Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 32

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 32
“Hmm?”
“What I mean is…….”
‘Every time I see his face, my heart flutters. How am I supposed to ask him to wear a hood or something?’
In the end, I fumbled through and just asked how he’d been.
“How was your week?”
‘Oh, that’s a weird tone.’
Still, it wasn’t bad reflexes for someone like me.
I waited for Everett’s answer, patting myself on the back in silence.
“Nothing much happened…….”
When our eyes met, Everett scratched his cheek and smiled faintly.
“Always nothing much, according to you.”
I raised my voice just enough for Everett to hear and grumbled.
Everett had improved from the beginning, but he was still on the taciturn side.
I made a habit of asking this reticent man small, casual questions first.
In particular, “What did you do last week?” was a question I’d asked at every exhibition since the second one.
And the answer was always the same.
Having asked for the third time and received “Nothing much happened…….” all three times, I was feeling a bit put out.
‘Doesn’t he know about small talk?’
Considering the considerable eight-year age gap, I tried to act mature, but my lips pouted anyway.
Meanwhile, Everett, trying to contribute to the conversation in his own way, turned the question back on me.
“And you?”
His tone suggested he had no idea at what point I’d gotten upset.
‘That’s the third time I’m hearing that.’
“I didn’t have much going on either.”
‘As if my life is overflowing with episodes every day.’
I straightened my posture from where I’d been leaning forward and crossed my arms.
As defensively as possible.
In other words, to put as much distance between myself and Everett as I could manage.
As I visibly pushed my chair back and adjusted my position, Everett’s upper body leaned slightly toward me instead.
“Diaz?”
Having heard “Nothing much happened…….” over and over again, and having carelessly unloaded my own daily life with a “Well, just listen to my stories then” attitude, I now clamped my mouth shut—and Everett looked flustered.
After hesitating for a moment, Everett spoke carefully.
“Now that I think about it, I wonder if there’s really any day where nothing happens.”
Then he glanced sideways at me, as if checking a graded assignment.
‘Submitted past deadline. C+.’
Still, when a man who seemed built to never know how to read the room kept watching my expression, I found myself ready to cut him some slack.
“You’re right.”
I uncrossed my arms and nodded appropriately, and Everett’s face brightened instantly.
“Yes.”
I slid my chair back closer.
This is your chance to retake the test. There won’t be a third one.
‘At the very least, tell me something—that summer roses bloomed in the Inner Palace gardens, or that you had dinner with your fellow knights, something like that.’
I gave Everett a sly wink to encourage him to continue, and like he’d received a cue, he slowly opened his mouth.
“So this week…….”
But the man with few words seemed to be struggling to pick an appropriate topic for casual conversation.
I offered him encouragement with silence and a smile.
Finally, the slight furrow in Everett’s brow eased.
He seemed to have thought of a suitable anecdote.
“Come to think of it…….”
Everett opened with a dry, report-reading tone.
“We had second reparations adjustment negotiations with Bellot, and they fell through. We were trying to wrap things up this time, but it got a bit complicated.”
His tone matched the conversation topic he’d finally thought of perfectly.
‘Sorry? That’s not what I was asking for at all.’
My eyes went wide at a story on a completely different scale than the small talk I’d been hoping for.
‘With Bellot?’
What?
‘Wait, is this something I’m even allowed to hear?’
Even at first glance, it sounded like a diplomatic secret that a low-level palace administrator shouldn’t be privy to.
“Wait, hold on a moment.”
I hurried to stop Everett.
Everett, about to describe what he called his daily life but was actually a matter of state, halted.
“Why?”
His expression suggested he had no idea why I was stopping him.
“Isn’t this classified information?”
I double-checked the door, which was already firmly closed, before asking Everett in a low voice.
‘In the Imperial Palace, you have to watch your ears and your eyes.’
Even though he must have worked there far longer than I had.
Seeing my panicked state, Everett laughed.
“Hardly.”
Everett laughed playfully.
“That’s not just your personal opinion, right? It’s official?”
Everett’s answer was certain, leaving no room for doubt, but I made sure to double-check.
“The Empire’s official position.”
Everett chuckled and answered offhandedly.
“That’s a relief, then.”
