Chapter 113
There was no one to stop Mehen, at least not in this Halbern manor.
The first thing Mehen went after was Arellin’s bodyguards.
“Even if they weren’t close escorts, how could you not protect her immediately when she was left alone?”
The six escorts knelt down and said nothing.
There were only five children of the noble family, so the total number of escorts was over twenty, six of them knights of Halbern.
Mehen could not tolerate a momentary gap in his escort. He would have lost Arellin as it was.
“I’m fine.”
Arellin desperately assured him that she was fine.
“My Lady.”
“I was only alone for a few moments.”
“But didn’t you say your heart was hurting? The specialists will tell you if you’re really okay.”
“I’m fine…”
The escorts were taken back to the Knights of Saren, where they would be disciplined, but first they would be rolled until they were ‘useful’ in their eyes.
Arellin’s medical team was composed of the same talent from the temple, tower, and doctor that had been summoned during the last Sharit incident.
They knew that neither the blessings of the priests nor the magic of the healers would be well received by Arellin’s frail body, but…
‘Just in case.’
Mehen poured out Halbern’s astronomical fortune.
‘It’s not my fortune anyway.’
The wealth he’d accumulated over the years was hardly worth spending this much.
“Aren’t you busy?”
Arellin poked her head out from her bed.
“No. I’m not busy.”
“You’re lying.”
“…”
“You can work if you’re busy.”
Arellin smiled sweetly, as if that was okay. Mehen was choked up, knowing how much she cared.
Crossing his trembling hands, Mehen shook his head firmly.
“I’ll stay here even if the business fails, because nothing is more important to me than Arel.”
She knows, because he grew up orphaned and alone. She knows what it means to have a protector by your side when you’re sick.
She craved warmth herself.
‘It wasn’t a guardian who stood by my side.’
Pushing the memory of the little boy peering anxiously into her mind, Mehen looked at the other child, who seemed similar to the boy in her memory.
It was a seat she had purposely left empty, knowing her subject, but she has long since put that hesitation aside.
Arellin bit her lip in apology.
“That hurt.”
She pressed her lips together to stop them from hurting, then pulled out a storybook.
“I’ll read it to you.”
“Sure.”
The pile-up was none of her business. Arellin was sick.
It was half a protest.
The Lord had returned, and now that he was free from his deputy’s position, he’d made more work for himself with his brazen strut.
‘I’m tired.’
‘Would you rather take Arellin and run?’
That might not be so bad…?
With a decade’s worth of vacation in the bank, he could take at least a year’s paid leave.
‘The more I think about it, the more I want to do it.’
A sudden thought made the frigid Mehen look up from formulating a detailed plan to screw his master.
“Ah.”
Meanwhile, Arellin had drifted off to a colorful sleep. Mehen smiled at the peaceful scene.
***
Arellin’s doctor, Warren, was currently facing a major professional crisis.
It was all due to the money man, or rather, his employer, who was hounding him with a shapeshifting glare right before his eyes. It was his employer.
“Doctor, I seem to recall that Arellin has been given the all-clear to go out and about.”
“Duke Mehen, that was fine, ah. What is this…?”
“Is that what you’re asking me?”
“No, no, no, I’m not, I’m just wondering…”
Warren swallowed back tears.
‘You’re trying to buy my pride in medicine for nothing!’
Part of him wanted to tell him he didn’t know anything about medicine.
‘Suck it up. We need to pay for the hospital.’
It was too much money for that.
He could swallow his pride if he had enough money to pay for his perennially losing private practice in exchange for the care of one cute little girl named Arellin.
“The examination didn’t reveal any special inflammation or abnormalities, no abnormalities in the pagoda or the temple, and she’s only gotten better since she’s been exercising and taking special care of herself, so why is she suddenly…”
He even took the mysterious pills delivered by the imperial palace without skipping a beat.
“It’s out of my power. I think that’s it.”
“If you incompetent, the doctors of the World Medical Association are even more incompetent.”
“Ugh.”
The doctor did his best.
It’s just that he’d been given the challenge of curing a rare disease he didn’t even know the name of in the first place.
Mehen dangled a carrot to placate the doctor, and that was that.
The next problem was the actual owner of the mansion.
“What did you do to her?”
Valar, dressed to the nines and removing his gloves, flashed a beautiful smile at the report on Arellin.
It was a seemingly gentle, mesmerizing smile, but…
“Doctor, have you been unhappy with the remuneration?”
“No, My Lord, by no means!”
“Then you don’t like my daughter?”
“Well, of course not.”
Warren swallowed back tears at his newfound crisis.
“Then what’s wrong with her?”
“Nothing’s wrong!”
“If there’s no problem, then why did my daughter fall down?”
“Well, that’s…”
“You can’t answer that. You don’t like my daughter after all, do you?”
“Absolutely not!”
Warren broke into a cold sweat and rambled on like he was writing a paper for a conference about how cute and adorable Arellin was.
Valar, who had been listening with his arms crossed and nodding in agreement, suddenly tilted his head.
Why the sudden glare?
What had he said to push his buttons?
“Are you interested in my daughter?”
“What?! Of course I am. Medical interest!”
“You know her too well.”
“No, that’s a given…”
From the time she was one year old until now, when she was seven years old, the family doctor has been by Mehen’s side.
Isn’t it weird not to know?
But his mouth opened to protest, only to be clamped shut like a clam by a cold stare. Warren realized that the lump in his throat wasn’t from mood.
“Hmph…”
Valar’s long, slicked-back eyes scanned Warren up and down.
Swallowing dryly, in the form of calculating whether or not to kill this thing.
“Your joke isn’t funny, My Lord.”
Mehen interrupted.
Thank goodness.
“I’m not joking.”
“Stop threatening him, My Lord.”
“I’m not threatening him.”
“And stop asking for a doctor.”
“I’m not.”
The man was a pro at lashing out at witnesses.
“What else are you doing that for?”
Valar smiled. Wasn’t it a little too much to admit that it bothered him that a mere doctor knew more about his daughter than he did?
Mehen, who had guessed the subtext so well, sighed long and ruffled his hair, and Valar held up his hands in the air.
“I’m afraid, my dear.”
“Mmmm?”
“I don’t know what you’re saying. I can’t hear you, honey.”
“Don’t call me that!”
His hand came out suddenly, a vicious slap across his back that was obviously not the first time he’d slapped him.
Warren covered his mouth in silence.
‘You two, you can’t be serious…?!’
His eyes were already shaking like an earthquake.
The topic that had already spread like wildfire among the manor’s users! The hot potato that had become today’s topic spread by the Knights of Saren had been confirmed today.
The so-called <They’re just friends and they’re playing like that vs. No, they’re a real family> debate.
For reference, the ratio was 4:6 in favor of the “No, they’re actually family” faction.
“Ouch.”
“Why are you pretending to be sick all of a sudden? We all know this isn’t going to get you anywhere.”
“I thought pretending to be sick would make the slap more worthwhile.”
“…”
Mehen clenched his fists at Valar’s lazy retort.
“Anyway, buy a hawk, and earn!”
The staccato punching made Valar stop pretending to be sick and look sheepish.
“Do you like to hit, Mehen? I don’t want it to hurt.”
“Shut up before I hire a real assassin.”
Warren turned away as if he hadn’t heard.
He doesn’t know if this is going to get around…
