The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 291

The twins smiled and pointed to one corner of the party hall.

Even though there were still many people seated, there was one spot especially crowded with ladies around my age, and the person they were looking at with admiring eyes was……

“My dad?”

At my disgusted reaction, the twins giggled.

“How about it, don’t you think you might get a new stepmom from among them?”

It sounded like they were trying to tease me in their own way.

“Do you really think that’ll happen?”

From my point of view, it was just pathetic.

“Why not? Someone might make up her mind and sneak into the Grand Duke’s bedroom.”

“Ha.”

“Aren’t you worried?”

Ciel and Noel tilted their heads, looking puzzled.

“What’s so great about my dad that ladies my age would run at him?”

“Well, the Grand Duke is handsome.”

“Well, the Grand Duke is rich.”

These brats—are they indirectly mocking my dad by saying all he has is his looks and money?

‘…They’re not wrong, though.’

Feeling strangely convinced, I tilted my head sideways, and Ciel argued more enthusiastically.

“The beauty of the Duke of Halbern is famous even overseas. Why wouldn’t it work just because they’re a bit young?”

“Well, I guess Dad’s face is pretty usable.”

Sometimes even I get charmed by it.

“And he’s the Duke of Halbern. What’s the problem?”

Noel added that with conditions like that, any lady would rush in without hesitation.

“What do you mean, what’s the problem? Of course there’s a problem!”

The problem is—my dad himself!

“You guys really don’t know my dad.”

“?”

“I’ll enlighten you.”

“?”

“My dad isn’t interested in anyone except me and Mehen.”

“Whoa.”

Ciel looked at me as if that couldn’t possibly be true.

This brat? My dad is the most devoted man there is, and you’re trying to slander him. Huh? You punk, I’ve been through 213,546 parallel worlds and checked every single one.

“Right, Sion?!”

There happened to be someone here who, like me, had been to parallel worlds.

I tried asking for help to prove my dad’s innocence, but—

“I’m only interested in you, Arellin.”

Pession said it with eyes dripping with sweetness and an overly gentle voice.

“……”

I picked the wrong person.

 

 

 

****

 

 

 

Empress Ageni returned to the palace with the ruler of Sirua before midnight.

The ruler of Sirua looked like he wanted to stay longer, but was dragged back by the Empress, and as he left unwillingly, he threatened Mehen that he would come again next time.

‘I don’t know why he’s threatening me of all people…….’

As she left, Empress Ageni also said, “Wait,” as if hinting at something.

“Wait? What am I supposed to wait for?”

Mehen was seized by an inexplicable fear, but……

“Well, I can just leave it to Valer. I’m not the Grand Duke.”

He ended his worries very simply.

“Lord Mehen!”

And this man, suspiciously popular with middle-aged men, was surrounded by countless middle-aged men the moment Empress Ageni disappeared……

“If I ever regress… I’ll look for Mehen first in the streets and take him.”

Finally, such words even came out of the mouth of one middle-aged man who had been targeting him for a very long time.

Ah, what should be done about this SSS-rank talent who lacks nothing—paperwork, practical work, eloquence, hospitality, and even management?

Duke Spherom suffered over the fact that he could not have Mehen.

“If I regress—!”

As a bonus, Valer, who was sipping a drink next to Duke Spherom, flinched every time the word “regress” came up.

“I’ll definitely take Mehen—!”

Watching Duke Spherom like this, Duke Idikels grew more serious.

“Hey, Valer. Is it really okay to leave Simon like that?”

“Let him enjoy himself.”

“…Is this the composure of someone who already has everything?”

Valer smiled leisurely, knowing that as long as Arellin existed, Mehen would be his anyway.

It was a faint smile with his eyes gently curved, yet everyone who could see that smile sucked in a useless breath.

‘That beauty really is destructive.’

Duke Idikels nodded, thinking it might even be more effective than the imperial family’s unique ability to be loved—a kind of charm ability.

