Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 131

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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 131
* * *
Chirp, chirp.
‘What on earth? Bird sounds at this hour?’
There were no trees around the house, so I’d almost never seen a bird, yet this morning they were somehow singing away.
I was exhausted and wanted to sleep longer, and it irritated me.
I was burying my face in the pillow again when I felt the mattress dip under someone’s weight on one side of the bed.
Then came the sound of stifled laughter.
It was Edwin.
As he tucked the blanket around me and patted my back as if to help me sleep, the gesture actually woke me up instead.
‘Oh, right.’
I leveraged my resentment from the night before to pry open my heavy eyelids by sheer force.
Then I grabbed Edwin’s forearm and bit down hard.
“Lina?”
Edwin called my name in confusion at being suddenly bitten.
Since he showed no sign of pain again, I felt wronged.
“You’re awful.”
I complained, pouting my lips with mock indignation.
Edwin, catching on to why I’d bitten him, apologized.
“I’m sorry. Did it hurt?”
When Edwin made a pitiful face, I suddenly felt like I was being overly dramatic.
“No, it was just… rough.”
Last night Edwin had been extraordinarily careful with me.
He’d stopped just before the breaking point, making me impatient enough to push forward myself.
‘You’re going to regret this.’
‘I won’t.’
I’d declared it boldly, then immediately regretted it.
It wasn’t exactly beginner-friendly.
The physical size difference was significant, but the difference in stamina was even greater.
Edwin didn’t release me until just before sunrise.
“You faker.”
I accused him.
“I’m sorry.”
Once the sun came up and Edwin reverted to his bashful self, he apologized with reddened ears.
He’d been eyeing me cautiously, his gaze darting about, before he firmly pressed my waist over the blanket.
Ah.
The sensation was so relieving it made me gasp audibly.
Only after my stiff muscles had fully relaxed during the massage did I allow Edwin to lie beside me.
Edwin, offering his arm as a pillow, continued watching me as he lay on his side.
It was unclear whether he was even blinking.
My cheeks burned, so I rolled over to face him instead.
We were now looking directly at each other.
Now his gaze wasn’t concentrated on my cheeks alone but distributed evenly across my face and other parts of my body.
“What are you thinking?”
Sensing his gaze growing cloudier, I asked; Edwin blinked, then gave away his scheming thoughts before smiling clearly.
“You.”
It was a shallow deflection using charm, but it was remarkably effective.
I fell for Edwin’s smile yet again.
But that was that—my stamina was undeniably depleted.
“I’m deciding when the next time is.”
“Okay.”
Speaking firmly, Edwin meekly nodded and smiled.
Edwin was taciturn and had a stiff expression as a rule.
But today, transformed as if into someone else, he smiled beautifully the entire time.
I looked up at him, then poked his cheek with my index finger—his cheek that had taken on softer contours than usual.
‘What is this? Why so soft?’
The sensation at my fingertip was addictive.
As I kept poking, Edwin, who had tolerated it a few times, turned his head slightly and bit my index finger.
I felt the edge of his teeth against my finger.
Thinking it was payback for earlier, I watched as Edwin grinned wickedly and sucked on my finger.
Yesterday night I’d felt grave doubts about my own self-control, so before “the next time” became “right now,” I hurriedly got to my feet.
Edwin rose and embraced me from behind.
I walked forward to escape his hold.
For each large step I took, Edwin caught up in half a step.
After circling the bedroom once, I gave up trying to break free, and Edwin laughed silently beside my ear.
“Since when did you become so childish?”
As I grumbled, Edwin’s laughter grew louder.
“Right?”
“How old are you exactly?”
I turned to face Edwin and threw out a question that was long overdue, which he answered with lingering laughter in his eyes.
“Twenty-three.”
“We’re only one year apart.”
That comment he’d made before—that he liked people without much age gap—wasn’t a slip of the tongue but the truth.
Edwin seemed to be recalling the same moment.
“Yeah. One year apart.”
I could hear the deliberate emphasis in his words.
“I was a bit worried it might be more.”
Edwin didn’t have old-looking features.
His face was hard to pin down—he could credibly pass for thirty, but he could equally well pass for twenty-three.
Even if he’d said he was slightly over thirty, I might have accepted it, but twenty-three—close to my own age—was preferable.
“Come on.”
Edwin laughed as though I’d told an amusing joke.
