Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 127

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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 127
The brighter Kyle smiled, the angrier he actually was.
If it hadn’t been Bes who broke the Mana Oath, Kyle was not the type to sit around waiting for someone to return on their own two feet.
In moments like this, one had to appear contrite quickly.
‘But I’m not apologizing today.’
Bes was frightened of an angry Kyle, but held firm nonetheless.
On the way back to the Separate Palace, Bes had already heard everything from Ibeta.
Apparently Kyle already seemed to know that Lina and Everett Rohas were in a romantic relationship.
‘And yet he nominated Everett Rohas as a National Book Candidate?’
In Bes’s eyes, which favored a recently close colleague over a long-acquainted superior, a thick streak of defiance flickered.
It was the kind of look that would’ve earned a rebuke for insolence if Kyle had seen it.
But Kyle’s attention lay elsewhere, not on Bes.
“Lina didn’t come with you?”
The way he asked while glancing behind Bes, feigning concern, was infuriating.
He seemed far more concerned with Lina’s return than with punishing the one who’d broken the Mana Oath.
“She said she went to a friend’s house.”
Bes answered in a sullen voice.
By now, Lina was likely devising a plan to get revenge on Everett Rohas.
Bes needed to buy her time to think.
If Kyle found out immediately that Lina had discovered Everett Rohas was playing both sides, it would be a problem.
Kyle would undoubtedly interfere with Lina’s revenge.
“Is that so?”
Kyle fixed Bes with a suspicious gaze.
But Bes didn’t blink, meeting that stare unflinchingly.
“Guards?”
As if he hadn’t expected a straight answer from Bes, Kyle turned his attention to the escort knights who’d come with him.
“The distance was too great for us to catch the destination.”
Morgan, the highest-ranking of the knights, answered.
“You just let her go like that?”
Kyle’s voice turned considerably sharper than before as he pressed Morgan.
“No, sir. Helen and the other knights followed her.”
At Morgan’s response, Kyle’s expression finally eased somewhat.
“Have the knights who accompanied her report to me once they return.”
Morgan bowed formally.
Once Kyle had confirmed Lina’s whereabouts, he didn’t forget to press Bes again.
“Bes, you still haven’t explained why you broke the oath.”
As the head of the Information Bureau, Kyle had a relentless nature.
If you didn’t answer, he wouldn’t let it go.
Bes had overtaxed their mind all day and answered carelessly.
“I insulted His Majesty.”
At the halfhearted response, Kyle’s expression turned cold.
Kyle wouldn’t truly think Bes had betrayed the Emperor—not when Bes had nowhere to go but the Blue Hawk.
He’d likely interpret it as little more than gossip.
His anger seemed directed not at suspecting Bes’s hidden motives, but at the insincere attitude itself.
However, just as Kyle was about to scold Bes in earnest, the knights who’d remained with Lina returned.
Helen saluted Kyle after glancing in turn at the three people and knights gathered before the Separate Palace.
Sensing the unusual atmosphere, Helen’s expression grew serious as well.
“Where is Lina?”
Kyle accepted her greeting with just a glance and asked first about Lina’s whereabouts.
“We escorted her to her friend’s residence.”
Helen answered with crisp military precision.
Bes’s hastily fabricated excuse had hit the mark perfectly.
When both sources gave the same answer, Kyle’s eyes relaxed slightly.
With perfect timing, Ibeta stepped forward.
“I’m rather tired—would it be all right to retire?”
Kyle could scold Bes, but he couldn’t scold a saint.
“Bes, let’s talk tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
Tomorrow’s meeting wasn’t frightening at all.
Bes had accomplished the goal of buying Lina time.
* * *
‘I’ll just tell the Crown Princess and then leave for a while.’
I was planning to depart soon.
If anything, the Crown Princess was the greater victim in this affair than I was.
Everett and I had merely held hands and kissed a few times, while she already had a child on the way.
I’d only been in a relationship, but she was preparing for marriage—even a Royal Marriage.
Though it might appear I was passing the burden to her, the hand wielding the sword of revenge rightfully belonged to her far more than to me.
Fortunately, today was a holiday.
If I had to show up for work in this state of mind, it would’ve been absolute torture.
Taking care not to wake Coni, who’d fallen asleep late in the early hours, I left cautiously and went first to the Postal Office.
