Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 68

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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 68

All at once, I felt every gaze in the hall turn toward us.
Sirua held the gaze for a long moment, studying those eyes intently.
Bewilderment, surprise, wariness, and……a faint flicker of fear.
It was the first time he’d encountered someone looking at him with such eyes. That was what caught his interest.
‘She’s glaring at me like she wants to kill me.’
Sirua’s smile deepened.
He could feel the sharp gleam in his brother’s distant gaze like a blade, could sense whatever emotion it held, yet Sirua found he had no desire to leave this place.
That was a strange feeling.
“It was worth the effort.”
Having thrown a tantrum so unlike himself, at least he’d achieved something worthwhile.
“……?”
Sirua smiled, narrowing his eyes as he met her confused gaze.
“Sirua.”
“Yes, Mother.”
In the subtly altered atmosphere following Sirua’s unexpected outburst, the formal Tea Party began in earnest.

* * *

“Sirua.”
Fession glared at his younger sister with an increasingly rigid expression and sharp eyes.
“What?”
Sirua gently raked her nails across Fession’s nerves, her face bright with an innocent smile.
“Why can’t I look at her? Will she wear out? Will I eat her? Why are you being like this? If you’d just shown her to me when I asked nicely, none of this would be happening. Since you were so stingy about it, I had no choice but to look closely here. I’m not causing her any harm, so why are you being so sensitive?”
“Your very existence is harmful.”
“That hurts, Brother.”
“You only call me ‘brother’ when you want something.”
Watching the growling Fession and the persistently needling Sirua, Azeni the Empress pressed her forehead.
“That’s quite enough.”
The siblings, who had been locked in confrontation like they were about to devour each other, ceased their quarrel. Azeni turned to look at Sirua.
“Sirua, it would be best if you kept your distance from Arelin.”
“Mother.”
“Sirua.”
Azeni’s cold rebuke fell like a whip.
“You should have exercised restraint.”
Sirua clamped his mouth shut.
“There would have been any number of natural opportunities.”
“But she was right in front of me. How was I supposed to hold back? I was dying of curiosity. The moment I saw her, I understood—and Brother couldn’t take his eyes off her either.”
Fession’s expression crumpled without mercy.
“Don’t touch her.”
“Don’t touch what?”
“Don’t go near her.”
“Why are you talking like that? You make it sound like I’d treat her badly. It’s ridiculous.”
“Arelin is fragile and delicate, unlike you. If you hurt her, I won’t let it slide.”
Why didn’t he understand? The more he forbade it, the more it sparked her curiosity.
“Does Arelin dislike animals?”
“Sirua.”
Azeni interjected again.
Under that stern gaze, Sirua’s expression grew meek.
“But the more Brother acts like that, the more interesting it becomes. What am I supposed to do?”
“Sirua.”
“You were the one who said I needed a friend, Mother.”
Sirua smiled—that eccentric lord who had stripped away every friend assigned to him and shaped his domain according to his own taste, never setting foot outside those walls.
“I’m going to make a friend.”
“Sirua.”
“For the first time, I’ve found a child I want to befriend. Will you forbid it?”
Azeni couldn’t bring herself to object and fell silent. Fession’s eyes flared wide open.
“Absolutely not.”
“What right do you have to object?”
“Arelin is my friend.”
“What does that have to do with me? If she can be your friend, why can’t she be mine?”
“Because. It’s strange.”
“What’s strange about it? Are you jealous, Brother?”
Fession’s brows twitched. Sirua’s smile grew more vivid.
“If you’re that petty, you won’t be popular with women.”
“……There’s no way Arelin would like someone like you.”
“What? Did you really just say that to me?”
In that moment, Sirua was genuinely delighted.
Fession, who usually ignored him with an indifferent expression or simply let him win, was actually reacting like this.
‘Is this sincere?’
Sirua’s eyes gleamed with interest as they fixed on Fession.
“Mother!”
Fession called upon the maternal trump card.
“Mother!”
Sirua didn’t back down either.
“Settle it between yourselves without fighting.”
Azeni abandoned all attempts at mediation.
With the Empress’s declaration that she wouldn’t care what conclusion they reached as long as they didn’t fight, both their eyes ignited once more.
Fession made an offer.
“Want to spar?”
“That would be far too disadvantageous for me.”
“Sirua, what would it take for you to keep your hands off Arelin?”
“I’ll see what you can do first.”
Azeni turned away from her son and daughter, who had resumed growling at each other. She turned her attention instead to her youngest, who was enthusiastically devouring the desserts.
At least one of her children was turning out normally. For that, she was truly grateful.
“Mmm! Delicious!”

