The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 336

The “proposal event meeting” that Pession had called ended vaguely, without any clear conclusion.

“Your Highness, His Majesty the Emperor is summoning you.”

It was a servant sent from the Imperial Palace, and because of that, Pession stood up in the middle of the meeting in a very bad mood.

Harun, who moved along with Pession, honestly thought that having the whole “worldwide proposal broadcast event” naturally fall apart like this was better for both Arellin and Pession.

“Why would Father, who dumped all the real work on me and stepped back, suddenly call for me?”

Pession frowned deeply, clearly annoyed that he was being called when he was already swamped. It didn’t match the guy who had just been collecting proposal ideas moments ago.

Seeing Pession’s shadowed side profile, Harun tilted his head.

This was strange.

‘Why does Pession look so anxious?’

Was there really something that could make this flawless guy so unsettled?

‘…Well, when it comes to Arellin, he’s always been like that.’

What exactly was he so uneasy about?

 

 

***

 

 

 

Meanwhile, Valer, who had come to the Imperial Palace to give Pession a hard time, unfortunately didn’t get to meet him.

Because, as if he had been waiting specifically for Valer to arrive, the Emperor immediately dragged him away.

On top of that, Duke Spherom and Duke Idikels were already seated in the Emperor’s office.

“This is serious, Duke.”

At Emperor Edward’s words, Duke Idikels handed the documents he had been reading to Valer.

“It’s breaking news that a civil war has broken out in the Uyo Union.”

The Uyo Union was a federated kingdom created by oppressed minority races—the beastfolk and the smallfolk—joining forces.

The beastfolk had overwhelming physical strength but struggled to restrain their instincts, while the smallfolk had sharp minds but were physically weak. They had survived by complementing each other, but……

Recently, tensions had grown sharp between the smallfolk, who wanted to develop the beastfolk lands and sell off their accumulated machinery, and the beastfolk, who wanted to protect nature and regulate development.

“So it finally exploded.”

Valer’s eyes moved to a particularly emphasized section in the report.

[It has been revealed that the party behind the kidnapping of Princess Luri, granddaughter of the Beast King, was the smallfolk Gnome faction.]

The smallfolk had kidnapped Princess Luri, framed Albret to provoke the Beast King, and tried to profit from it—but not only did the plan fail, the truth was exposed as well.

Duke Spherom clicked his tongue.

“As you know, Gnome machinery is interesting, but we already get similar things more cheaply from the mage towers, don’t we? Their machines take a lot of resources to make and cost a fortune to maintain.”

It seemed the smallfolk had been hiding the fact that they were on the verge of bankruptcy. Still, they couldn’t fool the Emperor’s intelligence network—pages of blatant deficit records were laid out in the documents.

Emperor Edward spoke while rubbing his forehead.

“If that plan had succeeded, we would’ve taken a serious hit. Thankfully, it failed.”

“Right. And that’s all thanks to our daughter’s efforts.”

Valer puffed up his chest proudly, while Emperor Edward ignored him with unfocused eyes and continued.

“Anyway, after learning the truth, the Beast King flew into a rage and raided the Gnome High Council.”

And just like that, a civil war had broken out… as of yesterday.

Duke Idikels looked deeply saddened.

“To think all our efforts for peace would end like this……”

As a diplomat, the Idikels family had mainly worked to mediate between the smallfolk and the beastfolk in the Uyo Union.

“No wonder the palace was so noisy. Was this why?”

When Valer asked, Emperor Edward got to the point.

“Both factions have asked Albret for help.”

Valer gave a crooked smile.

“The Gnome side too? With what nerve?”

“They probably think we don’t know this truth yet. Either way, the plan itself failed.”

Duke Spherom shrugged. But Duke Idikels disagreed.

“It feels like there’s a third party who deliberately leaked this information. If it came out, only they’d lose. Information worth risking your life to protect doesn’t get exposed this easily.”

In other words, Duke Idikels said, they needed to proceed carefully.

Duke Spherom shrugged again.

“Well, businesses operating in the Uyo Union will suffer, but that can’t be helped. We plan to supply materials to both sides equally.”

At Duke Spherom’s bold statement about supporting both the beastfolk and the smallfolk without choosing a side, Duke Idikels gave him a briefly exasperated look.

“Hm.”

Valer crossed his arms and leaned back deeply in his chair.

Whether the Uyo Union fell into civil war or went to war with Albret, a chaotic future was familiar to him, but……

‘This is different.’

As Valer searched his memories, he tilted his head slightly.

Among countless tangled memories, had there ever been an Albret this peaceful?

