The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 100

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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 100
What is this? What on earth is happening?
I’d never experienced anything like this before. What was going on?
I was utterly bewildered.
At the same moment, Kibon threw off the blanket and sprang to his feet.
“Are you alright?”
Despite his illness, his movements were remarkably swift and agile. He seized my shoulders urgently and demanded answers.
“What are your symptoms? Have you experienced anything like this before?”
“Ah, no….”
I quickly wiped my mouth with the damp cloth I was holding.
“My stomach’s been unsettled for a few days, but….”
“Sigh…. I should have taken you to the hospital back then.”
But who goes to the hospital for simple indigestion?
Naturally, I’d attributed it to nerves before the Saint Cairo Banquet.
Yet the nausea that had plagued me had somehow subsided.
I’d only vomited blood, but my physical condition felt remarkably good. For the first time in days, I was actually hungry.
“Get on my back.”
Kibon turned and offered his back to me.
“What? Where are we going?”
“To see a doctor.”
“What? A doctor in the middle of the night?”
It was 3 in the morning. There was no way any hospital would be open.
Yet he immediately hoisted me onto his back regardless. My body lifted effortlessly.
This time, the bed Kibon had been lying on moments before collapsed with a heavy creak.
“Hey, where are we going?”
“If we go to the Imperial Palace, the Imperial Palace physician….”
“No!”
Was he out of his mind? Why would the Imperial Palace physician see me? They fundamentally only treated members of the Imperial Family.
“And this… seems suspicious.”
Kibon was already sprinting outside without hesitation. Even as fever burned through him, he ran without wavering.
I leaned close to his ear and whispered.
“Wait, stop for a moment, Kibon. It’s not that I refuse to see a doctor. It’s just that I’m experiencing symptoms I’ve never encountered before….”
Just then, a tree beside us toppled over. Kibon ground his teeth and muttered under his breath, “This hopeless perverted bastard, of all times….”
“The truth is, there might be forces targeting me. You wouldn’t understand, but I’ve somehow become entangled in Imperial Family affairs….”
I had already calculated everything with cold precision.
‘I thought the Gaejo Faction would target me during the Saint Cairo Banquet. That’s why I decided to lie low starting tomorrow. But what if they’ve been targeting me doubly even before that?’
If that were the case, spreading word of my symptoms would be like revealing my hand to my enemies.
I issued a command to Kibon, who had momentarily hesitated.
“Go to Luca. I know the address of the boarding house.”
I’d learned the address when I’d asked about the boarding house before.
“You’re the only doctor I can trust.”
Luca Class. A skilled physician who saved all of Jayden’s close associates in the original story.
Back then, Jayden had even evaluated him, saying, “He’s more skilled than the Imperial Palace physicians.” So I could trust Luca’s abilities.
“But the Imperial Palace physician….”
“That’s an order. Don’t argue—just do as I say.”
I spoke firmly to Kibon, who kept rambling about the Imperial Palace without understanding the situation.
“I have enemies. If word spreads throughout the entire Imperial Palace that I’m ill, and my situation becomes more dangerous because of it, will you take responsibility? Stop talking and move.”
“Then I have a condition.”
Kibon, whose demeanor shifted to obedience the moment I said “order,” spoke up.
“Tomorrow morning, it would be best to meet with the Imperial Palace physician right away. I will inform Crown Prince Kiaros.”
“You will?”
“Yes. When I met the Crown Prince regarding the Howard Olten matter last time, he granted me the authority to contact him directly at any time and place.”
Ah, that Eldest Son of Olten Merchant Guild who went to the provincial area because of that civil servant harassment incident….
Kibon had testified to Kiaros back then, or so I’d heard….
“Ugh, why does it have to be the Imperial Palace physician…. I hope I don’t get scolded for bothering Yongin with something like this.”
I grumbled in displeasure, but there was no response.
“And it’s not ‘when I met the Crown Prince,’ it’s ‘when I had an audience with His Highness the Crown Prince’….”
In the meantime, Kibon hoisted me onto his back and began running toward Luca’s boarding house.
* * *
“Mm.”
Luca greeted Kiaros and Namia in his nightclothes.
