Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 70

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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 70

The hall fell into profound silence at the arrival of this unexpected figure.
While those who had spoken in vain fell prey to nervous hiccups and the faint sound of swallowing echoed here and there, a clear footfall rang out.
As the man who walked to the center of the hall brushed back his hair, gasps of admiration escaped from all directions unbidden.
In this vast hall, the presence of a single man became starkly, unmistakably clear.
Valer Sirun Halbern.
An old friend of the imperial family and keeper of secrets—the Grand Duke Halbern.
“Why, why have you only just…?”
“I received the invitation rather late.”
The Grand Duke Halbern replied with casual composure, his eyes sweeping across the hall once.
From a distance, his appearance was striking enough, but as he drew near, the pupils of those who beheld him in person trembled almost beyond belief.
She had thought that a third of all the praise lavished upon the Grand Duke was exaggeration. It was not.
He was truly a remarkably handsome man.
What was most remarkable, however, was the aura he possessed.
Savage yet refined, shadowed and brooding yet utterly flawless. Even now, wearing a uniform still stained with blood, he carried himself with the elegance of a gentleman in formal dress.
With posture unmarred by the slightest flaw, the Grand Duke Halbern surveyed the faces before him, then smiled crookedly.
“Have I intruded? Why is everyone so quiet?”
Those who faced the Grand Duke Halbern could scarcely breathe.
Overwhelmed by an immense pressure that felt as though speaking even a word might invite annihilation, all of them trembled faintly where they stood.
“Say, wouldn’t it be better if you reined in that aura a bit?”
Unable to bear it any longer, Duke Muvisc stepped forward with a deep sigh.
“It’s been a while, old friend.”
At the sight of a familiar face, the Grand Duke Halbern’s expression softened considerably.
“Indeed it has been a while.”
“You’ve grown stronger still, it seems? Impressive.”
“And you as well.”
Duke Muvisc shrugged his shoulders.
Soon, the Grand Duke Halbern’s gaze turned to those behind Muvisc.
“Mehren.”
At the sight of Mehren, whose expression was troubled and displeased, the Grand Duke Halbern’s eyes crinkled as he smiled.
Simultaneously, the oppressive aura that had dominated the hall dissipated.
“Hello, my Kindred Spirit.”
The hall’s frozen atmosphere thawed in an instant at the sight of that warm, melting smile.

