Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 124

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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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Chapter 124
I glanced sideways at Bes.
The moment our eyes met, focus returned to Bes’s gaze as if she’d received some tremendous shock.
After studying me with an enigmatic expression for a long moment, Bes exclaimed, her eyes glistening.
“I just remembered something urgent.”
With only those words, she descended the stairs so quickly I worried she might trip, and vanished.
‘She could have at least told me what it was about.’
While waiting for Bes, Ibeta and I invited the Crown Princess to our table.
We settled her into the plushest chair, tucked a cushion behind her, and served the Lemon Pound Cake—completing a perfect afternoon tea.
The Crown Princess cut a corner of the cake and tasted it, then ate steadily, savoring each bite.
Suddenly collecting herself, she set down her fork with grace and offered an explanation.
“The carriage ride made me quite queasy. An empty stomach only makes it worse.”
The Crown Princess was dressed in formal traveling attire.
She had been invited to a noblewoman’s salon, ventured outside the Imperial Palace, and was returning when the carriage sickness grew severe, so she ducked into this teahouse to settle herself.
“Do have more.”
Ibeta and I eagerly pressed desserts upon the Crown Princess.
The Crown Princess lingered with us, enjoying the cake and the Lemonade her attendant brought, spending a pleasant hour in our company.
Our conversation centered largely on the Crown Princess’s romantic affairs.
“What is your beloved like?” Ibeta asked.
She posed the question like an Academy student badgering a mentor for stories of their first love.
The Crown Princess pondered for a moment, then broke into a soft, melting smile as she spoke.
“He looks like a puma, but behaves like a country dog.”
Having been caught in her confession, the Crown Princess indulged in boasting about her beloved until nearly late for her next engagement, then took her leave.
Time passed steadily during all this, yet Bes did not return.
“Where on earth did she go?”
* * *
The moment Bes stepped out of the teahouse, she hailed a cab from the street and headed straight for the Imperial Palace.
‘Who is the father?’
According to Sophia, the Crown Princess maintained only casual relations with all five Consort Candidates.
But pregnancy is not a solo endeavor.
The odds were twenty percent.
Or perhaps far lower than that.
One couldn’t rule out the possibility that the Crown Princess had a lover outside the Consort Candidates.
But Bes’s instincts were screaming.
She was heading to meet someone who worked in the Separate Palace where the Crown Princess resided.
She had to confirm exactly who the father of the Crown Princess’s child was.
But the contact Bes had hoped to rely on remained tight-lipped, unmoved by Bes’s cajoling and charm.
“I don’t know. The Crown Princess keeps only the retainers she brought from Bellot close by.”
“Is there no one among her retinue you’ve managed to turn?”
“Not a soul.”
It didn’t make sense—Bes had been sent to monitor the Crown Princess’s movements, and claiming complete ignorance was implausible, even if she was from a friendly kingdom.
But Bes had no time to quarrel here.
“Fine, forget it!”
Bes spun around with her lips thrust out like a duck’s bill, her footsteps heavy with frustration.
‘A premarital pregnancy means they’re probably rushing to prepare a wedding.’
The moment Bes reached the Imperial Palace, she searched the Archives for a list of designers who made formal men’s wedding garments in the capital.
Narrowing down the list and hunting for additional records required Bes to deploy her usual wheedling and persistence.
“The commander told you to look into this?”
“Yes.”
The Field Operative from the Blue Hawk whom Bes had enlisted, named Kyle, agreed to investigate based on the claim that Kyle had ordered it urgently—but suspicion was evident in every line of his face.
Kyle rarely asked Bes to run errands of this sort.
Bes knew she’d face Kyle’s wrath later for exploiting his name, but she’d already steeled herself for that punishment.
When Bes insisted firmly and urgently, the Field Operative simply shrugged.
Though he didn’t understand why they were investigating, Kyle had supposedly ordered it, so he let it pass without further question.
Bes quickly scanned the records the Field Operative had smuggled out.
Fortunately, the measurements taken for the wedding garment were documented just as she’d hoped.
