47.
“Suddenly?”
I had consistently kept my eyes closed to the matter, not wanting to interfere with Edwin’s love life, but I still had some intuition about it.
Even the tight-lipped and reticent Edwin couldn’t help but spill his heart out about Ri-Na every now and then, as if his feelings for her were so overwhelming he couldn’t bear to hold them in.
‘Weren’t things going well?’
With a flicker of idle curiosity, I felt a willingness to listen to Edwin’s romantic counseling.
Kailus sat down across from Edwin.
“There must have been some kind of trigger. Do you have any idea what it might be?”
I didn’t think Ri-Na would just bluntly say she disliked Edwin for no reason.
‘Since he’s utterly clueless when it comes to romance, he might have made a mistake without meaning to.’
In fact, Kailus rated the probability of this quite high.
Edwin, head over heels in his first love, didn’t seem like the type to intentionally hurt Ri-Na.
‘If that’s the case, he’s likely in the dark about why the problem even started.’
“No, it would be faster if you just explained what happened today in chronological order.”
“So……”
Edwin’s explanation was long. Very long.
Even after cutting away the unnecessary fluff, it still dragged on.
The conclusion only arrived right before Kailus’s patience was about to run dry.
What Ri-Na disliked wasn’t the man named ‘Everett Rohas.’
It was Edwin, the Emperor.
‘Doesn’t seem like a big problem.’
Kailus thought, begrudging the wasted time.
Since the ‘Everett Rohas’ Ri-Na knew and the Emperor were, in the end, the same person, Edwin’s heart might feel a bit uncomfortable. But then again, Ri-Na only knew Edwin as ‘Everett Rohas,’ didn’t she?
If he shifted his mindset just a little, it shouldn’t be such a crisis.
Kailus rolled his eyes to check the time when Edwin wasn’t looking and spoke a bit more quickly.
“It would be better if she also held affection for you as Edwin the Emperor, but……”
While Kailus worried inwardly—*I wonder if anything happened at the café while I was away*—he gave advice with a calm, composed expression.
His body was in the reception room, but his mind had already risen and was heading toward the café.
“Better, you say?”
The gloomy look was gone, replaced by a sharp retort that forced Kailus to snap his wandering mind back to the present.
Kailus replied with a solemn attitude, as if he hadn’t been distracted a moment ago.
“Yes, better. After all, Ms. Diaz knows His Majesty as Everett Rohas, does she not?”
“That’s the problem.”
At Kailus’s words, which felt like a finishing blow, Edwin clutched his head with both hands in frustration.
“I have to tell her I’m the Emperor eventually.”
‘Hm?’
Kailus, who had only been pretending to be solemn, began to focus on the conversation in earnest.
“Did you intend to reveal your true identity to Ms. Diaz?”
“Of course.”
There just hadn’t been a proper opportunity yet.
Though, as of now, that was nothing more than a pathetic excuse.
Edwin, sensitive because things weren’t going his way, gave a prickly answer.
Kailus brushed off the irritability out of habit and thought.
‘If he intends to reveal his identity, then the very premise is wrong.’
Actually, Kailus had thought that Edwin regarded Ri-Na merely as a casual romantic partner, regardless of the depth of his feelings. He had continued to pretend to be Everett Rohas even though they had been dating periodically for quite some time, which only reinforced that belief.
‘Even though it’s gone out of fashion with the trend of free love, it was quite common for emperors or high-ranking nobles to hide their identities and date those of lower status.’
The marriages of the imperial family or high nobles weren’t just about love. If the relationship had a predetermined end, it was better for the other party not to know the truth. Safety was an issue, of course, but the biggest reason was the desire not to disturb the other’s peaceful daily life.
‘He also has no intention of bringing the other person into his own life.’
It could be called a hypocritical consideration—a way to exit the other person’s life quietly once their passions burned out and only ashes remained.
Kailus, choosing his words carefully while pondering for a moment, asked the most direct question.
“Do you intend to take her as your Empress?”
Edwin’s love life could be dismissed as a personal matter.
