I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 63

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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 63
There was no reason for me to look further.
I called out to a servant standing outside the door and gave my orders.
“Throw this man out. And see that he never sets foot in this mansion again.”
“Very good, ma’am.”
“Wait, please! Fidellia!”
Several burly servants rushed in and dragged Siren out bodily.
“Fidellia! This isn’t right!”
I pretended not to hear Siren’s protests as he was hauled away, and brought the tea cup to my lips.
‘Right or not right—what does it matter.’
I’m no saint.
When someone crosses a line, it’s only natural to send them back across it.
‘If anything, this worked out well. I was able to throw him out because he overstepped.’
I was certain there would be no more trouble from Siren after that.
Back then, I truly believed it.
But Siren returned to the Joneus Mansion every day afterward and lay sprawled out in front of the main gate.
Literally sprawled out.
“Again today?”
“So it seems, ma’am. Even when the servants leave him far from the estate, he keeps finding his way back.”
I exhaled sharply at old Pippin’s words.
‘What is he, some kind of cursed doll?’
Like a cursed object that returned no matter how many times it was discarded, Siren resorted to his final gambit a few days later.
“Siren says he has something very important he must tell you.”
I looked at Pippin.
“Something very important?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Turning my eyes from Pippin, I flipped through the Biology Thesis stacked on my study desk.
I couldn’t neglect my field of expertise, so lately I’d been keeping track of developments in the biological sciences.
Normally, Pippin would have had Siren thrown out whether he had anything to say or not, but this time he lingered and continued speaking.
“The thing is, he says this is different.”
“Hmm?”
Different how?
“He says… he knows your secret, ma’am.”
……
“My secret?”
What secret?
I turned my head and gazed out the study window.
Beyond the main gate, I could see a figure with short silver hair.
He was pounding on the heavy iron gate and seemed to be arguing with a servant inside.
‘My secret? Siren knows my secret?’
Normally I would have ordered Siren removed at once without listening to another word.
But the word “secret” planted an unease that sealed my lips shut.
Of course, it was possible Siren was merely fishing, throwing out the word to see what would catch.
After all, no one in this world is without secrets, and some people will stake their lives to keep theirs hidden.
I was no exception.
I had several secrets that would cause serious trouble if exposed.
For instance, the fact that I had a Terminal Illness.
What if Siren spread that around?
‘It would be chaos.’
The gossip that had circulated not long ago had already made my life roughly one and a half times more exhausting.
Rumors have a way of quietly gnawing at a person’s nerves.
And the thought of how those around me would react made me weary before it even began.
‘It would be like watching a melodramatic film unfold.’
That was something I wanted no part of.
Though I couldn’t yet know what secret Siren claimed to possess, the worry made me unable to dismiss his provocation lightly.
In the end, I set down the papers I was holding and gave Pippin an order.
“Pippin, bring Siren in.”
* * *
“Fidellia, I know that you have a Terminal Illness.”
There it is.
‘I knew this would happen.’
I tilted my head and studied Siren, who sat across from me in the reception room.
I didn’t deflect.
That confident gaze of his suggested such tactics would be pointless.
“So?”
Instead, I decided to push back.
“You’re trying to blackmail me with this?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Bold of you.”
“Excess confidence has never brought me harm.”
“Admirable.”
I set the Tea Cup down completely and leaned back against the sofa.
With my arms crossed, I fixed him with a sharp gaze.
His tense hands clenched and unclenched repeatedly over his knees.
“Siren, your threat and proposal—you want me to keep my secret quiet in exchange for becoming my Assistant, is that right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“How did you learn that I have a Terminal Illness?”
“That is……”
Siren, whose gaze remained fixed on the table, his lips moving soundlessly, eventually offered the same answer as before.
“It’s a trade secret, so I’m unable to discuss it.”
“So you know my secret but won’t share yours.”
“The stronger the hand you hold, the better it is to keep it hidden.”
“You’re clever, I’ll grant you that.”
It’s no coincidence that he submitted his Master’s Thesis at this particular moment, confident in its passage, and sought me out.
I deliberated slowly.
Truth be told, I didn’t particularly need an Assistant.
‘I’ve managed my Research alone just fine until now.’
Since I had to conceal the fact that I was creating medicine to cure an Incurable Disease, I’d refused when Siren offered to become my Assistant.
‘But now it turns out Siren knows about my Terminal Illness and Incurable Disease.’
And he’d even threatened to expose this fact to the world if I didn’t make him my Assistant.
‘What should I do in a situation like this.’
But my decision came swiftly.
“Then for now, just help with simple tasks from the side.”
In the end, I gave in to Siren’s peculiar blackmail.
“We’ll draw up a formal contract once your Diploma comes through.”
An Assistant was neither here nor there anyway.
‘If that’s the case, keeping him nearby won’t be a loss for me.’
“Really?!”
And Siren, seemingly satisfied with just that much, beamed and nodded his head.
That’s how Siren became my (temporary) Assistant.
* * *
These days, I’d been entrusting Kiara to Sarubia.
The reason was my Research.
When I’d come to the Capital for the Enthronement Ceremony, I’d thought I’d return to Joneus Estate quickly, so I hadn’t pursued my Research then.
But now that I was staying in the Capital again, I had to resume my work on developing the cure.
‘I have no time.’
Not a moment to spare.
On top of my own treatment, I was even making medicine for Ernan.
‘What’s so charming about that man.’
In any case, his presence was the problem.
Of course, I also didn’t want Rene to lose the first family she’d barely found.
‘If Ernan dies, there’s more to lose than to gain.’
And people are always better off alive than dead.
‘Though there are those who live only because they cannot die.’
But first, one must live to have any hope of a future.
One must live.
That’s why I wanted Ernan to survive.
‘Let’s just live first.’
Both of us living, and then we can do what we must—raise Kiara and Rene well, or whatever.
Whether we become the parents to those two children or not, let’s try.
‘I ought to verify it someday — whether it was truly all right to touch Ernan. I need to confirm it again.’
Like all scholars, I possessed an exceptionally curious mind.
Contact with other men remained impossible, yet Ernan alone had posed no problem — I couldn’t rest until I understood why, until I resolved this mystery.
‘The trouble is, everything’s been awkward since that day.’
The moment I entertained the notion that such contact had been possible ‘because I still cared for him,’ something strange stirred in my chest.
Seeing Ernan would only deepen that strangeness.
In any case, Sarubia had just arrived at the Joneus Mansion.
“How delightful to see your face so often these days, Fidellia.”
Sarubia stepped through the main gate and walked toward me with a graceful stride, drawing me into an embrace.
Presently she turned her gaze toward Kiara, standing beside me.
“Hello, Kiara.”

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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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