I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 11

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 11
“…….”
Have I lost my mind?
I doubted my own sanity. There was no logical reason for the original story’s heroine to be here.
The protagonist, born a bastard and tormented since childhood, was heading toward Ernan Cleor’s territory.
Cleor Territory lay in the west of Korvalyu, while this place—Jonase Territory—was in the south. There was no way the original heroine could appear here, so far removed.
‘……Or could she?’
As I mulled it over, my confidence wavered.
To be precise, I didn’t know the original heroine’s birth family.
‘All I know is that they were a count’s house somewhere in the empire.’
The heroine rescued by Ernan was registered in his household registry and took the Cleor name, becoming Rene Cleor.
Since the original story began as “Rene Cleor,” that was the name I knew best.
Of course. Why would I bother learning the name of the family that tormented her in childhood?
I’d never even wondered where that family’s territory and mansion were located.
Not until I was reincarnated into this world.
Now it was very much my problem.
‘So……’
What noble houses existed around Jonase Territory?
“Fidellia! What are you doing over there?”
I turned my head toward the voice, startled.
Kiara had entered the Training Ground and was calling to me from across the way.
At the same moment, the bushes on the opposite side shook violently. They seemed to react to Kiara’s cry.
‘……This is bad.’
For some reason, I had a strong premonition that I shouldn’t let these two children meet.
‘But why, exactly?’
Because in the original story, they were bitter enemies.
So I couldn’t allow Rene (presumably) and Kiara to encounter each other.
What if the narrative weight of the original story activated and they ended up fighting and tearing into each other?
Of course, I trusted Kiara.
The original heroine seemed kind too, so I trusted her as well.
‘But not yet.’
I wasn’t ready for it.
Kiara bounded toward me, and I scooped her up without acknowledging anything in the direction of the pink hair.
“Sanna said she’d be here, and she really is!”
“Sanna told you that?”
“Yeah. She said she takes walks whenever she has a headache…… But what’s that?”
Kiara frowned and gazed at something.
My blood ran cold.
Surely not……
“Gasp, Fidellia!”
The next instant, Kiara pounded on my shoulder and pointed in a direction.
“Look there! Look!”
Kiara cried out, unable to contain her excitement.
“There’s a cat!”
I’m doomed…… What?
I turned sharply toward where Kiara was pointing. To my relief, she was actually pointing in the exact opposite direction from where the pink-haired girl was.
And there was…
‘……A cat?’
There really was a cat.
A round, plump tabby with earthy fur.
“Fidellia.”
Kiara’s voice had taken on an oddly serious tone as she gripped my shoulder.
“I want to keep it.”
“No—”
Even as I spoke, the cat in the distance began approaching us.
Oh no, wait, stop for a moment.
But the cat, indifferent to telepathy, merely swished its tail and drew steadily closer.
After setting Kiara down, I furrowed my brow with a bad feeling. Sure enough, my gaze remained fixed on Kiara as she toddled toward the cat.
‘If that happens……’
All the small details around me flashed through my mind in an instant.
Kiara.
A cat.
Pink.
Then…
‘How many children does she have?’
I felt my blood run cold again.
* * *
At present, the political situation in the Korvalyu Empire was rather turbulent.
It began when the Emperor declared he would abdicate and embark on a continental expedition.
The Council protested vehemently immediately after the declaration, but it proved difficult to sway an Emperor already so firmly resolved.
“My husband and I just want to travel a bit—what’s the problem?”
“Your Majesty, but surely—!”
“No, no, I won’t hear it. After concluding the Peace Treaty, the Imperial Court became useless anyway, didn’t it? There won’t be any wars, and now Korvalyu runs according to the Council’s will. What difference does one Emperor’s absence make?”
The dispute dragged on at length.
The Emperor emerged victorious.
The Council argued that precisely because Imperial authority remained intact, the Emperor should preserve his position.
The Emperor countered that if Imperial authority was truly intact, what did it matter if the Emperor changed?
The Council insisted they could not accept an Imperial Succession.
The Emperor observed that they hardly seemed confident in Imperial authority at all.
“Do you think I don’t understand why you cling to me? You fear my son. Tsk, tsk—a grown man in his thirties, yet unable to manage a single child, so he clings to the Emperor’s robes. Shameful—truly unfit for diplomacy.”
