Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 69

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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 69

The tea party proceeded smoothly.
“Ahahaha. Drink up! Go on, drink!”
“Sperom’s Secret! The ultimate tea!”
Predicted disasters and predetermined accidents were erupting at the Sperom table, yet even that felt like an everyday affair—perfectly peaceful.
The Demon Twins did what they did best, confronting the group that approached the Duke of Sperom.
‘They’ve prepared something strange again.’
You could tell well enough from the sight of all the guests seated at the table fleeing without even tasting their tea.
Since this wasn’t an official event, the tea party overall had the refined air of watching a kindergarten talent show.
Except for the popular imperial table, Mubisk’s table, and Sperom’s table, you could see people introducing their friends to one another and families mingling warmly.
……Except for the Halbern table.
“Sorry. I don’t have any friends.”
“Pardon?”
Feeling guilty without reason, I confessed without thinking.
Mehren and Rena exchanged glances.
“Not at all, Miss! We’d much prefer spending a cozy tea time just the three of us, wouldn’t we? Hehe. I rather feel I’m monopolizing you, which makes me so very excited…….”
“Rena.”
Mehren gently checked Rena before she could spiral further.
“We came to see Arelin, so it doesn’t matter.”
“Mehren……!”
“And besides, the Halbern line has never been particularly social.”
“……?”
Was this meant to be comfort?
As I tilted my head uncertainly, Rena gave a mischievous laugh.
“Sir Mehren, perhaps you could console her with a warmer tone.”
“Be quiet, Rena.”
Mehren’s face flushed with embarrassment. He was so endearing when he was like this that I was thinking of teasing him back when something caught the corner of my eye.
There was something in my field of vision.
“?”
I turned my head absently—and froze.
“!”
The man leaning against the second-floor railing of the hall smiled with those savage golden eyes the moment our gazes met, folding them in that peculiar way.
Why is that stalker here of all places—!
“Arelin?”
“Uh, uh…….”
I already knew no one else could see him, but I hadn’t expected to encounter him here. I was so startled that words wouldn’t come.
‘What on earth is he trying to do…….’
Leaning against the railing, the man grinned and waved his hand. It looked harmless enough, but my tension didn’t ease.
In the moment I blinked.
He vanished.
“Uh, where did he go?”
I glanced around distractedly, but the Unknown Stalker was nowhere to be seen.
‘Did he leave because I’m not alone?’
Remembering that he always approached when I was by myself, I found myself frowning with a hollow feeling in my chest.
Whether he appeared or disappeared, both were problems.
“Arelin, what’s the matter?”
“Oh.”
I was sweating profusely—cold sweat.
I offered Mehren a strained smile.
“I think I ate too much cold food.”

