Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 30
Perhaps it had been Etienne’s own selfish wish to hope nothing would go wrong. Trouble struck right from the start—their delayed departure, later than originally planned, was the issue.
“Camping out in the middle of the mountains… isn’t that romantic?”
Reinhart said with an excited expression, but everyone else’s reaction was icy.
“Is it?”
At least kind-hearted Heishi responded, but that was as far as it went.
“What shall we do?”
At Alex’s question, Reinhart briefly fell silent, feigning thought. In truth, the answer was already decided.
‘The Crown Prince will sleep in the carriage, and everyone else will sleep outside.’
It was fortunate they had sleeping bags at all. Etienne looked around, thinking they could simply build a fire in the center and sleep in a circle.
The ground was flat, so there was no need to search for a better spot—just gathering firewood seemed enough.
“No need to worry about where to lie down, Etienne.”
Seeing Etienne’s actions, Reinhart shook his head and spoke.
“The ladies may sleep inside the carriage. I’ll sleep outside.”
“But Your Highness, the Crown Prince—”
Alex shook his head at Reinhart’s suggestion.
“We cannot possibly let someone of your status sleep outdoors.”
“Won’t it be better for the three young ladies if I’m the only one excluded?”
“Even so, how could we possibly let Your Highness lie on the bare ground? Absolutely not.”
When Alex firmly objected, Reinhart wore a troubled expression.
“I’m perfectly fine—why do you keep insisting…?”
“Your Highness, it’s absolutely out of the question. Please don’t concern yourself with others sleeping outside.”
After firmly reiterating his stance, Alex turned to the others.
“As you can see, the cargo carriage has no room for anyone to lie down, so we all must sleep outside. I ask for your understanding just for tonight. I know you’re all scions of noble houses, but given the circumstances, there’s simply no other way.”
Since Alex was the only one besides Reinhart who held a title, he addressed everyone respectfully.
“Then let’s settle our spots before it gets darker. It’d be best to split into groups and gather firewood—what does everyone think?”
No one could object to Alex’s smooth suggestion, as if he’d planned it ahead of time.
“Then Solan, Nick, and Heishi will form one group; Bazon and Hana another; and Etienne and Fernando will be the third. Please also keep an eye out for any dangers nearby.”
Counselor Alex even assigned each person their destination, leaving no one with any excuse to linger.
After sending the seven off in three directions, Alex only relaxed his stiff expression once they’d all disappeared from sight.
“What is this?”
“What?”
“Taking children along on something like this now… sigh.”
Alex let out a long sigh.
“Why on earth did you assign me that task?”
“What task?”
When Alex spoke, clearly unconvinced, Reinhart replied indifferently.
“About you sleeping in the carriage. If you’d just stayed quiet, everyone would’ve assumed you’d sleep there anyway—so why deliberately pretend to yield it to the ladies and then order me to say it’s unacceptable?”
Everything that had just happened was carried out entirely on Reinhart’s instructions. Seeing Alex’s look of disbelief, Reinhart spoke in a low voice.
“You know I need to find someone.”
“So what?”
What did that have to do with sleeping arrangements?
“From now on, I’ll have to eliminate those who aren’t the one, one by one. And for that, they’ll need to face some rather unsettling situations.”
“Why go to such lengths?”
“The more flustered they are, the more their thoughts will reveal themselves.”
Reinhart answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
[This is the timeline separator]“What on earth is going on? I never liked this trip from the start.”
At Solan’s complaint, Nick quickly revealed his own true feelings.
“I can’t understand the Crown Prince’s thinking at all. Could he possibly want to make things difficult for us?”
“Exactly! At first, I was thrilled to travel with His Highness, but look at this mess. Will it keep going like this? I’ve never endured such hardship before.”
Solan openly showed her displeasure. At sixteen, she was the pampered daughter of a count’s household—she’d always gotten everything she wanted, and everything had gone exactly as she wished.
But ever since her parents declared support for the Crown Prince, nothing seemed to go her way anymore.
“My rose-prick wounds haven’t even healed yet, and now I’m supposed to sleep on the ground….”
Solan, who hadn’t even properly touched the roses that day, grumbled endlessly, and Nick chimed in in agreement.
“If I’d known it’d be like this, I’d have refused to come.”
Nick muttered the rest of his earlier grievances, then called out to the silent Heishi.
“Heishi, do you still think the same? Do you really believe His Highness has some grand plan behind all this?”
“We need branches to build a fire.”
Heishi’s reply, still seemingly on the Crown Prince’s side, made Nick click his tongue.
“Figures you’d say that.”
Heishi gave a foolish smile and picked up another branch. Then, noticing Nick and Solan still standing empty-handed, he asked,
“Aren’t you two going to gather any?”
