The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 202

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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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Special Side Story 2, Episode 4
Initially, Kiaros had never intended to delay having children for five years.
During their belated honeymoon, when he gently broached the subject of children with Namia, she blinked and answered thus.
“Isn’t it natural for the Imperial Family to produce an heir? Bearing successors is one of the Imperial Family’s duties. Besides, since Polariud descends from dragons, we must pass on that bloodline.”
Kiaros had braced himself for an answer like “I prefer my work, so children are…” but instead, her talk of heirs felt even more wounding.
As he stood there dazed and stammering, Namia smiled faintly and added.
“…or so I thought you’d feel disappointed.”
It was Namia’s eerie jest—she understood precisely how others perceived her.
“Of course, that wasn’t my true intention.”
Then Namia revealed her genuine feelings in a hushed voice.
“I want to have many children.”
“…Is that also an Imperial Family duty?”
“No. I simply love a bustling, lively family.”
Namia whispered.
“I want to feel complete belonging within it. I want to experience an ordinary life, just once, like everyone else.”
Kiaros nodded silently.
“When Father and I lived together in the Southern Region, it was wonderful, but I was always anxious. Life was so difficult—I constantly worried whether Father would abandon me, how much debt I’d become to him. Back then, I envied other children so much, living under their parents’ protection, simply crying and laughing. And my teenage years… I won’t even speak of those.”
He understood that feeling.
He could imagine how isolated Namia must have felt during her time in the Loapi Barony. Though his circumstances differed, he too had always sensed himself floating apart from his family.
Him, Namia, and their children… within that circle, he would never need to think “I should step aside.”
Living together as just the two of them was certainly enough, yet the desire to fill the voids of childhood stirred his heart into quickening beats.
“Then shall we have a child who resembles us both and raise them well with love?”
At Kiaros’s question, Namia nodded.
“I’m overflowing with enthusiasm for it.”
So she did have enthusiasm after all, despite what she usually claimed… It was quite a resolve.
Kiaros was deeply moved when Namia whispered.
“Once we return to the Empire, shall we handle just a few urgent matters and then make our effort?”
Indeed, many decrees awaited her attention for reform.
At her suggestion, Kiaros nodded. Then Namia raised her eyebrows and spoke.
“To increase the odds, it’s best to do it as much as possible, many times. Let’s practice.”
The sudden shift to casual speech made Kiaros’s body respond immediately.
Thus their honeymoon was filled with diligent practice sessions.
To be honest, Kiaros barely remembered anything from the honeymoon beyond the bed.
.
“Mm, well…”
Namia clutched the bed sheets, moaning softly as she murmured.
“Maybe we didn’t need to practice after all…”
“No.”
Kiaros soothed and coaxed her, whispering.
“Actually, I’m not very good at this. So just a little more…”
Four and a half years had passed since their honeymoon, consumed by one matter after another.
During that time, Kiaros and I had practiced quite diligently. I harbored some regret, but I accepted Kiaros’s insistence that we needed to practice consistently.
It was only six months ago that we decided it was time to try for a child and began our efforts in earnest.
From that point onward, my duties began to decrease gradually.
Now, even in the early stages of pregnancy, the administrative systems had been organized well enough that I could manage my full schedule.
“Jayden, it seems to have gone smoothly, doesn’t it?”
On the night I told Jayden the news of my pregnancy, Kiaros returned to the Crown Prince’s Palace and asked with a shrug. I nodded in response.
“At least he’s satisfied now that he can claim he’s the reason his nephew exists. The way he keeps attributing meaning to everything and inflating his ego suggests he’s entering typical adolescence.”
“Indeed.”
Kiaros muttered with a furrowed brow.
“He even left his mark on the baby’s prenatal name. How can he be so self-centered?”
Still, it was better than “Dragon Baby,” so Kiaros decided to accept the prenatal name “JJ.” Though he couldn’t quite bring himself to accept that the child might become Jayden’s disciple.