* * *

Mehren observed his young lady keenly as she suddenly broke out in cold sweat before composing her expression into one of ease.
He saw her every day at the estate until he was sick of it, but Arelin in public was something altogether different.
‘……It seems she came at a good time.’
When she had first said she’d participate in this tea party, he’d been skeptical and adamantly opposed, but now it didn’t seem entirely bad.
Even so, a Kill List was being carefully compiled in his inner world.
‘Let’s see how this plays out.’
As someone of commoner birth who had been ennobled, Mehren was always followed by various gazes.
Now that he was older and accustomed to it, he paid it no mind, but when he was Arelin’s age, it had wounded him quite deeply.
He never wanted Arelin to carry such memories.
‘……In my case, my lord was always by my side, so I was fine.’
As Mehren thought of the lord who had been his solace and reassurance, his expression turned petulant.
He wanted to beat him senseless, but no matter how much he recalled, the man emanated an undeniable presence he couldn’t cut away.
He had no idea how to reconcile this conflicted emotion.
“This is delicious. Try it.”
“Is this the tea the Twins recommended?”
“Yes!”
How had such an angel come from that bastard?
Mehren suppressed his irritation as he sipped the tea Arelin had poured for him herself.
‘……When we return, I’ll need to arrange tea time like this.’
When their eyes met by chance, the head maid overseeing her education seemed to be thinking the same thing. Rena smiled mischievously.
“You two look just like a loving mother and daughter.”
“…….”
Mehren ignored her.
Ever since his role as a “mother” had been discovered, the Childcare Unit often teased him like this. But Mehren’s mind was on something else.
“Arelin.”
“Yes?”
“Are you truly all right?”
“About what?”
Was she truly all right? Even though she appeared to be, Mehren found it hard to believe.
She showed no sign of being wounded by the fact that her father hadn’t come.
He had thought that perhaps she harbored some hidden hope, since the human heart doesn’t sever as cleanly as a knife cuts through radish, but it seemed she harbored not a shred of expectation at all.
“……No, nothing’s wrong.”
It was Mehren himself who was wounded.
Once again today, Mehren suppressed his murderous intent toward his lord.
‘That man is here, and that one is there.’
At every other table, either a father or a mother had attended. Halbern was the only table with neither parent present.
‘All right, this is just something to get through without incident.’
Mehren was attempting to restore his peace of mind when.
“Duke Mehren!”
Another troublesome fly came to disturb the waters. The Duke of Sperom approached the Halbern table.
“Mehren, even now if you’d consider moving to Sperom…….”
“I decline.”
“At least hear the offer before you refuse!”
“Where have you left the Twins?”
“Don’t bring them up…….”
The Duke of Sperom turned away.
“Want some papa-papa juice?”
“Papa-papa juice? Want some?”
……It seemed the Duke of Sperom had fled.
“Good evening, Your Excellency.”
“Hahaha. So you’re the young Lady Arelin. As advertised, you’re quite adorable. Would you by any chance be willing to take one of my sons off my hands?”
“Get out.”
Mehren threw up a wall of iron. His already diminished favorable impression of Arelin toward the Duke of Sperom—who sought to repay kindness with enmity—plummeted further.
“It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen Duke Mehren. It’s been too long, hasn’t it, Duke Mehren?”
“It has been a while, Duke Mubisk.”
Though Halbern was unpopular, Mehren was different. The moment the Duke of Mubisk approached, all eyes turned toward them.
Since all three shared considerable familiarity, no one dared intrude easily.
“And the Grand Duke of Halbern? He didn’t come either, as expected?”
The Duke of Mubisk lowered his voice, perhaps out of consideration for Arelin.
As Mehren smiled bitterly, the Duke of Mubisk sighed.
“He’s a rather cold father.”
It was just as the Duke of Mubisk was furrowing his brow.
“So Arelin’s father didn’t come?”
A sharp voice rang out loudly across the hall.

* * *

When the Marchioness of Belpart had been told by Empress Azeni that holding a tea party was decided, she had been utterly confident that she herself would be the true protagonist of this tea party.
She had believed she could completely overshadow the Halbern girl, who didn’t even have a lady of the house.
But Sirua, the Duke of Mubisk, the Duke of Sperom—!
‘Even a rotten fish is still fish, it seems. The Five Great Duchy Houses are the Five Great Duchy Houses, after all!’
Those accursed Five Great Duchy Houses!
The House of Belpart was also an ancient and noble family, yet there seemed to be an invisible wall above them.
But she had a trump card up her sleeve.
“Wait, Arelin doesn’t have a mother either, does she?”
“So none of her family came?”
“Then who exactly was invited?”
An ambiguous flaw that became ridiculous to address directly. How could an illegitimate child, who didn’t even know her own mother’s face, dare compare herself to Leslie?
Only her daughter could become Crown Princess.
The Marchioness of Belpart smiled with satisfaction.
There were no adults present who would harshly scold innocent children for speaking first.
Moreover.
“The House of Halbern……is quite famous, isn’t it?”
“Now that I think about it, the Grand Duke continues to reside in the Northern Fortress, doesn’t he?”
“They say he has never once come to the Capital since his daughter was born.”
“My goodness, how much must he have detested his daughter to willingly stay in such a harsh frontier?”
“Indeed. But she is his legitimate daughter, yes?”
“The Halbern Guardian Stone resonated with her, so his bloodline must be certain.”
Mehren’s expression hardened.
Malicious interest did not easily pass by such tantalizing gossip.
“After all, who would want to see their own blemish, their own blot?”
“Though she was forcibly registered in the family register, the rumors that she’s a child who was essentially abandoned—they seem to be true.”
“And with a limited lifespan, there’s no point raising her anyway. Can’t even use her for a political marriage.”
“Is this the end of the Halbern glory?”
I couldn’t stand it any longer.
Mehren stood from his seat, having decided that even at the risk of being rude to the imperial presence, he would remove Arelin from this place.
“Fascinating conversation, I see.”
At a voice that should have been inaudible, Mehren’s body stopped short.
The hall fell silent in an instant.
All eyes turned toward the entrance.
“Who didn’t come?”
Platinum blond hair and violet eyes.
A proud and arrogant man in full uniform, not even bothering to hide the splatters of blood across his clothes, stepped into view.
“I’m a bit late.”

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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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