The Male Lead Is Obsessed With My Health

Chapter 11

Mehen pressed his feverish forehead. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately, and aside from the mess his body was in, it was his nerves that were on edge.

The mood in the manor had gone from bad to worse, and it was entirely his fault. But.

“Butler.”

“Yes, Mr Mehen. Please speak.”

“Should I even be bothering with this?”

Outwardly, Mehen was the caretaker of the capital manor, but Gregory, the butler, was responsible for all the practicalities of hiring people and managing the manor’s assets.

And rightly so. Mehen couldn’t possibly manage all five hundred or so employees.

“I’m sorry, Sir Mehen.”

“Of course you’re sorry, Deacon.”

Mehen’s voice was harsh.

“Do you realize how much what happened today has tarnished Halbern’s name?”

“…”

It wasn’t a name worthy of being tarnished by gossip, but then again, it wasn’t a family name worthy of being tarnished by something like this.

It wouldn’t get out, but the fact of the matter was that it had happened.

“And that’s not even the real problem.”

Mehen knew his value and importance better than anyone.

A man of the people, holding dozens of key positions. And the only one with a link to the Archduke of Halbern.

Who is the Archduke of Halbern?

‘The duke who holds the only power equal to the imperial family.’

Naturally, Halbern has had many enemies. Both external and internal enemies.

No wonder the proverb in Halbern is ‘Trust not even your own father’.

‘This is a ploy to shake Halbern.’

He realized that this was clearly aimed at him, even though it was directed at Arellin.

Arellin was Mehen’s Achilles heel in this manor.

‘She’s been so agitated lately.’

Mehen dried his face.

She didn’t answer. Even if it was because of Arellin’s sudden change in demeanour, it was too much.

‘I must be getting old.’

Maybe he should retire.

He wondered if the damned lord would allow him to retire if he couldn’t even leave work, but Mehen held out a faint hope.

“I’ll make sure this day’s affairs are in order.”

“You’d better do it neatly, because I want to see the butler for a long time.”

The upturned corners of Deacon Gregory’s mouth twitched briefly at Mehen’s green smile.

In this day and age, they don’t take lives for insulting nobility. You just have to pay a hefty indemnity.

Your reputation will be ruined, you won’t get a job, and you’ll spend the rest of your life regretting this moment in time.

Even if you were lucky enough to get a job, Halbern had the power to take it away from you.

“Now, let’s see if we can catch this little bastard, shall we?”

He’s pissed, and he’s got a place to vent.

He was about to let off some steam by catching and robbing a bunch of legitimate bastards.

Bam. The door was thrown open roughly and Dylan ran in.

“Sir Mehen!”

“I’m not deaf yet, Dylan. What’s the matter, I don’t think I ever taught you the manners to barge in like that.”

“That’s not the point, Mehen, now-!”

“Manners are always a matter of importance. Do you wish to be re-educated?”

“Lady Arellin has just collapsed!”

“You’re out of your mind… what?”

Dylan shouted again, his breathing ragged from running.

“Lady Arellin has collapsed!”

Mehen stood still with a dazed look on his face, then scrambled to his feet.

***

Luckily, the moment she collapsed, the Yuni in charge of Arellin’s health was there to prevent her condition from becoming more serious.

“Doctor!”

“I’m here!”

“Should we call the Matap?”

“Shouldn’t we call the temple?”

Leaving the noisily discussing butlers alone, Yuni calmly assessed Arellin’s condition.

“She’s already having seizures…”

She was having a seizure, the likes of which she hadn’t seen in years. The dormant energy in Arellin’s tiny body was threatening to explode.

Mehen, who had arrived late, demanded fiercely.

“What is her condition?!”

“Sir Mehen, I don’t know, she suddenly collapsed and is now having a seizure…”

“What is the doctor doing?”

“She saw you earlier, and she’s off to make some medicine. He said that tonight is going to be tough.”

Running a hand through his hair, Mehen rolled his eyes.

“Why the sudden seizure…”

“She said that today’s work may have been too much for her, and she collapsed due to stress, or it could be a problem with an underlying illness. She said she’s  fine because she’s on medication, but she’s not always well.”

“Medicine. Medication? Yes, she had medication. Did she take it?”

“Yes? Yes. I took them… huh?”

Yuni’s eyes widened as if she realized something.

“Wait!”

The frowning Mehen sighed.

