I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 43

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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 43
Judgment
1. The petition by plaintiff Paulo Flora regarding custody rights and damages is dismissed.
2. The defendant Ernan Cleor is permitted to exercise custody rights over the child Rene.
3. The parental rights of the plaintiff over the child are revoked.
4. The plaintiff shall bear all court costs.
(omitted)
Conclusion
The plaintiff Paulo Flora’s petition for the return of the child and damages is without merit.
* * *
Paulo Flora still couldn’t believe it.
‘I’m drowning in debt.’
Born into the wealthy house of a southern count, granted the position of family head as the eldest son without incident—this ordeal was utterly foreign to him.
The crisis of a lifetime, one he’d never imagined.
Paulo Flora still regretted that day.
‘I should never have gone to the gambling house.’
Paulo Flora wasn’t the sort to enjoy such things.
“…….”
Wait. Let me correct that.
He’d enjoyed it quite often in the past, come to think of it.
But that past belonged to his youthful days, before he’d inherited the family headship. After becoming head of house, his declining health consumed all his attention—he’d had no time for such indulgences.
In any case, had he not gone to that gambling house that day, none of this would have happened.
But it was beyond his control.
He’d opened his eyes to find himself in a gambling den with that young man. Wait.
‘It was that man who was the problem from the start!’
A few days before the investiture ceremony, a man appeared suddenly before Paulo Flora.
“Aren’t you Count Flora?”
The man who’d first spoken to him at a tailor’s shop had quite a handsome face.
“Fancy meeting you in a place like this. Ah, I’m Siren of House Marco.”
House Marco.
He’d heard of them.
A noble house that had flourished during the age of warfare, though they’d since fallen into decline.
“You know me?”
Paulo Flora regarded this unexpected visitor with suspicion.
“Of course! Your territory is famous as the finest destination in the Southern Region. I’ve been thinking of visiting it myself.”
Yet the young man, barely past his majority, appeared far too guileless to have any ulterior motive. He’d stated his house openly, his status clear.
“That’s right! Young people these days have no sense of shame. Men and women ought to maintain propriety, yet……”
“Your words are entirely just. The young of today are quite radical indeed.”
And the conversation flowed naturally!
Paulo Flora’s suspicion crumbled quickly away.
Delighted to finally meet a young man who understood him, he even invited the stranger to his residence.
They shared supper, and when wine came up in conversation, they began a drinking session.
Paulo Flora held forth with old men’s wisdom, believing himself to be dispensing life counsel.
At some point, he lost consciousness.
When he opened his eyes, Paulo Flora realized he was in an unfamiliar place.
“Your Lordship mentioned there was a fun game to be had here, so I brought you along.”
“……I did?”
What happened after that passed too quickly to remember clearly.
Several people crowded toward the table where Paulo Flora sat, and something came into his hands.
Siren said something from beside him.
There’s no question that Paulo Flora simply followed his words.
And yet.
When he came to his senses, he was burdened with an enormous debt.
At first, he was simply stupefied.
This was why he’d grabbed the young man beside him without even realizing he was the one who’d brought him there, desperate for advice.
“Tell me, what am I to do now?”
The young man looked at him with an expression full of remorse, offering words of consolation.
“I should have stopped Your Lordship from coming here……. My sincerest apologies. I’ll ask my father if there’s any way he can help you out of this.”
“Th-thank you.”
“Oh, that reminds me.”
The young man pondered for a moment, then asked him as if something had occurred to him.
“I’ve seen a girl who Duke Cleor has begun to serve as guardian for.”
“And what of it?”
“She resembled Count Flora.”
……
“By any chance, is there not a lost child in your household?”
From that moment, Count Flora saw nothing else.
Ernan Cleor’s ward.
A girl with pink hair and grey eyes.
‘Rene!’
Upon seeing her photograph in the gossip column, his conviction deepened. It was unmistakably Rene.
In Count Flora’s mind, the calculating gears never ceased their grinding.
Ernan Cleor was a man who could claim to possess the greatest wealth in Corbalue.
If such a man had taken Rene, that useless burden, and made himself her guardian—
If he had grown attached to her!
‘I’ll blackmail him!’
Yes, that was good. Under the guise of a lawsuit, he would demand money on the condition that Rene’s custody rights be fully transferred to him and he would keep silent……
“Rather than threaten him with a lawsuit, I think it would be better to actually file one.”
“Why? Why is that?”
“Blackmail might not work, wouldn’t it? To be certain, the law is the most reliable thing. And Your Grace is the biological father of the child, after all.”
Count Flora was swayed by those words.
Distracted and bewildered, he eagerly accepted what the kind young man beside him had to say.
So immediately after the coronation ceremony ended, he filed the complaint. Siren arranged for a lawyer to represent him, since he himself had been left penniless.
Count Flora was genuinely grateful to him.
That gratitude lasted right up until the day of the trial……
“The plaintiff’s claim for damages does not appear easy to grant.”
When the trial began to flow in a strange direction, I felt something was amiss.
My stomach churned from the moment the proceedings began.
I understood the reasons well enough.
But to organize all the thoughts that now swirled chaotically through my head……
“Rene!”
“Ah, Sister Ariel……!”
A touching reunion of sisters unfolded before my eyes.
After the verdict was handed down.
Diego, Ariel Flora, and I left the courtroom without looking back.
We abandoned Count Flora, sitting with a vacant expression, and the Countess, unable to contain her fury.
Ariel, with her characteristic expressionless face, walked briskly forward and embraced Rene.
“You’ve grown again since I last saw you.”
“I… I missed you.”
“Of course I missed you too.”
And here—two clients and one lawyer who couldn’t bring themselves to intrude upon that reunion.
“Completely mirror images……wait, more like waffles.”
“Waffles?”
“Identical, as though pressed from the same mold.”
I kindly explained it to Ernan, marveling silently to myself.
‘Corbalue’s future is bright.’
Two such beautiful children in one place.
“The only real difference seems to be their hair color.”
“I agree.”
I affirmed Diego’s observation.
The three adults gathered to one side, watching the reunion, approached only when Rene looked around searching for us.
Ariel, who had been kneeling to meet Rene’s gaze, stood and offered a greeting.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Ariel Flora, Rene’s half-sister.”
Having introduced herself, Ariel turned to address Ernan.
“You are the legal guardian of my sister, Your Grace.”
“I am.”
“I gathered the general story from the trial proceedings. You first met my sister in Jonas Territory and became her guardian at Lady Fidellia’s urging, I believe.”
“That’s correct.”
“Was there genuine affection for the child in that decision?”

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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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