Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 63

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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 63

Empress Palace.
Afternoon sunlight filtered warmly through the windows of the Empress’s quiet reception hall, where the faint fragrance of black tea lingered.
Griam, summoned without warning, couldn’t hide his tension.
“The Crown Prince is currently in lessons.”
“So he won’t be visiting Halbern today, it seems.”
“He has many matters requiring his attention.”
With the sudden preparations for the tea party, Fession’s schedule had become completely tied up.
The culprit—the Empress herself—smiled quietly.
“But tell me, what brings you here?”
Empress Azeni, dressed in relatively casual attire and enjoying a strong black tea, posed the unexpected question.
“Griam.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“As the Crown Prince’s sole chief advisor, what do you think of this situation?”
Griam’s expression hardened.
“If I may presume to ask for clarification, what precisely do you mean by that question, Your Majesty?”
“Fession…”
Her voice carried a weight of anguish.
“…Should I simply let things remain as they are? That is what I’m asking.”
The Empress’s deep blue eyes darkened with concern.
“Since you watch that child from the closest vantage point, I thought I might expect a wise judgment from you.”
A moment of silence fell.
Complex thoughts rose and fell within him. Griam exhaled slowly.
“Your Majesty, did you not wish for the Crown Prince to grow closer to Lady Arelin?”
“I did.”
Whether it was compassion, goodwill, or merely her own lingering attachment—
Empress Azeni smiled sadly as she recalled that child with her soft, endearing rose-stone eyes that held the essence of spring.
“Yet things seem to be progressing rather differently than I had anticipated.”
Griam found himself breaking into a cold sweat. His throat had gone dry.
“I would not dare to lie for the sake of safety, but I will speak with complete honesty, staking my honor on it.”
Griam stated it plainly.
“It is too late.”
“Is it?”
“Even if Your Majesty were to forbid it, the Crown Prince would not obey.”
“I see.”
“You are not surprised?”
Griam grimaced, having half-expected an imperial decree of displeasure. Yet Empress Azeni merely smiled.
“Because I suspected as much.”
From the moment Fession had asked “Why?” when told to like her only moderately, from the moment he insisted on staying at Arelin’s side rather than returning to the palace—she had sensed it, however faintly.
“It is already too late.”
Perhaps Empress Azeni had simply needed Griam’s confirmation to solidify her own conviction.
“You know as well as I do—Fession resembles me and Ed far too much. The resemblance is uncanny.”
That singular nature of his: once fixed on something, he charges forward without looking back. Even that singular focus itself.
“If only that child were merely healthy…”
It was a bond with an ending already in sight.
A connection with its fate already written.
Empress Azeni suddenly felt pity welling up for her own son.
“Is there any command you would give?”
“None.”
If she could not stop what was coming anyway, it was better not to resist from the start.
So Empress Azeni resolved to do nothing.
“I find myself thinking of that day. When the Duke of Halbern appeared suddenly, claiming to be my enemy, and demanded a blessing for his daughter’s birth—then simply stole it away.”
And then he vanished, imprisoned in the Northern Castle.
The Empress’s gaze shifted as she recalled that figure: platinum blonde hair pale as moonlight, those captivating violet eyes, and a gaze so terribly indifferent.
“Griam, do you think the Duke of Halbern will attend this tea party?”
“No.”
“That is my thought as well.”
Her violet eyes grew distant with sorrow.
“How pitiable.”
Griam suddenly wondered whether the Empress was speaking of the Crown Prince or Lady Arelin.
“Truly pitiable.”
Yet he would never know for certain whose fate she mourned.

