The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 237

We were going to return to the Imperial Palace, but partway there we changed direction and just went to the Spherom Hotel instead.

For one thing, the palace was really far away, and…

He really doesn’t look okay.

Seeing Pession clutching my arm and waist tightly, clearly unwilling to let go even for a moment, worry crept into my expression.

He hadn’t looked well to begin with, but today he looked especially bad.

“But Mehen’s not here? Where did my mom go?”

“She returned to El Sionel.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Well… something happened. Yes.”

Rena smiled serenely and looked past me.

What was behind me? There was only Pession.

“…?”

Just as I was about to turn around to check, Pession stopped me. For a moment, it felt like some kind of silent staring contest was going on—and surprisingly, Rena was the one who lost.

“Then please, you two enjoy your conversation.”

I tilted my head as I watched Rena quickly excuse herself. She wasn’t the type to give way so easily…

“Arell, sit down. Your legs must hurt.”

“Huh? I’m healthy now?”

“No. You’ve been walking around a lot, so you should sit.”

The way Pession spoke so sternly overlapped with how he’d been as a child, and I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

“Alright.”

Where should I even start?

Sitting across from him, Pession’s face looked so pale and pitiful that I couldn’t decide what to say first.

This wasn’t how I’d imagined our reunion at all.

“So.”

“Hm?”

Pession was the one who spoke first.

“Arell. Who was your first love?”

I blinked at the unexpected question.

Wait—that’s what you ask now?

“You didn’t answer earlier because you were laughing.”

Pession’s persistence was impressive.

“So who was your first love?”

I burst out laughing again.

As I laughed so hard I had to clutch my stomach, Pession pouted with a deeply furrowed brow.

“Hey. Who was it? Your first love.”

Looks like the topic really got under his skin.

“So who was it?”

Pession’s expression hardened sharply, then his gaze dropped as he grew quiet.

He seemed to be running his own deductions, and watching that made me laugh without resistance.

Isn’t there only one possible answer?

And he’s asking me this?

“…Harun?”

At last reaching a conclusion, Pession’s eyes flashed dangerously.

Ah, I’m losing it.

“Why are you laughing? Is it really Harun?”

“Why would that name come up? Harun, out of nowhere?”

I wiped the tears at the corners of my eyes from laughing too hard and asked back. Pession bit his lip before answering.

“Because you were unusually generous only with Harun.”

Was I?

“You always took special care of him, and you even easily allowed him to call you by pet names.”

“Did I?”

I didn’t even remember it—and yet he’d remembered every detail?

“You like Harun.”

“I do.”

Where else would you find someone as earnest, kind, gentle, and obedient as Harun?

If I ever had a daughter, he’d be the kind of guy I’d want as my son-in-law.

“See?”

“See what.”

“So? Is it really Harun?”

Unable to restrain his emotions, Pession’s breathing grew rough. I watched his furrowed brow and sharpening aura for a moment—then laughed again.

“Arell, stop laughing.”

How could I, when this was so funny?

“Arell—.”

Even then, unable to bring himself to get angry at me, Pession made a miserable face and bit his lip again. At this rate he was going to bleed.

I gestured with my hand, and Pession immediately leaned closer. I whispered the answer softly into his ear.

“It’s you.”

While I burst into giggles again, Pession froze, looking like he’d just heard something impossible.

“W-what did you say?”

“I said it’s you.”

Pession blinked rapidly. He even seemed to stop breathing—he was really shocked. I quietly held his gaze as he stared at me, still unable to believe it.

Pession opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it again.

He ran a hand through his hair, blinked a couple more times, and then made a face like he was about to cry.

“The answer was obvious from the start, wasn’t it?”

“……”

Pession’s face flushed bright red. Watching him lower his head, his face fully overheated, I thought the same thing I’d been thinking all day.

Does he really like me that much?

 

 

****

 

 

Pession still felt like all of this was a dream.

Maybe it was some kind of hallucination from having gone so long without sleep. Or perhaps he was already asleep, and this was all just a dream.

Whenever such chilling thoughts floated through his mind, he reflexively pulled Arellin into his arms. Her body, once small and skinny, was still small—but warm and soft.

