I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 49

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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 49
The situation had become rather entertaining. The scandal’s principals gathered in one place.
Of course, I found none of it entertaining.
‘If this were someone else’s affair, I might have enjoyed watching from the sidelines.’
But this is my story.
In the midst of it all, Ernan deliberately chose to sit beside me, passing over several empty chairs.
I’d stopped trying to fathom Ernan’s true intentions.
What Ernan thought was Ernan’s business alone.
“Welcome, Duke Cleor.”
“It has been quite some time. Come to think of it, you’ve adopted a child named Rene and received an invitation here as well, haven’t you?”
“I heard through the grapevine that your connection with the child began in House Jonasth’s territory. I confess I’m curious to hear the details.”
There was no smile on Ernan’s face, yet neither was he entirely devoid of sociability.
One could see as much simply from the fact that he regularly attended social gatherings.
“Regarding that matter, I fear I must first ask Lady Fidellia’s permission before elaborating.”
The remark implied willingness to answer the question.
When Ernan sought my leave, I waved a hand and said, “Do as you wish,” dismissing the matter from my mind.
While Ernan gave a brief account to the assembled guests, I glanced toward where the children had gathered.
‘How peaceful.’
Perhaps because the conversation hadn’t yet deepened.
For a gathering of children, the atmosphere was remarkably composed and quiet.
“My goodness! What a fateful coincidence!”
‘A far cry from this table of adults.’
They made a grand spectacle of themselves over Ernan’s matter-of-fact remarks, gasping and exclaiming with exaggerated wonder.
And all the while, they kept glancing at me.
‘Well…’
I’d grown accustomed to it.
Still, given how the evening was unfolding, it seemed unlikely I’d find an opportunity to tell Ernan about Siren.
‘Perhaps I should wait until we return home.’
“Speaking of which, I understand your daughter Rene Cleor prepared for her trial together with Lady Fidellia. That must be thanks to the connection formed in House Jonasth’s territory, yes?”
“Indeed.”
“Now that is romantic.”
‘Where, exactly?’
The nobility laughed and chattered among themselves.
“That’s how it all begins for everyone.”
I gazed fixedly at the white tablecloth throughout the commotion.
“Now, what of the bouquet at the Post Office? That charming Primrose Bouquet, I mean.”
At a noblewoman’s words, Ernan regarded her directly.
“I confess I’m uncertain how you came to know of that.”
“Well, it was through…”
“Through?”
‘Gossip, surely.’
But the nobility seemed to possess enough decorum not to speak of illicit gossip in a formal setting.
The noblewoman who had raised the subject let out a nervous laugh, unable to hide her discomfort.
“…I heard it through rumor, naturally.”
“I see.”
The meal arrived shortly after, and the conversation ended there naturally.
The nobles looked as though they were dying to know the full account of the affair, but Ernan’s lips remained sealed.
Finding that Ernan seemed unwilling to say more, they promptly turned to other topics.
Current affairs, recent fortunes, and the season’s emerging social issues became the main subjects of discussion.
I mechanically cut at my plate and spoke quietly to Ernan, as though practicing ventriloquism.
“I’ve brought back good results regarding Siren. Let’s discuss it later.”
“Very well.”
I glanced once more toward the table where the young nobles and Prince Habier had gathered.
The distance made it possible only to discern the expressions of Kiara and Rene.
Given the joy evident on the children’s faces, it seemed the assessment was correct.
‘It looks as though they’ve finished eating and moved on to refreshments.’
They appeared to be engaged in animated conversation, though I found myself deeply curious as to what they were discussing.
‘What concerns me is that Kiara and Rene are from single-parent households.’
I wondered if they were hearing anything inappropriate.
* * *
“Your parents?”
Kiara blinked and answered the child’s question.
“Yes. My mother is Fidellia from House Jonasth, and I don’t have a father.”
A table where noble children, including Prince Habier, had gathered.
The moment had come right after a young count’s son posed a rudely pointed question to Kiara: “Isn’t it true that you don’t have a father?”
“If you don’t have a father, I wonder if you’re receiving proper home education at all?”
“Hmm… but I believe among nobility, tutors rather than parents handle home education. Does home education really depend on whether one has a father?”
Kiara had asked genuinely, not knowing the answer.
Yet her interlocutor seemed somewhat flustered.
“…I misspoke. What I meant was emotional education.”
“Ah, I see. Thank you for your concern. But my adoptive mother spends plenty of time with me, and I have many people caring for me just as well as any other household. So I don’t think such worry is necessary.”
Kiara replied with quiet confidence, unintimidated.
Then she added one more thing.
“But I will have one soon.”
“Pardon? Have what?”
All the children at the table fixed their attention on Kiara.
What was she talking about acquiring?
Kiara’s answer came after a moment.
“A father.”
The children did not understand at once.
“What do you mean…?”
“Do you mean Fidellia is going to marry?”
When one child asked in shock, Kiara nodded confidently.
“That’s right.”
Then she pointed to Rene.
“To this person’s father.”
“Gasp!”
While the children drew in their breath in astonishment, Rene’s cheeks flushed and she averted her gaze.
“Fidellia and Duke Cleor are to marry?”
“Rene, is that true?”
“Yes, yes it is.”
Naturally, Fidellia and Ernan knew nothing of this matter.
But Kiara and Rene had already reached an agreement.
To become one family!
‘If Fidellia and he get married, we’d be family.’
Before the trial date, Kiara and Rene had met in front of Diego’s Office and gone to a dessert shop, where they sensed a possibility in the relationship between their two guardians.
It was Kiara who had proposed first.
To become family together.
‘F-family…?’
And Rene, who had never known a true family, gazed at Kiara with trembling eyes at that sweet word.
‘You want to be family with me too, don’t you?’
‘Y-yes!’
‘All right, then I’ll pretend to be sick. And I’ll ask to go to your house, so you have to cooperate with me no matter what.’
Rene nodded with fierce determination.
What happened next.
‘Oh, my head.’
‘K-Kiara.’
‘A sudden d-dizziness? What’s this? My head is spinning so much!’
Their masterful performance had unfolded exactly that way.
“It’s not quite yet, but we plan to make it happen that way.”
“Ooh…!”
As Kiara spoke with her chin held high, the children’s eyes brightened with keen interest.
That other people’s romance entertains is a truth indifferent to age and gender.
Moreover, the children already understood something of how nobility operated.
A union between House Cleor and House Jonasth!
When they told their parents after the gathering ended, they would surely be amazed.
“Do you have a detailed plan?”
Even the prince who asked this had an air of curiosity about him.
But Kiara fell silent.
“Hmm… not yet.”
It was Rene, unexpectedly, who picked up the thread of Kiara’s words.
“I… we will… we will absolutely make it so… so that doesn’t happen.”
Rene’s eyes blazed with conviction as she clenched her fists tight.

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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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