Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 8

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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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Episode 8
Kyle’s expression darkened in sympathy as he caught sight of my face contorting in undisguised displeasure.
“I thought this was the best coffee I’ve made all year…”
Kyle murmured timidly.
“There’s no need to force yourself to drink it.”
Visibly deflated, Kyle moved to collect the cup from me.
He looked genuinely disappointed.
Surely not.
‘Is this some kind of test from the guild?’
Was drinking the entire cup meant to assess my patience or the sincerity of my purpose in coming?
What I knew about the Information Guild came from a time roughly a year ahead of now.
There might be some unusual procedures before the Passphrase for a commission that I wasn’t aware of yet.
‘If that’s the case…’
I would pass, no matter what.
I reached out and stopped Kyle’s hand before he could take the cup away.
“No, it’s fine. I can finish it.”
As I steeled myself and pulled the coffee cup back toward me, Kyle’s expression brightened.
‘Here goes nothing.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and downed the entire cup in one go.
‘Ugh.’
It tasted like swallowing muddy water or wrung-out mop water.
The only mercy was that the coffee amounted to just a few mouthfuls.
I managed—through sheer force of will—to smooth my thoroughly contorted expression into something resembling blankness.
“My goodness, you finished it all!”
Kyle glanced at the empty cup, delighted, and offered me a slice of cake as a special service.
I stared for a moment at what looked like a tempting cream cake.
‘Is this part of the procedure too?’
It looked plausible enough that it might taste like an eraser this time.
Or something even more horrifying than I could imagine.
‘Well, my taste buds are already ruined by that dreadful coffee.’
I picked up the fork with the resolve of a knight marching into battle and cut a small corner piece.
‘Should I just eat a larger piece all at once?’
But my body, having been through the ordeal of that atrocious coffee, vehemently refused anything larger.
‘Just this much for now.’
I closed my eyes tight and put a piece into my mouth—slightly larger than a bean.
‘It’s… actually good?’
The taste that bloomed on my tongue wasn’t some bizarre symphony of suffering.
The cake was, in fact, quite edible.
Eager to wash away the memory of that foul coffee, I cut a much larger piece this time and ate it.
Kyle watched me diligently working through the cake and smiled contentedly.
“It’s delicious.”
I complimented the cake while omitting the unspoken phrase ‘compared to the coffee.’
“Thank you, madam.”
Kyle’s eyes had narrowed almost to invisibility with his smile.
Even after I’d finished the palm-sized cake, Kyle continued hovering subtly around me.
‘Is it now?’
“Um, pardon me.”
I watched for an opening and whispered the Passphrase to Kyle.
“The Blue Hawk that soars through the sky has guided me here.”
‘Please let it still be the same.’
The fact that there was a procedure here that wouldn’t exist a year from now suggested my memorized Passphrase might be different.
Kyle took an unusually long time to respond.
When I opened my eyes slightly to look at his face, his warm, smiling expression had faded.
“Ah, so you’re that kind of client.”
Despite the Information Guild supposedly being his main business, his tone dripped with regret.
The moment passed quickly, and Kyle’s demeanor shifted abruptly—the guild master mode had activated.
If before he’d been like soft pudding that would collapse into holes with the slightest poke, now he remained the same smiling face but with an unmistakable hardness behind it.
“So then, what brings you here, madam? Buying or selling?”
Kyle asked, his smile now a mask he’d fastened over his face.
I responded with bluster, puffing myself up like a small bird trying to appear larger to a predator.
“Both.”
“How interesting—a special sort of client indeed.”
Kyle stroked his chin thoughtfully, weighing me, and the scales soon tipped to one side.
“First, I’d like to hear about the goods you’re trading.”
It was his way of saying he’d at least listen.
I took a breath and produced the Documents I’d brought with me.
“This is what I’m selling.”
Kyle received the Documents from me and reviewed the contents with careful attention.
After a single glance, he grasped everything and set the Documents on the table.
“This is a record of accounting documents from the Camelot Duchy and its subordinate houses, with the falsified portions marked, yes?”
“Yes, though a full audit would be necessary, but broadly speaking, that’s correct.”
Kyle’s lips curved upward at my confident response.
“I’ll grant that it’s information worth purchasing.”
Kyle placed a hand over the stack of Documents.
“However, I’m afraid I can’t offer you a particularly high price.”
He tapped the Documents lightly several times with his index finger.
The generous café proprietor who’d offered cake more expensive than coffee as a service had vanished without a trace.
