The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 230

“Something… feels different.”

A dinner shared with guests.

Shirua glanced back and forth between Pession and Arellin, feeling oddly uneasy.

What is this?
This air that feels different from usual?

“Therion.”

“Hm?”

“Don’t you feel something strange?”

Shirua nudged the younger sibling beside her for no real reason.

Therion’s expression grew serious—very serious.

As expected, Therion must have felt this changed atmosphere too.

“I knew it. You felt it too, sis. The food tastes saltier than usual today!”

“Yeah… sure.”

Completely unhelpful.

“Eat more. You can have mine too.”

“Okay!”

As long as he’s cute, that’s enough.

Our youngest—just grow up healthy.

In the end, Shirua decided she’d shoulder all this hardship, adversity, and trial on her own, and continued to observe the two of them.

Arellin, smiling brightly as she ate.

And Pession, barely eating at all, unable to take his eyes off Arellin.

“What on earth happened between them?”

 

 

****

 

 

 

“Guess.”

Maybe because the confidence in her gaze was so unmistakable, Pession felt the solid structure of his perception begin to crumble.

Her gently curved eyes and shining pupils seemed to pull people in, as if bewitching them.

His reason still insisted that the woman before him was merely an impostor, that she couldn’t possibly be Arellin…

‘But what if.’

His emotions, already starting to waver, told a different story.

‘It can’t be… but still.’

It’s not completely impossible, is it?

So shaken that he didn’t even realize how much his once-ironclad heart was trembling, Pession finally reached a conclusion.

“I need to… make sure.”

She told him to guess—so he would.

To do that, he’d need to keep her close, at least for now.

Pession thought of the small white tiger and the young girl.

The imperial palace, conveniently, provided the perfect excuse.

 

 

 

****

 

 

When do you think you’ll be returning?

“Yeah… how did things end up like this?”

Strange. It was supposed to be nothing more than a half-day audience at the imperial palace, but by the time I came to my senses, I’d already been staying as a guest in the Princess’s Palace for three full days.

They told me to stay for dinner, so I did—and then suddenly it was too late to leave, so I was told to stay the night.

I woke up in the guest room, and they said to at least have breakfast before leaving.
After breakfast, they suggested tea time before I go.
Once tea time ended, they said I should stay for lunch.
After lunch, Princess Luri clung to me and begged me to play with her.
And once I’d played with her, Shirua stopped me again and told me to stay for dinner.

“What is this? The life of an unemployed person?”

Am I being… raised?

As long as you’re happy, Arell, that’s enough for me…

Mehen replied with the expression of someone who had given up on everything.

“No, I’m going back. But when Princess Luri grabs onto me, I can’t push her away. She looks so pitiful… When is the Yuyo delegation supposed to arrive, anyway?”

Well, I heard they departed immediately due to pressure from the Beast King, but the warp gate leading directly to the capital broke down, so they’re coming via the Spherom warp gate.

“The warp gate… broke down?”

I hear Spherom is putting great effort into hosting them, so… they should arrive soon, I imagine.

Why would a perfectly fine warp gate suddenly break?
It kind of smells like someone’s scheming…

Probably just my imagination, right?

I couldn’t quite explain this vague gut feeling, so I let it go while feeling unsettled.

Since we still haven’t heard from the Mage Tower either, you might as well take this chance to rest properly. And please give my regards to Empress Ageni as well.

Mehen spoke as though it was better for me to stay locked up in the palace than to wander outside and cause trouble.

That’s unfair. When have I ever caused that much trouble?

“I’m pretty well-behaved, you know?”

Well-behaved?

“I’m modest and quiet.”

Modest? Quiet?

Faced with Mehen’s deeply skeptical gaze, I thought to myself.

Where did it all go wrong?

As I smacked my lips, unsure what to say under Mehen’s ‘you know your own sins’ stare—

“Arell! We’re having tea with Therion in thirty minutes. Would you like to join us?”

“I will! I’ll be there right away!”

Perfect timing!

 

 

 

****

 

 

One thing I realized while living an unexpected palace life was that, contrary to outside perception, the imperial family members actually got along quite well.

Everyone knew Emperor Edward and Empress Ageni were deeply devoted to each other, of course.

But it was surprising that Pession, Shirua, and Therion—who lived in separate palaces and rarely crossed paths—were also close.

