Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 73

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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 73
* * *
Edwin had no idea how he’d managed to climb those stairs.
The moment he closed the door behind him, he slid down the wall and sat.
“Madness.”
He cursed himself, then condemned his own lack of restraint.
Yet the heat that had risen in him showed no sign of cooling.
When he was with Lina, his fingertips always tingled and his chest always burned—but tonight was different.
His entire body felt as though it were aflame.
‘The Innkeeper should have kept her mouth shut.’
By the gods, when Edwin had first arrived at this inn, he’d harbored nothing but wholesome thoughts: Lina must be exhausted; he should let her rest quickly.
“Ah…….”
It was today that he learned just how vivid his imagination could be.
Edwin’s gaze dipped downward for a moment, then snapped back up.
His own body, his own flesh—it wouldn’t obey him.
The blood had pooled.
……in his face.
Edwin made as if to strike the back of his head against the wall in self-punishment, then stopped.
If Lina next door heard it, she’d be alarmed.
Instead, he lurched to his feet and, still clothed, headed straight for the bathroom.
Cold water—that was what he needed to douse the heat consuming him.
Edwin strode into the bathroom with heavy steps and twisted the Temperature Control Crystal with a rough hand.
He’d hoped for water cold enough to shock him awake, but before the chill could even cascade over his head, he heard something from the adjacent bathroom seeping through the thin wall.
A soft humming and the sound of running water.
It was Lina, next door.
Edwin started as if struck and fled the bathroom like a hunted thing.
He pressed himself against the wall farthest from the water sounds.
The inn’s finest room was spacious enough.
At this distance, even with poor soundproofing, the noise from an adjacent chamber ought to be inaudible.
But Edwin was an Oura Master.
His hearing was enhanced many times over.
Even to an Oura Master’s sensitive ears, the faint sound of water persisted.
And the more he became conscious of it, the louder it seemed to grow.
Edwin raised both hands to cover his ears roughly.
He thought he ought to retreat further, but there was nowhere left to go.
He wanted to leave the room.
No—he wanted to leave the inn entirely.
But if he left now, he might lose all restraint and cling to her door, begging her to open it.
Even for Edwin, kissing the back of a hand and embracing her like a guardian was as far as decorum would allow—anything beyond that would earn him a swift rejection.
‘It can never happen.’
The mere thought of such a possibility made him want to strangle himself.
He wondered if he’d sink that low—but no, Edwin didn’t trust himself.
‘And what of my duty to protect her?’
Edwin mocked himself.
In this moment, the greatest danger to Lina was Edwin himself.
He racked his brain desperately for a way to shield her from himself.
His gaze shifted toward the window.
‘Should I jump?’
There was a large tree right beside the inn building.
‘That would be plenty to get away.’
But the world outside was too quiet for an escape through the window.
By now the streets had emptied; all that carried in was the sound of crickets.
Edwin was no assassin.
No matter how careful he was, a landing would make noise.
He abandoned the idea of escaping through the window.
For now, he’d try again once Lina had fallen asleep.
‘Ten nights like this? Ten nights?’
Imagining ten days that would feel like a decade, Edwin sank into despair.
Then his promise with Kyle came to mind.
‘Not every single night, at least.’
He was meant to return to the Imperial Palace every other day.
‘Ah.’
It felt as though divine light had just descended upon him.
As if he’d received a revelation.
Edwin offered up a brief prayer of gratitude and fumbled roughly through his clothes.
From within his garments, he withdrew a Teleportation Magic Scroll pointing toward the Imperial Palace.
He tore it open immediately.
‘What can I accomplish in a single night every other day? I’d barely scratch the surface even with every night.’
He intended to burn away this fever through work.
Fortunately, he had more than enough accumulated tasks to pour this heat into.
Light flashed, wrapping around him.
* * *
“Your Majesty?”
Kyle, who had been working alone in the Emperor’s Executive Office deep into the night, startled from his seat.
“You weren’t scheduled to arrive today.”
He approached with concern, but was forced to step back by a dismissive hand wave—the kind one might use to shoo away a mayfly.
‘Nothing seems amiss.’
His health appeared uncompromised, yet his mood seemed thoroughly sour.
Edwin generally treated Kyle with leniency, though only when he was in a good temper.
Kyle, wisely gauging the situation, closed his mouth and withdrew to one corner.
Edwin approached the desk with reluctant steps and sat, issuing a command.
“The capital’s guard force has grown lax. See that it’s disciplined properly.”
Then, seized by some sudden caprice, he seemed to reconsider.
“No, wait. He might want to handle it himself. Bring me only those guards who were assigned to Security Magic searches of the Ancient Teleportation Magic Circle yesterday afternoon. Today—or rather, yesterday afternoon.”
Kyle revised his earlier assessment.
Something was amiss.
For some unlucky, dim-witted guards and himself.
Kyle relayed Edwin’s orders to the knight standing watch outside the Executive Office and returned.
Then he ventured cautiously, “Did you come back because of this matter?”
He was curious what those guards could possibly have done to warrant such attention.
But he was rebuffed thoroughly.
Edwin gave a follow-up command: once the guards arrived, Kyle was to report it immediately.
Then he ordered again, “Bring me the backlog. All of it.”
‘All of it? Now?’
His expression looked so grim it hardly seemed like he was in the mood to work, yet Kyle brought him the documents that needed reviewing.
“For now, these are what require your attention. I didn’t expect you until tomorrow, so much of the compilation remains incomplete.”
Edwin half-listened to Kyle’s explanation, shuffling through the papers with sharp, agitated movements, speaking in rapid fire: “I’ll be returning to the Imperial Palace every other night for the next ten days. I need the documents I’m meant to process brought to me at this hour each time. And prepare more scrolls.”
Kyle’s face fell at the command—delivered as lightly as if Edwin had merely requested apple pie for evening dessert.
“Yes, I’ll prepare them as quickly as possible.”
He answered without his usual grumbling complaint, as was wise when Edwin’s mood was so obviously foul, but his mind reeled.
The Imperial Palace was wrapped in powerful Security Magic.
‘I’ve deactivated a few wards in this vicinity for the sake of this trip, but even so—’
Creating scrolls that could penetrate the Palace’s Security Magic and facilitate teleportation was no trivial task.
Kyle was already dreading how to coax and manage the high-handed, slow-working mages.
‘If I ask them to produce ten additional scrolls within five days, they’re not the type to comply willingly.’
Whether Kyle despaired or not, Edwin needed desperately to redirect his focus, and so he threw himself into his work with sheer force of will.
Consequently, he processed documents faster than usual.
His work was vigorous and efficient.
Before dawn broke, Edwin had finished, and like a workaholic, he harried Kyle: “Anything else?”
“Nothing, sire.”
Kyle answered with a sullen tone—he’d meant to rest a little longer before going to bed, but Edwin’s sudden appearance had trapped him in an all-nighter.
“Tsk.”
Edwin clicked his tongue and rose to his feet.
“What of the task I ordered earlier? Those guards.”
Kyle thought they were finally done, but another thunderbolt struck.
It was the small hours—gathering and identifying the guards from yesterday afternoon’s shift within mere hours was no light task, even for Kyle.
“It will take another two hours or so.”
Yet Kyle bowed his head without excuse, regretting his own fatigued judgment.
‘I should have conjured up more work to keep him occupied.’
Edwin fixed him with a look like a debt collector pursuing payment.
“I’ll return this evening—no, tonight—to see the results.”
With that, he decided he needed to loosen his limbs, took up his sword, and departed for the Training Grounds.
The butterfly effect stirred by the Innkeeper’s jest had reached Kyle.

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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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