I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 56

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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 56
“That would be putting it one way.”
Sarubia, who had been silent for a moment, finally spoke.
“But you needn’t have felt that burden, Fidellia. There was no shame in leaving the Capital. You’d done nothing wrong.”
“It was simply for me to gather myself, I suppose. A change of scenery, like cutting one’s hair short after heartbreak. That was all it amounted to.”
For me, it was a place rather than mere hair.
At my words, Sarubia seemed to recall something and spoke again.
“Then at the Coronation before, when Bruno and I forced you and those two to dance—that must have weighed on you as well.”
I answered with silence.
Sarubia sighed and apologized to me, then asked a question.
“So do you mean to return to Joneus Estate now?”
“No. I mean to stay in the Capital. Separating Rene and Kiara would be cruel.”
“How considerate of you, Fidellia. A wise decision indeed.”
And Sarubia, her gaze fixed on Ernan, posed a question to me.
“But if that’s the case, then whenever Rene and Kiara meet, the two of them will necessarily encounter each other, won’t they?”
“For the most part… yes.”
I could send a servant along, but I’d be uneasy about it, and besides, nobles have time to spare.
Ernan regarded Sarubia with an expression that suggested he was wondering where this was headed.
Sarubia then made her declaration.
“Then from now on, I shall bring Kiara to meet Rene myself. If you wish it, I will do so gladly.”
“On what authority?”
Ernan asked, and Sarubia answered.
“As her biological mother.”
……
The parlor froze solid in that instant.
Utterly flustered, I stumbled over my words as I looked toward Sarubia.
“W-what… Sarubia? What do you…”
‘Can she just reveal something like this?’
Yet Sarubia remained looking steadily forward, her expression resolute.
Ernan, who had likewise gone rigid, soon raised one hand and stroked his chin.
“Surely Your Highness wasn’t making a jest.”
“No.”
“A remarkable revelation indeed.”
“Yes, consider it an honor. Aside from Fidellia and myself, there is not a soul in this world who knows that child’s lineage.”
Sarubia, playfully sticking out her tongue at Ernan, pressed herself against my arm and spoke.
“So, Fidellia, if you wish it, I have more than enough reason to keep him and you apart, armed with nothing but the fact that I am her biological mother. That is what I wanted to tell you.”
“Sarubia…”
I met her gaze, deeply moved.
Ernan, for his part, was regarding us with an expression of bewilderment.
“A remarkable friendship indeed.”
I replied to Ernan’s observation.
“I know.”
Ernan’s gaze shifted to the book he was holding.
A gesture that he would have no further dealings with us.
It was exactly what I wished for.
* * *
The children seated around the afternoon tea table were merely staring blankly at one another.
By etiquette, Xavier, being of the highest rank among those present, ought to have spoken first; but he was now gazing intently at Kiara and only Kiara.
And Kiara was pretending not to notice his stare.
‘If it were up to me, I’d glare right back at him.’
But if I were to commit such an rudeness, it might cause trouble for Fidellia.
‘Stop staring at me!’
Kiara found it difficult to understand why Xavier was looking at her so intently.
Or rather, she had no wish to understand it.
That someone of high rank would so brazenly commit such an act of discourtesy annoyed Kiara thoroughly.
‘If he’d done that in the slums, I wouldn’t have let it slide.’
So this was the conduct of nobility—laughable, truly.
At last, when Kiara’s patience reached its limit and she turned her head toward Xavier to say something, he moved first.
“Ah, my apologies.”
Xavier, suddenly coming to his senses, was quicker to apologize.
Caught off guard, Kiara found herself at a loss for words.
“You look so much like our aunt, Your Highness.”
“……An aunt?”
“Grand Duke Sarubia Dilalah, Your Highness.”
“Ah.”
At those words, Kiara recalled the woman she’d first seen outside Diego’s office.
Red hair, amber eyes.
A beautiful woman with coloring just like mine.
Kiara found herself perplexed.
“But the last time we met, Grand Duke Sarubia said you and I don’t resemble each other at all.”
“Of course she did. I was there to hear it myself.”
“Then why are you saying such a thing?”
“Because that’s not what I see.”
Now Kiara was truly baffled.
How could anyone possibly see a resemblance between the mild-mannered Sarubia and herself, with her sharp expression?
In Kiara’s own judgment, she and Sarubia bore no resemblance whatsoever.
“Might it be simply the similar hair and eye color that gives you that impression?”
“It’s something different from that.”
“……Then what exactly makes you feel you see a resemblance?”
“Simply…… an overall quality, I suppose.”
Kiara felt irritation beginning to rise again.
‘Is he teasing me right now?’
“You share a similar kind of freedom in your bearing.”
Freedom in bearing?
“That’s why I’d like to regard you as an older sister.”
……
Clatter.
At Xavier’s bombshell declaration, Rene dropped the fork she’d been holding.
There was no room left to mind manners.
Who wanted to call whom an older sister?
‘We’re barely a year apart!’
As the stunned Kiara froze, the already awkward atmosphere at the tea table turned glacial.
Rene, who’d been fidgeting beside her, hurried to change the subject.
“R-right! Prince—Your Highness, how have you…… er, how have you been! These…… these past seven days!”
“Ah, well I…….”
Fortunately, Xavier answered Rene’s question earnestly and refrained from further troubling Kiara.
Xavier recounted what he’d been doing for the past several days.
“……So I’ve been studying Swordsmanship. Siren from Marco House has been helping me considerably.”
“Ah, I see.”
Rene kept glancing sideways at the silent Kiara as she agreed with Xavier.
In Rene’s assessment, only she and Xavier seemed capable of maintaining proper conversation at this table.
Kiara, as expected, was still reeling from the shock.
And Cesar Bertrand…….
……
He simply seemed displeased with this gathering.
Xavier either failed to notice those two, or was content to speak only of himself with an unfailingly gentle expression.
As a result, the burden of easing the tension fell entirely on Rene, who was perspiring noticeably.
Rene asked Xavier about what he’d been up to, then checked on Kiara’s well-being, and finally posed a question to Cesar.
“C-Cesar…… Bertrand, my lord. How have you……”
……
“……before coming to the Capital…… er, how did you spend your time?”
With that question, a heavy silence fell over the tea table in the garden pavilion.
Cesar, who had remained silent throughout the conversation until now, finally opened his mouth.
“I received lessons from a tutor at the Bertrand Estate manor.”
“Ah, yes. I see.”
At this unexpectedly straightforward and earnest answer, Rene’s expression brightened considerably.
“And…….”
Rene waited for what would come next—stories of daily life beyond his studies.
But in the next moment, Rene’s eyes widened in surprise at Cesar’s words.
“Nothing else.”
“…….”
What?

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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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