The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 259

Author: Asternkm

It was time for a sad confession.

I don’t know the ending of this novel.

Why?

‘Because Part 2 never got serialized until the day I died after Part 1 ended!’

To be honest, it wasn’t something I’d cared about much until now.

After all, the male lead and female lead would end up together, and it would all wrap up in a happy ending.

Generally speaking, for a serialized novel to end in a sad ending, the author would need to make a pretty serious resolution to do so.

So I’d been confident that nothing worth worrying about would happen, but then—

“Did the author actually make that resolution?”

The state of this world was far worse than I’d expected.

Despite being treated like a weirdo by Luka, this was the additional information I managed to learn.

Albrecht was practically on the brink of collapse, and Emperor Pession was barely keeping it alive by force of will.

Apparently, this was still considered one of the better situations.

The Southern Empire had already fallen and become a land of monsters, and the northern territories had been reduced entirely to ruins after the war between dragons and mages.

The Yuyo Alliance had fractured due to the beastfolk’s tyranny, ushering in an era like the Warring States, while the Shugra Empire couldn’t withstand the aftermath of the World Tree burning and sealed itself off behind a mana barrier, declaring national isolation.

“The whole world is a mess.”

And in a situation like this, what was our female lead doing?!

‘She’s not so busy dating that she doesn’t care what happens to the world, right?’

I sighed as I thought of Chloe.

“For now, I’ll do what I can.”

*****

Luka was having second thoughts.

‘Did I really pick her up for nothing?’

He’d only saved her because she’d been standing there blankly, like she was about to die—but it felt like he’d picked up a seriously strange person.

“Luka.”

“What now?”

“If the world you live in was actually inside a novel, how would you feel?”

“I’d want to know the ending.”

“That’s it? Just that?”

“What else would there be?”

“Like, ‘I’m not just some character in a novel!’ or something?”

At Arellin’s pathetic comment, Luka no longer felt like continuing the conversation.

“Whether it’s a novel or not, what does it matter? My reality right now is already brutal enough.”

“That’s… true. You’re right.”

Arellin was immediately convinced.

With a face pretty enough to leave anyone staring in a daze, Arellin kept spouting the strangest nonsense.

“So, what are you planning to do now?”

“I’m going after Dad—no, the Demon of the Ruins.”

“Why would you have such a crazy idea?! Are you trying to kill yourself?!”

“No? My life is precious, you know?”

If someone next to you is about to die, isn’t it basic human decency to stop them first?

While exercising that basic decency, Luka was also deeply anxious about what kind of disaster this crazy woman might cause.

“No, it’s dangerous enough that you went to look around the already-destroyed ruins—and now you’re saying you’ll chase after the Demon of the Ruins?!”

“There was a reason I had to go.”

“If the ruins backflow and drag you into the other side of the world, you’ll just die!”

“It’s fine. I won’t die.”

“Everyone who says that ends up dead, you know?!”

“Luka, but do you know where Dad—no, where the Demon of the Ruins went?”

“How would I know that?!”

“Then what do you know, Luka?”

Watching the grumbling Arellin, Luka thumped his chest.

This crazy woman!

‘Should I just ditch her?’

Hadn’t he already fulfilled his duty as a decent human being by saving her once? Why should he do anything more?

Luka seriously considered it, but leaving Arellin behind still didn’t sit right with him.

“The Sky Tower… ah, right, you said it was destroyed. The Mage Tower, then—”

“The Mage Tower was completely destroyed too, by the dragons’ attacks.”

“Really? Then what are the mages doing?”

“Well… it’s an every-man-for-himself era.”

“Oh.”

Arellin put on an exaggeratedly mournful expression.

She’s not even a mage—why is she so sad?

“Then where is my master? This kind of thing is exactly what my master would be good at.”

“?”

“Anyway, let’s go to the capital.”

At Arellin’s conclusion, Luka frowned deeply.

