Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 23
“How strange.”
Reinhart examined the small egg from every angle. Nothing changed no matter how he looked at it, yet it remained undeniably fascinating.
“What’s so strange about it?”
After Count Pigmen had withdrawn, Etienne found herself with nothing to do while the butler—who must have been there for some time without notice—went to inquire about Rani and Lahwin’s situation. So, as if merely taking a stroll, she approached Reinhart and struck up a conversation.
“Normally, I wouldn’t be its master… yet here it is treating me as one.”
“Is that so?”
“I expected it to reject my touch outright. Guess it took pity on me now that I’ve lost all my abilities.”
“…If Your Highness feels pity, how many people in this world aren’t pitiful, then?”
“Hmm… perhaps those without a younger brother desperately trying to kill them? And those who can live extremely long lives?”
“Your Highness, why do you keep saying such things?”
Etienne sighed and glanced around, checking whether anyone might have overheard the Crown Prince’s words.
Reinhart silently stared at Etienne for a moment. She clearly didn’t want to get deeply involved in whatever he said, nor did she seem particularly eager to listen.
Did she even realize that every time she acted this way, it only made him more eager to talk?
“Do you really have nothing to say to me?”
Reinhart’s smile deepened.
“Something to say?”
“If your butler hadn’t summoned me, what do you think would’ve happened to Count Pigmen? Or if I hadn’t rushed over the moment I heard the butler’s words, what then? Ah! And what if I’d deliberately stalled, making excuses and refusing to touch the object until your butler arrived…?”
“Stop. You can stop right there.”
Etienne raised her hand to signal him to cease. Somehow, without meaning to, her gesture ended up almost covering the Crown Prince’s mouth as he’d leaned closer toward her—but she didn’t lower her hand.
Above Etienne’s palm, Reinhart’s eyes were smiling. He was thoroughly enjoying this situation.
There was only one thing he wanted to hear from her.
“Thank you.”
“How much?”
“A whole lot?”
Though she wondered if it was really necessary to quantify it, Etienne offered a suitably vague reply.
“Enough for boundless admiration toward me to sprout wildly in your heart?”
Yet the Crown Prince wasn’t content to stop there and added another question.
“Well… not quite wildly.”
“Enough that you’d want to give Prince Ludvi a stern warning on my behalf?”
“That doesn’t seem right either.”
“Then could you eliminate those who stand in the way of my claiming the throne?”
“I have no power at all.”
“In that case, how about joining me in searching for someone?”
Etienne’s throat tightened instantly. This was it. This was exactly what he’d been aiming for all along. From the very beginning, this was the conversation he’d wanted to have.
“I’m not using this incident as an excuse to exploit you. I just hope you’ll understand—I’m finding it hard to do this alone and truly need your help.”
Etienne turned her head away, avoiding his gaze to steady her wavering resolve.
“I don’t want to die again—not after finally getting this hard-won chance.”
But his earnest voice rang softly in her ear. It was over.
“Hold on. Before that, may I ask you just one question?”
“Anything.”
Since he’d agreed so readily, Etienne quickly spoke up.
“You said you can’t see the future. Then how did you know you weren’t its master?”
“Oh… I never explained that part?”
Reinhart tilted his head, as if trying to recall their earlier conversations, and Etienne’s eyes narrowed sharply.
“Don’t pretend you’re just now remembering. There’s nothing to recall in the first place.”
“Was it like that? Then I’ll answer. In the past, merely meeting someone allowed me to see their future—at least the crucial parts, if not everything. But not anymore. Well… maybe…”
Reinhart paused, searching for the right words, then spoke as it came to him.
“Very occasionally… I still see glimpses.”
“Occasionally?”
“Yep. That’s enough. It seems it’s my turn now.”
Noticing Etienne was nearly convinced, Reinhart asked,
“So, your answer?”
Etienne closed her eyes and silently ranted to herself. It was kind of him to restore her time—but dragging her into this was another matter entirely.
She opened her mouth, ready to protest, to demand why she couldn’t make her own choices when he’d freely made his.
“I’ll do it.”
‘I really hate this.’
Herself, for agreeing…
His words—“I don’t want to die again”—had robbed her of any power to refuse.
“I knew you’d say that.”
“You just said you thought I’d refuse at first! I really…”
Etienne looked up at him with an aggrieved expression, only for her words to trail off.
He was smiling—a brighter, more delighted smile than even when he’d become the egg’s master. Seeing that, Etienne couldn’t bring herself to voice any further complaints.
