The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 247 - Children’s Day Special Side Story 1

To Mehen, a seven-year-old who had been living on the streets, Halbern Manor felt like heaven itself.

“Want to come with me?”

A cute, chubby face well fed with good food, a bright smile without a single shadow, and even the hand he held out was pale and pleasant to look at. For a boy who couldn’t even be sure he’d survive until tomorrow, the offer from that young noble felt like a gift from fate.

Whether it was childish impulse, curiosity, or even a cruel joke didn’t really matter.

The Halbern Manor he ended up at was far larger and more magnificent than young Mehen could ever imagine, and everyone who lived there seemed extraordinary in their own way.

“The young master brought him? Is he planning to make him a servant?”

“He said they’re friends.”

“A noble being friends with a commoner? What kind of nasty hobby is that?”

“Who knows? How would we understand the refined tastes of our noble young master?”

When Mehen first arrived at Halbern Manor, the looks he received fell into two types.

Pity and indifference.

The retainers and servants of the manor pitied Mehen’s situation as a plaything of the noble young master, while the family of that “noble young master” showed no interest at all.

Morden, the head of the Halbern household, remarked,

“So you’ve picked up an interesting toy.”

The Duchess of Halbern, whom Mehen only saw once, said,

“Thank you for becoming friends with that poor child.”

“Mehen, let me introduce my sister.”

Valer had been riding in the same carriage when he picked Mehen up, so Mehen had already seen her before. Even so, Valer cheerfully introduced Mehen to Shione. Shione, whom Valer loved and followed the most, always wore a rather complicated expression whenever she looked at Mehen.

“You really are something.”

“……?”

“You still haven’t run away?”

Mehen couldn’t understand what Shione meant.

“Run away?”

“Then why do you think the door to your room isn’t locked even at night?”

Did she think he would run away? Why? Why would he run away from such a nice manor?

“A nice manor, huh….”

Hearing that, Shione smiled as if she wasn’t sure what expression she should be making.

“I suppose it might look that way to you.”

“They feed me, let me sleep, and it’s warm. Do I have to leave?”

“That’s an important question. Well, if you like it here, there’s no need to leave.”

Shione laughed, as if she found something amusing.

“You’re the first person I’ve met who doesn’t want to leave this manor. It’s interesting.”

The more Shione laughed, the more uneasy Mehen felt.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No.”

To Valer, Shione was always a kind and gentle older sister, but to Mehen, she didn’t seem quite that gentle or warm.

That didn’t mean Shione was unkind to him.

‘No matter how I look at her, she doesn’t seem like the angel Valer talks about.’

She truly was angelically beautiful, but every one of her actions carried a weight that made it feel like you couldn’t afford to step wrong.

“If I did something wrong, please tell me.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong, so there’s no need to lower yourself like that. I’m smiling because you’re right.”

At least one thing was certain.

Shione cared for Mehen.

If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have given him advice like this.

“Especially in a messed-up family like this, if you keep your head bowed like that, you’ll get snatched up right away.”

Even though no one in the manor besides Valer showed Mehen much interest, the reason he was able to study, and even come to realize that he was a genius, was all because of the opportunities Shione gave him.

He was only receiving lessons alongside Valer, but even that alone was an incredible opportunity for Mehen.

And the opportunities Mehen gained weren’t limited to a high-quality education.

“A commoner? I’ve never seen a commoner before!”

Not only the Crown Prince Edward, who was Valer’s age, but even Young Lord Jaren Muvisk spent time with him and built friendships together.

The process wasn’t smooth, but even at a young age, Mehen was quick to read the room. Thanks to that, the four of them soon started getting along fairly well.

“Do commoners really pick up food off the street and eat it?”

At Crown Prince Edward’s cruel yet innocent question, the guardians watching nearby all gasped in shock.

“I did pick it up, but usually people buy food.”

“So commoners buy food too!”

“Most of the time, yes.”

“Then why did you pick it up?”

“Because I had no money. I was a beggar.”

“A beggar? What’s a beggar?”

Jaren jumped in.

“Oh come on, Your Highness, you don’t even know that? A beggar is someone who can’t eat! You can see them in the capital’s alleys.”

