The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 226

The air had changed.

There was no other way to describe this feeling.

‘Why is Pession so angry?’

It couldn’t be because I was hurt. No, could it really be that?

As an ominous presence spread and it felt like something bad was about to happen, the man we thought was dead lifted his body.

“Ghk.”

How is he alive?

At the moment that thought crossed everyone’s mind, my eyes met the man’s exactly.

Eyes reddened from burst blood vessels, a strangely flickering aura, a swollen body.

Can you really call that alive?

‘Why does a mage’s rampage come to mind?’

The moment I was caught up in that question.

Crack.

At the same time as the sound of something breaking, my vision flipped.

 

 

*****

 

 

Kwaaaanng—!

A massive explosion swept through the surroundings.

Thanks to Siru’s protection, Shirua was not caught up in the explosion. After the sound died down, she hurriedly poked her head out from Siru’s arms, then swallowed a groan.

“What is this…?”

In the underground waterway where both Pession and Arellin had disappeared, a crack formed in midair, and before long, it vanished as if it had never existed.

 

 

 

****

 

 

“Ow, ow.”

I was caught in the sudden explosion and lost consciousness for a moment before waking up.

I’m sure Pession hugged me and protected me at the very end, but when I woke up, I was alone.

“Where is this?”

Everything was pitch-black and strange, nothing like the underground waterway.

“The Reverse World?”

No way… right?

I wanted to deny it, but the complete absence of mana in the air told me the cold truth.

I hadn’t realized it before, but now I could feel that this place was ruled by completely different laws and rules.

“No, this is a place normal humans never enter even once in their lives, so why do I come here so often?”

The black space twisted and showed various illusions. Not that any of them worked on me, though……

If anything had changed compared to before—

Why did you come here?

Go back

No, stay with us

Let’s play

Become one with us

—it was that I could hear many voices I hadn’t been able to hear before.

I used to wonder why people were so scared and ran away after hearing something.

So this is what it was.

Come this way

“As if I would.”

Hearing sounds I couldn’t hear before, and seeing things I couldn’t see before, felt oddly new.

Beyond the illusions, there’s really nothing there. What kind of space is this, anyway?

‘Is it because I became a mage?’

This Reverse World—also called the Gap Between Worlds, Distorted Reality, or the Shadow World—was a forbidden place for mages.

Especially for star-rank mages, it was practically hell.

The higher magic goes, the more conceptual it becomes, shaping and manifesting cognition and perception themselves.

If a star-rank mage enters the Reverse World, their core cognition and perception get twisted, making them unable to use magic or control mana, which can lead to a rampage……

But I don’t know why I’m fine.

“Is it because I also have a special ability?”

Or because my body has no risk of rampaging?

“Well, I guess good is good.”

More than that, what I saw right before the explosion bothered me.

It definitely looked similar to a mage’s rampage.

It was unsettling enough that he used a special ability, but the way he suddenly went berserk as if revived after collapsing from fatal injuries really didn’t sit right with me.

It felt like there was something even shadier behind it.

“To figure that out, I need to get out of here first.”

After calmly organizing my thoughts, the conclusion was simple: I had to leave this place.

As far as I knew, getting out of the Reverse World was surprisingly easy.

Usually, there’s a medium or point where the Reverse World and the real world overlap, and if you use that as a ‘door’ and meet certain conditions, you can leave……

For me, with Halvern’s special ability, I could just get out as long as I found the ‘door’.

“Hm.”

Maybe because it couldn’t deceive me, the scenery around me changed, as if trying to bother me instead.

“My nightmares really never improve.”

Before I knew it, I was standing on a stage, tilting my head as I looked at my mom—someone I hadn’t seen in a really long time.

It felt like I’d forgotten something……

“Ah!”

Where did Pession really go?

 

 

 

 

*****

 

 

 

In the brief instant when something exploded,

Pession’s body moved before his mind, wrapping Arellin in his arms, and he felt something swallowing both himself and Arellin.

And when he opened his eyes, the scenery was completely different.

