Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 38

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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 38
Edwin rose from the imperial throne and drew a sword from the scabbard of the honor guard standing behind him.
The aura radiating from Edwin, who had been quietly accumulating fury throughout the council meeting, was decidedly sinister.
An unnatural silence descended upon the chamber where nearly two hundred people had gathered.
Nervous glances darted toward the sharp blade.
Yet there lingered a subtle complacency—surely nothing would come of merely voicing an opinion in the Grand Council Chamber.
This was how politics had always worked, after all.
But Edwin was less a politician than a soldier.
Accustomed to Absolute Obedience to Orders, he was not one to indulge others’ words.
Everything before this moment had been an exception.
“In the military, insubordination means summary execution.”
In that instant, several figures worthy of serving as examples flickered through Edwin’s mind.
‘Illegal slave trading, tax evasion, murder of freemen. Who else was there.’
The corruption that Kyle had accumulated over years among the Capital’s nobility was vast in scope.
It was trivial to expend a few cards in the name of discipline.
Yet the figure that lingered longest in Edwin’s thoughts was Harkan.
True to his title as the Western Region’s second-in-command, he was overwhelmingly rotten.
‘Which is why he cannot be killed easily.’
Edwin’s mouth curved into a cold smile as he swung the blade with casual grace.
With a sharp crack, the table before him split cleanly in half.
A demonstration of what summary execution looked like.
The nobles’ eyes bulged at the display of raw power.
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
Edwin met the eyes of the most vocal agitators in turn, delivering his warning once more.
The Golden Aura wreathing the blade rippled in time with his words.
“I remembered that this place is a council chamber, not a battlefield—but next time, who can say.”
A terrified middle-aged man wept silently, tears and snot streaming down his face.
Edwin turned away from that pitiful sight and nodded toward the Prime Minister, who had been observing events with quiet caution.
It seemed the Prime Minister had not risen to his position by accident; he grasped the signal instantly.
“W-with this, I declare the council meeting adjourned.”
Even the Prime Minister’s voice trembled—a man from the Pro-Emperor Faction and a seasoned bureaucrat both.
Edwin left the chamber as though he had been waiting for precisely that moment, still holding the borrowed sword.
He did not notice the middle-aged nobleman collapse the moment Edwin disappeared through the door.
He did not notice that this nobleman had a weak heart.
He did not notice how the rumors of this day would grow wildly exaggerated as they crossed the walls of the Inner Palace.
He was too busy processing documents without pause after concluding the council in such a rough manner.
Yet thanks to that diligence, he managed to finish the work just before the weekend.
* * *
After affixing the imperial seal to the last remaining document, Edwin changed clothes hastily and made his way to the appointed place.
His face, which had been cold as frost throughout the day, brightened as he approached the Summer Rose Garden.
“Edwin. You’re here.”
Lina, who had already arrived at the entrance leading from the Outer Palace into the Summer Rose Garden, spotted him and waved.
Quickening his step to apologize for the wait, he found Lina smiling faintly as she took his hand first.
Her outfit was new—a monochromatic one-piece dress in neutral tones, designed for ease of movement, quite different from her usual style.
“I came straight from work, you see.”
The moment his gaze lingered slightly longer on her unusual attire, Lina smoothed an imaginary wrinkle from her skirt.
When she struggled to manage it with one hand, she even made to withdraw the left hand she had offered him.
Edwin held their joined hands more firmly and spoke.
“Grey suits you.”
In truth, he had wanted to elaborate at length: how the grey one-piece brought out her refined and dignified nature.
But this single, taciturn compliment was the best he could manage—a man wholly indifferent to clothing, much less women’s fashion.
Yet his words, genuine and sincere, made Lina laugh shyly.
“Really? Is it because of my hair color?”
She looked like a spring flower blooming in summer.
Edwin gazed at her as though enchanted and murmured.
“Sky blue and yellow, pink and light purple—I thought they all suited you too.”
The colors of every date outfit Lina had worn to meet him came flowing back in chronological order.
Her flower-like face flushed with color, nourished by his praise.
Unwilling to show her delight at his compliments, Lina pressed down the corners of her mouth as they threatened to rise.
Then, deliberately feigning coolness, she asked him.
“You didn’t like the blue one?”
Edwin paused thoughtfully before answering with care.
“That suited you beautifully as well. They were all lovely without exception.”
Apparently lacking any concept of push and pull, his gushing praise finally made Lina burst into laughter.
“People would laugh if they heard you.”
Lina lightly swung their joined hands as though chiding a flatterer.
Though she dismissed it as empty talk, Edwin could not protest.
His vision was filled with Lina’s smile, leaving no space for words to escape.
Between day and night, the setting sun painted her silver hair in warm light, and her eyes, holding the warmth of lingering laughter, gazed toward him.
Thump-thump.
The moment Lina entered his field of vision, his heart announced its presence loudly.
Even Edwin’s ears flushed red—whether from the sunset or something else, uncertain.
His mind returned only when Lina’s voice reached his ears.
“Did you come straight from work too, Edwin?”
“Yes.”
Edwin reflexively nodded.
It was a simple question requiring no deep thought, so his eyes remained somewhat unfocused.
“If you were busy, you could have postponed it.”
Lina attributed his unfocused gaze to exhaustion.
A misunderstanding born purely from concern for him, yet it was enough to snap his clouded mind back to clarity.
“I wasn’t that busy.”
Edwin hastened to protest.
But Lina did not seem entirely convinced.
He had already changed their meeting place once before.
The original plan had been to meet at the Lakeside, a beautiful spot in the outskirts.
Not at the Summer Rose Garden attached to the Imperial Palace.
The pressing workload had left him no half-day to spare for traveling outside the city.
Though the Summer Rose Garden, with its diverse varieties and beautiful design, was indeed a well-known tourist site within the Capital.
Edwin felt inwardly disappointed.
But no matter how much sleep he cut, he could find no time.
Yet neither could he postpone the meeting.
Faced with Lina’s concern—as though she would immediately tell him to go back and rest—Edwin’s expression grew slightly weary.
‘Was I the only one waiting for today.’
Lina’s observational skills were not particularly keen.
Yet she often noticed whenever he showed even the slightest fatigue.
‘She says with words that I look tired and shouldn’t worry about her, that I should rest.’
Edwin felt a pang of hurt, wondering if perhaps Lina found him a bother.
His mood sank rapidly.
Timely as always, Lina gently shook their joined hands as though to soothe him.
Her violet eyes, brimming with tender concern, touched him softly.
“They say the lights in the imperial palace never go out from sunset until sunrise…. Are you truly all right?”
There was no reason his skin should feel ticklish from a mere gaze.
“I’m fine. Truly.”
In that single look, as though blessed by a saint, his bloodshot eyes from overwork cleared and his fatigue vanished.
The greatest reason was that he now knew Lina had not been trying to send him away out of annoyance.
Edwin forgot his hurt from moments before and smiled at her with sparkling eyes.
A smile so beautiful that the nobles who lost to him in every council would have gasped in astonishment.
He remained unaware that Lina was silently cursing him as a tyrannical employer.

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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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