The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 138

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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 138
The Emperor had always told Kiaros since he was very young.
[Kiaros, you are the future of the Empire. You are my one and only son, and the rightful heir to the Imperial Family.]
Perhaps because of those words, young Kiaros never doubted his Biological Father’s love.
So the boy Kiaros actively pushed the Emperor toward remarriage, even encouraging him forward.
The reason was simple.
[Your Majesty must find happiness as well.]
And so the Emperor and Fron found happiness. Nothing was amiss.
Only Fron alone remained anxious.
[I worry that my existence might burden the Crown Prince. I shall live as though I do not exist in this Imperial Palace so as not to cause trouble.]
[I have watched the Empress since I was a child. Burden? What do you mean by such words?]
[It is not that I will change, but rather that those around me and circumstances themselves might change….]
Kiaros did not understand those words for a long time.
But on the day Jayden was born.
“Your Highness.”
One of his mentors, who hailed from the Imoat Kingdom, sought out Kiaros late into the night.
“It would be wise to prepare for danger.”
“…Danger, you say?”
“I shall speak plainly. Both the Emperor and the Empress will ultimately wish to place the Young Prince in the position of Crown Prince.”
At that time, Kiaros was seventeen, but he was already managing state affairs as the Emperor’s health deteriorated at an alarming rate.
“For now, such talk will not arise because the Crown Prince’s role in the Empire is significant, but when Jayden Young Prince comes of age….”
“Mentor, your concerns are excessive. Please return now. Both Jayden and I are children of the same Emperor.”
“You are not the same.”
The mentor shook his head firmly.
“When the Princess of Imoate conceived the Crown Prince, His Majesty never once came to see her.”
Here, “the Princess of Imoate” referred to Kiaros’s biological mother, who had been a princess of the Imoat Kingdom.
When Fron became pregnant, the Emperor was always by her side, worrying alongside her every single day.
It was when Kiaros’s brow furrowed slightly.
“Because… the Princess of Imoate forcibly conceived you.”
The mentor thus revealed the secret the Emperor had long concealed.
That the Emperor, who loved Fron, had refused marriage to the very end; that the princess, who had fallen for the Emperor at first sight, had forced the marriage upon him; but that even after marriage, the Emperor had said “this simply will not do” and refused to share her bed.
[The Late Empress, His Majesty’s mother, and the Princess of Imoate conspired to administer a potion to His Majesty.]
And so from that single night, Kiaros was conceived….
“On the day of the banquet celebrating the Princess of Imoate’s pregnancy, His Majesty did not attend. It was also then that Count Fron took her first and only sick leave.”
In the end, the Princess of Imoate died giving birth to Kiaros.
The result of a marriage marked by misfortune from beginning to end—all that remained was Kiaros.
“The reason His Majesty publicly declared to the Crown Prince from childhood that he was ‘the future of the Empire’ was because your position was rightful yet not rightful. Should anyone ever inform you of this truth, it was meant to assure you not to be anxious.”
“….”
“But paradoxically, it also means you must be anxious precisely because such obvious words needed to be emphasized.”
The mentor spoke with earnest conviction.
“Your very existence as the Crown Prince is an immense wound to them both. Unlike the Young Prince now—a symbol of love and happiness—you represent….”
“Mentor, the night grows late. Perhaps it’s time you returned.”
“Whether you wish to hear it or not, Your Highness, you must understand. Since Jayden Young Prince is still young and the Empress remains unguarded, if we were to administer a subtle poison now….”
“No, I believe it would be better if you returned to your homeland immediately.”
Kiaros cut off his mentor’s words with glacial finality.
“I’ll arrange passage on a ship departing at once.”
“Your Highness!”
“Do not forget—this is the mercy I extend to my long-time mentor.”
Even after that, many came before Kiaros to suggest undermining Jayden. He coldly rejected them all.
In doing so, he came to understand why Fron isolated herself. Why his loyal Fron had refused the Empress’s position for so long despite her devotion.
“Your Highness, please remember my words. You will eventually be cast aside.”
Hearing those words, Kiaros thought: wasn’t I supposed to be cast aside from the beginning?
[I will live as though I do not exist in this Imperial Palace, so as not to be a burden.]
But hadn’t his very existence been the true burden?
Wasn’t he the one who should truly vanish from this Imperial Palace?
The consideration of the Empress and Emperor—who had hidden this truth from him all along for his sake—only deepened his despair.
That night, Kiaros lay awake with open eyes, yet came to see Jayden the next morning with a smile.
“I am truly delighted to have a younger brother.”
The Empress and Emperor gazed upon the squirming infant with eyes full of love.
Kiaros deliberately refrained from imagining his own infancy.
“Look at this—he bears such a striking resemblance to the Crown Prince in his hair.”
Fron watched his expression carefully, desperately speaking to ensure he felt no sense of exclusion.
Regardless, the Emperor remained ill, and Jayden remained young.
The Empire needed Kiaros. He was still “the Empire’s future.”
Even if he were merely a foreign object forcibly inserted into an Imperial Palace overflowing with love and happiness.
* * *
After finishing the story and a moment of silence, he spoke in a low voice.
“Now that I’ve loved someone, I finally understand.”
“Your Highness….”
“How devastatingly my existence must have wounded them both….”
I could not say things like “the Emperor and Empress are sincere toward the Crown Prince.”
He already knew that all too well.
Rather, precisely because of that, he could blame no one.
“Ah….”
My lips trembled.
Kiaros bore no fault, and neither did the Emperor nor the Empress.
Yet my heart ached for the ancient wound that existed beneath his immaculate and resolute exterior.
“How terrible it must be, isn’t it?”
Kiaros spoke softly.
“When I love you this much… yet am forced to marry another. And then, without my knowledge, a child is born….”
The day Jayden, the Empress, and the Emperor resolved their misunderstanding because of me, and wept in each other’s arms.
The person who came to find me that day was Kibon—or rather, Kiaros.
I wasn’t the only one who thought, ‘Now I need to step aside.’
Tears began to well up in my eyes without my realizing it.
“On the contrary… I know you care for me, but if you force yourself to marry someone else and bear a child…”
Kiaros continued slowly.
“Yes, even if I concede a hundred times on the marriage itself… if a child comes into being in the meantime… how much that would…”
His expression showed the pain of merely thinking about it.
He was the legitimate heir to the Imperial Family, yet not the legitimate child of his household.
“I’m relieved that the Emperor has recovered.”
Kiaros smiled slightly.
“So I can leave now. Perhaps this was never my place to begin with.”
He lifted my hand and brought it to his face, whispering softly.
“The Emperor will accept this too. He always taught me to be with the person I love. So don’t worry about that. Namia, please think only of us two.”
“No, but still…”
I knew Kiaros well as he appeared before others.
Always dignified and solemn, sharp and flawless. Yet here he was, coaxing and soothing me with gentle persuasion.
“My shell is better than Kibon’s, isn’t it? Just think of me as Kibon wearing Kiaros’s mask and keep me by your side for life—how does that sound?”
He smiled with his eyes as he gazed at my wavering pupils.
It was the same eye-smile he had shown when hiding in the Scroll Department to catch a spy.
As I looked at the plump smile lines that rose softly, I found myself speaking a child’s name without thinking…
He pressed my hand more firmly against his cheek and whispered.
“I want to be happy now too…”

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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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