The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 281

Dad woke up.

「[Breaking News] Duke Halbern Awakens!」

「The Halbern Ducal Residence Lively Again After 15 Years」

「Duke Halbern Critically Ill?! ‘He’s Fine Now’」

It hadn’t even been a few hours since he woke up, but somehow everyone already knew. Huge front-page articles appeared in all four of Albert’s major newspapers.

As expected of Albert’s most popular man.

“Is this really the level of a man who gets articles written just for drinking water?”

Just how much do people love my dad?

Halbern had been absolute chaos until just a moment ago.

Dad had briefly opened his eyes, then his condition suddenly worsened again. Everyone was panicking, wondering if they were about to have to deal with a corpse—when he opened his eyes once more.

‘And the moment he woke up, Dad grabbed me and started bawling.’

I patted him and told him to calm down, but he kept saying he saw me die and absolutely refused to let go. Now he was lying quietly in bed, just staring at me.

‘Well, he still asks if I’m dead whenever I leave his sight, and if I leave him alone for even a bit, he says this must be a dream and tries to die, so it’s still unsettling.’

But still—this was much better than nothing.

I was just relieved he wasn’t in that darkened state where he tried to kill everyone he saw.

“Daughter.”

“Hm?”

Maybe I was too absorbed in the newspapers. Dad, lying in bed, looked at me with a sulky face.

“What are you looking at so intently?”

“Your article, Dad.”

“…?”

“Everyone’s really interested in you. You’re super popular.”

Even when I praised him, Dad looked indifferent. If anything, he seemed annoyed that the newspaper had stolen my attention.

He really looked like a kid sulking because he wasn’t being played with.

Well, it couldn’t be helped. For my not-quite-grown-up dad, generous me had to step in.

“Look, it says they’re relieved you recovered. It says if you’d died, it would’ve been a national loss.”

“That would be obvious.”

Just like Dad’s flat reply, there was no need to think hard about it. Just looking at his title and status alone would cause an uproar. He was the Duke of Halbern, after all.

Add to that his faction, his businesses, his wealth—and on top of that, the troublesome ‘Northern Fortress’ and the truth about the world Halbern had been swallowing and isolating all on his own.

If the Duke of Halbern died, this country would definitely fall into chaos.

“But apparently, more than that, Albert without your face would’ve been a new kind of hell. They say your looks seriously have that much value.”

“…?”

Dad frowned like he was thinking, What kind of nonsense is that?

I just found the whole situation funny. Even theater actors don’t get articles just for their looks—but my dad was making headlines purely because of his face.

‘Honestly, from my perspective, I’m not sure he’s that amazing.’

Dad’s face?

Yeah, he’s handsome. Even I sometimes seriously admire his face.

But isn’t Pession more handsome?

That wasn’t me being biased. It was a very serious, objective, solemn, and rigorous conclusion.

‘Pession is better looking.’

So why do people get more excited about Dad’s looks?

“Hmm.”

…Maybe it was the vibe.

Dad had this gaze that looked melancholic even when he was just standing still—dangerous and hazy, with an atmosphere that drew people in.

How should I put it? Like he wasn’t really from this world?

Maybe because Dad had gone through regression for such a long time, he carried an indescribable “air” about him, something that couldn’t be explained with words—and that was what fascinated people.

You could fill an entire section of a library with romance novels clearly inspired by him.

Even so.

“You two look just like…”

“…siblings.”

That was the full extent of the Halbern staff’s evaluation—people who were already somewhat immune to Dad’s looks.

“Oh my, I knew it! So it’s not just me who sees it that way.”

“Hoho, is it because His Grace looks so youthful?”

“I know, right. He really doesn’t look like he’s old enough to be her father.”

Thanks to that, all the rumors about me being picked up from somewhere completely died out. Guess blood really can’t be stolen, or whatever people say.

“Daughter.”

“Yeah?”

“How long are you going to keep reading the newspaper?”

Well, even so—

To me, he was just my precious, troublesome dad.

 

 

****

 

 

Valer watched his “daughter,” who had settled herself beside his bed and was seriously reading a book.

It still felt like he was trapped in a bad dream. Whenever his anxiety flared up, Arellin would calmly soothe him, but Valer knew his condition wasn’t normal.

It was probably something like PTSD from all those past failures.

‘Is this a dream?’

Maybe it was because the last dream he’d had was about his sister.

Seeing the daughter he’d parted from at age seven now grown into an adult was still hard to get used to.

And even more so when she looked exactly like his sister.

As he stared at Arellin as if possessed, she lifted her eyes from her novel and met his gaze. Before Valer could say anything, Arellin spoke first.

“Do I really look that much like Sione, my biological mom?”

Clatter.

The maids attending them froze, staring at Arellin in shock.

To say something like that so bluntly!
They looked anxious, worried about what kind of trouble this might cause.

Unlike them, Valer nodded without a second thought.

“Yeah.”

“I see.”

Arellin didn’t seem bothered at all. It could have been uncomfortable, being compared to his sister like that.

Seeing how calmly she accepted it, Valer hesitated, then added,

“But you’re not exactly the same.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. My sister wouldn’t make expressions like that.”

Arellin tilted her head, as if asking what kind of expression he meant.

Well—that kind of expression.

His sister was the kind of person who could dominate a room just by smiling quietly. A terrifyingly impressive woman… not some lunatic, but truly overwhelming.

“You’re like my sister, but without the sharp edge.”

“…?”

Was that a compliment?

Arellin tilted her head again. That alone was cute enough to make Valer laugh. A gentle version of his sister didn’t really make sense—but seeing someone who resembled her grow up this kindly made his chest ache in a good way.

“You grew up well, my daughter. Really admirable. Raising you was worth it.”

“Honestly, Dad didn’t raise me.”

“That’s true. Mehen raised you.”

“I didn’t raise her either.”

Right on cue, Mehen entered the room and immediately denied Valer’s claim.

“…? Then who raised her?”

At Valer’s question, Arellin answered seriously.

“Mehen 60, Master 39, Dad 1.”

“Wow.”

Valer looked genuinely moved.

“You gave me a whole 1? I’m touched.”

“Why are you happy about that?”

Arellin said it like she was dumbfounded, but Valer was sincere. It wasn’t like he’d ever actually done any parenting.

“But… Master?”

Just as Valer and Mehen were starting to feel that the proportions were a bit strange, they met each other’s eyes.

“Valer. Isn’t there something you need to say first?”

“Hm?”

Say… what?

Valer searched through his memories. In any life other than this one, he’d never been in the same space as Mehen at this point in time, so he had no idea what he was supposed to say.

The longer Valer stayed silent, the fiercer Mehen’s presence became.

“Uh… honey, I love you?”

Snap.

Valer thought he heard something break at that moment. He only realized later that it was Mehen’s sanity snapping.

“‘Honey, I love you’?! You idiot!”

Mehen smacked Valer hard across the back.

“You should be apologizing! Because of you, I went through fifteen years of hell I was never meant to live!”

Getting hit, Valer let out a weak sound of admiration.

“Ah.”

“Ah?! Ah?! Do you want to die for real?!”

The room descended into chaos in an instant.

“Eek! Lady Mehen, you can’t hit a patient like that!”

“That’s dangerous! Lady Mehen! Lady Mehen! Someone stop her!”

They had to stop the patient they’d barely saved from getting worse due to a beating. After the medical staff’s desperate efforts, Mehen finally calmed down.

“If something like this happens again… next time, I swear I’ll—”

Grinding her teeth, Mehen trailed off. Valer smiled and raised both hands in surrender.

“Sorry. It’ll never happen again.”