For Your Failed Unrequited Love

It was the first time he liked someone, so Felix realized belatedly that he was pathetic and clumsy in every way.

Love, curiosity, jealousy, misunderstanding.

In this process, he only faithfully followed his feelings. Without considering what the other person’s situation is and how one’s trivial behavior will affect the other person with relatively low social status.

Only when his father learned of Lucy’s existence did he realize how dangerous and careless it was.

At that moment, his spine literally cooled down.

Far from protecting Lucy, it was as if he had rather trapped her.

Why was he so hasty? Why couldn’t he settle the situation calmly?

However, when he found Lucy and her father in one space, his head went blank and nothing came to mind. He just thought he should keep Lucy away from my father.

It was the worst birthday ever.

Realizing the terrible fact that just liking someone can bring misfortune to that person.

He agonized over and over again.

Can’t I get closer to Lucy?

Should I really not like her?

……No, that was impossible.

Not liking Lucy couldn’t be his choice now.

So, he brought up another option that he had never considered in his life.

To be a duke of great power that even his father could not wield.

To rise above his father and jump over a position where no one can dare disobey his words.

Only then will he be able to take care of his loved ones by his side.

At that time, Felix firmly vowed not to give up his life with Lucy no matter who opposes it.

So, he followed his father’s orders and began to learn the new businesses of his family that he had been neglecting.

It was the first step to protect Lucy.

One thing that complicated him was the anxiety that constantly came to him.

Will Lucy really wait until he confesses? Can he hold her back with just the word to wait?

When he saw the tears in Lucy’s eyes a few days ago, he strongly felt that he should not leave it as it is.

He wants to stay by her side so that she won’t feel anxious again due to false rumors about him, but it was difficult for other students to draw attention like last time. In a situation where he couldn’t do this or that, he thought and thought, “Is there no other way?”

Then he suddenly remembered.

A very natural excuse to be with her.

* * *

“You want to join the book club?”

Adrian’s eyebrows rose for a moment and then came down again.

Felix often confused his brother with his sudden and incomprehensible behavior. But now Adrian’s expression was more confused than ever.

“……You know we’re graduating in two months, right?”

Adrian reminded him of one fact that Felix didn’t care at all.

“Now, what are you going to do? And the application period was at the beginning of the semester. I don’t have any plans to fill the staff right now.”

At his brother’s cold refusal, Felix stood and rolled his eyes around for a moment.

Was there a recruitment period?

In fact, He didn’t expect that he wouldn’t be able to join, but he couldn’t think of anything to say because he came randomly.

While thinking about why he should join the book club with his hands in his pockets, he found Lucy, who, like other members, was looking at him with a puzzled look.

Her face suddenly raised his will to cheer up more. He responded to Adrian in a confident manner.

“Why don’t you fill it up? Every time I go to the library, your members are struggling. Isn’t it good for the book club to have another person to help?”

He looked around the rest of the members with a look of ‘Am I wrong?’ Then some members nodded strongly behind Adrian’s back.

Then Adrian opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“In principle, there is a separate recruitment period set by the academy. It’s been a long time since that period has ended, so I can’t accept new people, Felix. I’ve already submitted the list.”

It was the first time I knew all about it. When Adrian mentioned the school rules Felix couldn’t refute anymore.

But he can’t back down like this.

In his troubled vision, he noticed an unexpected person who he had not noticed before because he was only paying attention to Lucy. 

“Wait, he’s not in the book club either.”

He pointed to Colin Connor, who was watching the situation with interest next to Lucy.

“I’m an honorary member!”

Before Adrian could answer, Colin came forward and tapped his chest.

“So, I was given the opportunity to participate in the conference.”

Only then did Felix approach the members with a face that he had found an excuse. Then he took a chair out of a desk and declared it at will.

“Then I’ll be an honorary member.”

Unexpectedly, Adrian didn’t say much. In fact, he looked like he had given up on his brother.

