I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 51

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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 51
I hadn’t been able to help Rene sooner because I didn’t know which family he belonged to.
‘But he wasn’t the Male Lead, at least.’
I remembered that he was the heir to the prestigious House Bertrand.
So the moment my younger brother Noel graduated from public school and finished his studies at Romen University, I transformed him into a tutor and sent him to Caesar.
“Caesar Bertrand.”
That’s why the original Male Lead, who came with Noel, was greeting me like this, looking up at me.
I was seeing the real Caesar for the first time myself.
“Yes, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m not sure if you know, but I’m Fidellia, Noel’s older sister.”
The reason I sent Noel to Caesar as a tutor was simple.
By the conventional rules of romance novels, the Male Lead always carries childhood trauma.
‘In Caesar’s case, it was his father’s neglect and abuse from his previous tutor.’
I couldn’t do anything about his father’s neglect, but fortunately the tutor problem was within my reach to solve.
By modifying my younger brother Noel and sending him as a tutor.
Noel was the only trustworthy person around me, so there was no help for it.
Noel was the eldest son of House Joneus and had graduated early from Romen University, so his chances of being hired were high.
‘Besides, he was the same sex as Caesar.’
In the Corvaliu Empire, the majority of people working as tutors were women, so some nobility with sons had a tendency to prefer male teachers.
So, the result?
‘He passed the hiring with flying colors.’
“Caesar said he didn’t want to go to the Bertrand Duchy townhouse, so I brought him here. You’re not thinking of throwing him out, are you?”
Noel’s habitual way of speaking—teasing and provocative—hadn’t changed.
‘……I’m worried Caesar might have picked up on this too.’
“I’m hardly going to throw out the young Master of House Bertrand.”
Besides, I wasn’t so cold-hearted as to tell a child outright to leave.
But Noel grinned broadly and contradicted me.
“You might, if you’re my sister!”
‘I should hit him.’
Our younger brother, whom I hadn’t seen in a year, seemed to have gotten full of himself.
Before, he wouldn’t have even been able to meet my eyes, but he’d grown so much in that time.
I encouraged Kiara, who was beside me, to greet Caesar as well.
“Hello, I’m Kiara Joneus. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“……I’m pleased to meet you as well. Caesar Bertrand.”
Caesar seemed slightly uncomfortable, but he soon exchanged greetings with composure.
‘Is this the first meeting between the original Male Lead and the Original Villainess?’
In the original story, Kiara wanted to possess Caesar.
‘Or rather, she wanted to steal him from Rene.’
I wasn’t sure whether she genuinely liked Caesar.
The original Kiara was simply jealous of Rene—if something belonged to Rene, she either stole it, ruined it, or did one or the other.
Judging by this first meeting now, it seemed at least that Kiara hadn’t taken a liking to Caesar.
In fact, quite the opposite…….
‘She seems to disapprove of him.’
This was interesting.
What was even more interesting was that Caesar’s state was not so different.
Caesar didn’t seem particularly pleased with Kiara either.
‘I’m curious about the reason.’
Well, I could find that out gradually.
“Duke Cleroor.”
Next, Caesar bowed his head to Ernan as well.
Ernan’s expression shifted to one of surprise, and he tilted his head slightly.
“It’s been more than five years since we last met, yet you remember me.”
“Of course. Though it was when I was very young…… Your Grace is hardly the type of person one forgets easily.”
“That’s too kind of you.”
Even at such direct praise of his appearance, Ernan’s expression remained stoically blank.
‘He must have built up immunity from hearing such things so often.’
I’d never lived as a beauty, so it hardly concerned me.
In any case.
A remarkable Fateful Meeting was taking place before my eyes right now.
“Ah, hello…… I’m Rene, of House Cleroor……”
“Caesar Bertrand.”
The very first meeting between the Female Lead and Male Lead!
If I’d had popcorn in that moment, I would have devoured it without mercy.
In the original work, the two of them met at the Imperial Ball after some time had passed and they’d grown somewhat.
But now, the two of them were barely ten years old.
At this point, Jushin’s claim that the original work hadn’t been twisted began to seem a bit questionable.
