Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 51

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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 51

In the end, she couldn’t befriend anyone.
“Sigh.”
Should I reconsider this plan?
Today too, she floundered in the fitness hell that punished anyone who didn’t walk at least two thousand steps, thinking seriously about it.
“Arelin, why are you sighing?”
Like she had any choice not to.
“Didn’t you sleep again yesterday?”
“No, I slept…”
“Did you eat?”
“I had three meals a day properly.”
“Did you do your stretching?”
“Yes, yes. I did it twice.”
“Well done!”
Fession—the Manager of Hell, the Crown Prince, somewhat endearing—broke into a grin.
His smile was as bright as morning sunlight, radiant enough to melt eternal snow, yet my heart remained uneasy.
‘What’s so good about him that he keeps smiling like that?’

“Do you like Harun more than me?”
“It’s because Arelin doesn’t like me…”

Fession, who had vanished and then returned, behaved exactly as he always did.
I still remembered his expression from before—darkened as if wounded—but now that he was acting nonchalant about it, I didn’t know how to treat him.
Should I just treat him normally like always?
‘No, how is that even possible?!’
Doesn’t he mind? Doesn’t it bother him?
Whether he knew my feelings or not, Fession looked at me with a bright smile.
“You’re being unusually docile today, Arelin.”
“…”
“Not even asking me to let you go.”
“That’s because…”
It’s because you’re uncomfortable, you fool!
“Let me go.”
“Sure. I’ll let you go.”
Fession laughed brightly.
“So let’s walk one more lap.”
“You devil…!”
“For Arelin’s sake, it pains my heart, but I can become a devil!”
“Don’t say things like that while grinning! I know you’re enjoying this!”
“I’m not. It really is difficult and agonizing. Just one more lap, please.”
“Ugh, this is really the last time!”
“Sure, sure.”
Worried my legs would cramp, I walked slowly and glanced at Fession sideways.
‘Is he really okay?’
He’s always smiling, so it’s hard to tell.
“But Arelin, why did you come to the Childhood Friends Gathering yesterday?”
“Hm?”
“Actually, last time you left looking completely pale, and I thought you wouldn’t come to the Gathering anymore after that.”
Fession confessed belatedly that this was why he had stormed into Halbern Manor.
“So I was curious.”
To be honest, I didn’t think I’d end up coming back either.
‘Should I tell him truthfully that I went to look for a friend?’
The ultimate goal had been escape from this fitness hell.
‘I want to be honest as much as I can.’
But, then again…
I couldn’t say something hurtful after making him look like that yesterday.
“…I just wanted to go out.”
I really had no talent for conversation.
“And it felt like not going would be imposing on everyone.”
I peeked at Fession’s face.
“Also, it’s been a while since I saw Fession somewhere other than Halbern Manor.”
“Arelin…”
For some reason, Fession’s eyes glistened with emotion.
“Can I hug you?”
“No!”
“Just once!”
“Ugh.”
Fession’s eyes were so bright and eager. It was hard to refuse.
“Just once?”
“Arelin!”
Fession suddenly pulled me into an embrace.
It felt different from being held by Mehren. A cool, refreshing fragrance calmed my restless heart.
“Does it feel that good?”
“It does!”
I really couldn’t understand.
Why did he like me so much? This unwavering affection was both puzzling and remarkable. Truly a mystery.
Fession’s eyes curved into crescents.
“Still, I like it best when it’s just you and me playing together.”
Suddenly I worried about Fession’s social skills.
“You’ll end up like me, outcast too.”

* * *

The Crown Prince’s Childhood Friends Gathering.
Commonly called the Childhood Friends Gathering, this social club, while having no official title, held greater significance than most aristocratic salons.
It was only natural.
Originally, the role and title of “Crown Prince’s Childhood Friend” had always been the exclusive domain of influential houses with prestige—their own exclusive league.
Traditionally, the childhood friend chosen was one who attended nearly every engagement with the Crown Prince, growing into his right hand and faithful confidant.
This generation’s “friend” was Harun of the Muvisk Duchy.
But then.

“The Crown Prince needs to meet a more diverse range of people as he grows. A talent meant to lead the Great Empire must look upon a wider world.”

