I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 47

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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 47
“Even so, he’s just an illegitimate child. I don’t understand why this even went to court.”
“Just an illegitimate child? That illegitimate child brought down an entire noble house.”
“The Duke and his ward met for the first time in the Jonnas Territory, didn’t they? Fidellia’s homeland. Which means……”
“So the rumor that Ernan was in the Jonnas Territory before the coronation ceremony was true? This settles it—the relationship between him and Fidellia has definitely changed from what it was.”
“And considering they were spotted together with that illegitimate child at the Tailoring Shop, it’s clear things between them took a turn for the better.”
“Speaking of which, didn’t Fidellia adopt a child with no family ties?”
“So the two of them each adopted a child. And those children are even said to get along well with each other……”
“Doesn’t this seem like……?”
“It does.”
Thump-thump.
“Signs of a wedding!”
“Oh!”
But Fidellia, blissfully unaware of all this.
She was currently……
“Siren. Tell me the truth.”
She was interrogating Siren.
* * *
The meeting with the Prince would happen a week later.
In the meantime, I felt the need to settle some pending business.
‘I need to confirm something.’
Why had Flora’s story changed?
Originally, Flora should have been imprisoned after the grown Rene exposed her tax evasion.
But things had shifted.
Flora had gone bankrupt through gambling instead.
‘And then she sued Ernan over damages related to the kidnapping.’
I’d deduced that someone had put Flora up to this—that there’d been outside interference in the matter.
‘The silver-haired man who visited the Gambling House with Flora.’
It was something I’d heard while persuading the gambling house executives to secure the debt ledgers.
<Our manager said that silver-haired youth handled everything about fleecing Flora. We just provided the venue.>
So I’d asked directly.
“Siren. Tell me the truth.”
To Siren, my prime suspect.
“About what?”
“I have a suspicion.”
“What suspicion……?”
“That someone got Flora to take up gambling. And that the same person guided her into filing that lawsuit.”
“Gasp.”
Siren drew in a sharp breath.
Then he nodded vigorously.
“Your reasoning has merit, Fidellia.”
The Siren who spoke like this seemed far too innocent to be the mastermind behind such a scheme, and appeared entirely uninvolved in the matter.
To be honest, the moment I saw Siren again today, I’d almost abandoned my suspicion.
‘Look at that clear face.’
The word “scheme” fit that open, honest countenance as well as a fish fit a tree.
And his characteristically clumsy nature bred only thoughts of “surely not.”
If this were all an act, Siren would be the most terrifying person I’d ever met.
“Well, but……”
Just then, Siren, who seemed to be thinking something through, offered his opinion cautiously.
“No matter how reckless Flora’s actions were, wouldn’t it be a stretch to say there was someone else’s scheme behind it all…… Ah, not that I’m denying your suspicion entirely, Fidellia!”
‘Ah.’
In that moment, I was certain.
‘It’s him.’
I set down my teacup.
“Siren. Stop evading.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who manipulated Flora.”
“…………”
Siren’s mouth fell silent.
His entire demeanor shifted in an instant.
Siren regarded me in silence for a long moment, his eyes settling into an odd, unreadable depth.
There it was—that same look, that expression I’d glimpsed in him on the day of the coronation ceremony when something felt subtly wrong.
Like Sarubia not long ago, this was the first time I’d seen Siren without his mask of pleasantness.
People say it’s truly frightening when someone who’s always smiling suddenly doesn’t. This felt like a scene from a thriller. The atmosphere had grown positively cinematic.
Siren finally broke the silence.
“I’m not sure why you’ve settled on me.”
“Neither am I, really. I don’t have hard evidence—just suspicion.”
“What do you…”
“But I did find one piece. When Count Flora went to the Gambling House, there was apparently a silver-haired man at her side.”
……
Siren said nothing.
“Besides, you’ve never contradicted my opinions before now.”
But just now, when I suggested something, you denied it wasn’t just my guess.
Character inconsistency.
“Until now it was just a character, wasn’t it? The graduate student who worships Fidellia Jonas—that sort of thing.”
But the moment I voiced my suspicion, that character facade cracked as you denied it.
“That’s not true.”
“…?”
“I genuinely respect her. That’s the truth.”
……
What?
My brow furrowed.
So that innocent, wide-eyed devoted fan and the mastermind plotting from the shadows—both of them were Siren Marco?
I was left speechless. This possibility hadn’t existed in any of my calculations.
‘What kind of character was Siren in the original work?’
Suddenly I remembered why I could recall ‘the childhood friend of the villainous stepmother’s husband’ from the original story.
Siren Marco, he was…
‘…set up as a madman.’
Then everything clicked into place.
His particular fixation was friendship, so in the original, there was even an incident where he nearly killed Kiara for Diego’s sake. It was summarized so briefly that I’d only just remembered it.
‘Wait, if that’s the case…?’
“Fine, then. You, who admire me so. What I’m truly curious about is your motive for doing all this.”
Why had Siren Marco done something like this?
That was what I wanted to know.
“…That would be…”
“That would be?”
“Because of Diego.”
……
‘Of course.’
The image that flashed through my mind was a young Diego from his Public School days.
“Don’t tell me—it’s because Diego had a crush on me back in Public School?”
“You knew?”
Siren asked, his eyes widening in surprise.
‘So it was real?’
Was that really all this was about?
“It would be strange if I hadn’t noticed. Pretending not to know was quite the ordeal back then.”
“…But.”
Siren’s voice dropped deeper.
“But you met again. As adults.”
“That’s true.”
“Don’t you feel anything… differently?”
……
‘I see.’
Now I understood.
“You were trying to bring Diego and me together, weren’t you? You assumed that since I know him as a lawyer, I’d come looking for him, and you orchestrated everything based on that assumption?”
“I won’t deny it.”
‘Is he insane?’
That connection had been severed seven years ago.
So this man in front of me was clinging to a bond from seven years past.
And not even his own bond at that.
‘What remarkable devotion,’ I mused silently.
Admiration spilled out of me.
Of the negative sort.
“This question might be a bit inconsiderate toward Diego, who isn’t here, but does he still like me?”
“That is…….”
Siren faltered, unable to answer readily.
I narrowed my eyes.
“He doesn’t, then?”
“No, that’s not it!”
Ah.
“You didn’t even ask him, did you?”
“…….”
“Seriously?”
I was dumbfounded.
“So what were you planning to do if I hadn’t sought out Diego myself?”

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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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