The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 233

Author: Asternkm

If one were to ask when exactly he had started watching Arellin, Pession honestly had nothing to say.

Even while he was stuck beside Emperor Edward at the party, his gaze had remained fixed on Arellin.

After that—when Arellin overeaten while following Therion around, when she even drank alcohol, when she suddenly shook her head and left the banquet hall—he never stopped watching her.

“Tsk tsk, I told you, that’s a severe case.”

He heard Shirua clicking her tongue while talking with Grinia as she glanced at him, but it didn’t matter.

Even when Emperor Edward shoved the matter of Gairen onto him, saying the situation there was serious enough that Pession needed to go personally, the only thing on his mind was Arellin—now outside his field of vision.

And when he finally found her, Arellin was sitting on a bench in the middle of the garden.

‘It’s strange.’

A woman with a completely different atmosphere, yet familiar speech patterns and a smile he knew well.

Just when he found himself wanting to believe she truly was Arellin, disgust crept in at the thought that he might be falling for an elaborate lie, tangling his thoughts into a mess.

The more he watched her, the less certain he became.

When he first saw her, he was sure she wasn’t.

But now……

Pession looked at Arellin.

Her cheeks were flushed from the alcohol, and the eyes that always shone like stars were loosened, hazy, as if she were dreaming.

Watching the gently upturned corners of her lips and her bright expression, something inside his chest began to itch.

Bathed in the soft glow of magical lamps, her pale, luminous face was beautiful.

“Pretty.”

For a moment, he thought he had said it himself.

When Arellin spoke to him—those rose-pink eyes that always seemed to hold springtime shimmering sadly—Pession was seized by the feeling that he somehow knew this moment.

“Why are you so pretty?”

Why was it that the memory of Arellin—who once said she was so beautiful and dazzling that she couldn’t even open her eyes—came to mind now?

His throat felt dry, and Pession swallowed hard. He didn’t know where this thirst came from.

The eyes filled with affection, reflecting only him and sparkling brightly, were beautiful—and before he realized it, his gaze had been stolen again.

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m not drunk, idiot.”

“Hah… who fed you this much?”

“Your brother.”

Watching her snap back stubbornly, then burst into carefree laughter, Pession let out a quiet groan.

At this point, he had no choice but to admit it.

That whenever he stood in front of this woman, he became an idiot.

He had forcibly denied and rejected the powerful pull he felt all this time, but no matter how much he resisted, he had been dragged here regardless.

Then Arellin’s eyes sparkled with mischief.

“Your Highness, want to dance?”

“Arellin, want to dance?”

A sudden fragment of memory passed through his mind.

“You’re the bad one.”

“That’s why—you’re the bad one.”

Another moment overlapped.

“You’re the one who stirred me up when I was just minding my own business—how can you pretend you don’t know now?”

At the heartfelt complaint filled with hurt feelings, Pession stopped breathing.

A moment he had never told anyone.

A story known only to two people in the entire world—

Himself, and……

Come to think of it, what had she said before?

“I hope Your Highness is happy.”

“I want you to be happy.”

Ah.

A quiet sigh escaped him.

Pession couldn’t stop his expression from crumbling. His trembling eyes reflected Arellin.

His heart dropped so hard it felt like he could hear it, pounding wildly in his ears.

Everything that had been unclear, as though shrouded in fog, suddenly cleared as if light had poured down upon it.

Why he couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Why he couldn’t tear his eyes away.

If he truly couldn’t stand the sight of her, he could have just let her go—so why couldn’t he even do that?

Why he felt such a powerful pull.

That’s why—

“So that’s why I—”

Arellin.

“—told you you’d regret it.”

It really is you.

The rose-gem eyes that had been glaring at him slowly closed, leaving only her scolding voice echoing behind.

“So I told you… you’d regret it… idiot……”

Who are you calling an idiot?

As Arellin’s strength drained away, Pession caught her by the waist—and only he remained, standing in the stillness.

*****

Pession safely carried the suddenly fallen-asleep Arellin to a guest room in the Sovereign’s Palace.

