Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 125

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

Chapter 125
Bes carefully pocketed the paper with the measurements and hailed a hired carriage.
Only upon arriving at the Tea House did it occur to her that Lina and Ibeta might have left.
It had been nearly four hours since they’d hurried out, saying something urgent had come up.
Yet the carriage they’d arrived in was still parked near the Tea House.
Hearing the sound of Bes’s carriage, Lina and Ibeta emerged from the Tea House.
“Did your urgent business go well?”
Despite having vanished suddenly and made them wait for hours, Lina’s voice was warm.
Bes felt her eyes sting inexplicably as she rushed forward and threw her arms around Lina.
“Lina.”
Bes rubbed her cheek against Lina’s shoulder like a petulant child.
“Didn’t things go smoothly?”
Lina patted her back, saying she’d help with anything she could—Bes just needed to ask.
The kinder Lina was, the angrier Bes became.
‘Which assassination guild has the best track record these days?’
They hadn’t known each other long, but Bes had come to care for Lina deeply.
Any man who hurt her didn’t deserve to breathe the same air.
Before seeking out an assassination guild, Bes called Lina aside solemnly to tell her just how terrible Everett Rohas was.
“Lina! I have something to tell you.”
“What is it?”
Lina, who had no idea what Bes was about to say, asked with a smile.
Just as Bes was about to reveal what she’d discovered that day—
“Nn, nnngh!”
No sound came out.
Bes, completely furious, let out an exasperated cry.
“What is this!”
She knew what it was, though.
The Mana Oath had activated.
But she couldn’t understand why the Mana Oath—meant to prevent her from revealing anything harmful to the Emperor—was sealing her lips right now.
After failing several times to shout “Everett Rohas XXX!”, Bes finally chose a tactical retreat.
Having forced her voice and hurt her throat, Bes coughed a few times and then let out a heavy sigh.
“If it’s work-related, you don’t have to tell me.”
Lina, watching Bes’s voice get forcibly cut off multiple times with concern, spoke gently.
“It’s not work-related… but…?”
Now that she thought about it, something seemed off.
Bes tilted her head.
The conditions of the Mana Oath sworn by all the Blue Hawk members were identical.
Do nothing that would harm the Emperor.
Bes couldn’t understand how exposing that Lina’s lover had the audacity to two-time between the Crown Princess and her could be related to the Emperor at all.
‘Wait, could it be…’
Everett Rohas was supposed to undertake a State Marriage with the Crown Princess.
If she revealed the two-timing to Lina, it might cause problems with the State Marriage, which would harm the Emperor—so perhaps that’s why the Mana Oath had triggered.
‘Oh, I don’t have time.’
Kyle, the one who’d sworn the Mana Oath, would know instantly that Bes had violated it.
And today, Bes had even sold out Kyle’s name in her investigation of Everett Rohas.
She had to tell Lina the truth before an angry Kyle came for her.
Now that she understood the cause, it was time to find a solution.
And Bes already knew the answer.
The condition “do nothing that would harm the Emperor” allowed for some subjective interpretation.
‘Come on, Bes. Everett Rohas is a bad man. If you let the Crown Princess marry someone like that, it’ll cause problems down the line, won’t it? Preventing that would actually help His Majesty, right?’
She repeated this to herself several times, brainwashing herself with the logic.
And then Bes opened her mouth again.
“XXXX, XXX XXX XXX, XX XXX, Everett Rohas XXX, he’s two-timing with the Crown Princess!”
Finally, the words tumbled out.
Most of the first part was profanity, so Lina was taken aback.
Hearing the rest, she was even more shocked.
Bes pressed the paper she’d been clutching into Lina’s hands.
It didn’t matter anymore if Kyle showed up.
She’d said what needed to be said.
* * *
Did Bes just say what I think she said?
‘Ed is two-timing me?’
I couldn’t tell if I’d heard right, if I was dreaming, or what—everything felt muddled.
Seeing my face crumble completely, Bes spoke carefully.
