The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 239

Author: Asternkm

Pession made sure Arellin could stay as comfortably as possible in the Crown Prince’s Palace, but even that wasn’t enough to put him at ease.

“The whereabouts of Duke Halbern…”

He had confidently declared that he would find him, but anything related to Duke Halbern was never going to be easy.

Even the Imperial Intelligence Bureau had failed to track down the duke, so how Arellin had managed to learn anything about his location in the first place was already a mystery.

“No matter how much I ask where he is, she won’t answer.”

He tried coaxing her gently, acting hurt, pretending to be angry, even sulking—but each time, Arellin only smiled and gave the same reply.

“Because it might be dangerous. So, no.”

Naturally, that made Pession’s insides churn.

When he suppressed his anger and asked whether she had really intended to go to such a dangerous place alone, Arellin replied calmly.

“I’m a mage, you know.”

Overwhelmed again, Pession grabbed his head.

“I’m not exactly lacking in skill wherever I go, so why…?”

In the entire world, Arellin was probably the only person who could tell Pession—the Swordmaster himself—“It’s dangerous, so no.”

By common sense, wasn’t a knight sturdier than a mage?

He desperately tried to persuade Arellin along those lines, but she only smiled and continued to refuse.

“Hah.”

Grinding his teeth, Pession let out a deep sigh that rose from his core.

“Should I… drive the Mage Tower out…?”

He wanted to take out his frustration on the Archmage who had taught Arellin magic. Perhaps barring all mages from ever setting foot in Albrecht again…

‘That might be difficult.’

Still, it was a foreseeable future that the lives of mages who fell out of favor with the Crown Prince of the Albrecht Empire would become far harsher.

When she was young, the problem had been that Arellin barely moved and shut herself away at home. Now, the problem was that she was too active.

‘I did wish she’d move around more and become healthier, but…’

This was far beyond what he had hoped for. And it wasn’t just that she was active—

Pession’s eyelashes trembled.

Even when she was young, people had been drawn to her with every breath she took. Now, just counting the people he knew, it felt like enough to form an entire territory.

“Just what….”

Pession’s reason told him that as Arellin met more people and her world expanded, he should be happy for her growth and support it.

But in truth, he was plagued by entirely different impulses.

The more people Arellin knew—especially those he didn’t know—the more the mere thought of a world of hers he couldn’t see forced Pession to suppress the anxiety and jealousy blooming inside him.

He wanted to swallow her whole, from head to toe.

He wanted to lock her away so she could never go anywhere again.

He wanted to break her so she could do nothing, so that she would look only at him—dark, sticky desires writhed within him.

“……”

Did Arellin know he felt this way?

Probably not. If she did, she wouldn’t be saying such naive things.

‘After all we went through just to reunite.’

Pession knew he couldn’t stop Arellin from going to save her father, no matter how inadequate that father might be.

The fear that she might be disappointed and run away if she discovered his true feelings—no, the knowledge that if Arellin wished for it, he would ultimately allow even a descent into hell’s mire—made him miserable.

“Still, I can’t allow you to go alone.”

He had to find another way.

It was while Pession was riding the Imperial Intelligence Bureau and his subordinates mercilessly that—

“Your Highness.”

“What is it? I told you not to interrupt me unless it’s urgent.”

“Well… it concerns Lady Arellin…”

Pession, who had been waving him off, froze in place. At the murderous look demanding an immediate report, the attendant hastily bowed.

“Her Majesty the Empress has gone to meet Lady Arellin.”

Pession’s refined face instantly twisted into a frown.

****

Lord Shirua took charge of entertaining the delegation solely due to his personal connection with their leader, the Elder Druid Grinia.

Originally, he was supposed to keep Grinia around longer to cooperate with Pession’s plan, but—

‘There’s no need for that anymore.’

Because Arellin had returned.

Thus, it was only natural that the delegation—eager to return home—received gifts symbolizing continued friendly relations and departed immediately.

“Safe travels, Grinia.”

“Thank you for your help, Shirua.”

“It was nothing. It was only right that I helped.”

Grinia smiled.

“The Uyo Union will not forget this favor.”

The Uyo Union, home to halflings, beastfolk, and many other races.

Though it was one of the countries farthest removed from the human-centered Albrecht Empire, it was obvious to anyone that this incident had brought the two nations closer together.

“Until we meet again, Shirua.”

“Yes. Let’s definitely meet again next time!”

After seeing off the delegation, Shirua headed not to the Emperor’s Palace nor the Empress’s Palace, but to the Crown Prince’s Palace.

“Arellin is back?”

Though everyone spoke in hushed tones, the biggest piece of gossip in the palace right now was Arellin’s existence.

“How on earth did they bring her back? I’m so curious. I should go see for myself.”

“Please calm yourself, my lord.”

“How can I calm down? Something this interesting just happened!”

“Mya!”

Shiru the cat, nestled in Shirua’s arms as he rushed off, calmly licked its front paw.

“You’re curious too, right? Let’s go!”

However, Shirua’s adventure was cut short before it could even begin.

“Huh? Someone’s already there?”

“Her Majesty the Empress is present.”

The people from the Empress’s Palace had completely blocked off the Crown Prince’s Palace.

Shirua puffed out his lips in dissatisfaction.

***

“It feels like we just met not long ago, yet here we are again, Lady Arellin.”

I blinked.

It was an unexpected appearance.

Why was Empress Ageni here?

“I was worried when I heard Pession had confined you, but you seem perfectly fine. That’s a relief.”

“Uh… was I confined?”

Empress Ageni avoided the question with a gentle smile.

So… I was confined.

‘Pession…’

You’ve become a bad adult while I wasn’t looking.

No wonder he said he’d let me stay here quietly—was it because he felt secure locking me in?

‘Against a mage, of all people.’

Well, I suppose it made sense since Pession didn’t know what kind of mage I was.

As my thoughts drifted to Pession, my gaze naturally returned to Empress Ageni sitting before me.

Why had Her Majesty come here?

To rescue me?

“By the way, Your Majesty, what brings you all the way here…?”

Empress Ageni stared intently at my face before lowering her gaze.

“I’m sorry.”

“E-Excuse me?!”

“It was my fault. I believed that Lady Arellin… would never return alive.”

Regret flickered across Empress Ageni’s face.

“I thought that since you’d only spent a short time together as children, time would eventually dull the pain. Pession loved you deeply, but time can be that powerful.”

Nothing survives unscathed before time.

Love sworn to eternity, beliefs upheld at the cost of one’s life, the glory of countless heroes—even this world people believe will last forever.

In a world where all living things change and even permanence is an illusion, Empress Ageni only wished for her child not to be broken.

It didn’t take long for her to realize that choice had been wrong.

“Sometimes, even when you know something is wrong, you have to push through anyway. That was the case for me. Of course, to you, Lady Arellin, my words may sound like sophistry…”

Empress Ageni let out a self-deprecating smile and looked straight at me.

My reflection in her blue eyes felt like that of someone else entirely.

“I didn’t want to lose him again.”

Eyes filled with aching longing and grief. Eyes that wanted to return to that moment over and over again, yet had already surrendered halfway.

I recognized that look.

Because it was the same look my father—who had grown in body but never in heart, a boy who had lost his sister—sometimes showed me.

Perhaps that was why I finally voiced a question I’d only ever kept to myself.

“Do I really look that much like my birth mother?”

Empress Ageni’s eyes widened.

Would it make me an unfilial daughter to think that the shadow cast by my birth mother—neither a hero nor anything remarkable—was simply too heavy?

What kind of relationship had my birth mother and Empress Ageni shared?

“My birth mother—”