolute Principle being broken that they nearly shut themselves in their laboratories outright.
Jailo, confused about why he was here, had been discovered still cradling his father’s corpse and brought straight to the Sky Tower.
And it was to resolve this matter that I had come here.
“I heard… my father calling my name. He never usually called me by name, but I heard it.”
“Is that so.”
“Following that voice, I walked, and when I came to, I found myself there. When I opened my eyes, my father was lying unconscious, no longer breathing. As his son, I couldn’t simply abandon him…”
“I see.”
Jailo, who had laid out his entire story forthright, soon offered me words of thanks.
“Thanks to being invited to that party in Halbern, I was able to safely see my wife and son.”
The scale of the party held in Halbern had made this possible.
My head was throbbing.
“In any case, since you’re not planning to return to your house immediately… then stay here for a while. And…”
I faltered, unable to continue, and Jailo laughed as though he understood. I bowed to Jailo, who asked nothing, and left the room.
One deep breath.
“Master—!”
Time to use that Grand Mage trump card!

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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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