I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 57

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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 57
“Ah, I… yes, I see.”
Rene, flustered, scarcely knew what he was saying.
He merely nodded frantically, desperate to keep his expression under control.
Rene found the situation unbearable.
Just a week ago, when he’d been invited to an audience with Prince Xavier, it hadn’t felt like this at all.
Then there had been so many other young nobles present that the awkwardness had melted away.
But now, alone with only three peers his own age and not a single adult in sight, Rene felt utterly lost.
What made it worse was that the other three seemed perfectly at ease, while he alone was drowning in discomfort.
Kiara had been silent ever since Xavier called her “older sister,” sitting motionless in her chair.
Cesar made no effort to hide his distaste for the whole affair.
And Xavier himself smiled throughout, his expression infuriatingly serene.
The entire scene felt somehow surreal.
‘I wish Ernan and Fidellia were here…’
Rene wanted nothing more than to flee.
“Tell me, if I may—how did you two ladies become so close?”
At Xavier’s question—one of the few that suggested genuine interest in conversation—Kiara finally spoke.
“We mentioned it a week ago, I believe.”
“I didn’t catch all the details. I heard you met at the Joneus Estate, but I’d like to know what brought you two together in the first place.”
Kiara seemed to consider this before answering.
“It’s simple. We were both adopted—neither of us born into a noble house.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I grew up in an orphanage, a street child, and Rene, as you know, was an illegitimate child of a noble line—not even recorded in the family records.”
“Yes, I’ve heard as much.”
“We each carried wounds from those circumstances, and by sharing those experiences and understanding one another, we grew close.”
Prince Xavier’s eyes lit up with intrigue, and he nodded as if he understood perfectly.
“I see.”
Then he expressed his concern.
“Given what you’ve shared, I fear my question was rather tactless. I’m sorry for that.”
“It’s all right. It’s the past, after all. Though I can’t speak for Rene.”
“I… I’m fine too. As Kiara said, it’s… it’s the past now…”
“Then I’m relieved.”
Xavier offered his characteristic smile, one that seemed to carry the warmth of sunlight.
“And… we had… one more thing in common.”
“What might that be?”
“We were… both saved by the same person…”
Interest sparkled anew in Xavier’s eyes.
Kiara picked up where Rene had left off.
“It’s someone you already know, Your Highness.”
Xavier asked carefully.
“Who, if I may ask?”
Kiara shrugged slightly.
“Fidellia Joneus.”
“Ah…!”
Xavier’s eyes didn’t merely light up—they positively blazed with excitement.
Pretending not to notice, Kiara covered her face with one hand and let out a long sigh.
“That’s what we’ve been grappling with lately.”
This time it was Rene who continued.
“I… I want to become part of her family…”
“Rene wants that too, and I want to become family with Rene, so I’m working on a way to make it happen. But it’s not easy.”
“Is there actually a way?”
“Of course.”
Rene’s eyes dropped shyly.
“If… if my adoptive father were to marry Fidellia… it would solve everything.”
“That’s our scheme. Rather clever, isn’t it?”
With that, Kiara shrugged once more.
Xavier broke into a wide, delighted grin.
“Exactly!”
He nodded enthusiastically and even clapped his hands together.
“I truly support this. I do hope it works out for you both.”
“Thank you. But it’s not as simple as we’d hoped.”
“Ah, I’m just… I’m not sure what excuse to use, or how to arrange for the two of you to meet.”
“I’d love to give you time alone together, but we’re struggling to create that kind of opportunity.”
“Ah, I see your point.”
Xavier grew thoughtful at that, propping his chin on his hand as he considered the problem.
And he offered the two of them a rather plausible answer.
“I wonder if I might be able to help you with this.”
* * *
As I prepared to leave for home, Xavier made a request of me.
“…You mean to say you’re asking me to retrieve the sword His Holiness took from you?”
“That’s correct.”
“And with Ernan Cleroor as well?”
“That too is correct.”
“……”
I looked at Kiara and Rene.
In perfect synchronization, their eyes darted away.
“…Why are you both avoiding my gaze?”
At that, Kiara and Rene laughed awkwardly.
“Ha! I have no idea what you mean!”
“I… I don’t really…”
“……”
So, that’s how this is going to play out?
But before I could press them on it, both children bolted toward the carriage.
“Then, please take care as you enter your residence.”
Xavier smiled pleasantly before retreating into his palace.
“……”
“……”
Left standing before the Prince’s Palace were only Ernan and I.
‘This feels like déjà vu.’
The children’s schemes had drawn me in like this just a week ago.
“I would be grateful if you could recover the sword His Holiness took from me.”
“It must be that Ernan Cleroor and Lady Fidellia go together!”
Xavier had said that the Pope had stolen his sword.
‘And asked me to retrieve it.’
The Pope.
The highest-ranking cleric of the Corvaliu National Church.
One who wielded authority comparable to that of the current Emperor.
The current Pope was the daughter of the previous Pope, and at fifteen years of age, she was the youngest Pope ever to ascend to the position.
And I had once met such a person face-to-face.
‘At her coronation.’
I hadn’t forgotten those eyes, bent toward me with an unsettling smile.
Short dark blue hair and black eyes.
The Pope’s name, having renounced her family name upon dedicating herself to the Church, was simply Rita.
That was all the information I had about Pope Rita.
I had never read any description of her in the original work.
‘And that’s precisely what makes her frightening.’
I had to meet someone about whom I possessed not a shred of useful knowledge.
‘Moreover, she only became Pope a year ago.’
I hadn’t even known that the previous Pope had a child.
‘My confidence is already shaken.’
Meeting someone for the first time carried its own anxiety.
How much more so, when that person was a Pope—someone of rank comparable to the Emperor.
“……”
“……”
I broke the silence that seemed as though it might stretch on forever, and spoke first.
“Are you free tomorrow?”
“The day after.”
“Done.”
Since it’s come to this, let’s just get it over with quickly.
* * *
Louis, Ernan’s adjutant, had been finding life difficult these days.
Actually, let me correct that.
Life would probably become enjoyable the moment Louis stepped down as Ernan’s adjutant.
Louis Boudain, who had harbored this thought before, found himself entertaining the same sentiment once again without fail.
‘Ah, I want to quit being adjutant.’
Still, lately it had been more bearable since Ernan no longer attended every banquet and party.
Ernan Cleroor had taken to spending more time sitting quietly in his office, attending to his duties.
But Louis Boudain seemed cursed with a fate where life would flow smoothly one moment and tangle into a hopeless mess the next.
‘Why did he have to order me to investigate Fidellia Joneus in secret……!’
That was it.
Ernan Cleroor had recently issued a distinctly sinister order to his adjutant Louis.

It made no sense whatsoever.
Everyone Fidellia Joneus had met recently?
‘She’d know better than I would!’
After all, weren’t there just two people making such a stir in society these days?
Louis Boudain had seen it all.
The photograph that had appeared in the now-defunct illegal gossip sheet.
The photograph of Ernan Cleroor handing flowers to Fidellia Joneus!
‘If they’re that close, he could just ask her directly, couldn’t he?’
Louis Boudain couldn’t fathom what sort of strange scheme was afoot, or why his superior had ordered an investigation into Fidellia’s personal life of all people.
Yet in that moment, a possibility flickered across Louis Boudain’s mind.
‘Could it be.’
Could it possibly be that?
‘He wants to know if there’s another man in her life?’
Wow.
Louis clapped a hand over his mouth, startled by his own deduction.
‘That makes sense!’

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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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