Yes, do as you please. When did you listen to me?

Even if he didn’t say it out loud, Adrian’s inner thoughts seemed to be heard in their ears. Instead of kicking Felix out, Adrian ended the situation by saying this.

“……Come on, everybody, ignore my brother. Let’s finish what we were talking about and wrap up the meeting.”

Adrian changed the subject naturally.

However, Lucy still had a stunned expression, and the members kept glancing at Felix , conscious of his presence.

In particular, a schoolgirl who appeared to be friends of Noel Roman and Lucy managed to hold back her laughter, smirking as if the wind were blowing.

“Actually, it has become difficult to find manuscripts to be published in the literature since last year.”

Adrian led the meeting again.

“I guess no one writes much these days. Even if I put out an announcement for collecting manuscripts, there weren’t many writings that came in. If anyone has a good idea, I want you to give me your opinion.”

Colin raised his hand as soon as Adrian’s words were finished.

“I can offer you as many manuscripts as you want.”

“That’s not a solution.”

Colin lowered his hand with a sullen face.

This time Lucy raised her hand.

“Why don’t we pay for the manuscript? Of course, once we start paying for the manuscript, we’ll have to keep paying for it every time we make a collection…….In the meantime, making a collection of books by receiving students’ texts for free can be a challenge, but I think it will be possible with the budget of the library department.”

Felix tried to come up with a consensus, but another student came forward first. It was fellow student Alan Gross.

“But it’s just a penny. There’s no one in this academy who would write poetry for such a small sum.”

It was an oddly sarcastic tone. Felix’s eyebrows rose in a flash. 

Where the hell does this dog come from?

“Whew! Alan is always so negative”

Lucy’s short-haired friend muttered openly.

“But it’s a good idea to pay for the manuscript! Even if it’s not necessarily money. Then there’ll be a lot more manuscripts coming in!”

“Where are you going to get the payment for that?”

There were opinions that contradicted the opinions, and there were opinions that contradicted those opinions. The classroom became noisy in an instant.

Strangely enough, he could see a person in the library clouding the water.

Most of the students in the book club seemed to have a bad feeling about that boy, Alan Gross.

He wasn’t very close to Alan, so he never talked to him, but Felix knew at a glance. He is a natural born pessimistic and full of irritation.

In addition, he ignored what his juniors said and accepted Adrian’s words without saying anything.

It was a typical type of sycophant who was strong to the weak and weak to the strong.

“All right, everybody, stop it.”

Adrian gently restrained the members. The students, who were making a lot of noise by shooting back at their opponents, calmed down. Even Alan Gross quietly shut up.

As if he had already seen this scene many times, Adrian arranged the situation with a bored face.

“A few years ago, I heard that there were so many manuscripts that it took a considerable amount of time to sort them out…. As time goes by, the number of people writing poems and novels seems to be decreasing, and as a result, it seems that it is becoming more and more difficult to get manuscripts. If you keep doing this, we might not be able to publish an anthology at all.”

Adrian pondered for a moment and said,

“I agree with Jemima about Lucy’s opinion. Even if it’s not necessarily money, I think it would be good if there was another reward.”

The atmosphere in the classroom was so cold. Adrian said that they would discuss it again later and ended the meeting in a hurry. He seemed to want to keep Alan and the other members apart quickly.

At the end of the meeting, the members crowded out of their seats. In the cluttered gap, Lucy sent Felix an eye saying, “See me for a second.”

It was what he was hoping for. He followed Lucy carefully so that it wouldn’t be too obvious.

Of course, there was one thing left to do before that.

Felix left the classroom and stopped by the door for a moment, and then popped out one foot at the right moment. As expected, something came clung to his toes.

Alan tripped over Felix’s feet and huddled, but eventually fell down with a loud noise on the floor.

“Oh, my mistake.”

Felix said sarcastically, looking at him who fell.