I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 20

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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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Episode 20
Past noon, in the afternoon.
Ernan, who had been braiding Rene’s hair, shifted his gaze toward the door at the sound of a knock—tap, tap.
Through the crack of the door, which opened without so much as a creak, a face poked through.
“Hello.”
It was Kiara, her expression fresh and composed.
“Oh, uh… um…”
Rene, who had entrusted her hair to Ernan while reading a Fairy Tale Book, let out a sound that was hardly an answer at all, her bewilderment plain.
Kiara paid it no mind, closed the door behind her, and turned to face the two of them.
Ernan merely observed, his expression as indifferent as always—the look of someone unbothered by everything.
“You.”
Kiara called out to Ernan.
“What.”
“Get out.”
“…”
Ernan, having finished braiding and tied off the end of her hair with a neat ribbon, rose from his seat.
“Stubborn as ever—guardian and ward are cut from the same cloth.”
Ernan picked up his outer coat and walked toward the door without asking why or offering resistance.
Kiara stepped further into the room.
At the door, Ernan glanced back for a moment and looked down at Kiara with a warning.
“Don’t hit her.”
A flush of indignation colored Kiara’s face.
“Do I really look that violent to you?!”
“Apparently.”
“Why, you—!”
Offended, Kiara began shoving the still-present Ernan firmly toward the exit.
“Out!”
Yet Ernan didn’t budge, and he imparted one more instruction to Rene.
“If you need help, scream.”
“Oh, yes, y-yes…”
“I said get out!”
Thud.
Only then did the door close.
Kiara, having delivered a futile kick toward the door, turned back to Rene with a disgruntled huff.
Flinch.
Rene’s shoulders trembled.
The memory of their first meeting that day had resurfaced.
Kiara approached with heavy, deliberate steps and sat in the chair where Ernan had been moments before.
“You.”
“Y-yes?”
“Tell me about yourself.”
“Wh-what?”
“I don’t like you right now.”
Kiara spoke with a bluntness that bordered on harsh.
That she didn’t like her.
“And I hate pretending to like someone. So tell me why you showed up here. If you’re more pathetic than I am, maybe I’ll go easy on you.”
“…”
Kiara tilted her chin slightly.
It was an action that would have left Fidellia speechless.
“…”
In contrast, Rene’s eyes wavered. Her lips trembled.
“I… I…”
“That is…”
“I-I was born… at Count Flora’s House…”
“You’re a noble lady?”
Kiara’s brow furrowed sharply.
Rene quickly shook her head in denial.
“No, no!”
“Then what?”

“An… an illegitimate….”
“An illegitimate child?”
“Mm…….”
Hmm.
Kiara studied Rene intently. She didn’t seem to be lying.
“So?”
“……What?”
“What does it matter if you’re illegitimate.”
“…….”
Shadows flickered across Rene’s face.
“……I ran, I was trying to tell you why I ran away.”
“Why?”
Well, it was like this.
It was…….
“Everyone…… hated me…… they beat me, they beat me…….”
Rene’s complexion had gone deathly pale. Anyone could see she was terrified.
“I was hungry, I hurt…… I ran away…… and I just kept walking, and then, I came here…….”
“…….”
Kiara watched Rene in silence.
Quiet settled between them for a moment.
Rene’s small hand gripped the blanket tightly.
“I did too.”
“……?”
“I ran away after being beaten too.”
As Kiara said this, her brow furrowed slightly, as though recalling something unpleasant.
Yet there was no trace of fear or anxiety in her expression.
“We’re kind of alike.”
Rene stared at Kiara with wide eyes.
Those transparent, ash-grey irises could not look away from the other girl.
‘Alike…….’
The conversation that followed was not so different from what had come before.
One child would speak of her misery, and the other would nod along, sharing a similar sorrow.
The nights they’d gone hungry.
The times they’d hidden to avoid punishment, only to be beaten more severely later.
The times they’d been struck brutally.
The times they’d been grabbed by the hair for no reason at all.
Had anyone witnessed such tales, they would surely have been struck speechless by horror. Yet the two children’s expressions remained calm.
Even Rene, who had been so pallid at first, gradually found her way back to peace.
It was the first time she’d recalled terrible things without tears coming.
Why was that?
It was simple. They knew each other now, and neither was alone anymore.
Misery becomes only half as heavy when it meets the same misery.
Their fragmented conversation drew to a close with a kind of declaration.
Kiara let out a small, dry laugh and spoke plainly.
“It grates on me to admit it, but I will.”
“Wh, what……?”
“That Fidellia brought you here.”
Fidellia is kind, after all.
So she brought you here because you’re like me. It was something she couldn’t help doing.
Now that she’d heard the story, Rene was no ordinary vagrant child.
They were mirrors of each other.
Both abandoned by their families, both abused, both rescued dramatically by Fidellia’s hand.
Could it be said they had finally reached paradise?
“That’s enough.”
“Huh, yes?”
Kiara scrunched up her face.
“Enough! If you’re hurting, just get some sleep!”
“Y, yes……!”
It was the moment a bond formed between two children.
* * *
It was a succession of days I could scarcely believe.
I stood before the scene unfolding before my eyes, struggling to piece together how it had come to pass.
My attempts at reasoning only ended in failure.
‘How on earth had the two of them, in mere hours, ended up sprawled out asleep side by side?’
That was the question.
The two children who had tormented me for days now lay sleeping beside each other without so much as a blanket pulled over them, snoring softly.
‘It’s a good thing.’
It is a good thing.
But still.
“Ernan.”
“Mm?”
“Would you mind explaining what exactly happened here?”
“I haven’t the faintest idea.”
If you don’t know, who does?
“You must have been watching Rene while I was in the Laboratory. How did this happen?”
“Kiara said to leave the room, so I did. After that, I’m equally lost.”
Utterly useless, the lot of it.
“You simply left when she told you to? What if something had gone wrong?”
“That’s why I told her not to hit anyone.”
“Telling a child that directly is—no, never mind. Just go. Before they wake up.”
I carefully lifted Kiara into my arms and stepped out of the room.
I was about to head toward the Main Building when I hesitated, then turned back to speak to Ernan.
“Listen.”
“……?”
“Thank you.”
…….
My gaze wandered somewhere on the floor rather than meeting his eyes.
“I couldn’t have created a moment like this on my own. And I can’t exactly say what you did was the right way to go about it, but.”
That was all. I left without waiting for his reply.
* * *
The days that followed were peaceful.
Kiara and Rene spent their time running between the Main Building and the Annex, while the three of us guardians—myself included—were kept busy looking after them.
To be honest, I devoted myself more to my research than to childcare, so Sanna and Ernan likely bore the heavier share of the burden.
The Mansion never fell silent—the sound of children’s laughter filled every corner.
Several weeks passed in this manner.
‘It’s really time to go now.’
The Coronation Ceremony was upon us.
We set out for the Capital.

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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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