Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 132

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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 132
* * *
After being caught witnessing a date between Lina and the Emperor, Derek had made a point of keeping his windows closed as much as possible.
But time had dulled the shock, and the weather was unbearably hot.
On his day off, while doing a thorough cleaning and airing out his apartment, Derek heard a familiar voice say something utterly unfamiliar.
“I’m so frustrated.”
Lina, who was usually gentle as a lamb, shouted with a voice absolutely seething with irritation.
Standing before her was the Emperor.
Looking flustered and desperate, the Emperor seemed to be apologizing continuously, and Lina kept punching him.
‘Holy hell.’
Derek crouched below the windowsill, eyes still fixed on the scene, settling in for an extended viewing of this rare spectacle.
‘I could really use some popcorn.’
He vaguely remembered buying some and stashing it in the cupboard.
But Derek didn’t want to miss a single moment of this, so he neatly abandoned the idea of rummaging through the cupboard.
Thanks to his focus, Derek was able to watch Lina send the Emperor’s jaw flying.
‘Thank goodness I live on Indor Street.’
But as if startled by her own actions, Lina’s punching stopped.
Then she continued their conversation at a volume too low for Derek to hear.
‘She’s switched to words now.’
It was a shame, but what he’d witnessed so far was more than satisfying enough.
Derek was about to close the window, satisfied that it was over, when—
“The Crown Princess is not my child!”
The Emperor bellowed at the top of his voice.
Across the continent, “Crown Princess” referred to only one person: Belroth’s Crown Princess.
And that Crown Princess was officially unmarried.
“The one who’s going to marry the Crown Princess is Everett Rohas.”
On top of the premarital pregnancy, he’d helpfully disclosed the father’s identity. And he’d done it by shouting it out loud.
‘Your Majesty… are you in your right mind?’
Derek winced at the catastrophe unfolding before his eyes.
Shadows of people flickered behind the windows of every surrounding building.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying this unscripted drama quite thoroughly.
Then, upon hearing something they shouldn’t have, they’d scatter and pretend they’d heard nothing.
A wise choice.
Derek would have to do damage control from here on out, and dealing with people discerning enough to distinguish what they ought not to have heard would be manageable, at least.
‘That’s where Corbin from the Ministry of Interior lives…’
Even now, Derek’s hawk’s eyes tracked which windows had shown signs of life.
Fortunately, Lina dragged the Emperor inside.
Derek waited for a beat, then bolted out and reported to Kyle.
Hearing the rapid-fire account of the disaster, Kyle pinched the bridge of his nose as if his head were aching too.
“Derek.”
Kyle called to him with a grave expression, then asked:
“Your Majesty possesses many things. Do you know which, among them, ranks relatively lowest in comparison?”
Derek’s mind reflexively settled on “character.”
But he managed to stop himself from voicing it aloud.
Kyle wasn’t really waiting for an answer—he answered his own question without pause.
“It’s his intellect. Your Majesty is gifted, but he is no genius.”
Derek almost launched into his habitual “ha-ha-ha” laugh but decided to pretend he hadn’t heard instead.
“I think we should petition the Magic Tower to research whether falling in love causes a proportional decline in judgment.”
Kyle, being the Emperor’s closest confidant, unleashed this barbed remark with a broad smile.
After venting his frustrations to Derek, Kyle let out a sigh.
“Looks like I’ll need to cast the Oath of Mana dozens of times over.”
That night, the Blue Hawk operatives circled Indor Street until dawn.
The only saving grace was that everyone involved was a public official with some connection to the Imperial Palace, so they were cooperative—understanding that this was to be expected.
The Oath of Mana was simple in mechanism, but consumed a considerable amount of magical power.
Once all the silencing was done, Kyle’s face had gone deathly pale.
After spending the night cleaning up the Emperor’s noisy romantic disaster, Derek was heading home at dawn when he ran directly into the Emperor emerging from Lina’s apartment building.
“You.”
The Emperor, somehow recognizing Derek, crooked a finger to beckon him over.
