Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 34

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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 34
* * *
The Crown Princess, who had personally brokered the Compensation negotiations to a standstill and harbored quiet dread about it, accepted the audience without hesitation.
Perhaps aware that she had already wounded Edwin’s feelings enough, the Crown Princess’s manner was more courteous than it had been in some time.
Thanks to her shrewd instinct for reading the room—knowing precisely where to lay down her head—the atmosphere remained manageable.
She even accepted, after only slight hesitation, the proposal that the Crown be offered as Compensation.
‘It’s fortunate we can understand each other.’
That the Crown Princess recognized this proposal as Edwin’s final concession was lucky—for Bellot, that is.
Of course, for Bellot.
Edwin neither believed himself capable of devising anything more lenient and rational, nor did he have the will to try.
The Crown Princess requested only a brief reprieve, citing the need for the King’s approval.
“Once I receive Bellot’s detailed response, I should like to discuss the matter further with you.”
‘That’s a small thing.’
Since Bellot’s surrender, most real power had passed into the Crown Princess’s hands—though the King remained her father.
“Very well.”
Edwin acquiesced readily, and the clouds parted somewhat from the Crown Princess’s face.
It was not the outcome she had anticipated, yet the renegotiation of Compensation seemed poised to end peacefully.
Mere months ago she had stood unblinking in the heart of an enemy nation during wartime, bold enough to provoke at will; now that she had set down one great burden, her shoulders lightened considerably.
The Crown Princess seemed to realize in that moment that she had let her guard slip too far, and her expression hardened again.
Then she opened her mouth, her face a touch weary and pale.
“When I send word home, I shall request that they dispatch several officials to oversee the National Marriage ceremony.”
It was an attempt to underscore that Bellot, too, bore the weight of “an Imperial letter”—a price of its own.
‘Bellot’s King has spawned a serpent.’
Yet the caustic remark that usually slipped from his lips remained unspoken this time.
‘I heard she had a betrothed once, but they broke the engagement for the sake of this National Marriage.’
Though his personal impression of the Crown Princess was not favorable, he found himself pitying the woman who would abandon her lover for her country and enter into a Political Marriage with an enemy prince.
Edwin erased Lina’s face from his mind as soon as it appeared.
He would never be forced into such a Political Marriage as she would be.
“I shall need to hasten our own preparations.”
Edwin summoned Kyle, who would serve as matchmaker in his stead.
Kyle, who had been waiting outside the door, entered carrying documents listing the candidates for the Crown Princess’s National Marriage partner.
Kyle laid out five profile sheets in a neat row before the Crown Princess.
“Would you care to review them?”
The Crown Princess’s gaze swept across the five sheets and then fixed on Kyle.
“What is this?”
Faced with far more options than anticipated, she asked as if to confirm his intention.
Kyle offered an explanation, his habitual professional smile in place.
“Unlike Bellot, romantic marriage is the fashion in the Empire.”
The Crown Princess, grasping the situation from that single sentence, let out a dry laugh.
“I am most grateful for His Imperial Majesty’s gracious consideration of my personal tastes in men.”
Still wearing a wry smile that suggested she found the whole thing rather absurd, she bowed.
Edwin accepted the courtesy with a somewhat benevolent smile and a gentle nod.
“Then, if you’ll excuse me for a moment.”
The Crown Princess began examining the five profile sheets methodically, as though determined to avoid the worst possible outcome.
Her manner suggested she was selecting a ball gown to wear to an important event rather than choosing a husband.
She turned through the first four profiles at an almost identical pace, but her gaze lingered long on the final sheet.
The last candidate had humble origins—not ideal for a National Marriage—yet had been nominated based primarily on his ability and bearing.
“Hmm?”
Kyle, noticing where her eyes had fallen, asked in an artificially cheerful tone.
“Does Lord Everett Rohas appeal to you?”
The Crown Princess nearly objected vehemently before catching herself and falling silent.
In the presence of the Emperor and his closest confidant, she could not afford to speak aloud the words that had sprung into her mind.
After a moment’s silence, her excuse, fortunately, sounded plausible.
“I merely heard that dark hair is uncommon in the Empire, and I noticed him because he possesses it.”
Kyle accepted her explanation gracefully.
“Dark hair is indeed quite rare throughout the Empire, though certain regions in the Eastern Region have a fair number of dark-haired people. There’s even a legend that the Black Panther Humanoid—characterized by dark hair and deep golden eyes—are the ancestors of those in the Eastern Region. Lord Rohas hails from the Eastern Region as well.”
