The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 290

Author: Asternkm

“Marri—.”

“Ah, that decoration over there is hanging far too precariously. Mehen, what did you do? Are you sure the preparations were done properly?”

“Marri—.”

“Mehen, it seems Her Majesty the Empress has stiff shoulders. Go give her a massage.”

“Marri—.”

“Oh dear! My old wound is suddenly aching. It seems the injuries I took at the ruins still haven’t healed. In that case, I’ll excuse myself to go rest for a bit.”

“…age.”

“Please excuse me. I hope you enjoy the party.”

With an astounding level of evasiveness, Valer successfully withdrew without ever hearing the word “marriage” to the very end.

“…….”

Empress Ageni was speechless.

It was true that she and the Grand Duke of Halbern were not on good terms, but she hadn’t expected him to dodge and flee to the point where the conversation itself completely broke down.

“Lord Mehen.”

“…I apologize.”

In the end, the cleanup fell to Mehen. From the moment the conversation between Valer and Empress Ageni had begun, Mehen had foreseen this outcome, so the apology came out immediately.

“I sincerely apologize for my lord’s rudeness. But he’s always been like that, so could you please be lenient with him? I’ll go back and give him a proper beating.”

Seeing Mehen clench his fist while apologizing as if begging, Empress Ageni laughed.

If it had been anyone else, it wouldn’t have worked, but because it was Mehen—someone she had known since childhood—her attitude softened.

“Besides, my lord has only just returned, so he probably doesn’t want to let go of the young lady yet.”

“Hmmm.”

“I feel the same way. I’d like to keep her by my side a little longer.”

It was a bit underhanded, but Mehen decided to strike a weakness Empress Ageni couldn’t help but react to.

“After all, doesn’t our young lady resemble that person quite a bit?”

Empress Ageni nodded.

“Yes, that may be so. This Empress was lacking in consideration.”

“Thank you for saying so.”

“All right, I understand.”

He had expected it, but it worked too well.

‘What on earth did you do to Empress Ageni, Sister Sione…?’

It worked so well it was almost scary.

‘You’ll go on a drive with me in your car! And you’ll never abandon me again!’

Eter’s conditions were simple.

“A drive is fine, I guess……”

But when had I ever abandoned Eter?

Anyway, calming Eter down came first, so I soothed it as much as I could and was heading back to the party hall when—

“Lady Arellin!”

The faces running up to me looked familiar.

“Huh? Sylvie?”

She was the young lady of Count Blark—the one who’d been dragged into the black market with me before and whom I had helped.

I’d heard afterward that, with Mehen’s help, she’d reclaimed her family and successfully driven out her uncle, but it had been a long time since we’d met like this.

‘Don’t tell me the press Mehen said he invited… was Sylvie.’

The Albert Times. Yeah. A good newspaper.

“Lady Arellin, what were you doing over here?!”

“Childcare… or discipline……?”

“?”

Sylvie tilted her head, then seemed to decide I was just talking nonsense and smoothly let it go.

“Thank you so much for inviting me to today’s party. Thanks to you, I think the article will turn out really well.”

“Ah, well.”

Mehen invited her.

I, on the other hand, had only been notified that the party was happening five hours beforehand.

‘But I can’t exactly say that. Work, social skills!’

“I wanted to come greet you earlier, but every time I came by, you weren’t there, Lady Arellin. Had you gone abroad or something?”

“Somewhere… like that.”

“As expected! You’re a capable mage after all. Mm-hmm. That makes sense. Anyway, thanks to you, I was able to reclaim my family. Thank you, Lady Arellin.”

Sylvie bowed deeply.

I’d only helped her because we got tangled up by chance, so it felt strange to be thanked this much.

‘Mehen probably helped because she was useful. Though her situation was pitiful.’

“When we dug into my uncle, it looked like he had ties to the black market. It might be related to the incident back then too. We’re still investigating, but if anything comes up, I’ll let you know.”

“All right. Thanks for keeping an eye on it.”

Taking my “abroad” comment completely at face value, Sylvie went on sharing bits and pieces—and every single one of them was valuable information.

‘I see. So the domestic social scene is completely dominated by the ruler of Sirua and the young lady of Duke Gremwatt.’