“What is this now……?”

The Reverse World.

He wasn’t shaken. Maybe because he had been here once before, he quickly understood where he was.

Normally, ordinary humans would lose their minds or go insane from the Reverse World’s illusions, but Pession was fine. The Blessing of Sloth he had received long ago was still lingering.

The problem was how to escape from here……

If he couldn’t escape on his own—

With Grand Duke Halvern, who used to resolve ‘things like this’, now absent, what methods could the imperial family even use…? Thinking that far made Pession anxious.

“Was I the only one caught up in it?”

He almost wished that were the case.

The Reverse World was a place you couldn’t survive even a moment without the blessing of an immortal or a comparable special ability. That meant ordinary humans would go mad or die.

So Pession found himself hoping he alone had been swept in, yet he couldn’t understand his own feelings.

It was obviously fake, yet he couldn’t stop caring, couldn’t stop thinking about it, couldn’t ignore it no matter how hard he tried.

Why?

“……”

Closing his eyes, Pession let out a deep sigh and ran a hand through his hair.

His thoughts were a mess.

Everything felt ruined, like sinking into a swamp.

Everyone asked what his problem was, but even Pession thought there was nothing wrong with him.

Except that Arellin wasn’t by his side.

Pession.

A voice he had never once forgotten called his name.

Pession.

He knew it was an illusion.

He knew the Reverse World was shaking him to keep him here, to tempt him, to devour him with sweet bait.

Sion.

Even so, Pession wanted to fall for it willingly.

Those light pink eyes that looked like they held spring itself, that gentle smile she sometimes showed—everything was so dazzling that he couldn’t say a single word.

Even if the whole world lost its color, you alone would still be vibrant.

Everyone calls this a nightmare, but how could it be a nightmare to me when you’re here?

“Arellin.”

Arellin smiled.

Just as she was in his memories, seven years old, not grown at all. She smiled at him like that.

He had already grown up and become an adult, but Arellin remained a child.

That was because Pession couldn’t imagine a grown-up Arellin.

Without realizing it, he kept recalling the fake versions he had seen before, which only made him cling more stubbornly to the Arellin he had seen with his own eyes, again and again.

“Arell……”

He reached out toward the illusion he couldn’t touch or reach. The fact that he felt no warmth, no sensation at his fingertips pierced him deeply, and Pession closed his eyes.

No matter how much he pretended to be fine, wrapping himself in a shell, he still collapsed over the same thing.

I guess…

I was that afraid of losing you.

So maybe I clung to you because I thought if you liked me, you wouldn’t leave.

Not realizing you could disappear to a place beyond my reach—how stupid of me.

The arrogance of his childhood, thinking that if he just had Arellin’s heart, everything else would somehow work out, seeped deep into his bones.

The past 15 years felt meaningless.

So much time had passed, yet for Pession, time hadn’t moved a single day since that day.

“Arellin.”

This was his limit.

“I don’t want to go back to a world without you.”

At some point, breathing properly became hard. Even though he was alive, it didn’t feel like living.

No matter how beautiful or amazing something was, he felt nothing. Even fun and joyful things weren’t enjoyable anymore.

He had been like that ever since Arellin disappeared.

“So just take me with you.”

How long did this have to go on?

How long?

I’ve never been okay. Not even once.

“Anywhere is fine.”

He didn’t want to keep living meaningless days anymore.

“Please don’t leave me alone.”

The world was collapsing.

Pession knew he was being devoured by the Reverse World. He knew this world was happily chewing him up, thrilled beyond measure.

Even so, he thought it didn’t matter. He had no reason to live anyway.

But then—

“Pession.”

Suddenly, a hand grabbed his arm.

“It’s okay. Rest. Be good.”

A soft hand, filled with warmth.

“Arell……?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

His vision blurred, and he couldn’t clearly see who it was.

This had to be an illusion too.

“I’m sorry. This is my fault.”

Why did it feel so real?

As Pession sobbed uncontrollably in her arms, Arellin whispered softly.

“I won’t leave you again.”