The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 13

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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 13
“Huan?”
It was Namia’s voice. There was something suspicious in her tone.
Huan… so that was him.
‘Namia’s twin brother that I read about in the report?’
Following her voice came hurried footsteps and exclamations about some terrible crisis befalling their parents, then the sounds faded into the distance.
Kiaros furrowed his brow, and the Aide beside him tilted his head, speaking as if in passing.
“Even her twin brother has come looking for her. I wonder what on earth has happened to that sharp-tongued young lady’s family.”
At the Aide’s words, Kiaros immediately lifted his head.
“Is that so? Then investigate the Loapi Baronial Family more thoroughly.”
“…Pardon?”
The somewhat oblivious Aide wore a bewildered expression. Kiaros spoke gravely.
“If you’re curious, your work efficiency will suffer.”
“Well, I’m not really that curious…”
“If you keep dwelling on it, distracting thoughts will prevent you from carrying out my orders properly.”
“I don’t think it will really bother me that much…”
“For the sake of your mental health and well-being, I should do at least this much.”
“That seems like far too much effort for such a trivial curiosity on my part…”
“Investigating one noble family in the Capital is hardly a burden at all.”
Kiaros placed his hand on the Aide’s shoulder and issued his command.
“Not just surface-level information like last time—dig deeper. Mobilize The Ravens.”
The Ravens were the Crown Prince’s direct intelligence organization.
In other words, he intended to uncover everything about the Loapi Baronial Family.
“Yes, Your Highness. Understood.”
And the Aide’s eyes glistened with tears at Kiaros’s consideration for him.
* * *
“Father.”
My earliest memory was of nights spent whimpering in Father’s arms, half-asleep.
“You became like this because of me, didn’t you, Father?”
Father, with silver hair and blue eyes identical to mine—the kindest person in the world.
Father was born as the second son of the Loapi Baronial Family.
The Loapi Baronial Family was already a fallen noble house in decline, and the title was set to pass to his older brother, making Father little different from a commoner.
“I’m truly sorry… for being born… I’m sorry.”
Originally, Father was an ethics teacher at a school in a rural village.
He would commute by bicycle, teach the children, and loved lying on the grass reading books—a simple young man.
Father met a woman through a parent’s introduction and married her.
[What? You said you were nobles! How can nobles be this poor? I thought you people were just modest in your lifestyle!]
But that woman changed completely right after the marriage. Her complaint was simple: there was no money, absolutely none.
Afterward, she abandoned me, newly born, with Father and fled.
That woman—my mother—had no choice but to flee. She was burdened with enormous debt.
The Loan Sharks came after Father immediately.
[It’s pitiful that you were deceived into marriage, but that’s not our concern. Once the divorce is processed, you won’t have to repay anything. But hand over that daughter. She has to repay the debt. We already have debt documents in her name.]
At that moment, Father refused to hand me over—I was just an infant then.
[What? You won’t give us your daughter? If you won’t hand her over, then you have to repay all this debt yourself. Understand?]
It was predictable what those notorious villains would do.
In the end, Father quit his job at a low-paying school, insisting he would repay the debt himself. From there, he took on any work—manual labor, mercenary jobs, anything.
“Don’t say such things about our daughter. She’s the most precious treasure to me. I can do anything for our Namia.”
Yet no matter how hard Father worked day and night, the debt only grew. The interest was simply too steep.
Still, Father never gave up on me.
I was left with various people, only meeting Father when night fell.
With each passing day, my body bore more wounds and grew thinner. Whenever I felt sad about it, Father would pull me close and tell me the most beautiful stories.
“My daughter, once everything is over, let’s go stargazing with Father.”
“Stars? I can see them from here too.”
“No, there’s a place far away called the Observatory. I really want to take you there once you’re older.”
I told Father everything as well.
All the things that happened to me throughout each day.
“Really? But does using this help you see the stars better?”
“…What is this, daughter?”
