Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health - Chapter 86

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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 86

I recognized her the moment she entered my field of vision.
Deep rose-pink hair spilling abundantly like a full-bloomed rose. Eyes that glittered like stars.
‘—!’
Waves of lustrous hair cascaded past round, pale cheeks and fell all the way to her waist.
A white robe draped her small frame, and her tiny hand was clasped in that of some mage.
Her smile was so bright that sunshine seemed to pour from it, and my body trembled.
‘It’s Chloe.’
The novel’s heroine.
I’d only ever seen her in illustrations, yet I knew her on sight.
Where else could you find a child so lovely, so beloved by all the world? If she wasn’t the heroine, then who was?
“Arelin?”
“Ah.”
It seemed I’d been holding my breath without realizing it.
I blinked rapidly. The dreamy haze wouldn’t disperse. Chloe remained before my eyes.
‘How? Why? Here of all places….’
I’d known she’d appear at the Childhood Friends Gathering eventually and had prepared myself mentally, but the shock of seeing her in the flesh was something else entirely.
She was lovely.
Her fresh, luminous smile—delicate as flower petals bursting forth—captured my attention at once.
It was as if she’d gathered all the brightness in the world and bloomed with it.
A smile I could never, ever imitate. One like that.
“Arelin, are you hurt somewhere—”
“Mehren, wait just a moment!”
I couldn’t let Chloe disappear around that pillar. I released Mehren’s hand and rushed after her.
I heard him call out behind me, but there was no time to respond.
Whatever health regimen Fession had given me seemed to be working—I didn’t collapse from just a brief run anymore.
Struck by the strangeness of it all, I rounded the corner.
“Oh!”
Chloe stood alone in the corridor.
“Oh, I’m sorry!”
“……”
We’d collided, yet here she was apologizing to me—and I couldn’t find any words.
She was real.
Alive and speaking—the actual heroine.
My mind reeled. Wasn’t Chloe’s entrance supposed to come much later? Had something else changed?
Did that mean she’d be coming to the Childhood Friends Gathering once the Foundation Festival ended?
Every question spinning in my head had no answer.
The vague thought of my own death suddenly felt very real, and my throat constricted.
“Um, are you… all right?”
Eyes of deep golden light, bright as stars, searched mine with concern.
I looked down at the pale, small hand she extended toward me, then stepped back.
“I’m fine.”
Probably.
I would be fine.
Nothing was going to change.
The floating, soaring feeling plummeted to earth in an instant. Reality crashed down on me like a physical blow, leaving my head numb.
I backed away and returned to Mehren. He’d remained where I left him, waiting.
“Arelin…?”
I walked toward him and pulled him into an embrace once more.
“Is something wrong?”
At the gentleness in his voice, I buried my face against his hand.
“Just… let me stay like this for a moment.”

* * *

“Chloe, what’s the matter?”
At her teacher’s voice, Chloe snapped back to attention.
“Oh, I just bumped into someone.”
“Bumped into? Do you know someone here?”
Robert, Chloe’s teacher—the red-haired mage—tilted his head, though he supposed it was possible given her noble heritage.
Chloe smiled.
“Just a collision, really.”
“A collision that left you looking bewitched? Like you’d been enchanted.”
“It’s just… that child was so beautiful.”
She’d never seen anyone so exquisitely lovely in her entire life. The girl was pale as a sugar doll—you’d think you could smell sweetness if you drew too close.
“I almost reached out to touch her without thinking.”
So there were children like that in the Imperial Palace, too.
Chloe laughed shyly.
“I’m glad you brought me here early, like you said!”
“Of course—I brought you ahead for a reason. Let’s enjoy ourselves before the Sky Tower arrives. Once they do, we’ll be swamped.”
“Yes!”
Holding her teacher’s hand, Chloe glanced back. That girl from before kept nagging at her thoughts……
‘I wonder if I’ll see her again?’
She hoped they’d meet once more.

