Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 52

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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 52
“What happened with Lina?”
“That’s…”
Kyle, who had been about to launch into a smooth explanation as if he’d anticipated the question, faltered.
“Surely you saw it, yes?”
He ventured the question carefully.
“Saw what?”
Edwin replied curtly to Kyle’s riddling remark.
“The report on New Member Recruitment for Blue Hawk.”
Kyle’s eyes widened slightly as he answered.
“I saw it.”
He truly had seen it.
Just the front page and the very last page, skimmed over roughly.
Edwin trusted Kyle, after all.
He’d thought the perfectionist would have handled it properly of his own accord.
But Kyle saw through what Edwin had left unsaid in a heartbeat.
‘He only glanced at it.’
Kyle’s eyes narrowed further.
“I didn’t bring those documents for you to test whether the seal stamps properly.”
A lecture seemed to be building.
“If you’d actually read it, you would have noticed that Carolina Diaz’s name was right at the top of the roster!”
Kyle had suspected Edwin might object, but he’d mumbled something about how the approval came through suspiciously fast instead.
“Lina joined Blue Hawk?”
Only then did Edwin grasp the meaning of Kyle’s riddling question.
“Yes. At first she seemed reluctant, but then she suddenly changed her mind.”
Edwin softened somewhat upon hearing it wasn’t a personal matter.
“But why on earth at this late hour?”
Kyle picked up on Edwin’s murmured remark.
“It appears she wanted to join Blue Hawk all of a sudden this evening.”
Kyle’s tone was still sharp, holding a grudge over Edwin’s cursory treatment of the carefully prepared documents.
‘I suppose it’s possible.’
Edwin, being generous when it came to Lina alone, accepted it without further question.
‘But.’
Edwin’s generosity was exclusively for Lina.
“Since it’s late, it would be appropriate to dismiss her, even if it is discourteous.”
The implication was clear: Lina would be fine, but not you, Kyle.
As a result, only Kyle felt wronged.
“You probably would have called it discourteous even if we’d sent her away then. But if something like this happens next time, I’ll handle it that way.”
Still, rank was everything, and there was nothing to be done about it.
Edwin nodded with satisfaction.
Then he added, as if he’d just remembered.
“Bring me that recruitment document again.”
The moment Lina was mentioned, Edwin had suddenly taken an interest in Kyle’s report.
Kyle suppressed his frustration, thinking that late interest was better than none.
“It’s at the Guild Office. Would you like to see it now?”
He’d been handling all his work from the Guild Office rather than the formal office at the Imperial Palace or the study at the Count’s Residence, so retrieving it posed no great difficulty.
Once Edwin gave his approval, Kyle fetched the documents straightaway.
Though not quite as fast as the last time when he’d only glanced at the first and final pages, the report still passed through Edwin’s hands rather quickly.
‘At least this time he’s looking at the roster.’
But the pace noticeably slowed when he reached the section on Carolina Diaz.
Edwin read through the report with great deliberation.
The longer Edwin read, the greater Kyle’s unease became.
‘This is unsettling.’
Though he didn’t think there was anything problematic in the content, that very fact was the problem.
‘There’s something that doesn’t sit right with him.’
Issues born of reasons could be remedied, but this sort—the ‘I just don’t like it’ kind—had no solution.
Kyle’s complaints about recruitment difficulties weren’t mere exaggeration.
Each and every member they’d managed to recruit was precious.
When Edwin’s expression visibly hardened at the section detailing ‘Operations to be assigned once new members are recruited,’ Kyle’s instincts proved correct.
His suspicion had been right.
“Did she sign the Magic Contract today?”
“Yes, that’s correct, but—”
Kyle answered with a smile that masked his probing tone.
“Find some excuse and dissolve the contract.”
Edwin’s command, delivered without even glancing Kyle’s way, allowed no room for reconsideration.
Kyle faced the crisis of having to let go of the recruit he’d barely secured—and the most promising, capable talent at that.
Kyle ventured cautiously to meet Edwin’s eyes and asked softly.
“If you might explain the reason…”
The odds of Edwin, who disliked being asked to repeat himself, actually providing a reason were slim.
