Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 201

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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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Side Story 3
“Probably sometime next spring, I’d think.”
Since it was winter now, next spring would indeed be the earliest.
If Ed wanted to hold the Engagement Ceremony and the wedding itself all within this year, there would be overtime, weekend shifts…….
My remaining professional self asserted its presence, insisting it absolutely had to talk Ed out of that.
At the mention of next spring, the Ladies of the Golem Salon exchanged knowing glances and laughed.
It was still a remarkably short timeframe to prepare an Emperor’s wedding, but word seemed to have spread of how boisterously Ed had behaved at the Engagement Ceremony.
I spoke on without pause, hoping my burning ears would cool in the winter air.
“Besides, I’ve only just chosen a dress.”
The Wedding Dress of a future Empress would have a profound influence on High Society’s fashions to come.
Every faction—from High Society and the nobility to tailoring houses and jewelers—had their antennae quivering at the question of which Wedding Dress I would select.
When told they’d receive information about the Wedding Dress ahead of time, I simply surrendered to the teasing of the Golem Salon’s Ladies.
“Is it another piece by that designer who made your Engagement Ceremony dress?”
Harper asked, her eyes sparkling.
The designer who’d crafted the Silver Dress I’d received as a gift on the day we chose Ibeta’s Debutante gown had somehow become something like my exclusive designer.
I’d met every renowned artisan in the Capital, but none of their work quite satisfied me the way hers did.
‘The accessories, too.’
The rising designer, bound to me by chance encounter, had initially seemed merely “promising.”
But as my frequent wearing of her designs elevated her reputation, and as she could now afford fine materials and tools without restraint, her talent blossomed magnificently.
She’d become one of the most celebrated accessory designers in the Capital.
‘It’s half coincidence, but somehow I’ve ended up with the eye to spot raw talent.’
Since the dress and accessories suited my taste perfectly.
It wasn’t only beautiful to my eye—others too subtly boasted of the dresses and accessories they’d managed to secure through arduous reservations.
“Oh my, and what will you do for the ceremony venue decorations?”
“That’s…….”
* * *
After we’d talked at length about the wedding, I returned to the Palace, and Ed was waiting for me.
“Lina.”
Uncharacteristically tense.
“Is something wrong?”
I asked cautiously, and Ed shook his head at once, denying it.
“No, it’s nothing serious.”
“Then you just came to meet me?”
“Yes.”
Ed’s answer was affirmative, but it felt as though some words had been left unsaid afterward.
“What is it?”
Even when I grasped his hand and shook it lightly in question, he offered no reply, only a smile.
What is this expression? There’s definitely something.
But Ed’s lips showed no sign of opening.
‘If it’s something I need to know, he’ll tell me.’
I shrugged and gestured that I wouldn’t ask further—at which point Ed, seeming even more tense, requested my arm.
“This way.”
His escort, usually as fluid and natural as a textbook example of propriety, felt strangely awkward.
Here and there his walking rhythm faltered, or his arms and legs moved out of sync—small breaks in composure.
In response to Ed’s unnatural demeanor, I myself grew quieter.
Curious as I was, I simply followed his lead in silence.
Ed led me to a section of the Empress Palace that I’d scarcely visited, save for its outer gardens.
The owner had been absent long enough that extensive renovations had been undertaken; it seemed the work had concluded, for everywhere I looked I sensed a careful hand at work.
The landscaping, positioned with deliberate precision, bore the dignity befitting an Empress Palace.
Loropetalums—plants whose leaves turn a riot of colors in the cold and adorn the winter gardens of the nobility—filled the grounds, making it seem as though the season had been forgotten in favor of radiance.
I walked beside Ed, taking in the Empress Palace’s scenery as I held his hand.
‘This is too…… that, isn’t it.’
As suspicion crystallized into certainty, my clasped hand grew damp with belated perspiration.
I hadn’t expected Ed to simply overlook it.
Save for a few minor contradictions, he held classical romantic views; he wasn’t the type to omit a Proposal.
The thought that the loud beating of my heart might belong to Ed crossed my mind again and again.
‘When I did it, it was fine.’
At the end of the path I’d walked in heightened tension, I encountered something as beautiful as a dream: the Glass Greenhouse.
When I stepped through the door, sunlight filtered through panes of many colors gleamed splendidly.
Countless flowers bearing sweet meanings caught my gaze, borne on a gentle breeze that carried their fragrance.
It was a space so beautiful that fairies from a storybook might dwell there.
Which meant it was the perfect setting for a Proposal.
My heart beat so violently I feared it might burst from my lips.
But one thing was certain: Ed was far more nervous than I was.
His lips had gone pale as if he were holding his breath, and there in the center of the Glass Greenhouse, Ed lowered himself onto one knee before me.
I discreetly wiped my damp palms on the hem of my skirt.
Throughout, Ed’s gaze remained fixed steadily upon me.
After a brief silence, Ed opened his mouth with care.
“Will you marry me?”
His voice trembled even saying those few words, but somehow that made it feel all the more genuine.
The Yellow Diamond Ring, warm against my finger—whether from Ed’s elevated body temperature born of tension or simply radiant—was carefully placed on my left ring finger.
“I love you. You alone were new in a life that held no meaning for me. My eternity is already yours, so give me yours.”
“I’m already yours.”
I smiled like the happiest person in the world and kissed Ed.
I wanted to cry, but the joy was so overwhelming that only laughter came.
* * *
After the long, long kiss ended, we faced each other and smiled.
Ed pulled me close abruptly.
His lips showered mine with kisses—forehead, cheeks, nose, mouth, sparing nothing.
“Lina.”
Ed spoke my name alone in a voice grown deeply husky.
His golden eyes had darkened like honey, and his lips, reddened by deep kisses, bore a provocative hue.
‘Dangerous.’
An instinct that knew his modest self-restraint gave me warning.
Though we were enclosed on all sides, we weren’t truly indoors.
I carefully extricated myself from Ed’s embrace.
After several awkward coughs, I recovered my usual tone of voice and asked, “But Ed. How long have you been preparing this place?”
There was a purpose to changing the mood, but I was genuinely curious.
The Empress Palace was as vast as the Emperor’s Palace, and its garden grounds were even larger.
Yet all the gardens I’d seen while walking here were perfectly maintained.
More than that, this Glass Greenhouse didn’t exist before.
I’d stake my career as an Imperial Palace official on it: a renovation of this magnitude required nearly six months, even burning through personnel and budget.
‘Six months ago, I’d just returned to the Capital and was swamped with work.’
And we’d only just met.
At the suspicious look I sent him, clarity returned to Ed’s dazed eyes.
He glanced away sheepishly.
It seemed the work had likely begun around the six-month mark I’d calculated.
“Ed, were you really the type to think about marriage just because we’d held hands? Or did you already have marriage plans with someone I don’t know about?”
“It’s not like that!”
“Then which is it? The first or the second?”
“The second.”
Flustered, Ed had fallen into the trap I’d set.
“So you really did think about marriage just from holding hands?”
I teased Ed gleefully.
“That’s not what happened.”
He protested, but his reddening ears suggested the renovations had probably begun around the time we’d kissed.
I laughed aloud—my thorough, thoughtful lover was adorable.
At that, Ed seemed to feel he’d been caught and squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head.
He looked somewhat deflated, but soon a faint smile settled on his lips.
“The Empress Palace needed maintenance eventually anyway.”
He still wasn’t giving up on his excuse.
“Let’s go with that.”
Having teased Ed quite enough, I graciously let it pass.
“Ed, may I look around the Empress Palace?”
I pointed to the Empress Palace building visible from the greenhouse.

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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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