I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 26

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

Chapter 26
The Imperial Palace First Hall, a space that deserved the word “grand,” ordinarily served as a banquet hall, though today it had been repurposed as the venue for a Coronation Ceremony.
As the time of the Coronation Ceremony drew near, people gathered in the Imperial Palace First Hall.
Twenty minutes until the ceremony would begin.
Those who had been out in the Maze Garden entered the hall, conversing warmly with their partners.
Before long, the space had filled to capacity.
There were even diplomatic delegations from abroad, come to celebrate the accession.
‘I want to go home.’
I’d never been one for crowds.
The banquet hall before me wasn’t unfamiliar—I’d walked these halls before with Ernan—yet looking back, I couldn’t fathom how I’d managed it then.
All I had to do now was pass through the great arched entrance and slip into a corner of the hall.
But the moment I stepped inside.
The hum of conversation, like white noise, began to taper off.
“……?”
When I looked up, every eye that had fallen silent was now fixed on me.
‘Ah.’
Only then did it dawn on me.
‘Insane gossip mill.’
Over a hundred pairs of eyes were watching me alone.
“……Miss Fidelия, are you all right?”
Yet the chatter that had briefly died away soon resumed its vigor.
Only now it was laced with the words “Fidelия” and “Ernan.” I could guess what they were saying.
“There’s nothing wrong,” I replied.
As I made my way toward a quieter corner, I caught sight of Siren. Our eyes met.
And then.
‘……What is that?’
Siren’s eyes held a light I didn’t recognize.
‘Strange……’
But I had no time to dwell on it, because in the next moment I was forced to stop.
Two people blocked our path.
“…….”
I pressed my lips together.
‘……Somehow.’
I’d wondered why the crowd around me was thinning. Now I knew.
“……Grand Duke Sarvia.”
There stood Grand Duke Sarvia before us.
Sarvia von Korvalyu.
The woman who was now Sarvia von Dilailah.
Her lustrous ruby-red curls and bright amber eyes made for a striking presence. As the sister of Bruno, who was to become Emperor today, she had received the Grand Duchy title bestowed by their late Empress Mother when she departed the Empire.
“Congratulations on your elevation to Grand Duke. It brings joy to see you again after so long.”
I offered a bow to the Grand Duke before me, mere feet away. Siren followed suit, bending at the waist.
“Your Highness, it is an honor. I am Siren Marco.”
Siren also greeted the one standing beside the Grand Duke.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Lord Cleor.”
……Ernan Cleor, that is.
‘Sigh.’
I held back a breath.
This is why one must always keep watch ahead.
Drive without looking forward and you crash.
Just like now.
‘They came together after all.’
I should have known. Before I became Ernan’s Unofficial Partner, Sarvia had been the one at his side.
Ernan and I didn’t greet each other.
“…….”
“…….”
Instead, we simply stared at each other with expressionless faces.
Was “glaring” the right word?
Whether it was my imagination or not, Ernan’s gaze seemed even colder than usual.
After a few seconds had passed.
“Excuse me, everyone, I’m here.”
It was Sarvia who broke that delicate standoff.
The Grand Duke waved her hand languidly, drawing attention her way.
Coming to my senses, I bowed my head toward Sarvia.
“Forgive me, Your Grace.”
“Oh, no—that wasn’t what I meant at all.”
The Grand Duke approached me with a startled gesture.
She took both my hands and caressed them gently—a tender touch.
“But Fidelия, ‘Your Grace’? Really?”
……
“Aren’t we friends? I gave you special permission, remember? What was my name again?”
Sarvia tilted her eyes playfully, asking with exaggerated innocence.
At that, I had no choice but to laugh.
“You’re right. We’re friends, Sarvia.”
“There we are!”
Sarvia was correct. Our relationship deserved to be called a true friendship—we called on each other whenever boredom struck, and we spoke with perfect candor, without reservation.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Sarvia smiled, her amber eyes—so like the Emperor’s—narrowing pleasantly. Her crimson hair, faintly coarse in texture, rippled gently at her waist.
Sarvia was one of only two friends I had, the other being Sanna.
“How many months has it been? We’ve both been so busy we haven’t seen each other. How have you been?”
“Always the same, I’d say. And how have you been faring, Sarvia?”
“Wonderfully! The world is so beautiful right now I’m nearly blinded by it.”
“What do you mean?”
Bruno’s given me his word—that once he ascends, he’ll use his imperial authority to strike my name from the Imperial Family Register.”
Sarvia spoke with barely contained excitement, explaining that he had promised to do exactly that upon taking the throne.
I, as her long-time friend, knew how desperately Sarvia had always longed to escape the Imperial Family.
To be struck from the Imperial Family Register was to be erased entirely from Korvalyu history—she would become a person who never existed at all.
Should I be honest about it?
I was worried for Sarvia.
Not out of concern for the mere fact of being recorded or erased.
I knew her wish would not come true. In the original work, Sarvia was forced into a political marriage with the protagonist’s father by imperial decree—and that meant she never did escape the Imperial Family.
But I wasn’t heartless enough to dampen my hopeful friend’s spirits with cold water, so I held my tongue.
“What’s the situation here?”
Just then, someone’s whispered voice reached my ears.
“Did the Grand Duke and Lord Ernan attend as partners? Lady Fidelия seems to have come with someone we haven’t seen before. Silver-haired—is he of the imperial bloodline?”
Everyone around us had turned their attention to our group.
“That’s Siren Marco of Marco House. He was renowned as the young master selected to teach Fencing to the Prince, but we hadn’t heard anything about him lately—and now it seems he’s become Lady Fidelия’s unofficial partner.”
“I naturally assumed Lady Fidelия would attend with Lord Ernan.”
“I think we all did. Everyone believed the two had finally become… well, that sort of couple. So it’s truly surprising—why did they attend separately?”
“What exactly is the relationship between these four?”
Whisper, whisper.
Curiosity, confusion, intrigue, suspicion—eyes laden with every conceivable emotion fixed on the four of us.
I found myself reflecting on my life for a moment.
Well.
‘This is why unrequited love is the root of all evil.’
Falling in love is truly exhausting in this world. Why does everyone care so much about other people’s romantic entanglements?
……
Staying silent, I slowly withdrew my hand from Sarvia’s grip and gently took Siren’s arm instead.
“We should take our leave now.”
“Oh, already?”
“I’ll come see you again soon, so don’t be too disappointed.”
I gave Sarvia a gentle smile, excused myself to Siren, and moved away.
In that instant, my eyes met Ernan’s, but I ignored him.
‘Phew.’
As I stepped into the shadows at the edge of the hall, I felt the weight of everyone’s attention gradually lift.
Only when the tension drained from my shoulders did I realize how much I’d been holding myself taut.
‘And the Coronation Ceremony hasn’t even begun yet.’
I was already dead on my feet.
Whether or not he’d noticed,
Siren remained wordlessly at my side.
When our eyes met, he smiled.
“To think I’d run into Your Highness right here—I’m quite startled.”
Gone was the unfamiliar tension from just before meeting Sarvia; in its place was a genuine, artless smile.
“Indeed. I didn’t expect to meet you the moment I entered, either.”
‘Perhaps I was simply seeing things.’
It was possible. My mind had been scattered with everything lately.
Ten minutes remained until the Coronation Ceremony.
Midway up the stairs leading to the throne, priests of the Church were bustling about with preparations.
Among them stood a Pope who was considerably younger than I.
‘……Ah.’
Our eyes met.

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