The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health – Chapter 322

Author: Asternkm

“What do you mean, self-destruction is their hobby?”

At Mehen’s question, Valer played dumb.

“Did I say that?”

“You said it right in front of me, my lord.”

“Ah.”

“Are you already getting dementia?”

Despite Mehen’s sharp criticism, Valer merely smiled it off. Bickering with Mehen was fun, but right now, the contents of the documents were far more irritating.

The Gremwart family.

Valer’s life had always been a repetition of the span from before his sister’s death to before his own death, accumulating memories far beyond what a human could endure……

Honestly, Valer thought he’d probably thrown away about half of those memories somewhere.

Still, there were things he remembered clearly.

‘The death of Duke Gregory, followed by the old lady’s death from illness, then the mysterious accident involving the eldest son’s wife and child. After that, the second son seized the family, the third son seized the Adventurers’ Guild, and they fought each other until both fell together.’

Well, by that point everything was already completely ruined, so maybe it didn’t make much difference.

After Arellin died, his memories became hazy—but he still remembered the World Tree burning, the Northern Fortress being trampled, and the northern continent being overrun by monsters.

Ah, the Northern Fortress.

Valer’s gaze returned to the Northern Fortress report.

No matter how many times he checked, he couldn’t get used to the fact that not a single member of the Saren Order left behind there had died.

They were supposed to be dead…….

Around seven years after his regression, in winter, a massive monster wave had occurred at the Northern Fortress, and the Saren Order had all died defending it.

Back when he regressed without sealing his memories—after failing to save Arellin—Valer had struggled desperately to save at least the knights, so he remembered it clearly.

Those flawed, incompetent men—no matter how many times he disbanded the order, no matter how brutally he trained them to make them want to leave—they always came back to his side and died.

And now, they were all still alive.

“My lord.”

“……”

“My lord.”

“…Ah.”

Seeing Valer snap out of his thoughts late, Mehen looked at him strangely.

“Did something unpleasant come to mind? Your expression looked fierce.”

“Hmm.”

Valer pressed down on his furrowed brow and answered vaguely. For a moment, Mehen’s face had overlapped with memories from the past.

“How should we issue the warning?”

“…What?”

At Valer’s sudden question, Mehen looked at him as if asking what he was talking about.

Ignoring him, Valer leisurely folded the document he had been reading in half.

“It’d be better to make it unmistakably clear.”

* * *

“Does that sound like something you should be saying right now?!”

Jarve Gremwart, the second son of the Gremwart ducal house, was furious beyond measure.

“You wasted that precious mana poison, and every single carriage attack we disguised as banditry got blocked?! Are you idiots messing with me?! Do you know how hard it was to get that mana poison?! What kind of half-assed job is this—do you all want to die?!”

The subordinate reporting to him flinched and stepped back. Jarve swept everything off the desk, then took a deep breath.

Assassination attempts failing one after another?

That alone could have been dismissed as bad luck.

But if Halbern had gotten involved in this series of attempts, that was a different story entirely.

“What the hell do you mean the Halbern young lady was there too?”

“It seems the Halbern young lady suddenly changed her schedule and ended up seated with the target. Even the Razrael count’s house kept it quiet, so we only found out on the day……”

Jarve’s expression stiffened.

Up until now, everything had been proceeding smoothly—except for today’s “incident.”

Halbern.

That uncomfortable, ominous name made Jarve’s heart jolt.

He didn’t care about rumors of curses or whatever nonsense people spread. Being born a Gremwart and not knowing about Halbern was unthinkable.

For generations, Gremwart had been a family that explored what was forbidden to humans, delved into the unknown, and unearthed buried truths.

Halbern, on the other hand, was a family that protected secrets and never allowed them to surface.

In other words, whenever Gremwart made some kind of discovery, Halbern was the family that came first to inspect it and confiscate something.

Though Halbern paid proper compensation, it was obvious the two families wouldn’t be on good terms. Since the beginning of Albret’s history, theirs had been a cycle of hiding and uncovering, stealing and resisting theft.

As a member of Gremwart, Jarve had always felt unease and dread toward Halbern.

Gremwart’s special ability—Adventurer’s Foreboding—always activated around Halbern.

