Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 202

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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 4
‘I’ll have to move before the wedding, after all.’
There was no harm in visiting ahead of time.
By Imperial custom, it was extremely rare for the Emperor and Empress to share the same palace.
It was the sort of thing that would earn them treatment as a disgustingly lovesick couple who couldn’t bear to be apart for a moment.
‘Though I’ve grown used to such talk.’
I had my own social standing to consider.
So since around the Engagement Ceremony, I’d been staying at the Emperor’s Palace nearly every day, though my official residence remained the Separate Palace for guests.
‘Nothing’s been said so far, but now I’m starting to worry about what comes after the wedding.’
Living with Ed was wonderful.
The whispers behind my back didn’t wound me.
But I thought I needed some degree of independence, as I had now.
After the wedding, that space would become the Empress Palace.
“The interior work still isn’t finished……”
For some reason uneasy, Ed trailed off.
“Why?”
Logically, you’d finish the interior before tackling landscaping or building a greenhouse.
I’d only asked the reason, but Ed seemed to think I was challenging him—his broad shoulders sagged defensively.
He answered with an expression of pathos that had only grown more refined since last time.
“……It just happened that way.”
He apparently hadn’t thought up an excuse beforehand.
I simply laughed.
“It will be finished before the Wedding Ceremony, won’t it?”
“Probably?”
But Ed didn’t give me a satisfying answer.
He was subtly watching my reaction—it seemed the pace of the Empress Palace construction hinged heavily on how I responded.
For the sake of propriety, I hardened my expression and spoke as if to myself.
“This is quite a problem. Should I postpone the Wedding Ceremony until the Empress Palace is finished?”
Of course, the remark was aimed at Ed’s ears.
He visibly flinched.
“It will definitely be finished before then.”
He spoke with such force that the very idea of delaying the Wedding Ceremony was unthinkable to him.
Already, Ed had wanted to skip the Engagement Ceremony altogether and proceed straight to the Wedding Ceremony.
My parents, my grandfather, my aunt, and even Ed’s subordinates had all opposed it, so the plan fell through.
‘Then he tried to rush straight from the Engagement Ceremony to the Wedding Ceremony.’
I put a stop to that.
I was afraid of the resentment from the Imperial Palace staff, ground down by the hasty preparations for the Engagement Ceremony.
So the Wedding Ceremony was pushed back to next spring—and only with great difficulty.
And this was Ed’s limit.
“It will be finished. Without fail.”
Repeating the same words with even more force, he made it clear that the thought of any further delay to the Wedding Ceremony was unbearable to him.
It seemed like another round of construction that would consume the entire budget and workforce.
‘At least it should be somewhat easier than preparing for the Wedding Ceremony.’
I offered a silent, hollow apology in my heart.
Steeling myself to work late nights alongside him.
Then I smiled at Ed.
“Thank you. I love the greenhouse.”
I remembered that I hadn’t yet thanked him for the enormous greenhouse he’d prepared as a proposal gift.
I kissed him on the cheek with an audible smack, and the rigid line of Ed’s mouth—tensed from the near crisis of a delayed Wedding Ceremony—softened into something tender.
In my eyes, his smile was more beautiful than all the flowers in the greenhouse.
* * *
Days of happiness and joy had continued in their wake.
But that day arrived without warning.
The day I met him—the worst character in my romantic history.
Occupied with wedding preparations, I’d finally found time to meet Coni for a chat.
Then, unexpectedly, Coni’s expression stiffened slightly.
When I glanced at her with a silent question, she leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper.
“Isn’t that Rendor Reyhar?”
I quietly rolled my eyes in the direction of Coni’s gaze to confirm.
“It is.”
My face had hardened as if I’d caught an unpleasant smell, and I echoed Coni’s hushed tone.
‘I didn’t even dream about him last night.’
I’d come out to share dinner with Coni for the first time in ages, caught up as I’d been with work, and now the day’s luck had turned bitter.
“Let’s go.”
Coni quickly summarized the recent rumors about Reyhar and suggested we leave.