“I can’t do that sort of thing.”
Solan turned her head away in reply, while Nick pretended to look around.
“I need to check for any dangers.”
“…Alright.”
Heishi gave up on their help and gathered branches alone. He figured if his weren’t enough, they could combine with what the other groups brought.
Meanwhile, Hana and Bazon walked about two steps apart.
“Shall we assign roles? I’ll check for dangers, and you gather branches—how about that?”
Bazon suggested, hands clasped behind his head. His request for Hana to gather firewood suggested he held no special feelings toward her.
“I’ll check for dangers—you gather them.”
Hana gritted her teeth as she spoke to Bazon.
“Fine, then.”
Bazon immediately bent down to pick up branches, seemingly indifferent to the role switch—but Hana remained in a foul mood nonetheless. She turned her head away completely.
‘I wanted to go with Fernando—why am I stuck with this kid?’
Frustration made her breathing grow ragged, which she forced herself to calm. Just then, Bazon spoke.
“Hey, your breathing’s really loud.”
“What?”
“I mean, you’re breathing way too heavily.”
“Even if I’m the type who says whatever’s on my mind, how can you just blurt out something so rude like that?”
“No, I’m just saying what I hear….”
Bazon straightened his back mid-sentence and trailed off. Hana snapped irritably,
“‘What you hear’? Say that again.”
“I heard right after all.”
“What?”
“Over there.”
“You’re just trying to change the subject—”
When Bazon nodded toward a spot, Hana grumbled and turned her head.
There, a wild boar snorted heavily, pawing the ground as if ready to charge at any moment.
“You were the one who said you’d check for dangers.”
Bazon muttered with a grimace.
[This is the timeline separator]“I’ll gather them.”
“Let’s do it together.”
As Fernando bent down first, Etienne also lowered her upper body to pick up branches. Just as Fernando was about to stop her from being so proactive—
“Fernando, wet branches aren’t good.”
At Etienne’s words, Fernando’s gaze fell to the branch in his hand.
“Good firewood needs to be completely dry. Wet branches produce too much smoke and hardly catch fire.”
Fernando blinked in surprise at her explanation.
“How do you know that?”
“I’ve studied, heard about it, and been there myself….”
Etienne let her words trail off. Even though she could’ve answered honestly, she kept speaking vaguely.
‘It’s not easy to casually mention my past life.’
Ever since meeting Fernando five years ago, her days had been filled entirely with unrequited affection for him—and she feared saying the wrong thing.
Whenever he spoke to Hana about his travels, Etienne would pretend not to listen but later visit each of those places herself.
Simply seeing the same sights as Fernando filled her heart with joy—but that was a secret she must never let slip, even by accident.
“Shall we gather quickly and head back?”
“Shh.”
As Etienne tried to change the subject, Fernando suddenly scanned their surroundings with a serious expression.
“What’s wrong?”
“A scream.”
“What?”
Etienne followed Fernando’s gaze and listened carefully—and faintly, she indeed heard a scream.
“This way.”
Etienne dropped all the branches she’d just gathered and turned toward the sound.
“Etienne, you go back to where the carriage is.”
“But what if it’s someone from our group?”
“That’s exactly why you should go back. It’s dangerous.”
Fernando took Etienne’s hand and turned back along the path they’d come. Etienne half-ran to keep up with his pace.
“But we have to go save them!”
Etienne tried to pull her hand free, but Fernando’s grip was so strong her wrist went numb—she couldn’t escape.
“You going won’t necessarily save anyone.”
“Fernando…”
Fernando kept walking straight ahead without looking back at Etienne. She couldn’t understand why his cold, distant back made her heart ache so.
Though she knew it was inappropriate for the situation, she couldn’t stop worrying about how he seemed to ignore others.
‘Was he always like this?’
Watching his back, Etienne felt confused.
When House Claire fell and she was imprisoned—was Fernando like this then too? Did he also leave for safety because it was dangerous?
‘That night in prison felt so unbearably lonely….’
Silently following him, they soon saw the carriage. Only then did Fernando stop.
He pointed toward it and said to Etienne,
“Go wait there. I’ll go rescue them.”
“…What?”
She’d assumed they’d both stay somewhere safe. But Fernando’s declaration that he’d go save whoever was screaming left Etienne momentarily blank-minded.
“I don’t want you getting hurt. But I also hate seeing you worry—so I’ll go. I’ll bring them back safely.”
Fernando released Etienne’s hand and turned away.
“So just wait.”
I’ll return unharmed.
When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem
This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.
Synopsis:
“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”
Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.
Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.
While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…
Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.
_____
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