Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 160

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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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Chapter 160
Ed’s office, which I was seeing for the first time, reflected its occupant’s practical nature—only the bare essentials occupied the space.
Yet as befitted an emperor’s office, every item present was of the highest quality, and everything was arranged with meticulous precision.
Even the garden visible through the window from Ed’s desk was beautiful.
The only blemish in this otherwise perfectly balanced and harmonious office was the Heymann Miller Modern Desk, positioned somewhat incongruously among the dark, antique furnishings.
The carpet bore clear indentations where something else—something heavier—had previously stood.
My suspicion hardened into certainty: this desk hadn’t been here until recently.
“Here?”
Doubting the layout before me, I asked Kyle about this absurd arrangement.
“Yes.”
Kyle avoided my eyes as he answered.
“If His Majesty forced this—I mean, if he ordered it—I’ll explain things to him. Please, could we move it somewhere else?”
Kyle laughed awkwardly at my request, clearly uncomfortable.
“His Majesty didn’t order it. I merely asked his permission to place your desk here in his office, and he agreed readily. As for moving it again, the Advisors’ Office has no remaining space, so that won’t be feasible.”
It made no sense.
If two advisors had been reassigned, two desks should have been freed up.
Since I’d agreed to help with work in a temporary assignment capacity until the reassigned advisors returned, I could simply use one of those vacant desks.
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that, do you?”
When I asked with obvious skepticism, Kyle only laughed awkwardly—”Ah, haha”—and opened the door connecting to the Advisors’ Office.
“Ah….”
The moment the door swung open, I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them at the sight that greeted me.
It was, quite literally, a mountain of documents.
Between the paper peaks, I caught glimpses of advisors working with bloodshot eyes.
The desks belonging to the reassigned advisors were so buried under various papers they were barely visible at all.
Kyle’s office back at the imperial palace had been rather cluttered too.
But compared to the Advisors’ Office, it might as well have been a model of organization.
There was barely room for a single person to shuffle through, and even that narrow path was littered with dust bunnies.
This wasn’t a scene I’d deliberately manufactured to force myself to work in Ed’s office.
This was real.
“How did it come to this?”
I sighed, and Kyle offered an embarrassed explanation.
“The workload in the Advisors’ Office has been mounting steadily since His Majesty’s return. There’s no time to organize the papers, so….”
The Advisors’ Office probably had cleaning staff assigned to it, just like the Inspection Unit did.
But they couldn’t enter while work was in progress.
It was a rule born from the fact that every single document on those desks was confidential.
If the office had fallen into such disarray, the meaning was singular.
Someone—at least one person—was always present, working continuously, leaving no opportunity for the cleaning staff to enter.
“Advisors don’t have to live in the Advisors’ Office or anything like that, do they?”
“Of course not.”
Kyle laughed as if he’d heard an amusing joke.
“They do go home periodically.”
“Ah, so they do go home.”
I repeated his words with a defeated expression.
I sighed deeply and accepted my circumstances.
“There really isn’t any space.”
The confidential documents had to be organized by the advisors themselves.
I couldn’t ask already overburdened people to clean the office just because I found it uncomfortable to work in the same space as Ed.
‘And I certainly don’t want to work in that dust pit either.’
Sensing my resignation to working in Ed’s office, Kyle continued with a tender expression.
“Lina, when I made the recruitment offer to you, I said we urgently needed more staff because we were so swamped. But it seems the workload has roughly doubled since then.”
‘Doubled?’
Seeing me instinctively back away, Kyle hurriedly shut the door to the Advisors’ Office.
Then he spoke in a soothing voice to reassure me.
“Of course, I’ll guarantee you leave work on time.”
Kyle unfolded the temporary assignment agreement he’d already signed and carefully highlighted the admirably favorable working condition clauses.
But one sheet of paper couldn’t dispel my fear of overwork.
“Can the assignment be cancelled?”
I asked earnestly, but Kyle pretended not to hear and began my orientation as a temporary staff member.
“It won’t be much different from what you’ve been doing. Mainly compiling reports submitted by each department. You’ll be comfortable with it in three or four days.”
Kyle explained the work ahead as if it were nothing special.
But if it really were nothing special, that mountain of documents made no sense.
Noticing my dubious expression, Kyle added defensively.
“I mean it. I truly believe you’ll be our savior.”
I half-ignored his cascading flattery and remained wary of Kyle.
I learned the real reason Kyle had summoned me only moments later.
While organizing my desk, I needed to ask the Advisors’ Office something and went in—the moment I entered, the office door burst open and Ed returned with the other advisors from the administrative council meeting.
Something must have happened at the meeting; Ed’s mood was distinctly gloomy.
The advisors crept along behind him, barely breathing as they watched his expression.
Ed didn’t spare them a glance, his voice cutting as he spoke.
“I believe I asked you to investigate candidate sites for establishing a new Orphanage on imperial lands. Are you not finished?”
An advisor wearing thick glasses stammered in response.
“I’ll complete it by the end of this week.”
“By the end of this week?”
Ed, who had halted near the office entrance, turned to face the advisor.
The advisor flinched at his frigid stare and hastily corrected himself.
“I’ll finish by tomorrow!”
Ed’s gaze then shifted elsewhere.
This time toward the curly-haired advisor.
“Rufus.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
The curly-haired advisor whose name had been called answered with sudden energy.
“Recompile the report on post-war recovery from the Eastern Border and resubmit it.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
This time, his “Yes, Your Majesty” came out hollow.
Watching Ed work, my impression was: ‘No wonder people still call him a tyrant.’
I exhaled audibly enough to be heard.
At the sound, Ed realized I was in the Advisors’ Office and quickly approached me.
“Lina?”
He called my name with surprise and pleasure, as if wondering if I’d arrived already—his face now soft and utterly lacking the coldness from moments before.
It was a blessing the advisors behind him couldn’t see his expression.
I gave a respectful bow to my superior and lover, who seemed to have left all dignity at the door.
“It’s Carolina Diaz, temporarily assigned to the Advisors’ Office from today.”
I signaled him with my eyes in a businesslike tone.
Under other circumstances, Ed would have pulled me into an embrace and kissed me first—but my signal seemed to work; he merely closed his mouth and stood still.
After greeting the frozen advisors behind Ed with warmth, I made a careful suggestion to Rufus.
“Would it be all right if I helped you organize the post-war recovery report from the Eastern Border?”
Ed had told Rufus to redo it but hadn’t explained why.
‘How frustrating that must be for him.’
I intended to ask Ed directly what the problem was instead.
Since I’d just transferred, the work might be beyond me, but if the superior explained his reasons, it would be easier for Rufus to revise it properly.
Seeming to grasp my intention, Rufus bowed gratefully with a bright face.
“Thank you, Diaz.”
I gave Ed another meaningful look—he was standing there looking as eager as someone who couldn’t wait to embrace me.
I returned to the office after collecting the relevant documents from Rufus in the Advisors’ Office, only to find Ed standing right by the door.
I started and quickly shut the door.
At the same moment, Ed pulled me into his arms.
With the stronger embrace than usual—as if to show his displeasure at my stiffness toward him—the documents I’d been holding scattered to the floor.
I stood there awkwardly, arms suspended in the air, watching the papers flutter down with wide eyes.

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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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