And Valer, in particular……

The result of that ability overlapped with Valer’s uniquely beautiful appearance, making him feel even more ominous.

“We didn’t leave a trail, did we?”

“All field personnel have been taken care of.”

Meaning they were all killed to silence them. Only then did Jarve relax.

“How many people still alive know about these orders?”

“About three, excluding myself.”

“Send them all off.”

“Yes.”

After the subordinate left, Jarve gave another order to the butler who had just entered.

“The one who just left—deal with him too once the others are gone.”

“Yes.”

It was a waste to kill someone he’d used so well, but this was a situation where cutting off the tail was necessary. People like that could always be replaced.

Still, the thought of how Valer might respond if Halbern learned the truth tangled Jarve’s mind.

“Damn it. Why did those idiots botch everything so badly……”

And then—something happened that perfectly matched Jarve’s foreboding.

“My lord, this is urgent! Spherom Bank has notified us that the loan must be repaid by tomorrow! If repayment is impossible, they’ll seize the collateral!”

“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden? The deadline was next month—there was plenty of time……”

“My lord! It’s terrible—one of the ‘clubs’ we were running has been destroyed!”

“……”

At the news that the gambling den they’d been illegally operating under the guise of a club was gone, Jarve froze in place.

That den had been Jarve’s biggest source of cash.

Snapping back to his senses, Jarve tried to contact the imperial finance official who had been covering for him—

“Pick up! Pick up!”

But no matter how many times he tried, the official—who always answered immediately—didn’t respond.

Someone had clearly interfered here too.

“Damn it……”

As Jarve muttered, hands trembling, calculating the scale of his losses—

“Honey!”

His wife, Everly, burst into the study.

“What is it now?”

“I have something to say. Do you know what I went through last time?”

Jarve raised an eyebrow.

“That Halbern brat—barely old enough to bleed—ignored me outright!”

Ha. Halbern again.

“Help me teach that girl a lesson—”

“Are you insane?!”

Jarve snapped sharply, unlike how he normally would have soothed her.

“What are you saying—do you want to die? Have you lost your mind?!”

“N-no, honey… why are you yelling all of a sudden? You’re scaring me!”

“Just forget it. Ignore it! If it’s Halbern, don’t even go near them! Stay away, do you hear me?!”

Even after seizing everything Gremwart had, Halbern was still an opponent he couldn’t take head-on—trying now would be suicide.

Seeing Jarve recoil so vehemently, Everly’s mouth fell open.

He was never like this, which only made it more shocking.

“No, honey! I’m telling you, I was humiliated!”

“So what if you were?! Is that really the problem right now?!”

After shouting, Jarve avoided further conversation and headed to the bedroom. Everly followed after him, protesting.

“How can you talk to me like that?!”

“What did I even say?”

“You were the one who—”

“—!”

The two of them stopped at the same time as they entered the bedroom.

A cold wind blew in through the wide-open window, and the floor, the bed—everything—was stained red.

Everly was so shocked she couldn’t even scream, freezing in place.

What on earth had happened here?!

Jarve, on the other hand, startled at first—then quickly regained his composure when he realized there was none of the metallic smell unique to blood.

Still, what caught his eye was a card neatly propped up on the bedroom table, alongside a red rose.

「Next time, it’s your neck」

Seeing the elegant handwriting, Jarve reflexively grabbed his own throat.

* * *

“They couldn’t trace the source of the mana poison……?”

I tilted my head in confusion.

I’d even used a Mehen favor after receiving a strong request from high-ranking mages, yet the result was that the source couldn’t be identified. And regarding the bandit attacks, Mehen had said—

“That’s not something you need to worry about, Arel. Some idiot is already taking care of it.”

“…?”

Just who was this idiot supposed to be?

Dad, maybe?

But there was no way Mehen would call my father an idiot……

Feeling like I’d only gained more mysteries, I decided to retreat quietly for now—since I had plans today.

The twins were furious.

I’d received a letter full of complaints from the Spherom twins, whining about why I’d accepted the Razrael countess’s invitation but not theirs.

Judging by the tone, it felt like they might storm Halbern at any moment—so the place I escaped to was!

“Miss Arellin’s visit—!”

“Truly!!”

“Welcome!!!!”