Kyle found fault with the exacting face of a meticulous merchant.
“Information like this merely requires time before it comes to light anyway. If the window for selling is limited, you’ll have to accept a reduced valuation, won’t you?”
I conceded Kyle’s point readily enough.
“That’s fair reasoning. His Majesty’s Inspection Bureau is conducting its own investigation, so they’ll likely reach a similar conclusion within a week at most. I’ll grant you that.”
They were just as capable as I was, and there were more of them.
I’d been able to uncover the Camelot Duchy’s wrongdoing first precisely because I knew how events would unfold.
‘And because I’ve already handled these very Documents before.’
“But in a situation where every moment counts, acquiring information even a few hours earlier would be worth its weight in gold, would it not?”
I placed my hand on the Documents, parallel to Kyle’s.
‘Either name your price or hand them back.’
It was all bluff and nerve.
Kyle’s eyes widened with amusement as he laughed.
“You’ve quite the talent for negotiation.”
‘It worked!’
“You’re counting on the Camelot Duchy moving to destroy the evidence in his territory before a strike can be made against him, aren’t you?”
Riding high on the thrill of my bluff paying off, I let a hint of smugness slip—and Kyle’s expression froze instantly.
His posture, which had been slightly hunched over the Documents, straightened abruptly.
Then he stepped back from the table, his movements wary.
“I’m afraid my excitement over finally meeting a client who could finish my coffee has gotten the better of me.”
Kyle quickly softened his expression, laughing as if troubled.
“I beg your pardon?”
I questioned him in bewilderment, and his smile deepened.
“Are you the Rankels Countess? Unfortunately, I can’t place you through any other channel. Carolina Diaz, is it?”
“How did you know my name? More than that, what exactly are you talking about…?”
I couldn’t follow the direction this conversation had taken.
‘Why is Rankels Countess coming up?’
I clearly looked lost, and Kyle seemed equally confused.
Kyle held my gaze for a long moment, searching for some clue within my eyes.
Then he gave up.
‘I genuinely have no idea what’s happening.’
Kyle sighed softly and spoke to me as one might to a confused child, his tone reproachful.
“First, answering a question with a question is rather a poor habit.”
His manner was courteous, but since he had asked the original question, it sounded like he expected an answer first.
I was utterly cowed by Kyle’s peculiar bearing.
“But if you could just tell me why Rankels Countess came up…”
‘Then I would try my best to answer you.’
As I spoke, Kyle’s gaze grew sharper, and I shrank back, averting my eyes.
Kyle sighed loudly, as if to make sure I heard.
“I’m asking how you knew that the Guild belongs to His Majesty.”
Then, sounding rather like a teacher running low on patience with a struggling student, he continued.
‘So that’s what this was about.’
At last I grasped the thread of the conversation.
“Well, the Passphrase is the Blue Hawk that soars through the sky, isn’t it?”
Even without memories of my past life, I would have caught on the moment I heard the Passphrase.
‘The Emperor used the Blue Hawk seal when he was the Crown Prince.’
My parents held the philosophy that children simply needed to grow up healthy without causing trouble, so unlike other noble houses that drilled their children on the heraldry and emblems of the nobility, mine did not.
‘But it’s rather famous.’
The imperial family could use the Goddess’s sigil, as they were said to be descended from divinity.
However, the Previous Emperor—the current Emperor’s uncle—had declared that “the divine seal could not be granted to a cadet branch,” and instead bestowed upon him, then Crown Prince, the emblem of the Blue Hawk.
It had been an attempt to brand the Emperor—who should have inherited the throne as the sole son of the crown prince—as a mere cadet branch, an insult meant to humiliate him.
“Merely from that?”
Kyle looked rather deflated at my answer.
“Well, people avoid using the Blue Hawk as a symbol precisely out of caution. If only one person uses it, isn’t it easy to guess?”
In an attempt to be circumspect, I omitted the subject and pointed upward with my index finger.
At the sight, Kyle burst out laughing.
‘Wait, I meant the higher-ups, not referring to someone who’s in heaven now because they lost to their nephew.’
While I stood there embarrassed, Kyle continued laughing unabated.
After a long while, Kyle finally managed to stop, wiping away the tears that had gathered at the corners of his eyes.
“You’ve turned my suspicion into certainty.”
It felt like I’d been caught out, though he didn’t seem particularly displeased.
“Very well. Now it’s time to hear what you desire, Miss Diaz.”
Kyle’s smile as he invited me to name my price was bright and cheerful.

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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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