At first, he regarded them drowsily. But when Namia exclaimed, “Your rival is dying!” he began his examination with great fervor.
It was because he couldn’t let me go before they’d even properly begun their competition.
After conducting all manner of tests for quite some time, he tilted his head and murmured.
“…This is strange….”
Kiaros felt as though his chest was collapsing. So this was what it meant for the world to crumble, he thought.
Simultaneously, self-reproach began to set in.
When I said my stomach felt heavy, I should have insisted on seeing the Imperial Palace physician no matter what. Or better yet, I should have taken her to the hospital….
His heart ached as though it were burning.
“Ha…. This really is strange….”
Luca continued tilting his head in confusion. Kiaros breathed heavily and roughly.
When Namia coughed up blood, he truly felt the world spinning around him.
Even if it were an incurable disease, he would save her. He would save her no matter what. Absolutely, by any means necessary….
“So what’s strange about it?”
Namia asked indifferently. Even now, she remained largely unperturbed.
Luca smacked his lips as though troubled before speaking.
“Everything is perfectly normal. All of it.”
Kiaros, whose tension suddenly released, swayed on his feet.
Namia let out a sharp cry.
“What?! Everything is normal, so why is it strange?”
“That’s exactly why it’s strange. I’ve never heard of a disease where everything is normal after coughing up blood.”
Luca continued, clicking his tongue disapprovingly.
“And you’re telling me your stomach was unsettled for days, then after coughing up blood, you felt fine? I’ve genuinely never seen or heard of symptoms like that, Namia.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anyway, everything is normal now, and there’s no medication to prescribe or surgery to perform.”
Luca declared this with his arms crossed.
“But just to be safe, I’ll do some more research. Let me draw a bit more blood before you go.”
“Understood.”
Namia nodded obediently.
Kiaros watched quietly as she had her blood drawn.
He couldn’t simply accept the word of a Medical and Health Department employee. He was determined to bring Namia to the Imperial Palace physician one way or another.
“We’re seeing a lot of blood today.”
Luca murmured as he drew the blood.
“Hm? What blood?”
“Ah… the High Priest also suddenly coughed up blood. I was called urgently to examine him, but he insisted he was fine and that it was just an old condition, so he refused treatment.”
“The High Priest… did?”
“Yeah.”
Luca continued with a yawn.
“Well, I saw him eating the banquet food just fine, so I felt awkward and just left.”
Kiaros’s brow furrowed slightly. He could have sworn the High Priest said something about feeling unwell earlier.
“…I see.”
Namia answered slowly. The brightness that had sparkled in her eyes after coughing up blood had dimmed.
After a moment of contemplation, she changed the subject.
“Luca, could you examine Kibon too? He’s running quite a fever. Even after taking antipyretics, his temperature still isn’t normal.”
“Huh? Why should I?”
Luca shrugged.
“It’s clearly nothing serious, and he’s healthy enough to recover quickly.”
“What if he gets worse?”
“Go to the hospital. It’s not urgent. Don’t ask someone of my caliber to see such trivial patients.”
As far as he knew, every Medical and Health Department employee’s dream was to examine a member of the Imperial Family once…
In any case, Kibon had no intention of being examined by Luca either.
So he grabbed Namia’s arm as her eyes began to narrow with irritation.
“I should be going as well. I’m truly fine.”
“But still…”
“The Crown Prince said I could contact him anytime, so I should tell him to arrange an Imperial Palace physician for me right away.”
“Oh, really?”
Namia’s eyes sparkled with sudden brightness.
Kiaros flinched.
Just moments ago, she had been dismissive, saying “what Imperial Palace physician?”
“Why did she suddenly change her mind?”
Namia broke into a radiant smile, and I felt an involuntary surge of unease. Whenever she wore that expression, she became utterly unpredictable.
“When you contact him now, relay a message from me.”
“Um… what…?”
“I have a confidential favor to ask—would it be alright if I leveraged the Crown Prince’s name? He’ll probably agree without much thought, but regardless, I need you to bring back that approval.”
Kiaros, who had a history of carelessly agreeing to things and becoming “Dragon Brother” as a result, found himself muttering despite himself.
“What, what else are you planning to sell off and how…?”

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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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