The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 135

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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 135
The Emperor’s eyes opened slowly atop the tree. His mind still drifted between dream and reality.
[Fron, thank you for accepting me.]
As always, it was Fron’s dream.
Fron, who had accepted his proposal, laughed shyly while shattering a wall.
[Wahahahaha! Ahahaha! I-I’m so embarrassed! Kyaaaaa!]
[Thank you… truly, thank you.]
The Emperor smiled while stroking Fron’s shoulder.
He already knew that Fron had harbored affection for him for a long time. The hesitation in her heart—the rejection born from concern about his position and Kiaros—the Emperor found it endearing.
[Thank you for not forgetting me all this time. Thank you for not going to another man.]
[I… I couldn’t possibly go…]
Fron answered with a trembling voice.
[It’s because Your Majesty was…]
[Me?]
[No, no. I nearly spoke disloyally.]
[We don’t need such words between us anymore. Tell me quickly, won’t you?]
[I absolutely cannot say it.]
[That’s an order, Fron. Speak.]
The Emperor coaxed her gently, pressing his lips to her cheek. Fron rolled about on the ground, flustered and at a loss.
[B-but it’s because Your Majesty was…]
[Yes, me?]
Fron finally squeezed her eyes shut and cried out.
[You were too much like a fox! Not just charming people or anything, but with your whole body and soul, those flirtatious eyes, honeyed tongue, coaxing and sweet-talking—how could anyone resist! Damn it!]
With Fron’s boisterous curse as the final note, the Emperor’s eyes snapped open at once.
Fully extracted from the old dream, he blinked slowly.
His body still trembled, but he could move well enough.
“Hmm?”
The Emperor immediately rose atop the tall tree and gazed toward the Grand Temple.
With a rumbling sound, the entire building was shifting.
As if a structure built from children’s blocks was being reconstructed…
“…This is troublesome.”
He furrowed his brow. His son was inside, and the woman his son loved was inside.
According to Kiaros, the Tower Master and his daughter were there too, though that hardly mattered. He still hadn’t forgotten the Tower Master high-fiving Fron.
“It seems they’ve realized something has been discovered.”
The Emperor whistled sharply and keenly.
After a brief wait, the Imperial Palace’s massive messenger bird, always stationed in the Southern Region, came flying.
“Deliver this to the Imperial Red Knight Commander in the Southern Region.”
The Emperor hastily scrawled a deployment order with his quill. It was a simple instruction to bring forces to the Grand Temple at once.
“Once the safety of a few is secured, I’ll handle the rest.”
He planned to manifest as a dragon again and burn everything to ash.
* * *
The stone staircase passage had completely collapsed. Luminous scrolls glowed somewhere above, but the distance was too great.
Fortunately, I hadn’t been injured. It was thanks to a man who had caught me and rolled us both to safety.
‘…Kibon?’
It felt unreal. I stared blankly at the man holding me so tightly.
That familiar man with black hair stood before me, wearing the same clothes as the guards who had been stationed at the Underground Prison entrance.
‘What, what’s going on?’
The tremors that had shaken the ground had ceased. Kibon carefully released me.
The space we occupied wasn’t particularly large. We were effectively isolated among the collapsed stones.
Still, light and air filtered through. I gazed at him in the dim glow and blurted out my question.
“Wait, could Kibon be a clone of the Gaejo Faction? Or if so, which one is the real you?”
Honestly, there was no way Kibon could have arrived here in just two days. So my accusation was justified.
“Ha….”
Kibon sighed and rested his forehead against my shoulder for a moment, then smiled faintly.
“This is an unexpected first thing to say. Which one is the real me….”
His impertinent yet composed tone suggested this was indeed the Kibon I knew.
At least, judging by the fact that he’d saved me, he didn’t seem to be the dangerous version.
I rolled my eyes and asked uncertainly.
“It really is the Kibon I know… But why are you here?”
“You called for me….”
He whispered softly as he carefully brushed my hair aside.
“Whenever you summon me, I’ve always come. Have you forgotten?”
“That’s… well.”
The truth was, I had called for a dog.
But I had enough sense not to mention that. As my expression grew uncertain, Kibon furrowed his brow and asked.
“I came all this way and risked my life to save you, yet you don’t seem moved at all. Why that expression?”
“No, it’s not about being moved—I’m genuinely curious how you’re physically here. Did you read my letter? I’m a disgusting test subject….”
“I read your clear and concise confession report quite well….”
Kibon answered matter-of-factly, cutting me off. Seeing him like this, I became certain.
I still didn’t fully understand why he was here, but this was definitely the Kibon I knew.
His composed tone, his eyes burning with intensity, his firm lips as if holding something back.
The subtle heat he radiated and his distinctive presence were perfectly aligned with the Kibon in my memory.
‘But why is he speaking so casually? Is it just a younger man’s ordinary desire not to seem childish? How cute….’
Kibon gazed into my eyes and whispered low.
“But there’s an error I need to correct.”
His casual speech was somewhat unfamiliar, but it was equally undeniable how sexy it sounded, so I decided to let it slide for now.
Shadows fell across his face from the faint light filtering from far above.
Though he wasn’t holding me as tightly as before, we were trapped in such a confined space that the distance between us remained close.
‘Ah.’
My frightened expression was reflected entirely in his dark eyes.
I was genuinely afraid. I had essentially run away from this fear.
I dreaded that he, who knew everything about me, might say I was disgusting or repulsive….
“I will never forget Namia Loapi, I can never live well without Namia Loapi, and I will never let go of Namia Loapi.”
Speaking as if teaching a child, he enunciated each word with deliberate precision.
Even as he spoke, he subtly intertwined his fingers with mine. His warm fingers gripped me firmly against the cold stone floor.
“Even if Namia Loapi is an experimental subject, or something even worse than that… it doesn’t matter. I love you far too much.”
I tried to pull my body back, but there was no space to do so.
With tears brimming in my eyes, I murmured between sighs.
“Kibon, I’m scared….”
The moment I confessed this feeling, tears streamed down my cheeks.
“The future terrifies me so much…. This isn’t something I can resolve on my own. What if I suddenly become a threat to the world?”
Then Kibon wiped away my tears with his other hand—the one not holding mine—and smiled softly.
“If you’re afraid of living in this world, then simply step outside of it.”
His calm, soothing voice gradually steadied me.
“And then we can remain together, holding each other. That alone would be my entire world….”
His words, spoken without a shred of hesitation, only made me cry harder. Kibon cradled both sides of my face in his hands, carefully wiping away my tears.
“Don’t cry…. When you cry, my world hurts so much….”
“Hic, hic….”
“No matter what you are, I’m truly fine with it, but when you cry like this with such sadness, my heart aches so much…. Yes?”
I surrendered my face to his hands and sniffled.
Yet even as I did, a thought crossed my mind.
Touching as his words were, something felt off about them.
‘Physically speaking, it makes no sense that he appeared inside the Temple in just two days and is wearing clothes from the Gaejo Faction… Could Kibon himself be some kind of escaped experimental subject?’
So my being an experimental subject didn’t matter?
If that were true, I felt oddly relieved. In that moment, Kibon asked with some anxiety in his voice.
“You won’t run away again, right? I’m anxious you might use a teleportation scroll again….”
“Mm.”
Did he hear about the teleportation scroll from Kiaros?
I nodded and spoke. Since his earlier comment about experimental subjects being repulsive had bothered me, I added something more.
“No matter what you are… I’m fine with it too. Because I love you.”
Kibon’s eyes immediately lit up.
“…Really?”
He swallowed dryly, then drew his body closer and whispered.
“No matter what I am, no matter who I am?”

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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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