“I just confirmed everything. The Crown Princess is quietly preparing a wedding right now. This paper has the measurements of the man who will become State Consort, and that one has the measurements Everett Rohas took when he tailored his formal uniform last spring—they’re nearly identical.”
Having finished, Bes chewed her lower lip as if she were more upset than I was.
Bes fell silent, as if giving me time to process the situation.
‘So the Crown Princess’s baby’s father is… Ed?’
Though I was holding the papers Bes had handed me, the numbers barely registered.
Only after several deep breaths could I read the figures.
Just as Bes had said, the measurements on both papers nearly matched.
Everett was tall—well above average—and solidly built.
There was no room to imagine it was someone else.
The ground beneath me suddenly dropped away.
In that moment, all the small inconsistencies I’d felt fell into place.
Like finding the last puzzle piece and slotting it home.
The sudden hooded visits, the Guard Corps colleague confused about his travel schedule.
Coni’s words played in my head like a broken magical recording.
“You sure he’s not two-timing you?”
“You know, like when the trip is really five days but you tell one girlfriend it’s six, and you use those extra days for another girlfriend instead. That kind of thing.”
‘I thought it was impossible back then.’
I was sure he wasn’t that kind of person.
I’d believed a lover’s eyes couldn’t be feigned.
But the evidence was right in front of me.
All the dissonance I’d pushed aside crashed down like an aftershock.
Now that I thought about it, the time when Everett said we couldn’t meet for a while seemed to match when the Crown Princess got pregnant.
‘And when he said it was fine to meet at Ibeta’s Separate Palace…’
Both the Crown Princess and Ibeta stayed at the Separate Palace, but their private quarters were kept far apart to preserve their privacy.
Until today, Ibeta and the Crown Princess had no reason to cross paths.
‘He was playing with me?’
My fingertips and lips trembled.
As if plunged into Ice Water, my body went cold from toe to scalp—then as if I’d swallowed molten lava, heat flooded my head.
I found myself wishing I’d learned a richer vocabulary of curses.
My current state of mind was beyond words I knew how to speak.
I didn’t even want to attempt it with clumsy language.
An unseasonable chill wrapped around us both, too cold for midsummer.
Ibeta asked carefully.
“Lina, are you all right?”
She knew I wasn’t, but she offered comfort anyway—kind Ibeta, searching for any words to help.
“I’m… fine.”
I lied, saying I was fine in a voice that clearly showed I wasn’t.
Noticing I didn’t want to talk, Ibeta closed her mouth with a dejected look.
Both Bes and Ibeta were just watching my expression carefully.
But I had no capacity left to worry about them.
Cold one moment, burning the next, my heart—tempered by betrayal—didn’t harden at all; instead, it crumbled.
‘Maybe he wanted to become State Consort.’
Then he should have ended things with me first.
If he’d done that, I might have cried for days and felt hollow for months, but I wouldn’t feel this betrayal.
It was the worst chapter in my romantic history.
All the worse because he was the one I’d given my heart to completely.
The impact hit me harder than expected, and Bes, stricken with guilt, spoke quietly.
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. The later I learned, the more it would have hurt.”
I loved Everett.
Very much.
I was an avid reader of romance novels, but I’d never felt love like this before—this emotion they all wrote about—until now.
Bes, hesitating at my words of forgiveness, made a suggestion.
“I know a few Assassination Guilds. I can put out a contract for you.”
“You can’t do that, Bes.”
I spoke the refusal mechanically, my voice hollow.
“Then what about the Mercenary Guild? There’s no harm in having him beaten, right?”
Ibeta joined in with Bes’s compromise.
“I’ll heal him afterward, so we can contract it again and again!”
A small laugh escaped me at their clumsy attempts to comfort me.
“I’ll do it myself.”
I clenched my teeth.

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