Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 176

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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 176
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After a brief tour and survey of the Duke’s Residence, I returned with some useful materials and items I’d gathered.
Then I set about searching for commonalities between the Former Crown Prince and the other patients—examining everything meticulously, from their physical symptoms to any similar events preceding their illness.
‘If this is a disease made by human hands, the earliest crime scene will be easier to find clues in.’
The more crimes are committed, the more refined they become.
Unable to find any clear thread yet, time slipped away, and soon the day for my parents to return to Langeldin drew near.
For the first time in my life, I traveled to the Renkels County House to spend time with my parents.
The servants there treated me with the utmost courtesy.
The butler himself came out to greet me, as if welcoming a distinguished guest to the Reception Room.
‘They’re not the sort of family to treat me specially just because I’m seeing the Emperor.’
Though my parents’ attitude toward me had grown warmer of late, after more than twenty years of distance between us, I’d had no expectation of being received like a guest of honor.
The Renkels Family’s reputation for stubbornness was well-known.
They hadn’t endured all these years in the middle of the road for nothing.
Yet what I saw when the Reception Room door opened was even more shocking.
My parents, my Aunt, and the Previous Count Renkels were seated together in conversation.
And they seemed quite harmonious about it.
“Oh, hello.”
I quickly composed myself and greeted them, upon which warm words of welcome came pouring down.
“Welcome.”
Among them was the Previous Count Renkels’ gruff greeting.
“Thank you for the invitation.”
I spoke awkwardly and took the seat offered to me.
Then silence settled over the Reception Room.
The Previous Count Renkels, who had seemed quite engaged in conversation just moments before, suddenly clamped his mouth shut with an uncomfortable expression.
As the atmosphere grew increasingly strained and everyone scrambled to say something to break it, the Previous Count Renkels finally spoke.
“The dinner preparations must be finished by now.”
“Oh, my—has it gotten to be this late already?”
“Indeed. The head cook has been beside himself all morning at the thought of Lina arriving.”
“I’m so looking forward to it.”
After each of us offered a reply, careful not to let silence fall again, we rose as one and headed toward the Dining Room.
The Previous Count Renkels, his back held ramrod straight, led the way.
On the way to the Dining Room, my Aunt deliberately slowed her pace to walk alongside me.
“Your father has been looking forward to nothing but your arrival. He’s just being this way now that you’re actually here. Your grandmother used to find him equally exasperating.”
“My grandmother?”
Intrigued by this tale of my grandmother I’d never heard before, my Aunt gave me an abbreviated account of the two of them.
The Previous Countess Renkels was two years older than the Previous Count Renkels, or so I was told.
She was the young lady of a noble house friendly to the Renkels Family, and the two had known each other since childhood.
As they grew, love blossomed naturally, but the Previous Count Renkels had been so awkward in expressing his feelings—like a boy teasing the girl he fancied—that misunderstandings piled up.
The Previous Countess Renkels, who came of age first, assumed he didn’t care for her, and in a fit of pique, dated another young nobleman she’d met at her Debutante presentation.
‘Upon learning of this, the Previous Count Renkels took ill from lovesickness, and she ended up nursing him back to health, and eventually…’
Even someone who looked as though you couldn’t draw a drop of blood from them had such days once.
It was an unexpectedly interesting story.
I hadn’t even noticed that we’d arrived at the Dining Room by then.
As my Aunt and I spoke in hushed tones, Mother asked,
“What are you two talking about?”
She even cast a sidelong glance at us.
My Aunt laughed in reply.
“The story of Father and Mother when they were courting.”
The Previous Count Renkels, who had already taken his seat, let out a disapproving cough.
“Ahem! Unnecessary talk.”
But the Previous Count Renkels’ voice was completely drowned out by Mother’s.
“Did you get to the part where he was languishing with lovesickness, and then Mother kissed him and said they should date, so he jumped up and started running around like a madman?”
As the two sisters teased him and laughed like schoolgirls, the Previous Count Renkels’ lips twitched slightly.
But he quickly hardened his expression again and attempted a counterattack.
“Why not tell us the story of when Lina was courting?”
Mother and Father visibly stiffened at the sudden assault.
Father in particular looked as though he might be sick.
My Aunt laughed, saying the Linas were no easy marks either.
