I’m Done With Unrequited Love - Chapter 7

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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 7
The moment we arrived at Denjergga, a vivid crimson caught my eye in the distance.
‘Kiara!’
I knew who it was at once, even from far away.
My legs nearly gave out beneath me.
‘Who says red hair isn’t beautiful.’
Today especially, she looked so impossibly lovely I felt I might float away.
I didn’t bother surveying my surroundings—only Kiara existed in my vision as I quickened my pace toward her. Sanna kept step behind me, and soon my walk became an outright run.
Everything else vanished from sight.
Only Kiara.
Which is why I didn’t notice what she was looking at until I was mere feet away—until I realized she was standing before someone else, her face flushed.
“God, this is ridiculous!”
A sharp, piercing voice cut through my daze. Why was she so angry?
‘What is she looking at……’
I traced the line of Kiara’s gaze.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
There stood Ernan.
That brilliant golden hair—a color so familiar to my eyes that it had become almost reflexive to spot, as instinctive as recognizing Kiara’s crimson locks.
“……Ernan.”
I spoke his name before Kiara’s, a habit I couldn’t seem to break.
“Fidelya!”
Kiara noticed us and lit up, rushing toward me with joy radiating from her face.
I snapped back to attention and hurried to meet her.
“Kiara, what were you doing here?”
“I got lost……. I’m sorry.”
I knelt and straightened her clothes carefully.
She’d been outside for a while; if she caught a cold, that would be catastrophic.
“It’s all right. Let’s go home.”
I stole a glance at Ernan, who stood several feet away, and found him watching us. His eyes were unreadable.
‘Damn it.’
Nothing could be more mortifying than being caught looking helpless.
Or rather, it was worse to run into him here after I’d made such a show of heading down to the estate. I should have left long ago instead of dragging things out with that futile attempt at making medicine.
Technically, Kiara’s slow recovery was to blame, but I heaped all the fault onto myself.
Foolish Fidelya.
‘So much for genius.’
I knew I should observe the proper courtesies, but I had no appetite for it.
Sanna and I managed only the barest nod. I deliberately avoided looking at Ernan’s face, so I couldn’t tell what expression he wore.
‘Let’s get home quickly.’
No doubt I looked like I’d swallowed something bitter.
I’d made some effort to keep my facial muscles from contorting, though Sanna beside me made no such attempt—her face was openly scrunched up.
“Fidelya, but how do we get home from here?”
“We go back to Lenton District and…….”
I was in the middle of speaking.
“Fidelya Jonnas.”
I froze.
His voice.
Just as there are things we recognize by sight, there are things we know by sound.
That voice had called me by many names.
At first it was “you,” then “Lady Fidelya,” then “Fidelya Jonnas.”
Sometimes just “Fidelya.”
I turned to find Ernan watching me intently.
“Yes, your grace.”
“You look perfectly well.”
“…….”
Was he mocking me?
I stared at him blankly, not bothering to force a smile.
“And why wouldn’t I be perfectly well?”
“You said you were going down to the estate.”
“…….”
“Yet here you are, perfectly intact. Two weeks now.”
As expected.
I could’ve guessed what she’d say, but……
‘I never thought she’d actually press the matter.’
No, what startled me more was the persistence of someone who’d known I’d been here for two weeks.
“When I come down is my affair. I never said I wouldn’t.”
“And here I thought the Jonnas daughter was the sort to say one thing and mean another.”
“Hardly. I’d say my conduct speaks better for itself than someone whose words and deeds never match. You shouldn’t have called me out like this.”
“I was thinking of our old friendship. As I recall, we got along rather well once.”
“That’s rich, coming from you.”
“Care for some tea?”
Could I just hit him once?
My fists clenched tight.
Then it happened.
“Oh, Fidelya. I got water on my face.”
Kiara tugged at my sleeve as she spoke.
It wasn’t just Kiara. Sanna was also wiping her cheek, feeling for something wet on her face.
And me as well.
Water had suddenly splattered across my face.
An ominous chill crept through my chest, and moments later, a tremendous sound split the air.
Crack-crash-rumble.
……
……
So that’s why the day had looked so overcast.
It could only be called the mockery of fate.
Shhhhhhhh—
The downpour arrived in torrents.
Damn it.
* * *
I should’ve trusted that grey-laden morning sky screaming of rain. It must have been God’s sign to stay indoors.
“Fidelya, why is this mansion so huge?”
Kiara, freshly washed and fluffy, asked from her perch at the vanity chair.
Sanna had stepped out to arrange connections to the Jonnas Mansion in the capital, so the answer fell to me.
“We’re currently staying at the residence of the Korbalyu Empire’s most prominent businessman.”
So of course the mansion was staggeringly grand. The estate itself had more than four buildings.
“The most prominent businessman?”
“In short, he’s rich.”
“……That gentleman?”
I nearly laughed at Kiara’s phrasing.
Calling Ernan “mister.”
“Well, Ernan’s old enough to be your great-uncle, so it’s not entirely wrong.”
Now that I thought about it, how old was Ernan anyway?
Certainly past his mid-twenties.
‘Kiara’s eleven……’
That would put the Original Heroine and the Original Hero around the same age.
‘I have no idea what they’re up to.’
I could make a rough guess, though.
