The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 286

It was a familiar ceiling.

My body felt heavy, but nothing hurt anywhere. It just felt like I’d had an incredibly long, overwhelming dream……

‘Was what I saw in the dream real?’

I’d always thought she was an extraordinary, strong-willed woman, but what she showed me in that dream went far beyond that.

The fact that my biological mother loved me so deeply and blessed me like that made my heart itch in a strange way.

How should I put it?

Even though my real mother never raised me herself, it felt like her blessing had always remained in my life.

‘I kind of get now why Dad became such a hopeless sister-obsessive.’

If someone treasured me that much and gave me everything, I’d fall for them completely and lose my mind too.

Ah, wait……

Am I talking about Fession right now?

After arriving at that realization, I blanked out for a moment before snapping back to my senses. While the dream was still vivid, I needed to think it through as much as possible.

‘So what exactly was the “choice” Mother Shione made? What did she choose?’

I sort of get it, but not really.

At least I know that because of Shione’s “choice,” Dad and I survived.

Then does that mean Mother Shione is connected to Dad’s regression?

‘And who was the one she was talking to?’

For some reason, I felt like I already knew the answer to that.

[Last God’s Blessing (?)]

A trait that sat alone in my status window without any explanation.

It had always bothered me that I had a blessing like this even though I’d never been consecrated by the god Lemren.

Is this connected to my mother too?

‘No matter how much mystery makes a woman attractive……’

Mom, you have way too many secrets.

Peel one layer and another comes out—are you an onion or something?

“Should I go to Lemren……?”

Come to think of it, I still hadn’t heard the full truth behind those mass-produced holy relics that were suspiciously high-performance. Every time I asked, the Regent Duke kept dodging the question.

‘I should go.’

It was just as I made up my mind.

Suddenly, the area around me grew noisy.

“Oh? Miss!”

“Miss has woken up!”

The maid who’d been nodding off looked at me and beamed the moment she opened her eyes. At her shout, the other maids turned their heads and rushed over.

What? What’s going on?

I frowned at the suddenly bustling maids—

“Huh?”

—and then my eyes widened when I saw the man entering the room.

“Master?”

Was I still dreaming?

Why was my stay-at-home master—who never left his territory—standing right in front of me?

I stared blankly at his face, which didn’t disappear no matter how many times I blinked. Then, as he grabbed my arm with a glowing hand to check my condition, he spoke calmly.

“There doesn’t seem to be any mental damage.”

“Uh…….”

This has to be a dream, right?

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

It wasn’t a dream.

“I was so worried when you wouldn’t wake up, Miss!”

“I was terrified you might be sick again!”

The maids’ intense reactions were expected. More importantly—

“Three days?”

Apparently, I’d slept for a full three days.

I thought it had just been a long dream, but I slept nonstop for three days……?

‘Am I a descendant of Snorlax or something?’

No way.

Because I wouldn’t wake up, the Halbern estate had been thrown into chaos once again. Mehen—who’d gone through yet another emotional ordeal—let out a deep sigh of relief when he saw I was awake.

“At this rate, I won’t live out my natural lifespan because of the Halbern father and daughter.”

I’d always been the one Mehen doted on, but this time, for some reason, I felt like I should kneel down and apologize alongside Dad.

“Should I kneel?”

“Just stay healthy.”

“Okay.”

As soon as Mehen heard my master’s diagnosis that I was fine, he shuffled back to the bedroom. It seemed all the exhaustion he’d been holding back while worrying finally hit him.

I heard that Dad—still not fully recovered—had been making a fuss insisting on nursing me himself, only to be arrested by Mehen and locked in his room to behave.

Truly our household’s resident problem child.

‘Didn’t he even grab my master by the collar?’

Our poor master—getting collar-grabbed just for having the wrong disciple……

‘But seriously, how and why is my master really here?’

And Luka was beside him too. Judging by how haggard Luka looked, dealing with my master must have been rough.

Anyway, my master said just one thing to me.

“That was dangerous.”

Why did his calm, unexaggerated tone make it even more chilling?

“Uh… was I really about to die?”

“If I had been any later.”

“Oh, as expected of you, Master! I knew I could count on you!”

I grabbed his hand and shook it enthusiastically. His eyes shifted into a look that clearly said pathetic.

“Looks like you did everything I told you not to.”

“Haha.”

“You used high-tier magic, and even special abilities.”

“But—!”

“Well. You must have had a reason good enough to justify it.”

“Thank you for trusting me.”

My master let out a sigh.

It wasn’t an interrogative atmosphere, but his anxious gaze kept landing on me.

“Why? Did my illness come back? Am I going to die?”

“No.”

“Then why……?”

