Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 39
Reinhart originally hadn’t come here at all. He hadn’t seen it in the future, but knowing himself well enough, he simply knew he wouldn’t have come.
Yet this time, he had to come. There were many reasons to come. First, to stop whatever his younger brother was doing, and to create a justification strong enough to rein him in…
And also to grow closer to Etienne, who knew about the future. Plus, to let the young members of his house endure some hardship as well.
Lastly…
‘I already said it’s fine even if I have no abilities anymore.’
Alex’s insistence—that coming here might somehow restore his powers—had played a part too.
While others might despair upon losing their abilities, Reinhart was not among them. He felt utterly at ease being grounded in reality, yet Alex remained deeply worried.
Worried that without any powers, he might fall victim to the Second Prince. But Reinhart truly didn’t care at all.
‘But what difference does looking at this tree make anyway?’
What could he possibly gain from the Mitri tree, smaller than himself? Reinhart gazed down at the tree, then knelt. Nothing would change just because he looked up from below, but he glanced up anyway.
Then he sat right in front of the Mitri tree, and Etienne trudged over, handed him something to eat, and left.
How amusing it was that someone with such a terse, clipped way of speaking took such thoughtful care of him. His own younger sister wasn’t even this adorable.
Reinhart chewed the meat Etienne had given him and stared at the Mitri.
“What power does it have besides its silver hue that it’s called the Tree of God? Could you explain why it’s got that nickname? I’m called ‘the man bestowed by God,’ yet I don’t feel particularly pleased about it.”
Etienne, hearing Reinhart address the tree, clicked her tongue audibly from behind, but Reinhart calmly tapped his own cheek with his index finger.
“Someone who looks like me doesn’t come around every day. So take a good look at me.”
“No one lives without knowing they’re handsome, but I’ve never met anyone who so brazenly invokes God like that. And aren’t you clearly not the ‘man bestowed by God’? I never heard that nickname before—wasn’t it more like ‘a gift from nature’ or something?”
Etienne, unable to hold back any longer, grumbled something under her breath, but Reinhart shamelessly turned his face this way and that, speaking directly to the Mitri tree.
“It feels like we have something in common. Why not tell me something—anything?”
“Like I’d ever tell you anything.”
Etienne made another remark. In response, Reinhart moved right next to her.
“If you’re just going to keep answering like that, let’s sit together.”
“No.”
At Etienne’s refusal, Reinhart simply said, “Fine, then not,” and sat back down where he could see the Mitri clearly again.
“Maybe something will show up if we just keep looking.”
“But…”
Etienne, who’d just said she didn’t want to sit together, had already crept over and crouched beside Reinhart. She looked up at the Mitri and began cautiously.
“Doesn’t it seem strange?”
“What does?”
“It’s a tree, right?”
No matter its nickname or the environment it grew in, the Mitri was a tree whose roots ran deep into the earth. Etienne continued, pointing to its leaves, which glowed faintly white in the silvery light of the trunk.
“Why isn’t a single leaf falling?”
“What?”
“Well, I’ve been here for a few hours, and I’ve seen the wind blow and the leaves shake.”
Since they might have to leave on their own if no one came to rescue them, Etienne had toured the sanctuary with Fernando and realized that wind flowed through this space.
“Yet even when the wind shakes the leaves hard, not one falls. And this tree isn’t fake or anything.”
“Maybe it’s a mystical tree—its leaves just don’t fall.”
“We don’t even know how long this tree’s been here. Hmm… I guess that could be true.”
Etienne, somewhat convinced, stood up and walked off toward Fernando. She’d mentioned the wind—and indeed, like the wind, she appeared and vanished in an instant.
Reinhart smiled softly and looked back at the Mitri.
“Etienne’s right. It’s a tree, yet not a single leaf falls. It’s stepped outside of the seasons—no, perhaps outside of time itself.”
Was that how it had endured in this utterly empty place?
“Well, it’s clearly no ordinary tree anyway. So what’s the point of such thoughts?”
Reinhart, having raised the question only to satisfy it himself, stood up. He’d gained much just by coming this far.
So even if he learned nothing new about the Mitri tree, he could simply consider it a pleasant outing and head back.
But just as Reinhart turned to leave, the Mitri tree seemed to tremble—and a leaf fell. Caught by the timely breeze, it fluttered right before his eyes.
“What’s this?”
Reinhart instinctively reached out and caught the leaf—and it melted into his palm.
“Huh. What’s going on here?”
