Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 78

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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 78

Fession spoke with genuine grievance, pressing the point.
“I have to go watch Arelin’s training. Why is the Duke stopping me?”
“I haven’t actually stopped you…”
The increased security around the estate was likely a measure taken—Mehren’s doing, no doubt.
Halbern’s gaze lingered on the still-young Crown Prince. Normally he would have dismissed such a visitor and gone on his way, but now a peculiar curiosity stirred in him.
The manner of one making a request was hardly respectful, and what reason lay behind that open, searching look?
An inexplicable hostility pleased him. One might call it caprice.
“Granting permission isn’t difficult.”
“Then, right now—”
“If you answer one question, I shall grant it.”
Fession’s expression faltered, his eyes blinking as though he’d been caught off guard. The Duke found himself suppressing a smile at how childlike the gesture made him appear.
“What is it?”
“I’m curious why you look at me with such an expression.”
“What’s wrong with my expression?”
“The look one gives garbage?”
At so blunt a statement, Fession flinched. His true feelings had been exposed, and he felt stung, though part of him was also baffled.
‘Why would he even care about that?’
Seeking to divine the Duke’s intentions, Fession fixed him with an intense stare.
Still unreadable—those eyes, that expression revealed nothing of his thoughts. A gentle smile played on his lips, yet an impenetrable wall seemed to radiate from him.
The young Crown Prince, still ignorant of the world’s ways, was facing an opponent far beyond his measure.
“Is the answer difficult?”
Fession’s expression hardened.
“I don’t like you, Duke.”
“Is that so?”
Halbern replied in a tone utterly devoid of concern.
“And why is that?”
“You neglected Arelin.”
The reply was firm. Something flickered in the Duke’s eyes.
“Do you know what the Duke likes?”
There was no way he could.
He had only seen her three times.
Yet in those three encounters, Fession had managed to read this one thing clearly, and his face twisted with anguish at once.
“How could you do that? Why did you leave Arelin alone?”
“I haven’t left her alone.”
“That’s the same as leaving her alone!”
Fession recalled the first time he saw Arelin.
Sitting alone somewhere in the Crown Prince Palace gardens where no one knew, her small frame curled up tight, waiting for time to pass.
The next time they met, she stood at the window of the quiet mansion, gazing out endlessly as though she might vanish at any moment.
“Why did you make her wear such an expression?”
It hadn’t felt good even then, but remembering it now, his heart seemed to tear.
Perhaps because he had come to like Arelin even more since that time.
“If you make Arelin cry, I won’t forgive you. I won’t forgive you, no matter how much a Duke you are.”
The emotion packed into this childish declaration was so vivid and unambiguous that Halbern found himself delighted.
“And if you don’t forgive me?”
“I’ll have my revenge.”
Even as the boy openly made himself Halbern’s enemy, the Duke simply laughed as though witnessing a charming display.
That very attitude only infuriated Fession further.
Wasn’t the Duke looking down on him?
“How amusing.”
Those eyes, brimming with keen interest, studied Fession intently.
“What, then, is the Crown Prince to that child?”
Fession’s mouth fell shut at once.
His mind spiraled into confusion in an instant. If forced to say, a friend? But he didn’t want to be merely her friend. He wanted a place closer than that.
A place where he could be beside her all day, interfering in everything without consequence.
Yes—family, perhaps.
‘I wanted to be her father, actually.’
But Arelin had refused to allow it.
So then…
“I’m nothing to her.”
Fession’s voice carried a faint melancholy.
“Nothing at all, yet you’ll have revenge on me?”
“Yes, I’ll have my revenge.”
……
“Because I like her.”
Firm and unwavering, Fession’s gaze never faltered as Halbern the Duke contemplated him for a moment.
Griam, who heard this peculiar exchange from behind Fession, despaired, anguished, and fell into hopelessness—though neither of the two noticed his turmoil.
Fession pressed forward with his declaration boldly.
“If you don’t be a proper father to her, I’m going to take your place.”
“?”
“If you don’t want your position taken, work hard at it!”
At last Halbern burst into laughter.
What had he just heard?
“Did Your Highness the Crown Prince wish to take Mehren as a concubine as well?”
“What?”
The Duke descended into another fit of laughter, wheezing with amusement. Fession, oblivious to the context, scowled darkly.
“Why are you laughing?!”
“Ah, truly.”
This was delightful beyond measure.
Had he known a visit to the Capital would be so entertaining, he would have come long ago.
“I look forward to it.”
Wiping tears from his eyes, Halbern smiled warmly.
“Most sincerely.”
“Ugh.”
Fession suddenly found himself in the position of being cheered on by the very opponent he had just challenged, and for some reason, he felt as though he had lost.
Fession: one inexplicable loss.

