The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 280

Valer’s consciousness had sunk into a very deep place. It was a defensive mechanism produced by a mind worn down from wandering somewhere that was not reality for far too long.

In that state, Valer usually saw illusions—fragments of a past he no longer remembered, or moments he wished he could return to.

Were there really no moments he wanted to linger in?

Even amid hellish stretches of time, there were some. Very rarely—truly, only on occasion—there were moments when he thought that if this instant could last forever, he could give up everything else.

And this life, in particular…

“Elder.”

“You should call me Dad.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

How much would he come to miss it, going forward?

At the thought that this would now become a moment only he remembered forever, Valer’s throat already tightened.

Valer believed that he was dead. He always recovered “everything” only right before dying—or after death.

‘Where did it go wrong?’

He retraced the many branching points that surfaced across countless spans of time. This act was his will, left behind for himself—the self who would begin again in a new cycle.

So that this time, he would not make “those mistakes.”

By now, it was a self-prophecy that had been revised far too many times.

‘What does any of this even mean?’

Was Arellin dead?

Ha. She must be.

He had failed to save her again.

Regression only activated once Arellin died—and he himself died as well.

While he foolishly wandered the reverse side of the world, how much time had passed outside?

Valer couldn’t even begin to guess.

‘In the end, I didn’t make it back in time.’

He had managed to retrieve the relic, only to lose his way home. A home he never returned to—perhaps he had forgotten the road entirely.

Another failure.

And the most painful failure of all.

Emotion surged. Memories from innumerable worlds overflowed, spilling beyond his control.

These countless regressions existed for one reason alone: to save Arellin.

That goal had never changed.

Yes. He still wanted to save Arellin.

…What had changed was himself.

‘Arellin.’

For the first time since regressing, Valer called her not “noona,” but Arellin. The eyes, thoughts, and heart that had always chased after his sister now turned toward the Arellin who must have been waiting for him.

It hurt.

What was this pain?

It felt as though his chest had been hollowed out.

Where was this emptiness coming from?

This feeling—like he had lost something unimaginably precious forever—what was it?

‘No. I already know the reason.’

The source of this pain and emptiness all stemmed from that single moment he could never return to.

“Dad?”

“You’re finally calling me that?”

It was the pain of losing forever the moment when Valer truly became a father.

Valer reflected on the past.

Across countless regressions, there were times when he had been with Arellin. But building something like this between parent and child—this had happened for the first time in the previous life.

It was also the first time he had truly been called “Dad.”

To Valer, Arellin had always been an unsalvageable task—an objective that had to be fulfilled at all costs.

She was also an achievement that could not be built even with time bordering on eternity, and in part, an atonement born from the guilt he carried.

With such feelings, Valer had no confidence in facing a child properly. For that reason, ever since he began regressing, his complicated emotions toward her had only deepened, while the distance between them only grew.

From the start, saving Arellin had always been the purpose of Valer’s life—but never once did he harbor the delusion that he would become a real family with her.

Family.

Yes. The option of us becoming a real family never existed for me. It was far too extravagant a wish for someone who could barely manage to save you.

Was that where it went wrong?

From the very moment I tried to play the role of your father, despite being someone like this?

“…Dad.”

The moment when the child—who had been wary of him like a kitten with its fur bristling, busy keeping her distance—called him “Dad” for the first time had struck Valer deeply as well… right in the chest.

The cautious eyes that tried to match his, the tiny body that leaned against him as if it were only natural.

Had he grown attached to you?

No. This was not an emotion that could be dismissed as mere affection.

He had long since grown weary of this repeated life devoted to saving her.

The thought of saving her and dying had also come from a self already so broken that he no longer wanted to live.

There was no one who would understand such a twisted trajectory of life—and he had no desire to be understood.

Was that unbearably lonely?

No. Perhaps so much time had passed that even the feeling of loneliness itself had weathered away.

He simply…

Wanted to go back.

To the place where Mehen and Arellin were waiting for him. To the “perfectly ordinary Halbern ducal residence.”

He missed the moments he had once thought were nothing.

The times when he wasn’t obsessed with saving her—when he joked around and laughed, when he stayed together even as Mehen scolded him.

Ah. Was I truly happy then?

Perhaps because his consciousness was so deeply submerged, when Valer came to his senses, he had become a child.

The scenery of the Halbern ducal residence—far too familiar.

His body moved naturally toward somewhere. Toward “that room,” once his sister’s room, now Arellin’s.

“Valer.”

“…Noona.”

When he opened the door, a familiar figure welcomed him. As he approached, his sister pulled him into an embrace as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Remember, Valer. I will always be on your side.”

“I know.”

“Noona will always love you.”

At the gentle voice, as if meant to reassure him, a sulky remark slipped out on its own.

“…Even if I’m no longer lovable?”

“Yes. Even if you try to destroy this world.”

A soft, clear laugh.

“You are the greatest treasure I leave behind in this world.”

Sione smiled and gently patted Valer’s head.

“So if one of us has to die—you or me—it’s better if I die.”

Had his sister ever said something like that?

“…Noona?”

When Valer stiffened in confusion, the expression on Sione’s face shifted into apology.

“My poor little brother. I’m sorry, Valer. For making things so hard on you.”

Sione said things he didn’t remember.

“But I truly wished only for your happiness.”

Valer forced out a voice that wouldn’t come.

“I want you to be happy, Noona.”

“If you’re happy, then Noona is happy.”

That couldn’t be true.

Even as the rebuttal rose naturally to his lips, a quiet satisfaction settled inside him. Knowing that he was that precious to his sister filled the dark deficiency that lingered in his heart.

“I will always protect you. Just as the gods of this land once protected their followers, just as the immortals and the stars of the present do.”

Before he could ask what that even meant, his sister erased her smile and warned him.

“And always beware our family’s bastard dog.”

Valer’s eyebrow twitched.

If there was anyone his sister would call “our family’s bastard dog”… it could only be Morden, their biological father.

‘But did Noona ever say something like that?’

The memory was so old it could barely be called one, and Valer hesitated at the strange sense of dissonance. Then Sione smiled gently once more.

“My adorable little brother, it’s time to wake up.”

Before Valer could even finish asking what she meant, he opened his eyes.

“Dad!”

Standing there was Arellin, all grown up.

 

 

 

****

 

 

The Halbern medical staff experienced the kind of terror where life and death hung in the balance.

Everyone had been overjoyed at the sight of the Grand Duke of Halbern suddenly opening his eyes, and news of his awakening had spread everywhere—but not long after, his condition worsened again as he closed his eyes once more, deteriorating in an instant.

“What on earth is going on?!”

Mehen, who had dropped everything and rushed over solely to grab Valer by the collar, stared at the unexpected situation in shock and demanded an explanation from the medical staff.

But they didn’t know either. His condition had really started getting worse all of a sudden!

“No, Your Grace, please wake up! You can’t go like this!”

“Aaaah, Priest! More blessings—now!”

“His condition is getting worse by the second! Healer, please, do something!”

“Can’t you see I am doing something?! I’ve already downed ten mana potions! If I go into mana shock, I’m billing Halbern for the hospital fees!”

The chaotic scene didn’t change even after Arellin arrived.

“You said Dad woke up……?”

Then why does it look like this?

Still confused, Arellin walked over to the bedside and carefully took his hand.

At that moment—

“Dad!”

All vital signs instantly stabilized, and Valer opened his eyes.

His pupils were still dull and unfocused. Staring blankly into empty space, his eyes slowly began to regain clarity.

And then—

“…Arel?”

Focus finally returned to his purple eyes, clear and unmistakable.