“Shall we? Tonight’s dinner will go on quite late, I think.”
My Aunt, who seemed unusually cheerful, went on to recount my parents’ love story without omission or discretion.
Most of it was similar to what I’d already known, but…
‘I’d thought it was a conventional romance fraught with conflict between lovers and family. It turned out to be a chaotic family comedy instead.’
Particularly memorable was the part where the Previous Count Renkels opposed the marriage and locked Mother in her room, so she tied curtains and blankets together, escaped, and then borrowed money from her former fiancé after breaking off the engagement.
“Why didn’t you just ransack the jewelry box in your room? Why did you go there and borrow money!”
Mother’s former fiancé was the son of the Previous Count Renkels’ closest friend.
The Previous Count Renkels added that he knew perfectly well how humiliated he’d been at the time.
Mother’s face flushed as she protested.
“Morgan and I were just friends. Friends can borrow from each other. Besides, how am I supposed to understand how Father and Mother developed feelings for each other from the time they were children with runny noses?”
Mother looked to both Father and me in turn, as if seeking our support.
Father, his face flushed up to his ears, gave an awkward, embarrassed laugh.
I simply ate my meal in silence, considering it my filial duty.
My Aunt, who had been shaking her head at how similar both the younger sister and the father were, was now finally beginning to understand.
* * *
When dinner ended, it was late in the evening.
But Mother and my Aunt insisted I stay for tea before leaving, so they kept me there.
The atmosphere suggested something important was about to be said, so I returned to the Reception Room and sat down.
The moment I took my seat, my Aunt spoke up.
“Lina, we intend to announce you as the Heir to the Renkels Family.”
It was entirely straight to the point.
I looked around in shock and immediately realized from their expressions that the Previous Count Renkels and my parents already knew.
“All of a sudden?”
I was aware that under the Law of Succession, I held the position closest to that of Heir.
But I had never, even once as a child, imagined that I would become Count Renkels.
Especially not now, having promised a future with Ed.
Thinking there must be some intention behind this, I looked between my Aunt and Mother, and this time Mother spoke.
“What I said about holding an Engagement Ceremony—I meant it.”
I naturally hadn’t taken it as a jest.
That’s why the Imperial Palace had been so busy preparing for the Engagement Ceremony despite everything else.
“The Engagement Ceremony is already in preparation.”
“I know. His Majesty sends inquiries about your progress through his attendant every single day.”
My parents seemed to view the diligent prospective son-in-law favorably.
Father still remained wary of Ed as if protecting his daughter from a crow, but the initial rejection had long since vanished.
Mother seemed nearly won over as well.
My Aunt and the Previous Count Renkels, if anything, leaned more favorably toward the Emperor’s faction.
“Why do it while preparing for the engagement?”
I asked to understand their reasoning, and the Previous Count Renkels replied,
“From the moment you are announced as Heir, you will possess the Status of a noblewoman.”
To this, my Aunt added that since the Renkels Family was among the Empire’s most distinguished houses, the moment I became Heir, my proper standing would be established.
‘But the effort it takes to manage this is terribly inconvenient.’
If I needed to change the Heir to one of my younger siblings just before I married, it would require an enormous amount of complicated procedures.
We’re planning to marry within a year—was it really necessary? Or could they be using this as an excuse to delay the marriage?
The Previous Count Renkels, observing my expression as I let my imagination run wild, spoke quietly,
“I will not see my granddaughter disrespected.”
My parents and Aunt nodded in agreement.
“No one is openly disrespecting me!”
But all four of them seemed to dismiss my words out of hand.
“Don’t you need to establish yourself in High Society before the Engagement Ceremony?”
It was phrased as a question, but there was only one possible answer.
“But…”
I mumbled something reluctant, and Mother clicked her tongue lightly.
“His Majesty will have said you need only do as you wish. And he has the ability to make that happen in practice.”
She was right.
“Still, if I’m to become Empress, I was planning to fulfill my duties.”
As I grumbled my excuses, my Aunt said with gentle reproach,
“Merely appearing at important events will not be enough.”
She added that I needed to command High Society entirely.
‘Me?’
As I stared into empty space with a lost expression, I heard my Father’s bashful voice of encouragement near my ear.

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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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