* * *

The Saren Knights returned from the Northern Fortress through the Gate.
Officially it was a leave of absence after six years of service; they were all on standby and could be dragged back to the Northern Fortress at any moment, but no one paid such trivial details any mind.
“Leave! Finally, leave!”
“And the Founding Festival, no less!”
“Time to eat, drink, and make merry! At last!”
Some knights had their eyes glazing over at the sight of crowds gathering to purchase Dragon Byproducts allocated to them.
“Dragons! We’re going to hunt dragons! Strike it rich! Reverse our fortunes!”
“But all the dragons are in the Abyss. Are you going alone to hunt them?”
“What does that matter if we have our lord! You’re joining too, Jaren, right?”
“Silence, you brutes. Touch a single hair on that poor dragon and see what happens.”
Mehren watched the Saren Knights—chaotic, tactless, and deafening as always, befitting the direct retainers of a Valere—and smiled thinly.
Even Jaren, whom he had thought reasonably grounded, had somehow lost his mind on the return journey.
“I’m founding it. The Dragon Protection Association.”
Mehren gave up trying to understand.
It was a principle: never engage with the mad, the deranged, or the eccentric.
“So where is our lord?”
“We’ve arrived, and he won’t even glance our way.”
“He’s probably in the Portrait Chamber again. Every time he’s at the estate, he spends all his time there.”
Those who knew Halbern well were intimately familiar with this habit.
“Why? Has he smeared honey on the walls?”
“Does he have a beloved there or something?”
The idle chatter of the knights suddenly coalesced around a single topic of interest.
Indeed, they were at the Capital estate.
The very place where their idol—Arelin—existed.
“The young lady!”
“I want to see her in person! My heart’s about to burst. Is she as adorable as the video records say?!”
“Gods, my heart’s racing. Just how cute could she be?”
Six years of devotion through video records alone—the Saren Knights’ affections erupted in an unstoppable flood.
Mehren’s expression turned grave.
“All of you, stand down, you barbarians.”
There was no way he would allow such creatures anywhere near his daughter.
‘My daughter—I will protect her.’

* * *

This is unbearable.
For some reason, lately everywhere I go, mysterious figures are plastered against the windows like some kind of infestation.
Even though we’re on the second floor.
‘Are they ghosts?’
I was desperately pretending not to notice when Uni grew exasperated.
“Goodness, they’re doing it again! Get out of here before Lord Mehren finds out!”
“Yaaah!”
Judging by the way they scattered at a swat of Uni’s palm, they were definitely not ghosts.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-yeah.”
Mehren appeared a moment later, scooping me up protectively in his arms.
“Who were they?”
“Just some people not worth your concern.”
But I was concerned.
Perhaps reading my expression, Mehren clicked his tongue softly.
“The Saren Knights have returned.”
“I see.”
“You may ignore them.”
“…Yeah.”
Now that I thought about it, all those strange people I’d noticed recently were wearing uniforms. Our eyes met suddenly. Concern flickered in his gaze as he examined me.
“I’m fine.”
……
“Really.”
Anyway, my mother worries too much about everything.
I smiled brightly and nestled into his embrace, and I heard Mehren exhale softly.
“You’re allowed to say you’re struggling, you know.”
“I really am fine.”
There haven’t been easier days than these lately.
No training, no stalkers, no troublesome twins or Fession bothering me, no need to go out. If not for the internal turmoil, it would be perfect.
‘By now, Fession is probably…’
No, stop that.
Stop thinking about him!
But if simply being told to stop made it stop, I wouldn’t be suffering like this.
“Mehren.”
“Yes?”
“Have you ever had a crush on someone?”
“?”
Mehren’s gaze wavered slightly as he looked at me.

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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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