Unbeknownst to Me, I am Secretly Dating the Emperor - Chapter 60

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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 60
‘Duke Camelot is absolutely not the type to hire extra workers just to protect the work-life balance of his miners.’
I sketched numbers in the air with a pen that held no ink.
‘This is how much Iron Ore a skilled miner can extract in a day.’
A rough calculation showed that if all the newly hired miners were deployed to extraction, they could have mined enough to account for the missing Iron Ore and still had surplus.
‘So it’s not that the paperwork was filled out incorrectly—this amount of Iron Ore actually existed.’
They still hadn’t found the black market trade route.
That was also why I’d had to let Duke Camelot’s excuse slide before.
There was no evidence of Iron Ore being traded.
‘And it wasn’t even sold to another country.’
The Blue Hawk’s investigation was quite far along.
They’d finished examining all domestic routes and were now investigating foreign ones.
At the same time, they were also investigating whether there might be unknown new black market traders within the country.
I flipped through the attached investigation report carefully.
Half to grasp the situation as Lucy had mentioned, half hoping to stumble upon some hint.
‘Puzzles and riddles are always solved better by someone seeing them for the first time than by someone who’s studied them repeatedly.’
Allowing an adaptation period was welcome, but since I had ulterior motives, I needed to build trust quickly.
If there was an opportunity, I had to seize it.
‘I was scouted and brought in, so I want to show results too.’
Hoping for a beginner’s luck, I scanned the documents with wide eyes, but it wasn’t easy.
‘These people are incredibly thorough.’
Instead of finding a clue to solve the case, I only learned how competent my future colleagues were.
Looking at the Blue Hawk, already investigating everything I could imagine, I clicked my tongue.
‘This won’t work this time.’
After finishing all the documents Lucy had left behind, I postponed demonstrating my skills to another opportunity.
No new ideas outside the investigation’s scope came to mind.
‘There’ll be other cases.’
Instead, I took on miscellaneous tasks to help the busy staff.
I thought I’d done this and that, but there was still quite a bit of time until lunch.
Meanwhile, the other employees were performing a marvel of concentration, recording something with their right hand while flipping through documents with their left.
Asking if there was anything else to help with would only be a distraction at a time like this.
‘What am I supposed to do now.’
‘Not working yourself to death’ was my life’s goal, but having lived busily all this time, such paid idle time felt unfamiliar.
Sitting up straight with only my eyes moving, I eventually decided to reread the documents from earlier.
‘Doing anything would be better than just sitting here blankly.’
I pulled the documents back from where I’d pushed them aside on one corner of my desk.
Though I’d seen them before, I flipped through from the first page as if seeing them for the first time.
Even so, a second reading gave me a slightly broader perspective on the case than before.
Since I was only reading to kill time, I scrutinized even the parts I’d glossed over during my first read.
‘They said classified documents are stored separately, so I’m free to look up any materials I need while reading.’
Whenever I came across parts I didn’t fully understand, I retrieved the materials I’d seen while organizing documents earlier and placed them beside me.
Using my mind for something other than work felt refreshing after so long.
I devoured the documents lightly, as though reading a mystery novel.
Thinking through what trick Duke Camelot might have used to smuggle away the Iron Ore if I were him.
‘Wait.’
I flipped through the documents rapidly to verify the idea that had just occurred to me.
‘Yes, that’s it.’
The Blue Hawk’s investigation was being conducted under the assumption that Duke Camelot had disposed of the Iron Ore.
‘But what if the Iron Ore is still in his fief?’
Even with the Blue Hawk tearing everything apart, there would be no way for the Iron Ore’s movement route to surface.
Because it never moved.
‘They probably thought he’d disposed of all of it since they sent people to rake through Camelot’s fief and found no hidden Iron Ore.’
The Iron Ore Duke Camelot had smuggled away was roughly equivalent to a year’s worth of extraction from his fief.
Since the Iron Ore mine in Camelot’s fief was the Empire’s largest, a year’s extraction would be almost a small mountain.
It was unreasonable to think such a quantity could be hidden from the Blue Hawk’s eyes, so concluding he’d already disposed of it elsewhere was natural.
Most would.
‘But I know a place where such an amount of Iron Ore could be stored away from prying eyes.’
More precisely, if Duke Camelot really was storing the Iron Ore in his fief, I knew the only place it would be possible.
‘The Secret Space in Camelot Castle.’
In the original work, there was a scene where Duke Camelot fled through a secret passage to escape the Emperor’s knights who came to capture him, abandoning even his family.
Perhaps wanting to show the villain’s tragic end in detail, enough was revealed that I knew both the location of the secret space and how to open it.
‘An underground passage connecting the castle to a nearby mountain. Wide enough for two or three sturdy adult men to pass through.’
A space that size could easily hide Iron Ore the size of a small mountain.
Though questions remained about why Duke Camelot would keep such a bulky and heavy Iron Ore instead of disposing of it, it was a plausible hypothesis.
‘In any case, the Blue Hawk is currently investigating with all possibilities wide open.’
But to present my opinion, I needed stronger grounds.
‘If it really is hidden in the secret space, it would be easy to move elsewhere if needed.’
Searching the castle blindly without disclosing the location of the secret space would be terribly inefficient.
‘But I can’t exactly say I was reincarnated and a book I read in my past life contained both the location of Duke Camelot’s secret space and how to open it.’
I needed to find something presentable to others that would allow the investigation to proceed swiftly.
Fortunately, an adequate excuse came to mind.
I quietly rose from my seat and went to find the errand boy.
“Would you deliver a note to Coni from the Ministry of Finance?”
It was a note asking whether she could obtain an interior map of Camelot Castle.
‘A castle that old probably has architectural plans or something stored in the Imperial Palace.’
Since the Empire originated as a confederation of kingdoms, materials about strategic locations in each region were still being collected and maintained.
I planned to find evidence that the secret space existed and present it as a possibility.
‘I could say I got the idea that it might be hidden somewhere in the castle and checked.’
“Yes, but it might take some time.”
The boy who took the note asked for understanding.
There was almost no restriction on documents or items passing between departments within the Inner Palace, but anything coming from outside the Inner Palace involved more complicated procedures.
“It’s not urgent, so take your time bringing it.”
Pushing for speed would only draw attention from others.
I smiled gently and, as I often had when working at the Ministry of Finance, provided him with snacks.
“I’ll bring it today!”
The boy who received the snacks laughed brightly and promised.
“Thank you.”
‘I didn’t mean to rush, but if he brings it today, that’s fine by me.’
I returned to my desk in the office and continued reading the report.
However, before I could finish the investigation report, lunch hour arrived.
“It’s lunchtime!”
Derek jumped up from his seat the moment the cuckoo clock struck noon, announcing the hour precisely.
Then the staff members who had been concentrating on their work gradually stood up one by one.
I also waited for the right moment before standing.
As if she’d been waiting, Bes, who was sitting at the desk farthest from me, came over briskly.
“The Outer Palace food isn’t very good, is it?”

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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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