“I see.”
The Crown Princess replied perfunctorily to Kyle’s explanation, her gaze drifting subtly toward Edwin.
More precisely, toward his hair and eyes in turn.
* * *
When a messenger boy passed along a Letter with no sender’s name on the envelope, I was honestly rather thrilled.
So this is the charm of romance between men, I thought.
‘Could it be from Everett?’
But the moment I unfolded the Letter to check its contents, I could only stand in shock.
‘Kyle?’
The sender was entirely unexpected.
‘What’s going on?’
By a chain of coincidences, I had continued to meet with Everett regularly, but this was my first contact from Kyle since the rotten coffee incident.
The Letter was brief.
‘I’d like to see you about the Blue Hawk matter.’
Even after reading the entire Letter, I couldn’t guess the purpose, but I promptly wrote back with this evening as the time.
“I’ll find out when I get there.”
As it happened, I’d already planned to leave work early that day.
Spending the next couple of hours wondering what this “Blue Hawk matter” could be made the hours pass quickly.
The moment I opened the door to the café where we’d arranged to meet, I was quite surprised—more than a little, actually.
The café, which had always been sparse, now had customers scattered throughout in decent numbers.
“Welcome!”
Kyle, whom I’d seen working the floor and who heard the bell above the door, greeted me warmly.
“Ah, yes. Hello there.”
He’d always been inclined to smile, but to see him grinning so broadly that his eyes nearly disappeared was strange.
Still, I couldn’t ignore his greeting, so I returned it awkwardly.
“Please, have a seat wherever’s comfortable. I’ll be with you shortly.”
Kyle was in full café-owner mode, and I began to wonder if what I’d received was simply an elaborate café advertisement.
‘He did mention something about the Blue Hawk. Surely not…?’
I settled into a corner table where the other customers’ gazes wouldn’t naturally fall, nursing slight suspicion.
Kyle whispered something to a brown-haired Freckled Girl and then approached me.
“I asked you to come, yet I’ve made you wait. I’m sorry.”
Kyle laughed ruefully.
I was about to make the polite observation that I hadn’t waited long when Kyle launched into an excuse in a noticeably excited tone.
“Business has picked up considerably lately.”
As he finished speaking, Kyle wore a genuinely proud smile.
‘He’s been dying to say that, hasn’t he?’
Business really had improved.
Where there used to be flies, now half the café was occupied.
Given the Capital’s expensive rent and the cost of coffee supplies, losses were still likely—but that seemed beside the point given how much joy it brought him.
‘The Emperor’s closest confidant hardly needs to worry about making a living from a single café.’
“Well, you’ll be turning away customers soon enough.”
Though I offered this merely as polite conversation, Kyle beamed at the very thought.
As if the mere imagination delighted him.
Soon after, he seemed to realize his expression had loosened too much, and he attempted to regain composure.
Even so, his cheekbones, riding higher than usual, gave him away.
Fortunately, before Kyle could embarrass himself further, the Freckled Girl who’d been whispering with him earlier brought out a drink.
“A special coffee, specially prepared for our honored guest.”
Kyle explained the menu he hadn’t even ordered.
‘So that was what they were whispering about.’
“Thank you.”
A bit awkwardly, I reflexively thanked him as the cup and saucer were set before me with a soft clink.
But I was troubled.
I had coffee; Kyle had only water.
‘That’s suspicious.’
Even if it was impolite to be picky in the face of hospitality, the taste of coffee brewed from two-year-old beans still burned vividly in my memory.
At my hesitant expression, Kyle hastily explained.
“My physician has forbidden me from coffee for a while—I was practicing my brewing technique so excessively that I was drinking far too much.”
He’d been drinking twenty cups a day, gotten heartburn and insomnia, and spoke with self-deprecating humor about the whole affair.
‘Twenty cups.’
I marveled that his stomach hadn’t developed an ulcer.
“I’ve been practicing very diligently. I inadvertently served Diaz spoiled coffee twice, so I prepared this as an apology.”
His voice trembled slightly at the word “spoiled,” which struck me as rather touching. I picked up the coffee cup.
Though the trauma of bad coffee remained, and my hand shook slightly as I lifted the cup, the aroma that drifted up smelled quite promising.
I took a cautious, very small sip.
“Huh?”
This is…

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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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