* * *

My first impression upon meeting my father, who had been nothing but rumor until now, was: ‘He’s really handsome.’
‘Wow, he’s really handsome.’
It was the first time since seeing Fession that I had felt such pure, unselfish admiration.
How could a person look like that and actually exist?
In the novel, I’d never once seen the Grand Duke Halbern in good health, so I had no idea.
‘Who would ever look at that face and think, “That’s the father of a child”?’
Duke Muvisc, his contemporary, was no plain man, nor was Duke Sperom—but only the Grand Duke Halbern captured the eye.
‘How does beauty like that actually exist?’
Would Fession, as he matured, also stand out like this among his twin brother Harun?
True, he was in his late twenties, so it wasn’t strange that his beauty was in full bloom.
But still—this seemed a bit much.
The long, delicate lashes, those deep and decadent eyes, the faint reddish tint at the corners that seemed strangely alluring—just looking at him made one want to be captivated.
Now I understood why interest in the Grand Duke Halbern hadn’t faded even six years after he’d left the Imperial Capital.
How could anyone forget that face?
“Ah.”
I must have been staring rather intently. Our eyes met.
The Grand Duke Halbern, who had been exchanging greetings with Duke Sperom and speaking briefly with Mehren, suddenly gave me a peculiar look.
“Hello, my daughter.”
……
His gaze was so piercing and intense that I felt as though he could see straight through to my very soul. Without thinking, I clutched Mehren’s sleeve.
Even though I hadn’t returned his greeting, the Grand Duke Halbern seemed entirely unbothered. He simply looked at me as though I were vastly entertaining.
What was so amusing about this?
His gaze was so overwhelming that I shrank back again.
“Valer.”
Mehren, torn between the desire to throttle him and the rational awareness that striking his liege before all these witnesses would constitute treason, made no effort to hide his internal struggle as he spoke.
“Perhaps a father and daughter’s reunion could be conducted in full at a later time. For now, I suggest you pay your respects to Her Majesty the Empress.”
“Ah, quite right.”
The Grand Duke Halbern laughed with a vaguely indulgent air.
“My Kindred Spirit greets me with complaints the moment we’re reunited. How charming. Very well, I shall return shortly.”
“Please do try not to cause trouble.”
“Of course.”
After sending the Grand Duke Halbern off, Mehren examined me.
“Despite appearances, he is not a bad man.”
“……Yes.”
A single word laden with deep trust.
I could sense the profound bond between these two men that I knew nothing of.
‘Mehren seems to care for the Grand Duke.’
To my eye, the Grand Duke Halbern didn’t seem like a bad person either. Rather than bad, it was more that…
‘I feel like I’ve seen that quality somewhere before.’
“Did you know Father was coming?”
“No, I did not.”
Mehren’s expression grew complicated.
It seemed he truly hadn’t anticipated it.
Naturally, neither had I.
‘I thought I’d never lay eyes on him.’
According to the novel’s original plot, Arelin never even glimpsed the Grand Duke’s shadow in her entire lifetime—something about a childhood friend’s obsession.
So this is what it felt like to purchase a counterfeit product and receive the genuine article by mistake.
‘Why has everything changed?’
The heroine still hasn’t even appeared. Could it be because of me? Or because Fession is different?
But…
The story hasn’t even truly begun yet.
‘What on earth is happening?’
Even after accepting the fact that this world existed as a complete and separate reality before it was ever a novel, there were aspects I couldn’t easily comprehend.
What was influencing events?
Can people really change so easily?
Their habits, their ways of thinking, their very nature?
Even I couldn’t have changed like this if not for the singular anomaly of recovering my previous life’s memories.
Small changes to an observer might weigh differently upon those who experience them directly.
I still found it difficult and painful to show my true self.
‘I don’t know.’
Was it because I’d met someone I thought I’d never see? Or was it because increasingly unexpected things were unfolding?
An unfamiliar dread began to grip me.
In my heart, I’d always believed that something would definitely change once the heroine appeared.
It was a prejudice embedded in me like faith, separate from my trust in Fession.
Whether the story unfolded as written or differently because of my existence—
Either way, I’d held so firmly to the belief that the world would revolve around the heroine.
But what if this world moved forward even without the heroine? What was the novel I thought I’d read?
In the near future, everything I thought I knew suddenly vanished, and the path ahead turned dark.
‘What if the heroine never appears?’
My heart grew complicated.
If the heroine doesn’t appear, what becomes of me? What becomes of Fession?
The possibility that Fession might come to love that girl when the heroine arrived had simultaneously unsettled and reassured me.
After all, I was someone destined to die.
But what happens to Fession if things don’t go as written in the novel?
Even as I hoped he would continue to love me, I’d carefully prepared my own defenses—telling myself, ‘You were always fated for each other anyway,’ so I wouldn’t be hurt if things went differently.
As though caught in a swift, dark current, I gripped my sleeve even tighter.
“Mother.”
At least I’ll be all right.
“You’ll keep loving me, won’t you?”
Because I have Mehren.
Because not everything will disappear.
Mehren’s expression crumpled at the anxiety conveyed in my small, whispered voice.
“Young miss, what are you…?”
I loved those pale green eyes, wholly focused on me, wavering with emotion.
How could I not feel affection for someone so gentle and tender?
I was finding a strange sense of calm as I gazed at Mehren’s complexly wet eyes when—
“Arelin!”
A voice clearer and more distinct than the anxiety engulfing me.
“Are you all right?!”
A voice kinder and more tender than any other pulled me back to myself.
“Fession…?”
“Arelin, your face is pale.”
Was I dreaming?
I blinked, then felt the warmth against my cheek and knew it was real.
Ah, it’s really Fession.
“You, were you sitting…?”
“Are you okay?”
“How did you even…come over…?”
“Does that matter right now?!”
At the sound of his voice calling me, all the anxiety I’d felt a moment ago vanished, and in its place came a grounding sense of stability that made me emit a quiet, helpless sound.
“It doesn’t hurt anywhere, does it?”
Fession examined me with keen attention.
His practiced touch was every bit as skilled as Mehren’s.
It was a strange feeling.
Griam, who had followed Fession, wore an expression of resignation, as though he’d given up trying to stop him and had resigned himself to failure.
Behind us, I felt the sharp curiosity in certain gazes, mixed with familiar threads of jealousy and malice.
Yet Fession saw only me.
As though there were nothing else in the world.
“You’re not allowed to be sick without my permission. Do you understand?”
He spoke nonsense with a grave expression, and I found I couldn’t even laugh. Perhaps it was the careful tenderness and the serious tone that stopped me.
As I met those blood-red eyes that held nothing but me, I suddenly understood something.
Ah. I’m truly finished, aren’t I.

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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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