But Kyle wasn’t willing to surrender a recruit he’d worked so hard to obtain without a fight.
Kyle waited for Edwin’s response while mentally simulating various persuasive approaches.
“It’s dangerous.”
Surprisingly, Edwin answered straightforwardly.
Yet the reason that came from Edwin’s lips was entirely outside Kyle’s expectations.
“Didn’t you see where Lina is scheduled to be assigned?”
Kyle emphasized her new position, which in three words could be summed up as ‘clerical work.’
Though Hazard Pay came with the posting, for office workers like Lina, it was hardly more than a welfare benefit.
Insurance against acts of God, so to speak.
“How can you guarantee that no hostile faction bearing a grudge against Lina’s work would attempt kidnapping or coercion?”
But Edwin’s reasoning fell flat with Kyle.
Though they’d spent nearly a lifetime together, Kyle was only now discovering that Edwin possessed a remarkably vivid imagination.
“For someone who’s joined Blue Hawk, the realistic occupational hazards Lina would need to worry about are closer to musculoskeletal disorders or vision decline.”
Kyle himself didn’t believe the odds were zero that some faction Edwin had antagonized might harbor unfathomable ill will toward Lina as administrative support staff.
But such dangers existed in her current position at the Ministry of Finance as well.
If anything, wasn’t a low-ranking Ministry official more easily targeted for harassment?
“And if you intend to continue seeing Lina, this arrangement would be better.”
Her transfer came with ancillary benefits.
Kyle actually weighted this secondary advantage more heavily than the primary purpose.
Until now, since the Emperor’s face wasn’t widely recognized, they could date openly without issue.
But that was no longer the case.
Especially not if Edwin was seeing her as seriously as marriage consideration would suggest.
“Beyond preserving his identity, shouldn’t Your Majesty be wary of both attacks from hostile factions seeking the Emperor’s weaknesses and even vicious rumor-mongering?”
Faced with Kyle’s repeated persuasion, Edwin relented.
“That’s a fair point.”
This aspect was something Edwin hadn’t considered at all.
“If Your Majesty remains concerned for Lina’s safety, I can provide her with a Self-Defense Artifact, or encourage her to relocate somewhere with better security.”
“Choose something from the Imperial Palace Warehouse. You have a better eye for Artifacts than I do.”
It was the declaration of a generous hand from the wealthiest man on the continent.
Kyle resolved to shower Lina with so many Artifacts—including a Dragon’s Breath, believed to be nearly extinct—that she could withstand a direct hit from one, denting Edwin’s fortunes in the process.
Having preserved his valuable recruit (and the leisure time for his hobbies), Kyle smiled with satisfaction.
The prospect of using Lina as an excuse to tour the Imperial Palace’s treasure vault sounded rather entertaining as well.
As calm returned, Kyle remembered something he’d briefly forgotten.
“Speaking of which…”
It was Edwin’s serious lack of acting ability.
Now that business mode had ended, Kyle’s expression turned sharp again.
“Do you actually intend to keep your identity hidden from Lina? She’s overlooked it because she lacks perceptiveness, but you’ll be exposed by tomorrow at this rate.”
Kyle’s blunt strike made both Edwin and Lina, currently asleep at home, simultaneously lose two silver coins’ worth of composure.
“Once I became aware of it, I can’t control my own behavior anymore.”
Until now, he had merely borrowed the name Everett Rohas—not attempted to actually mimic him.
Edwin’s spirits fell.
He was acutely aware of how awkwardly he was carrying himself, enough that he felt it best to remove himself from the situation.
“If you’re going to be so clumsy about it that you’ll be exposed anyway, you might as well just tell her the truth.”
Kyle offered his counsel carefully.
Edwin understood in his heart that honest disclosure was preferable to clumsy deception.
But at present, the timing seemed all wrong.
The Edwin who had once breezily assumed most people would prefer an Emperor over a merely promising commoner knight was gone.
Lina was one of the rare exceptions who seemed to prefer the moderately promising commoner knight to the Emperor.
Even if that preference didn’t stem from disliking the Emperor.
“I’ll do it properly.”
Edwin steeled his resolve.

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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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