Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 106

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 106
“Fair point.”
Coni dropped her dual-parentage theory immediately upon catching my increasingly sour expression.
But it was only for my sake.
Cynthia’s assessment—distant workplace colleague that she was—lacked logical rigor to explain Everett’s absence.
After a long silence, Coni offered another hypothesis.
“What if Mission One ended and he returned, but then Mission Two came down right after? A far more critical mission—something he can’t hide the way he did with the first one.”
Evidently believing this fit the current situation best, Coni announced it with bright enthusiasm.
“That’s it, that’s it! My thirteen years of mystery novel experience is telling me this is the answer.”
I forced brightness into my reply, keen to reward Coni’s effort.
“Seems like it. I just hope it doesn’t drag on too long.”
But the words Coni had thrown out became a stone that rippled across the still pond of my heart.
The water’s surface did not calm easily.
Yet I knew those ripples would weaken as they reached the edges, until they finally subsided.
It was only a stone, after all, and I trusted Everett.
“Let’s head back now.”
I had no idea that a heavier rock would soon fall into that now-placid lake.
* * *
We’d gone a few days without seeing each other before when things got hectic, so I thought a week or two would be bearable.
But waiting with an end date in sight and waiting without one were two entirely different trials.
From the day after I received Everett’s letter saying we couldn’t meet for a while, I’d been missing him.
After I’d quietly used a touch of rank and a favor from an acquaintance to learn he hadn’t left the Capital, worry surrendered its place entirely to longing.
Alone, I felt a persistent hollowness.
Even knowing letters would be impossible, my eyes kept drifting to the doorway, half-hoping a messenger child might bring word from Everett.
‘So this is why long-distance love is so hard.’
Days without Everett passed quietly, yet with agonizing slowness.
I resolved to keep myself as busy as possible during his absence.
In a place where work practically fell into your hands if you reached for it, idle time was a luxury I didn’t have.
As I plowed through the mountain of tasks I’d gathered, the twice-weekly Ancient Language Lesson with Ibeta drew near.
* * *
“Lina, welcome.”
“Good afternoon.”
Bes, who’d grown curious watching Ibeta take the Ancient Language Lesson, had somehow ended up joining the class as well.
‘Though his eagerness to spend more time with Ibeta seems to outweigh his enthusiasm for the material.’
Bes was a diligent student, and a little healthy competition did wonders for learning, so it worked out well for both Ibeta and me.
After two hours or so of the Ancient Language Lesson, teatime followed.
In truth, all three of us looked forward to this interlude more than the lesson itself.
The handmaids of the Separate Palace brought Black Tea and Crackers with Rose Jam.
I poured Black Tea for Ibeta and Bes, then asked, “What are you two planning to do this afternoon?”