“It seems you won’t have much time to spare anymore.”

Ah. That topic.

“You mean my biological father, right?”

“Yes.”

Right. I’d been meaning to look into that soon anyway.

If I found my real father, that would make three dads including my godfather. Since I couldn’t exactly become Lü Bu with three fathers, I’d been planning to put it off as long as possible if I could……

‘Looks like it’s the Lü Bu route after all.’

Still, my surname is Halbern.

“You’ll help me find my real father too, right, Master?”

My master looked at me strangely.

“Didn’t you already know who your biological father was?”

“Well, I suspected he might be an Immortal.”

I’d half believed that wouldn’t be the case, but after this dream, I was sure.

My master must have been thinking something similar, because he nodded at my words.

‘Still, this really isn’t something I’m used to.’

My master being here at the Halbern estate.

“Um, Master.”

“What is it?”

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

My master’s expression grew peculiar.

“I mean, isn’t it dangerous for you to come out when your rank has been reduced so much?”

“Ah.”

I’d already guessed why my master rarely appeared even at the Sky Tower and instead stayed shut away in his own star, his own domain.

He was an Immortal, so losing rank probably wasn’t a big problem—but with a deranged disciple roaming around outside who wanted to kill him, why would he want to go anywhere?

And that mad disciple was an Immortal just like him, so waiting it out with time wouldn’t solve anything. There was no choice but to stay hidden.

“Isn’t it bad if something happens to you because of me?”

I didn’t want my master getting hurt because of me.

Perhaps sensing that, my master smiled.

“Up to this point, it’s fine.”

“Really?”

“Yes. This is the domain of Sloth.”

I see…….

I was still unsure when he added,

“And my old authority is protecting me.”

…Old authority.

I quietly turned those words over in my mind, then realized it.

‘Ah. The First Archmage.’

After all, my master was once the being known as the Mage God.

 

 

****

 

 

 

With my master—an honest-to-goodness Archmage—having descended, and me waking up after three days, Halbern returned to peace.

Of course, that definition of peace was extremely subjective.

Dad, who had recovered enough to move around, scowled the moment he saw the Regent Duke still at the Halbern estate.

“Why the hell is that bastard still here?”

In response to Dad’s question—why that bastard was still here after fifteen years—the Regent Duke shot back calmly.

“That bastard? Such language. Who do you think protected Halbern while you were gone?”

“Mehen did, obviously. Who else would it be?”

“Ahem!”

Mehen, who had once abandoned Halbern and fled to El Shionel, cleared his throat awkwardly, perhaps feeling guilty.

“Why are you suddenly coughing? Sore throat?”

“No. I’m fine.”

While Dad was focused on Mehen, the Regent Duke snorted and provoked him.

“What good is Duke Mehen protecting Halbern? He’s not even the real Duchess of Halbern.”

“What? Are you disrespecting my wife right now?”

“Please, just shut up.”

Dad, still a walking disaster, the equally formidable Regent Duke, and Mehen—the only normal one—caught suffering between them.

It was a perfect farce you couldn’t see even if you paid for it.

Which made it all the better.

‘Now it really feels like I’ve come home.’

Unlike me, those seeing this for the first time looked utterly dumbfounded.

Especially anyone who had harbored illusions about the secretive Halbern family.

With a trembling gaze, Luka asked Uni, as if he wanted to deny reality.

“What exactly am I looking at right now, Uni?”

“You get comfortable once you’re used to it.”

“What? How do you ever get used to something like this……?”

Meanwhile, my master’s reaction was bland.

“You live in a lively household.”

“Does that look lively to you, Master?”

“?”

Maybe he’d lived too long and seen too many things—either way, my master clearly wasn’t normal either.

Then does that mean the only normal ones here are Mehen and me? I was debating whether Luka qualified to join the ‘normal people club’ when—

“So.”

Mehen forcibly ended the fight between Dad and the Regent Duke and drew everyone’s attention.

“…I’m planning to hold a party to demonstrate Halbern’s continued strength.”

It had been fifteen years.

We could spread the news that the master of Halbern had returned through newspaper articles and gossip, but proving that Halbern had regained its former stature was another matter entirely.

Despite being a social event that required opening the estate, Dad’s reaction was surprisingly not bad.

For someone who’d turned Halbern into a half-ghost estate the moment he inherited the title, it was quite restrained.

“A party? Sounds good. So when?”

“Five—”

“Five days from now?”

“Five hours from now.”

“……?”

“All preparations have already been completed.”

Perhaps anticipating that Dad might refuse, Mehen declared it as if he were going to push it through regardless.

What is that level of decisiveness?

“Am I really the only sane one in this household…….”