Unrequited Love is Over, Fend for Yourselves (5 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 7
Etienne did not want to accept the Duke’s invitation. The Duke of Schupraher had provided the very cause of her family’s downfall and merely watched as it crumbled, so her feelings toward him were far from favorable.
Had her feelings for Fernando been even slightly less intense, her answer might have been different when the Emperor asked whether the Duke’s house had been involved in the rebellion.
So repulsive was the Duke that she could hardly bear to look at him, yet refusing an evening meal with Fernando proved difficult.
It was not because she still held affection for him or had any ulterior motive—it was simply because she had resolved to help him and wanted to see it through perfectly.
“Now that I look at you, the pale child drenched in that water earlier is gone, and only a lovely young lady remains.”
“Thank you.”
When the Duke smiled and offered the compliment, Etienne replied calmly and turned her head away. She truly loathed him. Once she had decided she disliked him, everything about the Duke became disagreeable.
Eager to leave, Etienne glanced toward her parents. When she fixed her gaze pointedly on her father, the Marquis gestured for her to eat quickly.
‘I need to speak with Father too…’
She had to tell him to keep his distance from the Duke and never agree to any of his requests.
“Etienne, is the food not to your liking?”
At the voice from beside her, Etienne flinched slightly and turned her head. Since the moment she entered the dining room, Fernando had taken the seat next to her and shown constant concern.
“No, it’s delicious.”
Though she gave that reply, Etienne remained lost in thought, merely holding her utensils. Fernando seemed to have noticed her distraction. She briefly considered eating just to prove a point, but instead set her utensils down.
“I’m full—I can’t eat any more.”
“But you barely ate anything…”
Fernando looked at the plate in front of Etienne. Indeed, as he said, she had eaten very little. Yet Etienne shook her head faintly.
“I’ll stop here.”
It was strange—Fernando worrying about her. In the past, she might have forced herself to eat just to please him, but not anymore.
‘After all, I no longer need to win Fernando’s favor.’
Since she genuinely didn’t feel like eating, stopping here was the right choice. Etienne had resolved to act entirely according to her own wishes, not Fernando’s.
“So Etienne eats very little, then.”
Despite her resolve, she couldn’t help but overhear Fernando’s quiet remark. She’d thought her feelings for him had vanished, but the heart wasn’t something that disappeared overnight.
Still, Etienne felt she’d shown remarkable composure and allowed a faint smile to cross her lips.
“Oh? You smiled.”
When Fernando pointed at her with his index finger in surprise, she quickly wiped the smile away.
“Why don’t you stop staring at me and focus on your own meal instead?”
Unable to bear it any longer, Etienne gestured toward the dish in front of Fernando. His steak remained untouched, just as it had been when she’d glanced at it earlier. He’d worried about her eating too little, yet hadn’t touched his own food either.
“Are you worried about me?”
“What?”
She’d only meant for him to take care of his own meal.
But Fernando interpreted it as concern, and Etienne stared at him with a bewildered expression—then widened her eyes in shock. Setting aside the shy smile on his lips…
‘Why is his face turning red?’
At the sight of his flushed cheeks, Etienne let out a silent scream. Fernando, embarrassed, fumbled with his fork and knife for a moment before finally nodding lightly.
“I’ll eat, since you’re worried about me.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
Etienne waved her hands, trying to correct his misunderstanding. She truly hadn’t meant it out of concern for him.
“I can eat just fine on my own. And I eat plenty. Oh—actually, I’ll even finish whatever you leave behind.”
“Why would you eat my leftovers?”
How could the heir of a noble ducal house, raised with utmost care, possibly claim he’d eat another’s leftovers? Besides, the table was laden with more than enough food for everyone to eat their fill.
Though Etienne responded with an odd look, Fernando, still flushed, shyly asked,
“Then… we must be quite compatible, right?”
What in the world was he talking about?
“Just eat. For now, just eat.”
Giving up on understanding him, Etienne shook her head inwardly and replied. Ever since she’d pulled him from the water, Fernando’s changed behavior had been hard to adjust to.
“Yes, of course.”
At the Duke’s sudden interjection, Etienne instinctively turned to look at him.
“Whether you become the lady I shall one day protect or my lifelong wife, I cannot say—but it would be wise to start getting accustomed to one another now.”
At the Duke’s words, Etienne’s expression turned incredulous. Fernando was odd enough, but the Duke treating it as perfectly reasonable was equally abnormal.
It almost seemed deliberate, as if he were throwing back at her the exact words she’d once spoken about making Fernando her knight—or husband.
‘I just want to leave.’
Now she disliked both the Duke and Fernando. Etienne swallowed a rising sigh along with a sip of water. Ending her meal early had been the right decision—if she’d kept eating, she surely would have suffered terrible indigestion.
The dinner, which stretched long into the night, finally ended just as Etienne collapsed from exhaustion.
“See you again.”
“Yeah.”
Deliberately ignoring Fernando’s uncomfortably intense gaze, Etienne turned away.
Eager to return home, she climbed into the carriage and, without thinking, glanced back—only to see her father deep in conversation with the Duke.
She couldn’t hear what they were saying from this distance, but the sight itself was deeply unpleasant. Etienne resolved to arrange a private talk with her father once they got home and climbed fully into the carriage.
The Marquis’s carriage began to move. Fernando, watching it recede into the distance, no longer wore a smile.
Throughout the entire evening spent with Etienne, his attention had been fixed entirely on her.
He’d worried when she ate so little, and felt elated when she looked at his plate and spoke to him.
