Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 75

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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 75
“Waaaah.”
At Everett’s quiet words, the child who had been holding back so stubbornly burst into tears.
From the thin, skeletal little one—like kindling dried to nothing—tears and snot streamed out in torrents as if there was no end to it.
The way he gripped his wrist suggested he was genuinely frightened.
I shot a look at Everett.
‘Is this appropriate? You overdid it.’
Everett, catching my sharp gaze, glanced away slightly.
He seemed a little embarrassed, but overall quite unapologetic.
‘I scolded him because he needed scolding. That’s all.’
I sighed dramatically at Everett before crouching down in front of the child, who was still sobbing.
‘How do I comfort him.’
I had three younger siblings, but our children weren’t prone to crying.
When they did cry on occasion, a bit of something sweet would settle them right down—childcare on easy mode.
‘Something sweet right now… I do have something.’
I wiped my hands on my skirts.
I’d been petting the horses for quite a while before the child appeared.
‘Those horses have probably been bathed recently, at least.’
After ensuring minimal hygiene, I carefully extracted the pouch from the child’s grip.
“Come now, little one. Want to see something?”
I pulled out a piece of rock candy and traced an elaborate path through the air like an acrobat in flight, bringing it near the child’s lips.
From the moment I took out the rock candy, the child’s crying began to ease.
After circling the air three times, when I brought the candy close to his mouth, he accepted it almost without thinking.
The child’s tongue rolled uncertainly at first, but then he seemed to sense the sweetness of the sugar.
He began carefully sucking on the rock candy.
Like savoring a treat received after ages—slowly, bit by bit.
“What that gentleman said was meant for a scenario where you’d grown up to be a bad adult.”
With sweetness flooding his mouth, my voice seemed not to reach him at all.
The rock candy, no larger than a copper coin, dissolved quickly despite the child’s earnest effort.
The child smacked his lips and made a sorrowful face.
I had always been soft-hearted toward young children and animals.
“Want more?”
I turned my pouch inside out and shook the remaining rock candies into the child’s hands.
Feeding candy to a child was not something to be recommended, but the boy before me appeared severely malnourished.
‘At least he needs some sugar.’
The child looked back and forth between his handful of rock candy and the street beyond.
Then, squeezing his eyes shut, he crammed all the candies into his mouth at once.
“Drink some water too.”
I handed the child my water canteen.
Whether from crying he’d lost moisture, the boy drained nearly half the travel-sized canteen.
With sugar and plain water filling his belly, color returned to the child’s face.
His tears and snot had stopped entirely.
‘That should be enough.’
Now it was time for the scolding.
I asked the child’s name in the tone I used when disciplining my younger siblings after they’d misbehaved.
“Little one, what’s your name?”
“Robin. I’m seven.”
The child, noticing my demeanor, mumbled his name sheepishly.
As was typical when asking children to introduce themselves, he offered his age as well.
His voice came out nasally from all the crying, but it was still understandable.
“Alright. Seven-year-old Robin. You know it’s wrong to steal other people’s things, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
Robin seemed quite obedient, apparently on a sugar high.
“Then why did you do it?”
“I thought it was a purse with money in it. I was told you need money to buy bread.”
The child was blunt about it.
“Even so, Robin.”
I’d called the little shoplifter’s name with some force, but now I hesitated.
‘I should be firm with him.’
Of course theft was wrong.
But looking at a child who clearly hadn’t had a full meal in ages, I felt a wave of self-doubt at issuing righteous reproach.
‘I grew up in a middle-class household with nothing I lacked.’
Let Everett’s scolding count as the real one.
I swallowed the complex tangle of my emotions and changed the subject.
“Where is your guardian?”
I was thinking of sending him home with enough food for a few days.
I asked gently enough, but Robin avoided my eyes and denied it vehemently.
“No, I don’t have one. My parents died, and since then I’ve just lived on my own in this street.”
‘Does he think I’m going to sue his guardian for damages?’
The boy seemed to think he’d come up with a clever excuse, but he was still just a child.
‘How many adults would actually believe a seven-year-old lives alone?’
I had another reason for judging Robin’s words as false.
The clothes he wore were worn and patched multiple times, in a way that was clearly beyond what a seven-year-old could manage.
“I’m not trying to get angry at your guardian.”
Even when I explained slowly, Robin clearly didn’t believe me.
He kept insisting with things like “Really,” “I mean it,” trying to maintain his lie.
“Is that so? Well, this Temple does operate a Poor Relief Center, doesn’t it? I’ll take you there.”
I brought up the Poor Relief Center to prompt Robin into telling the truth.
Whether it was donations or Relief Supplies sent down from the Imperial Family, the Temple always set aside half as the divine share.
They went through the motions of relief work out of concern for their congregation, but it was little more than theater.
Except for the few conscientious Priests running them, the Poor Relief Centers remained perpetually underfunded despite the Imperial Family’s generous support.
That said, their conditions would still be better than this child’s.
At least they’d fill his belly with hard black bread and thin soup.
If Robin’s story were true, taking him to the Poor Relief Center would be the right thing to do.
“But if you do have a guardian, will you tell me honestly? I’m not trying to cause trouble. I just don’t feel right leaving you alone on the street.”
As I spoke gently, Robin seemed torn.
“It’s just…”
The tiny boy’s lips trembled several times, as if he had so much to think about.
“I can’t say. I’m sorry.”
With his eyes squeezed shut, Robin cried out and started to run away.
“Like an eel, this little one.”
But he was caught by Everett again within ten paces.
“Let me go!”
Everett lifted Robin, who was thrashing even more violently than before, clean off the ground.
Their eyes met.
Everett twisted his lips and spoke with deliberate nastiness.
“No.”
Robin, dangling from Everett’s grip and struggling for some time, eventually grew tired and gave up, resuming his crying with a sorrowful expression.
“I’m sorry. Please take me home.”
“Tch.”
Everett set the child down with a bewildered expression.
“I’ll take you home if you tell me where it is.”
Everett tried to soothe the child in as gentle a tone as he could manage.
Robin, hearing he’d be sent home, quieted his hiccupping sobs and opened his mouth.
“If I tell you, you’ll really take me home?”
He widened his eyes as if trying to appear determined.
Though tears did spill down even as he spoke.
‘A clever little one, this.’
I answered readily.
“Of course.”
Robin then admitted, seemingly reassured, that he actually lived in the Poor Relief Center.
“So you don’t really need to take me there.”
“You live in the Poor Relief Center?”
I was startled by Robin’s answer.
‘The corruption at the Temple is said to be worse than people know, but this…’
Robin’s condition was so poor it made me doubt him.
‘I had assumed his guardian was facing some hardship and couldn’t care for him properly.’
Even Everett seemed shocked by Robin’s answer—one eyebrow shot up in clear displeasure.
His mouth had gone hard and tight; he looked furious.
Though I had a softer expression than Everett, my anger was just as fierce.
‘If this child is telling the truth, the Temple has crossed a line.’
The Emperor and the Temple had never been on good terms.
‘But in matters of poor relief, they’ve been like allies in a forced partnership.’
While the Emperor poured resources into war, the Temple provided the minimal charity needed for the destitute, and the Emperor paid them in kind—a symbiotic relationship.
‘Though the Emperor is the one extracting wealth one-sidedly.’
Yet the Emperor was hardly ignorant of the Temple’s corruption.

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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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