It was only then that I should have tried to recall someone who was twenty-three, had golden eyes and black hair, and went by a nickname like “Edwin.”
But just as some information was surfacing into consciousness, Edwin suddenly spoke, and it sank back down.
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Starving.”
It had been after intense exercise throughout the night.
Before Edwin mentioned it, I was fine, but the moment he pointed it out, hunger came rushing in.
‘There’s probably nothing in the house.’
I didn’t feel like going out.
I worried for a moment, but Edwin laughed cheerfully and led me to the dining table.
There was a well-prepared meal, whether brought directly from a nearby restaurant in its own dishes or not.
Once I was seated, Edwin naturally settled across from me.
Not even a full day had passed, yet he seemed quite at home.
“Next time, I’ll cook something myself.”
Edwin spoke with newfound determination.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
After we finished eating and loitered a bit, Edwin made a suggestion as though he’d just remembered it.
“We did agree I’d show you the real Everett Rohas. Want to go now?”
Even while playing it off as nothing, making playful jabs at me, and casually touching me, he must have been mulling this over the entire time.
His tone carried that characteristic awkward formality again.
“Sure.”
I trusted Edwin’s word, but I wasn’t about to pass up the chance to verify it with my own eyes.
Just before we left the house after changing clothes, I turned back to Edwin and asked.
“Is it okay to go around now?”
In the source material, the people in the Blue Hawk’s shadows were scarcely mentioned at all.
Even Ibeta hadn’t known exactly how many there were until the story ended.
We’d only met a handful, so their existence had barely come up.
Edwin’s identity wasn’t a secret like the Blue Hawk agents in the Inspection Unit or myself—it was the kind that could be hidden well, but even if exposed, wouldn’t be a major problem.
Of course, his demeanor with a lover would be different from his professional conduct, but given that Edwin could be careless at times, I was a little worried.
Edwin stood at the door and hesitated for a moment.
“I brought this, though.”
Edwin lifted a necklace slightly from between his shirt collar.
It was the necklace I’d found odd when I saw Edwin wearing it on the day Ibeta betrayed us—Edwin, who rarely wore accessories.
“What is that?”
“A Recognition Obstruction Artifact.”
So that was why I’d vaguely wondered if it was really okay to move around so freely—he had his insurance.
Finding it rather spy-like and fascinating, I watched as Edwin tucked the necklace back between his shirt collar.
Then, after hesitating, he asked.
“Is it better to keep a long relationship?”
The question was abrupt, but I thought nothing of it and answered lightly.
“I’d say so, wouldn’t you?”
Hearing my answer, Edwin nodded with an expression of considerable resolve.
“Then I’ll do it that way.”
* * *
Edwin guided me to the Separate Palace where the Crown Princess was staying.
“Everett Rohas will be there too.”
It seemed he had prepared a four-way meeting right from the start.
Following a lady-in-waiting into the reception hall of the Separate Palace, the Crown Princess and a dark-haired man stood up together.
Edwin pointed to the man immediately, as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
“That’s Everett Rohas.”
But the real Everett’s face looked familiar.
“Oh, from back then?”
The man I’d seen on my first day reporting to the Inspection Unit.
The one I’d chased, thinking he was Edwin.
I looked back and forth between the two men, who bore an uncanny resemblance.
‘So that’s why Cynthia…’
Surprisingly, the real Everett resembled my sketch more than Edwin did.
His height and build were nearly identical.
Edwin was only marginally taller, but from behind, they could be mistaken for the same person.
There was a reason the ceremonial robe size Bes had brought matched the measurements I’d estimated for Edwin.
‘What the—why are they so alike? Are they related by blood?’
Before long, I found myself studying the real Everett.
The real Everett, accustomed to such scrutiny, simply smiled innocently and greeted me.
“This is our second meeting. I’m Everett Rohas.”
“A pleasure. I’m Carolina Diaz.”
I returned his greeting out of habit.
The Crown Princess, who had missed her chance to introduce herself while standing by, then acknowledged me as well.
“And so we meet for the second time too.”
Then she immediately looked past me and asked.
“So Your Majesty, may we begin earnest preparations for the wedding now?”
‘Excuse me? Your Majesty? Who on—’
I turned my head with an audible squeak to follow the Crown Princess’s gaze.
Behind me was only Edwin.

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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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