Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 147

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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 147
Ed entered through the Terrace while I came in through the door to my Bedroom in the Separate Palace.
The moment I stepped inside, Ed, who’d arrived first, kissed me lightly on the cheek.
I returned the gesture with a kiss on each of his cheeks, but his eyes kept drifting toward the Bedroom.
That look—the kind only someone who understood exactly what “want some tea?” really meant could give.
But then I remembered: I had work tomorrow.
‘Will Ed actually know when to stop?’
I gave him a suspicious once-over.
No. Not a chance.
Once we started, I’d find it overwhelming but still ask for more—so not starting at all seemed like the better option.
And there was another reason I’d only just thought of.
I linked my arm through Ed’s and strode into the Reception Room with purpose.
“I’d like to be a well-mannered guest. And I need to get up early to work tomorrow.”
When I said plainly that we were just having tea and leaving, Ed deliberately let me hear him mutter to himself.
“I’m fine with it.”
Only then did it really sink in—the man in front of me was both the homeowner and my employer.
“Oh, right—the entire Imperial Palace is yours.”
Ed nodded.
“Nothing you do could ever be discourteous.”
His voice had grown sultry as he stepped closer to me.
“That doesn’t change anything.”
I wasn’t the type of person who could treat handmaids like props or furniture.
‘And he’s not even answering about the waking up early part.’
I’d only experienced it once, but Ed was relentless in bed.
‘Last time I was the one who got exhausted and barely got him to stop… but he still looked unsatisfied.’
Just standing near him, I could feel the heat radiating off his body—which meant that like last time, we’d probably end up going until dawn broke.
‘That’s not happening.’
My affair with the Emperor was already exposed, but I still wanted to maintain some standards.
At the very least, I didn’t want to behave recklessly just because I was the Emperor’s lover.
Besides, there was also the basic work ethic of an employee—I wasn’t about to be late on my first day back after a long vacation.
“I’ll bring the tea.”
I pushed Ed firmly into the Reception Room.
I could feel his gaze trailing after me as I retreated.
Stubbornly, I didn’t look back, just boiled the water.
When I returned carrying the Tray, Ed—who’d been pacing the Reception Room—came toward me.
He took the Tray from my hands.
“It’s heavy.”
The Tray held barely two Tea Cups, and we only had to go a few steps, yet Ed acted as if I were carrying a boulder.
“I can carry it.”
I felt embarrassed as I followed behind him obediently.
But Ed pretended not to hear and walked straight to the tea table, setting the Tray down.
Only then did he turn to me and ask.
“Am I an inconvenience to you?”
His voice wavered faintly—like he wanted to ask but couldn’t help himself.
“You’re keeping your distance from me again, and whenever I try to do something for you, you seem uncomfortable.”
Only after Ed pointed it out did I realize how I’d been acting.
Ed was naturally a considerate man—he couldn’t stand to see anything heavier than a Quill Pen in my hands.
In our relationship, him carrying the Tray was simply the natural order of things.
“It’s just that…”
Ed’s gaze fixed on my lips.
As if waiting only for the answer that would come from my mouth.
I’d meant to brush it off lightly—what are you talking about—but seeing his suddenly serious expression, I decided to answer seriously too.
“Yes. It is harder than before.”
If I wasn’t planning to break up with him, I had no choice but to accept it, and I was working hard to do so.
I thought I was doing a pretty good job of hiding my confusion and not showing it.
But finding out that the man I thought was an ordinary knight was actually the Emperor—well, it wasn’t something I could adjust to in a single day.
“Still, I’m adapting bit by bit.”
I added it like reassurance, and Ed smiled, forcing his lips up.
“I’ll try harder too.”
Ed carefully took my left hand and brought it to his cheek.
He rubbed against my palm like a young animal.
A form of affection he never showed in front of others.
I moved my hand deliberately, stroking his cheek.
The skin beneath my fingertips felt soft.
Like a tamed creature, Ed tilted his face into my touch, docile and compliant.
A ruler who was gentle only with me stirred an odd, guilty pleasure in me.
I raised my other hand and pressed it against his opposite cheek.
As his cheek compressed, his lips puckered out like a pout.
I kissed those pouty lips and then withdrew my hands.
Then I asked teasingly.
“You like it when I use informal speech?”
Ed answered without hesitation.
“Yes.”
To be honest, I’d been using formal speech with Ed the whole time.
‘Because I thought he was thirty.’
I’d dropped the formality for only one night.
Since he liked informal speech, going back to it wasn’t difficult.
But during that one night, I’d regretted something enormous.
When I found out Ed was the infamous “Emperor,” fear had been a significant part of what I felt.
‘Though it did change fairly quickly to how he doesn’t seem to care about social status or dignity at all.’
“It seemed like maintaining psychological distance would help…”
I deliberately drew out the end of my sentence and took a step back.
“I don’t like that.”
Ed followed me back just as far as I retreated.
“What if I slip up in my speech around other people?”
I’d already slipped up several times around others, but only around family and the Emperor’s close circle.
“Nothing you say will ever be a mistake.”
True to form for an Emperor, his answer came out arrogant.
‘No wonder they call him a tyrant—he’s not entirely without reason.’
I thought for a moment, then made up my mind.
“Well, I guess sometimes when we’re alone together would be okay…”
The informal speech that had flowed so easily last time felt awkward now that I was conscious of it.
But even at this clumsy attempt, Ed’s eyes went wide with delight and he coaxed.
“Not just sometimes?”
‘I said he was cute, cute, and now look at him.’
He’s trying to be even cuter.
“Fine.”
Completely charmed by my lover’s cuteness, I flipped my position like turning over my palm and laughed broadly.
‘But why does Ed like informal speech so much?’
‘You’re the first woman who’s ever spoken to me like that’ kind of sentiment?
Lost in the stream of consciousness, I found myself staring blankly at Ed’s face without realizing it.
His ears gradually flushed red.
With only my gaze, I’d made him shy—and I couldn’t resist teasing him about it.
“You know your ears are bright red right now?”
When I asked it playfully, the blush spread to his whole face.
And still his ears got redder.
I smiled and gently bit his earlobe.
Then I blew softly against his ear.
I meant it to cool him down, but Ed acted like he was being teased, covering his ears with both hands and pulling away.
“You said just tea and leaving.”
Ed complained in a husky, strangled voice.
“I barely did anything.”
I tilted my head with an deliberately innocent expression, and Ed’s face grew even more resentful.
His chest expanded and contracted deeply in succession.
But the heat that had already risen didn’t cool easily.
I could see him wavering between reason and instinct. And that conflict soon spread to me as well.
I, who was usually quicker at making decisions than Ed, added one more weight to his scales.
On the instinct side.
I wrapped my arms around his neck.
The warmth of his body, transmitted through the thin summer fabric, was scorching.
When our bodies touched, Ed startled and tried to pull back.
But because I didn’t release the arms around his neck, he could only move back enough for a fist’s width of space between us.
“Not here, and not today.”
Thinking I was playing a mean trick, Ed looked deeply aggrieved.
“Not that.”
I kissed his cheek lightly and whispered.
“But this much should be allowed?”
Ed pulled me in hard, as if asking when I’d ever resisted him.
“Just this much? Nothing else?”
“I don’t know.”
With my invitation to find out for himself, Ed—his reins half-loosened—came down on my lips, devouring them.
A sultry sound echoed through the quiet room.
Until a louder sound shattered the silence.
Knock, knock.
“Lina, can I come in?”
“You have to knock louder for me to hear!”
‘I’d hear you even if you knocked softer…’
It was Ibeta and Bes.

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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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