Even that wasn’t enough for him—he summoned the imperial physician and had her examined as well.

Wasn’t Arellin weak to begin with?

“How is she?”

“Uh… she’s just sleeping.”

“There’s really nothing wrong with her body?”

“…I’ll examine her once more.”

Dragged out in the middle of the night, the imperial physician couldn’t dare complain to the Crown Prince and had no choice but to keep examining a patient who showed absolutely no abnormalities.

“She’s simply asleep. If she sleeps soundly, she’ll wake up feeling refreshed.”

“Can you take responsibility for that?”

“…….”

The atmosphere suddenly grew heavy, making the physician flustered. But no matter how many times she checked, Arellin was truly just sleeping, so she nodded with confidence.

“Is that so? Then you may go.”

Thus, the imperial physician was finally released.

“She’s just sleeping, huh……”

He had finally realized that she really was Arellin—and at such a crucial moment, she fell asleep.

Isn’t that a bit much?

He grumbled to himself, but just looking at Arellin’s peaceful sleeping face softened Pession’s expression.

“—Arellin.”

Is it really you?

“Arell.”

He suppressed the urge to wake her immediately. Now that he knew she was Arellin, he felt strangely more impatient.

He wanted to confirm it right away—that she truly was Arellin.
He wanted to know where she had been all this time, whether she had really died, why she disappeared.
There were so many things he wanted to ask.

No—none of that mattered.

He just wanted to ask whether she had missed him at all.

His heart was pounding so hard that it felt impossible to fall asleep tonight. Not that he’d had many proper nights of sleep to begin with.

“Your Highness.”

If a servant hadn’t come to find him, he might have stayed there beside Arellin, waiting endlessly for her to wake up.

“We’ve received an urgent message from Lord Harun in Gairen. He says you need to come immediately.”

Pession didn’t want to leave Arellin’s side even for a moment, but he also couldn’t ignore a matter that could decide the fate of an entire city.

“Arellin.”

There was no response from the sleeping Arellin. Still, Pession gently brushed her hair aside and spoke softly.

“I’ll be back.”

The next day.

Arellin woke up from a deep sleep to unexpected news.

“Pession isn’t in the palace?”

“Yes. Something happened in a southern city, and it seems more serious than expected. He said he needed to go take a look.”

Exhausted from spending the night persuading and coaxing Grinia to stay a little longer, Shirua recalled the Pession she had run into at dawn and grinned.

“She looks like she got drunk because of Therion, so you take care of her. Absolutely don’t leave her alone with Therion.”

“What, now you’re jealous of your brother too? Got it. I’ll take good care of her.”

“I’ll be back soon, so keep her close.”

“Sure. I’ll see how you do first.”

The atmosphere and his gaze were completely different from before.

‘Looks like Pession finally noticed, huh?’

Shirua wondered whether she should tell Arellin about this momentous development—or wait until Pession returned.

Meow.

As she watched Arellin happily stroking Siru, now purring like a cat, Shirua asked,

“Doesn’t your stomach hurt? I prepared hangover food.”

“Mm. I think I’d throw up if I ate anything right now.”

“Then just have a little.”

She’d told Pession, ‘I’ll see how you do,’ but Shirua genuinely liked Arellin.

And this feline-like sovereign—who only felt satisfied once she claimed everything she liked—had no intention of letting Arellin leave the palace easily.

What kind of scheme should she use today to keep Arellin here?

‘Princess Luri is always the most effective.’

Just as Shirua was plotting to use Princess Luri again to detain Arellin—

Arellin’s expression changed when she noticed a drawing placed on Shirua’s desk.

“What’s this?”

“Oh. Pession left it behind. I was going to ask the twins to look into what it is. Do you recognize it?”

Arellin’s expression shifted subtly.

“Um… no……”

Her face grew serious as she stared at the paper depicting a falling star, but Shirua didn’t pay it much mind.

“Shall we go eat breakfast, then?”

“Ah—just a moment.”

Arellin’s personal communicator blinked.