Though neither of them had eaten much, simply conversing with Etienne had left him feeling utterly fulfilled.
“My lord.”
It was the captain of the covert guard detail.
“I had a rather strange experience today.”
Fernando continued gazing at the departing carriage as he murmured.
“She actually listened to my words and took my side. While everyone else pretended not to see me struggling in training, she was the only one who got angry on my behalf.”
He didn’t know when it had started, but ever since birth—as the heir of a ducal house—his life had brought him no joy. Not just joy—it had felt suffocating.
And whenever he expressed his unhappiness, others dismissed it as the idle complaints of a spoiled noble son.
Growing up among such people, he’d gradually developed an obsessive fear of rejection and constant anxiety about losing his position as heir.
So today, when he failed to awaken his water affinity, he’d even wished for death—convinced his existence was utterly worthless. That was when Etienne appeared. She saw through his pain and even…
“She indulged my childishness.”
Fernando’s voice rose slightly in astonishment. Even his own mother expected only strength and composure from him—but Etienne was entirely different.
No matter how he acted, she never found it strange. Instead, she seemed intent on treating him gently and accepting him as he was.
Today’s events felt unforgettable.
“I’ve found a new goal.”
Fernando’s voice carried unmistakable possessiveness.
[This is the timeline separator]The aftermath of visiting the ducal residence lasted longer than expected. It wasn’t just jumping into the water to save Fernando that day—but the fact that she’d gone straight to the Duke afterward without warming herself up properly, and confronted him.
Once home, her tightly wound body and mind finally relaxed, and Etienne immediately collapsed with a fever.
She remained half-conscious until three days later, when she finally began to stabilize.
“I’m never saving anyone ever again.”
Gazing at the ceiling, Etienne murmured the lesson she’d learned through firsthand experience. The realization that Fernando wouldn’t have died even without her intervention only deepened the shock.
After all, even if a father trained his son by throwing him off cliffs, surely he wouldn’t leave him completely unprepared in a truly dangerous situation.
“And… I won’t see Fernando again either.”
She resolved to avoid him unless absolutely necessary, and to minimize even accidental encounters.
Since her feelings for Fernando had done nothing but hinder her life, this decision felt inevitable.
“I’ll live for myself.”
That was how she would fully embrace this second chance at life. Etienne pushed herself up from the bed, bracing her hands against the mattress. Though her body still felt heavy, she was much better than on the day she’d collapsed.
Stretching to loosen her stiff limbs after days in bed, Etienne slowly stepped down onto the floor. Thanks to the maids who had diligently changed her clothes and wiped her down, she didn’t feel sticky or uncomfortable.
She brought her sleeve to her nose and inhaled deeply. The faint scent of sun-dried fabric brought a soft smile to her lips.
She thought of the servants who had always tended to her needs and stood by her side—even in the moment her family fell. Compared to before, her gratitude toward them had grown immeasurably.
While bedridden, Etienne had pondered what she would do once she recovered. Eventually, she decided she needed to show her appreciation to her servants.
Pulling the summoning cord with one hand, she used the other to smooth her tangled hair.
“I want to give something back.”
Etienne whispered softly to herself.
My Arch-enemy Sealed My Memory and Said That He is My Husband
This is an incredibly captivating story that you absolutely shouldn’t miss! I’ll give a brief introduction here, and below you’ll find a detailed synopsis of the plot.
The female lead is a fierce and powerful demon king. The male lead is a once-in-a-millennium celestial lord, admired by the entire cultivation world.
They are equally matched, legendary rivals who have battled for centuries.
In the final duel, the female lead is gravely injured. The male lead saves her, seals her memories, and hides her true identity. He tells her that he is her fiancé. His entire life has been flawless—except for the one thing he never expected, never controlled, and never wanted to control: falling for his greatest enemy. She is his inner demon, his obsession.
When the female lead regains her memories, she is furious at his deception.
She makes his life a living hell.
And somehow, the male lead—possibly a total masochist—doesn’t mind at all. In fact, he’s happy she’s paying attention to him.
Yep, we’re back to my favorite trope: male lead suffering. If you love this kind of story, jump into the pit with me now!!!
Intro
Dong Xia lost her memory.
Her handsome and extremely powerful fiancé Li Qing comforted her: “It’s okay if you can’t remember. I’ll always be with you.”
Everyone thought Dong Xia’s ancestors must have burned incense to get such a perfect fiancé. He was the number one person in the immortal realm, yet he remained chaste and only loved her.
…
The day before marrying her fiancé, Dong Xia finally remembered everything.
She wasn’t suffering from memory loss at all.
Her arch-enemy had made her fake her death, destroyed her cultivation, replaced her memories, and pretended to be her deeply in love fiancé.
No wonder he said, “It’s okay if you can’t remember”!
Dong Xia laughed coldly as she pulled out her long knife: Li Qing, prepare to die 🙂
*
Li Qing, as the supreme being of the immortal realm, was the people’s shining beacon.
The only unknown stain in his life was his affection for Dong Xia, the ruler of the demon realm.
In the final battle of the war between immortals and demons, the sky collapsed and the earth shattered. The ruler of the demon realm was finally slain under the sword of the supreme being of the immortal realm, and everyone in the immortal realm applauded.
The cultivation world lost a ruler of the demon realm.
And in the back mountain of Li Qing’s cave dwelling, he secretly hid away a fiancée.
Notes:
1. The female lead is white on the outside, black on the inside, and the queen of flattery; the male lead repeatedly tests the edge of darkness, a VIP guest at the crematorium.
2. Fantasy cultivation world setting.
[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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