Arellin’s scent.

He closed his eyes as a faint, springlike fragrance brushed past his nose.

So this was what comfort felt like.

“Hm? Are you listening?”

“I am.”

Arellin was explaining everything that had happened to her.

“Then the man who took you away right in front of me back then was…”

“Probably my master?”

“Your master…”

Only now did it make sense—the gaze that hadn’t seemed human at all.

So he was a grand mage.

“So that’s how you became a mage?”

“Yeah.”

“…How?”

Swordsmanship required talent. Magic required even more. By ordinary standards, it was impossible to understand.

The time it had taken her to become a mage was far too short, and it was hard to accept that someone who had vanished had reappeared and casually declared herself a mage.

“My master said I have an incredible talent for magic.”

Pession recalled the faint sense of unfamiliarity he’d sometimes felt from Arellin—and then pushed the thought away.

After all, she could read books written in nearly every language and compose completely new music every single day. Being a mage hardly seemed extraordinary by comparison.

“What, you don’t believe I’m a mage?”

“I believe you.”

“You don’t look like it.”

When Arellin snapped her fingers, a faint orb of light floated in the air.

A hovering light was basic magic—and the easiest way to prove someone was a mage.

The problem was that whenever Arellin used this spell, a certain star would come rushing over in a panic.

[The brightest star is amplifying its radiant energy—]

Before the gentle glow could turn into a flashbang, Arellin dispelled the light.

[…]

The Star Language, meant to convey the will of the stars, fell silent in disappointment.

“What are you smiling at like that?”

“Hmm. Because you’re cute.”

Since only high-ranking mages could see Star Language, Arellin brushed it off casually.

“Didn’t the treatment hurt?”

“It did. I’ve never experienced pain and hardship like that in my life. It hurt so much that I couldn’t help thinking how weak I’d been before, and that this was what real pain and suffering meant.”

“……”

Hearing Arellin—who rarely ever complained—say that made Pession’s expression darken. Then Arellin smiled brightly.

“No, actually, it didn’t hurt at all.”

A lie.

Pession’s gaze dimmed as he watched Arellin change her words so he wouldn’t worry. Arellin smiled even wider and asked,

“What about you? You went to the Northern Fortress, right? There are tons of monsters there. Were you hurt?”

“I was fine.”

He hadn’t been able to die anyway—so as long as he could push himself by doing something, anything was fine.

“Why didn’t Mehen tell me you were alive?”

If he’d just known she was alive… if only—

He wouldn’t have wandered so stupidly like this.

The one who pulled Pession out of those sinking thoughts was Arellin.

With a light, smiling voice, she whispered,

“Well, because no one knew whether I’d come back alive… or not at all.”

“……”

“Don’t hate Mehen too much.”

“……”

“Mom couldn’t be sure either. Even my master said the odds were fifty-fifty.”

Layered resentment melted away in her gentle voice.

Pession didn’t know if he could truly forgive Mehen—but at least outwardly, he acted as if he could.

“…Okay.”

Because Arellin liked Mehen.

And he couldn’t afford to be hated by Arellin.

“Then are you completely better now?”

“No?”

“……!”

At Pession’s expression—like he’d just lost the world—Arellin reached up and gently patted his head.

“To fully recover, I have to find my biological father. But I can live normally for now.”

“…Your biological father.”

Pession’s thoughts raced. Arellin seemed indifferent, but if finding her real father was necessary for a full recovery, then he had to find him.

But more importantly—

“Arell.”

“Hm?”

What mattered most to Pession right now was certainty—that Arellin would never leave him again.

“You’re going to stay by my side forever now, right?”

At the flat, emotionless question, Arellin blinked rapidly.

In Pession’s eyes—calm, unwavering, focused solely on Arellin—there was… a hint of madness.

“Uh… well…”

“Why aren’t you answering? Arell. Hm?”

Pession urged her gently, smiling sweetly.

The answer he wanted was clear: I’ll never leave.

Unable to lie, Arellin squeezed her eyes shut.

“I have to go find my dad!”