The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 166

Author: Asternkm

The atmosphere of the childhood friends’ gathering had changed.

What had always been a sugeum gathering centered around Pession and the kids was now split into two groups.

Pession’s group, and Cheyien’s group.

‘Seriously…….’

The Five Grand Ducal Houses were always the center of attention, and just how much attention they drew had already been proven by Harun and the twins.

It was just that Harun was too quiet, and the twins were too demonic, so no one could easily approach them.

But what if a young lord from one of the Five Grand Ducal Houses appeared—someone who could hold a normal conversation and even seemed to have a nice personality?

The current situation looked exactly like what would happen if that “what if” became reality.

“Lord Cheyien~!”

“Welcome to the sugeum gathering!”

Pession was still surrounded by plenty of kids, but Cheyien was receiving just as much attention.

‘This feels weird.’

Seeing that stalker—who always smiled sweetly but was never easy to deal with—chatting comfortably with children felt like something that should not be happening.

What am I even looking at?

Is this a hallucination?

“……?”

The moment our eyes met, his eyes curved into a bright smile, and I felt uncomfortable.

I always think this, but his looks really are unfairly good……

“?”

Maybe he noticed me looking at Cheyien, because Pession suddenly glanced my way.

He looked a bit sulky, so I smiled like it was nothing and waved at him. He frowned for a moment, then calmed down.

He looked like he wanted to come over, but maybe because we had already tussled once earlier, he didn’t immediately move.

“Play with the others today.”

“Why?”

“Because new kids came.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“It does, that’s why I’m saying it!”

“?”

“I don’t want your reputation to get ruined because of me.”

“…….”

“You’re the crown prince. You have to manage public opinion.”

“…I don’t want to be crown prince.”

That was about thirty minutes ago—when I pushed away Pession’s back while he said something childish like that.

Every time I was around, Pession stuck right next to me, and I could feel the quiet resentment from the other kids easing now that he wasn’t.

‘Of course, that wasn’t the only reason I pushed him away.’

My mind was a mess.

And all of this uneasiness started from that moment.

“Don’t you want to live a long life?”

A perfectly timed sentence that completely blew away the thoughts spinning in my head.

“You won’t live long, right? I can feel it. Even now, the little life you have is slowly fading.”

“That’s why I can’t leave you alone anywhere. It makes me anxious.”

His softly smiling voice was calm to the extreme—so tempting that I almost reached out and grabbed it without thinking.

If I hadn’t snapped out of it and run away right then, I would’ve fallen for it.

‘What creeps me out the most is that even though I ran away without saying a word, that bastard just smiled like he expected it.’

Like he was certain I’d return to him eventually.

So relaxed. So confident.

‘So annoying.’

Just like he once told me, it seems I really am cursed with a miserable fate where guys like that keep swarming me, whether I want them to or not.

I could handle Dad.

But now there’s even a guy who wants to be my dad, so I can’t deny it anymore.

And on top of that, that stalker too?

‘So this is what he meant by saying he’d appear in a way that wouldn’t scare me next time?’

“Do I seriously need an exorcism or something?”

If someone asked whether I wanted to live a long life, I could only answer yes.

If they’d asked before I remembered my past life—or back when I still had no connection to Pession—I probably would’ve answered differently.

‘There was a time when my only wish was to die without pain.’

But now, I don’t want to die.

A feeling deep inside me—one I didn’t even realize existed—began to stir.

I wanted to live.

With Mehen, with Dad, with Pession.

And Harun, and the twins, and the childcare group.

Even without anything grand, is living a quiet, peaceful life like this really such a hard wish?

“Living is really hard.”

“Arel, what are you suddenly talking about?”

“Why is living hard? Are you sick?”

I didn’t even notice when they arrived—the twins widened their eyes at my muttering.

I grabbed their soft cheeks and squished them with full selfish intent, and the twins looked confused.

“Oh no, Ciel. I think Arel is really sick.”

“Yeah. Is it because of His Highness His Highness?”

One of the twins glanced toward Pession, who was surrounded by kids, and made a sly expression.

