Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 90

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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 90
The reaction was far more intense than when I’d heard about my half-sister and that she was a Saint.
‘I don’t think sibling order is determined by height.’
If we were ranking by height, I’d be the third in our household.
‘Though with Anika growing so fast, I might become fourth soon.’
Instead of Ibeta, who cowered like a startled rabbit, I turned to face Bes.
“Ibeta was born first, so she’s your older sister.”
Ibeta’s birthday was in summer, and Bes’s was in autumn.
It was only a few months’ difference, but Ibeta was the elder.
Bes looked genuinely aggrieved.
“We’re practically the same age anyway, so I’m not calling her ‘older sister’!”
She issued her warning to Ibeta like a teenager in open rebellion.
As the firstborn of the household, it was an insubordination Ibeta shouldn’t have tolerated, yet she simply nodded without protest.
“Understood.”
“Hey, why are you being so formal?”
Bes pressed her, voice playful.
“Oh, huh?”
“You said we should pretend to be close.”
I had said something like that.
That we needed to be close sisters who had barely found family and desperately didn’t want to be separated.
‘Bes’s version of closeness is a bit rough, though.’
“Relax. By the way, if you’re a Saint, can you use Healing Magic?”
“It’s a bit different from Healing Magic, actually…….”
Ibeta had already fallen into step with Bes’s energy.
‘I knew they’d get along fine.’
I slipped quietly out of the reception room to give the sisters their private moment together.
I had work of my own to attend to.
* * *
The moment morning broke the next day, the Temple made a grand public proclamation of the Saint’s return.
It was a move designed to pressure the Emperor into releasing Ibeta.
Even ordinary citizens of the Empire with only faint Divine Power—far below what a full Priest would possess—witnessed Ibeta’s awakening in their dreams, and the rumors spread at an unprecedented pace.
The entire Empire was in a frenzy of excitement at news of a Saint appearing for the first time in centuries.
Exactly as the Temple had intended.
For now, only the Saint’s Awakening itself had been revealed, but if the Emperor continued to refuse to release Ibeta, what the Temple would announce next was painfully obvious.
‘Something about how the Emperor kidnapped and persecuted Ibeta to monopolize the blessing of Minos.’
Never mind that it was the Temple itself that had actually persecuted Ibeta.
I’d made what preparations I could, but I was still angry.
‘Minos, however happy Ibeta’s awakening may have made you, did you really need to broadcast it so loudly?’
I found myself resenting the god.
Before long, I’d become the infidel instead of Ibeta.
But there was no time to harbor a prolonged grudge against Minos.
“I thought we had a day or two at least.”
“We did.”
“We need to move faster.”
The Temple had acted quicker than we’d anticipated.
As we circulated the news of the Saint’s Awakening that appeared in every major newspaper, we cursed the Temple’s sudden industriousness—exhibited only at times like this—and redoubled our efforts.
Blue Hawk had largely ceased regular operations, instead focusing entirely on collecting and organizing evidence of the Temple’s corruption.
The more cards you had against your opponent, the better.
Meanwhile, the Emperor moved first—before the Temple could announce that they’d taken the Saint from the palace, he announced that the Saint was staying at the Side Palace as a guest.
He publicly released the confessions of Priests who had drunk Azela-brand Truth Serum, detailing Ibeta’s abuse.
In every major city of the Empire, the Priests’ confessions—recorded on Magic Devices—played on an endless loop.
The Emperor carefully steered the narrative so that blame fell squarely on the Priests’ misdeeds, while continuously releasing details of Ibeta and Bes’s history.
‘Bes, rescued by the Emperor after being abused and raised in a noble house that had been exterminated, and Ibeta, abandoned at the Temple in childhood and similarly abused and raised there.’
When he revealed how the two recognized each other as family at first sight and became affectionate sisters in a matter of hours—seasoning the facts with sentiment—sympathy for the Saint soared.
‘Everyone knows the initial letters of the exterminated noble house spell out Robertus, but more sensational details buried the story.’