Ibeta’s schedule, previously sparse, had begun to show some variation of late.
I was trying to gauge when she might return to her office duties.
“I’m meeting with the young ladies who’ll become my handmaids. Bes agreed to come along.”
The handmaids posted to the Separate Palace were lower-ranking attendants.
It was time to select higher-ranking handmaids to serve as Ibeta’s close circle.
If Ibeta didn’t transfer entirely to Temple duties, certain social activities like tea parties would be necessary anyway.
‘But can Bes really join something like that?’
The two got on well enough, and his presence would be reassuring. Still, Bes was Bes.
‘Though perhaps it’ll work out better than I expect?’
Since Ibeta had been forbidden to use Divine Power, Bes was no longer in a state of receiving blessings and healing dozens of times daily.
Yet traces of that influence lingered.
Bes remained healthier and more positive than usual.
I chose not to voice my reservations and kept the conversation flowing.
Bes hadn’t yet reached his birthday, after all—still a minor.
‘I can’t dampen a growing youth’s spirits.’
“I’m curious what they’ll be like,” I said instead.
I decided to hear who the candidate handmaids were.
‘If any of Ibeta’s handmaids from the original story are among them, that would be ideal.’
They were all unpretentious and considerate, looking after Ibeta and Bes—both awkward in noble society—with genuine care.
“Lady Harper of House of Fabius, Lady Rosina of House of Marcos, and Lady Regia of House of Amerot. These three.”
Kyle’s selection was excellent, as always.
Rosina Marcos and Regia Amerot had been Ibeta’s handmaids in the original story too.
‘Harper Fabius, though—that’s a problem.’
She belonged to the camp of minor villains.
House of Fabius itself supported the Emperor’s faction, but Harper’s maternal uncle was a high priest of the Temple.
Combined with her own ambitions, she’d resented Ibeta’s sudden awakening of Divine Power and the rapid elevation of Status that followed.
Yet in the end she came to regret her jealousy, moved by the Saint’s gentle heart—so there was room to hope for change.
‘I’d like to see how it goes.’
This meeting was where Ibeta would choose which candidates she wanted as her handmaids.
I didn’t think Ibeta incapable of spotting someone who harbored ill will toward her.
Still, I wanted to help if I could.
‘They’ll be meeting in the Garden, so I’ll just take a small detour to watch.’
I planned to observe from a distance, and if the Lady of House of Fabius overstepped, I’d step in.
But my worry proved unfounded.
Ibeta had Bes.
* * *
‘How did Minos choose such an uncouth woman as a Saint?’
Harper, who harbored a touch of fastidiousness, watched with displeasure as Ibeta—clumsy with her Knife—left Eclair crumbs scattered across her plate, barely managing to tear her gaze away.
The step-sibling beside her, Bes, was equally poor at etiquette.
Harper had to maintain a strained smile despite her discomfort.
‘To think I might become the handmaid of such a woman.’
Serving as handmaid to a high-ranking noblewoman was a position coveted by unmarried daughters of the nobility.
With only one Emperor in the bloodline and no other opportunities besides becoming a Saint’s handmaid, Harper wouldn’t have appeared today if she’d had any alternative.
She tried to suppress it, but the scrape of Knife against plate grated unbearably.
Both Ibeta and Bes were so clumsy with their Knives that their rhythm was jarringly off-beat.
“You two really should learn proper table manners—oh!”
She clapped her hand over her mouth too late.
The words had already escaped.
Until just before they’d departed for the Imperial Palace, her parents’ faces had floated in her mind, urging her to please the Saint, to become her handmaid at any cost.
Struck by the certainty of failure, Harper’s face went pale.
Regia and Rosina, who’d been unbothered while watching the two saw through their Eclairs, deliberately set down their Knives with an audible clink.
It was a rebuke for rudeness.
“I’m trying to learn, but it’s not improving much,” Bes said carelessly, letting out a soft sigh of frustration.

Her artless complaint made Regia and Rosina coo at her like she was a child.
“We were clumsy at first too, you know.”
“That’s right. You’ll improve with practice. We don’t mind at all, so please, eat at your ease. Don’t you agree, Lady Harper?”
Rosina offered Harper a lifeline.
“Y-yes, please eat at your ease. I was only offering… sincere counsel that it might be good to practice more going forward.”
Harper wasn’t foolish enough to let such a gracious opportunity slip through her fingers.
Had she been, she’d never have made it here in the first place.
“So me and Ibeta can eat with our hands?”
Bes asked as though this resolved everything.
“What? How could you do something so unsanitary—oh!”
But Harper’s obsession with cleanliness wouldn’t be denied.
Ibeta laughed aloud at the sight of Harper frantically silencing herself.
“What does it matter? I sometimes eat cookies by hand in bed anyway.”
Regia reached mischievously toward an Eclair, grinning.
“Eek!”
This time Harper couldn’t hold back and shrieked.
Bright laughter swept across the Garden.
“Turns out they get along well enough,” I murmured from my vantage point some distance away.
Satisfied, I turned to leave—unaware that anyone had noticed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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