The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 216

The gaze that looked at me as if it wanted to kill me grew more and more intense.

Good grief. If looks alone could kill, I’d be dead already.

“Are you okay?”

Maybe because I was taking Pession’s full-on death glare head-on, the twins kept periodically asking if I was all right.

“There’s no reason I wouldn’t be.”

I hadn’t expected such a passionate reaction(?), though.

When I smiled brightly at Pession, he openly twisted his face into a scowl.

Is this why people enjoy provoking others?

In the end, Pession was the first to look away.

Is he coming over here?

“…Nope.”

Where is he going?

“Arellin, victory? Congrats on winning.”

Noel quickly offered his congratulations, but…

That’s strange. Why am I not as happy as I thought I’d be?

“Hmm.”

I really don’t understand my own feelings.

The party atmosphere truly lifted after Duke Spherom, Simon, made his appearance.

“Haha. Are you all enjoying yourselves?”

People who had been sticking together to enjoy themselves while avoiding Pession’s chilly presence lit up and gathered around the Duke of Spherom.

“Let’s go greet him too.”

“Okay.”

At the twins’ suggestion, I gladly went along to say hello.

Duke Spherom welcomed us with a smile—then, upon seeing me, his eyebrows twitched.

He stared straight at me.

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Yes.”

The Duke and the twins exchanged glances. They didn’t say much, but it seemed Duke Spherom immediately realized who I was.

“Hah—no, I mean… this…”

After looking at me with a clearly changed expression, Duke Spherom gave me a firm request.

“Let’s meet later. Absolutely.”

Does House Spherom have something going on?

At this point, I’m starting to suspect some kind of special ability.

“Do your golden eyes come with a built-in truth detector or something?”

The twins widened their eyes, then laughed.

“We don’t have anything like that.”

“But for Arellin specifically, we do.”

“What kind of nonsense is that?”

I grumbled, but the twins just smiled and didn’t explain anything.

The party held at the Spherom estate was on par with an imperial ball in scale. You could hole up in a corner and no one would even notice.

‘Did Pession leave?’

I’d thought he might at least come over to greet Duke Spherom. As I habitually searched for Pession’s position, I suddenly noticed the twins still standing guard on either side of me.

“Why are you two just sticking here?”

The twins simultaneously put on awkward, unmistakably troubled smiles.

“You should go do your jobs.”

“But Arellin—”

“I’m fine, so please go take care of what you need to do.”

It made no sense for the busiest people here to be glued to my side.

After forcibly shooing the twins away, I shook my head.

For some reason, I kept feeling like someone was watching me. What was that about?

I looked around, but all I saw were people laughing and chatting happily. Still, the sensation of being watched wouldn’t go away…

‘Am I being monitored?’

I tilted my head—then flinched.

I reacted instinctively to a faint lingering trace of mana coming from beyond the hall.

What is that? A mage? Or a magic tool?

I wanted to ignore it, but the softly spreading mana residue refused to let go of my attention.

Ughhh!

“Ah, they say curiosity kills cats—and mages too.”

This isn’t going to be the same thing that happened at the Dommel auction, is it?

 

 

****

 

 

“Why are you here?”

At the familiar voice, Pession lifted his head. It seemed Sirua, who had spoken to him, had just arrived.

Seeing the slightly rumpled dress and disheveled hair, Pession immediately realized that Sirua had once again used a less-than-conventional means of transportation.

“Did you ride the falcon again this time?”

“Shh, keep it a secret from Mother.”

Pession propped his chin on his hand.

Even if he said nothing, if a giant hawk appeared in the skies over the imperial capital, people would gossip about it anyway.

“What on earth were you staring at?”

At Sirua’s question, Pession shifted his body to block Sirua’s line of sight.

“?”

Sirua tilted her head in confusion at Pession’s behavior, and Pession asked first instead.

“What did you come for?”

“Ah, I checked on it.”

Sirua looked tired.

“But it’s not easy to track. Makes it feel pointless to be running around in person for once.”

She grumbled about how it felt close but never quite catchable.

“What are you looking for?”

“Do I even have more than one thing I ever look for?”

Pession recalled Sirua’s interests.

Shiru the cat, divine beasts, animals.

“Grinia came begging me so desperately that I really want to find it for her. Isn’t there some way?”

