The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 306

Caroline Gremwat, who had safely finished her first audience, was in a very bad mood.

‘I’m from one of the Five Ducal Houses too!’

Since Arellin was debuting, she knew it would be hard to get all the attention, but she thought she would at least get a little bit of notice!

“Caroline, fix your expression. What if someone sees you? You’ve just debuted.”

“Who’s going to see me, you useless idiot. Can’t you see the mood right now? Everyone’s only looking over there!”

Where Caroline gestured with her eyes, Crown Prince Pession was just asking Arellin to dance.

Thomas Gremwat, Caroline’s cousin, shrugged his shoulders.

“So what? We already knew this would happen anyway.”

Thomas actually seemed relieved that he wasn’t getting any attention.

That spineless guy.

Muttering an insult at Thomas, Caroline openly scowled and glared toward where the young lady of Halbern was standing.

If she herself had been the “Duke Gremwat’s daughter,” things would have been different. She couldn’t get rid of the thought that this was happening because she was still only “the daughter of the second son of the Duke of Gremwat.”

Caroline, who had been glaring at Arellin, turned her anger toward her cousin.

“When my dad becomes duke, you’re done. You’ll probably get sent off to some remote Adventurers’ Guild, you know? Even if my dad doesn’t do it, I’ll make sure it happens.”

At Caroline’s harsh words, Thomas frowned and let out a sigh.

“We’re still cousins. Why would you say something like that?”

“That’s exactly why I say it!”

“Ha, Caroline.”

“Don’t just say my name like that. Do you think you and I are in the same position? Go tell your dad to stop dreaming useless dreams. The next Duke of Gremwat will be my dad, and no one else!”

“I don’t really know about that kind of thing.”

“How pathetic.”

Caroline sneered at her cousin. Thomas felt uncomfortable with this topic.

“Are we even sure Grandfather really passed away?”

The Adventurers’ Guild and the Gremwat Ducal House were already acting under the belief that the head of the family, Gregory, had died after being caught up in the recent Gairen incident.

None of Duke Gregory’s adventuring party had returned, and some members had even been confirmed dead.

‘But I heard that Grandfather’s body still hasn’t been found.’

Thomas couldn’t understand the atmosphere around them, where people were already trying to profit from the position of next duke even though the Duke of Gremwat’s death hadn’t been clearly confirmed.

“What a stupid thing to say. Even if he didn’t die, this was bound to happen someday. If you stay stupid like this, you’ll lose even what you’re holding onto, you know?”

“But…”

Caroline snapped at him in a cold voice. Thomas was about to argue back, unable to hide his troubled feelings, when he suddenly froze at a familiar face that flashed into his vision.

That person is…

‘…Uncle?!’

Was he mistaken? In the moment he blinked, Zilo’s figure disappeared. Seeing Thomas suddenly go blank, Caroline grew irritated.

“What is it? Why did you stop talking?”

“It’s nothing…”

Still confused, Thomas eventually closed his mouth.

‘I must’ve been mistaken.’

 

 

****

 

 

The first dance of the debutante ball.

‘Who you dance with first’ always carried great symbolic meaning.

Usually, newly debuted young ladies and young gentlemen danced together, but it was also common for siblings to be each other’s partners.

That meant that a young lady who danced with royalty from the very first dance was extremely rare.

‘The back of my head feels hot.’

I could feel my dad, who had his first dance stolen by Pession, staring holes through us.

“Pession, the back of my head feels hot.”

“Yeah. The Grand Duke looks like he’s about to eat me alive with his eyes.”

“What should we do? You can’t get eaten.”

At my worried voice, Pession let out a low laugh.

“But you promised to dance with me. I gave up being your escort, so the first dance is mine.”

Pession declared confidently.

Wow, he really claimed it like it was deposited with him.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have made that promise…”

“What?”

“I’m joking.”

I knew this would happen, but with Dad glaring at Pession like he was his mortal enemy, I felt a little uneasy.

“Arell.”

Even though I said it was a joke, something must have bothered him. Pession tightened his grip on the hand holding me. His firm grip guided my movement.

Before I knew it, I was pulled into his arms.

“Dad’s glaring again.”

“Stop looking at the Grand Duke and focus on me.”

“I am focusing. Can’t you see I’m concentrating so I don’t mess up the steps?”

“Only look at me.”

His voice, lower than usual, held me in place. For a moment, I was completely captivated by his red eyes sparkling under the lights.

“Why do you keep looking at other people when you’re dancing with me?”