“Thank you.”
Now she just needed to cross-reference these measurements with Everett’s.
If Everett Rohas’s measurements differed, there was no problem.
Bes, having learned the principles of cell organization thoroughly under Kyle, sent the Field Operative on his way.
After joining the Blue Hawk, Bes had coordinated the most urgent and proactive operation yet, successfully obtaining records from the wardrobe office that managed the Imperial Guard Uniforms.
And then…….
“Holy— this is a complete disaster.”
The two sets of measurements were nearly identical.
Accounting for the difference between mass-produced uniforms and carefully tailored wedding garments fitted to the body, the margin of error was small enough that they could be considered the same person’s measurements.
Fire ignited behind Bes’s eyes.
Bes was certain that she could not allow Lina to remain a lover to such a dissolute man for even one more minute.
The paper bearing the measurements crumpled ruthlessly in her tightly clenched fist.
* * *
While Bes was extracting Everett Rohas’s Imperial Guard Uniform measurements, Edwin was applying a mask made from pearl powder, which supposedly enhanced skin to a smooth, lustrous finish.
Lying elegantly on his bed to prevent the mask from dripping, Edwin received Kyle’s report on pending matters with cold, measured eyes.
But Edwin barely heard him.
Kyle, wondering if pearl powder had somehow gotten into Edwin’s ears, eyed them suspiciously, then finally abandoned his report altogether.
There was no point—not on a day when Edwin wouldn’t hear anything else no matter what he said.
Today was the day Edwin had chosen to make his confession.
Before revealing his identity as Emperor to Lina, he wanted to look his absolute best.
Kyle sighed as if that were what Edwin wanted to hear, settling onto a corner of the bed.
“Sighing creates wrinkles,” Edwin said.
Edwin, who ordinarily cared nothing for appearance, spoke like a stage actor who lived by his face.
At the stinging rebuke, Kyle launched a preemptive strike of realism.
“Even if Lina is used to seeing handsome faces, won’t she be angry about the mask?”
“She probably will…….”
Fortunately, Edwin’s reasoning remained intact.
“But what else can I do? Among everything I have, this is the only thing Lina might like…….”
Edwin was handsome enough that even another man would acknowledge it.
Considering the two of them had grown up like brothers, it was an objective assessment that only emerged when someone was genuinely good-looking.
But Edwin’s most formidable assets were not his looks—they were power, wealth, and martial strength.
In these three categories, Edwin was undeniably supreme, but beauty could theoretically be surpassed if a more handsome man existed somewhere.
Yet to Lina, a commoner and pacifist, the Emperor’s power, wealth, and martial strength held little appeal.
Edwin’s decision to stake everything on his face was, in a sense, a desperate gamble.
That the Imperial Guard Uniform—which had elicited Lina’s most positive response—hung right beside the bed suggested his resolve was steely.
“But won’t she be even more upset if your face looks too shiny?”
Edwin, who’d never considered such a thing, looked momentarily startled.
The carefully applied mask slipped down his jawline.
The viscous liquid seeped along his neck and into the collar of his shirt.
It was a sight that would have made any noblewoman hold her breath—but Kyle, having witnessed something he shouldn’t, felt irritation flare again.
“If you ask me, a sympathy strategy would work better. Why not deliberately make yourself look gaunt? Wear heavy winter clothes and go to the Training Grounds to sweat profusely, or appear a bit haggard.”
Kyle made the suggestion with a hint of mischief.
Yet Edwin was actually considering it seriously.
“Would that be better?”
Edwin was prepared to risk even dehydration if it raised even slightly his chances of being forgiven by Lina.
When Edwin, usually arrogant and assured, showed unmistakable signs of nervousness, Kyle’s resolve softened.
“You could do both. Make yourself look as beautiful as possible, confess, and if her reaction is poor, come back looking haggard and apologize.”
Hearing Kyle’s words, Edwin lay back down.
Blissfully unaware of what Bes was about to set in motion while he enhanced his skin’s radiance.

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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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