Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 137

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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 137
Anika, who had been strolling along the beach with me, slipped off her shoes and waded into the water.
Every time a wave crashed, she giggled with delight as the sand slipped away beneath her feet.
“Look at this, big sis!”
She moved carefully and showed me the footprints she’d left in the sand.
The marks were particularly dark where her toes had pressed down.
Just then, a larger wave crashed in.
The footprints were erased, but Anika seemed unbothered.
Even as she squeaked about how the hem of her skirt would get wet if she rolled it up further, she bounced excitedly, intent on making more footprints.
While I loved all my younger siblings, I had a particular weakness for my youngest sister, and I watched her play with a fond smile.
After a long while of playing, a tired Anika came to me, breathing hard.
“Big sis, are you thirsty? Should I get you some water?”
It was clearly Anika who was parched, but she made the offer as if doing me a favor.
“You would?”
The sun was beginning to set, but the Villa was just ahead, so I thought Anika could manage alone.
I readily accepted her kindness.
“Would you bring me back some Pometi Juice instead?”
Fresh fruit juice suits a beach walk far better than plain water.
When I requested the change of menu, Anika’s lips pouted in what seemed like displeasure.
Still, she nodded obediently.
“Okay.”
Then, as if overcome by temptation, she squeezed her eyes shut before opening them again and asking me a question.
“Can I just have a sip of yours?”
The longing in her request was so genuine that I smiled inwardly before speaking.
“Then just have them make two glasses.”
“No, I’m going to drink water.”
Pometi Juice was her favorite drink, more than mine.
If she’d agree to brush her teeth with it, there was something odd about her suddenly wanting water instead.
At first I thought her tastes might have changed, but something told me there was a reason behind it.
“Anika, you really want water?”
Anika shook her head with a downturned face.
“I’m saving the juice for when I’m grown up.”
Pometi Juice wasn’t alcoholic.
“Why?”
When I pressed, Anika puffed out her cheeks and said:
“They say drinking Pometi Juice keeps you from growing tall.”
Anika was nearly half a hand’s span shorter than her peers.
Among our classmates at the Academy who started at the same time, she ranked in the top five when ordered by height.
Though she’d proclaimed with a brazen confidence that she was “cute even if small,” it seemed she harbored real concerns about it.
The fact that she’d stopped drinking that juice she loved so much proved it.
“Did your brothers tell you that?”
The source of the rumor was obvious.
“Yeah, they said some famous scholar just published a groundbreaking new paper.”
Anika nodded seriously.
From what I knew, the twins weren’t the type of students to be so deeply versed in the latest academic publications.
‘And Anika isn’t someone who falls for things easily, either.’
After twelve years and roughly 1,200 instances of falling for her brothers’ pranks, Anika had grown quite resistant to most tricks.
“What’s the scholar’s name?”
“Akhius Nieva, I think. They said he’s from another country.”
It was true that Akhius Nieva was a renowned scholar.
It was also true that he was from abroad.
However, he was an art historian, and he’d been dead for well over two hundred years.
“They even showed me the paper.”
“It was written in the Demus Language, wasn’t it?”
“How did you know? They said it hasn’t been translated yet.”
‘Caught again.’
I was thinking carefully about how to break the news to Anika so it would hurt less.
But Anika’s eyes sharpened.
After 1,200 experiences, she’d learned to recognize a deception instantly.
“I hate my brothers! They lied again!”
Anika stomped her feet and huffed indignantly.
I tried to console her.
“Drinking Pometi Juice won’t stop you from growing. I drank plenty of it growing up, and look how tall I am now.”
Curiously, all of us siblings experienced growth spurts during specific periods.
I myself grew nearly a hand’s span in the summer I turned thirteen.
“This is a secret, though.”
I leaned in close to Anika’s ear and whispered.
“By the time you turn twelve, you’re going to be the tallest of all four of us.”
“Really?”