* * *

“Valery, why the long face?”
At the sound of his name, Valery turned his head.
Ever since Mehren and Arelin had vanished from the ballroom, Valery’s appetite for socializing had bottomed out entirely.
Sperom, who’d been whining about disposing of dragon byproducts, had already gathered his faction and left. Muvisk was nearby with his knights.
Valery remained glued to Emperor Edward’s side, warding off everyone else’s approaches.
“Your Majesty.”
“Yes, Grand Duke.”
“I’m noticing several Star-rank Mages from the Sky Tower appearing already.”
“Some wanted to come early as private individuals and enjoy themselves, apparently.”
“I see.”
The Mana he sensed irritated him, but there was no actual problem.
Valery’s brow furrowed, his eyes narrowing. Emperor Edward chided him.
“What’s that expression? On such a fine day, no less.”
“What’s wrong with my face?”
“Ha—look at you, dropping the formal speech the moment there’s no one else around.”
Emperor Edward was somewhat offended, but couldn’t quite bring himself to reprimand him.
After all, this man was the Grand Duke of Halbert.
“Smile a little. You’re usually quite charming, yet today you look positively sullen.”
“Your daughter and the lady left me out.”
“…?”
What did I just hear?
“The… lady?”
“Is there any problem with the Imperial Palace Barrier?”
“Lady? You have a lady? A duchess?!”
“I need to step away for a moment.”
Valery turned and left, leaving only confusion and questions in his wake.
“Valery! Grand Duke!”
Emperor Edward called out urgently, but Valery had already vanished.
‘Wait—the Grand Duke of Halbert has a duchess?’
The man could at least offer some explanation before he leaves!

* * *

Mehren had taken me to a room in a separate Annex Building connected to the main palace where the reception was being held.
“Enjoy yourselves, and I’ll come collect you later.”
Children couldn’t possibly endure an entire night of festivities stretching into dawn.
So the children here would either be sent home before midnight or put to bed in guest rooms.
“See you later.”
I’d forced brightness into my goodbye, but Mehren hadn’t immediately left—he’d sensed something was wrong with me earlier.
The room was full of children.
There were many I’d never seen before, beyond the ones from the Childhood Friends Gathering.
‘There they are.’
Naturally, the twins and Harun were there too.
Any other day I would have greeted them warmly, but I had no heart for it today.
Like I’d been before I accidentally met Fession in the Crown Prince Palace Garden, I retreated into a corner and sat quietly alone.
Fortunately, with so many children around, I could remain unnoticed.
“Sigh.”
I’d come hoping to see Fession, and this is what I’d gotten instead.
‘But I don’t want to see Fession like this.’
The children’s chatter provided white noise that oddly soothed my heart—until I felt the occasional gaze settling on me, which made me uncomfortable.
‘Maybe I should go to the garden.’
Once it got late, Fession would return to the Crown Prince Palace anyway. Spending the time until then in the garden seemed like a decent plan.
I slipped past the palace attendants’ eyes and made my way outside.
Lights like fireflies drifted in scattered spots, so it wasn’t dark despite the late hour. Summer was coming, and the air was warm.
“It’s quiet.”
The cool breeze opened my chest.
“Why am I like this?”
Just meeting the heroine had thrown me into such confusion. I’d already known about her.
But……
The impact of seeing her in person was overwhelming. My hands, still trembling faintly, made it all feel real. What exactly had I just witnessed?
‘Of course someone like that would be loved by everyone.’
Unlike me.
It was an obvious truth, one I’d understood down to my bones all along. So why did a tight, crushing pain grip my chest?
I hated this.
I was sitting on a bench, knees drawn up, head buried, when it happened.
“—Arelin.”
A voice I shouldn’t have been able to hear spoke from above my head.
No. Surely not.
Was I hallucinating?
“Arelin.”
Fession’s voice, close by, stole my breath. The sensation of his hand on my shoulder felt distant, unreal.
I lifted my head slowly, and there—close enough to touch—was the face I’d been longing to see.
“Why are you alone out here?”
How was it that Fession always appeared exactly when I needed him most?

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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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