The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 319

Bang!

The carriage lurched violently.

What on earth now?

Thanks to the many enchantments built into it, the impact itself wasn’t severe, but Madam Olivia nearly lost her balance and fell, so I grabbed her.

“Are you all right?”

“Huh? Y-yes. Thank you.”

“Not at all.”

But seriously—was that a traffic accident? Why did it shake like that?

Now that automobiles had been widely adopted, most roads belonged to cars, while carriages traveled on separate, carriage-only roads.
In other words, there was no way the carriage we were riding in could have collided with a car.

That made it even stranger. If we’d crashed into another carriage, ours—reinforced with magic—wouldn’t have shaken this much.

Did some idiot confuse the automobile road with the carriage lane?

Just as I was thinking I should tell Fession to tighten up city security and started drawing up my mana—

Thud.

“?”

Men whose appearance I couldn’t place suddenly slipped into view, knocked out all the knife-wielding bandits with a few punches, and dragged them away.

“…….”

“…….”

When their eyes met mine, they dipped their heads briefly in greeting and vanished without a trace… which was honestly hilarious.

What was that, some kind of Shadow Halbern Defense Force? Were those rumors about the Grand Duke of Halbern’s personal assassination unit actually true?

“What happened?”

Because I’d been blocking the window, Madam Olivia hadn’t seen the commotion outside and asked me with a puzzled look.

“There was something…”

“?”

“And then it disappeared.”

“??”

Madam Olivia looked at me as if asking what that was supposed to mean, but I had nothing more to add.

I had merely reaffirmed a universal truth.

Going outside is dangerous.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Something felt off today.

We weren’t even leaving the city—was it really supposed to take this long just to get to the Razrael Count’s townhouse?

Even after the encounter with the bandits, one incident after another followed.

Another carriage suddenly came barreling in and rammed ours.
An automobile crossed lanes and invaded the carriage road.

“Was the capital always this dynamic?”

Of course, every time something happened, those mysterious people would appear out of nowhere, fix everything, and disappear again.

“…….”

“…….”

People I hadn’t even known existed—yet now that I kept seeing them, they seemed oddly embarrassed and eventually started avoiding my gaze.

What a bunch of weirdos.

“Maybe riding a carriage—now reduced to a relic of a bygone era—was the worst possible choice.”

Was the automobile truly the only valid means of transportation in this age?

But if I rode Ether, who loved speed, we’d arrive in the blink of an eye, which was a problem in its own way.

As for riding another car? That was something our petty Ether would never tolerate.

“It’s strange. Traveling by carriage shouldn’t be this hard.”

Even nobles still favored carriages for short trips within the city.
The classic elegance of heirloom carriages passed down through generations rivaled the sleek, flashy image of expensive automobiles.

In any case, after enduring all these suspicious misfortunes, we finally arrived at the Razrael family’s townhouse.

“I’m already completely exhausted.”

For a hardcore homebody like me, whose HP started taking damage-over-time the moment I stepped outside, going out was an ordeal.

“Hehe.”

Madam Olivia laughed, apparently amused by how worn out I looked.

Senior privilege—I’ll let it slide just this once.

“Lady Arellin, you don’t seem fond of social events.”

“How did you know?”

“You’re making your dislike painfully obvious. How could I not?”

It felt strange the way Madam Olivia looked at me as if I were cute. Where, exactly, was the cute part in that exchange?

“In that sense, you’re exactly like His Grace the Grand Duke.”

“Hmm.”

Well, we were related by blood, so some similarities were bound to exist.

Still, I wasn’t sure whether Father disliked socializing. Maybe he simply never did anything that could be called socializing in the first place?

What did it feel like to make the front page of the newspaper just by breathing?

…I didn’t particularly want to know.

“I’ll help you. Let’s go inside.”

Following Madam Olivia’s gentle urging, we entered the townhouse, where the Razrael family’s butler immediately recognized us and approached.

“Thank you for accepting the invitation. Lady of Halbern, Marchioness of Gremwat. The Countess is in the garden. I shall escort you.”

There was a familiar air about the butler’s impeccable manners. Was he, perhaps, an Ernst Academy graduate as well?

