Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 19

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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 19
After turning the ruffians over to the Security Force, Edwin escorted Lina out of the dark alley.
With each step forward, the surroundings grew steadily brighter.
Soon they emerged back onto the street where the festival was in full swing.
“It looks like quite a bit of time has passed.”
Lina murmured, taking in the thinning crowd and the merchants closing their stalls.
“It has.”
She hadn’t really been asking him to respond.
Yet Edwin found he wanted to break the silence that had fallen during their short walk back to the festival street, so he answered deliberately.
“We should probably head home too.”
Lina seemed somewhat exhausted by the evening’s events.
Her violet eyes hung heavy with drowsiness.
Fortunately, Edwin could detect no trace of fear in her expression—no sign that she was afraid of him because of what had happened moments before.
“I’ll see you home.”
Relieved that his earlier harsh demeanor hadn’t permanently damaged her trust, Edwin volunteered to escort her.
“Thank you.”
After such a harrowing day, Lina accepted his offer without hesitation.
The two walked together through the midnight streets in silence.
It was mostly because Lina, who usually took the lead in conversation, was too worn out to speak.
By the time Edwin had fumbled through several failed attempts at finding an appropriate topic, they had already arrived at Indar Street, where Lina lived.
When the familiar green roof came into view, Lina’s expression brightened a little.
Meanwhile, Edwin’s face inexplicably fell.
It wasn’t until they were about to part that Edwin finally found something to say.
“Now that I think about it, I promised to buy you dinner.”
Edwin spoke as if he’d suddenly remembered, though he’d been mulling over this very thing.
“Oh, I completely forgot about that!”
Lina marveled at how the festival outing already felt like something from years ago.
Edwin smiled faintly in agreement.
Once again, his chest felt full of feathers.
He drew in a breath to steady the ticklish sensation, then exhaled slowly.
It helped a little, though he couldn’t be certain.
Just as Lina was about to bid him goodbye, Edwin’s instincts overrode his caution and he spoke again.
“Would you give me another chance?”
Lina’s eyes widened—she clearly hadn’t expected that.
But she didn’t look displeased.
Edwin’s instincts pushed him forward once more.
“Are you free tomorrow?”
He realized as soon as he’d asked that he’d sounded too eager, and regretted it.
“Tomorrow I have a prior engagement.”
Lina answered apologetically.
“What about the day after?”
Edwin asked more carefully this time.
“The day after I have to work.”
Her refusal came with the same gentle caution.
Rejected twice in a row, Edwin fell silent.
“But I think the day after that would work. How about you, Edwin?”
Lina suggested shyly, a small smile on her face.
“Perfect.”
Edwin seized the moment and took the hand she was offering.
Once they’d settled on a date, Lina said she really ought to go inside and bade him goodbye.
Edwin watched her receding figure and thought she looked no bigger than a squirrel in the palm of his hand.
Boom! Boom!
Somewhere above their heads, fireworks—whether the luxurious indulgence of some nobleman or accidental discharge—suddenly burst into bloom.
* * *
The next morning, I set out for the Temple at dawn, bringing Cony along.
‘There probably isn’t much Holy Power in it—just a hamster’s worth—but it’s still comforting.’
Cony rubbed her sleepy eyes as she watched me make a donation at the Temple and receive a Sacred Object in return.
“But why the Temple so early this morning?”
As soon as I turned away from the priest in charge of Sacred Object sales, Cony asked quietly.
“There’s been too much bad luck lately.”
I answered with something like a sigh.
At that, Cony’s eyes sharpened a little.
“What happened?”
Her gaze drifted to the bandage visible between the collar of my blouse.
I explained yesterday’s events to Cony in a hushed voice.
All things considered, it was over and done with, so I left out a lot to spare her worry, but Cony still reacted as if I’d narrowly escaped death.
“Thank goodness Edwin was with you.”
The moment my story finished, Cony shuddered slightly.
“We were lucky.”
I agreed, and Cony whispered seriously.
“They say veteran soldiers have been causing all sorts of trouble.”
“But the Security Force is getting reinforced, so things should improve gradually.”
“They better.”
The nearly decade-long war had objectively left the economy and society in worse condition than in the early years of the previous emperor’s reign.
