Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 20

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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 20
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It was the morning of the day Coni and Lina were to meet, two days after they’d enjoyed the festival together.
Kyle racked his brain furiously as he welcomed Edwin, who was pushing through the café door instead of the Guild entrance.
‘What’s this? Why has he come?’
He’d received no advance notice.
Kyle approached Edwin first and ushered him to a table with a practiced smile of hospitality.
“Welcome. The weather’s lovely today—I’ll seat you by the window.”
He moved like a café owner greeting a regular customer with genuine warmth.
Edwin, bearing his usual listless expression, settled slowly into the chair Kyle had offered.
Kyle positioned himself beside Edwin’s seat, still smiling.
To any stranger’s eye, he would have looked like a server waiting for the guest’s order.
Yet beneath that calm exterior, his mind churned with unease.
He’d thought he’d completed all the tasks Edwin had assigned him, but his heart sank with the fear that something had slipped through the cracks.
Kyle was the sort who, despite his charming appearance, handled his responsibilities with grave and meticulous care.
For someone like him, an unannounced visit from his superior was anxiety incarnate—enough to make him second-guess mistakes he’d never made.
“Whiskey. No—just water.”
Edwin spoke in a languid drawl, delivering the line with a slight smirk: ‘Your water tastes the best.’
Any other day, Kyle would have grumbled back, but the pale shadows beneath Edwin’s eyes stopped him. He simply brought a glass of water without comment.
Edwin, as though parched, drained the entire glass Kyle set before him in one long draught.
Then he slumped back against his chair.
Something was amiss. Kyle took a seat across from him.
“Is something troubling you, sir?”
It was the tone of an old friend.
Edwin answered roughly from his slouched position.
“I didn’t sleep much.”
“You didn’t sleep? Why?”
Edwin was the sort of man who could eat and sleep soundly even in the thick of battle.
‘Those shoulders and that build don’t come from someone who’s been losing sleep and skipping meals.’
“Did an assassin slip past your guard, sir?”
Kyle lowered his voice so the other patrons couldn’t hear.
“No.”
At Kyle’s suddenly grave tone, Edwin straightened a little and answered with measured casualness.
“Would my enemies have the resources to send an assassin all the way to the heart of the Imperial Palace?”
He twisted his lips into a cold smile—entirely in character.
“Then why?”
When Kyle pressed with genuine confusion, Edwin found himself searching for the source of his sleeplessness.
Finding nothing solid to grasp, he took a moment before speaking again.
“I think I had a dream about Miss Diaz. Or I lost sleep because of some unfamiliar dream.”
Edwin’s words trailed off—uncharacteristic for him.
“About Miss Diaz?”
It was a familiar name, but one Kyle wouldn’t have expected to surface now.
Kyle couldn’t fathom why Carolina Diaz’s name would come up at this juncture, after the Duke Camelot tax evasion case was settled.
Sensing Kyle’s questioning gaze as an implicit demand for explanation, Edwin added,
“Perhaps because I’m meeting her today?”
Yet his tone remained uncertain.
‘When? Since when?’
“You’re meeting Miss Diaz today, sir?”
Kyle began asking questions methodically, as though helping Edwin organize his own scattered thoughts.
“Yes, in a couple of hours.”
“If there are loose ends from last time you wish to tie up, I could meet with her in your stead.”
Edwin fell straight into Kyle’s carefully baited question.
“It’s not about that.”
Edwin paused to consider, then offered a belated reason.
“Miss Diaz has done me another favor. This is repayment for that.”
Edwin’s expression, when speaking of Carolina Diaz, had softened in an odd way.
Kyle’s green eyes swept across Edwin’s face without betraying what he saw.
“So your purpose in leaving the Imperial Palace today is to meet Miss Diaz, then.”
“That’s right.”
“But the appointment is in a couple of hours, isn’t it?”
“I miscalculated the time.”
“I see.”
Kyle summoned every ounce of self-control to maintain an impassive expression.
‘Raise a boy in the battlefield and he becomes a romantic fool.’
Kyle’s tongue flicked against his teeth before Edwin could notice.
‘Romance doesn’t necessarily lead to marriage, though.’
And whether it would lead to romance at all remained uncertain.
Given Edwin’s station, Kyle resolved to commission a deeper investigation into the Diaz Family and House Renkels—just in case.
Kyle glanced sidelong at Edwin once more.
Edwin had grown restless; his index finger now drummed an insistent rhythm against the table.