Azeni suddenly opened the rank of childhood friend—until then the exclusive privilege of Great Noble Houses and influential families—and transformed it into a gathering.
The criteria for becoming a childhood friend were only three.

1. Born of a Great Noble House or influential family.
2. A Genius who shows brilliance in any field.
3. Recommended by the Crown Prince.

Some forty children gathered this way.
They naturally divided into three groups.
The first: children of Great Noble Houses.
“Us, treated the same as commoners? Us?”
“Even if they’re geniuses, they’re just commoners with good heads, aren’t they?”
The second: the Geniuses.
“Look at them relying on bloodline and acting proud.”
“Can’t do anything without family and power.”
“We’re different! We are the ‘real ones’ who’ve proven our own worth through our own strength!”
The last were those no one bothered with.
Apart from them, both the first and second groups ultimately shared one aim.

Any child who attended the Childhood Friends Gathering knew it.
Only three could truly be called the Crown Prince’s childhood friends.
Harun of Muvisk and the twins of Sperom.
“I thought that’s how it would be…”
Recently, one more had been added.
‘Arelin Sigria Halbern.’
Arelin was a girl with no presence.
When she first came to the gathering, she drew attention for being of Halbern’s bloodline, but only briefly.
“She’s the Halbern noble daughter?”
“She’s pretty, but…”
“Why is she so different from the Duke of Muvisk’s son and the Sperom twins?”
Her frail presence and timid nature quickly faded from their interest.
“My mother says she’s a bastard.”
“She doesn’t even know her mother.”
“I heard she has a terminal illness?”
The children didn’t hesitate to slander and ignore Arelin. Rather, they tormented her all the more freely because she was the Halbern family’s black sheep to disparage.
Even so, Arelin only wore a pallid smile, never managing to say a word in response.
So then.
“Arelin, do you know her?”
When Fession first mentioned Arelin, no one could easily recall who she was.
“Who’s Arelin?”
“Does she even come here?”
“Do you know Arelin?”
“Who is Arelin that His Highness would search for her like this?”
The few children who had occasionally “played” with her out of a sense of charity remembered her.
“How did His Highness even know about Arelin?”
Yet when Fession’s lips formed her name, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative.
That was when it began.
When Arelin, who had been nothing, became a target of wariness.
“There’s no need to worry so much. It’s probably nothing.”
“Right, Leslie. His Highness couldn’t possibly like such a dim-witted girl.”
Leslie, the young lady of the Belpart Marquessate, was a girl who had everything.
If there was one thing lacking, it was only that the Belpart house was a marquessate, not a duchy.
‘But that doesn’t matter.’
Among all the Five Great Duchies, there was only one noble daughter—Arelin.
Therefore, excluding Arelin, no young lady in the realm ranked higher than Leslie.

“Daughter, you will become the Crown Princess.”
“There is no one more suited to be Crown Princess than you.”
“I will surely make you Crown Princess.”

Leslie had never once doubted that she would become Crown Princess.
Her father, whom she respected and loved, had guaranteed it, and everyone around her said it would be so.
‘But then.’
At some point, things changed.
All because of Arelin, who no one had ever thought would be an obstacle.
Today too, Leslie eyed Arelin, surrounded by the Crown Prince, Harun, and the twins, turning over in her mind the answer she’d heard at the last gathering.

“Someone who manages and takes care of me from morning to evening.”
“The Manager of Hell, I’d say.”

Someone who manages and takes care from morning to evening.
Manager of Hell?
It was clearly mockery.
Did she think Leslie wouldn’t notice her subtly flaunting how close she was to the Crown Prince?
‘As if I’d let it slide so easily!’
Leslie approached Arelin with the intention of humiliating her. The sight of her brazenly clinging to the Crown Prince’s side was sickening.
“Miss Arelin.”
All eyes turned instantly toward them.
Leslie smiled, savoring the rush of attention.
“Would you like to come join us for conversation?”
An offer that couldn’t be refused.
Now she could no longer monopolize the Crown Prince and the princes!
But then.
In that instant, Arelin’s pale eyes sparkled with light.
“A savior…!”
“?!”
Leslie couldn’t understand why Arelin seemed so delighted.

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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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