Valer objected right away.

“Mehen isn’t a beggar! He eats well at our house now. Right?”

“Yeah.”

“And I’ll make it so he’s not a commoner anymore. My sister said she can do that when she becomes the head of the family later.”

“What, then he won’t be a commoner for long. Aw.”

Crown Prince Edward, who had been innocently excited about meeting a commoner for the first time, sounded disappointed at Valer’s words.

After hearing this conversation, Shione was so unsure where things had gone wrong that she ended up having a serious parent–teacher meeting with the professors in charge of the children’s education that very day.

But these three really were hopeless.

“I hate studying! I wanna play with my sister. I wanna play with Mehen!”

Valer, the devoted little brother.

“I don’t wanna study! I hate sword training! I hate being Crown Prince! I wanna play!”

Edward, the problem child who only wanted to have fun.

“Dragons! I like dragons! Dragons!”

And Jaren, who only cared about dragons and nothing else.

Left alone among this bunch, Mehen began worrying about the future of the country.

These guys were going to become the core of Albrecht someday?

‘What’s going to happen to this country?’

Mehen’s remarkable achievements came not only from his own genius, but also from a strange sense of duty that formed as he looked at this harsh environment and thought, ‘Someone like me has to study and help the country someday.’

“Oho, ohoho! Achieving this already? Incredible… a genius who appears only once in a thousand years.”

Among all people, Professor Nicolo, the tutor in charge of their studies, adored Mehen the most.

After struggling to teach the problem Crown Prince, Jaren—who said he wouldn’t study because he was only the second son and would never become head anyway—and Valer, whose mind was almost painfully pure, the professor’s hair had practically fallen out. So a smart, obedient student like Mehen was nothing short of a blessing.

“My younger brother is really smart, you know. He just doesn’t study.”

Even Shione, who used to say this, eventually gave up after seeing Valer’s increasingly hopeless progress and decided instead to raise Mehen well and have him support Valer in the future.

Was it from that point on that Shione, who used to just dote on her little brother, began teaching Valer strictly?

“Hiiing.”

“Crying won’t help.”

“But…….”

“If you’re my little brother, you can handle this much, right?”

“Ugh.”

On top of that, she managed to make Jaren—who had given up on studying—study again, earning thanks from Duke and Duchess Muvisk. She also threatened Crown Prince Edward, whom even the imperial family had given up on, telling him not to come play at Halbern if he had no intention of studying. All of that was Shione’s doing.

Shione especially disliked Crown Prince Edward.

Because of that, whether at the imperial palace or another duke’s residence, Edward would always flinch and feel an unexplained pressure whenever he ran into Shione.

“You’re really getting worse by the day.”

“……? You?”

“Yes, you.”

Edward wanted to protest this rudeness, but when he met Shione’s clearly disappointed gaze, he flinched instead.

“If you keep living like that, you’ll regret it someday.”

“……?”

“Tsk tsk. Try to be even half as good as my adorable little brother.”

Edward felt wronged.

What did I even do wrong?!

Sure, he didn’t study much, went out to play even when the attendants tried to stop him, liked the outside world, and enjoyed spending time with people—but none of that was wrong, was it?!

“I’m the problem?”

Feeling terribly unfairly treated, Edward complained to Valer, but it was useless.

Valer, who adored his sister, was the kind of person who would say Shione was right even if she had created the world herself.

“Yeah. You’re the problem. There’s no way my sister would be wrong.”

“You sister idiot!”

Do you think I’m like this because I don’t have a sister?!

Still fuming, Edward suddenly scrunched up his face.

“Ah… I don’t have a sister.”

Edward, who had never felt sad about lacking anything before, felt sad for the first time because he didn’t have a sister.

“Ed doesn’t have a sister!”

“Tch.”

At Valer’s teasing, Edward pouted.

“Sisters are just annoying and tiring anyway. I don’t need one!”

“Really? Having a sister is great.”

“That’s good? I don’t need one!”

But Edward didn’t know the future back then.

He had no idea that one day he would fall for a certain noona, cry his heart out saying he couldn’t live without her, and write a piece of dark history that everyone in the land would know about.