I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 55

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Episode 55
Cesar had overheard my conversation with Noel.
When our eyes met, his pupils dilated sharply.
…….
I understood in an instant.

Noel Joneus, the grand opening of a difficult road!
‘A guardian shouldn’t say something like that in front of a child.’
Of course, Noel had no idea Cesar was listening to this conversation.
‘Haven’t they heard the old saying—one must guard their tongue day and night.’
Now that Bertrand Ducal House’s father had abdicated his parental duties, Cesar Bertrand’s de facto guardian and emotional mainstay was Noel in all but name.
And Cesar had just heard Noel—that very person—say she didn’t want to claim him as her child, her tone cold and heartless.
“You know how shocked I was when I came to the Capital and heard that you’d adopted a child? How old are you now? Mid-twenties? And you’re adopting a grown man who’s only fifteen years your junior? Have you lost your mind?”
Oblivious to the fact that Cesar was listening from beyond the doorway, Noel continued pouring out her objections with passionate fervor.
“Noel.”
“What? Am I wrong?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then what! I’m right, aren’t I!”
Cesar’s listening.
……What?”
Only then did Noel’s head turn toward the doorway.
“Oh no—why is the young master here……? Wait, hold on.”
Noel, her brows drawn tight, seemed to be slowly retracing her words to check what she’d misspoken.
And then—
……Young master! That’s not what I meant!”
Suddenly drained of color, she rushed toward Cesar.
But Cesar only clenched his lips and turned to leave.
“Young master! Cesar!”
Thump.
Unable to follow him, Noel sank to the floor.
How pitiful.
‘At least she’s realized her words were a wound.’
And that’s precisely why I assigned Noel as Cesar’s tutor in the first place.
‘But she can’t stay like this.’
“Go after him. What are you doing sitting there?”
“Oh! Right, of course!”
Up she sprang.
Noel scrambled to her feet and hurried after Cesar.
‘The child is certainly……scatterbrained.’
If I’m being charitable, I’d call it guileless.
It’s remarkable how opposite her temperament is to mine.
‘Even though we share blood.’
Is it because of my past-life memories, perhaps?
And then, as if the situation needed to be worse, something unforeseen transpired.
Several days after the cold war between Kiara and Cesar showed no sign of ending.
Imperial Prince Xavier learned that Cesar, the heir of House Bertrand, had arrived in the Capital.
More specifically, that he was staying at the Joneus Mansion.
[You are cordially invited to the Imperial Prince Palace]
And so such an Invitation Letter arrived at the Joneus Mansion.
Addressed to Cesar, and to Kiara and Rene.
* * *
The prince’s summons specified that guardians were to accompany the invitees.
“Welcome, everyone.”
When Kiara, Cesar, and I arrived at the Imperial Prince Palace, the first person we encountered was, predictably, Imperial Prince Xavier.
“Rene!”
“K-Kiara……!”
And there was Rene as well.
Watching the children reunite after only a week apart with such dramatic fervor, my gaze soon shifted to Cesar—and then to Imperial Prince Xavier.
I considered the principal players in this scene and their houses.
The Imperial Family.
House Cleroor.
House Bertrand.
House Joneus.
‘What is this, some sort of high nobility cartel?’
The protagonists’ credentials were so impressive that these situations kept unfolding.
As for Xavier the Imperial Prince, I couldn’t quite tell if he was a main character or supporting cast, but judging by those credentials, the odds were high he played a significant role either way.
Let me count him as a supporting character for now.
‘……Could it be that Xavier the Imperial Prince died young and simply doesn’t appear in the original work?’
Having nearly forgotten the original story, I couldn’t even be certain whether Xavier the Imperial Prince appeared in it at all—so it was hardly unreasonable for me to think that way.
But that would be far too melodramatic.
The author had already given the heroine’s adoptive father a limited lifespan, and then the villainess’s adoptive mother too.
Surely the author hadn’t set things up the same way for the Imperial Prince as well.
Xavier the Imperial Prince had apparently summoned Cesar, the heir of House Bertrand, after hearing he’d come to the Capital.
He’d called for Kiara because she lived in the same mansion as Cesar.
