Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 57

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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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Episode 57

Ciel and Noel locked eyes with each other.
In that brief moment, Arelin wondered why they were doing this, but found no answer.
Noel grinned widely.
“We don’t just become friends with anyone.”
“That’s right. Friendship isn’t something you hand out so easily.”
“Then never mind.”
Watching the twins seize this opening to tease her, Arelin turned away without hesitation.
In the end, it was the twins who wound up chasing after her.
“No, no, please!”
“Be our friend!”
Arelin became their friend with visible reluctance etched across her face.
Ciel asked her.
“Last time you said we weren’t close enough friends, but why did you change your mind?”
“Exactly. What did we do to impress you?”
“Was it our good looks?”
“Was it our wealth?”
“Neither of those mattered to me.”
Arelin had been pouting until the absurdity of the situation struck her, and she laughed.
A soft laugh.
The twins froze at this unexpected smile.
“Oh, um…”
They had never seen Arelin smile like this before.
“You two just seemed… kind of cute.”
Arelin smiled—not a sneer, not a hollow laugh, but a genuine, radiant smile they’d never witnessed before.
They were overwhelmed by that bright, spring-like warmth, blinking helplessly, when Noel suddenly spoke in a daze.
“Ciel, I think I understand now why His Highness keeps chasing after Arelin.”
“Noel? You too? So do I.”

