Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 16

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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 16
“Would you be willing to spare me some time, even if it’s just after stopping by the Cafe?”
Everett had suggested treating me to a late dinner.
The food sold at the small restaurants in the Night Market was a specialty of the Capital, so it was a fitting reward for someone who’d been working through the Festival.
“I’d love to.”
I accepted before Everett could change his mind.
Everett smiled broadly.
“Then let’s hurry before the guards tire out.”
Everett gestured toward the path leading to the Cafe.
Just as I’d told the guards, the area near the Night Market was crowded with people celebrating the Birthday Celebration.
Moreover, the direction we were heading ran directly opposite to the flow of people heading to the Night Market.
‘Like a salmon swimming upstream, except worse.’
As I was barely managing to walk while being buffeted by the crowd, Everett extended his hand to me again.
“Stand behind me.”
Everett parted the crowd easily and moved forward.
I hurried after him, following the path he’d cleared.
After about twenty minutes like this.
We finally arrived at the Cafe, its lights extinguished.
“Oh, no.”
Everett’s brow furrowed in displeasure.
“Seems they’ve gone to work.”
Finding the situation unexpected, Everett stared at the Cafe’s door for a moment, then gestured to me.
“There’s a door the Guild uses around back.”
It was the door he’d used when he’d brought me here before.
Everett led me around the other side of the alley and opened the Guild’s entrance, which connected to the Antique Bookstore.
“Come inside and wait just a moment. I’ll be back in ten minutes—no, five minutes at most.”
Everett had me wait just inside the Guild’s entrance.
It seemed a deliberate choice, since he couldn’t bring an outsider like me fully into the Guild, but neither could he leave me alone in a dark alley.
Worried about leaving me alone, Everett kept turning back as he went inside.
“Didn’t you say ten minutes? Should I time you?”
I playfully urged him to hurry, saying he shouldn’t worry.
“If you have a watch.”
Everett smiled faintly.
This time, he didn’t look back and headed deeper into the Guild.
‘I don’t have a watch.’
I leaned against the wall of the dark, narrow corridor and waited for Everett in silence.
It didn’t feel like a long time had passed.
Everett appeared at the end of the corridor soon enough.
He looked noticeably more at ease than when he’d left, as if things had gone well.
When Everett saw me leaning against the wall, his pace quickened.
I straightened up to greet him.
“That was quick.”
“There was someone waiting, so I hurried. Should we go?”
Everett opened the door for me.
We retraced our steps and headed back toward the Night Market.
“Is there anything you’d like to eat?”
Everett guided me toward a street lined with more upscale, cleaner restaurants and asked.
“I’m fine with anything.”
I’d had several cups of strongly brewed tea, so I wasn’t particularly hungry.
“Then, shall we walk around a bit before coming back?”
After a moment’s thought, Everett pointed toward a street lined with simple food stalls.
“Why not?”
This time too, it was Everett who parted the crowd for us.
I stayed close by his side and easily moved through the throng.
The Festival, properly held for the first time in a while, had much to see.
Stalls stretched far beyond the usual bounds of the Night Market.
I craned my neck this way and that, admiring food vendors and small Accessories stalls.
“That looks delicious.”
What caught my eye was a stall selling Chicken Skewers—chunks of meat and vegetables marinated and grilled.
Somehow hearing my murmur despite the noise, Everett’s gaze also turned toward the stall selling Chicken Skewers.
“Those.”
Looking at the dark reddish sauce that was plainly spicy, Everett frowned slightly.
“I wanted to treat you to a proper meal, not street food like that.”
Everett tried to persuade me.
“But my satisfaction will definitely be higher with those. Much higher, probably?”
When my gaze wouldn’t leave the Chicken Skewers, Everett sighed with barely concealed amusement and paid for them.
“Here.”
I’d expected him not to touch street food given his reluctant expression, but Everett was holding his own skewer in his other hand.