And he’d called for Rene because Rene was friends with Kiara.
“Good day, Lady Fidellia. It seems we’ve been meeting quite frequently of late.”
I admired Xavier the Imperial Prince’s composed hospitality to myself once more.
‘He really could pass for a male lead without any issue.’
Why couldn’t I even remember whether this boy appeared in the original work?
Xavier the Imperial Prince turned his gaze toward Cesar.
“Cesar Bertrand. It’s been a while.”
“……Indeed.”
Cesar returned the Imperial Prince’s greeting with curt brevity.
He seemed to be barely suppressing discomfort.
‘The problem is that it’s all so obvious.’
Was it because he was still so young?
‘Still, this pairing between the two of them is quite interesting.’
Xavier the Imperial Prince and Cesar, the original work’s male lead.
From the way they greeted each other, they already seemed acquainted.
Notably, Xavier showed no discomfort while only Cesar seemed bothered by the other—that detail alone caught my attention.
‘What happened between them in the past?’
But since I couldn’t ask directly, I suppressed the curiosity rising within me.
The four children headed to the garden courtyard as they did on their tutoring days, while the children’s guardians gathered in the Imperial Prince Palace’s reception room.
If there was a problem, it was that only Ernan and I showed up as guardians.
‘I can’t order the Emperor around, and Bertrand is in the Western Region anyway, so what can I do.’
“Since there’s nothing to talk about, let’s just kill time and leave.”
“I have no objection.”
And so this absurd reunion unfolded without fail.
Ernan and I each asked an attendant for a book.
We planned to pass the time reading, then leave once the children’s session ended.
But someone had other plans for this agreed-upon peace……
Bang!
“Fidellia, I’m here!”
The person who burst through the reception room door.
“……Sarubia?”
It was none other than Sarubia.
I stared at Sarubia, who was beaming with a smile, feeling utterly bewildered.
“What brings you here?”
“There’s no reason an aunt can’t visit her nephew’s palace.”
Well, when she puts it that way, I have nothing to say.
“I’m joking—naturally, I came to see you, Fidellia.”
She laughed brightly and settled into the seat beside me.
“And hello to you too, Ernan Cleroor, our dear relative.”
“Yes, well. It does seem we’ve been meeting frequently of late.”
“Oh, come now, we used to see each other far more often. Don’t be so formal.”
At that point, Sarubia glanced back at me with an “oh dear” expression.
She seemed to be reading my mood.
‘There’s no need for that.’
There hadn’t been need before, but these days there was even less need.
“I’ve given up on that unrequited love, Sarubia.”
Now that I think about it, I believe I mentioned something related to this to Bruno during the coronation ceremony.
“Haven’t you heard this from His Imperial Majesty?”
At my words, Sarubia’s eyes widened in surprise as she stared at me.
The expression of someone hearing it for the first time.
“I haven’t the faintest idea.”
And then Sarubia turned to Ernan.
“Ernan, did you know about this?”
“Anyone who needs to know already does.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!”
Sarubia sighed in exasperation, scrunched up her face, bounced her leg a few times, and then spread two fingers wide before me.
“Fidellia, there are two things you need to know.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Sarubia raised only her index finger and spoke.
“First of all, I had no idea whatsoever that you’d abandoned your unrequited love.”
“I never mentioned it, so I apologize for that.”
Sarubia said it was fine, then extended her middle finger alongside the index.
“Secondly, for me to hear such a thing through Bruno…… our relationship has undergone a catastrophic break.”
Ah.
A catastrophic break.
“Has the matter of the genealogy records still not been resolved?”
“Exactly!”
She let out an irritated sigh and swept her hair back, then addressed Ernan.
“Ernan, why wouldn’t you be able to? Go peck at Bruno a bit. You’re good at that sort of thing.”
“I’m merely a common nobleman, so I’m hardly in a position to—”
“That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard all year. A common nobleman, no less. The great House Cleroor, of all people.”
I found myself agreeing with her on that point.
It’s hardly the first or second time he’s pulled off that deadpan act.
“Then Fidellia, was your journey down to the Joneus Estate also to avoid Ernan, perhaps?”