“In any case, I had planned not to announce it until the stable period… but if your heart was set on telling him.”
“Luca said we have one week left until the stable period.”
I smiled gently and shrugged.
“It will be fine. Our baby—no, our JJ will be strong.”
Kiaros placed his hand on my still-flat belly, which showed no signs of pregnancy yet.
With his hand resting there, everything felt profoundly peaceful, as if no one could ever disturb this tranquility.
‘Well, except for the Magic Tower.’
The Magic Tower was certainly an exception.
In fact, I hadn’t visited the Magic Tower since becoming pregnant, as I believed it wouldn’t be good for the baby’s prenatal development.
[Watching Mother, Father, and Grandfather bicker and carry on their strange relationship there… it doesn’t seem like it would be particularly beneficial for this child’s character.]
I made the decision firmly.
[Besides, how much would Grandfather curse at the baby in my womb? It’s not good for prenatal development.]
The Tower Master remained as unreasonable as ever, muttering every time Kiaros visited the Magic Tower that he actually broke out in hives just seeing blond hair.
Working together again seemed to have reminded him of their old bickering days.
‘Red eyes are far too unsettling, and Namia is wasted on him’—this was the Tower Master’s consistent argument. He constantly tried to brainwash the Tower’s mages about how Namia’s moonlit silver hair and lake-like blue eyes were far too good for the Crown Prince.
Since there was nothing else to fault Kiaros for besides this matter of personal aesthetic preference, the Tower Master redoubled his brainwashing efforts.
[Of course, I’ll show her to you once the child is born, but there’s no need before then… well.]
As always, Kiaros respected my decision.
Upon hearing the news, the Tower Master naturally wept and sent a lengthy letter. But I replied only that I would show the child to him once it was born.
“Whether it’s a daughter or a son, I don’t mind at all. I simply hope this child can live a life doing whatever they wish.”
I spoke with sincerity.
“Just as I have the aptitude to be Empress, I do hope this child has the aptitude to be Emperor…”
Kiaros fell into thought.
If the child took after him, they would have a strong sense of responsibility. If they took after me, they would excel at administrative work.
Whoever they resembled, they seemed destined to become an excellent future Emperor.
“But the child might not want to be Emperor, so perhaps we should have one more?”
I murmured thoughtfully.
Indeed, even Jayden had said he didn’t want to become Emperor.
I still found it somewhat unsettling that the child might resemble Jayden, but if such a child were to arrive, I would have to accept it. Just as I had accepted the provisional name “Jeje.”
So Kiaros responded, considering it a possibility worth entertaining.
“Let’s focus on delivering this child first, and then we can think about it. But there’s something I absolutely must agree on at this moment.”
He gazed steadily into Namia’s eyes as he made his assertion.
“I will be the one to name our child. If it’s a son, Victor; if it’s a daughter, Anastasia—those names are absolutely off limits. And Jayden cannot name the child either. His self-importance has grown so much lately that he’d probably name a son Jayden the Second, or a daughter Jace, something ridiculous like that.”
It was something I had thought about for a long time, and it became certain when we discussed the provisional name. Namia’s naming sense was absolutely terrible.
“Ah, yes.”
Namia answered obediently. But she tilted her head and added with a slight smile.
“But Kiaros, if you’re the one naming the child, it sounds like it will be incredibly exhausting for you. How much will you overwork yourself trying to come up with the perfect name?”
“That’s only natural.”
Kiaros pulled a dictionary from the bookshelf as he spoke.
“I have to create a name that cannot even be compared to names like Victor or Anastasia.”
After that, gazing at Namia’s serene face, he held both her hands and kissed her for a long time.
The impassive expression of Namia cradling his child, the tranquil air of the evening hour, and the happiness that all these days would continue into tomorrow—it all filled his entire being.
And so time flowed on, gently and steadily.

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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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