She was said to be Duke Gremwatt’s second granddaughter, and for a moment I thought of the Duke Gremwatt I’d seen in the ruins, which left me feeling oddly unsettled.

‘Come to think of it, Master said he had something to tell me about that……’

But then the party had started, and things ended up like this.

“I also heard the situation at the Northern Fortress isn’t good. Do you know anything about it, Lady Arellin?”

“The Northern Fortress? That’s where Duke Mubisk is, right?”

“That’s right! Lately, monsters—”

“Ah.”

“And I heard something interesting too. Apparently, a ‘Child of Destiny’ has appeared in the Shugra Empire?”

“A Child of Destiny?”

“Something about a savior who’ll save us from destruction. That sort of thing. It sounded way too cult-like, though……”

What is this about now?

Just then—

“Arellin.”

Pession suddenly appeared and walked toward me. He must have been looking for me this whole time; his stiff expression didn’t look very good.

“Ah, Your Highness…….”

Sylvie hurriedly gathered her dress and greeted him properly. Pession glanced at her, then looked back at me.

“?”

His face was full of dissatisfaction—almost hurt.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“…No.”

“Then why that expression?”

“…….”

I was confused because Pession had grabbed my hand and wasn’t saying anything, when Sylvie, standing beside us, made a shocked face and covered her mouth with both hands.

And then, in a voice only I could hear, she said—

“As expected, the Crown Prince’s first love!”

When I glared at Sylvie, who was spouting nonsense about how she’d known it all along and how it was obvious from the first meeting, she flashed me a double thumbs-up.

“…….”

What is wrong with her, seriously.

“Well then, I’ll be heading back first. Hoho. You two take your time!”

Watching Sylvie wink and disappear, I let out a hollow laugh. Pession turned his head to look at her retreating back.

“Who was that?”

“Someone I know.”

“…You have people you know?”

“What do you take me for?”

Does he still think I’m some shut-in loser?

When I glared at Pession, he quietly looked away. Well, he’s cute, so I’ll let it slide.

“Sion, want to go see the kids together? It’s been a while.”

****

“Arell, why is it so hard to see you?”

The twins complained the moment they saw me.

“What on earth happened?”

“……?”

Why are they like this… ah, right.

Now that I think about it, at the Sperom party they invited us to, we got dragged into the black market, ran into Pession, and then went straight to the ruins to look for Dad.

“A lot… a lot happened.”

“……?”

The twins tilted their heads.

Ignorance is bliss, so don’t ask. Your sister’s tired.

Out of curiosity, I glanced toward where Dad was likely to be, only to see Mehen dealing with Empress Ageni while Dad had slipped away and was hanging out with other dukes.

Even with a host being this unfriendly to his guests, no one was saying anything—probably because…

“Because it’s Halbern.”

One of the five great ducal houses, completely uninterested in socializing, with an image of pulling strings from behind the scenes.

…To think I’d live to see the day I benefited from the family image. As long as you’re alive, anything can happen.

“Ahem.”

Just then, Ciel and Noel, who had been watching the mood between me and Pession, spoke up.

“So then, the misunderstanding between you two… is completely cleared up now, right?”

It was a cautious question.

“Yeah. So give it up.”

Pession responded sharply.

“What kind of way is that to talk to your friends?”

“I was being nice.”

“You weren’t like this when you were younger.”

Pession shrugged, and the twins wore smiles whose meaning I couldn’t quite read.

I was sensing a subtle atmosphere between the twins and Pession when—

“Harun!”

The appearance of the person most unlikely to attend a party like this instantly lightened the mood.

“Thanks for coming. I thought you wouldn’t.”

Harun nodded. He’d always had a cold face even as a kid, but now that he was grown, he gave off an even more unapproachable aura—it was oddly impressive.

“I wanted to see if you were safe.”

“Oh. You were worried about me?”

Nod.

Then a man who looked similar to Harun stepped forward and greeted me.

“I heard that thanks to Miss Arellin and the Mage Tower, my younger brother was able to return safely.”

“Ah, um… that’s true, but…….”

Doesn’t Luka deserve more credit than I do?

“It’s difficult to properly express my gratitude at a gathering like this, so I’ll visit again later.”

“No, you really don’t have to—”

“I’ll come again.”

“…All right.”

If a friend wants to come, how could I stop him?