If Kyle were to ask him now whether he was truly so eager for this meeting with Lina, Edwin likely wouldn’t even realize he was anxious.
Emotions, once named in words, became objectified—truly acknowledged.
Kyle decided to keep his mouth shut and let sleeping dogs lie.
‘It might fade into nothing more than a fleeting excitement.’
In truth, that was his hope.
Imperial Authority was secure enough that a political marriage held no necessity.
Yet the marriage of one in the imperial family required a certain match in rank.
‘Unless Miss Diaz inherits the title of Count Renkels…’
Count Renkels was a centrist and an ancient noble house—hardly a poor choice.
Kyle balanced the crown of an empress and Lina on an invisible scale, then abandoned the thought.
‘I don’t even know if Miss Diaz harbors any feeling for him. It would be presumptuous.’
While Kyle was lost in thought, Edwin’s drumming grew faster.
Kyle watched him, eyes open but mind fixed on some point near Grizel Park, and shook his head openly in disbelief.
‘I can’t support this, but…’
“Are you planning to go like that, sir?”
Edwin was dressed in his customary Black Robe.
The hood was drawn so deep that only the tip of his nose and his lips were visible.
‘All he has to work with is power, wealth, and that face.’
Miss Diaz believed the emperor was Everett Rohas.
With no opportunity to display his power and wealth, shouldn’t he at least make use of that handsome face?
Kyle pulled down Edwin’s hood.
‘Far better than before.’
It seemed Edwin’s romantic prospects had improved measurably in that single gesture.
Kyle, who couldn’t bring himself to cheer but wouldn’t watch the man botch his chances, finally felt satisfied.
“Since you’re repaying a debt, it would be fitting to observe some formality in the meeting, wouldn’t it?”
Kyle manufactured a reason Edwin could accept.
“True.”
Edwin’s hand, which had reached to pull the hood back up, froze.
“I hadn’t thought that far.”
Under the café’s soft lighting, Edwin’s exposed face looked like any other young man freshly smitten with first love.
“Have you decided on a dining location, sir?”
Kyle resolved to meddle a little further.
“Not particularly. I don’t know what sort of food Miss Diaz prefers.”
Since he’d anticipated this, Kyle managed to suppress a wry smile.
“Where were you planning to meet Miss Diaz?”
“Somewhere nearby.”
With that answer, Kyle dispatched a Guild member to secure a reservation at a suitable local restaurant.
It was the sort of place perfect for a date—pleasant ambiance, quiet enough for conversation.
Even after the Guild member returned with news of the successful reservation, nearly two hours remained before Edwin’s appointment with Lina.
Edwin, unaware of his own tension, was simply passing the time.
The café was quiet—not a single customer all day—which made the atmosphere all the more restless.
Finally, Kyle could bear it no longer and made a suggestion.
“Since we have some time, wouldn’t it be wise to stop by a tailor’s shop nearby? If you’re dining at a restaurant, it might be worth giving your appearance some thought.”
‘I’m not thinking of helping him succeed, mind you. But if he walks into a restaurant in that pitch-black robe, Miss Diaz might be embarrassed.’
Kyle crafted a self-serving justification with admirable fluidity.
Since the pretext of safeguarding a lady’s honor sounded plausible enough, Kyle set off toward the nearby tailor’s shop with a light step, Edwin in tow.
“It sells ready-made clothing, but the work is quite respectable. You won’t be disappointed.”
The moment Edwin entered the shop, he reached for a Black Formal Suit displayed in the window.
“If that’s your preference, you might as well stick with the robe.”
Kyle replaced the dark suit in Edwin’s hand back where it belonged.
When he called the shop owner and requested something suitable for Edwin, the proprietor—sharp-eyed as a hawk—produced an impressive array of options.
Kyle selected a non-black suit from among them and arranged for alterations.
Once the sleeves and hem were adjusted to Edwin’s frame, it was nearly time for the appointment.
Kyle conducted a final inspection of Edwin’s appearance.
‘Hopefully Miss Diaz sees enough handsome men to not be completely overwhelmed.’
Kyle offered a silent prayer that Edwin’s first love wouldn’t turn into a disaster.
“I should head out now.”
Edwin checked the time, his gaze drifting repeatedly toward the window.
“Have a good time, sir.”
Kyle saw him off.
‘Please don’t get rejected on the first try.’
Only Kyle was aware that a date was about to begin—the two principals remained blissfully ignorant.

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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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