But if it were to become a deeper relationship, it could no longer be just Edwin’s personal business. Because he was the Emperor.
“That is……”
No proper answer came back from Edwin.
But his expression conveyed complex thoughts more clearly than words.
‘I don’t know about the other side’s intentions, but at the very least, he has been taking this more seriously than I thought.’
Kailus’s brain, which had interpreted Edwin’s non-verbal expression like sipping cold soup, diligently weighed the possibilities.
He had thought about it before, but it wouldn’t be bad for Ri-Na to become Empress. Though it was said they had severed ties, she carried the blood of Count Renkels, and she herself was capable. To be more honest, if he had a vote, he thought highly enough of Carolina Diaz that he would gladly cast his ballot for her.
‘Still, it’s not my place to interfere in someone else’s love life.’
Even though he had grumbled to himself dozens of times about how pathetic it was, Edwin was someone he had practically grown up with since he was an infant. Kailus had never seen Edwin look as frustrated as he did now.
The scale in Kailus’s mind quickly tipped in one direction.
‘I am being somewhat biased, but please understand, Ms. Diaz.’
Having organized his thoughts, Kailus spoke again.
“You said Ms. Diaz seems to be afraid of and avoidant toward Your Majesty?”
No answer came, as if Edwin didn’t want to affirm that question.
However, Kailus didn’t care at all and continued the one-sided conversation.
“Most of the Empire’s citizens are likely afraid of Your Majesty. It wouldn’t be strange if Ms. Diaz is included in that majority.”
Edwin’s public image was that of a cruel tyrant. It was because the rumors that had sprouted when he executed the late Emperor and his faction of nobles for revenge had snowballed during the war.
‘Half of it is true, half is exaggerated, though.’
Since half of it was fact, it was hard to call him a benevolent ruler, so it was ambiguous to dismiss it as a false accusation. Edwin, too, hadn’t cared about it at all until now. He would have been indifferent to what others thought, but things were different if Ri-Na was among those others.
In fact, Edwin, struck at the right moment, had wilted like a vegetable boiled in hot water.
Kailus didn’t blink and continued to say his piece.
“If you reveal your identity right now.”
Kailus, who had briefly recalled the investigation results on Carolina Diaz, spoke again.
“Since she has a tendency to trust what she sees with her own eyes, Ms. Diaz’s opinion might change. She hasn’t had any point of contact with Your Majesty, and she has affection for ‘Everett Rohas’.”
The first impression might have been poor, but enough of a narrative had been built between the two to make up for it. Because the ‘Everett Rohas’ version of Edwin had been a reticent but sincere dating partner.
At Kailus’s positive assessment, Edwin’s face brightened slightly.
However, Kailus’s main point was what followed.
“But Ms. Diaz has a modest disposition, so she will feel burdened by being entangled with Your Majesty. If she had known from the start that you were the Emperor, I doubt she would have even let you near her.”
It was a speculative statement, but putting the reputation of the information guild head on the line, it was a hypothesis with a high probability.
Edwin, who knew well that most of Kailus’s predictions hit the mark, saw his face turn pale again.
Yet Kailus continued without hesitation.
“If she finds out late that you were already entangled without her knowing…… will she try to run away? She is generally a rational person, but she does have a tendency to do things in a big way occasionally.”
He was the type to raise his master to be strong.
Edwin’s face was now like storm clouds just before rain.
“For now, it would be best not to reveal your identity for a while.”
It was advice given as the Emperor’s advisor and friend.
“But.”
Edwin, who had been listening silently, protested.
Now that he recognized the fact that he was deceiving Ri-Na, it seemed to be weighing on his heart. He also seemed surprised to hear from another’s lips what kind of serious consequences things he had carelessly ignored might bring.
‘If you were going to be like that, you should have said so sooner. This is why royals are the way they are.’
Since he had learned how to govern people, he was inevitably weak in the area of interacting with them.
Kailus managed his expression and scolded Edwin only in his heart.
‘Though if he had done that, they wouldn’t have become a couple dating in the first place.’
It was a sentiment of friendship, thinking that if he were going to be dumped, it would have hurt less to be dumped early on.