Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 107

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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 107
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Edwin had taken to sleeping in his executive office lately.
It was because the Inspection Unit Building was most visible from the office windows.
Kyle hadn’t stopped pestering him about how Lina had long since gone home for the day, and the Grizel Park area was actually closer to the bedroom anyway—otherwise Edwin might have truly made it happen.
Though sleeping only in the bedroom made little practical difference when he was up the moment the sun rose, rushing to the office to stare out the window.
“Anyone watching would think you’d fallen in love with the Inspection Unit Building itself.”
Kyle’s voice was too loud to be a proper murmur, but it didn’t penetrate Edwin’s half-absent mind.
Kyle watched Edwin gazing out the window with that fixed stare and sighed openly.
‘The symptoms are getting worse by the day.’
Edwin hadn’t been like this from the start.
He’d burned with determination to resolve matters quickly and go meet Lina.
But that resolve lasted exactly three days.
By the fourth day, his productivity had begun its sharp decline.
He reread the letters exchanged with Lina with wistful eyes countless times, and when signing documents, he found himself writing Lina’s name instead of his own—which he’d written ten thousand times before.
The symptoms worsened until now he’d stopped even pretending to work, spending every day gazing out the window in this pathetic state.
“If that’s the case, why not sneak over and take a look?”
Kyle made the suggestion to somehow manage his work-avoiding, mentally agitated superior.
“I can’t.”
He either hadn’t heard or was pretending not to hear, offering no other response before finally answering when the subject turned to Lina.
There was something adamant about it, like resisting an enormous temptation through sheer willpower.
Kyle understood why Edwin pined away like this yet refused to meet Lina.
Whether it was the Temple or the Western Region—or perhaps both—the enemy’s schemes were working with devastating effectiveness.
Because people were losing interest in the Saint’s miracles due to the Emperor’s scandal.
Rumors of the Emperor’s hidden lover spread like wildfire racing across a bone-dry winter mountainside.
Even the Imperial Palace’s damage control showed no sign of quelling the flames.
Everyone wanted to know the identity of this woman who had captured the interest of a man known for his indifference to the fairer sex.
Heavy-handed suppression would only drive the rumors deeper, leaving nothing else to be done.
Any woman with a connection to Edwin became a focus of scrutiny—from the lowest cleaning servants in the Imperial Palace to Sophia, who was old enough to be his mother.
Though still unconfirmed, there was a significant danger that the slightest hint would expose Lina as Edwin’s lover.
‘A coward.’
Edwin tended to disregard his own safety, yet when it came to those he wished to protect, he grew cautious instead.
It was the defense mechanism of someone born into much and who had lost most of it.
Kyle, who had watched Edwin since birth through every step of that journey, understood him better than anyone, even as he found him frustrating.
‘If Bliss were still alive, he wouldn’t even think of revenge.’
It was publicly known that Claude, Edwin’s father and the former Crown Prince, had renounced his claim to the throne and withdrawn due to an incurable disease that suddenly developed.
But without evidence to make it public knowledge, those close to him knew the real story was entirely different.
The late Emperor, hungry for the throne, had procured a rare poison unknown to the world and fed it to his own brother.
Though Claude barely survived, the poison dealt a fatal blow to his health, leaving him with a limited lifespan.
By chance, Claude and the Emperor of that time—the late Emperor’s father—were both in poor health from old age.
Meanwhile, Edwin was still young, and his mother the Crown Princess, having married for love alone, came from a family with no real power to speak of.
In the end, Claude agreed to a confrontation with his younger brother, the late Emperor, to protect his family.
He would withdraw quietly in exchange for guarantees of his family’s safety.
Claude, born the Emperor’s eldest son and made Crown Prince at a very young age, posed a threat to the late Emperor’s position.
For that reason, the two reached an agreement without difficulty.
Having received the Duchy, Claude honored his promise and went into seclusion to protect his family.
Not long after, Bliss, Edwin’s younger sister, was born.
The weight of responsibility bore down on Claude, and despite his ruined body, he endured for quite some time.
All to protect his children a little longer.