Did he consider an earlier meeting as something that didn’t twist the narrative?
In any case, they did meet through the Imperial Palace visit, so it’s all consistent, isn’t it?
‘I have no idea what the standard even is.’
I examined both their faces intently.
It was out of a vague hope that one might recognize their destined partner at first sight.
But it seemed that wasn’t the case.
Immediately after, Caesar turned his head away from Rene, and Rene, finding Caesar’s manner awkward, hid halfway behind Ernan.
‘……Is the time not right yet?’
True, it was rather absurd to expect fateful love from a pair of children barely ten years old.
‘And pretending to orchestrate their romance as the original work dictates would be beneath a guardian’s dignity.’
Truth be told, I didn’t mind if Rene and Caesar never fell in love.
Now I was no longer a reader of a romance novel, but a full inhabitant of this world and a caring adult to Rene.
My fundamental disposition was simply that they should grow up happily, no matter whom they met or didn’t meet.
After Noel and Ernan exchanged greetings — they were not entirely unfamiliar with one another — I instructed the butler Pippin to prepare Caesar’s room.
“Would it be more convenient if his room were on the same floor as Noel’s?”
“Yes, I would appreciate that.”
“Of course.”
But then Noel suddenly looked around and asked me a question.
“Where is Sanna?”
……
I stifled a sigh.
‘As expected, things are unfolding exactly as I predicted.’
“Why would you need to know where she is?”
“Because I’m curious.”
“That’s precisely the problem.”
When I stared at Noel, he flushed and retorted.
“It’s only natural if I like her, isn’t it?”
‘Good heavens.’
Indeed.
My younger brother, Noel, harbored affection for my friend Sanna.
‘Even a lineage of dogs doesn’t have such a tangled pedigree.’
It seemed to me that the House of Joneus ran thick with the blood of one-sided love.
“It’s remarkable that your love is still flourishing even after a year apart.”
“Isn’t it natural that the longer we’re apart, the more tender our feelings become?”
He’s actually serious.
I let out a scoff and turned to head up to my room.
“Sanna is quite busy these days, so abandon any notion of pestering her if you happen to see her.”
“Pestering her!”
“Think back to how you behaved a year ago.”
Before we left for the Bertrand Duchy in the Western Region, Noel had pursued Sanna with such relentless persistence that she’d grown thoroughly exasperated.
It was incomparable to my own behavior toward Ernan.
To put it crudely, you might call it beyond the pale.
“Sanna! Please, I’m begging you, accept my feelings!”
“I refuse!”
“Why? If we married, we’d become one family with my sister!”
“I see no reason why I should have to!”
The two of them’s quarrels echoed through this manor house day after day.
Each time, I would whisk Sanna away to the research laboratory at Romen University to escape.
Or I would shake Noel by the shoulders and try to knock some sense into him, at least for a moment.
Of course, even if I did manage to make him see reason, it would all revert within half a day.
Recalling those past events, I felt a sudden surge of exhaustion.
But Noel, quite shamelessly, cried out again.
“Well, but I don’t think you have the right to say such things to me.”
“What did you just say?”
“Unless, of course, it’s Cleroor we’re talking about.”
“……….”
“You gave me plenty of trouble too, didn’t you?”
“Hey, this………”
So you really do want to go a round with me today.
“……Yes, Noel.”
I rolled up my sleeves and stepped toward him.
“Let’s settle the hierarchy once and for all.”
“……What?”
“You haven’t forgotten Chopin’s Nocturne, have you?”
Chopin’s Nocturne was a classical masterpiece in this world.
“Uh, huh.”
I watched the color drain from Noel’s face at my quiet words.
The closer I came, the more he shuffled backward. A perfectly natural reaction.
You know what they say?
Back in my past life in Korea, there was a meme about “suffering someone’s dream”—a passive voice construction that became viral.
That meme, which had spawned from an anecdote about a famous celebrity, had given me great inspiration in this reborn life…….
When Noel was young, he suffered my Chopin’s Nocturne the way one suffers a dream.
“No! Stop!”
Noel spun around and bolted away at full sprint.
“Stop what?”
You’re finished if I catch you.

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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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