The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 169

I had no idea what he was so determined not to lose to, but I was overwhelmed by Pession, who was fired up for the first time in a while, and just nodded.

He seemed a bit too fired up—was he going to be okay?

This was all Cheyen’s fault.

‘Yeah… this won’t do.’

Today made it clear.

If I just left things as they were, there was no telling what kind of trouble Cheyen would drag me into.

“Let’s talk.”

When I approached quietly, Cheyen responded as if he’d been waiting.

“You’re back to polite speech again.”

“Let’s talk.”

My world’s weakest danger sensor was still screaming that this guy was dangerous and I should stay away, but I was already halfway past caring.

Surely he wouldn’t kill me here just because I annoyed him… right?

“So you finally feel like talking to me? You kept avoiding me.”

That’s because you’re basically a walking natural disaster!

When I glared at him, Cheyen laughed as if even that was cute.

I was already getting tired.

I didn’t want to get involved with him if I could help it… but if I wanted to deal with him, I had to talk.

“Why are you really here? And why go as far as hiding your identity—looking like that?”

When I pointed out his “child” appearance, Cheyen pouted, looking offended.

“Calling my appearance cute ‘that’? Isn’t that a bit harsh?”

“What part of you is cute, exactly?”

“From head to toe. All of it?”

It wasn’t too late to turn around and leave… should I?

Maybe he read the reluctance on my face, because Cheyen raised both hands, then stepped closer with a gentle smile and leaned his face toward mine.

“So, what did you bring me all the way here to talk about? It’s not something trivial, is it? Hmm?”

His golden eyes didn’t have the same killing glare as before, but they still reminded me of a bright yellow beast’s gaze.

“What do you want from me?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you following me around?”

Cheyen shrugged.

“Is something like that really important?”

“I don’t understand it.”

“Hoooh….”

Something strange flickered in Cheyen’s eyes as he dragged out the sound.

“Then how did you know I don’t have long to live?”

“That you’re terminally ill is pretty well known.”

“You know that’s not what I meant, right?”

That I was terminally ill was common knowledge, but no one knew what illness I had. Not even me—without Laplace’s Demon, it would’ve been impossible to know.

The fact that Cheyen just kept smiling without saying anything made me uneasy.

“Is it because you’re immortal?”

In that instant, his gaze changed sharply, and I froze without realizing it.

“How do you know that? That’s not knowledge permitted to a little girl.”

Web-novel reader experience, you jerk.

‘So it was really true.’

The words the archmage had muttered while removing the so-called blessing—really a tracking mark—left by Cheyen.

“I find this fascinating.”

I don’t.

When I glared at him, Cheyen chuckled and brushed near my eye.

“When I look at you like this, you really are a child. But when I look into your eyes, I see something completely different.”

“What kind of look?”

“The look of someone experienced.”

“…….”

“The kind of eyes that have already lived through this once, where interest and curiosity have long faded.”

Cold sweat ran down my back. His sharp gaze seemed to dig into me.

“Come to think of it, even when we first met, you didn’t beg me to save you. Strange, isn’t it? Everyone else who sees me is desperate to beg for their life.”

Cheyen’s shadow churned like mist. As I frowned at the unreal sight, he suddenly smiled brightly.

“You asked why I keep following you?”

He lightly tapped his own cheek, smiling fresh and carefree.

“Because it’s fun.”

“That’s it?”

“At first, yes, but….”

The way he looked at me burned.

“Now I’ve got another reason.”

Another reason?

What other reason could there be?

Ah—don’t tell me…?

“My real father, don’t tell me he’s…?”

You?

Cheyen’s smile deepened as he looked down at my trembling eyes, as if I’d just said something ridiculous.

“You wanted to be family with me that badly?”

“If not, never mind.”

Still, just in case, I asked.

“Have you ever had a deep, close relationship with a woman named Shione?”

Cheyen laughed lowly, briefly gripping my wrist before letting go.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I only recently woke up from a very deep sleep.”

