The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 201

When I was young, I once imagined what Pession would look like when he grew up.

Born to parents who were counted among the greatest beauties of their era, Pession inherited only the very best of their features, and even as a child he showed off an exceptional beauty.

No matter how handsome someone is, people usually have their likes and dislikes—but Pession’s face was already complete, charming everyone regardless of age or gender.

Still, when I thought of Pession, what came to mind most was that clear, pure smile—like midsummer sunlight, as if bright light were pouring in.

“…Who is… that?”

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Even from this distance, he was unmistakable. That unique presence—like the whole world existed solely for Pession—was still there.

But his emotionless eyes, his coldly set lips, and his frigid expression gave off a sharp, gloomy atmosphere that felt like it could cut you if you got too close.

This wasn’t the Pession who would smile brightly every time our eyes met.

“This is…?”

Am I dreaming? Or did I see it wrong?

Startled, I looked to the side, only to see Mehen and Lena already rubbing their foreheads and shaking their heads, as if confirming it was real.

Ha. Seriously. So this isn’t a dream.

“Your Highness—! Please look this way!”

“Your Highness! Crown Prince—!”

From the warp gate all the way to the Imperial Palace, crowds swarmed like bees to see the marching knights and the crown prince.

I stood there blankly watching Pession amid the chaos when, suddenly, it felt like our eyes met.

“…?”

Was it just my imagination? It felt like he was looking at me.

“Kyaa! His Highness looked at me!”

“He wasn’t looking at you—he was looking at me!”

“No! He was definitely looking at me!”

He quickly looked away, but in that brief moment, I realized something clearly. Even if Pession had looked at me, he hadn’t recognized me.

“Ha. No.”

Where did our cute Pession go?

Suddenly, I felt incredibly wronged.

Do you know how hard I worked to survive and come back? How much pain I endured?

What is this—give me back my sunshine male lead!

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

We pushed through the crowd and returned to the hotel.

“…….”
“…….”

An abrupt, extreme game of reading the room began.

Watching Mehen and Rena avert their eyes and fail to speak, as if they knew exactly what they were guilty of, I realized something.

That over the past fifteen years, many things had happened—things very different from what I had imagined.

“Don’t hide it. Explain everything exactly as it is.”

Mehen and Rena, who seemed determined to hold out, finally let out sighs and confessed everything.

“I was treated as dead?”

Mehen immediately denied it.

“Officially, you were not declared dead. It’s just that everyone assumed so.”

“Why? You knew I was receiving treatment from my master, didn’t you?”

A hint of resentment crept into my voice at the thought that I had been turned into a deceased person while still very much alive.

Mehen hesitated, and Lena quickly stepped in to defend him.

“At the time of your disappearance, Mehen could only guess—based on Crown Prince Pession’s testimony—that you had gone somewhere for treatment. He couldn’t be sure. It wasn’t until ten months later, when the Sky Tower contacted us for the first time, that things finally became certain.”

“Ten months? That late?”

Come to think of it, when I first woke up, they said three years had already passed. Before that, even my master thought I might die.

“After you disappeared, Halbern was in complete chaos.”

I was shocked to hear that Mehen had abandoned his official duties and done nothing but drink.

Mehen?
My Mehen?

The embodiment of reason, armed with logic and composure—him?

I stared at him in disbelief. Feeling awkward under my gaze, Mehen cleared his throat loudly.

“…I didn’t think I could stay sober.”

My father never returned. Mehen was left alone again to protect Halbern. The caretakers and servants who were deeply attached to me were dismissed—or at least attempts were made—but they stubbornly refused to leave.

Listening to stories of Halbern Estate during the time I was gone, guilt slowly crept up on me.

“I’m sorry. I talked back to Mom. I’m such an unfilial daughter.”

“No. Just the fact that you returned alive is more than enough filial piety. You didn’t go through easy treatment either, Arellin.”

“I’ll do better from now on.”

So that’s why everyone eventually left Halbern Estate. I had felt something was off ever since the talk about repairs.

And to think they relocated to El Sionel—it felt strange.

“So what exactly changed?”

“That place is your city, miss.”

“I didn’t lift a single finger there.”

“That’s why it was better. We could think we were working for you without constantly being tormented by memories of happy moments spent with you.”

“…….”

It was an unexpectedly solemn answer.

In any case, since Mehen wasn’t in his right mind, Halbern had practically ceased to function. And just like that, my death became an accepted fact.

Since disappearances are legally processed as deaths after seven years, it wasn’t strange that I was treated as deceased fifteen years later.

“Still, since Halbern never officially acknowledged your disappearance or death, you are legally still alive.”

Mehen said calmly that he had protected that much, even while practically abandoning his role as the Grand Duke’s proxy.

“The problem is……”

“…Crown Prince Pession, right.”

As if rehearsed, both of their expressions darkened at the same time.

“Why Pession?”

What could possibly be the problem?

Seeing my confusion, Mehen and Lena hesitated, struggling to speak.

Mehen pressed his fingers to his temples. The tea Dylan had brought was already cold. He downed it in one go and spoke with a heavy expression.

“The first year or two were fine.”

He stopped, reconsidered his words, then corrected himself.

“No. We thought he was fine.”

“What do you mean by that?”

Mehen lowered his gaze, as if tracing old memories.

“Other than occasionally visiting Halbern Estate to sit in your room, or insisting that you were definitely alive, he seemed normal.”

“The fact that he stopped smiling, spoke less, devoted himself only to swordsmanship, and avoided people… we thought he had simply grown calmer with age, or that his personality had changed.”

That assumption collapsed when Pession turned eleven.

“Then? What happened?”

“His Highness collapsed.”

“What?”

“They said he hadn’t been sleeping.”

The imperial family was thrown into utter chaos. High priests, healers, and imperial physicians swarmed him, conducting thorough examinations.

The results were disastrous. He looked fine on the outside, but inside he was rotting away.

Thanks to his naturally strong constitution and excellent health, it hadn’t shown outwardly.

“The diagnosis?”

“Lovesickness……”

“What?”

A hollow laugh escaped me.

“Don’t tell me it was because he missed me……?”

I desperately hoped not—but Lena nodded immediately.

Oh no. Oh no.

“That was when the imperial family began treating Crown Prince Pession like a magical bomb that would detonate if handled incorrectly.”

Despite strict secrecy, rumors of the crown prince’s condition spread quietly.

Mehen learned of it for a different reason.

“Her Majesty the Empress personally requested it. She asked me to convince you were dead, and to help Crown Prince Pession come to terms with it.”

Mehen, of course, refused.

“I told them plainly that you were not dead, and that you were receiving treatment.”

He shrugged.

Faced with that truth, the imperial family stood at a crossroads.

Tell the crown prince—or hide it.

They chose not to gamble. They believed that giving him false hope, only for you to never return, would leave Pession unable to endure the despair.

“It’s not an incomprehensible decision. To the imperial family, Crown Prince Pession comes first.”

That was where the real problem began.

“So my name became a forbidden word?”

Ha. What kind of nonsense is this?

“Can’t we just announce that I’m really back? Re-verify my Halbern bloodline?”

“If only it were that simple……”

“I’m me. What could possibly be complicated about that?”

I felt like I was going insane from frustration, but seeing Mehen and Lena’s troubled expressions, it was clear rampaging wouldn’t help.

Haa. Fine. There must be some way.

“First, I need to meet Pession.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

“Even so, I need to see the person involved. I can’t back down like this!”

“Even so… there’s no way to meet him right now.”

No matter how capable Mehen was, even he admitted it was impossible.

But—

There was no such thing as absolute impossibility in this world.