The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 30
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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 30
Kiaros nodded slowly.
After all, he had come to understand her intentions.
She wanted to marry him. It seemed he had made the right decision in investigating the ceremony venue situation.
Namia smiled faintly and offered her farewell.
“Well then, I should be going now, Kibon. Thank you so much. And thank you for helping transport that box back then too.”
“…No, it’s only natural to do what my superior asks.”
At the mention of the box, Kiaros’s eyes deepened slightly.
This would likely be the last time he encountered her in Kibon’s form.
[I actually assigned her a task, but she seems to dislike it. I wondered if she even disliked speaking with me….]
So this was the only opportunity to clear up the misunderstanding.
He wanted to tell her.
That he didn’t dislike her—that he actually held her in very high regard.
“That department seemed so chaotic, and I felt there was nothing to learn there.”
“Ah….”
“It was absolutely not because I dislike you. Rather, I’m curious why you remained there so quietly.”
“It’s because I’m not in a position to speak out of turn….”
“Is that so? In any case, if I were to return there, I would very much like to learn from you.”
“Learn? No, you just need to follow instructions well.”
As always, Namia answered with vacant eyes.
Of course, Kiaros had now decided not to misinterpret that expressionless face.
“In any case, I’ll take my leave now.”
With a brief farewell, Namia turned and entered the courtroom.
Kiaros stood motionless, watching her receding figure.
‘It seems she has no intention of telling the New Intern what she truly felt back then.’
From her perspective, Kibon Altes was not someone close to her.
Kiaros slowly made his way deeper into the building, avoiding the eyes of others, and headed to the restroom once more.
He no longer needed to maintain Kibon Altes’s appearance.
‘Besides, there’s no reason I’d see her in this form again….’
As he changed back and removed the hood, his familiar visage of Kiaros reflected in the mirror.
He tidied his disheveled hair once and stepped out of the restroom.
That was when it happened.
“Your Highness!”
It was the loyal Aide he had sent to the Imperial Palace Wedding Hall before the trial began.
The Aide approached him and immediately made his report.
“I have inquired about the reservation status of the Imperial Palace Wedding Hall.”
When Kiaros gestured for him to continue, the Aide spoke on.
“It appears to be booked through next autumn.”
“What? Next autumn?”
“Yes. The Imperial Palace Wedding Hall is one of the tremendous benefits available to civil servants. Many high-ranking nobles wish to hold their weddings there as well.”
Still, I’ve heard reservations are difficult to get, but not to this extent!
Kiaros clicked his tongue, and his Aide continued.
“However, it appears there is one opening available for a weekend two weeks from now.”
“What? You said it was booked through next summer.”
“A couple who were supposed to marry broke their engagement and cancelled in a hurry. It seems this slot will likely fill up soon as well.”
“Is that so?”
Kiaros furrowed his brow slightly.
[If His Highness the Crown Prince could marry in his current situation, he probably would….]
Until now, his reasoning had been sound.
She had certainly said that marrying the Crown Prince would be good.
‘Then… she might want the wedding as soon as possible.’
I heard she had severed ties with her great-uncle, Loapi Baron.
Perhaps she wanted to start a new family quickly?
Kiaros gave a quiet order to his Aide.
“Just in case, go ahead and reserve that slot at the Imperial Palace Wedding Hall.”
“Yes? Under whose name?”
“My name—no, wait. Rumors might spread unnecessarily, so put it under your name for now.”
“…Yes?”
The Aide’s pupils trembled.
He was still unmarried.
So it was certainly startling to suddenly be ordered to register his name at a wedding venue when he didn’t even have a partner yet.
“Nothing is certain yet.”
Kiaros spoke in a soothing tone, sensing his Aide’s confusion.
If Namia turned out not to be that girl, or if she later said she had only been joking and actually didn’t want to marry him, he planned to cancel immediately.
‘It’s all just preparation for unforeseen circumstances.’
No matter how I thought about it, it seemed perfectly reasonable.
“Once something is decided, I’ll change it to my name right away.”
“Understood. However, we’ll need the bride’s name to make the reservation.”
“The bride’s name? Do we absolutely have to include it?”
When Kiaros looked flustered, his Aide answered.
“Well, if she’s a commoner from a provincial area whose birth registration isn’t properly documented, we could register her under a nickname instead.”
“Then register it under a nickname.”
“What should the nickname be?”
Kiaros, who had spent his entire life in the Imperial Palace seeing only rigid conventions, had no reason to know much about nicknames.
Kiaros furrowed his brow and muttered whatever came to mind.
“…Nami? Nami would work, wouldn’t it? Or Mia?”
“Huh?”
The Aide’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Are you perhaps thinking of Namia Loapi as the bride?”
At those words, Kiaros was equally startled.
He furrowed his brow and muttered under his breath.
“…You, I’ve heard you lack a certain perceptiveness.”
“I do possess some, Your Highness. My apologies.”
The Aide bowed respectfully before answering with earnest sincerity.
“So the rumors were true after all. I heard this morning that the two of you are to be married.”
“If the Crown Prince’s Aide doesn’t know a rumor, don’t you think it’s nothing but baseless gossip?”
“I did consider that possibility. It seems I was mistaken.”
The Aide’s expression shifted as if a realization had dawned upon him.
“So that’s why Your Highness wore such an amused expression throughout the trial. Because Namia Loapi appeared.”
“Amused, you say.”
Kiaros spoke curtly.
“This is an important trial involving the Empress. I simply found it somewhat intriguing, that’s all.”
“My apologies. In any case, there was a reason you kept watching Namia Loapi.”
“Kept watching? I was merely observing because something seemed suspicious about her. Suspicious. She’s a suspicious woman in every conceivable way.”
“My apologies. Yet you’re simply observing quietly what this suspicious woman does.”
“Simply observing? I’m letting her be because she seems useful to me. She’s also my benefactor, after all.”
“My apologies. However, you’ve already reserved the ceremony venue without consulting with this benefactor beforehand.”
“That’s——”
The girl from the Southern Region might not have been Namia Loapi.
If that were the case, naturally the venue would need to be cancelled.
“It can be cancelled. I’m uncertain, so that’s why. If it seems unlikely to proceed, we’ll cancel it immediately then.”
“My apologies. However….”
“Go, quickly now. The trial will begin soon.”
“Yes, understood.”
His Aide, lacking perceptiveness but fiercely loyal, immediately turned and rushed away. Kiaros let out a quiet chuckle and cast his gaze forward.
‘Well, I’ll watch this through to the end.’
I had already suspected that she was scheming alongside Fron in this absurd trial.
Only Fron had been the one speaking.
Yet I could distinguish between Fron’s words and Namia’s words in that exchange.
‘Namia Loapi, you….’
A gaunt civil servant with vacant eyes, blinking slowly, her body completely drained of strength.
Suspicious and peculiar, utterly impossible to pin down—my benefactor.
Perhaps… the woman to whom I’ve already promised marriage.
‘How exactly will she navigate this bizarre trial?’
Until this morning, I thought the trial would only be troublesome.
But with Namia’s unexpected appearance, it had become genuinely fascinating.
[It’s because I’m not in a position to overstep….]
The Scroll Management Department where she had been struggling so desperately now irritated me all the more.
‘Once this trial ends, I’ll need to settle this matter then.’
If Namia Loapi was indeed that girl from the Southern Region, I intended to broach the subject of marriage immediately.
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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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