Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 69

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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 69
Kyle flinched when his gaze locked with Edwin’s.
Ever since he’d asked Edwin if he could call Lina by her given name, Kyle had been planning to tease him about still using such formal address—just a little.
Just slightly.
But that plan had been completely scrapped as of today.
‘I can’t risk my neck over a joke.’
Calling Lina by her name in this moment wasn’t something he’d intended, but Edwin’s reaction had been far more intense than expected.
He looked like the textbook case of a man blinded by jealousy.
Kyle hadn’t accounted for the variable that Edwin was currently suffering in silence because of a lover on the verge of becoming a workaholic.
The heat already simmering beneath Edwin’s surface had burst into flame at the smallest spark Kyle had thrown.
Kyle was grateful it was summer.
Edwin was a practical man, so he didn’t usually wear gloves in the heat—meaning Kyle wouldn’t have to be the target of a jealous man’s fury.
Kyle knew he’d stepped into it, but he maintained an outward appearance of composure.
‘If I panic now, it’s over.’
Kyle understood just how petty a man could become when smitten with first love. He’d experienced it himself.
Though admittedly, he’d been fourteen at the time.
Kyle wielded his wits and threw his subordinates to the wolves.
“All the Blue Hawk members refer to Lina as ‘Lina.'”
Edwin saw right through Kyle’s roundabout excuse.
As Emperor, Edwin couldn’t be unaware of the Imperial Palace’s particular customs.
“You’re different.”
It was petty fault-finding.
Still, there was irritation in Edwin’s voice but no real anger.
Kyle watched as Edwin seemed to cool slightly and exhaled a quiet sigh of relief.
Kyle didn’t actually mind if he went back to calling her Lina in the formal way.
But he played it off as though it didn’t matter, being deliberately glib.
Male friendship had a certain roguish quality to it.
“Then perhaps Your Majesty should call her by her given name as well?”
Had the two not differed in rank, the implication would have been far more blunt—but it was smoothly packaged and delivered.
Edwin, catching the subtext, avoided Kyle’s eyes and feigned indifference.
Kyle watched this transparent action and laughed silently.
Edwin was a typical member of the Blue Blood—the kind who believed courtesy should be maintained even between lovers.
‘Why be formal between lovers? In fact, doesn’t formality just get in the way?’
Kyle stood at a level of romantic experience Edwin had yet to reach, looking down at his old friend with quiet amusement.
Without his looks, wealth, and power, Edwin would certainly have lived as a lonely bachelor—condemned by that temperamental, hidebound personality of his.
‘I can’t tell if the Goddess is being fair or unfair.’
Kyle made his judgment freely, banking on Edwin’s inability to use Telepathy.
‘And then he has the nerve to get jealous.’
Kyle shook his head deliberately, as if to prove his point.
Getting involved in someone else’s love life—especially one’s superior’s—never ended well.
On a rare day off, he was reduced to shopping for office supplies for his boss’s girlfriend.
“But why did you ask about the schedule in the first place?”
Kyle brazenly changed the subject, and fortunately, the redirect succeeded.
Edwin gazed pensively at the Inspection Unit Building and unveiled the plan he’d been devising.
“I was thinking of taking a short trip to the outskirts.”
The Imperial family owned several estates scattered throughout the scenic areas near the capital.
One of them was the destination.
Lina had been nearly as busy as she was at the Ministry of Finance lately.
He’d told himself it was fine, played the understanding partner, but it wasn’t really fine at all.
‘Every time we met, we ended up in some secluded corner of the inner palace.’
A change of scenery was needed.
‘And Lina wouldn’t keep working even on a trip.’
There was also the unspoken desire to have Lina to himself, away from work, even if only for a moment.
“Lina would know about this plan already, wouldn’t she?”
He could have bet his Mana Circle on the answer being no.
Though Edwin’s eyes held no improper intent, a long journey held a different kind of significance for lovers just beginning their relationship.
Kyle, breaking his own vow not to meddle in his superior’s love life, threw in a barb.
