The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 258

Meanwhile, at that same moment.

Pession, who had been separated from Arellin by Duke Gremwart’s scheme, woke up.

“Where is this…?”

The moment he opened his eyes, an entirely different scene greeted him. As he assessed his situation, Pession quickly retraced his memories.

He had recovered Arellin in Gairen, entered the ruins, and then…

“…Duke Gremwart.”

Had it been a mistake to let his guard down just because he recognized the name?
Or was it arrogance—thinking he could handle something like this easily?

‘Arellin is gone.’

The expression vanished from Pession’s face, replaced by a chilling coldness.

Anxiety surged violently within him.

He knew he needed to stay calm, yet the simple fact that Arellin was no longer in his sight sent emotions spiraling out of control.

KWA—AAANG!

Pession tore free of the ropes binding him and burst out of the room he’d been confined in.

‘I have to find Arellin first.’

The unknown mana that had restrained him, the ruins steeped in secrets, even Duke Gremwart himself—none of it mattered to Pession right now.

‘I’m still inside the ruins.’

The oppressive pressure he’d felt ever since entering the ruins lingered. If anything, it seemed even heavier now.

“Where… exactly is this?”

He had to find Arellin.

The floor, walls, and ceiling were covered in letters—characters that even Pession, who had learned every known script, couldn’t read. Perhaps some unknown force caused them to glow, because despite the absence of light, the space was as bright as day.

As if drawn by something, Pession followed the trail of glowing letters. Soon, a massive cavern opened up before him.

“…This is.”

An unidentified power seeping from cracks in every direction was pooling around a stele and an altar at the center of the cavern.

Woooom—.

An immense energy, beyond estimation, churned violently in the air.

An overwhelming force that chilled him to the bone. Pession couldn’t even imagine what would happen if it were to erupt.

One thing alone was certain: something far worse than what had happened in Gairen could occur here.

‘What in the world is happening in this place?’

That was when he heard it—

A strange voice.

“A little rat has scurried in.”

 

 

*****

 

 

Gairen lay in ruins, everything in sight shattered.

From afar, I spotted one unmistakable figure and froze in shock.

“Dad?!”

Disheveled hair. Unfocused eyes. Pupils loose, without clarity. The mouth that usually curved into a lazy smile was tightly pressed into a straight line.

At a glance, he was clearly not in a normal state. A terrifying killing intent poured from him, enough to make my skin crawl.

‘What on earth happened to him?’

Even from this distance, the oppressive pressure weighed down the entire area.

Watching my father rampage through the city, destroying everything in his path while radiating suffocating bloodlust, was enough to make my head throb.

“And even now… wow. Dad’s face is really doing all the work.”

Even as I instinctively backed away, I couldn’t believe I was thinking something like that—

“But seriously, that face is unfair.”

When your face is that good, even a wrecked state like that gets labeled with words like decadent beauty, languid beauty, haggard beauty—always with beauty tagged on at the end, right?

Just then, my father swung his sword again, and the building in the direction he advanced collapsed completely.

Yeah.
That direction was me.

‘No, Master! Is this what you meant when you said you weren’t sure the person I was looking for would still be my dad?!’

That 모습 was exactly like—

The “Duke Halbern” from the latter half of the original story.

‘Why?! I didn’t die, and Mehen never left Halbern—so why is Dad blackening and going berserk like this?!’

Something was wrong. Very wrong.
But I couldn’t figure out exactly where or how things had gone off the rails.

My thoughts were spiraling into a knot when—

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

Someone suddenly grabbed me and yanked me toward a safer spot.

Hey, I still have business with my dad—

I was about to protest, but—

“How can you stand where the demon of the ruins is headed?! Are you suicidal too?!”

I blinked blankly at the furious man in front of me.

“…Luka?”

“What? How do you know my name?”

Why was Luka here?

Wasn’t he dead?

“Don’t you remember me?”

“What do you mean, remember you? Who are you supposed to be?”

Judging by the small wand in his hand, he was definitely a mage, but—

“A mage?”

“You knew that and still asked? Anyone can tell I’m a mage.”

