I Didn't Realize I Was Secretly Dating the Emperor
“Can’t you tell just by looking? It’s something Donovan assigned.”
Constance pouted and answered as if it were no big deal.
“No, I know Donovan assigned it, but aren’t you originally in charge of the eastern territories?”
The documents Constance had handed me were for the western estates.
And not just any documents—records of strategic material transactions between territories.
“Were you not around back then? I was already swamped to death, and Donovan just dumped this on me before leaving… So now I’m dying even more.”
Constance ground her teeth.
I pretended not to hear the string of complaints pouring out of her and asked,
“Why pull this out separately?”
“Exactly. That’s what I’m saying.”
Records of strategic material transactions between territories were essentially a side attachment.
It would have been far more efficient for Andrew, the official in charge of the western estates, to handle it himself.
A short silence fell between us.
And it was Constance who broke it.
“Now that you mention it, it does feel a bit strange.”
Constance scratched her cheek, complaining that she hadn’t slept enough and her brain wasn’t working properly.
“I just assumed Donovan was doing it because he plays favorites with you.”
She tapped the documents on the desk with her index finger and grumbled.
“That Andrew guy is always saying his cousin, Baron So-and-So, entrusted him with family business and he doesn’t have time, so he avoids anything difficult.”
It was such a ridiculous excuse to give while receiving a salary, but it worked surprisingly well on status-obsessed Donovan.
Because he’s desperate to get in the good graces of Andrew’s cousin as well.
And the work Andrew abandoned would naturally get passed on to the employees Donovan considered pushovers.
Even though everyone accepts it begrudgingly because that viscount cousin of Andrew’s really does hold quite a bit of influence.
The fact that Donovan was the type to single out people he disliked and torment them also played a part.
It’s dirty and underhanded, but that’s how it is in a class-based society.
It was a familiar kind of irrationality.
With a few small exceptions.
“Even so, wouldn’t it have been more efficient to assign it to someone else who also handles the west?”
Constance, who had only ever been in charge of the eastern territories, would need to familiarize herself with the entire structure of the western region first.
Since the empire originated as a union of kingdoms, there are slight differences in practices by region.
From the minor—how numbers are recorded in accounting ledgers—to the major, like tax collection ratios.
The east and west in particular had almost no interaction during the old kingdom era, so the differences were especially pronounced.
And yet he specifically gave it to Constance? It really is suspicious.
I almost connected the instinctive warning I’d felt while watching Donovan yell at Constance with the sense of unease I was getting from these documents, but I stopped myself.
I hoped it wasn’t that bad.
I lightly shook my head to clear the thoughts and said in a joking tone,
“Maybe you were just the easiest target?”
It was meant to lighten the increasingly serious atmosphere, but honestly, it sounded far too plausible.
Completely ignoring efficiency and just dumping it on the person who looks easiest to push around—that’s exactly the kind of thing Donovan would do.
Constance shuddered as if she’d gotten goosebumps at my guess and grumbled,
“Being ranked number one on Donovan’s ‘Easiest Person to Push Around’ list… it’s making this orphan very sad, you know?”
She made fake sobbing noises with her mouth.
When I hesitated, unsure how to react, she started acting even more dramatically, like a theater performer pretending to be heartbroken.
“That’s right! I don’t have parents and I don’t have any money either!”
If I left her alone, there was no telling how far she’d go.
“Hey! When did I ever say anything like that?”
To prevent Satan from losing his job, I grabbed a few more documents from Constance’s desk.
Constance glanced sideways at the thickness of the stack I’d taken, stopped pretending to cry, and smiled in satisfaction.
“But at least I have Carolina Diaz!”
She danced around in some bizarre way while declaring that rooming with me at the academy was the greatest stroke of luck in her life.
Of course I knew she was only pretending to be gloomy as a joke, but the shift in attitude was so extreme it was almost startling.
“I would’ve helped you even if you didn’t do all that.”
I gave her a light glare and returned to my seat.
Then I picked up my pen again.
The west has a lot of iron mines, so it’s pretty complicated.
In particular, the Camelot ducal house—the ruler of the west and a wealthy powerhouse—owned several iron mines, and the transaction records involving their vassal families were quite tangled.
