For Your Failed Unrequited Love

Felix crumpled the letter and threw it into the corner. He didn’t think so, but when he faced his father’s decision that was colder than he thought, his anger grew even more intense.

Does father really not have any affection for Adrian?

No, does he have any sympathy for humanity? For him, are children just someone he needs to use to maintain the glory of his family?

Adrian was not a fighter. Not only did he not like holding a sword, he never thought about living as a knight in his life.

His place was not a battlefield, but an academy that would make him better demonstrate his abilities.

Felix bit his lips.

Lucy and Adrian.

All he can do for his loved ones is just clench his fist or just bite his lips.

He was so upset by the reality that he had no choice but to stand still and just watch the situation turn around.

A sense of helplessness came. What’s the use of being the Prince of Berg? He doesn’t have the power to protect those around him.

If so…….

Maybe for Lucy’s hometown, and for Adrian’s sake, I’ll go to the war instead…….

“Don’t even think about it.”

A determined, cold voice flew into his ear. Felix turned his head.

Adrian returned to the room before he knew it and stood looking at him with a colder expression than ever.

“You have to stay and continue the family. I’m the one who has to fulfill this duty.”

Adrian said firmly, as if he had looked into Felix’s head.

Felix’s heart was filled with resistance when he saw his brother’s face.

“You sound like father, Adrian. You don’t even like to fight someone with a sword.”

“Is this a question to argue with? No one goes to war because he likes to wield a sword.”

Adrian soberly reminded him of reality. But Felix wanted to refute his words somehow.

“You’re not the kind of man who can stand the war.”

“Then, what about you? What fate do you have on the battlefield? You mean you’re gonna go instead of me? Do you think father would tolerate that?”

No, it’s impossible.

Felix knew that, too. His father will never just watch his sons change roles at will.

“I won’t be sent directly into battle anyway.”

Adrian walked into the room and said, taking out a large bag. His tone was monotonous as if he were talking about an academy class.

“At first, I’ll go in as a servant and take on the knights’ chores for a few months.” 

They do not immediately put a person who had no actual experience in combat into the war. As Adrian said, the newcomers who entered the Knights Templar were supposed to serve the formal knights for some time.

And he’ll be in charge of the food for the knights and the things behind the battlefield, such as moving supplies.

“Don’t worry, no one will push me to the front line right away.”

Adrian started packing his bags. Felix stared at the figure and was lost in thought.

Of course he didn’t mean to let Adrian leave as he was.

If their father did not intend to rescue his younger brother, he had to step up. He was going to prevent Adrian from participating in the war even if he had to find a replacement for Adrian himself.

The sun began to set out of the window.

In the gloomy atmosphere where no one is visiting their friend’s room anymore, someone knocked on the door. It was a very impatient, angry knock.

Felix got out of bed and approached the door. When he opened the door, an unexpected person stood in front of him.

She didn’t even come to the academy during the entrance ceremony. It was the Duchess of Berg with a pale and slender figure.

“Mother.”

Felix’s startled voice sank low in the hallway. The duchess looked at her son with trembling eyes. Her eyes scanned Felix’s face as if to confirm something.

Soon she looked over his shoulder into the room, perhaps realizing that the son standing in front of her was not Adrian.

Felix stepped away from the door feeling dejected.

Adrian sat on the bed, threw his clothes into the bag, and raised his head. His eyes also widened as if surprised to see his mother who suddenly came.

“Mother, what are you doing here…….”

Adrian’s words didn’t go through. The duchess ran straight to him and grabbed him by the wrist.

She forced Adrian to rise from his seat so quickly that they wondered how such strength generated from her fragile body.

“Adrian…! We have to leave here right now!” said the Duchess, with her eyes trembling. Her words were like murmurs crying for help.

“What are you talking about, mother!”

Adrian grabbed her by the shoulder and tried to calm her down.

“You have to run away……! Adrian, we need to get out of here.… Listen to this mother…….”

The duchess muttered frantically. Standing by the door, Felix stood watching the scene with shocked eyes.