He was about to move away when something made him feel like he should follow Yuni.

“-“

A small, faint voice.

A voice so small that no one could have heard it if they weren’t listening.

But when Mehen heard it, he stopped dead in his tracks, as if he had broken down.

“Mum…”

***

When the Archduke of Halbern first brought the child to the palace, the grim attention was directed in a different direction.

‘Who is this child’s mother?’

A baby brought home by an unmarried duke stirred people’s sinister imaginations.

Some speculated that it was the child of a courtesan, others that it was the illegitimate offspring of unspeakable nobility, and still others that it was the product of a very secret relationship with the Archduke of Halbern.

Mehen refused to buy into any of the speculation.

“It would be more convincing to say that Archduke Halbern, a terminally ill misanthrope, had a prostitute, a lover, a mistress, a government? Ha.”

The child was of Halbern’s blood. The guardian stone of Halbern, which only responds to blood, had resonated with Arellin.

Thus, the rumours that had once raged in the capital, that Arellin might not be the child of the Archduke of Halbern, were put to rest, and the question of the child’s mother was left to be answered.

There was even talk that the child might have been the product of true love.

“You’re writing a novel as the Archduke of Halbern. I guess that’s how all romance novels are written these days.”

If there is one human being in this world who knows the Archduke of Halbern, Valère, it is Mehen.

The Archduke of Halbern in love.

There are two words in the world that don’t go together: ‘love’ and ‘Halbern’.

“Love? That’s ridiculous. He’s a man who’s going to cry over hundreds of women, do as he pleases, and then go somewhere and get stabbed.”

The gossip that had been fuelled by Mehen’s cynicism slowly died down, but the interest in him persisted.

In fact, some people accused Mehen of pulling the wool over people’s eyes and ears with his cynical tactics.

But you know what, your master personal life!

Mehen wasn’t interested in the gossip, he was just annoyed that people were bothering him and asking for his opinion.

They hadn’t even seen the Archduke of Halbern, and they were talking about him?

And the child’s mother? He didn’t care.

‘There must be a story.’

Because he doesn’t just abandon a suddenly born child to his own mansion, holed up in a northern castle, and sent to fight in the never-ending war that is humanity’s last frontier, unless you have a story.

Only one thing. If there was one thing Mehen was sure of, it was that the ‘story behind the story’ wouldn’t be the love of the century or the messy affair that everyone hoped it would be.

Anything that would make his head hurt to know.

Mehen was more concerned about the practicalities of parenting than anything else.

But that’s me, and it’s different for her.

A child on the receiving end of rumours, events, and stories would be curious.

How could a child who has never met their parents not be curious?

Surprisingly, until now, she had never asked.

She could have asked, but she never did.

She didn’t ask, despite the model answers he had prepared for her, knowing she would ask someday.

Just as a child never wonders about a father who never sits down to talk to her, neither does a mother.

Well, no. At some point, it became so obvious that Mehen didn’t question anymore.

He just assumed that it was the way things were.

But it wasn’t.

“Mum… Mum…”

She’d just been holding it in.

“Mum…”

The common sense he knew collapsed.

In the gap, the emotions that I had been suppressing raised their heads.

“Mum…”

Her voice cried out for her mum.

The kind of cry that, because of her frail body, she can’t even make a proper cry, it’s cracked and muffled, and if you don’t listen closely, you can’t tell who she’s calling.

A lump in his throat.

There was a saying in the world that you could tell who someone was desperate to see by the name they called when they were sick.

Mehen did not believe in such things.

He had never called anyone when he was sick.

Maybe it was because he was an orphan. He’d grown up seeing the cold underside of the world before he’d known the warmth of someone’s love.

“Will you come with me?”

Until he met the current Archduke of Halbern.

But even so.

What is it about a young heart that calls out the name of a being it has never seen, with full lips.

“Mum…”

What kind of heart.

She called her mum, who she never met.

His throat burns. Mehen bit his lip, then loosened his tie in frustration and slumped in his seat.

Throughout his life, Mehen has always stuck to his principles. Once he’s made a commitment, he never breaks it.

There was a clear line between Mehen and Arellin. They weren’t family, just guardians and wards.

Mehen didn’t want to cross that line.

But.

‘Oh, for God’s sake.’

The child is crying.

“Sweetheart, I’m here.”

Mehen sighed, hugging the tiny body.

“…It’s okay now.”