They almost always ate together, had tea frequently, and even participated in various public engagements as a group.

“Huh?”

So when tea time was mentioned, I agreed without thinking much of it…

But when I arrived at the meeting place, only Pession was there.

“Where is everyone else?”

“Something came up.”

“Something…?”

What kind of ‘something’ happens in just thirty minutes?

And not just Shirua, whose daily routine involved running an animal farm, but even Therion, whose life revolved around mukbangs?

‘This happened at lunch today too, didn’t it?’

Strange. Must be my imagination.

“Please, have a seat.”

I sensed that familiar smell of scheming again, but it would’ve been even stranger to leave when it was just the two of us, so I sat down.

He told me to sit—with that face. How was I supposed to refuse?

Still… the honorifics, hmm.

I liked how Pession had been polite since that day, but I just couldn’t get used to the formal speech.

‘Now I get why noble ladies can’t approach him.’

He was undeniably Albrecht’s number-one marriage prospect, yet strangely unentangled.

Handsome, high status, capable—so what? He was too perfect to feel human.

With no opening to exploit, it almost made sense why rumors of “Arellin impersonation” ran rampant.

‘Should I like this, or hate it?’

The fact that I was the only keyword to unlocking this man felt both good… and not.

“Your Highness.”

A question suddenly occurred to me, and I called out to Pession. He looked at me with calm eyes.

“When do you plan on asking my name?”

“Miss, your name is…”

“Arellin.”

“……”

Pession closed his mouth, wearing an expression that said I knew it.

I hadn’t meant to tease him like this, but for some reason, I really wanted to.

As I stifled a laugh, tea was served along with freshly baked scones.

I was enjoying a leisurely tea time, spreading fig jam, plum jam, and grape jam on my scones when—

Peep!

An unexpected intruder appeared.

A blue bird with a long, elegant tail swooped down between us.

It flew straight to Pession, who frowned the moment he saw it.

“Why are you here?”

Piiip!

It sounded like a protest. I was admiring how even its cry sounded pretty when suddenly our eyes met.

“?”

Then, without warning, the bird darted toward me.

Piiiii—!

“Ah!”

I thought it was attacking me, but instead, it landed lightly on my shoulder and began rubbing its cheek against mine.

“……?”

What is this?

Pession muttered with a troubled expression.

“What’s gotten into it all of a sudden?”

“Do you keep birds too?”

“…More or less.”

Pession answered reluctantly. The bird ignored him completely and started pecking at the scone I was eating.

Is it okay for a bird to eat this?

“It’s a divine beast, so it’s fine.”

“Oh.”

Looking at the mystical blue bird—its color like a kingfisher’s—reminded me of the bird Pession had given me as a child.

“I used to raise a bird too.”

Come to think of it, what happened to my bird?

Wait… could it be?

‘Did it recognize me, then?’

Pii—!

…Yeah, I still don’t speak bird. Untranslatable.

After chattering for a bit, the bird seemed to give up and went back to pecking at the scone—my scone.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Over the past few days of having Arellin stay in the palace, Pession found himself repeatedly reflecting on the new things he’d noticed.

That she ate breakfast and took medicine afterward.
That she always ate candy after finishing her medicine.
That she went for walks in the morning or afternoon.

Tiny habits—yet ones that evoked an uncanny sense of déjà vu.

These weren’t things one could learn just by being taught, and even imitation shouldn’t allow for this level of precision.

Each time he encountered these similarities, Pession grew endlessly confused.

And yet… were they really that similar?

“Why are you staring at me like that?”

As Arellin smiled brightly, Pession’s thoughts tangled further.

Arellin didn’t smile like that.

She wasn’t that gentle with others.

She didn’t eat that well.

She hated walking and detested exercise.

She was clearly different from the Arellin he knew.

And yet, the more he looked at her, the harder it became for Pession to definitively say, ‘She’s not Arellin.’

Then… what was she?

Seeing her irritated him.
Not seeing her made him restless to the point of madness.

What on earth did she do to me?

‘I just need to endure a little longer.’

After the Black Market incident, Pession had secretly assigned people to watch Mehen and the twins.

If he could get a lead from them, everything would become clear.

That belief allowed him to scrape together his nonexistent patience and suppress the chaos in his mind—

“Your Highness! This is an emergency!”