“Arel, don’t tell me you’re mad because your chance to monopolize His Highness His Highness’s attention was stolen…….”

“Are you angry?!”

They kept chattering, but I tuned them out.

Pession was with the female lead right now. Looking at them like this, they were both sunshine-type—sunshine—visually, they matched well. They looked good together.

As expected of the female lead…….

“Arel, don’t lose! We’re on your side!”

“Yeah, we like Arel more!”

“?”

I tilted my head at the sudden cheering, and the twins muttered “Now’s the time,” before launching into complaints about Pession.

“His Highness His Highness is way~ too popular.”

“And way too perfect.”

“So wouldn’t we treat Arel better?”

“That’s right, there’s two of us!”

Is that supposed to be trash talk?

What kind of logic is that?

I tried to understand it, then gave up. They’re the twins, after all.

“You guys really have such pure, empty brains.”

The twins tilted their heads sideways.

Ciel asked back,

“What does that mean?”

“No, I mean you’re pure

*****

Since ancient times, they say the mouth is a gate that calls disaster, and the tongue is a blade that cuts the body.

“I’m Sun.”

“I’m Su!”

One wrong sentence, and I ended up causing a massive disaster.

“Ciel, what is that? Sun……?”

“From today on, I’m Sun. Call me Sun from now on.”

“I’m Su!”

“……?”

Not just me—every child was left speechless, staring blankly at the twins’ bizarre behavior.

Where on earth they managed to get clothes with Sun/Su written on them so fast, no one knew, but the twins were strutting around proudly, each wearing one.

Countless ‘what on earth is that?’ looks were being thrown their way, but the twins remained completely confident.

“Come on, let’s go, Su!”

“Yeah, Sun!”

“Those crazy little idiots…….”

Duke Spherom, what kind of life have you lived, exactly?

The more I learned about the twins, the more sympathy I felt for Duke Spherom, who had been raising them while enduring all this.

I had no idea which part of my words had triggered the black flame dragon hidden deep inside those twins.

Trying to understand them was my mistake.

Let’s just ignore it.

Not long after I turned away from the twins, the socializing time ended and the newly added study time began. Apparently, it was supposed to be for volunteers only, but…….

“Why am I attending everything?”

No one asked me if I wanted to study. So why was I signed up for every single subject without even knowing it?

“Because you’re Arel~.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

The twins nodded like it was obvious, while Pession just smiled brightly without saying a word. Judging by how his sunshine power was basically solar-beam level today, the culprit was clearly Pession.

“Why, you don’t like it?”

“…….”

Who was it that said asking forgiveness is easier than asking permission?

I can tell this is some underhanded trick, but I forgive him anyway.

Ah, if I let this slide, he’s going to get spoiled.

“But why did everyone suddenly start studying together like this?”

As far as I knew, Harun was the only one getting lessons similar to the crown prince’s.

A shadow crossed Pession’s smile.

“Lord Fasello said my academic performance has been dropping day by day…….”

“…….”

You’ve got it rough too.

I glanced over the subjects I’d be studying with Pession.

History of the Albert Empire, world history covering countries intricately tangled with the empire.

Theology, which only a few were allowed to study; heraldry, which covered the crests of major nobles at home and abroad; and politics.

On top of that, math, basic magitech engineering, law including regional customary law, etiquette covering foreign cultures and manners, monster ecology, basic geography, and more.

Suddenly, I didn’t want to know anymore.

And then there were languages: Ancient Divine Language—the equivalent of Latin in this world—the continental common language Albreth, the Southern Empire’s Delore, and even multiple languages of demi-human nations.

“Wouldn’t it be stranger if your grades did go up?”

“Huh?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

And on top of all that, sword training too……?

‘That’s not human.’

Seeing my expression, Pession tilted his head.

“Why are you making that face? Isn’t this the education every heir gets?”

“?”

As I tilted my head at the unfamiliar information, the self-proclaimed Sun/Su chimed in and nodded.

“We learn it too.”

“Harun, you learn it too, right?”

Harun nodded with a dark expression.