He murmured, staring down at his now-empty hand.
“Did I gain some special ability or something?”
Hoping against hope, he waved his hand—but nothing changed.
“Etienne.”
Since nothing happened no matter how he moved, Reinhart finally called out to Etienne.
“What?”
“Did you see what just happened to me?”
“What happened?”
Etienne hadn’t seen a thing—she’d been busy talking with Fernando.
“Well, a leaf fell and landed in my hand… Anyway, is anything about me different now? Or is some kind of aura flowing from my body or something?”
Reinhart spread his arms wide, as if urging her to look closely. Etienne stepped back a pace and stared at him.
Outwardly, he looked exactly as before. Although the sanctuary wasn’t brightly lit, his golden hair still shone, and his beautiful eyes—like a blend of forest and sea—gazed right at her.
“Well?”
“You’re just handsome.”
“Not that—anything more special?”
“You look like a sculpture.”
“…You’re not talking about that angel statue from before—the one you said goes to the bathroom, right? This isn’t the time for jokes.”
“It’s a bit odd to have a serious conversation about how handsome you are, isn’t it?”
“Anyway, take another look.”
Reinhart struck a pose again.
Etienne studied him with a serious expression.
‘What on earth am I supposed to be looking for?’
No matter how hard she looked, all she saw was a face that was handsome—then even more handsome.
That angel statue resembled his younger self, but now… maybe something like a sculpture meticulously carved by God himself? Either way, it amounted to the same thing: he was handsome.
“Are you falling for me just by looking at my face?”
“…I don’t see what’s changed. May I go now?”
Afraid he might grab her again, Etienne hurriedly turned away. She went back to Fernando and shook her head at his puzzled expression.
“No idea. He just came over asking strange questions.”
“Just ignore him.”
Fernando, too, turned his back on the Crown Prince.
[This is the timeline separator]Though day and night couldn’t be distinguished inside the sanctuary, exhaustion eventually overcame Etienne first. Fernando draped his coat over her as she curled up and fell asleep on the floor, then walked toward the water.
He’d recently awakened his water affinity. It wasn’t yet a formidable power, but it was clearly growing stronger.
Fernando knelt on one knee by the water’s edge and leaned forward. As he gazed into the clear water and dipped his hand in, a cool chill spread through his body as if the water flowed within him.
“Why didn’t you do anything in front of Etienne?”
Reinhart, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed, spoke up.
“You like Etienne, right? Then wouldn’t you want to show her your abilities?”
If you wanted to impress someone, wouldn’t you naturally show off your unique talents?
“To Etienne, my current self is already enough.”
“Enough to silently stay by her side and stare at her longingly?”
Reinhart referenced the behaviors Fernando had displayed.
“You secretly went behind her back to confront Count Pigmen and threaten him, and you’re keeping others from getting close to Etienne for fear they might harm her. Yet you’re hiding even your water affinity? I don’t understand.”
“Your Highness doesn’t know.”
“I don’t know? So you know something I don’t?”
Fernando offered no reply to Reinhart’s question, merely closing his eyes. All expression vanished from his face as he absorbed everything the water conveyed.
“Right. If anyone gains something here, it’s you.”
After all, House Schupraher’s water affinity originated right here.
Having spoken, Reinhart closed his eyes once more.
“Your Highness…”
How much time had passed? Reinhart, who’d dozed off briefly, snapped awake at the voice addressing him.
“Why do you keep circling around Etienne?”
“That sounds awfully bothersome.”
Reinhart smiled slightly, finding his own subdued voice oddly amusing, then continued.
“The reason I keep talking to Etienne and showing interest in her…”
Fernando, who still had his hand in the water, turned his head.
“If it’s for political reasons, have you considered that Etienne might be put in danger?”
“Hmm…”
The slightly aggressive tone made Reinhart tilt his head slightly. His skull scraped against the unyielding wall, but he didn’t mind. After a moment of thought, he suddenly chuckled.
“I might not know everything, but I do know one thing.”
Reinhart lightly tapped the head of the sleeping Etienne with his index finger. She instinctively moved her hand to swat it away in her sleep, and Reinhart, amused, kept tapping her hair.
“Etienne would rather keep her distance from you more than from me.”
Seeing Etienne mumble something incoherent in her sleep, Reinhart grinned and tapped her hair even more playfully.
He didn’t know others’ hearts—but he knew Etienne’s. After all, he’d recognized the meaning behind the way she looked at Fernando.
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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