The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 191

The path to Arellin’s room felt strangely unfamiliar to Mehen as she walked through the silent estate.

There had once been a time when this mansion was lively with children’s laughter.

Perhaps that was why—though it was nothing special—the silence of the estate, completely devoid of even noise, now felt stifling.

Mehen let out a soft, bitter laugh as she gazed at the empty garden beyond the window.

“What nonsense.”

The Halbern estate had always been quiet like this; it was the noisy days that had been abnormal.

It was only the past year of the seven years Mehen had guarded Halbern alone that had been strange.

But still……

“The young lady is sleeping.”

“The healers cast vitality magic on her earlier and just left.”

“The priests will be coming tomorrow.”

Careful not to wake Arellin should she stir, the three maids who kept watch day and night in rotating shifts took turns reporting to Mehen.

Through the mages, Mehen had learned that this abnormal sleep was in fact a side effect of the Authority of Sloth they had been administering all this time—and that although it was a side effect, by drastically reducing biological activity it might even extend her lifespan.

Even so, Mehen’s mood did not improve.

“If only there were something I could do.”

Mehen wanted to laugh at her past self, who had insisted that because they were not bound by blood, she could never truly become family.

What wasn’t family about this? What?

She had become a fool willing to give her liver, her gall—anything. Did declaring with words that they weren’t family really make it so?

When had it started?

When she was first called “Mom”?

When she became a laughable excuse for a mother?

No—truthfully, it was even before that.

When Arellin called her by her name instead of “Mom.”

Or perhaps when Arellin first looked at her and smiled brightly.

Mehen thought that perhaps the reason her past self had drawn a line, leaving room to retreat at any time, was because she had already given her heart away.

“Mehen-niim……”

“The young lady is just too pitiful.”

“What are we supposed to do?”

The caregiving group, who had come for business and ended up giving their hearts away entirely, were no different from Mehen.

They really were fools—utter idiots.

Knowing that Arellin wouldn’t live long, and yet loving her this deeply.

“But she’s so lovable—how could anyone not love her?!”

Uni, Rena, Emma, the maids, and the butlers sniffled and cried, yet still pulled themselves together, saying that if Arellin woke up, they had to show her only beautiful, good things.

Seeing that, Mehen knew she should pull herself together too, but……

“Lady Mehen, perhaps you should rest for today?”

Even Dylan, who had stayed by Mehen’s side longer than anyone, gave that advice—proof of how bad her condition was.

“What about recovery items?”

“There are some obtained through Spherom as well as those sent by the Regent, but they say the effects won’t be very significant.”

“Use them anyway. We have to try everything we can.”

If only she could be sick in Arellin’s place.

What sin had that child committed to deserve such a trial?

In the end, Mehen closed the documents she had been staring at. The words no longer entered her eyes. This was a first in her life.

The Halbern enterprises she ran, the affairs large and small of the Halbern territory, taxes, asset management strategies, mediating conflicts among Halbern’s vassals, countless minor matters—and on top of that, the affairs of the newly growing city, El Sionel.

None of it was unimportant, yet absurdly, none of it felt important anymore.

“Still no word from the Archduke?”

Albrecht, Phytal, Shugra, the Yuyo Alliance, Lemren and Frium, Manes.

The Central Continent, the Northern Continent, the Western Continent, the Southern Continent—she had spread people everywhere her reach and influence extended to search for one man, yet Valer had vanished without a trace, as if he had evaporated.

“Ha……”

The resolve she had somehow maintained shattered as she watched Arellin grow thinner and more withered by the day.

So much so that she wanted to throw everything away and disappear to some place with beautiful mountains and water.

Ah. That, too, was no longer possible.

“I told you—
even if I die, you must not leave Halbern.”

“Never leave. Do you understand?”

Suddenly recalling those inexplicable words Arellin had once said, Mehen let out a sorrowful smile.

“Arell……”

There was no way such a young child could have foreseen this future—she must have simply been worrying about a future where Mehen left her behind.

Our Arell—how could she be so kind, so gentle?