A son who now has to leave for the battlefield, and a mother who ran without proper shoes to save him.

Felix bit his lips.

He strode up to the Duchess. Then he took his mother away from Adrian and said,

“Stop it, mother. Where are you going to take him?”

“We have to take Adrian……!”

“Where the hell? If you’re not going to take him abroad, there’s no other place for Adrian to hide now!”

“We have to take Adrian……!”

“Please stop!”

Felix grabbed his mother’s shoulder and shook it.

A sharp touch passed through Felix’s cheek. The duchess quietly lifted her hand, mumbling like a madwoman.

She slapped his son and was surprised by her own action. Her hand flinched.

“I, I…I didn’t mean to, Felix.….”

“All right, go back.”

A cold voice came out of Felix’s mouth.

He had enough of everything now.

“Mother’s actions are of no help now.”

His cold words drew the duchess’s attention. Her lips trembled. She muttered something nonstop, but it didn’t reach Felix’s ear.

Her whole body trembled and was unable to keep her eyes fixed, as if she were really out of her mind.

“Mother.”

Adrian carefully examined the Duchess’s condition. However, she seemed unable to hear even the voice of her son, whom she cared so much about.

Subsequently, the Duchess faltered, exhaling a trembling breath. As she barely leaned against the wall, she managed to straighten her body.

“I can’t send you to such a place…….”

She finally began to sob.

“Mother.”

Adrian approached her and hugged her shoulder.

“You came without father’s knowledge, right?”

His mother gave a small nod to his question.

“If your father learns about this, things will only get more complicated. Please go back.”

At Adrian’s words, his mother looked up at her beloved son with desperate eyes.

There was an endless silence where no one spoke.

A long time later, the pale-faced duchess staggered up from her seat.

As if she ran out of strength after dragging Adrian like a madwoman earlier, she walked toward the door with a stunned look. 

When she went out of the room, the maid, who was standing in front of the door, hurriedly helped her.

The Duchess cast a damp look at Adrian before she disappeared. But Adrian turned away from that gaze.

A strange silence lingered in the room when their mother left.

Felix swept down his cheek and was overcome with unknown despondency. The cheek where his mother hit him felt hot.

This situation made him realize it once again.

Adrian is the only son their mother loves. He couldn’t even put a foot in the boundary.

In fact, their mother might want him to go to war instead of Adrian.

Instead of telling their mother to go back he thought he should’ve said he’ll go to the war instead. 

If so, wouldn’t she have hugged him tightly for the first time instead of hitting him in the face?

If then,

“I’ll hide you.”

“What?”

Should I hide mother and Adrian at the same time? If I sacrifice myself, everything will be over.

“Go abroad with mother.”

You won’t be able to come back to the Empire, but it’ll be better than going to war or being around a terrible father.

At Felix’s words, Adrian spoke in disbelief.

“Do you think that’s a viable plan? Besides, mother…… she’s out of her mind right now.”

He was right. Their mother tended to rush things when it came to Adrian. 

“Adrian, mother loves you.”

“Mother loves you, too.”

“You have to say it right. Mother only loves you.”

Felix said what he had been trying to ignore and endure. He could say it because he decided not to yearn for his mother’s love now.

“No!”

Adrian’s face, which had always kept a cool expression, was horribly distorted.

“It’s not like that!”

However, Felix’s emotions that burst once were already unstoppable. Even though he knew that this was not the time, he couldn’t stop talking about the interest and love he didn’t get from his mother.

“Mother doesn’t love me. It’s only you, Adrian, that she loves.”

“That’s not true! You know nothing, Felix.”

“What do you mean I know nothing?”

At that time, Adrian, who had remained frighteningly calm in any situation, began to tremble. His eyes turned red with his veins like about to explode, and his mouth was streaming with rough breath.

“Adrian…… Are you okay?”

Felix slowly approached him and grabbed his shoulder.

“You don’t know, Felix.”

He spoke again, ignoring his brother’s hand. After taking a breath for a while, he continued with a look as if he had given up everything.

“Father once tried to kill me. That’s when we were very young.”

 

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