* * *

The quarrel between Fession and Sirua didn’t last long.
Because one was the Crown Prince of the realm and the other was a reclusive lord who rarely engaged in public affairs, all eyes and interest concentrated upon them. People wouldn’t leave them alone.
“Ha. Haha.”
As a result, Sirua had to plaster a smile across his face for longer than he would have liked.
‘When are these people finally going to disappear?’
Sirua, who had forgotten about the entourage that would come along with Arelin, was regretting his plan for the first time.
‘Why is everyone so interested in me?! Fession is the Crown Prince! Shouldn’t they be going to Fession?! These people are keeping me from even visiting the Mebisk Table!’
As Sirua grew increasingly petulant, his responses became more perfunctory and curt, yet the crowd’s interest showed no signs of waning.
“Your lordship and our Leslie truly seem to share such compatible tastes. Ohoho.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Our daughter would be so delighted if she could become friends with your lordship. Wouldn’t you, Leslie?”
“Yes, your lordship!”
‘Friends, nothing—I’m not interested.’
Even as Sirua openly displayed a bored expression, the Marquise of Belpart and her daughter maintained bright smiles.
It was remarkable persistence.
Sirua felt a grudging admiration. Only those with such patience could ever achieve their ambitions.
‘But that’s not my concern.’
Wondering when these people would finally leave him alone, Sirua sought out Fession.
Fession had already moved to the Mebisk Table.
“Master Queian, I hold you in the deepest respect!”
“Haha.”
Surprisingly, the Mebisk Table had become the second-most popular table after the royal one.
Perhaps because they were an extremely masculine family that engaged in little social activity compared to other houses, everyone gathered there was a knight.
Watching the knights’ one-sided expressions of admiration with their whole bodies, one couldn’t tell whether this was a Tea Party or a training ground.
“Master, you certainly are popular.”
“Well, surely no more than your highness?”
Fession, who had come here to escape, observed Harun. The quiet swordcraft prodigy and his brother sat in silence, drinking only unsweetened beverages, no tea.
“Have some dessert.”
“…….”
In response to Fession’s encouragement, Harun offered a scone to his older brother. Johan looked at Harun with clear eyes and shook his head. Harun took one bite of the scone and fell silent again.
“…….”
Fession simply gave up trying to understand the Mebisk brothers.
The Mebisk family seemed to possess some kind of unspoken understanding that required no words at all.
“There is no such mystical ability.”
“Don’t read my thoughts, Master.”
“By the way, why did you come all the way here?”
“You saw Arelin. What did you think?”
Queian, the Marquis of Mebisk, rubbed his jaw. Even now, as a member of the Arelin Health Committee, the Marquis had made his mark with such formidable opinions as “Muscle” and “Diet.”
And yet…….
The girl was so frail and thin, with just a hint of softness where there should be strength, and those forearms were like withered twigs—could she even lift anything with them?
She seemed to need exercise.
“That’s already been exercised.”
“Mmgh…….”
Queian found it hard to believe.
“That’s what having recovered somewhat looks like.”
“……!”
Fession shook his head.
Because it was the truth.
“Huh. Indeed.”
He’d thought there was little left in life that could surprise him.
Queian, Marquis of Mebisk and the Sword Saint who had reached the rank of Grandmaster, now grappled with an unprecedented dilemma.
Having trained only robust men who could be handled roughly without breaking and still thrive, he now had to figure out how to build up a girl-child who might shatter if handled carelessly!
“This is quite difficult.”
“It is.”
“Indeed…….”
At this point, wasn’t it more rehabilitation than training? More resuscitation than conditioning?
Both their gazes turned toward somewhere at the Mebisk Table.
“What should we have her do?”

* * *

A chill.
My body trembled at the sudden, ominous presence I felt.
“What is it?”
I rubbed at the arm where the goosebumps had suddenly risen.
“Just now……I genuinely felt as though my life were in danger.”
“I beg your pardon?”

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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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