“I won’t leave, so please hang in there too, Arell.”

Because without Arellin, Halbern meant nothing to her.

****

The Crown Prince’s Palace.

Empress Ajeni watched Pession with a peculiar expression.

Unlike Lord Sirua, who was enjoying a happy moment surrounded by all kinds of divine beasts and animals, or Prince Therion, who was busily devouring a table full of delicious food, Pession alone gave off an air of isolation.

‘Something really has changed…….’

His status as Crown Prince, his lovable personality and demeanor wherever he went, and even his ability.

Pession had been born with an innate innocence and brightness, but lately it had become hard to see those traits.

Everyone praised the changed Pession.

“They say His Highness the Crown Prince has grown more mature.”

“Some professors say it’s like he suddenly came to his senses.”

“They say his calmness is befitting of a Crown Prince.”

But Empress Ajeni thought differently.

“In the end, doesn’t that just mean he’s no longer acting like a child?”

Ajeni possessed an educational philosophy unlike that of any previous empress.

She believed her children needed to meet more people and learn about a wider world.

Compared to the world she knew, the imperial palace was far too narrow and rigid.

‘And yet, the influence of the imperial family is absolute.’

She believed her children needed to understand what kind of influence they wielded as royalty, and how they could exercise it.

“Mm. Do whatever you want, big sister.”

With Emperor Edward’s full support, she abolished outdated evils that had been preserved under the name of tradition.

‘This too…… is all thanks to Shione.’

Wasn’t it said that people never forget the one who showed them a new world?

Influenced by Shione, Empress Ajeni wanted her children to grow up as children.

‘The palace’s education focuses far too much on turning royal children into special beings.’

Pession was already excessively special.

If he became even more so, he might be forced to live his entire life in loneliness.

Unlike Sirua, who did whatever he pleased according to his own will, or Therion, who was still too young to have a firm sense of self, Pession had been exactly like a child his age.

“Hoo……”

Seeing the once endlessly bright Crown Prince lose even his smile and grow darker by the day, Ajeni’s worry deepened.

Yet she couldn’t block his visits to the Halbern estate—the obvious cause—because Pession had resisted so fiercely he even threatened a hunger strike.

And trying to find another excuse wouldn’t work either, since after Arellin collapsed, Pession’s lifestyle and academic performance had only improved.

Fearing that even that might be used as a pretext to bar him from visiting, Pession diligently fulfilled all his lessons, leaving everyone clicking their tongues in amazement.

“That part really takes after his father.”

Knowing that something unstoppable couldn’t be stopped, she had stepped back, choosing instead to watch and prepare for the worst.

Even so, Empress Ageni sincerely lamented the future she already foresaw.

 

 

****

 

 

 

The one and only person permitted to visit the Halbern estate, now reborn with ironclad security.

Crown Prince Pession finished yet another tightly packed schedule today and carved out a brief sliver of free time to visit the Halbern estate.

Holding an armful of fully bloomed spring flowers, Pession placed them beside Arellin’s bed.

“Arell, I’m here.”

Being allowed to visit the estate didn’t mean Pession did anything special.

He simply stayed by the side of the sleeping Arellin, and when it was time to leave, he left.

That alone was enough for Pession.

“You’re sleeping well again today.”

Pession, too, knew that no one could say when she would wake—or whether she ever would.

Everyone tried to dissuade him, looking on with worried eyes whenever he visited, but Pession couldn’t bear not seeing Arellin.

He worried.
He wanted to know.
He needed to see her with his own eyes to feel at ease.

Learning about Arellin secondhand, after the fact, felt far more terrifying.

“The spring flowers are already blooming. I brought them because I wanted to show you.”

When will you open your eyes?

Will you even be able to?

The longer the waiting dragged on, the darker the shadows of his emotions grew.

Pession no longer knew what he wanted.

Sometimes he thought that this was fine—that he just wanted her to live, like this, for a long time.

Other times, he wished this were all just a dream.

That you had never been sick at all.

“Arellin……”

Why do you feel so distant?