The only difference from previous timelines was one thing—

Arellin was alive.

As Valer mulled over that higher-level realization, Emperor Edward complained.

“Just when things seemed peaceful, why does trouble break out again? I want to abdicate safely without any incidents. Why won’t the world help me!”

Valer shrugged.

“So, Ed. What do you want to do?”

“The smallfolk dared to try and use Albret, which annoys me—but I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. It just creates more work.”

“Then do nothing.”

“I’d like to, but there’s such a thing as imperial authority.”

That was why he had summoned the dukes—the pillars of the nation—before the full state council to hear their opinions.

“Gremwat says the war should end quickly since a prolonged conflict would hurt the Adventurers’ Guild. Mubisk, well… as always, says they’ll follow the imperial decision.”

Gremwat had probably taken the biggest hit from this civil war. Valer found even that oddly fitting.

“So, what’s Halbern’s position?”

“We don’t really have any opinion.”

At Valer’s immediate answer, Emperor Edward shouted.

“Think before you answer!”

“The civil war might endanger our businesses in the Uyo Union, but even if everything there collapses… it won’t seriously damage our house. So yeah, still don’t care.”

“You little—!”

“Mehen might be a bit sad, though.”

Normally, a house collapsing around this time would be expected anyway. Losing one or two businesses was mild, if anything.

“Ha, seriously, this guy……”

Not only Emperor Edward but even the other dukes stared at Valer in disbelief when—

“Your Majesty, it’s time to attend the state council.”

At the chamberlain’s announcement, Emperor Edward stood up. The other dukes rose as well.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Yeah, I’ll skip.”

Once again, Valer headed in a different direction alone.

“Oh, Ed. Did you summon Crown Prince Pession too?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

“I see.”

Watching Valer grin to himself, the three wondered what on earth he was so pleased about.

 

 

****

 

 

 

“…Why are you here?”

Arriving at the Imperial Palace, Pession froze when he saw Duke Halbern waiting at the entrance.

Valer held back a laugh as he saw Pession’s brow—the place of absolute truth—narrow on its own the moment their eyes met.

“His Majesty has already entered the state council.”

“Then why are you not inside, Duke?”

“Obviously, I was waiting for Your Highness. I’ll escort you personally.”

A bad feeling passed through him.

Valer smiled gently, folding his eyes beautifully. It was a face anyone would find pleasing—so why was it so irritating?

Pession’s intuition proved correct.

“Seems you had a very pleasant night yesterday.”

Pession’s expression stiffened slightly.

“Don’t you think it’s disgraceful to track and receive reports on every detail of your daughter’s private life, Duke?”

“When you love someone, you want to know everything. This much is basic.”

“That’s excessive. Which makes it a sickness.”

“Coming from Your Highness, I’d say you’re not much better.”

Did you really think I didn’t notice the look you give my daughter?

Faced with that sharp question, Pession fell silent.

Did he really think he could be that obvious and not get caught?

Valer looked at Pession with renewed scrutiny.

‘I should’ve known this would happen the moment I realized he resembles Edward.’

He had watched Edward’s ridiculous love life up close and still overlooked it. It seemed those genes—living and dying for love—hadn’t gone anywhere.

‘I should’ve gotten rid of him when he was young.’

He had always known this brat would one day take something precious from him.

Valer ground his teeth inwardly.

“Scandals could stick to an unmarried young lady, so please be more careful next time.”

Don’t even think about going somewhere alone with her again.

“I’ll take responsibility, so it’s fine.”

I’m taking her anyway—what’s the problem?

“Oh? The future is something no one knows.”

Who said I’d allow it?

“I trust Arellin’s heart.”

No matter how much of a duke you are, if Arellin wants it, you’ll have to accept it.

“Hah. You’re awfully shameless for someone who hasn’t even proposed.”

“And who was it that burned every proposal letter sent by the imperial family? Arellin herself didn’t even know about them.”

“Ah, unfortunately, it seems they met with several accidents along the way.”

“All the carriages heading to Duke Halbern’s estate getting into accidents… sounds like a curse.”

“Tragic indeed. I suppose I should donate to the temple. Thanks to that dreadful curse, our daughter is set to become a spinster.”

What?

At that powerful declaration that he wouldn’t marry her off until she became a spinster, Pession’s eyebrow twitched.

“Duke, that—!”

“Oh, we’ve arrived already. It’s time for you to enter the state council.”

“No, wait, Duke. What exactly did you mean by that just now—”

“Haha, let’s meet again next time.”

Pession tried to grab Valer, but failed. Valer walked away with a refreshing smile.

That man… is he serious?