Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 143

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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 143
Dragging this out would serve no one.
Before the temporary peace came apart again, I needed to end this conversation.
The fastest way was to send Edwin away.
“Edwin, didn’t you mention there was something you needed to finish by today?”
“What?”
It wasn’t agreement—it was the “what?” of not quite hearing, but I pressed ahead regardless.
“It’s getting late. You’ve finished your tea, so I’ll walk you out.”
I spoke with feigned urgency, keeping my tone brisk.
“All right, then.”
It seemed my parents found Edwin’s presence burdensome after all.
They made no move to detain him, not even as a courtesy.
The moment Edwin said he was leaving, their expressions brightened visibly.
We exchanged awkward pleasantries, and then Edwin and I stepped outside together.
“Ah, now I can breathe.”
The reception room wasn’t airtight, yet the outside air seemed impossibly sweet.
I took exaggerated, deep breaths—huff, huff—but Edwin remained quiet.
He was naturally taciturn, so his silence wasn’t unusual, but this felt different somehow.
When I glanced sidelong at him, his sullenness was unmistakable.
‘Oh, right.’
Even if what I’d said was only to put my parents at ease, Edwin had every right to feel slighted.
But asking someone who was upset if they were upset wasn’t exactly tactful.
So I simply smiled brightly and pretended I’d noticed nothing.
“You know what I like, don’t you?”
It was my attempt at charming him, but it didn’t work.
“Just like?”
If anything, it backfired.
“What are we, if not serious?”
Edwin’s voice was tinged with genuine hurt.
He’d been holding onto that hastily thrown-together excuse this whole time.
‘What am I supposed to say to that?’
Finding an answer would have been easy enough.
I even had several options that came to mind.
But no matter what I said, it would be hard to satisfy the examiner.
The longer my silence stretched, the worse Edwin’s expression became.
I had no ability to read minds, but it was clear he was entertaining thoughts that shouldn’t be allowed to continue.
‘I can’t keep glossing over things like this.’
But surely this time would be fine?
As Edwin’s expression grew more serious, I pushed him gently against the wall and placed a hand on the wall above his left shoulder.
Because of the height difference, I had to rise onto my tiptoes considerably, but it gave us something like the pose of a wall-pinning.
“Like this?”
My voice cracked at the end of those four short words.
I’d wanted to affect a languid, decadent air, but I’d failed miserably.
Before my composure could slip any further, I kissed him.
Edwin blinked in surprise a few times, then closed his eyes gently and accepted my lips.
He seemed satisfied with my answer.
Our kiss continued until all the stray thoughts had completely vanished from his mind.
* * *
“What are we, if not serious?”
Edwin knew he was being childish.
But he’d already said it, and now he wanted to hear her answer.
He suppressed his unease and waited for Lina’s lips to part, but she only looked at him in silence.
‘Did she mean it when she said we weren’t serious?’
Darker thoughts began to spiral.
Just before Edwin’s mind reached a point of no return, Lina’s mouth opened.
“Like this?”
Her voice trembled slightly, as if what she was about to do embarrassed her.
But to Edwin, she looked nothing but endearing.
As he received a kiss meant purely to soothe him, Edwin reflected that being childish occasionally wasn’t so bad.
He’d wanted to appear capable and dependable to Lina.
But being treated as cute by her was… terribly addictive.
‘A strategic choice.’
Lina was strong with the strong and weak with the weak.
With a convincing justification, the scales tipped decisively to one side.
After the kiss ended, Edwin held Lina close—she was tired from having been on her tiptoes the entire time.
He curled his large frame against hers and rested his face on her delicate shoulder.
As he buried his head and exhaled a sigh into her neck, Lina’s hand—which had been patting his back—became slightly awkward.
Edwin toyed with her affection for a moment longer, then asked in an exaggerated, sulky voice:
“So we’re the kind of couple that kisses and… does other things that are even more intimate?”
He knew that wasn’t the case, but asking the opposite was exactly what a child would do.
However, there was no one around, and his tender-hearted lover was usually patient with childish complaints.
“Edwin, if you keep acting like a child, I really will treat you like one.”
She didn’t indulge him entirely, though.
At the threat of not even being allowed to kiss, Edwin’s spine straightened.
“But we spent the night together, and you said we weren’t serious.”
His slurred speech became clear again.
He still looked sullen, though.
“I only said that because I was worried your parents might be concerned.”
Lina soothed him with a gentler tone than before.
Emboldened, Edwin spoke with conviction.
“I’m treating you with the utmost seriousness.”
Lina had said more than once that marriage felt like too much responsibility, so he avoided direct references, but he still needed to convey his feelings.
To reiterate: Edwin had extremely conservative views on romance.
He didn’t understand the concept of “body and heart being separate,” and he had no intention of trying.
In his heart, there was a room with only an entrance and no exit.
His roundabout phrasing seemed direct enough to make Lina uncomfortable.
She rolled her eyes, her cheeks flushing.
It was the expression of someone embarrassed, not displeased—endearing in its own right.
Lina’s lips moved soundlessly a few times before she spoke, her ears turning red:
“I’m not looking to just… casually enjoy this!”
To someone nearly six feet two, she rarely said words like “love,” though she called him cute easily enough.
Edwin laughed at what he took to be her best effort at expression.
He tightened his arms around her ever so slightly.
He was fighting the urge to squeeze her tightly.
Then he quickly took advantage of the opening she’d given him.
“I don’t actually have anything I need to do today.”
It was his way of saying he wanted to stay with her a little longer.
But the moment Edwin finished speaking, Lina’s eyes sharpened.
“Of course you do. Your Majesty needs to return to the palace.”
Lina, who had been docile in his arms, stepped back with one large stride and pulled away from his embrace.
Her violet eyes, now stern, fixed on him.
“The Emperor can’t just disappear suddenly like this.”
He was right, and Edwin’s spirits sank.
“If you’ve seen my Leave Request, then you came in quite a hurry… and since Kyle came with you, the Imperial Palace is probably completely empty.”
Every word was true.
Edwin regretted his moment of selfishness.
‘I should have just kept quiet.’
Then we could have stayed together longer.
“I should go…”
Edwin didn’t want to leave at all, but he spoke while watching Lina’s expression.
“Will you come with me?”
Yet he couldn’t resist asking.
He’d learned the lesson that excessive sulking had its limits only moments before, but his voice came out plaintive nonetheless.
This time, too, it didn’t sway her.
“I’m on vacation.”
Her refusal was cold, and Edwin felt the full weight of despair.
But it was his past self who had set the leave for just one week.
Edwin accepted reality with a dejected expression.
“Then I’ll send a carriage on the day you come back.”
Even if it was only hours sooner, he wanted to see Lina as quickly as possible.
Lina considered for a moment, then nodded slowly.
“And I’m leaving Helen here with you.”
This was one thing he wouldn’t compromise on—Lina’s safety.
She didn’t seem pleased about it, but fortunately, she consented.
“But you need to make sure that the reason the Emperor suddenly disappeared and sealed the border is properly resolved. If the real story gets out, I won’t be coming.”
It was a cute threat, but it was more effective to Edwin than any other argument could have been.
“I will.”
Edwin nodded with the resolve to uproot the Illegal Trafficking that was occurring in the Empire.

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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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