Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 2
The Marquis’s house of the Empire collapsed overnight. Under the charge of treason, Marquis Claire and his wife were executed before the Emperor, and in the dead of night, the Imperial Knights stormed and trampled their estate.
The Imperial Knights ruthlessly killed anyone who resisted and gathered every member of the marquis’s household and servant, throwing them all into the Imperial Prison.
Raging flames swallowed the marquis’s mansion, and thus the House of Claire faded into oblivion.
Locked in her cell, Etienne looked down at her hands bathed in moonlight. The bandage the butler had wrapped around her thorn-scratched wound was now filthy. It had been neatly tied, but one end had come loose and frayed.
Etienne tucked the loose end of the bandage back into the wrapped cloth. Her hands moved clumsily—she had never bandaged herself before—but it didn’t matter.
There was no one left to see and comment on it. Everyone had been scattered into separate cells, and the butler who had wrapped her wound had been beheaded on the spot after trying to stop an Imperial Knight from roughly grabbing Etienne’s arm.
“Honestly, such a fool.”
He’d said he’d like her more than Fernando, yet how was she supposed to react now that he’d died so pointlessly? Etienne’s muttered words drifted into the silent prison and vanished.
Etienne lifted her head. Through the tiny window—too small even for her head to fit through—she could see the Imperial Palace. Inside it sat the Emperor who had ordered her parents’ deaths.
It was all because they had offended the current Emperor. When he was still a prince, the House of Claire had supported the Crown Prince instead of him.
Then the Crown Prince died suddenly, and he naturally ascended the throne, leaving the Claires abruptly without any support. Lost and wandering, unsure what to do, they were surprised when the Emperor reached out first.
Having claimed the throne, he declared he would bury the past and start anew. Many noble houses had supported the Crown Prince while he lived.
Among them were ancient lineages and houses with powerful knightly orders, so it seemed he had decided it was wiser to embrace them than cast them all aside.
In particular, the House of Claire maintained close ties with the House of Schupraher—the very foundation of the Empire—so they believed the Emperor would treat them well. After all, there was no need to destabilize the Empire by purging every house.
It was all a mistaken belief. The Emperor never intended to embrace them all. He planned to make an example of a few houses—and unfortunately, the House of Claire was chosen as that example.
‘Fernando.’
She missed him. She longed to be held by him, to find comfort from this nightmarish reality.
But it was all futile hope. Fernando, fearing his own house might be endangered, never came to see her.
Though she understood his situation, her heart ached bitterly with loneliness.
Etienne wrapped her arms tightly around herself.
On the final night before her execution, her thoughts were, as always, filled with Fernando.
[This is the timeline separator]Fernando Schupraher—the heir to the House of Schupraher—had grown close to her through interactions between houses that had supported the Crown Prince.
Even though Etienne tried to hide her feelings for him by acting distant, she still saw him often for this very reason.
The same applied to Hana, the noble daughter of another house that had backed the Crown Prince.
The time they’d spent deepening their friendship had now become a past that couldn’t even remain as a memory.
“Etienne Claire.”
At the Emperor’s sharp summons, Etienne weakly raised her head. She felt his cold gaze fixed upon her. And the nobles who knew her family had done nothing wrong avoided her eyes.
Hana dabbed her tears with a handkerchief, her expression full of sorrow for Etienne. Just yesterday, they’d stood together arranging flowers.
Suddenly, Etienne noticed the bandage wrapped around Hana’s hand—pure white and immaculate. Etienne lowered her eyes to her own filthy bandage and gently touched it.
It had been completely ruined after she collapsed on the floor several times this morning—just like her own wretched state.
“You understand why you’re still alive, don’t you?”
At the Emperor’s taunting tone, Etienne glanced toward Fernando, who stood beside Hana.
He clenched his fists tightly, gazing at her with pained eyes—as if burdened by guilt for having played a part in her current plight.
‘What’s this, Fernando? Since when did you care about me so much…?’
His expression struck her as absurd, and a faint, twisted smile twitched at the corner of her lips. Just yesterday, he’d fussed endlessly over Hana’s thorn scratch yet hadn’t spared a single thought for Etienne’s own wound.
His anguish was likely because his house was entangled in the Claire affair.
