The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 282

Author: Asternkm

Late at night, Pession rubbed his tired eyes after an unplanned bout of overtime—then let out a quiet laugh at an interesting piece of news.

“The duke got hit?”

—Yeah. Mehen was so scary when she beat him up that I got scared just watching. You should’ve seen it.

On the other side of the communicator, Arellin shuddered while munching on a snack.

“How about you? Are you okay?”

—Me? I didn’t do anything to deserve getting hit… did I?

As Arellin suddenly grew serious, clearly wondering if she should rush over and beg Mehen for forgiveness, Pession chuckled helplessly.

She was really cute. Everything about her was cute—it was ridiculous.

If he weren’t so busy, he would’ve gone straight to see her face in person.

Talking through the communicator wasn’t bad, but he still wanted to see her for real.

—Pession? Are you busy after all? Should we stop the call?

“…No. I was just thinking about something for a moment.”

Pession answered quickly, hiding his regret as best he could.

He was this restless and longing, yet it felt like Arellin wasn’t quite the same—and that difference in temperature left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He was already used to that feeling, though.

—Are you really that busy? Being the crown prince is hard too, right?

“Yeah… I guess.”

It wasn’t actually hard—he was used to it—but when Arellin said it like that, it suddenly felt tiring.

Strangely enough, the people most happy about Pession’s return were his two other siblings, who had been talked about as possible next emperors.

“Why did you come back now?! I almost became crown prince!”

“Big brother, welcome back! Don’t ever disappear again!”

The two of them, who had seen closer than anyone what kind of life Pession lived as crown prince, fled the moment they got the chance.

Sirua went to the Yuyo Union, and Therion to the Southern Empire.

Both destinations made their intentions clear: no matter what, they absolutely did not want the throne—they just wanted to enjoy their hobbies.

With King Sirua and Prince Therion acting like that, the factions that had formed with a “just in case” mindset scattered instantly, without Pession even needing to step in.

‘Responsibility for Gairen has been handed over to Spherom, the ruler of the southern territory.’

Fortunately, it seemed the House of Spherom had decided not to abandon Gairen, but to rebuild it.

‘Coordination with the Mage Tower.’

That was technically the foreign minister’s job, but Pession deliberately got involved to keep an eye on things.

The Mage Tower carefully avoided mentioning black mages or the rituals performed inside the ruins. If anything, they seemed eager to erase those facts entirely—even wiping the memories of the few who still remembered.

In a situation like that, there was no way there wouldn’t be some kind of deal with the imperial family.

‘At least the birth of a new high-ranking mage was good news.’

Groups that didn’t move purely by profit and loss were hard to handle, and mages were usually like that.

That was why Pession didn’t really trust mages.
Arellin was the exception.

Anyway, with the other matters settled, there was only one issue left for the imperial family.

How to deal with the House of Gremwart.

But with the Duke of Gremwart—the person directly involved—confirmed dead, the problem became even more tangled.

Because the House of Gremwart had turned into a complete mess.

‘The second son has taken over opinion within the family, and the third son has seized influence in the Adventurers’ Guild, and now they’re fighting over succession.’

Not all of the Five Great Ducal Houses were clean, but this generation of Gremwart was especially noisy.

Even more so compared to the other houses, where succession had already been settled.

“Ha…”

—Why the sudden sigh? What’s bothering you?!

Pession snapped back to reality.

Seeing Arellin looking worried through the communicator stirred a sudden impulse in him.

He wanted to see her. Right now.

One wall of his office was lined with framed photos—pictures of Arellin he’d forcibly obtained after pressuring newspaper companies to take down all articles about her.

Even so, he couldn’t endure it anymore.

“Arellin.”

—Yeah?

“I miss you.”

—All of a sudden?

Arellin looked taken aback, then laughed.

Her slightly furrowed brows, her lips curling up as if she couldn’t help it—he wanted to see all of that up close, not through this crude screen.

Thinking of the Mage Tower’s magitech engineers, who’d worked day and night to make the communicator’s image clearer, Pession stood up.

“Can I come see you?”

Clear laughter rang through the communicator. No matter how many times he heard it, it made his heart flutter.

—Do you miss me that much?

“Yeah.”

At his unhesitating answer, she laughed again.

Even if she’d said no, he felt like he might have gone anyway.

