Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 12
“The Emperor is said to be curious about which young lady shared tea with His Highness the Crown Prince.”
At Counselor Alex’s words, Reinhart, who had been sipping tea, let out a chuckle.
“So someone is paying dearly for having revealed a secret.”
Etienne and Fernando had found out I drank flower tea. Before I knew it, rumors began spreading about which young lady had shared tea with the Crown Prince, and the number of nobles loitering around the Outer Palace increased.
It wasn’t the Outer Palace’s beauty they came for—rather, they were desperate to find me. Because of them, Reinhart couldn’t go there at all. He was already frustrated he couldn’t visit, and now even the Emperor was making a fuss.
“Should I just confess it was Etienne?”
He’d said it half in mischief, considering dragging Etienne into it, but immediately realized it wasn’t a good idea.
“Then they’d surely ask again what sort of relationship I have with her. They might even comb through the entire House of Claire. After all, that’s Father’s way of showing interest.”
“His Majesty already knows.”
“What?”
“That the young lady who shared tea with Your Highness is Miss Etienne Claire.”
“How?”
“…Everyone knows.”
When Alex gave him a look that said, “How is it that everyone else knows except you?” Reinhart frowned in embarrassment.
“So everyone really knows.”
“Yes.”
“Then I suppose we can’t spend time together anymore.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Just because I had tea with her once, the rumor spread like wildfire. Now even the Emperor is watching me? Of course she’d find me burdensome.”
Just moments ago, he’d been playfully threatening to reveal it was Etienne, but now Reinhart drank his tea with a disappointed expression.
Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, he turned to Alex standing behind him.
“What about Fernando?”
“Yes?”
“That day, Schupraher’s child was there too.”
“Yes, indeed. Naturally, rumors about that young man have also spread.”
“Really?”
Reinhart’s face lit up with a bright smile, as if an idea had just occurred to him.
“What if I say the one I’m interested in is Fernando? If everyone’s attention shifts to him, Etienne would be at ease.”
“That won’t work at all.”
Alex immediately shot down the idea as absurd. Reinhart’s expression turned gloomy again.
“His Majesty must want me to be lonely.”
He tapped his teacup lightly with his fingers. Resting his chin on one hand, Reinhart kept tapping the cup pointlessly—it was enough to make one wonder if he needed to relearn his tea-drinking etiquette.
Reinhart continued,
“Even the slightest casual conversation draws His Majesty’s full attention. Then He immediately judges whether she’s fit to be Crown Princess or not. It’s hard to mingle normally with people like this.”
There were countless nobles in the capital, and plenty of peers his age, yet Reinhart had almost no one he truly interacted with.
Any acquaintance inevitably became entangled in politics, making it impossible for him to reach out freely to anyone.
As a result, Reinhart had no real friends—especially none who were girls. He found his position as Crown Prince rather lonely.
“You needn’t worry about that.”
“Are you going to fill all my emptiness, Alex?”
Alex, the only peer who’d been at his side since childhood by imperial arrangement, shook his head.
“No.”
“You won’t even offer empty words to comfort me?”
“They are arranging a gathering for you.”
Ignoring Reinhart’s remark, Alex simply stated his own.
“A gathering?”
“It seems the families supporting His Highness the Crown Prince are gradually taking form. If they gather together, you may find friends among them.”
“Really?”
Reinhart’s expression brightened.
“The House of Marquis Claire appears to be among them. So you can socialize with them then.”
Hearing Alex’s words, Reinhart murmured pensively,
“So it’s already come to that.”
“Pardon?”
“I was getting bored—this is perfect timing.”
Reinhart deftly changed the subject, adding a secretive smile for good measure. As he drank his tea with a more relaxed face than before, another idea seemed to strike him, and he turned to Alex again.
“Please stop looking at me like that.”
“There’s soon a banquet hosted by the House of Count Pigmen, right?”
“Yes.”
“Shall I attend it with Etienne?”
Alex raised an eyebrow as if to ask what on earth he was talking about, but Reinhart added cheerfully, convinced it was a brilliant idea.
“We’re going to be friends anyway. So what’s wrong with attending the banquet together a little earlier than planned?”
“It doesn’t seem appropriate at all.”
“We share tea, attend a banquet together. By the time rumors about us grow, we’ll simply say we met through a gathering.”
“So you’ve gone to great lengths just to say you don’t care how much the rumors multiply.”
Alex sighed. It clearly wasn’t a good idea, but when the Crown Prince got like this, there was no stopping him.
Whenever he wanted something, he always schemed this way.
[This is the timeline separator]Etienne looked at Lani seated across from her. So it was this girl from the Restoration Hall who had written that wish. When she asked her age, she turned out to be the same as Etienne.
“What did you say your job was again?”