Still, now that the Empire possessed the Laurel Crown, there was hope that things would improve.
‘It just takes time. It’s not the worst situation anymore.’
While I was lost in thought, Cony, who had been observing the long queues at the free soup kitchen near the Temple, rummaged through her purse.
“Ugh, I hate when my conscience starts speaking up like this.”
Muttering to herself, Cony tossed a gold coin into the donation box.
It was the Reward Money Pouch she’d grown attached to over the past few days, finally opened.
I pulled a few silver coins from my wallet and added them as well.
“I hope the Temple doesn’t extort half of it and actually uses it for relief work.”
Cony made her prayer—one the Temple surely wouldn’t appreciate—quite loudly.
“Your voice is so loud!”
My warning came too late.
The priests’ attention had already turned our way.
I grabbed Cony’s arm and hurried us out of the Temple.
Only once we were far enough away that the Temple looked no bigger than a fist did Cony loudly insist it had been intentional.
It was obviously bluff.
“I wanted them all to hear it. Everyone in the Empire knows the Temple pockets half of every donation for ‘the gods.'”
Cony, who had once been part of the Poor Relief Institution under the Temple, grumbled.
“Even so, half really does go to help the poor.”
It was the reason the Temple still maintained a foothold in the Empire.
‘Corrupt enough to be shameful, but not corrupt enough to deserve destruction.’
Accounting for the Temple’s operational costs and the priests’ salaries, about half the donations were lost to the kind of corruption that people whispered about—not the kind that warranted the Temple’s removal.
Though the reality was a bit worse than what most people knew.
“Without the Temple, relief work would shut down completely.”
Besides, the saintess who would appear soon was supposed to purge the Temple’s corrupt members anyway.
I managed to soothe Cony somewhat.
‘After all, there are good people in the Temple too, like the priest who connected Cony with her sponsors.’
Cony accepted it with the reluctant expression of someone who was far from happy but understood the practical necessity, making an absurd face at the Temple before quietly following me along.
Cony’s expression brightened as we made our way toward the festival street.
“It’s been so long since we’ve had a proper festival.”
I’d visited yesterday, but this was Cony’s first time, and she wandered about excitedly.
Exploring with Edwin had been nice enough, but there was a different kind of fun in watching Cony’s enthusiastic reactions.
Laden with small pouches hanging from our wrists, we made our way toward the food stalls, our stomachs eager to be filled.
First came cold fruit juice.
Despite the gray sky making the weather quite chilly, all the walking had made me thirsty.
After draining a fairly large cup in one go, I was ready for something more substantial.
Looking around for something worth eating, I spotted a place that caught my eye.
“Oh, that looks good.”
I’d found the skewered chicken shop from yesterday and led Cony over.
After paying and receiving two skewers, I handed one to Cony, who took a big bite and immediately gave me a thumbs-up.
“This is good. Really good.”
Cony asked casually as she ate the chicken and roasted scallions in one bite.
“Did you come here yesterday with Edwin?”
I was focused on wiping sauce from my lips with a handkerchief and answered absently.
“Yeah, it was open yesterday too.”
‘Oh.’
I realized only after speaking that I’d just pressed something very sensitive.
My cheeks suddenly felt warm.
As I turned my head with a creaking sound, Cony had stopped mid-inhale of her chicken skewer and was grinning mischievously.
Like a cat who’d just caught its prey.
“You did it. You totally did it.”
“Did what!”
At her suggestively vague words, I cried out, and Cony added smugly.
“A Date.”
It was a more innocent word than I’d feared, but I couldn’t very well confirm something that wasn’t true.
“It wasn’t.”
I denied her claim huffily.
Cony paid no attention to my denial whatsoever.
“When a man and woman go to a festival together and share street food, we call that a Date.”
Cony, delighted with herself, began her teasing onslaught.
“So when’s the wedding?”
“When did you realize you were in love with him?”
That sort of thing.
“Are you talking about my wedding or Edwin’s?”
“I’ve never felt anything like that, so I can’t answer?”
I deflected every single attack with the defensive might of an iron wall, resolving firmly within myself.
I would keep my appointment with Edwin in two days a secret until my dying breath.

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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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