Anika’s eyes, a shade of violet slightly brighter than mine, lit up.
“Yeah, the twins are shorter than you by at least a finger’s length.”
Anika grinned widely now that she knew the secret of the brothers who’d teased her about being small all this time.
It was a harbinger that Anika’s revenge was coming, but the twins had brought it on themselves.
“I’m going to drink juice too!”
Anika bounded excitedly toward the Villa.
The deep crimson sunset settled over the sea.
* * *
When they arrived in Dietar, both horses and riders were exhausted.
Kyle bore the brunt of the grueling journey most severely of all.
Unlike the knights or Edwin, he had never undergone professional physical training.
From the midpoint onward, Kyle moved almost entirely on willpower alone.
Edwin was the only one who looked fresh, his eyes blazing with intensity.
Even though Kyle seemed on the verge of collapsing at any moment, this was why he’d kept pace.
In case Edwin’s eyes rolled back and he did something reckless, he needed to be ready to hurl a block of ice at the back of his head.
After all, among everyone who’d come, only Kyle could hit the Emperor from behind with ice.
Kyle drank a Mana Amplification Potion he’d quietly stashed in his Subspace Pouch.
Through the most severe thirst he’d ever endured, even the potion’s terrible taste felt sweet.
Though his stamina was depleted, his mana reserves were now sufficient.
Kyle clenched his fists, steeling himself with inner resolve.
“They passed through the city gates of Dietar approximately four hours ago.”
After confirming with the guards stationed at the gates, it was indeed certain that Lina and her family were in Dietar.
Once Edwin confirmed Lina’s presence in Dietar, he immediately ordered a full search.
“Find her. Before the day is done.”
They’d ridden like madmen, though their departure had already been in the afternoon.
The sun was halfway down the horizon.
Less than five hours remained until midnight.
But Edwin was in no state to be reasonable about such constraints.
His companions, having been with him long enough, knew his temperament well.
The knights tensed and moved with urgency, determined to find Lina as quickly as possible.
Most of the knights headed toward the Harbor, while those with more approachable demeanor made for Downtown.
The knights heading Downtown began their inquiries with the friendliest smiles they could muster.
Among them, Helen, blessed with the most pleasant appearance, bore the brunt of the work.
* * *
Helen searched for eyewitnesses who’d seen Lina, posing as someone separated from her party.
“Have you perhaps seen a woman with silver hair and violet eyes?”
“Early twenties, about this tall.”
Remarkably, after only a few inquiries, the information came almost too easily.
An employee at a seafood restaurant—the kind of establishment that visiting nobles made a point of visiting—reported having seen someone matching Lina’s description.
“Ah, yes, I think she was in our shop earlier.”
After finishing their meal, Lina and her family had apparently headed to the Coastal Area, where the nobility’s summer Villas were gathered.
‘The Harbor?’
Dietar was the Empire’s second-largest port city, but it was also a renowned summer resort destination.
Helen’s typically reliable instinct was now sending her a warning that she was headed down entirely the wrong path.
‘Is it really an escape?’
Helen had encountered Lina several times before and already knew she was the Emperor’s lover.
From the conversation between Kyle and the Emperor, she’d pieced together roughly what was happening.
‘She asked for time, left her home, bought passage to another continent, submitted a leave of absence, and hurried here to Dietar, the Empire’s second-largest port, with her family. But…’
She had a nagging feeling.
‘Yet she’s supposed to be brilliant, and she didn’t even bother with a disguise—she just sat there in plain sight eating a full course dinner at the most famous restaurant in Dietar?’
It didn’t add up.
But thinking through puzzles wasn’t a knight’s job.
In any case, they’d found her, so now Helen needed to report back.
Helen sent the other knights who’d been searching Downtown toward the Villas, then headed to find Edwin.
“I’ve found her whereabouts.”
Edwin’s gaze shifted toward Helen as she delivered her report, half-breathless from running.
A chill ran down her spine.

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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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