‘Well, considering that Her Majesty Empress Ageni is still completely enchanted by Shione, maybe that’s true?’

There was someone else over there whose life had been ruined by being enchanted by that same Shione.

‘Regent Duke Ludwig.’

Where had the old, domineering man gone? These days, all the venom had drained out of him, and he looked as gentle as a lamb.

‘Huh.’

For Duke Idikels, who had stayed in the Southern Empire for a long time and worked at his side to prevent wars from breaking out, it was a strange sight.

Just in case, he had probed a little while greeting him earlier.

“Are you really fine with letting your abilities rot away like this? Many lords of the Southern Empire are still desperately waiting for the Regent Duke.”

“You.”

“Yes?”

“After seeing that smile, do you still feel nothing?”

The owner of “that smile” the Regent Duke pointed to was none other than Arellin.

“I have already decided to spend the rest of my life protecting that smile.”

As if he had nothing more to say, the Regent Duke went back to sipping his wine.

In the end, Duke Idikels could not add anything more and withdrew. It was just then, as Duke Idikels was chewing over that earlier conversation.

“By the way, Valer. Why exactly are those mages even at this party?”

Duke Spherom asked what he had been curious about for a while.

When it came to magical engineering, mages felt familiar, but nobles rarely had connections with the “Mage Tower” itself.

The reason was simple. It wasn’t that nobles lacked interest in the Mage Tower, but that the Mage Tower—able to control money and power at will through countless artifacts, magical engineering, and healers—had no interest in nobles.

Their only interests were the pursuit of truth and their longing for the stars.

“Mages are the kind who won’t step even one foot outside the Mage Tower unless you dangle the bait of funding for magical research.”

Even Duke Spherom, who was closer to the Mage Tower than anyone else and interacted with it the most among imperial nobles, usually only saw one or two mages accept party invitations due to urgent research funds.

This was the first time even Duke Spherom had seen mages clustering together so noisily at a party.

Even so, the closed-off nature of mages, who didn’t mingle with others, remained the same.

Then, Valer answered calmly.

“My daughter is a mage.”

“……?”

“So they came to congratulate her.”

“……??”

This is the first I’m hearing of it.

So that wasn’t a cover—it was real?

“Uh… Arellin is… really a mage?”

She wasn’t just any mage, but a star-rank mage. However, Valer had no intention of giving more information and shut his mouth after saying just that.

“Huh? Huh?”

Duke Spherom and Duke Idikels fell into confusion.

But Valer’s gaze only sank deeper as he looked at the gathered mages.

 

 

****

 

 

 

In fact, there were reasons why the mages had gathered in such numbers at this Halbern party.

First, of course, was because the legendary being known as a “Great Mage” was present here.

Second, they had come to personally pay their respects to Arellin, the unprecedented “star-rank mage blessed by all the stars” in the history of the Mage Tower.

Lastly, Mehen had prepared an enormous quantity of magic stones as return gifts, exclusively for mages.

Magic stones already played many roles in mages’ research, but over the past decade or so, a strange industry called the automobile industry had been sucking them up like a vacuum cleaner, so ordinary mages could hardly ever see high-quality magic stones.

In that situation, to have magic stones as return gifts—no matter how much they were mages, they couldn’t help but desperately try to get an invitation to this party.

“Ahh, as expected of Halbern. A rich family really does give return gifts on a whole different level.”

“It’s because it’s Halbern that they can prepare magic stones as return gifts, right? How long has it been since I last touched magic stones of this quality!”

Then why did star-rank mages, who weren’t desperate for magic stones, come?

“When does this party end?”

“Hah, we need to take Arellin quickly.”

“We’re taking her before the Duke of Halbern opposes it, right?”

“What power does the Duke of Halbern have to come up to the Sky Tower alone?”

“Uh… hmm, didn’t he come once before?”

“?”

They were preparing an enormous plan (a kidnapping).