“It’s a magic scroll. I saw a book in the Library and adapted it to make this.”
“You… made this? A magic scroll? By yourself?”
When Father couldn’t find a suitable place to leave me, he would leave me at the Library.
Worried the Loan Sharks might secretly take me away, he would dress me in a hat that covered my hair completely and a mask that hid half my face.
I found the outfit suffocating, but I endured it and never took it off.
By chance, I discovered a book about magic scrolls there, and it fascinated me so much that I began making scrolls on my own.
“…What is this?”
Father gasped in surprise when he activated the scroll I had drawn so clumsily, muttering to himself.
“It really… works, doesn’t it?”
“Yes. It really does work.”
I was eight years old then.
Normally, only Academy students could make scrolls, so Father’s shock was understandable.
“Namia, this isn’t the first one you made, is it? Have you made more?”
“Yes.”
I spoke proudly.
“I even saved a boy today with one.”
“…Saved him?”
“A boy in the Library Courtyard had a blade flying at him. I saw it from the window and blocked it with a scroll.”
“…Really?”
“He was wearing nice clothes, but his manner of speaking was arrogant. He didn’t even properly thank me.”
At my rambling words, Father furrowed his brow and asked urgently.
“You didn’t tell him your name, did you? You didn’t say your name, right?”
“Of course I didn’t tell anyone! Father said never to speak of it to people he doesn’t know. I wore my hat and mask the entire time!”
“You did well, my clever daughter.”
Father exhaled a long breath of relief. I continued chattering away.
“Oh, but that child told me to come see Count Kalto.”
“Is that so? Since House Kalto has no sons, it must be the child of a high-ranking servant.”
“Do you think they’ll give me some money? I was already wondering whether to go or not, but I wanted to ask you first before deciding.”
I pressed my thumb and forefinger together to mime the shape of money, and Father slowly shook his head.
“Don’t go. And let’s stop visiting that library altogether. We’d have to reveal your identity, and if something goes wrong in the process, what then? Besides, even if we received a few coins, it wouldn’t change our situation.”
“Understood. But Father.”
“Yes?”
“…Will things actually change if we just stay like this?”
The truth was, we both understood it vaguely. That we couldn’t continue living this way.
That our ever-mounting debt would eventually consume us.
“Father, but… I don’t mind if I’m taken away.”
I fidgeted in Father’s embrace as I spoke.
“If that means you’ll be free, I think that would be good too.”
“Namia.”
Father’s voice turned stern at my words.
“Never think such things again, ever. It breaks my heart.”
“…Okay. But actually, I’ve been thinking of a different plan.”
“A different plan?”
I clenched my fists and told Father about the scheme I’d been eagerly contemplating lately.
“I’ll marry a man with lots and lots of money. Since Father’s debts came from marriage, couldn’t I pay them off through marriage too? By marrying a man with tons and tons and tons of money.”
By my own reasoning, it was a perfectly logical strategy.
“It’s what you might call the Cinderella Plan! Cinderella might not suit my temperament, but if it means paying off the debt!”
“Don’t say such things. Our Namia should marry someone she loves.”
“But….”
“From now on, don’t mention debt at all. It’s not something a child should worry about.”
But from that night onward, Father couldn’t sleep well.
When I woke at dawn, I could see Father staring intently at the scrolls I had made.
Father gazed at the scrolls with an expression more troubled than ever, exhaling a deep sigh and muttering to himself.
“Sigh… Our daughter is far too clever… I really shouldn’t be raising her this way….”
Then came a certain day.
Father didn’t go out on his usual early morning errand.
From morning, he bought me fine clothes in abundance and we ate delicious things together.
Though an ominous feeling crept over me, I smiled with all my strength.
I had the sense that I wouldn’t see Father for a very long time.
Even if Father were to send me to the Loan Sharks, I had resolved to smile and say it was ‘alright’.
But the place Father took me to, holding my hand, was utterly unexpected.

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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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