“I’m counting on you, Etienne.”
His voice sounded sweetly in her ears—surely a trick of her own hearing.
[This is the timeline separator]“The head of House Schupraher summons you.”
A short distance away from Etienne and Reinhart, the knight who had been discreetly guarding Fernando finally revealed himself.
“He orders you to return immediately.”
Worried for his lord’s safety, the knight urged him to hurry—no matter how much of an heir he was, there was no escaping the Duke’s fiery temper.
But Fernando remained still, his gaze fixed on something in the distance.
“My lord.”
“We’re going.”
Fernando’s low voice was dry and indifferent, entirely unconcerned with his father’s notorious mood. Only then did the knight belatedly follow his lord’s line of sight.
The Crown Prince and the young lady of House Claire were deep in conversation—wearing warm, familiar expressions, laughing heartily, their faces animated with life.
“Before that, I have somewhere to go.”
“But the head of the house…”
“A place I must go…”
Fernando continued, slowly turning his head until his eyes met the knight’s. Then he finished firmly,
“He said so.”
“My apologies. I’ll follow you.”
Instead of looking back at Etienne, Fernando turned away coldly.
[This is the timeline separator]Thanks to the second prince’s outrageous tantrum, Count Pigmen slumped back in his chair with a weary sigh.
Had the Crown Prince not become the object’s master, he himself would’ve been placed in quite the awkward position because of the second prince.
“Damn. At least I’ve secured the Crown Prince’s favor—otherwise, this would’ve been a disaster.”
Now he could finally avoid the trouble of choosing which prince to back.
“Still… that second prince’s cruelty is troubling.”
Until today, Count Pigmen hadn’t chosen between the two princes because their abilities were evenly matched—quite the contrary. The Crown Prince was clearly superior.
Judging by the Crown Prince’s current actions, it was obvious he would blossom into an emperor capable of leading the empire to great heights.
But the empire’s prosperity mattered little to Count Pigmen. What truly worried him was whether supporting the Crown Prince might cost him his life at the hands of the second prince.
Born a noble, he’d already enjoyed every privilege life could offer—his own life mattered far more to him than the empire’s fate.
Yet backing the second prince came with its own complications.
‘Even if he considers me his own, the second prince won’t hesitate to eliminate anyone who displeases him.’
If he openly sided with the second prince and then made even a minor misstep while navigating court politics, it would be disastrous. To avoid that, he’d need the second prince to rely on him—but he had no idea how to make that happen.
Today, however, that dilemma had been resolved cleanly.
Though he regretted letting the thief go, gaining the Crown Prince’s favor made up for it.
“Father!”
Suddenly, the door burst open and his son rushed in. Count Pigmen’s face instantly crumpled. The fact that his timid son would call out to him so loudly could only mean trouble.
“What is it now?”
“It’s… about House Schupraher’s…”
Before his son could finish, someone shoved past him. Fearing his son might have been hurt, Count Pigmen hastily stood—only to see someone entering the room.
“Ah, aren’t you Lord Fernando?”
It was the same young man he’d seen earlier. Relieved it wasn’t the second prince, he settled back into his seat.
“What brings you here?”
He asked, watching Fernando carefully. The young man promptly dropped into the seat opposite him—then, not content with that, leaned back comfortably and propped his feet up on the table.
“What is the meaning of this behavior!”
Infuriated by what seemed like deliberate disrespect, Count Pigmen’s face flushed as he shouted.
“Noisy.”
Fernando merely scratched his ear and frowned.
“You insolent brat…”
“That last part was to myself.”
Fernando cut off the outraged noble with perfect composure. But even if it was a muttered aside, his attitude was far beyond what anyone could reasonably excuse.
Yet Fernando didn’t care in the slightest.
“Now, let’s talk.”
His arrogance remained unchanged.
“You’ve clearly lost your senses. No matter that you’re a duke’s son, you cannot behave so recklessly.”
Today had been filled with one infuriating encounter after another.
First the Marquis’s daughter, now the Duke’s son—both acting as if their noble houses gave them license to look down on him. They were merely heirs of noble families—hardly even ennobled themselves yet…
“You tried to lay hands on Etienne.”
Fernando spoke without looking directly at him.
“Etienne? You mean that child from House Claire? If not for His Highness the Crown Prince, the two of you…”
“Etienne…”
Fernando cut him off again, then slowly turned his head to lock eyes with the count.