On the surface, it looks like they borrowed money during a bad harvest and, unable to repay in cash, settled the debt with goods instead.
The IOUs had been split, combined, and passed around so many times that it was difficult to track.
No wonder the young master said he couldn’t handle it and ran away.
It seemed like I’d taken on more work than I’d expected, but it was better to look at even one more page than waste time regretting it.
I forced my bleary eyes wide open and flipped through the documents one by one.
Constance must have wanted to finish quickly and get at least a little sleep too, because she worked without saying a word.
The two of us left in the office continued working like that until the sun came up.
I really did nothing but breathe and work.
Thanks to that, we managed to finish everything before Donovan—who had supposedly stepped out for a moment and then just gone home—arrived the next morning.
I handed the completed report to Constance.
After receiving the documents, she once again danced around while singing her self-composed song with the incredibly long title, “Rooming with Carolina Diaz Is My Greatest Fortune.”
“Just hurry up and get it approved.”
“Yeah. Seriously, thank you, Lina.”
After having the processed documents checked by Donovan, Constance immediately headed home, complaining that she felt like she was really going to die.
Donovan muttered that throwing a tantrum like that over this much work showed how weak her mentality was, but it didn’t matter anyway.
Starting today, there was a three-day special holiday for all imperial palace staff.
Of course nagging wouldn’t work. It’s a direct order from the Emperor.
Most employees didn’t even come in at all. The few who did only handled urgent matters and left immediately.
I waited a little longer, watching the situation, then carefully slipped out as well.
Worried that someone might call me back, I left the palace without making a single sound and walked another block before quickly catching a shared carriage.
Feeling the bumpy ride of the shared carriage, I dozed off and before I knew it, I was home.
I gathered the last of my strength to wash up, then collapsed straight onto the bed.
The moment my head hit the pillow, it felt like someone had struck the back of my neck—my memories cut off completely.
Whether it was sleep or passing out, I couldn’t tell.
“I slept like the dead.”
The sky outside was dimly bright. When I checked the clock, it was six in the morning.
“Should I call this waking up early?”
I had wasted the first day of my holiday, but it was fine.
I still had two more days left.
I wanted to see the imperial army’s parade and the fireworks, though.
I wasn’t too disappointed.
After being so busy, spending time on all the things I’d put off didn’t sound bad at all.
“It’s been a while. I should get some snacks for the cats, stop by the grocery store, and clean the house.”
I got ready to go out simply, then took some chicken jerky from the cupboard.
When I arrived at Grizel Park—the area the cats had claimed as their territory—I called out to them in a quiet voice.
“Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol, where are you?”
After calling them a couple of times while checking for mourners, the cats began appearing one by one from afar.
Sol, the most affectionate of them all, rubbed against my shin in greeting.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
Just like her name, Sol—who had the highest octave in her meows—let out an adorable “Nya~.”
I gave each of the cats a piece of jerky.
With fairly large pieces in their mouths, they moved a short distance away and began eating.
As soon as they finished, the cats that came back asking for more received several additional servings of chicken jerky.
Until the supply I’d brought ran out.
Fortunately, the full-bellied cats each went to their favorite spots and began grooming or purring contentedly in the sunlight.
I watched them for a moment with a proud smile, then waved at Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol.
“See you next time.”
It was about time for the grocery store to open.
The park’s western gate was still under construction, so I was heading in that direction when I ran into someone coming in from the opposite side.
It was a large man with his hood pulled down low.
Since the gate was only temporarily open, the path leading to it was quite narrow for two people to pass.
Especially when one of them is a man of that size.
I stepped aside to let the other person pass.
The moment I lifted my head to tell him to go first, I caught a glimpse of the man’s jawline beneath the hood.
It looked strangely familiar.
We had only met face-to-face twice, but it wasn’t a face that was easy to forget.
Huh?
I must have looked surprised without realizing it.
Everett Rohas turned his head slightly to the side and avoided my gaze first.
I must have been staring too hard.
“Um, please go ahead.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, I gestured for Everett Rohas to pass.
He stared at me for a moment before giving a small nod and walking by.
I only turned around to look after he had gone quite far.
What a coincidence.
I hadn’t expected to run into him again.
And I certainly hadn’t expected this incredible streak of coincidences to continue.