Unrequited Love, Lost for the Better - Chapter 23

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

“Let’s look for Somerset while we search for the exit. If he wasn’t dragged into the Labyrinth like us, there won’t be any trace of him. But if there is a trace, we have to find him. He’s the one who got me out of being the lab’s youngest—I can’t lose him here.”

Adding that without him she’d be the youngest again, Collette pretended not to notice Valen’s wrinkled nose.

Why did Valen dislike Meliano so much? Because he was the male researcher she spent the most time with? That couldn’t be it. Valen had personally prepared a list of potential fiancés for her.

Then… does he feel like that brat encroached on his authority?

She didn’t know much about the Somerset family, but if Meliano could obtain the Tower Master’s recommendation, his family’s influence was clearly considerable.

Meliano, backed by his family, had gotten her into the Labyrinth as additional support. From Valerian’s perspective—having secretly blocked her from joining all this time—that must have been quite displeasing.

Even if Valerian disliked Meliano, to Collette he was still her sub-assistant to look after, and the junior who had freed her from being the lab’s youngest.

She was glad Meliano had joined—it let her focus on her research. Only after he arrived did she realize how much her seniors had been using her, and also how much they had cherished her.

Besides, she still hadn’t given him a proper answer to his confession. That weighed on her mind. If she were in his shoes, she wouldn’t be able to sleep without knowing the answer. She wanted to give him a proper reply before it was too late.

“Hm? Valen.”

“…….”

Seeing Valerian avoid her gaze with a stiff face made Collette anxious. The Labyrinth was a place where danger could strike at any moment. Unlike Valerian, who could fight a hundred enemies alone, Meliano was a new researcher—left alone, he would surely die.

If she hadn’t wanted to join the exploration, he wouldn’t have applied for additional support to follow her.

Thinking her junior might die because of her made Collette endlessly anxious.

“Valen…?”

Biting the inside of her cheek, she clasped both of Valerian’s hands. His large hands, flinching for a moment, held hers back.

“If you help me, I’ll do as you say.”

Only then did his crimson eyes fix on her.

“Do what?”

“…Meet them.”

To hide her trembling voice, Collette forced a smile.

“As you said, I’ll find a fiancé.”

So please find my junior—when she said that, Valerian looked at her with startled eyes, then gently cupped her face with that familiar tender expression. A warm touch pressed against her forehead, then withdrew.

“Good choice.”

His smiling face looked genuinely relieved. Her throat stung.

* * *

Ronald Woodrow swung his staff while watching the commander ahead. The commander, who seemed oddly displeased, was swinging his sword in sharp arcs of dark red mana.

Shadow Puppeteers were troublesome beasts. These parasites hid skillfully inside larger creatures, and when no host was available, they moved through shadows in the terrain, seeking their next prey.

To eliminate a Shadow Puppeteer, one had to finish it in a single strike. If you didn’t sever its throat in one go, it would retreat into the shadows and recover quickly.

So it was baffling to Ronald Woodrow that Wintergreen, who surely knew this trait, seemed to be swinging his sword recklessly.

The team members following their leaders were equally confused. They deflected the Shadow Puppeteer’s opportunistic attacks with their staffs and whispered among themselves.

“Why is the commander acting like that?”

“I don’t know. It’s terrifying.”

“Hey, you idiots. Obviously because of that person!”

The team members glanced toward the rear. At the back was a woman with chestnut-brown hair.

Wearing the commander’s cloak, she looked small enough to be swallowed by it. Her delicate features made her resemble a Christmas doll.

The fact that such a woman was “Collette”—the one who had developed the Labyrinth compass and the goggle-type screening device that distinguished living from non-living things—divided opinions among the team members.

The skeptics found it suspicious. The Labyrinth had already thrown them into chaos by moving them inside. Why was a researcher dragged in with them? They couldn’t understand the reason.