Their eyes had already met, so there was no escape—Derek approached obediently, and the Emperor commanded:
“Do you know any restaurants that open early? Something Lina would like.”
“Yes, of course!”
The Emperor thrust his entire wallet at him, then turned and went back inside the building.
Derek had managed to answer hastily, but…
‘What does Lina even like…’
He found the most renowned restaurant in the area and completed the delivery through repeated pleas.
Walking home, Derek fervently prayed that Lina would’ve hit the Emperor a few more times.
* * *
“Very well. In the meantime, I shall send a token of gratitude to the Crown Princess for her kindness.”
Ed responded to the Crown Princess’s words.
As naturally, in fact, as if she had posed the question to him directly.
Addressing him with the title of Your Majesty.
The Crown Princess, still apparently suffering from nausea, beamed with a pale face.
“Then I shall witness the magnanimous bearing of the Empire’s Emperor.”
The Crown Princess said, in elegant speech, that gratitude should be expressed through money.
Ed’s brow furrowed as if troubled, but he soon laughed it off.
“I hope my magnanimity proves adequate to meet your expectations.”
It was a rather cordial conversation, except for Zin Burret squirming uncomfortably between the Crown Princess and Ed.
‘Is this… surely not a dream?’
I still couldn’t believe Ed’s true identity, which I’d only just learned.
Ed was the Emperor.
Of all possible statuses in the world, he was the Emperor—and there was only one of those.
The ground beneath my feet suddenly felt like it had caved in, and my head swam.
I’d been through emotional turmoil these past few days, cycling between despair and relief, and I’d pushed myself to exhaustion all night.
My vision gradually blurred, then darkened completely.
I heard people around me calling my name, but it sounded distant and muffled.
My body swayed as if I’d collapse to the ground any moment.
“Lina!”
Just before my vision cut out entirely, Ed caught me in his arms.
I’m sure I wanted to push him away and stand on my own two feet.
But my consciousness had reached its limit.
* * *
The darkness felt both eternal and instantaneous.
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was Ed.
My lover, whose face had gone even paler than my unconscious one, laid bare his worry and unease without filter.
“Are you alright?”
His expression darkened, as though he believed his actions last night had contributed to my deteriorating condition.
His golden eyes glistened with moisture in a way different from yesterday.
If I said I wasn’t okay, the tears pooling there would spill over.
Where did you see a tyrant in him?
Ibeta’s description had been about “feeling as though she’d encountered a handsome predator in the dead of night.”
Removing just the word “handsome” from that sentence, there wasn’t a single point of overlap with Ed.
‘The Emperor is supposedly aloof, a cold person who wouldn’t let a needle pass through!’
Ed was soft as a peach that collapsed under the slightest pressure.
I couldn’t stop denying reality.
“Should I call for the palace physician again? Or have the Saint come?”
Ed looked ready to bolt out the door at any moment.
Ready to hunt down the palace physician on the spot.
Then Ed looked like the Emperor.
In my mind, like a panoramic scroll, episodes of how the Emperor earned his reputation as a tyrant flashed past.
‘I spoke informally to that Emperor, hit him, made him kneel, and had him give me a massage?’
My vision swam again, and cold sweat broke across my skin.
“Are you still dizzy? The physician said it was just overwork…”
Ed asked as my pupils trembled with confusion.
When my eyes met his—those eyes described as predatory in the original—my mind felt like it was evaporating.
I had to forcibly recall what his question had even been.
“No. I’m fine now.”
Reeling from shock, I answered reflexively in informal speech.
Then I flinched in surprise.
‘Is it okay to speak informally?’
As I belatedly gauged his reaction, Ed smiled with relief.
“I’m sorry. I went too far. I’ll be more careful next time.”
And he apologized to me, looking thoroughly chastened.
It was exactly the Ed I knew.
The images of “Emperor” and “Ed” overlaid each other at exactly fifty percent opacity.
I was confused, and so I regretted.
I should have been more careful before I said those words of love.
‘Ed being whoever he was doesn’t matter’—that was self-deception.
It would wound both him and me.

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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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