His only younger sister, born a year apart from Pession, had inherited the Allemagne imperial family’s beloved gift of power in a different form.

Affinity loved by all animals.

Perhaps with the added condition of “non-human,” even demi-humans adored her.

Because of that, her place in the line of succession fell below Therion, but Sirua didn’t mind in the slightest.

She had disliked people ever since she was young.

“So, Pession, you really can’t die early. Got it? Therion’s cute, but he’s not exactly reliable. You have to become emperor and rule properly so I can peacefully enjoy my retirement in my castle.”

She had no intention of marriage whatsoever, and was full of plans to decorate a remote castle—one with barely any farmland or subjects—entirely to her taste, and live happily ever after with the animals she loved.

It was an openly selfish and calculating wish: push all the annoying responsibilities onto Pession and live comfortably for the rest of her life. It had been irritating when they were young, but now that they were older, it almost seemed endearing.

Yes. Compared to scheming and tearing at each other’s throats, this was better.

“Huh? Isn’t that the young lady from last time?”

At Sirua’s voice, Pession snapped out of his thoughts.

From the third-floor balcony where they stood, they could clearly see the young lady wandering alone through the garden, apparently searching for something.

Seeing her again after the Dommel auction, Sirua felt strangely unsettled.

“What is it, Pession? You’re still interested?”

“It’s not like that.”

“It is like that. Back then and now, you haven’t been able to take your eyes off—”

Suddenly, something flashed through Sirua’s mind.

The strange atmosphere in the imperial palace lately.

It started with Empress Ageni, who had been sharpening her knives, ready to force an engagement with any noble girl the moment Pession returned from the northern castle, suddenly going quiet. Then there was Emperor Edward, inexplicably troubled despite nothing major happening.

And—

The image of the two of them carefully watching Pession’s reactions drifted through Sirua’s mind, and her mouth slowly closed.

‘…Don’t tell me it’s real?’

Thanks to the information network she had already spread out to fulfill Grinia’s request, Sirua learned something she hadn’t wanted to know.

Namely, that after the Dommel auction, Pession had ordered an investigation into a certain young lady—and that the emperor and empress had quietly suppressed it.

Sirua’s eyes moved rapidly.

‘Pession doesn’t know this, but I do know that Duke Mehen came to the imperial ball.’

All the circumstances and fragments of information clicked neatly into place.

More than anything, Pession’s reaction was different.

No matter how many lookalikes appeared, he had only ever felt displeasure. Never once had he stared like this, or gone so far as to investigate someone himself.

“…Hah, seriously.”

Even now, it was the same.

For someone with such sharp instincts and awareness to not even realize how intently he was staring while being completely focused on one thing—

It was unfamiliar.

And suspicious.

“Hm.”

Sirua alternated her gaze between Pession and the young lady in the distance.

Pession’s eyes still hadn’t left the small figure.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Is someone talking about me behind my back or something?

Why are my ears so itchy?

After scratching my ear, I organized what I’d figured out while wandering around.

First of all, there was nothing wrong with the magical barrier surrounding the Spherom estate.

Then does that mean, just like last time, a mage in concealment slipped in?

‘I don’t see anyone like that yet.’

The estate’s security was tight, but then again, the Dommel auction house had been the same way.

I wanted to resolve this unease and curiosity quickly and put my mind at ease, but I couldn’t get a handle on it at all.

“Ah, geez. When Master said I was sensitive to mana waves, I wondered what he was talking about.”

When magic is cast—or continuously maintained—it creates waves that appear and fade. The residue is left behind at that moment.

Since most people aren’t sensitive enough to feel it, this is usually skipped over rather than taught, but Master said I perceived mana like sound.

“Ugh, it’s annoying.”

What’s more, it was moving.

Just as I was about to scamper after it—since the residue that had been in the garden seemed to be heading back into the building—

My arm was suddenly grabbed.

I reflexively turned around, and my gaze collided with a pair of cold eyes.

“……”

It felt as if time slowed for a moment. Even seeing the person right in front of me, I couldn’t recognize who it was for a brief second.

After studying my face intently, Pession spoke first.

“Weren’t you looking for me?”

“Self-consciousness… overload…”

“What?”

“It’s nothing.”