“You tried to lay hands on her.”
The knight, who had suffered a similar humiliation moments earlier, glanced at Count Pigmen. The count looked utterly flustered, at a loss for words. The knight understood completely—he’d felt the same way just before.
Like him, Count Pigmen must now be sensing an undeniable, unnerving presence radiating from Fernando, despite his youth.
“What did you just say…?”
“A warning.”
Fernando spoke in a low but clear voice.
“If you ever touch Etienne again, I won’t stand by.”
“You rely on your house to act so brazenly.”
“My house? No.”
At the mention of House Schupraher, Fernando sneered.
“Do I really look like some brat threatening you by leaning on his family name?”
He did—exactly—so Count Pigmen shut his mouth. Seeing that expression, Fernando smiled.
Come to think of it, he himself had been like that not long ago—so blinded by the sheer size of his own house that he saw nothing else. But that was no longer the case.
What did such a house truly matter, anyway?
“You really don’t see anything else, do you? Not even that I might look like a madman.”
Count Pigmen’s eyes widened in shock. He’d assumed the boy was merely foolish, but the atmosphere around him since they met had felt increasingly ominous—and now, just as Fernando claimed, he truly did seem unhinged.
“If you touch Etienne, I won’t let it go.”
From start to finish, Fernando spoke of only one thing: don’t touch Etienne.
“Next time, let’s not meet like this.”
Finally speaking like a reasonable person, Fernando rose gracefully, bowed politely, and turned to leave.
After briefly surveying the room, he completely ignored the heir standing nearby and walked straight out.
Count Pigmen remained motionless until Fernando had fully disappeared and the heir had quietly closed the door behind him. Only then did he mutter under his breath.
“What an absolute madman…”
‘Was Lord Fernando always like this? He didn’t seem that way the last time I saw him…’
“What did he eat wrong?”
He couldn’t understand at all—why had the young lord changed so drastically? Why was he treating him like this?
“Wait—didn’t House Schupraher just pledge support to the Crown Prince?”
That meant he, too, would be backing the Crown Prince—and thus would see far more of Fernando. He was even more worried about his son. After all, heirs tended to socialize with other heirs.
Wondering whether his son would even dare breathe in Fernando’s presence, Count Pigmen let out a deep sigh.
The Male lead Always Seduces Her with His Beauty (Matriarchy)
Xin Jiao Zhou is the leader of the world’s premier sect. She has just experienced betrayal from all sides, was poisoned in an assassination attempt, and faced death squad attacks while the poison was taking effect. After finally clearing out the scum from her sect, she was drugged again while trying to detoxify.
After waking up from a night of unconsciousness, she gained a “beautiful and kind-hearted” husband.
Xin Jiao Zhou: “???”
He fell ill.
She came to see him, bringing breakfast.
As she put down the breakfast and was about to leave, his hand slipped while holding the spoon. “Clank!”
She turned around upon hearing the noise.
He looked up at her, his eyebrows drooping: “My hand… has no strength.”
“Shall I… feed you?” she asked tentatively.
He opened his mouth cheerfully: “Ah—”
Thinking she was drowning, he jumped in without hesitation to save her, but nearly drowned himself. In the end, it was she who swam over to rescue him, giving him air underwater.
After emerging from the water, his ear tips turned red. He lightly brushed his cheek, tucking his sideburns behind his ear, revealing delicate, pink-tinged ear tips. He lowered his gaze, too embarrassed to look at her.
Xin Jiao Zhou: He’s truly beautiful, kind-hearted, and adorable.
A certain someone when disciplining subordinates behind the scenes: “If they don’t obey, just kill them.”
What’s that? She might already have someone she cares about in her heart? A certain someone: Find out who it is, kill them, and then there won’t be anyone.
What? She met a man by the riverside? What? That man even hurt her? A certain someone: Whichever hand hurt her, chop off his entire arm.
Love at first sight without realizing it, gradually falling in love, slowly getting closer…
Family and national grudges, schemes and desires, good and evil, crime and punishment, she and he face the future together, seeking justice with passion!
A naturally dark female lead who could accidentally destroy the world but is actually an honest person VS a weak, pitiful, and helpless but skilled fighter, beautiful white-cut black male lead
My heart is not of stone, how steadfast is your love? — Tao Yuanming “Imitating the Ancients (No. 3)”
— Reading Guide —
Cold female lead & dramatic black lotus with hidden yandere traits male lead
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