There were few citizens of the Empire who believed the Temple was innocent, but it had remained quiet because there had been no spark to ignite their anger.
‘And this situation was spark enough to ignite it.’
It involved a Saint who appeared once in centuries. One clearly blessed abundantly by Minos himself.
Public sentiment roiled across the entire Empire.
“Those murdering bastard Priests, how dare they do that to our Saint——”
“I always knew the Temple was rotten, but not like this!”
“Say, did you read yesterday’s paper? The Saint had a younger sister she never knew about……and the two of them are so affectionate that the attendants serve them in tears every day…….”
“I did. My brother-in-law’s cousin’s aunt works as a servant in the palace, and the Saint’s younger sister is apparently close to the Emperor. After learning her older sister’s story, she requested the Emperor’s protection, which is why the Saint is staying at the Side Palace.”
Exactly as the Emperor had orchestrated.
But the Temple didn’t let the matter rest.
The Priests of Peram Temple immediately drew a line between themselves and Priests who had committed crimes and been demoted twenty years prior, claiming those crimes were personal transgressions and the Temple had been entirely unaware.
The High Priest issued a statement like a lizard shedding its tail, excommunicating the Priests in the same breath.
Then he went directly to the Square and offered prayers of repentance.
He paraded the handful of genuinely upright Priests who existed in the Temple to rehabilitate its image.
After all, a child who can’t do nine things well gets praised for doing one thing right.
The common people, never having had high expectations of the Temple anyway, began to cool in their anger even at this minimal damage control.
‘Having been doing wicked things for decades, they’re not so easy to topple after all.’
The Emperor, living up to his epithet of the Undefeated Knight, slowly began to withdraw as public sentiment started to subside.
‘He’d already achieved what he wanted, so there’s no point in overreaching.’
The materials Blue Hawk had been preparing on the Temple’s corruption were put away carefully in a safe, reserved for a later day.
No more endless nights of overtime.
* * *
It was our long-awaited date day.
We’d coordinated our schedules for a trip to a lake near the Capital.
We’d tried to go once before, but Everett had gotten busy and we’d failed.
“Ed.”
I ran toward him the moment I spotted Everett.
I picked up so much speed that I nearly couldn’t stop in time, but Everett caught me just as I was about to collide.
“You should be more careful, Lina.”
Everett steadied my half-collapsed balance and set me upright.
“It’s been a while.”
I smiled to avoid a lecture and leaned into him.
Everett, who had gone stiff as marble for a few seconds, carefully embraced me in return.
‘What, huh?’
My plan to catch Everett off guard with his notorious weakness for physical affection had backfired.
If anything, I was the one caught off guard.
Everett held me close, meeting my eyes as he whispered.
“I missed you.”
He’d turned awkwardly bashful saying something so sweet, a faint blush coloring his cheeks, yet he didn’t look away.
It was I who looked away first.
My fingertips tingled.
And it was far too warm.
I carefully extricated myself from Everett’s embrace.
“I missed you too, Ed.”
Not that I disliked this more assertive version of Everett, so I made sure my feelings were clear.
I cleared my throat awkwardly to change the subject.
“Though I realize I keep calling you ‘Ed’.”
Thanks to the rigorous training, the nickname ‘Ed’ had become natural to me in a short time.
Everett called me ‘Lina’ in return, but that was my actual pet name.
‘What should I call him?’
Everett didn’t really have a natural nickname, so I was a bit stuck.
“It’s fine if you keep calling me Ed.”
“Is it?”
It seemed far better than the pudding, jelly, and other names I’d been considering.
‘Besides, it has its own charm.’
“Alright then, Ed.”
I extended my hand to Everett with the hauteur of an aristocratic young lady.
“I like it, Lina.”
Everett gently took the hand I offered and brought it to his lips.
‘He could kiss somewhere else.’
I hid my mischievous intentions behind a smile.
What I had no idea of was that Lucy, out on a rare date with her own lover like us, was standing directly behind my back, had witnessed everything, and was now covering her shocked mouth in astonishment at the hottest dating spot near the Capital—right next to Emerald Lake.

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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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