“Oh.”

“I was asleep for at least several thousand years….”

Watching the violently rippling mist, I swallowed.

Right. So it’s not that.

‘I wouldn’t want a real father like you even if you offered.’

Then if you’re not my father, why are you doing this to me?

“You’re not scared, even after learning who I am?”

“It just… doesn’t really feel real, so not really?”

More than anything, I was just feeling the truth of what the archmage had said:
A mortal who gets involved with an immortal will become unhappy.

Cheyen watched me with an odd look and muttered to himself.

“Strange. If you met the archmage, I thought he would’ve taken some kind of measure. Did he really just let you go?”

“Measure?”

“Or maybe even command words don’t work on you….”

His interested gaze landed on me. It was incredibly uncomfortable.

“So what do you actually want from me?”

I asked because I wanted to give him whatever I could and cut this connection.

Cheyen, smiling brightly as if he’d been waiting, answered.

“You.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You.”

Are you kidding me?

When I stared at him in disbelief, Cheyen burst out laughing and said,

“I want to get close to you. I thought I’d start as friends, at least.”

I swear—that was the biggest load of nonsense I’d ever heard.

 

 

***

 

 

 

Cheyen’s gaze lingered on Arelin as she walked away.

“Hm…….”

He’d gone through all that trouble to come here, and she reacted like that. It almost hurt his feelings.

“I went through a lot, you know.”

He could change his appearance anytime, but he’d deliberately come in his true, young form.

Cheyen ignored the mixed gazes of goodwill and hostility from the other children and chuckled.

What he’d said to Arelin wasn’t a lie. The place where they first met had been about half within his domain, so with his power weakened, he thought, She might be able to see me.

At first, he thought it was just a coincidence.

Had it simply been too long since he’d met a human who could look at him and speak without trembling? He really had been half lenient.

He came once. Then again.

And then he felt a subtle sense of wrongness.

“Does the little lady truly not know what she is?”

‘A singularity.’

It wasn’t the first time he’d seen such a being in his long life, but irregulars like that usually died young.

‘None of them ever bloomed properly.’

The reason was simple.

The laws of this world didn’t allow it.

Cheyen’s smile deepened.

“I really want to have her.”

 

 

****

 

“Whenever you need my help, just say the word.”

Those were the words Cheyen left behind, wearing an unpleasant smile.

Right now, it was class time.

Staring blankly at the chalkboard filled with foreign letters, I replayed the last conversation I’d had with Cheyen.

“Don’t you want to live?”

“Of course I want to live.”

“It won’t be easy, no matter the method. Your body has already been damaged beyond repair.”

“…….”

“As if something is determined to see you dead.”

It was a conversation that really messed with a person’s head. In the end, my heart weakened enough for me to ask that question.

“Then… can you save me?”

“If you become my subordinate.”

I didn’t know exactly what a ‘subordinate’ was, but just from the nuance, it strongly felt like I’d have to give up being human.

Yeah, that whole ‘rank of the body’ nonsense!

I was sighing in distress when the twins suddenly poked my side, making me wonder what was going on.

“It seems my class is boring enough to make you sigh.”

“Uh…….”

Ah. We were in class.

Seeing the picky foreign-language teacher smiling darkly at me, I realized I was doomed.

No, I wasn’t sighing because of the class. This is unfair.

“Well then, shall we see how good Miss Arelin is at foreign languages?”

“Uh, well—”

“Here. Try reading this.”

We were still learning basic daily conversation, and you’re pulling out an advanced foreign-language sentence now?

All this over one sigh?

Teacher, that’s really petty.

“Well? Can’t read it?”

At the teacher’s provocation, I smiled softly.

“‘Thus, we have prospered, and we leave this record here to inform future generations. There is a reason we prospered where we did, so do not forget the origin and worship it.’”

“?”

“?”

The classroom fell silent in an instant.

Everyone had probably imagined a scene where I couldn’t read it and got scolded.

“So… did I pass?”

I’m a language master.