The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 324

Valer looked around his library.

No matter how many times he had regressed, this was the first time he had seen the library—which grew larger with each return—reduced to such ruins.

Bookshelves collapsed as if struck by bombardment, books that crumbled into dust the moment they were touched, scattering into the air.

“…….”

Even if the contractor died, Halbern’s secret archive—managed by the dream fairy Mack—did not lose its already established libraries.

When the owner of a library died, it would gradually deteriorate, but for it to be destroyed to this extent, there was only one reason.

The librarian who managed the secret archive was gone.

“It’s completely ruined.”

No wonder the background had felt nauseating.

Valer knew what happened to a “domain” that lost its owner. It became corrupted, lost its defining traits, and eventually merged with another reverse-side world.

Still, Halbern’s secret archive wouldn’t immediately turn into a demonic lair. This domain was unusual—it treated even a “key-holding contractor” as a half-owner.

Even if that state wasn’t perfect, the domain would maintain its function until all contractors were dead.

While wandering through the completely ruined library, Valer found a book that was relatively intact.

It seemed to contain the story of this particular iteration……

“Haha.”

As soon as he opened it and watched the letters fly away, Valer laughed hollowly.

Thinking there was nothing more to gain here, he was about to move on when something caught his eye.

“This is new.”

An entrance that hadn’t existed before.

Valer tilted his head upon discovering a modest library. It was probably Arellin’s library.

“Hmm…….”

For a moment, the morality of respecting his daughter’s privacy clashed with his curiosity.

Curiosity won.

“Hm hm. I’m her father, so it should be fine to look at this much.”

Wondering what kind of story it might contain, he opened the book—

“…….”

His daughter’s book was written in characters he’d never seen before. The only scripts Valer didn’t recognize were ancient divine script or ancient Celon, which made this strange.

Moreover, the front pages of the unusually thick book were completely blank.

“Hm. As expected, my daughter really is a Halbern.”

Feeling oddly proud, Valer returned the book to the shelf and moved on to his final destination.

Shione’s library.

Unlike his own library—which looked as though it had been bombed—Shione’s library showed no change at all.

Just in case it behaved like his own, he opened several books to check, but there was nothing unusual.

There was only one reason Valer had come here today.

To find clues about Arellin’s biological father.

Arellin’s teacher, the Archmage Mercedes, had predicted that her real father was probably not human.

Valer agreed with that assessment—though it might simply mean a different race.

Perhaps… one of the immortals.

Valer thought this was even more likely. Otherwise, his identity would have surfaced in some way by now.

Valer walked between the shelves. Among the neatly recorded books of Shione’s life, there was an empty space.

The presence of a missing book—something one wouldn’t notice unless they were looking for it.

The one who hid it was probably Shione herself.

“Valer, how did I tell you to protect the most important secrets?”

Hide them where they won’t catch anyone’s eye—so that even if someone looks, they won’t find them.

Shione had taught her younger brother that the best way was to exploit people’s preconceived notions.

“…Found it.”

From behind the other books, Valer found a discarded volume—its cover torn, its pages filled with scribbles.

Just as expected, papers Shione had hidden were tucked between the ruined pages like bookmarks.

“I lost. I couldn’t kill that man, so I must die. If I don’t, everything I love will turn to ashes.”

“They tell me to live on and plan for the future, but if I do that, it’ll be too late. That man will destroy everything I love.”

“Once it’s gone, it’s too late.”

“Death isn’t frightening. If the price of my survival is offering up what I love, then I’ll gladly die.”

A series of sentences that couldn’t possibly have been written in a sound state of mind.

As Valer resolutely turned the pages, his hand stopped.

“If I’m going to die anyway, I should sell my life at a price high enough to be worth dying for.”

“That was my thinking, facing a fate of unavoidable death.”

As Valer read the next lines with his fingers pressed to his temples, his violet eyes trembled faintly. With a low sigh, he closed his eyes.

“The one thing I didn’t expect.”

“That I would come to love that unfathomable being as well.”

…Sister.

 

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

In Valer’s absence, Mehen processed the small pile of remaining documents, resting his chin in his hand as he thought deeply.

Normally, Valer disappearing again would have made him furious—but not today.

As if all the times he’d dumped everything on Mehen and slacked off were a lie, Valer had uncharacteristically finished all his work before leaving.

“What on earth…….”

Was that bastard about to die or something?

Mehen found the recently changed Valer strangely unfamiliar.

Even when asked for a reason—

“Well, I can’t push the blame onto anyone anymore, so I have to live diligently.”

“?”

All he gave were answers like that—utterly incomprehensible.

Thinking he might actually be terminally ill, Mehen had even summoned the personal physician and healers for a full examination, but nothing abnormal turned up.

So what is it? This unsettling feeling.

He suddenly opened up about himself—something he never did.

He voluntarily did things no one asked him to.

Still, Valer working meant Mehen’s workload decreased, so it was good news.

Then why was he angry?

Because Valer ended in one stroke the power struggles between high-ranking vassals that Mehen had barely been mediating until now?

Or because he no longer had to tear his hair out recalculating figures to verify the authenticity of reports from people who were always trying to skim off the top?

Because official documents that only passed after sending dozens of reference materials and discreet bribes sailed through the moment Valer stepped in?

Because people who used to try to smooth things over with compensation after causing incidents now bowed and apologized profusely to Valer over even the smallest mistake?

“…!”

As Mehen slowly reviewed everything, he finally realized the source of his anger.

If this bastard had just done this from the start, I wouldn’t have had to suffer like a dog all that time!

Mehen clenched his fist.

As delayed fury burned hot and he pondered how best to screw this bastard over, Dylan entered with a peculiar expression.

“Mehen, sir. There’s a guest.”

“A guest?”

Since the last party, the Halbern estate had returned to being closed off to outsiders. In other words, there shouldn’t have been any visitors for the time being.

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll understand if you come see…….”

“?”

Puzzled, Mehen stood up.

“Let’s see who it is.”

Normally, he would have chased them away, complaining about being buried in paperwork—but thanks to Valer, he was unusually free.

Because of that, Mehen made a decision he normally wouldn’t have, and at the estate’s front gate, he came face-to-face with a familiar figure.

“Mehen!”

“Milliert Sobern?”

A man who had once been the Crown Prince’s linguistics professor before returning to the Academy was cheerfully waving at him.

What is this.

There had been a widely circulated rumor.

That Arellin was an ill-fated genius whose death had been mourned by academic authorities—and that the moment news of her survival spread, those scholars would come running.

It hadn’t been a rumor. It was the truth.

“Hearing that our genius is alive, we came at once!”

“Oh! So this is the estate where that genius lives. Even from the outside, it looks extraordinary.”

“I can feel a strong aura of mana!”

“Well, it is the Halbern estate.”

And clustered around Milliert Sobern were even more people.

Don’t tell me those are professors too…

He wanted to pretend not to recognize them, but Mehen had once attended the Laurent Academy himself. Even if he tried to ignore them, they greeted him familiarly.

“Mehen? Mehen! What’s wrong? Don’t turn your back on us!”

“Duke Mehen, for old times’ sake……”

“We must see the genius!”

Watching professors, doctors, and scholars causing a ruckus in front of the estate, Mehen felt dizzy.

What in the world is going on now?