The House of Schupraher had asked the Claires for a favor. Back when the current Emperor was still a prince, they’d uncovered a clue suggesting he’d murdered the Crown Prince—and they wanted the Claires to verify its authenticity.
Restoration magic was a secret art passed down exclusively through the House of Claire, a unique ability no one else could replicate.
Duke Schupraher believed that if anyone could uncover the true cause of the Crown Prince’s death from that clue, it would be the Claires—and Marquis Claire had accepted the task. And that decision had brought about the fall of House Claire.
“Speak.”
The Emperor had deliberately spared Etienne in the hope she would implicate the House of Schupraher as well. He wanted her to admit the Duke’s involvement in this treason.
“Was the House of Schupraher involved in this betrayal? What proposal did the Duke make to you?”
The Emperor asked gently—but it was a false kindness, fueled by the eager anticipation that her next words might allow him to tear the Duke’s house apart.
Etienne bit her lip. Honestly, it was unjust. Her parents had never questioned the Crown Prince’s death.
Moreover, when the Duke suggested investigating it, they had warned him it was no time to draw attention.
Yet the Duke insisted he would bear full responsibility and drew her parents into it.
Now, even as House Claire took all the blame, he stood by, acting as though he had no connection to the matter at all. Etienne resented them deeply.
‘Shall we all die together?’
As if lured by the Emperor’s sweet temptation, Etienne’s unfocused eyes drifted toward the people of the Duke’s house.
If she were to drag down the Duke who had drawn her father into this—and those who had once treated her kindly, hoping to make her their daughter-in-law—at least she wouldn’t die alone.
Slowly scanning their faces, Etienne parted her cracked lips, and a hoarse voice escaped.
“The Duke’s house… has nothing to do with this.”
If only the last person she saw hadn’t been Fernando…
Fearing for his safety, Etienne concealed everything and embraced the burden alone. As the Emperor clicked his tongue in disappointment and sentenced her to death, Etienne closed her eyes.
Thus ended her bond with Fernando.
Just before ascending the scaffold, a hand grasped her arm. Etienne’s eyes slowly followed the hand up to the face of its owner.
‘…Fernando.’
Perhaps because he was so close, his deeply contorted expression appeared unusually clear.
“Why… did you say that?”
His voice was thick with regret over her claim that the Duke’s house was uninvolved.
If he felt so sorry for her, why hadn’t he come to see her in prison? Last night in that cell had been unbearably painful and lonely.
But she couldn’t say that to him. To him, she was nothing more than a friend—neither more nor less.
If he, who wasn’t even her lover, visited her now, it would expose a secret agreement between their houses.
“I tried to see you yesterday. That’s why I wanted to tell you…”
“Fernando.”
Before he could finish, Hana suddenly appeared and grabbed his arm. She glanced around and subtly shook her head at him—
as if to say she knew what he wanted to say, but not here. Hana pulled Fernando back one step away from Etienne.
Even at a time like this, only each other mattered to them. Etienne’s split, chapped lips parted in what was her attempt at a smile—but swollen and rough as they were, it came out distorted.
“It’s not because of you. So don’t trouble yourself.”
With her usual sharp demeanor, Etienne walked past Fernando.
Though she felt his gaze cling to her back as she climbed the scaffold, she didn’t look back. There was no future for them together—so she held no lingering attachment.
Forced roughly onto her knees on the scaffold, Etienne’s eyes fell upon a puddle formed by the rain. Reflected in it was her disheveled image—as if demanding she witness her own end.
‘So this is what I look like today.’
Naturally, she thought, this wretched visage would be Fernando’s final memory of her.
“Well, maybe that’s for the best.”
Etienne closed her eyes. Her parents were already gone, her house destroyed. She had nothing left.
Though she still held feelings for Fernando, it was better this way—that this would be the last image he’d carry of her. After all, he’d never once called her pretty; perhaps this broken state suited her better.
‘It’s all over.’
By shielding the Schupraher house, she had brought her unrequited love to a close. With that thought, she truly had nothing left. Once her life ended, so too would her feelings for him—and strangely, that brought relief.
Etienne closed her eyes, surrendering everything.
The blade fell upon her neck, and all thought ceased.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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