“Hehe. Marchioness of Gremwat—that’s a title I haven’t heard in a long time. ‘Madam Olivia’ will do.”

“Yes, Madam Olivia.”

So she had originally been the Marchioness of Gremwat.

I glanced at Olivia.

High-ranking nobles usually held several lesser titles.
Families below the rank of duke typically passed all titles and assets to the heir, forcing the other siblings to branch off upon adulthood.

But the Five Grand Ducal Houses were different.

They first distributed internal titles to give everyone a seat, then made them compete for succession. Once the successor was chosen, those distributed titles were reclaimed, the important ones concentrated on the heir, and the rest reassigned as vassal-level titles.

“Was that to squeeze every last drop of usefulness out of ability users?”

In any case, it was rather unexpected for Olivia to draw such a clear line herself.

“Do you dislike being called the Marchioness of Gremwat?”

“It’s not that I dislike it.”

It might have sounded rude, but Olivia answered kindly, without a hint of displeasure.

“It’s just that he’s gone now. I refrain from using it so as not to bring shame upon the family.”

Honestly, the ones bringing shame were those other daughters-in-law—but that wasn’t my business.

I nodded to Olivia and followed the butler toward the garden.

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Olivia! Lady of Halbern!”

The garden of the Razrael townhouse, where the tea party was being held, was filled with roses that normally bloomed only in May.

“They’ve used magic to keep the flowers from wilting.”

I briefly glared at the roses, sensing the mana in the air, then turned to see the Countess Razrael approaching with a radiant smile.

“Thank you so much for coming, Lady of Halbern.”

“The pleasure is mine—thank you for inviting me…”

“I never imagined someone so distinguished would come in person. You may find things lacking from your perspective, but I’m truly grateful you came.”

The Countess Razrael seized my hands.

“Thanks to you, the other young ladies who’d declined suddenly changed their minds and rushed over—it was absolutely hilarious. Hohoho. As expected of the one destined to become Albret’s future.”

“Uh…”

She poured words out nonstop, leaving my mind reeling.

What was this? A new form of mental attack?

Was the Countess Razrael secretly a psychic mage?!

“My husband has received so much help from Lord Mehen—we live every day full of gratitude. And this time again, under the name of support funds… the business…”

This was bad. My already limited social stamina had hit rock bottom.

Please… stop… please…

Seeing my distress, Olivia stepped in.

“Katie, haven’t other guests arrived as well? Shouldn’t you greet them?”

“Oh! Look at me.”

The Countess excused herself and stepped away.

“She really didn’t need to come back.”

Apparently hearing my heartfelt mutter, Madam Olivia struggled to hold back her laughter.

Anyway, freed from the verbal onslaught, I looked at Olivia with teary eyes.

“An angel…?”

That made Olivia burst out laughing.

I truly had no idea what about me she found so entertaining.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Olivia couldn’t suppress her smile as she watched Arellin frowning, utterly exhausted.

Arellin was openly showing a look that said she had no idea why Olivia kept laughing—and that only made her cuter.

She herself had always wanted a daughter like this.

Presumptuous as it might be, she understood now why the Grand Duke of Halbern and Mehen doted on her so much.

“With someone this cute, of course they would.”

And she also understood why this young lady rejected nearly every invitation she received.

“She can’t hide her true feelings at all.”

To someone who didn’t know her, it might look less like exhaustion and more like disdain for the event—a finicky, aloof noble lady.

But that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For a noble young lady, sociability and eloquence were as important as refinement, yet Olivia could see why Halbern let her remain this way.

“She doesn’t need any of that. People will bend over backward to please her anyway.”

And her marriage prospects were practically settled already. Even if some problem arose, Halbern’s power and influence could smooth it over—an arrogance befitting a true great noble.

Even now, the young lady showed not the slightest interest in other ladies or guests.

Then suddenly, Arellin raised an eyebrow.

“…?”

Olivia turned, puzzled—and her expression immediately stiffened.

“Oh my, Sister-in-law. To think we’d meet here.”

The second daughter-in-law of the Gremwat family and her daughter were approaching with peculiar smiles.