Eventually Claude succumbed to the poison’s lingering effects.
Thalia, the children’s mother, who had always been frail, died a few years later.
Only Edwin, just turned twelve, and little Bliss remained.
The late Emperor had been obsessed with excess and debauchery, yet even by then had produced no children.
He was presumed infertile.
For an Emperor, the need to produce an heir was critical, making this a fatal flaw.
With no close collateral line available, the late Emperor couldn’t dispose of Edwin and Bliss even if he wanted to.
Eliminating the only two remaining members of the imperial bloodline would end the succession itself.
Edwin grew up within this delicate political landscape.
The more he grew, the more anxious the late Emperor became, consumed increasingly by madness.
His inferiority over failing to produce an heir manifested as continued jealousy of his brother, long dead.
Completely unhinged, the late Emperor finally made an irrational decision.
He would eliminate Edwin, who grew ever more like his father.
Since women could become Emperor in this Empire, he reasoned, he would simply make Bliss—more fragile, resembling her mother—his heir instead.
And so he orchestrated an assassination.
The attempt on Edwin’s life failed, but Bliss died in the process.
The late Emperor was left with only Edwin.
To manipulate Edwin, the late Emperor concealed Bliss’s death.
He played Edwin for a fool, pretending to hold his sister hostage.
The truth came to light when Duke Camelot, defeated in his political struggle against Marquis Robertus, revealed these facts to Edwin.
Since Marquis Robertus had orchestrated the assassination, Camelot sought to use Edwin’s hand for revenge.
The late Emperor’s madness had reached its peak around that time, making him difficult for the nobility to control—another factor in Camelot’s decision.
Learning belatedly that his only remaining family member had been lost, Edwin burned with fury.
Young as he was, Edwin possessed the bearing of a sovereign.
Edwin straightened the body he had kept deliberately lowered to protect his sister, and ultimately succeeded in eliminating the late Emperor.
But all that remained to him was an Empire riddled with the rot of the late Emperor and his corrupt officials.
This was the hidden history of the current Emperor Edwin, who had launched a coup d’état rather than stand idle before the late Emperor’s atrocities.
Kyle’s heart sank as he recalled this dark past after so long.
“This is the Imperial Palace.”
Kyle spoke firmly to Edwin, who had become timid.
Edwin, who hadn’t noticed Kyle’s expression shifting rapidly—growing gloomy, filling with anger, changing dramatically—adopted a look that said ‘So what?’
It was tactless enough to discourage Kyle’s carefully cultivated goodwill, but his generosity still remained.
“Change your clothes. Among your attendants, Oswell is the tallest, so his clothes should fit.”
Kyle had decided to willingly sacrifice himself for Edwin, who was suffering from lovesickness while his beloved was within reach.
“In about thirty minutes, Lina will be passing near the Imperial Palace.”
“Don’t do this.”
Edwin, catching Kyle’s intention, protested with mere words.
But his eyes brightened—those eyes that had glumly refused every time Kyle suggested he at least go see her face.
“Sigh.”
Kyle departed with a sigh to fetch the miracle cure for Edwin’s lovesickness.
* * *
Kyle, who’d said he’d be at the Imperial Palace all day, came straight to my office the moment he arrived.
“Lina, I have a favor to ask.”
Kyle acted as though he were broaching something difficult.
‘How difficult can it be?’
I braced myself nervously, only to find it disappointingly straightforward.
“Would you deliver this to Oswell at the Imperial Palace?”
Just as I was about to object that Kyle had literally just come from the Imperial Palace, he dangled the carrot.
“Lina won’t be able to enter the Imperial Palace proper, so Oswell will be waiting at the entrance. Oh, and you can leave right after delivering it.”
It was a strange errand I didn’t quite understand, but the bait dangling before my eyes was far too sweet for an office worker to refuse.
The Imperial Palace was somewhere I preferred to avoid, but the entrance area should be fine, I thought.
“I’ll deliver it successfully!”
I quickly took the documents before Kyle could cancel the early dismissal—or rather, the errand.
Kyle added loudly, as though he’d nearly forgotten.
“Take your time!”

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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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