I submitted a Leave of Absence Request to arrive on my next scheduled shift, then wrote several letters to Ibeta.
I set the delivery dates so they’d arrive when needed.
I was planning to be away from the Capital for some time.
It was an impulsive decision, but I couldn’t imagine being able to carry on as if nothing had happened in the Imperial Palace just now.
‘So the reason Everett Rohas wasn’t in the original work was because he went to Bellot.’
I was now questioning not just love, but life itself.
‘Maybe I should just enter a convent.’
With such terrible judgment in men, it was a disaster.
Tears dripped onto the letter I was writing, so I kept lifting my head in between.
My already swollen eyes carried the salt even without tasting it.
If my twin siblings saw me now, they’d deny the reality, saying there’s no way our sister would be like this, that I looked like Carolina.
The Postal Office staff watched with concern as the woman with a story sighed repeatedly, wept, and went through the ritual of writing and sending dozens of letters.
“Could it be a terminal diagnosis?”
“Or maybe she’s writing letters to people she’ll miss after she leaves…….”
After drinking half a bottle of champagne and crying profusely, my appearance was apparently beyond redemption.
Or perhaps the staff here simply had overly vivid imaginations.
Being treated as if I were terminally ill was unjust, but I lacked the energy to protest.
I just sent the letters and turned to leave.
I could feel the weight of the staff’s gazes clinging to my back.
Deliberately ignoring them, I walked on with determination until I reached a street crowded with shipping companies.
I was there to book passage on a ship to another continent.
‘Travel is the best cure for heartbreak.’
A journey to another continent, not within the Empire, required a round trip of at least a year even to the nearest Western Continent.
A year was a long time.
But I thought that long would be necessary for my feelings toward Everett to settle.
‘Why do I keep falling for men like that?’
My tear glands seemed to have broken—tears welled up again.
I stopped as if to look at the sky and stood quietly until the tears dried.
‘I think I need to go to the Southern Continent instead.’
A year didn’t seem like it would be enough.
However, only a handful of shipping companies owned vessels capable of yearlong oceanic voyages.
Even those few companies offered at most three or four departures per year.
I went from shipping company to shipping company, inquiring about the fastest available departure.
At each place, I noticed the attendants alternating their gaze between a wanted poster for a serious criminal and my face.
‘Terminal patient turned wanted fugitive.’
Rather than offense, I found myself laughing hollowly.
Yet somehow I managed to secure passage on a ship departing for the Western Continent four days hence.
A previously purchased ticket had been refunded due to the original passenger encountering trouble.
The attendant handed me the ticket and explained the conditions.
“You need to arrive at the port in Raken by this date I’ve circled. If you miss the time, we depart without waiting…….”
Half-listening to the refund policy explained in rapid-fire delivery, I carefully secured the ticket.
Once home, I told the landlord I’d be vacating and began packing.
I planned to send most of my belongings to my family home or just discard them before leaving.
I packed only what was immediately necessary—just what would fit in a bag.
Small empty spaces appeared throughout my apartment, places only I would notice, and even that much made me feel hollowed out.
Before long, evening had fallen.
That is to say, the evening when Everett usually came to find me.
I checked my watch unthinkingly and froze.
I hated myself for unconsciously thinking, ‘I should go out to the terrace.’
The air felt heavy.
Heavy enough that breathing was difficult.
Like a drowning man pulled from the water, I gasped for air.
It was suffocating.
My room wasn’t a sealed chamber, and the air wasn’t thin.
It was purely a matter of my heart.
Knowing that, I still opened the window under the pretense of airing things out.
Lukewarm air, heated during the day and cooled by nightfall, rushed in.
I drew in a deep breath.
As expected, it did little good.
As I went to close the window again, our eyes met.
‘Why are you here?’
The moment our eyes met, I sank to the floor where I stood.
For an instant, my heart felt as though it had plummeted.
Then, resentment and anger that I’d barely kept suppressed came boiling up.
‘Why don’t I have a part to play?’
Even if I handed the sword to the Crown Princess, I felt like I needed to land at least one slap to ease even a fraction of this bitterness.
I pulled the wide-brimmed hat I’d bought new for dates down low, hiding my badly swollen eyes.
I hurried down the stairs toward Everett.

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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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