Lani, who had been cautiously eating her cake, startled and quickly set down her fork.
“You can talk while eating.”
“Yes.”
She picked up her fork again, but Etienne’s question seemed to make it hard to eat. Etienne, oblivious to Lani’s discomfort, remained seated and watched as the girl struggled to bring her fork to the cake.
Butler Letin, returning with a new dessert, finally intervened.
“My lady, I’ll stay beside Lani.”
“Hmm? No, I’ll stay here too.”
Etienne leaned her upper body even closer toward Lani. Seeing Lani unable to hide her fluster, Butler Letin sighed and set down the dessert.
“They call this scones. Isn’t this enough?”
“Enough? It’s far too much.”
Lani waved both hands, staring at the desserts before her with visible distress. Over ten different kinds of desserts…
“It’s too much.”
“But you wished for desserts, didn’t you?”
“I don’t think I can finish all this by myself.”
Lani preemptively spoke softly, worried she might get scolded if she couldn’t finish everything.
“Really? Then I’ll help. Butler, bring another fork, please.”
The butler, who had already brought extra forks, placed one before Etienne and another before himself. Seeing him settle naturally into the seat, Etienne smiled.
“Go on with what you were saying.”
“Oh—my job is cleaning the Restoration Hall.”
“You clean such a large place all by yourself?”
Before Lani could answer, the butler interjected.
“Not at all. Over ten people clean that area. Lani, however, doesn’t have a fixed station—she assists others as needed, so her workplace changes frequently.”
“I see. But don’t you have other duties, Butler?”
“Busy as I am, I’ll stay until you’ve finished all this.”
The butler took a bite of cake as he replied. Etienne laughed in amused disbelief—so he’d sat down pretending concern for Lani’s comfort, yet couldn’t resist the cake…
“Now I understand why everyone likes the butler.”
“Is that so?”
His considerate nature, which extended to every household staff member, was evident even here.
The butler, feigning ignorance, resumed eating his dessert, and Lani, visibly more relaxed now, took a sip of juice.
“These desserts really are plentiful. Without you and the butler, Lani couldn’t have finished them all by herself, right?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have someone you’d like to share them with? A younger sibling, perhaps…?”
Lani’s hand, reaching toward the cake, froze midair. Yet Etienne, who had caused that reaction, calmly cut a small piece of scone and spread apricot jam on it.
“Indeed, our household’s jam is the best.”
Being able to taste the chef’s jam again was one of the joys of returning to the past.
“I… had a younger sibling, but not anymore.”
“Not anymore?”
“We were separated when we were little.”
Lani set down her fork and smiled. It was a forced smile, painfully awkward, though Lani seemed unaware of it.
“When my parents parted ways, I stayed with Mother, and my sibling lived with Father. We often promised to meet, but one day, my sibling stopped coming to our usual meeting place. I don’t know where they are now.”
Etienne listened quietly to Lani’s story. By then, the butler had finished three plates and quietly set down his fork. In a soft voice, Etienne said,
“Then shall we look for your sibling together?”
“Huh?”
Lani looked at Etienne with eyes full of both shock and yearning. Alone, she could never have searched for her sibling—it was an offer too tempting to refuse.
Lani bowed her head deeply, as if ashamed.
“I’d be very grateful if you would.”
Lani mumbled her reply, and Etienne shook her head lightly as if it were nothing.
“Let’s search together with Butler Letin.”
“Why must you drag me into this so casually?”
“We shared dessert, didn’t we?”
Etienne pointed to the butler’s clean plate.
“You seem to have eaten the most.”
The butler coughed awkwardly, at a loss for words.
“So that’s why you let me sit here without protest.”
The butler sounded thoroughly outmaneuvered.
“At least you understand now.”
Etienne smiled, and even Lani, who had been on the verge of tears, managed a smile.
“I’ll begin the search myself first. But before that, my lady, please look at this.”
The butler pulled out an invitation and a letter from his pocket, then gave Lani a look indicating she should excuse herself for a moment. Lani, surprisingly quick to understand, immediately rose and hurried out.
“It’s an invitation from the House of Count Pigmen. The Marquis and Marchioness Claire have other engagements that day and asked you to attend in their stead.”
“The House of Count Pigmen?”
As Etienne read the invitation and recalled the noble house, she picked up the letter.
“That’s a letter from His Highness the Crown Prince.”
The butler added as Etienne opened the envelope,
“I suspect it’s an invitation to attend the banquet as his partner.”
After reading the letter, Etienne looked at the butler with astonishment.
“How did you know?”
Was this rumor spreading too? But the butler replied calmly,
“Young Master Fernando made the same proposal. A knight from the ducal house delivered the message earlier.”
…Even Fernando?
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
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