One was a noble prince, the other an illegitimate child of an earl family.
‘I remember the keyword was “Family Regret Story.”‘
Part of me wanted to march into whatever count’s house harbored the heroine and demand she be surrendered, but the problem was I couldn’t remember which count’s house it was.
‘First the Original Villainess, and now the Original Heroine.’
Just as I’d forgotten which orphanage held Kiara, I’d completely erased from memory which earl’s residence held the Original Heroine.
It had been over twenty years since I was born, after all.
I’d forgotten most of the original story’s minor details by now.
‘Maybe I should just comfort myself knowing that Ernan will rescue the heroine eventually.’
That’s how Ernan earned the title of savior in the original narrative.
By taking in the Original Heroine after she fled the count’s house, and caring for her.
Drenched to the bone in front of the teahouse in Denjergga, we had no choice but to seek refuge at the Cleor Mansion nearby. It was simply too far to the Jonnas Mansion from there.
Even when we’d rushed under the awning of the teahouse, the rain showed no mercy, pouring down relentlessly.
So where was our most esteemed Lord Ernan Cleor at present?
“His Lordship is currently attending to business.”
He’s in his office.
I had to admit it—a man who spent all his time showing his face at parties actually did work. Even if he seemed to do nothing but play, he must truly be the empire’s finest businessman.
Kiara was delighted by this discovery.
“Fidelya.”
“Hmm?”
“Let’s go torment him.”
…….
This is the Original Villainess?
Even without looking in a mirror, I could sense my eyes trembling without mercy.
“We can’t do that, Kiara.”
“Why not?”
Why indeed.
“Because…….”
I trailed off, unable to finish the thought.
That’s right.
There’s no law against tormenting him.
* * *
I wondered if that meeting had taken place at the Imperial Palace.
It could have been some nobleman’s mansion.
What remained unchanged was that we were there because of a ball.
Most of our encounters happened in places like that.
At some point, I realized Ernan had vanished from my sight. It was a common occurrence. I searched for him as I always did.
I found Ernan in a private lounge on the second floor. I’d heard that some couples enjoyed erotic situations there, but that hardly applied to us.
So I felt no hesitation. I pushed open the unlocked door and stepped inside.
In the darkened room, Ernan sat in a chair with his eyes closed.
“Ernan.”
I turned on the light and approached him. The room brightened, yet Ernan didn’t stir.
Or perhaps he had never been asleep at all.
If that were true, what reason could he have for keeping his eyes closed like this?
“Ernan.”
Closer.
“……Are you sleeping?”
Tap.
The tip of his leather dress shoe touched the tip of mine.
…….
A suffocating silence.
In the sealed room filled with quiet, in the presence of Ernan’s eyes shut as if in death, I felt myself drawn into something strange.
For an instant, it was as though time itself had stopped.
I fell into a sense of omnipotence, as if I were the only one capable of moving within that frozen moment.
Was it the alcohol coursing through my veins?
My reckless impulse bloomed there.
I reached out impulsively……
and touched his bangs.
His hair was swept back, exposing his hairline.
I found myself thinking his hair color was truly beautiful.
I traced my fingertips along that gentle curve, sketching his brow, then felt the texture of his eyebrows, and followed the sharp line of his nose down to brush against his lips.
That was when Ernan’s eyes opened.
…….
…….
So absorbed in what I was doing, I hadn’t noticed that our faces had drawn close enough to share breath.
Our eyes met at that distance. Eyes as deep and blue as the sea fixed themselves upon me.
My breath stopped.
‘……I’m ruined.’
In my blank mind, words of explanation tangled hopelessly.
Just as my head felt ready to burst with the chaos,
Ernan’s crimson lips parted. A whisper emerged—low and husky, small in volume yet somehow immense.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t see.”
And his eyes slipped closed again.
Like one who had never woken.
Like Snow White who had eaten the poisoned apple.
“…….”
I understood the words a beat too late.
It was a remark aimed at some event yet to unfold—something I hadn’t dared to even consider. Yet he’d anticipated it anyway.
I grasped what Ernan had misunderstood.
But more than clarifying the misunderstanding, his response to it struck me as far more significant.
‘……He’ll pretend not to know.’
The meaning behind those words was simple: Ernan had just given me permission to take on the role of the prince on a white horse.
Certain permissions carried different meanings in specific circumstances.
Though no one else was listening, I asked in a low voice.
“What you just did isn’t permission—it’s encouragement. Do you realize that?”
“Perhaps.”
“And you know every time you do this, I want to punch you?”
And each time, I want to ask him something.
Do you treat other people with such generosity?
If I believe I’m your only exception, is that mere delusion?
* * *
In the end, we didn’t go to torment Ernan after all.
The reason was simple: I didn’t have the nerve.
“The Biology Book won’t be over there.”
“I know. I’m looking for the Pharmacy Book right now.”
But why am I even here doing this?
“……Pharmacy?”
“Yes. I’ve taken an interest in it lately. I’m still young enough to explore other fields, aren’t I?”
“That’s true enough.”
Ernan nodded and lowered his gaze to the book he was holding.
I glanced at him and continued, “Though it’s rather curious—”
“—there are so many specialized pharmacy texts here.”
“I was interested in it once myself.”
“Were you?”
A lie.

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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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