We’d nearly finished eating anyway, and the sight of Reyhar had spoiled my appetite.
As Coni suggested leaving, I tried to slip away without acknowledging Reyhar, but whether he lacked tact or was pretending to, he made his presence known.
“It’s been a while, Coni, Lina. You two are still close, I see.”
Reyhar greeted us loudly on purpose, and the eyes of everyone around turned toward us.
“My, isn’t that the Crown Princess-to-be?”
“So you had connections with Lord Reyhar of House Rendor?”
The whispers were low, but the distance made them audible.
A sigh escaped me, but I suppressed it and forced my expression open.
Getting into a war of words here would cost me far more than it would cost him.
I turned my face into the graceful, cold expression I’d become adept at wielding, and ignored his words.
It was a social world’s way of saying “not worth my time”—but Reyhar took no offense.
Beaming as if he hadn’t seen my dismissal, he spoke loudly to the brown-haired young lady at his side, who had the air of an innocent noblewoman on a date with him.
“Academy juniors. I was particularly fond of Lina since she was my Mentee.”
When he boasted of his connection to me—the Emperor’s betrothed and future Empress—the brown-haired young lady and the other nobles’ eyes went wide.
Especially the brown-haired young lady, who’d been acting subtly awkward around Reyhar until now.
Since I engaged in almost no social activities and didn’t have many close acquaintances, people were drawn to even the thinnest thread of connection.
Reyhar smiled smugly.
‘So this was his aim.’
Boasting of his connection to me to gain favor with someone else.
It wasn’t something I could dismiss and walk away from.
Even if I left the scene, someone with Reyhar’s shamelessness would continue his lies without batting an eye.
‘He’d say something like “We used to be close, but now that she’s becoming Empress, she’s cleaning up her old connections.”‘
Just that would be enough to make him the center of conversation.
There were many people in the Empire willing to pay no small price to know what I liked, what my current interests were.
Reyhar would sell my information while casting himself as a victim—a choice that cost him nothing.
It was a pattern I’d grown very familiar with, having experienced it during my Academy days.
‘Always the same bastard.’
It was difficult to simply ignore him, since he was the sixth son of a prestigious marquessate.
He came from a noble family, had decent looks, and was skilled at affecting kindness and charm on the surface.
‘There will be people who fall for what he says.’
Reyhar had been quite popular at the Academy.
When he first became my mentor, the other students had envied me, thinking he was simply a kind senior.
‘But once he learned that my father was a viscount and I was practically a commoner, he grew subtly cold.’
It seemed he maintained at least a minimum standard only because I’d been the top of my entering class and might be useful after all.
Based on what I observed later about how Reyhar changed toward people he deemed useless connections, that much was clear.
Even now, I was somewhat lacking in my ability to read people.
I’d simply felt that Reyhar was less kind than his reputation suggested.
So we drifted along distantly until, at some point, Reyhar began treating me exceptionally well.
‘It started after he learned about my maternal family from somewhere.’
But as a child, I misinterpreted his kindness.
‘The only saving grace of this black mark on my romantic history is that I figured out where his goodwill came from fairly quickly. Really.’
No matter how prestigious the noble family, there was no title that would fall to a sixth son.
Reyhar seemed to resent this bitterly.
Even as a direct heir of the marquessate, he could live well without a title, yet he apparently felt it was unfair.
So, from his Academy days while still a teenager, Reyhar had dreamed of marrying a woman who would inherit a title.
To him, I was ideal prey.
‘Having lived a life close to that of a commoner, I knew little of the noble world, so he thought he could control me however he pleased once I took up Viscount Renkels’s position.’
As I’d been developing romantic feelings for Reyhar, learning the truth behind his motives brought me to tears of fury.
But it was hard to confront him about it.
I’d discovered his scheming by overhearing a conversation with a friend.
‘If it were now, I’d have found a witness somewhere and brought them along to testify.’
Back then, I couldn’t control my anger and rushed out to confront him immediately.
Naturally, Reyhar denied it calmly, claiming I’d misheard.

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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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