Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 43

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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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Chapter 43
I spent nearly the whole night obsessively searching for a solution.
My eyes grew dry as I pored over the notebook where I’d written down the original story’s details, simulating every possible scenario I could think of.
But my firm resolve to save Everett—this person who might not even exist—began to take on a more flexible shape, constrained by the practical realities of an ordinary person’s life.
‘The future shouldn’t deviate too drastically, so I’ll let the incident happen but aim to reduce the severity of punishment.’
House confinement at most, or dismissal in the worst case.
I pressed my eyelids and slowly untangled the knot in my mind.
It wasn’t the conclusion I would have preferred, but it was the best I could manage.
‘A butterfly’s wings create tsunamis, they say. I need to avoid the danger of my trivial actions shaking someone else’s fate.’
Stories across many genres frequently featured cases where people came to harm trying to change the future out of greed.
From my position, a future identical to the original was equally undesirable, but I couldn’t welcome unpredictable variables either.
‘Minimize uncertain risks as much as possible.’
For that, I needed information.
Detailed information that only an insider would know.
‘I can’t rely on the original story alone—the information at this point is far too murky.’
I spent the entire night devising various approaches and filling my notebook to the margins.
I added Kyle’s name last on top of my hastily scrawled plans.
‘Everything’s so tangled together.’
I was planning to join the Blue Hawk according to Kyle’s suggestion.
‘If I belong to the Blue Hawk, I’d hear information about the Emperor first.’
If my strategy worked, it seemed like the best approach available.
For now, at least.
“I should get some sleep and think this through again with a clear head.”
Looking at something again after letting time pass—like proofreading a document—often reveals something new.
From all the mental effort, my condition was worse than on nights when I usually worked late.
I hid the notebook carefully and calculated the remaining time until work, then dozed off for a brief sleep.
It was barely a blink of an eye’s worth of sleep, but waking up helped a little.
Just barely.
‘I absolutely have to sleep early tonight.’
I splashed cold water on my face to wake up and made a silent vow while looking at my haggard face in the mirror.
Still, once I got to work and started my tasks, my bottomed-out condition gradually improved.
Of course, I wasn’t the type who loved work and commuting with the enthusiasm of a certain sponge in square pants.
I had a promise with Everett after work.
It felt like a reward for accomplishing the first stages of the ‘Save the Knight Mission’ I’d conceived while rubbing my sleepy eyes last night.
‘I want to leave early.’
I checked the clock every five minutes, praying for time to move faster.
And when I wasn’t watching the clock, I worked like a madwoman.
I absolutely did not want to work late.
‘Humanity triumphs.’
I finished today’s work quickly and tiptoed out of the Treasury Department building the moment quitting time arrived.
‘Farewell, everyone. I’m slipping the bonds of duty to seek my happiness.’
Fortunately, Koni was busy today and didn’t notice me heading in an unusual direction.
I only relaxed once I’d gone far enough that the Treasury building was out of sight.
‘If I’d been caught, she would’ve teased me for two months straight.’
Koni was the type who’d ribbed me for a month straight after I got caught admitting to eating a couple’s set meal with Everett.
She’d spent every lunch suggesting we eat the couple’s set that didn’t even exist at the cafeteria.
‘If she ever found out I was dating at the Imperial Palace itself…’
With every step I took, she might whisper Everett’s name in my ear.
At every turn, she could recite a mandatory couple’s date spot.
‘She’d definitely be capable of that.’
Maybe not a month, but four days would be plenty.
I shivered at the thought.
I cautiously made my way toward the Summer Rose Garden, checking nervously whether Koni might be nearby.
‘Good thing Koni’s hair color is distinctive.’
When I reached the entrance on the Imperial Palace side that led to the Summer Rose Garden like last time, Everett was already there waiting.
‘Must have just arrived.’
His sleek black hair was slightly tousled, as if he’d hurried over.
“Rohas.”
Everett hadn’t noticed my arrival until I drew quite close, apparently lost in thought.
When I raised my voice to call him, he finally turned toward me.
‘Wow.’
Only then did I notice what Everett was wearing.
“Is that the Imperial Guard uniform?”
As I asked with sparkling eyes, Everett shifty avoided my gaze while answering.
“I meant to change, but I didn’t have time.”
The guard uniform was formal wear, seldom worn day-to-day.
So much so that Everett looked embarrassed, like someone who’d shown up in sleeveless formal wear to a place where everyone wore jeans and t-shirts.
“It looks wonderful, though.”
‘I would’ve been disappointed if you’d changed.’
After heaping praise while letting maybe seventy percent of my sincerity show, Everett’s cheeks flushed a soft crimson.
A handsome man in uniform feeling shy—my dry, sleep-deprived eyes suddenly felt moist and my vision seemed to sharpen.
‘If the design worked this well, I’d want him to wear it every day.’
For employee welfare, if nothing else.
The only regret was the lack of a camera.
‘I wonder if the Magic Tower has a similar Artifact.’
While I was pondering whether a camera-like Artifact existed, or whether one could be made, I apparently ended up staring at Everett too intently.
His face grew redder by degrees.
‘Oops.’
I caught his hand as he tried to gently retreat, unable to bear my heated gaze.
‘I mean no harm.’
That was roughly the meaning I conveyed.
I offered Everett what I hoped was a harmless smile.
But it had little effect.
His face remained flushed.
“Did something happen today?”
I asked a light question that would lower the tension, pretending not to notice his reddened cheeks.
As the conversation shifted to everyday topics, Everett’s color gradually returned to normal.
“Nothing much… well, there was the Great Religious Ceremony, so I stopped by the Old Temple.”
He seemed to be saying nothing special happened in response to my question, then hastily added the clarification when he noticed my eyes narrowing.
He did remember what happened at the tea room last time, it seemed.
‘I let it slide once.’
“The Old Temple? But the Great Religious Ceremony is held at the Grand Temple south of the Capital, isn’t it?”
The Old Temple was still technically a sacred site, though it was nearly in ruins.
‘Before the earthquake destroyed the Old Temple, it used to be called the Grand Temple and the ceremony was held there. But that was roughly three hundred years ago.’
“The ceremony was held at the Grand Temple this time too. But the High Priest brought some tedious old tradition into it.”
Some internal complication seemed to furrow Everett’s brow.
‘A tedious old tradition?’
Now that I thought about it, I recalled hearing that, about a century or so ago, they used to perform some procedures at the Old Temple first in the name of preserving tradition, then move to the Grand Temple.
‘So that was it.’
I searched my memory and asked Everett quietly.
“Is it all right for me to be here?”
Those procedures involved the Emperor—who was called the Favorite of the Main God and the Greatest Fragment of the Divine—personally lighting a sacred flame at the Old Temple site and carrying it to the Grand Temple.
On foot, over a distance that takes four hours for an adult to walk.
The Great Religious Ceremony at the Grand Temple begins around the time the Emperor arrives after walking all that way from the Old Temple.
‘Unless the Emperor was actually a master of Lightness Martial Art from a wuxia novel, he should have just arrived at the Grand Temple by now, right? And if Everett came from the Grand Temple, he must have escorted the Emperor.’
I glanced up at the still-bright sky.
“You did leave work and come here, right?”
‘Surely not ditching?’
As my gaze touched him with faint suspicion, Everett’s body tensed.
As if something troubled him.

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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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