It seemed he was making an effort to match my explorations of the Night Market.
“Thank you.”
After offering Everett my small thanks, I took a generous bite of the Chicken Skewer.
‘This place is really good.’
It was perfectly spicy-sweet and stimulating—exactly to my taste.
I quickly finished the first skewer.
‘I’d like one more.’
My wistful expression apparently reached Everett as well.
After finishing his own skewer in just a few bites, Everett gestured to me with a warning.
“No more snacking, Diaz.”
His tone was strict as a needle that wouldn’t bend.
‘Tch. He thinks he’s my etiquette teacher.’
When Everett wasn’t looking, I pouted and left the stall.
Aside from restricting street food, Everett was a remarkably indulgent companion.
Even when I stopped every few steps to look at the stalls, he waited without rushing me.
Despite the small Paper Bags accumulating in both my hands—carrying cute but decidedly impractical things like Bracelets made of strung glass beads and tiny Accessories carved from wood.
Growing more and more charmed by the Night Market, I wandered from stall to stall, examining everything on display.
We’d reached the far end of the street, where the lamplight no longer reached.
“I think that was the edge of the Night Market district.”
I looked wistfully toward the distant light as I spoke.
“We’ve seen enough. Let’s head back now. This is the boundary with the Slums—it’s dangerous to go further.”
Everett glanced around as he spoke.
“All right.”
I adjusted the Paper Bags in my hands and nodded.
Seeing that I’d accumulated dozens of Paper Bags, Everett extended his hand.
“Shall I carry some?”
“No, thanks. They’re bulky, but they don’t weigh more than a single bouquet of flowers.”
I swung my laden wrists to emphasize how light they were.
“Well, then.”
Everett looked skeptical of my fragile-looking wrists but eventually relented.
Then he turned toward the direction of the Night Market and began leading the way.
“But this place is really creepy, isn’t it?”
I followed behind Everett, striking up conversation.
“It’s the Capital’s oldest Crime Area. The streets are narrow and maze-like, making it easy to hide.”
“No wonder.”
Though Everett spoke casually, I quickened my pace and moved closer to him.
Everett glanced back at me and laughed softly.
“So Diaz is more afraid of robbers than ghosts, then.”
Everett lightly teased me while protectively placing his arm in the space around my waist.
“And Captain Lohas was more afraid of ghosts, wasn’t he?”
I shot back cheekily, not refusing his escort.
“That’s right. If a ghost appears, Diaz can handle it.”
Everett readily agreed and feigned helplessness.
But he stopped quickly when I didn’t play along.
“This street suits robbers better than ghosts, though.”
Everett, returning to seriousness, spoke as if deliberately voicing something he needed to remember.
“Once we get back, I should increase the patrols around the Night Market. It seems more people might stumble into this area by chance, like we did.”
I agreed with Everett’s assessment.
“You’re right. This Festival seems to have expanded the stall district quite a bit. It wasn’t like this the last time I came.”
“Since the War, the Border Residents who lost their homes have been flowing into the Capital’s Slums, and the Slums’ boundaries have been expanding as a result.”
Everett’s eyes narrowed as if the problem itself was already giving him headaches.
“Wait, Diaz.”
Everett suddenly stopped, stroking his chin as he carefully surveyed the surroundings.
The way he was gazing seriously at something made me deeply uneasy.
“As the saying goes, trouble appears just when you speak of it.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
When I pressed him in a whisper, Everett smiled faintly to reassure me.
“I’m hearing footsteps—several sets. Could just be people passing through.”
But even he seemed to know the odds of that were slim.
I carefully turned my head in the direction Everett was looking.
Something he could see remained invisible to my eyes.
‘Why has my luck been so rotten lately?’
Without thinking, I grabbed Everett’s sleeve and muttered to myself.
“I’m going to go to the Temple tomorrow morning and make a donation.”
The moment I finished speaking, figures emerged from the shadowed alley.

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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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