Only then could I let out a sigh of relief.
“You startled me.”
I aired my grievances and collapsed onto the table.
My heart was pounding for a different reason now.
Everett laughed aloud.
“I can’t tell if you’re timid or fearless.”
Then he teased me mischievously.
“I prefer to live a long, quiet life.”
I grumbled while still draped over the table.
“Word hasn’t reached the Outer Palace yet, but everyone working in the Inner Palace already knows. There’s nothing secret about it.”
Everett explained soothingly.
“Then I suppose it’s fine.”
Reassured, I relaxed—but Everett, having talked with me, seemed to remember the reparations renegotiation with Bellot and added irritably,
“The Crown Princess can be rather loud about things.”
At this point, Everett’s expression hardened slightly.
“She comes as a guest and carries on like that—word is bound to spread.”
His trailing remark was muttered quietly, but his diction was clear enough that I heard every word.
I checked once more that the door was firmly closed at Everett’s uninhibited speech.
‘Even if she’s a princess from another country, shouldn’t he speak about the Crown Princess more respectfully?’
When I flinched with an uncomfortable expression, Everett belatedly added an honorific.
“What I mean is, the Crown Princess, she…….”
Everett seemed genuinely awkward about using an honorific for the Crown Princess.
As if he’d never once addressed anyone with respect.
‘Well, knights are known for rough manners, after all.’
Especially since Bellot had been at war with us until very recently, it wouldn’t be strange if there was lingering ill will.
‘I haven’t exactly watched my tongue when talking about Koni and Donovan either.’
His casual way of speaking seemed like evidence that Everett felt quite comfortable with me.
I’d already made my peace with it, but when Everett saw my silence, he seemed to think he’d misspoken and tried to change the subject.
“And what else happened that week?”
His eyes rolled around before his mouth opened.
I widened my eyes and smiled at Everett.
“So how exactly was the Crown Princess carrying on?”
I wanted to tease him.
Knowing my intention was transparent, Everett shook his head in exaggerated denial.
I saw the deliberately serious expression Everett had put on and laughed aloud.
But Everett wasn’t the type to simply accept teasing.
He feigned not to notice the playfulness layered at about seventy percent transparency in my question and continued the conversation.
With the feeling that he didn’t really want to talk about work on precious weekend time, but since I’d asked, he’d answer.
“She started planning charitable donations aimed at the nobility, but when it didn’t work, she went to the Temple and requested personnel for relief efforts—that sort of thing.”
“Oh.”
‘She’s got some nerve.’
Those were certainly inappropriate actions for someone from another country—and one we’d been at war with just recently.
I let out a round-mouthed exclamation of wonder, and Everett laughed along.
Finding my reaction amusing, Everett unfolded a few more anecdotes about the Crown Princess.
“The reparations renegotiation fell through precisely because the Crown Princess was so persistent.”
The troublemaker he’d left back at his office came to mind, and Everett’s brow furrowed again.
“She just keeps saying that the Empire’s benevolence is like the vast ocean.”
Everett clicked his tongue softly.
“Wait—isn’t the Crown Princess pro-Empire?”
Everett smiled as if he’d heard a genuinely funny joke.
“That woman is still Bellot at heart. She’s thrown her lot in with the Empire because rejecting us would be ruin—nothing more.”
The back channels seemed to have details beyond what any newspaper column had covered.
“Of course, the Empire also saw the necessity of maintaining Bellot’s current royal house, so we took the hand offered.”
In this moment, Everett seemed more strategist than knight.
“I’ve heard that the reparations renegotiation is under discussion because accepting the originally set amount would result in half of Bellot’s population starving.”
I grew serious as well.
“Exactly. But we can’t be too lenient either, which is where the problem lies. Relations are strained.”
Everett summed up the situation in a single sentence.
“Because Bellot was the backbone of the Royal Alliance Army?”
Everett smiled as if looking at a diligent student and nodded.
“We were supposed to receive grain and other goods, but instead we need to collect different items—and except for perhaps the King’s Crown, they’d be left with nothing.”
“Why not just take the Crown?”
“What?”
My casually thrown remark made Everett’s eyes go wide.
As if to say, isn’t that a bit much?

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————