* * *

I hadn’t been to the library in a while.
“Are you looking for a particular book?”
“Yes.”
“Another novel?”
“No. Something different today.”
Halbert’s private library, built separately from the main estate, was renowned as one of the empire’s three greatest libraries alongside the Sperom Private Library and the Imperial Palace Library.
It was more than sufficient for research purposes. I swept up every book I could find related to symbols and heraldry.
《History Through Symbols》
《What Stars Mean to a Star-rank Mage》
《Symbols of the Ancient Divine》
“This one is in Soberan—do you think you can manage it?”
“I’ll have to try.”
“Miss… so you really did want to study this much!”
My education maid Rena seemed oddly moved by this, but I was glaring at the Mark on Hand instead.
‘That man.’
Since the day he first appeared, he’d been showing up before me with increasing frequency.
I had no criteria, no reason. He simply manifested and vanished.
And only I could see him.
‘Even Mehren couldn’t see him. The mages couldn’t seem to either.’
I’d conducted experiments right in front of him, and he’d just watched with a leisurely smile as if to say ‘try if you dare.’ It infuriated me.
“Ugh. Why am I tangled up with such a bizarre creature, of all people?”
“Pardon? What was that?”
“Nothing. Never mind.”
If he were someone from a novel I’d read, I could at least make sense of it. But since he’d never appeared in any story, it was all the more troublesome.
Why such a trial for me?
He wasn’t doing anything in particular, and while he was always kind to me for some reason, it felt like there was a landmine buried at my feet that could detonate at any moment.
“Well, it makes sense. I don’t even know his identity or his name.”
If I asked, he’d probably tell me straightforwardly… but somehow it felt like once I knew, there’d be no turning back.
This world’s weakest sensor really did have excellent performance.
Coming to the library had been impulsive. I’d hoped that finding out something, anything, might change things.
“Though I think I’ve already lost the game.”
My only clue was the Mark on Hand—a falling star. Definitely not easy.
“Stars are usually the symbol of mages. When a mage reaches enlightenment, they receive a star and become a Star-rank Mage, just like…”
Was there a connection?
“In ancient times, they also symbolized saviors, supposedly…”
Had I gotten it wrong?
“So is he a mage?”
If he were a mage, his ghostlike arrivals and departures would make sense.
Reviewing the information he’d casually let slip during conversations, he seemed older than his appearance suggested.
Just as a Sword Master’s body is reconstituted and aging slows when they reach that realm, mages undergo changes when they attain enlightenment. Could that be it?
‘He might not even be human.’
The shell was human, but his manner of speech and behavior resembled something ancient and monstrous.
‘A sealed monster released? A great mage who slept for ages and awoke?’
I was turning over these genre clichés as I examined books one by one.
“Arelin.”
I looked up at a voice I shouldn’t have been able to hear.
“Fession?”
I set down my book and went toward the voice, where Fession stood alone.
“What are you doing here?”
“You’re here.”
“Huh…?”
Had I missed an appointment?
I reflexively glanced back, and Rena shook her head.
“It’s not training time yet, is it?”
“Just…”
“Just?”
“I wanted to see you.”
Fession’s voice sounded so heavy. I suddenly realized.
He’d heard about yesterday.
‘Did he skip his lessons to come here?’
He’d catch hell from Paselo.
“Arelin.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you hate the Friday Gathering?”
“Why would you ask that all of a sudden?”
“Should we get rid of it?”
It was too sudden. Too unexpected. This wasn’t like Fession at all.
To be honest, I was bewildered.
“Didn’t you enjoy it? Playing with the others?”
“I did enjoy it.”
Fession’s eyes drooped.
“But if you don’t like it, then I don’t either.”
Silence fell.
With someone who was always laughing and leading the way, I didn’t know how to handle Fession looking so deflated and gloomy.
As I stood frozen in confusion, Rena caught my eye and gestured a hint.
‘Stroke his head.’
…Rena, Fession is the Crown Prince.
‘Embrace and pat him.’
Wasn’t that treating him too much like a child?
I reached out and withdrew my hand several times before finally gathering my nerve.
“Fession.”
“Yeah?”
I took his hand and pulled him. Fession looked up.
Those red eyes that were always full of vitality now held shadows. Like a rain-soaked puppy, he looked so pathetic for coming all this way.
Looking at Fession’s anxious and unstable state, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Who would ever call him a sun-like Crown Prince now?
‘I must have done this to him.’
He was the one who pulled me out.
I realize anew that I’ve given him nothing in return.
Rather, it felt like I was isolating Fession.
The Fession I knew was always a shining sun of a Crown Prince.
Wasn’t this too much of a burden?
Wouldn’t it be better to just let him go?
What could I possibly give him?
“Is there nothing you want from me?”
“I hope you’re happy.”
“…I’ve never heard that before.”
I’d never been told to be happy before, let alone that it was someone’s wish for me. My throat just felt tight.
I only ever seem to hurt him.
Does he not hate me?
“Do you not hate me?”
“…I do hate you.”
The answer came out surprisingly honest.
“I hate you.”
“You hate me?”
“But I like you even more than I hate you. I can’t even tell anymore.”
My feelings overflowed so fully that I couldn’t pretend otherwise any longer.
“Am I really that important to you?”
“Yes.”
Fession affirmed it without hesitation or doubt.
“Madly.”
My heart sank.
The vivid intensity of seeing, feeling, and experiencing someone else’s affection directed at me was something I’d never known before.
The sensation of being thought of, cared for, and loved by someone.
Like a sudden rain on a parched desert, splitting and dry, what Fession gave me felt like a lifeline.
Only Fession held any real significance.
“Arelin?”
Those red eyes searching mine were full of worry, and beyond them lay affection so clear that denial was impossible.
His attention and care were somewhat annoying, occasionally puzzling, and still didn’t quite make sense—but they were no longer burdensome.
“Arelin? Are you all right?”
Fession looked at me with raw, honest emotion laid bare, swallowing his anxiety that I might reject him or return his feelings with hate.
This is strange.
Why does this lightless library feel so warm and radiant?
“Fession.”
I pressed my forehead against his as I spoke.
“Forget what I said before.”
“What did you say?”
“Whatever it was.”
Whether this world was a novel or not didn’t matter anymore.
“I believe in you.”
None of that mattered anymore.
“I’ve decided to trust you.”
You’re the one who pulled me out of my solitude, who refused to let me stay alone.
The story had already derailed before it even began.
Those red eyes widened in surprise, and that alone made me smile, made everything feel right.
“Don’t cancel the Friday Gathering.”
“…Why?”
“I really enjoy it. Playing here in the Imperial Palace.”
I’d never played with people my own age like this before, so it felt all the more precious.
“With you, and Harun, and the twins.”
Fession’s eyes gleamed.
“Then should I send everyone else out and keep just the five of us?”
“Then you’d get criticized.”
“I don’t mind if people criticize me.”
“I don’t want that.”
“All right. I won’t do it. So stop making that face.”
Fession flinched apologetically.
When I smiled at that, Fession gazed at me like he was spellbound.
“Is it really not okay if I call you father?”
“Why are you so set on calling me that?”
“If you’re my father, I could be with you all the time. Like with Mehren.”
…So that’s what he envied.

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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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