Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 67

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 67
I gave my consent without much thought.
“Of course.”
“Thank you. Would you call me Kyle too, Lina?”
“I will, Kyle.”
As we adjusted how we addressed each other, Kyle grinned the whole time like a boy plotting some mischievous prank.
I wondered why, but since Kyle’s good mood was better than a bad one, I let it slide.
With his spirits lifted, Kyle seemed to think he’d spent more time than expected and hurried to leave.
Lucy returned as if taking over a relay baton.
“Fortunately, there were some agents who finished their assignments ahead of schedule.”
Lucy grinned, noting that things seemed to be progressing smoothly, and filled me in on where we stood.
“That’s good.”
I smiled back at Lucy.
‘It’ll probably take about two weeks.’
While waiting for any results, we’d temporarily halt investigation into other routes for the time being.
As a result, we’d become quite idle.
The Camelot Territory matter was so time-consuming that work had dried up considerably.
The staff who’d been performing the remarkable feat of flipping through documents with their left hand while writing with their right now had the luxury of taking tea breaks or short vacations.
I, lacking any proper job assignment, was even more at loose ends.
‘This kind of leisure is nice, though.’
For someone who’d lived through weekly deadlines, monthly deadlines, quarterly deadlines—an endless cascade of them—this rest felt foreign.
When I kept fidgeting, wanting to do something, Nadan offered me advice.
“Lina, rest while you can. Right now is like the calm before the storm.”
Nadan was trying to scare me, saying that once the field teams sent their findings, there’d be no time to catch my breath.
‘But whenever things are this relaxed and I just loaf around, work suddenly comes crashing down.’
His advice didn’t really help.
When anxiety wouldn’t leave my face, Nadan shook his head and handed me a task.
“If you’re that bored, look at this. It’s a record of Relief Fund usage from a temple in the Western Region. We received a report of Private Misappropriation happening there.”
Given something moderately time-consuming to do, I felt oddly more at ease.
“It’s not urgent, and it’s not important, so take your time. Specifically speaking, about a week?”
“Yes.”
Once I had a cover task to keep on my desk, I finally began enjoying my precious tax-funded leisure time.
Whenever I tired of pretending to work, I’d occasionally investigate the Evidence Loss Case.
‘Though I still had no inkling of whether the timing was right.’
So I paid Coni a limited-edition dessert instead of taking dinner, visited home once, and went to Grizel Park to see the cats.
And after indulging hobbies I’d put off, about ten days passed.
‘Of course, I saw Everett too.’
I secretly pressed down the corners of my mouth, which kept climbing toward the heavens.
* * *
After I fled that hand-back kiss, Everett kept sending me notes through an errand boy.
The boy went back and forth between the Imperial Guard and the Inspection Unit Building several times a day, shuttling notes—I was embarrassed even to see his face.
‘The first few times, I was too ashamed to face him, so I refused with excuses about being busy.’
Eventually, Everett ran out of patience.
When he said he’d wait until I came out, I finally accepted his proposal.
Once I’d sent my reply, I thought I should’ve played hard to get a bit.
Just because I’m embarrassed doesn’t mean something’s wrong with me.
I put on a thick skin and went to the arranged place.
Once again, I didn’t know how he’d found it, but it was a reasonably atmospheric spot with few people around.
As I approached hesitantly, Everett asked with a pouty expression I’d never seen before.
“Was it too much of a burden? If you disliked it at all…….”
Straight to the point.
Unprepared in my heart, I flinched for a moment.
“No!”
Drawn as if under a spell to meet Everett’s golden eyes, I denied it hurriedly.
Seeing how visibly startled I was, Everett’s expression grew even more pitiful.
As he looked down as if reading my mood, his long black lashes created an air of innocence.
‘The problem is that I didn’t dislike it.’
But I was someone who knew shame, too much to be completely honest.
“I was just pretty busy.”
At my unconvincing excuse, Everett narrowed his eyes as if letting it slide this once and smiled.
But that mature smile didn’t last long.
As if struggling to maintain his smile, Everett asked in a deliberately casual tone.
“Aren’t we that kind of relationship?”
I’d heard my own words from some night, slightly altered and thrown back at me.
Though he played it off as a joke, Everett waiting for my answer seemed somewhat anxious.
Worried that I might give an answer different from what he expected.
The usually confident Everett growing impatient gave me a perverse satisfaction.
Thanks to that, I became more composed.
‘If we weren’t that kind of relationship, I wouldn’t have run away just because he kissed my hand.’
My ribs felt ticklish inside.
I still couldn’t perfectly define my heart, but it was certain this man had become precious to me.
Instead of giving Everett the reassurance he needed, I turned the question back on him.
“What kind of relationship is that kind of relationship?”
When I became direct, Everett, as expected someone with no boldness in this direction, fumbled his words and blushed.
Watching this much older, larger man grow shy somehow gave me courage.
‘I think we’ve kindled enough of a spark at this point.’
“I didn’t dislike it.”
I offered a belated answer carefully.
I’d made my decision.
Making eye contact with Everett, who smiled as if relieved, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
With so much height difference, I had to rise slightly onto my toes.
Our bodies, touching with barely a finger’s width between them, were hot—more than warm.
As if I were holding fire itself.
Or as if I were anticipating something.
My heart felt like it might burst.
Yet that violent rhythm felt like the thrill of being alive.
I approached Everett with my eyes squeezed shut.
And then I kissed him.
Lightly, as a bird would peck.
Touch.
My intended kiss to his cheek missed its mark and landed near his jaw instead, but I was so dizzy I didn’t even notice.
“This kind……of relationship?”
I only managed to stammer out the words I’d managed to think of.
My voice trembled, but I believed the intent came through.
That we should define what this was.
‘What do I do.’
Now that I’d done it, I realized I’d made a mistake.
My courage, swollen up like leavened dough, deflated with a whoosh.
Without properly meeting Everett’s eyes, I lowered the arms I’d wrapped around his neck.
I brought my toes back down from their rise.
Then, like someone who’d gotten too close to a fire, I started backing away hastily, only to find myself blocked by Everett.
Everett wrapped his arms around my waist as if he wouldn’t let go, and his golden eyes were filled with an unfamiliar heat.
The focus in those golden eyes gradually blurred.
Everett tightened the arm around my waist, and we drew closer.
Our eyes met, and the world around us disappeared.
Everett’s lips drew nearer to me by degrees.
I could say with certainty that this would not end with the childish peck I’d just given.
‘I’m not ready for that yet.’
I turned my head away from Everett’s approaching face.
When I clasped my hands over the arm at my waist, Everett slowly drew back.
It was gentlemanly, but his gaze toward me carried a heat that seemed to roil over.
I felt like I was standing before a beast on a leash, tethered just a single step away.
Everett spoke in a deeply hoarse voice.
“I’m disappointed, but let’s keep it at this level for now.”
Today’s moment seemed to be the spark that awakened something dormant in Everett.
Those gentle golden eyes flashed like a predator’s.
* * *
After that day, our relationship took a step forward.
‘So gradually, not suddenly.’
Everett courted me with sincerity.
The moment Everett came at me actively, I lost my senses.
“Miss Diaz.”
Still, I grew accustomed to receiving hand-back kisses from Everett.
A light touch that would brush and pull away—a greeting in the form of a kiss.
I slowly grew used to Everett’s gradual approach.
We met between work shifts, evading the eyes of others.
It was a textbook office romance.
Everett was a sincere and tender lover, and for some reason, he kept growing more handsome.
As I fell a little more for Everett each day, another week passed.
And finally, the investigation report from Camelot Castle arrived.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————