—Then come secretly. Don’t let my dad or mom find out.

The unexpected answer left Pession frozen.

Arellin added in a careful, conspiratorial whisper.

—If we get caught, we’ll both get in trouble.

*****

I thought Pession was joking when he said he was coming.

What time was it now?

Three in the morning, when most people were fast asleep. The whole world was sleeping.

It was a night when not only Dad, but even Mehen—who hadn’t had any overtime in a while—had gone to bed early.

For some reason I couldn’t fall asleep, so I’d been talking with Pession through the communicator all night…

“…You really came?”

I guess I really did miss Pession.

I thought it was a joke when he said he was coming, but seeing him in person made me this happy.

Good thing I’d been wandering around the first floor in my pajamas, just in case.

It was also a relief that there were no guards patrolling inside the mansion, since this old estate itself was basically one huge artifact.

“Did you really not get caught by anyone?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you get here?”

“Carefully.”

His answer was pretty half-hearted for someone who’d rushed over out of longing, so I narrowed my eyes. Still catching his breath, Pession looked straight at me, filling his gaze with nothing but me.

Like someone who wanted to carve me into his eyes forever.

“I thought I was going to die from missing you.”

If anyone else had said that, I would’ve called it a lie. But maybe because it was Pession, it sounded real.

Even though my heart was shaking from how happy I felt, sharp words slipped out of my mouth.

“That’s just sweet talk, right?”

“If you were candy, I’d keep you in my mouth all day.”

“What are you even saying?”

Where did he learn to talk like that?

Thinking back to how he used to grit his teeth and pretend not to know me when I said I wasn’t Arellin, he really felt like a completely different person now.

Still… the fact that I didn’t hate it—was this what people called rose-colored glasses?

Arellin, age 22. Escaped being terminally ill, only to catch another incurable disease right away.

Diagnosis: rose-colored glasses.

“Is it really okay for you to come like this?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

Pession nodded.

Honestly, this kind of thing he said wasn’t very trustworthy. But since he was so firm about it, I felt bad pressing him further and stayed quiet.

A ticklish feeling bothered me.

It was really strange. Why did this feel so good?

Then Pession suddenly said,

“This is weird.”

“What is?”

“It’s already this good… so I’m wondering if it can get even better.”

Maybe it was because the breeze was cool, or because the deep night was so quiet that I could hear even his breathing.

Suddenly, I felt sad that this moment would end.

“Arell.”

“Yeah.”

“I want to spend the whole day with you.”

Honestly, me too.

“…Can I touch you?”

Seeing Pession hesitate to reach out, I smiled.

“I’ll allow head pats.”

“Your cheek?”

As if even that felt greedy to him, Pession lowered the hand that had been patting my head and asked carefully.

“Is that not okay?”

Didn’t he know that the more careful he was, the more it made me want to tease him?

It was nothing special, but the way he tried to get permission for everything made me feel oddly proud.

When I didn’t answer right away, Pession whined.

“I worked really hard before coming here.”

“Then shouldn’t you hurry back?”

“Arell…”

Pession looked hurt.

“You’re being too cold to me…”

That was when—

“Shh.”

Hearing footsteps in the distance, I covered Pession’s mouth with both hands.

We held our breath so we wouldn’t get caught, and soon the presence faded away.

“They’re gone.”

Seeing Pession’s face so much closer than before, I swallowed without realizing it.

Why was I getting nervous over this?

I hurriedly pulled my hands away and tried to step back, but Pession grabbed my hand first.

Very carefully, gently, like he was touching a precious porcelain piece, his big hand wrapped around mine and moved it away from his lips.

Unable to handle the strange atmosphere, I tried to change the subject.

“You really didn’t get caught, right? I don’t want to get scolded. My mom is scary. If we get found out, I’ll get lectured for forty-eight hours straight.”

“I told you, I didn’t get caught. You don’t trust me.”

“No, I do.”

The strange tension was still there, but Pession didn’t seem like he planned to do anything more. He just kept fidgeting with my hand.

“This is nice,” he said with a light smile, as if he could finally breathe.

No matter how I looked at it, Pession was better than Dad. People were strange.

“Pession, did you really work hard?”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

For just a moment, I wondered what on earth I was thinking.

Peck.

I impulsively kissed Pession on the lips, then smiled awkwardly.