The Crown Prince, at over thirty with two children of his own, could hardly be described as “a mere child,” yet the Council, thoroughly berated, ultimately accepted the Emperor’s abdication.
The moment the Emperor completed his handover to the Crown Prince, he departed the realm entirely with his consort.
In other words, the Imperial throne of Korvalyu was currently vacant.
Yet because its rightful occupant was already decided, no one harbored ambitions for it.
Bruno von Korvalyu.
Crown Prince of the Korvalyu Empire.
Now, on the very eve of his coronation, he found himself utterly captivated by an unexpected piece of news.
As for that news…
Oh, speak of the devil—the very subject of the rumor has just arrived.
“Ernan!”
Bruno sprang to his feet and spread both arms in welcome to the man who had just entered.
Golden-haired and blue-eyed, with a face so striking it could leave one speechless no matter how often one saw it.
“You’re a rare sight. You were the same when my father summoned you.”
“My apologies.”
“That tone of yours—utterly unapologetic, as always!”
Upon entering the Crown Prince’s office, Ernan gave a slight nod and made for the sofa.
Bruno, as if it were second nature, took the seat across from him.
Shortly, an attendant brought tea. Once they were alone, Bruno lowered his voice as if sharing a secret, his golden eyes narrowing beneath his silver hair.
“I’ve come across some truly sensational news.”
“What might that be?”
Bruno took a deep breath, as if to say, prepare yourself.
It was hardly an exaggeration to say he had summoned Ernan solely for this revelation.
“Apparently, Fidellia Jonase has gone down to her territory!”
Bruno’s voice boomed with no regard for the discretion he’d just feigned, and he pressed his forehead dramatically as if staggered by the shocking news.
“You must have known, surely? Your unofficial partner has abandoned your side—what anguish you must feel. I understand completely. This must be terribly painful for you.”
Indeed.
The fascinating news that had captured Bruno’s attention was nothing less than an updated chapter in Ernan and Fidellia’s romantic saga.
Bruno, who took considerable interest in other people’s love affairs, had been watching them closely for some time. What could be more entertaining than someone else’s romance?
These days, when he was swamped with coronation preparations and scarcely had a moment to breathe, their story had become a ray of light…
Ernan let out a hollow laugh. The way he raised his teacup to his lips seemed a gesture of dismissal—that his companion’s words weren’t worth acknowledging.
“According to a reliable source, the two of you met quite recently. Already quarreling?”
“And what reliable source would that be?”
“An illegal gossip sheet.”
……
“‘After two weeks apart, Ernan Cleor and Fidellia Jonase share a clandestine meeting at the Cleor Mansion!’ That was the last article I saw about you.”
“It wasn’t particularly clandestine.”
“Right, sure.”
Bruno seemed unconvinced.
“What a terrible quarrel it must have been for even Fidellia Jonase to retreat to her family home. This is certainly your fault—you must apologize the moment you see her.”
“That’s not quite it…”
Ernan, caught in the torrent of misunderstanding, swallowed the explanation he’d been about to give.
He knew it wouldn’t matter anyway.
Bruno had eyes and ears only for matters of the heart—and, more vexingly, he clamped down on reason itself when it came to such things. Denying it only made him dig in harder; he was, quite simply, a tyrant in his own way.
Bruno then called out to Ernan, who sat staring into his teacup as if lost in thought.
“Come now, snap out of it. I’m feeling generous today. Behold—do you know what this is?”
Bruno pulled a sheet of paper from nowhere and fluttered it through the air.
“A Coronation Invitation!”
…….
Ernan looked at Bruno as one might regard an idiot. His eyes alone could commit blasphemy.
But Bruno felt no guilt.
“Of course you know. At an Emperor’s coronation, it’s the law—a duty—that at least one member of each noble house attends. No invitation needed for that, naturally.”
So this was merely an excuse.
Bruno’s mouth curved upward like a serpent’s, and he pressed the invitation into Ernan’s hands with a sharp thrust against his shoulder.
“He’s not Emperor yet, so I can’t truly call it an imperial decree… but let’s pretend it counts.”
As Bruno rattled off a hundred more absurdities, Ernan kept his mouth firmly shut.
Bruno, his legs crossed with arrogant ease, broke into a bright smile.
“There’s your imperial decree. Go to the Jonase Territory and back.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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