I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 58

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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 58
‘That’s plausible!’
Ernan regarded Lui with unmistakable disdain.
“What foolish notion occupies your mind now?”
“I think only of you, my lord.”
“Don’t be nauseating.”
“Of course.”
Lui fell silent and set the book he’d brought upon the desk where Ernan sat in his office.
It was the Rare Disease Encyclopedia.
“But why did you ask me to bring this?”
“The day I first met Kiara, Fidellia of House Joneus showed considerable interest in this volume.”
“I see.”
Though Lui’s response sounded like understanding, he couldn’t fathom what bearing Fidellia’s interest held on fetching the book.
“At the time, Fidellia mentioned she’d taken an interest in Pharmacy.”
“Is that so?”
“And it seems she’s pursuing some research project.”
Though she wouldn’t reveal what it was.
An expression of ‘what’s the problem with that?’ crossed Lui’s face.
“Surely my lord didn’t feel the need to explain something to someone outside the relevant field—someone who wouldn’t understand it anyway?”
“But she didn’t even mention that it was biological research.”
“What are you suspecting, my lord?”
“A connection between Fidellia, Pharmacy, and rare diseases?”
“Ah…….”
Lui thought Ernan Cleroor truly concerned himself with the most trivial of matters.
Yet he quickly reconsidered.
He began to understand what Ernan worried about.
“You’re considering the possibility that Lady Fidellia has contracted a rare disease and is conducting pharmaceutical research because of it?”
“Precisely.”
“Good heavens.”
Lui thought that was truly the most far-fetched and pointless concern imaginable.
Fidellia might have developed an interest in Pharmacy—why extrapolate it to such an extreme?
Yet Lui knew that Ernan became more serious when it came to Fidellia than at any other time, so he offered no objection.
“But couldn’t it be on account of someone else around Lady Fidellia?”
Someone you suspect?
At Lui’s question, Ernan fell into thought before murmuring to himself.
“……There’s no way I’d know that.”
“My lord?”
Ernan brushed his jaw, ignoring Lui’s inquiry.
There were other suspicious points besides this.
For instance—the matter of obtaining a cure for the individual with photosensitivity.
To his knowledge, none of Fidellia’s acquaintances were involved in medicine or Pharmacy.
That was why he’d entrusted his aide with an investigation.
He wondered if perhaps Fidellia had recently cultivated a connection with some relevant contact he wasn’t aware of.
But according to the information Lui had brought, there was no such person in Fidellia’s circle.
In the first place, Ernan’s own proposal of marriage to Fidellia had stemmed from suspicion.
He’d thought that keeping her close might reveal something.
“Are you asking seriously? Have you lost your mind?”
Given Fidellia’s reaction upon hearing the proposal, it remained uncertain whether she would accept or refuse.
Then Lui added one more thing.
“Ah, speaking of which—I included some additional information in the latest report, just to be thorough. It concerns the Pharmaceutical Company in which you’ve invested. Apparently, Lady Fidellia purchased a substantial quantity of medicinal herbs from there not long ago.”
Just as he’d suspected.
There was something there.
* * *
Not long after my visit to the Imperial Prince’s Palace, Ernan and I met once again.
The location was the Papal See.
The mission: to retrieve the Imperial Prince’s Sword from the Pope.
In the intervening days, I’d been occupied with labor.
Apart from preparations for the journey to the Imperial Prince’s Palace, I’d devoted myself to my research.
It had only been a few days since the research materials I’d ordered arrived by courier at the Joneus Mansion.
‘And now I’m even considering graduate school.’
There’s nothing wrong with conducting research at home, that much is true.
Materials and tools needed for the work could all be purchased with money, after all.
Yet a “workplace” holds genuine importance for a person.
A place where only those who share the same purpose gather to work.
In childhood, school served that function; in adulthood, it’s the office.
For artists, there are studios.
Public spaces removed from private life.
As the mansion filled with more people, I’d begun to feel the necessity of such a space myself.
Though the Joneus Mansion in the Capital is vast, it still falls within the category of “home,” doesn’t it?
‘I should give this serious thought.’
Sanna had already enrolled in graduate school to pursue her doctorate.
Following a friend wherever they go—that was the phrase that came to mind these days, as I considered whether I ought to follow suit and enter graduate school myself.
“You’ve arrived with time to spare.”
I stepped forward to meet Ernan as he descended from the carriage.
He wore formal attire more refined than usual, and upon noticing my approach, he acknowledged me with his characteristic indifferent expression.
With a subtle tilt of his head, he gestured toward the building ahead.
The Audience Hall was so close that we had only to walk straight inside.
‘I’m rather nervous.’
Somehow, this resembled the feeling I’d had upon first meeting the former Pope.
The sensation of stepping into a tiger’s den.
“Let’s go.”
“Of course.”
We entered the vast white structure, its surface carved with crimson emblems.
As for the sword—once the Pope returned it, Ernan would keep it in safekeeping until he could deliver it to Imperial Prince Xavier.
‘I just need to be persuasive.’
In truth, there was little to persuade about.
‘Surely he won’t refuse.’
The sword belonged to the Corvaliu Empire’s Imperial Prince, and subordinates without any connection to him were coming by his order to retrieve it.
Yet having seen how the Corvaliu Empire’s Imperial Prince casually seized the sword in the first place, it seemed to me he was not a man bound by convention.
The corridor of the Audience Hall was empty.
We encountered people only before the doors leading into the Audience Hall itself.
At the far end of the long corridor stood an enormous arched door of pristine white, its surface marked with distinctive crimson emblems.
‘The Pope is beyond this threshold.’
Attendants responsible for verifying credentials approached upon spotting us.
“Duke Ernan Cleroor, Lady Fidellia of House Joneus. Identity confirmed.”
Once the verification was complete, the two attendants standing guard pulled open the heavy door.
And the sight that revealed itself—
A throne-like seat positioned at the end of a long red carpet, and upon it, a figure.
“Hello!”
……
A young Pope with bluish-black hair raised a hand and waved, his voice youthful and cheerful.
The young Pope descended from the throne with movements that seemed not merely lacking grace, but positively frivolous.
He approached Ernan and me.
The Pope, with his short bluish-black hair and dark eyes, possessed a boyish appearance perhaps two spans shorter than myself.
Ernan and I bowed respectfully before the Pope.
“I am Ernan Cleroor.”
“It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Your Holiness. I am Fidellia of House Joneus.”
“Mm, yes, I know. Famous names indeed.”
The Pope extended his hand for a handshake, and both Ernan and I each grasped that small hand in turn.
The young Pope, who appeared at most in his mid-teens, gazed at us with a bright, beaming smile.
Particularly at me.
“Glad to see you, Fidellia. I’ve been wanting to meet you for quite some time.”
The Pope smiled with evident delight, as though this encounter fascinated him.
I decided to resolve a question that had puzzled me since the coronation ceremony.
“Do you know who I am?”
“Of course! I saw you speaking with Xavier at the coronation ceremony that day.”
Yet the Pope had first laid eyes on me only moments before the coronation began.
As I stood at the top of the stairs preparing for my coronation vestments, the Pope happened to turn and our eyes met.
‘The Pope’s expression in that moment seemed as though he already knew me.’
Though it could have been my misunderstanding.
With that question lingering in her mind, Fidellia watched the young Pope smile innocently—when she heard a different sound behind him.
Click, click.
The figure descending from the dais where the throne sat was…….
“……Ariel?”
“Good day to you, Lady Fidellia. And Your Excellency Cleroor.”
It was Ariel, Rene’s older sister.

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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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