Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 295

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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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295
Chapter

Sirua pressed her throbbing temple and forced herself not to shout at Fession.
“Stop that train of thought, you fool. You know exactly what you’re doing, don’t you?”
“I’m just thinking about how much I want to see Arelin.”
Sirua clicked her tongue at Fession’s shameless reply.
What did I expect from him?
“Cut it out.”
“You don’t understand love.”
Fession looked at her with the pity one reserves for the hopelessly ignorant.
“Ugh!”
Sirua clenched her fists, barely restraining the urge to beat her brother senseless.
“You’re giving me goosebumps. Quit it!”
“One day, when you meet the one you love, you’ll understand.”
“Damn it, stop spouting that nonsense!”
He’s hopeless. There’s no saving him.
She’d always known he was like this, but now that the affliction had deepened, Sirua found him increasingly unbearable.
“Does Arelin know you’re acting like this?”
“Of course she does.”
That can’t be right. It made no sense.
She knows he’s like this, and yet her affection doesn’t wane?
“Is that… love?”
Sirua’s eyes trembled faintly.
Realizing that love could render even someone as sharp as Arelin utterly foolish, Sirua resolved never to entangle herself in such a thing.
Not now. Not ever. Not for all eternity.
“Ah, I miss Arelin so much.”
“This is driving me mad. Do you have her blood running through your veins?”
“How did you know? My blood Arelin concentration is running low right now.”
……
Sirua admitted her own foolishness. It was wise to keep one’s distance from those struck by love.
Coming here to try and divine what he was thinking had been her mistake.
Sirua rose quietly.
“I’m not talking to you anymore.”
“Didn’t you come here first?”
“You’re beyond help. I’m telling Arelin everything you’ve been doing.”
“Go ahead and try.”
Fession laughed with unshakeable confidence.
“Arelin still loves me anyway.”
For a moment, Sirua found herself wishing that Fession would be rejected by Arelin. Though she knew such a thing would never happen.
“Sirua, when will the Proposal Document be returned? Can wedding preparations be completed in less than a month?”
“That’s not my decision!”
Irritable and at her wit’s end, Sirua stormed out of the Crown Prince Palace.

* * *

What Sirua did not know was that Empress Azeni had already heard Fession’s true feelings once before.
When Arelin had impulsively departed for Gairen on her own, claiming it was for Fession’s sake.
Left alone in the Imperial Palace, Fession had not only traced Arelin’s whereabouts but had come to understand all the truths that had surrounded him until then.

“My goodness.”

Empress Azeni had never intended to hide the matter even after it reached that point, and so the confrontation between mother and son came swiftly and without the suffocation of pretense.

“…I did it for you.”

The Empress’s answer was so meager as to be entirely unconvincing.
Yet Fession understood well enough that it was nonetheless the truth from her heart. The comprehension came hand in hand with a filial guilt that was something else entirely.
As his anger faded, his eyes grew cold and still, and Empress Azeni gasped for breath, choked by remorse.
Fession disliked the sight of his beloved mother growing anxious and watchful of his expression.
So naturally he should speak of understanding her as a dutiful son and grant her forgiveness.

“For the time being, I do not wish to see you.”

Those were the only words Fession could utter.
To turn and face his mother with a smile just then was beyond him—the despair he had endured was simply too great.
Thus the bond between mother and son grew barren, and before long a subtle tension began to permeate the Imperial Palace.
Several weeks had passed.
Azeni sighed and unburdened herself to her chief attendant.
“If I go to him, Fession will not welcome it.”
“That is likely so, yes.”
“How much time must pass before Fession will forgive me?”
Because Empress Azeni had lost her vitality, Emperor Edward’s mood grew unsettled, and this was reflected directly in the atmosphere of the Palace.
Everyone who moved through the corridors of the Imperial Palace fervently hoped that the two royal chambers would reconcile.
“Still, I was glad to see Fession at the Halbern gathering. It was a relief to see him looking so well.”
“Mother……”
Her son—separated by what felt like light-years, even within the same Palace.
Empress Azeni gazed toward the direction of the Crown Prince Palace and sighed.
“He said he does not wish to see me for the time being……”
Empress Azeni’s smile turned bitter.
How long was “the time being,” exactly?
A week? A month? Surely not a year?
Perhaps it would be even longer than that.
Everyone was concerned about the disheartened Empress Azeni.
But Sirua alone thought the Empress was being overly dramatic.
“Goodness, Mother is being silly. Is it really such a shock that her grown son doesn’t want to see her?”
“Perhaps he’ll go astray.”
“He’s already grown—what could go astray? And Fession was already crooked long ago. Don’t you know his personality got worse? Honestly, thinking about it, Mother, you don’t act this way toward me and Terion, only toward Fession.”
“Is that so.”
Empress Azeni smiled ruefully, recognizing the truth of something she’d already become aware of.
“He resembles her.”
Sirua tilted her head quizzically.
“Who?”
“The person this mother holds most dear in all the world.”
Sirua, who had been eating her dessert, froze mid-motion.
What did Mother just say?
Startled, Sirua blinked rapidly and pressed for clarification.
“W-wait, does Father know about this?!”
Could this be about first love?!
Empress Azeni remained unperturbed even as Sirua asked in surprise.
“Perhaps.”
“……?”
What was this attitude?
When Sirua considered how Emperor Edward conducted himself as though he were the entirety of Empress Azeni’s world, none of this made sense.
While Sirua wallowed in confusion, Empress Azeni reached back into distant memory.
“She appeared so fragile, as if about to shatter at any moment, and yet she never broke.”
Sione.
Empress Azeni gazed toward a distance that could never be reached and spoke that name softly.
How could she not have been special?
It was Sione who had built Azeni’s entire world.
“At that time, I could not express this feeling properly, but now I understand. I wanted Sione to be happy—to cast off all restraints and live a life where she could seize what she desired. But Sione……”
Though the memory was old, the image of Sione’s radiant smile remained vivid.
“She abandoned it all. Even herself. All to save her beloved sister.”
Azeni could not understand Sione. She had wished to, but in the end, she could not.
How could her friend—who had said she did not wish to become Azeni’s unhappiness, who had seemed more wise and strong than anyone in the world—have made such a choice?
Why go to such lengths? Why?
Even now, after all these years, Azeni could not understand. And perhaps she never would.
“You do not know, Sirua.”
Relieved it was not about first love, Sirua twisted her lips.
Regardless, Empress Azeni recalled the eyes of Sione from their final meeting.
Eyes that held the certainty that her decision was not wrong—clear, unwavering eyes.
Eyes capable of surrendering everything for a single person.
Fession bore eyes like those.
Perhaps that was why she had suddenly become afraid.
Azeni was afraid. Afraid that Fession would follow the same path as Sione. Afraid that he would become as she had become.
It was a ridiculous thing.
Fession was not Sione.
“It may be only a phantom fear born from my own foolish obsession, yet it remains terrifying still.”
Azeni genuinely wished that her son would not be destroyed.
“This mother merely wishes for Fession to be happy.”
“He already looks sufficiently happy on that front.”
Sirua, who had answered with reluctant indifference, now looked at the listless Empress Azeni.
“Hmm.”
Should I show her some filial kindness for once?
“Mother.”
“?”
Sirua made her proposal with playful eyes.
“Would you like me to tell you how to reconcile with Fession?”
“……?”

* * *

Who am I? Where am I?
“Hehe.”
“Welcome, Arelin.”
I glanced back and forth between Sirua, who was grinning brightly, and Empress Azeni, who was watching me with hopeful eyes, and wondered.
I was definitely shouting for Master’s help a moment ago.
How did this happen?

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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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