* * *

The twins’ satisfaction at finally arriving at Halbern Manor reached towering heights.
“I never knew we could see the Grandeur Moon Series here!”
“What is that?”
“An incredibly rare painting our father collects!”
“Legend has it that if you gather all thirteen pieces, you can appreciate the dreamlike landscape left behind by Grand.”
“Besides that, each painting is worth an extraordinary sum, so they’re highly prized as collectibles.”
Only three pieces have ever been auctioned, and Sperom acquired them all—or so the rumors went. Some say the imperial family holds four pieces.
The conversation lost itself in cryptic talk of periods, painting styles, and ownership, until my head was spinning.
“…Let’s just get down to planning.”
Chaotic as the preamble was, the actual planning with the twins proceeded smoothly.
“Arelin, are we preparing tea and desserts?”
“No. Too much work.”
“We’ll bring Greenecia Flower Tea imported from the Eastern Continent. Should we prepare some for Arelin too?”
Did we really need to go that far?
Noel reacted promptly, reading my expression.
“It would be best to prepare at least one option.”
“We’ll take care of it!”
Well, when they’re offering to prepare it, it’d be a bit off to refuse…
“…Alright, then prepare it.”
“Great!”
I felt worn down by the twins’ enthusiasm, but I couldn’t refuse such thoughtfulness.
“What about decorations and flowers?”
“We’re thinking marigolds. In gold!”
“Since Sperom’s coat of arms is the Golden Heart balanced on One Side of the Scales. It’ll be beautiful, won’t it?”
That was already decided.
“White lilies.”
For generations, the flower of Halbern had been the white lily.
“For the rest, we’ll just… improvise.”
Surely it would work out somehow?
“What about gifts?”
“Something appropriate.”
“Hmm.”
“Hee.”
Ciel and Noel regarded me with their chins propped in their hands.
“What’s with that look?”
There was something almost pitying in their eyes.
If it were anyone else, I might have let it slide. But not from the twins.
“Arelin is really just winging it.”
“Arelin is really just settling for whatever.”
“Can you please only use my name like that when you’re mocking me?”
“Honestly, what would you do without us!”
“You’d definitely have made a mess of this!”
“You’d have died of embarrassment!”
“That’s not how people die, you know?”
I’d been suspicious of the twins’ “goodwill” from the start anyway.
In the novel, they’d been kind to the heroine, but they’d never gone out of their way to help her like this.
“Why do you two like me so much anyway?”
This was the second time I’d asked this question—after Fession.
The twins looked equally confused by my perfectly reasonable doubt.
“Because Arelin is our ‘friend.'”
“Because Arelin is our ‘friend’!”
“You two have plenty of friends.”
“Not really?”
“The Prince, and Harun… maybe just us three, really?”
Why didn’t they have more?
Given the twins’ personalities, I could understand their lack of friends, and yet it still seemed odd.
That ‘I’ would be ranked equally with Fession and Harun—both of whom the twins had known since birth—struck me as unbelievable.
They were genuinely close friends who had played together from the moment the twins were born until now.
“Arelin, are you doubting our sincerity?”
“Are you distorting our good intentions?!”
The twins pretended to be offended.
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
It was just that it felt foreign, a bit unsettling.
“We like Arelin.”
“We really do like Arelin.”
“But why, exactly?”
Did it have something to do with the twins’ Golden Eye? Was there some value in me they were calculating?
Looking at me, still unconvinced, the twins seemed even more bewildered.
“Does there have to be a reason?”
“Can’t you like someone without a reason?”
“Well, I suppose not necessarily…”
Ciel’s eyes softened gently.
“Come to think of it, Arelin seems far more calculating than us, even though we’re Sperom.”
“We don’t try to calculate with our friends.”
I was about to reflexively protest, but I simply closed my mouth instead. Maybe they were right.
“It’s just that receiving kindness like this is… a bit unfamiliar to me.”
I could handle malice or enmity well enough.
But this unconditional goodwill and sincerity—I had no instinct for how to respond to it. Perhaps that’s why I became more defensive and suspicious.
‘How pathetic.’
My spirit seemed as underdeveloped as my appearance.
“Ugh.”
I clamped my mouth shut, uncertain how to respond, and that’s when Ciel’s golden eyes sparkled beautifully.
“Arelin, your face is turning red!”
“Ha ha ha.”
“No it’s not!”
“What? It’s definitely red right here.”
I was steeling myself not to rise to such childish provocation when—
Knock-knock.
The reception room door opened to the sound of knocking, and a familiar face stepped in.
“Mehren!”
It was Mother!
What brought her here today?
The twins were even more delighted than I was, jumping up from my seat.
“Wow, it’s Duke Mehren!”
“Duke Mehren!”
The twins immediately rushed over and clung to Mehren.
“Duke Mehren, are you still not planning to come to Sperom?”
“Duke Mehren, our father says if he could have you, he’d even reform the imperial laws to allow bigamy!”
Mother had just been proposed to.
“I decline.”

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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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