Questions About the Emperor's Hidden Lover
The incident with the Weekly Society reporter faded the moment I got home and collapsed into bed, only to resurface around lunchtime the next day.
I was picking at my salad when the thought suddenly struck me.
But did that reporter only tail me?
It looked like they were digging into the Emperor’s associates, yet I still hadn’t met him even once.
Fortunately, the Emperor rarely strayed from his fixed routine, so I hadn’t run into him despite not trying especially hard to avoid him. I had been deliberately steering clear of any situation where we might cross paths, but lately the tension had begun to ease.
If they stuck to someone like me, they must have gone after the others too.
The people right in front of me were far closer to the Emperor than I was, after all.
Come to think of it, maybe the others already knew who the Emperor’s hidden lover was? Even the existence of a lover might be nothing more than a baseless rumor, but I felt a slight flicker of curiosity.
I wasn’t usually the type to care about other people’s romances, but this was the Emperor we were talking about.
Since the original female lead, Ivetta, had stepped off the novel’s intended route and begun living a completely different life, it seemed the Emperor’s fate had been twisted just a little as well.
I’d checked a few times, but she still hadn’t met him. And it didn’t look like she had any intention of doing so in the future.
Having personally experienced Ivetta’s divine power, I found it hard to believe the Emperor could fall in love without the effects of “Blessing” or “Healing.”
“Yesterday on my way home after work, I ran into a reporter from the Weekly Society.”
The moment I swallowed my bite of salad and brought up the subject, every eye at the table snapped to me. It was almost overwhelming.
“And?” Lucy prompted carefully.
“Oh, it was nothing serious. They just asked if I knew anything about His Majesty’s hidden lover.”
A sharp hiss of inhaled breath cut through the air. It came from Derek.
“Must’ve gone down the wrong pipe,” Lucy said, patting his back and sliding a glass of water toward him. The thumps against his back were impressively solid.
“The Weekly Society is notorious for being a vicious tabloid,” Sophia said, looking at me with concern.
My gaze, which had been fixed on Derek and Lucy, naturally shifted to her.
“That’s right. They’re famous for their persistence,” Nadan explained calmly. “There are stories about them sneaking into mansions to investigate affair rumors, and they’ve even deliberately stirred up fights between young ladies on bad terms just to manufacture a story.”
He rattled off several more episodes, as if the paper’s reputation was common knowledge to everyone except me.
“Wow, I was lucky the Imperial Guard knights happened to be walking by.” If the reporter had clung to me while I was alone, shaking them off would have been a real ordeal.
“So there were Imperial Guard knights nearby,” Lucy echoed with an odd expression.
“That’s a relief,” Sophia said brightly, her voice rising with genuine delight.
“Yes, it really was.” I nodded. That reporter had looked stubbornly tenacious.
“Have any of you been approached by reporters?”
“We have.”
“But they only followed us to check our movements. They didn’t ask any questions.”
Sophia and Lucy answered one after the other. It seemed the one who’d latched onto me had been unusually persistent.
Having satisfied one curiosity, I moved naturally to the next.
“Do any of you know who His Majesty’s lover is? Or rather, before that—does he actually have one?”
The casual question landed like a stone in still water. Everyone’s reactions turned strange.
Derek, who had just stopped choking, immediately started again. Lucy’s hand, which had been patting his back, froze in mid-air. Nadan shoveled food into his mouth like a man who hadn’t eaten in days, as if he only remembered the “insert into mouth” part of eating. Sophia simply smiled with a troubled expression.
What? So there really is a hidden lover?
Their reactions were so obvious it was impossible to pretend I hadn’t noticed. It felt like I’d cast an unbaited hook and somehow reeled in a massive fish. Even I, the one who had dropped the line, was just as flustered as everyone else.
Sophia, who had managed to keep her composure best, spoke up cautiously.
“We only found out even though we didn’t want to. We have to keep it secret.”
She looked genuinely sorry that she couldn’t say more. Since it was a secret and the others’ expressions had grown so awkward, my curiosity faded.
Still.
Knowing how childish it was, I asked anyway.
“Surely Beth knows too?”
If I was the only one left in the dark, that would sting.
Fortunately, the answer came easily this time.
“She doesn’t.”
“It would be a disaster if she did.”
“Then it’s fine.”
I smiled brightly and went back to eating my salad. Sighs of relief rose from every direction.
It was the day of Ivetta’s ancient language lesson.
When I arrived at the detached palace, Ivetta and Beth were enjoying teatime with the young ladies who had been chosen as her maids. The conversation halted the moment they sensed my presence.
“Oh, it’s Lina!” Beth waved enthusiastically.
“Hello.”
Ivetta turned and greeted me as well.
“Nice to meet you.”
The young ladies offered elegant greetings one after another.
They seemed to be in the middle of a really interesting story.
“I should have come a little later.”
“Not at all. You came at the perfect time. I had something I wanted to tell you too, Lina.”
Ivetta smiled beautifully and came over to take my hand.
“What is it?”
When I returned her grip, Beth also approached and held out her hand. Both of my hands were now gently captured.
“You know, Ivetta is going to have her debutante ball.”
Beth answered for her.
“A debutante?”
Ivetta was an adult now, so the timing was right.
“It must be disappointing for you, Beth.”
Beth had received a title, so she would eventually have her own debutante, but that day wasn’t here yet. Her birthday hadn’t passed.
“I don’t really want to do it.”
Beth, who was shy around strangers, rolled her eyes and murmured softly. The idea of being the center of a banquet full of unfamiliar faces clearly didn’t appeal to her.
“Your feelings might change later. You could always gather just close acquaintances for a small, informal event that simply follows the basic formalities.”
It seemed Beth found the second option acceptable.
“You’ll be busy for a while, won’t you, Ivetta?”
Most people prepared their debutante around their coming-of-age birthday. Since Ivetta’s had already passed, they would need to hurry.
“It looks that way.”
Ivetta let out a small groan as if countless tasks had just flooded her mind, but her expression remained bright with anticipation.
“We were just talking about who my chaperone should be.”
Choosing a chaperone was even more important than selecting the dress for the debutante.
“Would you be willing to be my chaperone, Lina?”
Ivetta’s eyes sparkled as she made the request. It seemed the criteria for choosing the Saintess’s chaperone leaned heavily on personal closeness. There was only a four-year gap between Ivetta and me, and it wasn’t unheard of for an older sister or cousin to serve in that role.
Of course, those older sisters would usually have powerful connections in high society.
It wasn’t the best choice, but it wasn’t an impossible one either.
However, the reason I couldn’t become Ivetta’s chaperone had nothing to do with age.
“I’m sorry. I never had a debutante myself.”
Academy graduates usually entered high society right after graduation. Even those who became officials and didn’t participate actively still made at least a token appearance. All those connections would matter in the future.
But I had deliberately rejected that path. When I graduated, I may have looked mature on the outside, but inside I was still full of adolescent rebellion. Besides, I still clearly remembered deciding as a child that I would not become Count Renkels, so I had intentionally skipped my debutante.
“I…”
Ivetta couldn’t finish her sentence. She pressed her lips together, looking genuinely upset.
I squeezed her hand a little more firmly.
“It’s all right. It wasn’t that I couldn’t do it. I simply chose not to.”
It was a rather embarrassing reason now that I was older. I smiled awkwardly and comforted her until her expression finally softened.
“There will be plenty of people eager to be your chaperone, Ivetta. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to pass on the position.”
“Then what about Count Renkels?”
Beth suggested, trying to cheer up the dejected Ivetta.