“Because I can see them.”

That was wrong. The fact that even this small bit of complaining felt unbearably cute meant I was already doomed.

‘No, wait.’

Objectively speaking, isn’t it cute? Looks like my rationality hasn’t completely flown away yet.

Watching Pession make such an unreasonable demand—that I focus only on him—made a laugh slip out.

But then…

“No, that dress!”

As we moved around the dance floor, voices chatting from all directions naturally reached my ears.

“Is that from the Sevelle Boutique? But even the fabric looks different.”

“Gasp! Isn’t that Heavenly Feather?”

“Wait, that fluttering lace—isn’t that Shugrage?”

…Huh? Was it really?

When I looked at Mom, Mehen smiled and deliberately turned away.

“No, that necklace—!”

“Isn’t that Halbern’s ‘Flame of the Sun’ that even the imperial family wanted?”

“Oh my, oh my! To see such a precious necklace!”

…Really? Was it?

Dad had given it to me so casually, like he’d just picked it up somewhere, that I didn’t realize it was that valuable. When I looked at him, Dad smiled as if to ask what the problem was.

…Did these people seriously decide to bankrupt the family?

“A lot of people are interested in you, Arell.”

“That can’t be true, Your Highness. They’re probably more interested in you than me.”

“Can’t you see them over there? The young gentlemen sneaking glances because they want to say even one word to you.”

Pession frowned as if he didn’t like it, and that was cute too.

Honestly, everything about him is cute.

Just then, the piano melody changed, and one song came to an end.

Normally, it was proper etiquette to dance only one song per partner, but Pession shamelessly tried to continue.

“Ahem. Where do you think you’re going?”

Dad quickly cut in and blocked Pession.

Just the fact that Dad stepped onto the dance floor caused cheers mixed with screams to erupt all around the hall.

“You arrogant brat, the next turn is mine.”

“……”

As the two glared at each other, I stepped between them.

“Sion, let’s dance again later.”

The atmosphere, which looked like it might turn into a fight any second, settled down.

That was because Pession looked at my face and backed off.

Sigh, keeping the peace here is exhausting.

 

 

****

 

 

 

After dancing one song with Valer, Arellin was now dancing with Pession again.

Other young gentlemen clearly wanted to dance at least one song with Arellin, but they couldn’t even approach because of Pession’s overwhelming presence.

“Tsk.”

Valer clicked his tongue.

He really took after his father perfectly.

Seeing Edward, the emperor who had once rejected countless proposals aimed at Empress Ageni, overlap with Pession, Valer clicked his tongue again.

“Why do you keep clicking your tongue while looking at my son?”

“Because I don’t like it.”

Emperor Edward frowned and glared at Valer, but it didn’t work at all.

Fine, I lose. Emperor Edward clicked his tongue as well and spoke.

“Valer.”

“Why call me?”

“Are you okay?”

“With what?”

“The godmother situation.”

Edward and Valer’s eyes met in midair.

“You don’t like that either.”

“You do know me well.”

Valer fell silent for a moment.

He still didn’t feel great about Empress Ageni, and he was very unhappy about how she used tricks to avoid his scrutiny, but…

‘It’ll be good for Arellin.’

If that was the case, he could endure it.

“I don’t like it, but I can tolerate it. It’s true that my sister… cherished that woman.”

Emperor Edward snorted.

“Stop calling her ‘that woman’ in front of me.”

“Ed, are you really okay?”

“What do you mean?”

Valer didn’t bother to explain further. Edward narrowed his brows, then stared straight at Valer as he came into view.

The man who was always unstable and unpredictable had looked relaxed for quite some time now.

This was much better than him running wild over war.

“Don’t underestimate my love for my sister. There’s no way I’d hold a grudge over something that small. That, too, is a part of her.”

It was impossible to erase Shione’s shadow from Ageni. Edward knew that better than anyone.

“It annoys me sometimes that I’m not first in my sister’s life, but what can I do? That’s just who she is.”

“I see.”

At Valer’s indifferent response, Edward frowned.

“Someone who doesn’t know love wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m glad you’re so knowledgeable about love.”

This bastard.

Edward grew petty.

“Well, in the end, it only ends like this because the person is dead. If she were alive, it never would’ve ended this mildly.”

“Who knows? If my sister were alive… you probably wouldn’t have been able to marry. She hated you.”

“……”

Is this guy serious?

Edward, who didn’t even get his money’s worth, glared at Valer. But Valer didn’t care at all, too busy looking at his daughter.