The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health Chapter 355

Arellin strongly opposed Valer’s suggestion that they split up.

“Splitting up in a place this dangerous? Absolutely not!”

However, the reason Valer gave for why they had to split was far too convincing.

“We need to save Mehen.”

“Well, that’s—”

“This place is too large. Splitting up will be more efficient. I’ll search this side. You two search the other.”

“No, Dad—!”

Ignoring any objections, Valer disappeared to the left. Left with no choice, Arellin and Pession turned to the right.

Frowning and grumbling, Arellin spoke in a serious voice.

“Pession, didn’t my dad seem… strange?”

Pession thought.

He seemed the same as always.

But that clearly wasn’t the answer Arellin wanted. Reading the room, Pession replied with a serious expression.

“Yeah. He did seem a little different, right?”

“Right? What is it… Hngh, does Dad know this place?”

Pession almost asked whether it would be weirder if the Grand Duke of Halbern actually knew this place—but swallowed the thought.

Whether it was intuition only a daughter could have, or something else entirely, Arellin kept worrying about Valer.

“No matter how I think about it, it’s weird. You and I are together, and Dad goes off alone? What if he’s a doppelgänger? What if my dad got swapped without me noticing?!”

That’s not it, Arel.

Pession barely managed to calm the agitated Arellin.

Valer had looked a little strange just now, but…

The Grand Duke of Halbern is strange by default.

When a strange person looks strange, that’s just normal. There couldn’t possibly be anything wrong with Valer.

With that conclusion reached, Pession’s gaze quietly traced Arellin’s profile.

She had been beautiful even when she was wasting away, but now—alive, vibrant, sparkling—Arellin shone even in a world like this.

She was completely different from when he had first met her. Healthier. Stronger. And she smiled more often.

And yet—

Something felt off.

Pession tightened his grip on Arellin’s arm.

He was sure he was holding on tightly—yet it felt as if she had slipped farther away.

Before, he had been certain he would never lose her.

Far.

Even now, standing so close, she felt distant. As if no matter how much he reached out, she was always just beyond his grasp.

Then, suddenly, their eyes met.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“It’s nothing—”

Pession stopped mid-denial. Then he shook his head, looking like he was about to cry.

“Really. It’s nothing.”

Swallowing the anxiety rising in his throat, Pession walked closer to Arellin.

Whether Arellin was a ghost, a being from another world, or a monster that had come to devour him—it didn’t matter.

As long as she didn’t disappear.
As long as she didn’t abandon him.

Then why did this impatience keep driving him insane?

A destructive possessiveness.
A maddening obsession.
A voice whispering that he should stop caring whether Arellin hated it or not—and just take what he wanted.

If I make you completely mine…

Will this anxiety disappear?

Arellin suddenly stopped and looked straight at Pession.

Her pale pink eyes, like spring itself, were so deep it felt as though they could see straight into his soul.

Under that gaze, Pession felt exposed, as if all his ugly desires had been laid bare. He bit his lip in shame.

Then, suddenly, Arellin smiled softly.

“Pession, sometimes you’re still like a kid.”

Just as Pession was enjoying the gentle hand stroking his hair—as if soothing his anxiety—

BOOM—!

“Kheheh, you’ve got some nerve barging into our base!”

“Test subjects walking in on their own feet—what a jackpot! I’ll suck you dry down to the marrow!”

Black mages appeared.

Pession’s eyes were already blazing with fury at the interruption of his sweet moment with Arellin.

 

 

****

 

 

 

A wild black mage appeared! Pession wins!

For some reason, an enraged Pession wiped out the black mages before I even had a chance to step in.

The atmosphere was so vicious that I didn’t dare try to stop him.

The black mages fled in panic, but Pession scooped me up in a princess carry and chased after them.

“Hey, do we have to go like this?!”

“Arel, how could I leave you alone in a place like this?”

“So that’s what this was about…”

Pession ran even faster than I could with acceleration magic, closing in on the fleeing black mages.

That’s when I felt mana surging violently around us. Something tried to strike—

Clap.

With a light gesture, it vanished.

“Kgh—blocking our magic so easily! You’re a mage too?!”

“Then join us! We are the Mage Liberation Alliance—Eclipse!”

Cornered, the black mages desperately started talking.

Like I’d fall for that.

Still, I was curious what nonsense they were going to spout.

“Liberation from what, exactly?”

At my single question, they launched into a passionate tirade.

“We possess power! Mages are deceived by the illusions shown by the Mage Tower! Mortals can never become stars!”

“Magic should be used for the world—not for those stars floating arrogantly in the sky!”

Then a black mage with a thick beard spoke solemnly.

“We will free mages from the oppression of the Mage Tower. We’ll create a world for mages and reclaim true freedom!”

…What kind of bullshit is this?

“True freedom? The Mage Tower oppresses mages?”

The Mage Tower did not oppress mages.
And mages weren’t the kind of people who’d listen even if someone tried.

Most mages were self-centered, stubborn, and deeply entrenched in their own worlds. Handling magic tended to make people like that.

What did that mean?

It meant mages were terrible at governance.

A world run purely for mages would fall apart in no time.

As if waiting for my question, voices shouted from all sides.

“We can’t even freely choose research topics—how is that freedom?!”

“Certain magic is forbidden to research, use, or even study!”

“Why can’t we conduct biological experiments?! Even using death row inmates is banned!”

The more they spoke, the worse my expression became.

What the hell are these guys saying?

The Mage Tower’s policies were completely reasonable.

Sure, the Mage Tower had its corruption—bribery, embezzlement, exploiting disciples, stealing research papers.

But large-scale human experimentation? Mass sacrifice? Human transmutation? Absolutely not.

…Should I just wipe them out?

As I seriously considered cleaning them up here and now for the sake of society and humanity, Pession gestured behind them.

“Arellin, shouldn’t we check over there?”

“Huh?”

Behind the black mages was a door disguised as part of the wall.

Pession looked inside first—and his expression hardened. He tried to stop me, but there was no way he could break my stubbornness.

The moment I entered the room, I understood why he hadn’t wanted me to see it.

This room was a prison—filled with experimental subjects of every kind.

“So this is what you call ‘liberation’?”

Among them were mages I recognized.

“You ‘liberate’ mages? You recruit the obedient ones and turn the rest into experiments? That’s your justice? Your freedom?”

“T-that’s… unavoidable…”

“‘Unavoidable’ isn’t a reason!”

The black mage flinched under my glare.

“Mortals can’t become stars? Don’t make me laugh.”

I remembered.

The moment Zemello became a star after sacrificing his life to protect the seal of Gairen.

I knew his soul had found peace among the stars—because I had gained divinity.

Maybe that’s what becoming a star truly meant.

Stars are fragments of divinity. And divinity needs beings who define it and offer faith.

“You’re wrong.”

Mages were already absolute beings in this world.

Balance existed only because ability users and Immortals existed alongside them.

“Anyway, if your so-called ‘liberation’ means enslaving everyone else just because you can use magic, then I refuse.”

Sensing the mana moving with my cold anger, the black mages fell silent.

I looked at Pession. He shook his head.

No Mehen. No Olivia.

“Now talk.”

I stared at them coldly.

“Where is our mother—the one you kidnapped?”