“Did you hear a single word I just said? The Mage Towers are all destroyed. Of course the gates are wrecked too. There aren’t any mages left who can use that level of magic. From here to the capital, it’ll take over a month by carriage. Do you know how infested with monsters the roads are?”

“A carriage? Ah, right. This is a primitive world without cars.”

Luka bristled at the pitying look she gave him, but before he could get angry, Arellin had already started moving.

She seemed intent on keeping her word, heading straight for the ruins of an old gate.

“Hey, didn’t you hear me? I said the gate is broken! There aren’t any high-ranking mages left who can—”

Before Luka could finish his rapid-fire lecture, his mouth fell open.

Wiiiiing—

The moment Arellin placed her hand on it, the shattered gate’s magic circle flared with light and instantly restored itself. Luka rubbed his eyes as he stared at the fully repaired gate.

‘What… did I just see?’

That was high-tier magic—something only a star-ranked mage or higher could activate.

“Want to come too, Luka?”

Asked casually from in front of the gate, Arellin made Luka nod before he even realized it.

****

Luka’s attitude changed instantly.

“A star-ranked mage…?”

Even his speech turned polite.

“If that was the case, you should’ve said so from the start!”

Oh, so now you’re polite—after all that casual talk earlier?

I shot him a glare, and Luka laughed awkwardly, clearly aware he was in the wrong.

‘I’ll let it slide.’

If it weren’t for Luka, I probably would’ve died in confusion, wondering why Dad was like that and why the world was like this. Since I’m generous, I’ll forgive him this once.

Noticing the tension leave my eyes, Luka quickly changed the subject.

“But why are we going to the capital?”

“To get information. It’s the fastest place for that.”

If I couldn’t go to the Sky Tower, then the next best option was the Halbern secret archive, wasn’t it?

‘Though I don’t know if I’ll be able to enter it in this world…’

If I wanted to know what had happened to Dad, I had to visit the archive at least once.

“Information… yeah, the capital is the fastest for that.”

Luka seemed to be drawing his own conclusions.

The capital’s scenery wasn’t all that different from what I remembered.

Well—there were more people, no cars, darker expressions, no Spherome Hotel…

‘Never mind. I take that back. It’s totally different.’

On top of that, the central Mage Tower of the capital was also destroyed.

Seeing the Mage Tower—once a place I visited as casually as eating meals—reduced to ashes without a trace left me with a strange feeling.

Even if this wasn’t the world I’d lived in…

“Let’s go.”

I wanted to look around more, but Luka subtly signaled me to move on. Judging by the watchful gazes around us, that was probably why. I scanned the area with mana, but nothing important stood out, so I let it go.

“Try not to let people find out you’re a mage.”

“Why?”

“Mages have a bad reputation now.”

“Why?”

“People think mages are the ones who caused the dragons to attack humans and destroy the northern continent.”

“……?”

Why would that be the mages’ fault?

If I didn’t know mages, maybe I’d believe it—but mages weren’t the type to start wars. At worst, they might poke around out of research curiosity and get punched for it.

‘Ah… is that really what happened?’

Even so…

Did it warrant this level of retaliation?

Thinking about my master’s personality made it even stranger. My master wasn’t someone who’d fight others in the first place.

Lost in doubts about the war between mages and dragons, I was walking when Luka asked,

“So… where exactly are we going?”

“The Halbern estate.”

“…?”

Luka made a bizarre face.

“Eh? What? Eeh?!”

His expression clearly showed he couldn’t decide whether to trust the power of a star-ranked mage or the terrifying rumors surrounding the Halbern estate.

“No, I mean… uh… is that really okay?”

“It’s fine.”

“What if someone finds out?!”

It was fine—we weren’t planning to go in through the front door. The Halvern estate was old, which meant it had plenty of secret and hidden paths.

‘…Or maybe only I can enter?’

I was thinking about the various spells layered over the Halvern estate as we walked when—

“Lady Arellin—!”

Luka shouted urgently. When I turned my head, a carriage was barreling straight toward me.

“Oh.”

Am I about to get run over?

That thought crossed my mind—

—and then someone suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me back.