“So Luka was a guy. Short hair, huh.”

“Hah… what kind of nutcase is this….”

“So Luka talks kind of rough.”

Just as Luka was giving me a ‘why did I even pick you up’ look—

KWA—AAANG!

A massive boom echoed from afar, making me flinch reflexively. When I turned my head, I could see clouds of dust rising even from this distance.

“Don’t be scared. The Demon of the Ruins isn’t interested in killing people, so he won’t chase us this way. Plenty of people die from getting caught up in it, though….”

“Then what is he interested in?”

Luka shrugged.

“How would I know?”

 

 

*****

 

 

 

The destruction show that had gone on for quite a while finally stopped after completely smashing Gairen’s commercial district—one of the few areas that still had anything left standing.

After that, I had no idea where Dad went.

Anyway.

“The Demon of the Ruins.”

To think that ridiculously cringeworthy nickname was what people used to refer to my actual dad.

Part of me wanted to grab him right away and tease him about it, while another part felt heavy seeing people tremble at even hearing the word “ruins.”

“But why do they call him the Demon of the Ruins?”

“How should I know?”

“Then what do you know, Luka?”

Luka bristled, about to snap back at me, but when I blinked at him with an innocent look, he let out a deflated sigh.

“Well… maybe because he shows up wherever there are ruins?”

“I see.”

Luka looked like he regretted saving me. When I beamed at him in response, he sighed again.

When he used to trail after me calling me Lady Arellin, I never knew he had this kind of personality.

‘Still, it doesn’t feel bad.’

If anything, it felt nice—like we’d grown closer.

Was it the power of a familiar face?

If he’d been a stranger, I would’ve just thanked him for saving me and left on guard. But with Luka, I kept sticking close to his side.

“But why is Gairen such a wreck? Wasn’t it a metropolis with 1.5 million people?”

“That’s because of the Demon of the Ruins. Even His Majesty Pession has given up on Gairen.”

Something about that sounded very wrong.

“Wait—who did you say? His Majesty Pession?”

“Heh. Don’t you know your head could roll if you’re caught casually saying the Emperor’s name?”

“Isn’t this Albrecht? What about Emperor Edward?”

Luka looked exasperated but still answered me properly.

“That tyrant died years ago. After Empress Azeni was assassinated by a beastfolk agent, he ruled with nothing but oppression and eventually committed suicide five years back.”

“Beastfolk? They sent an assassin? Why?”

“Why else? Did you forget how the Beast King publicly condemned Emperor Edward as incompetent after his granddaughter was abused and killed in Albrecht? That was probably his revenge.”

That was strange.
Wasn’t the Beast King’s granddaughter talking about Luri?

‘I saved Luri, though?’

Still uneasy, I remembered how I’d warned Empress Azeni again and again to be careful when I met her alone.

“That incident sparked a war with the Yuyo Alliance, and the eastern front is a complete mess right now. Don’t tell me you didn’t know that? What, did you come from another world or something?”

“Yeah. I guess I did.”

“What? Are you insane?”

Was this one of those parallel-world things?

‘Jemello, rejoice. Your research was correct.’

I’d skimmed past that research report by Jemello and ten others about the existence of parallel dimensions, thinking it sounded like a clichéd web novel setup. Turns out I was the idiot.

“Then what about the Mage Tower? Where’s the Sky Tower?”

“The Sky Tower fell.”

“???”

At my dumbfounded reaction, Luka thumped his chest in frustration, like how can you not know this.

“You seriously don’t remember what happened in the north a few years ago? The dragons and the Mage Tower went to war. People were freaking out, saying the world was ending. The World Tree burned, and the elves erected a mana barrier around the Shugra Empire—”

What is that even supposed to be?

I don’t know any of that!

“Halbern is… obviously ruined too, right?”

“You know that, but not the rest?!”

Listening to Luka’s incredulous voice, I squeezed my eyes shut.

This insane bad luck.

‘The world is persecuting me.’

It seemed I really had come into a novel.

And not just any version of it—

But the version of the world I had read.