Unbeknownst to Me, I Am Secretly Dating the Emperor
‘Now that I think about it, the same goes for Beth.’
Beth was also the illegitimate child of Marquis Robertus.
‘The only difference is that, unlike Ivetta, she was raised inside the Robertus household.’
Ivetta had been abandoned at the temple, while Beth had been left at the front gate of the Robertus marquisate. That was the distinction.
Not that Beth’s situation had been any better.
Beth, too, had no idea who her mother was. For the same reason as Ivetta.
Marquis Robertus had simply taken her in, tucked her away in a corner of the marquisate, and then forgotten all about her.
True to his role as an irredeemable villain, he possessed not a shred of moral conscience.
‘After all, Marquis Robertus had several other illegitimate children besides Ivetta and Beth.’
The fact that Ivetta and Beth were practically the same age, born only a few months apart, spoke volumes about just how dissolute the man truly was.
Although he had taken her in, he had done nothing more than that. As a result, Beth had grown up neglected and abused by the servants of the marquisate.
‘No wonder Derek said he had to teach himself proper manners and the imperial language.’
For a young child without any guardian, simply surviving would have been an overwhelming challenge.
Despite sharing the common trauma of a painful childhood, the Saintess and Beth had quickly become family, even though they shared the blood of the very man who had wanted to discard them both. That was how the story went.
Looking at it in hindsight, perhaps it was the only truly positive thing the temple had ever given Ivetta.
‘The original characters keep popping up everywhere…’
At this rate, I was going to end up meeting everyone except the main couple.
I stole occasional glances at Beth’s face while we ate.
‘I should treat her well.’
In more ways than one.
Just as Beth had promised, the lunch was delicious. Once we finished, I returned to the office.
A young errand boy who had been loitering near the entrance spotted me and came over, holding out a note.
“They asked me to deliver this to Lady Carolina Diaz.”
I accepted the note from the boy and immediately unfolded it.
“You said it would take a while, but you’re already here?”
Assuming it was the reply from Connie that I had been waiting for, I didn’t even check the sender.
‘It’s not.’
“The one sent to the outer palace hasn’t arrived yet. This one was given to me by a certain knight.”
The person who had sent the note was Everett.
After confirming the sender, I turned my body slightly away from the boy and let a small smile bloom on my lips.
Then, as if I believed body heat could be transferred through paper, I gently ran my index finger over the handwritten words.
It was only a short message of two lines asking if we could meet briefly when I had time, yet the tips of my fingers tingled.
‘How did he know I happened to be free right now?’
Honestly, even if I had been a little busy, I would have gone anyway.
‘I felt bad for turning him down several times recently, saying I was too busy.’
They were all just excuses.
If I were being honest, I wanted to see Everett.
I pressed my lips together to stop them from curving into a silly grin and fluttered the note in my hand.
I read the two-line message again carefully, even flipping it over just in case.
But there was no time or place written anywhere.
‘Huh?’
Perhaps as a side effect of having spent the entire morning immersed in deduction, a ridiculous thought crossed my mind—maybe I should hold it up to the sunlight or scorch it over a candle.
Fortunately, before I could actually do something so absurd and embarrass myself, the boy called out to me again.
“Um, there’s actually another note.”
The boy, who had been watching me with observant eyes, pulled out a second note from inside his jacket.
“This one is also from that knight.”
The errand boy handed me the second note.
‘He must have forgotten to include it the first time.’
I took the second note as if I had been expecting it.
As anticipated, this one contained the meeting place.
“Thank you.”
Seeing that the time wasn’t written here either, it seemed he had sent the notes ahead and was waiting for me.
‘If he sent them early, he must have been waiting for quite a while.’
My heart grew impatient.
I handed the boy a few copper coins and immediately headed toward the location written on the note.
Because of that, I didn’t see the boy slip the coins into his pocket—nor did I notice the third note inside his pocket that looked identical to the two he had already given me.
After boldly declaring his intentions to Kylus, Edwin immediately changed his clothes.
He put on the ‘Everett Rohas’ outfit that he wore whenever he met Lina.
However, the moment he stepped out of the dressing room, he stopped after only a few steps.
‘Will this be alright?’
There were far too many people who knew his face.
If he went without thinking, his identity would obviously be exposed right away.
‘I shouldn’t have gotten so excited just because we’ve grown closer.’
To avoid being caught so pathetically, he needed to be more cautious.
Edwin carefully chose a secluded location after considering the patrol routes of the guards, then quickly wrote a note.
It was the first note Lina received.
After writing the sentence asking if she could spare some time, Edwin paused again.
He was worried she might not want to see him.
‘She might be tired after dealing with so many things lately.’
When it came to Lina, Edwin was an extremely cautious man.
After a brief moment of hesitation, he took out two more sheets of paper and wrote different messages on each.
One was a note stating the place where he would be waiting, and the other contained a polite request asking her to tell him a convenient time.
Once all three notes were complete, Edwin called over a passing servant and handed them to him.
“Deliver these to Carolina Diaz of the Inspectorate.”
After confirming that the servant had carefully stored all three notes, Edwin added,
“If she looks troubled after receiving the first note, give her the third one.”
The quick-witted servant asked back,
“And if her reaction isn’t bad, then it’s the second note, right?”
Perhaps because he saw Edwin’s attire and assumed he was a low-ranking knight, the servant’s tone was rather playful.
“Correct.”
When Edwin nodded readily, the servant bowed politely and headed toward the Inspectorate.
Edwin watched the servant’s retreating figure for a moment before slowly making his way forward.
He planned to go to the designated spot first and wait for Lina.
He had no idea whether she would come or if he would receive a gentle refusal instead, but Edwin’s steps were light.
Even the wait itself felt incredibly sweet.
‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here too.’
The small garden Edwin had chosen as their meeting place belonged to the Empress’s palace, which had stood empty for decades. As a result, it was a quiet, secluded area.
Still, decades ago it had been considered charmingly intimate, and tea parties were often held here during the summer.
Even now, without an owner, the minimum amount of maintenance was still performed, so the garden remained naturally lush and refreshing.
‘Not bad at all.’
After thoroughly inspecting the modest garden and giving it his approval, Edwin sat down on a bench where he could clearly see the entrance.
A tree branch that hadn’t been pruned in a long time stretched out overhead, casting a palm-sized shadow across his shoulder.
The leaves rustled gently in the breeze, and birds chirped as if welcoming the rare visitor.
It was a peaceful scene, but none of it registered in Edwin’s eyes.
At some point, he had fallen deep into thought.
‘But what exactly am I supposed to do?’
He had rushed out here full of confidence, yet he felt rather lost about how to seduce Lina.
His knowledge of romance came entirely from the boastful stories the knights who had fought alongside him would spin on quiet nights between battles.
‘But I at least know I shouldn’t take any of that at face value.’
Whenever the male knights began competing to brag about how popular they were with women, the few female knights would wear expressions that clearly said, ‘I have a lot to say, but I’m holding back for various reasons.’
The information he possessed was closer to a list of warnings—things like ‘doing this will definitely get you rejected, so never do it.’
Without the excuse of an art exhibition or blooming roses, a sudden short date like this made everything feel inexplicably difficult—what should he talk about, what kind of expressions should he use?
Edwin, a man who had never been clumsy at anything in his life, felt a strange new emotion as he restlessly paced around the small garden.
No good ideas came to mind.
Frustrated, Edwin roughly ran his fingers through his hair.
Just as he was kicking at a pebble to vent his irritation, he heard the sound of footsteps near the garden entrance.
“So what happened? Tell me in detail.”
It wasn’t Lina.