“You’ll be riding hard the entire way there and back without stopping to rest, I presume?”
Fortunately, Edwin understood the implication well enough.
‘If a man over twenty didn’t understand, there’d be real trouble.’
Confusion flickered across Edwin’s face.
“That’s not my intention.”
Edwin’s ears had gone completely red as he protested.
‘Why are you showing me that face?’
Kyle wanted to scrub his eyes clean.
“I take it back. Don’t bother adjusting work schedules.”
Edwin added this while his earlobes still glowed scarlet.
Kyle shook his head at Edwin with exaggerated deliberation.
Edwin wanted to bristle at Kyle’s reaction, but he recognized that getting angry would only make things worse, so he pretended not to notice.
‘The Imperial bloodline.’
Never having had to worry their whole lives about how their words and actions appear to others, they end up in messes like this.
‘Can’t be helped, I suppose.’
Kyle decided to give Edwin just the gentlest of nudges forward.
It was more for Kyle’s own benefit than Edwin’s.
Kyle appreciated capable people, and Lina was rarely—in fact, remarkably—capable.
He’d have preferred they married quickly and took over her position, and if worst came to worst and they broke up, he still wanted to keep her in the Blue Hawk.
Kyle’s decision not to assign separate tasks to Lina stemmed partly from Edwin’s orders, but also partly from Kyle’s own design to develop her potential.
‘Though honestly, the former would be better.’
Having made up his mind, Kyle suddenly broached the subject of work.
And moreover, it was trivial enough that the Emperor needn’t have been briefed on it at all.
“Two months ago, field agents sent to investigate the Diegis Territory—where traces of Black Magic were discovered—requested that we send personnel capable of interpreting the Ancient Language.”
At this abrupt shift to business, Edwin’s displeasure settled on Kyle.
Yet Kyle pressed ahead undeterred.
“As Your Majesty is aware, there are only a handful of people in the Blue Hawk proficient in the Ancient Language.”
Edwin’s brow furrowed slightly at the redundant preamble, but Kyle wouldn’t be shaken.
Just before the heart of the matter, Kyle looked at Edwin.
Then he continued slowly, with enough weight to seem meaningful.
“As it happens, Lina has considerable expertise in the Ancient Language.”
Kyle paused and met Edwin’s gaze.
He’d set out the meal; if Edwin wouldn’t eat, Kyle would simply abandon the effort.
But Edwin was inexperienced in love, not stupid.
“An appropriate choice. However, sending Lina without combat ability alone would be dangerous.”
“It’s a covert operation, so we can’t assign her multiple guards.”
“A single skilled knight would suffice.”
Edwin’s golden eyes gleamed—the eyes of a knight whose skills were more than adequate.
“I take back the reversal. Clear your schedule as much as possible.”
The Emperor who measured time in minutes suddenly had an opening.
It was an unreasonable order, but Kyle had already planned for it before he even opened his mouth, so he accepted with a smile.
“I’ll commission the Magic Tower to prepare Scrolls as an emergency job. If she returns to the Imperial Palace every two days to handle urgent matters, we should be able to free up roughly ten days.”
Scrolls calibrated to specific coordinates were dreadfully expensive.
It meant spending money like water and sacrificing sleep every other night—but Edwin didn’t hesitate.
He was the wealthiest person on the continent, and he was confident in his stamina.
“Do it that way.”
“I should tell Lina it’s a ten-day assignment.”
As it happened, using the Ancient Teleportation Circle to reach the Diegis Territory would take four days round-trip even with plenty of rest.
The amount of Ancient Language to be interpreted was just a few sentences carved into the cave wall.
Since the Ancient Language was a form of ideographic script where a single stroke or dot could shift meaning entirely, the field agents unfamiliar with it couldn’t transcribe it accurately—hence the need for Lina to come in person.
It was, in a sense, an abuse of power, but the highest authority who should have stopped it was quite satisfied.
And so, without Lina knowing, her ten-day assignment was settled in an instant.

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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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