The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 84

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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 84
The Scroll Department Office without Victor and Kibon.
Luca burst through the door in a frenzy.
“Minister of Education Namia! Is it really true that there’s a rumor about that disrespectful cooperation request to the Ministry of Education?”
It seemed the news of my sending that rude cooperation request to the Ministry of Education had spread like wildfire throughout the entire department.
“Yeah, it’s true.”
When I answered calmly, Luca lost his composure and shrieked.
“Are you insane? You absolute troublemaker!”
Then Anastasia, who had been eating a sandwich while reading “SSS-Rank Jealousy Is Far Too Strong,” lifted her head and shouted.
“No, Minister, you’re not insane, you absolute troublemaker!”
Luca flinched and took a step back, then paused to catch his breath.
Then he shook his head vigorously and poured out his words.
“No, I mean… The Ministry of Education is already a popular department with an arrogant organization, and even if you said you’d treat them like servants at the Saint Cairo Banquet, how could you do that? Are you only going to be Minister for a day or two? Are you planning to completely make enemies of the Ministry of Education from now on?”
I could tell he was speaking out of genuine concern for me. He trembled as he asked with sincere worry.
“We haven’t even had a proper fair competition yet—are you planning to step down from the Minister position like this?”
When would we ever have that proper fair competition anyway….
Luca breathed heavily and examined my face from every angle, then added again.
“You threw it out there and now you’re thinking it’s not right, aren’t you? That’s why your complexion doesn’t look good, right? Your expression clearly shows something’s bothering you.”
“No.”
I slowly shook my head and spoke.
“I’m just worried because Victor and Kibon both went out. It has nothing to do with the Ministry of Education.”
“Huh? Why did they both go out? Did they become close already?”
“No. That’s absolutely not it.”
“Wow. So the Team Leader who gets along with everyone lost to the New Intern who doesn’t get along with anyone. Does that mean they went out for something bad?”
Luca tilted his head in confusion, then suddenly seemed to come to his senses and let out a small laugh, raising his voice.
“Still, Minister, don’t worry. That New Intern doesn’t seem like the type to lose spirit no matter what the Team Leader says. Rather, he looks like he’d talk back and throw a punch.”
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. Depending on the situation, I think he might throw two.”
Kibon is a temporary employee—what if he gets reported and fired on the spot…. All I could do was trust Victor’s pacifism.
Then Anastasia’s eyes widened as she interjected.
“Oh, oh! Is our Minister finally opening her eyes to men! A, a romantic entanglement like this, you’re actually paying attention to it!”
Her face showed more enthusiasm than ever before. Then Luca shrugged his shoulders.
“What good does it do to open her eyes to men? She probably opens them reluctantly out of annoyance.”
Luca crossed his arms and continued speaking with a face that showed little hope.
“Even back in school, she was managed like a fishing ground, but she never even showed the enthusiasm to properly understand whether this was a fishing ground or the sea.”
“R, right… If it’s our Minister… she might think the fish in the fishing ground are just that, feed them plenty, and then one day suddenly walk up onto land, start a farm, and drive the fishermen crazy….”
Luca nodded vigorously at Anastasia’s words. By now, he seemed to have forgotten why he came here.
I chuckled and tapped Luca’s arm.
“Anyway, good timing. Let’s go grab lunch. I actually had a personal favor to ask you anyway.”
“Since you’re not my direct superior, let me hear it first….”
“As my fair rival, that is.”
“What are you doing? Let’s go grab some food first.”
Luca nodded with determination, his green eyes gleaming.
* * *
Victor stared intently at Kiaros and spoke.
“I’m telling you this in case you don’t understand, but the atmosphere at the banquet will be completely different from the office.”
He leaned his body diagonally against the exterior wall of the building beside him and brought the cigar to his lips once more.
“The Saint Cairo Banquet is a place where only high-ranking civil servants or nobility can attend. You didn’t know your place and caused trouble for Namia. Do you understand?”
Kiaros offered no response.
“If you don’t want to cause more trouble, don’t forget that you must conduct yourself according to your rank there.”
To be honest, I was so dumbfounded that I wasn’t even angry.
“What I mean is, a foreign commoner like you must do exactly as I say, since I’m the heir to the Awin Marquis House. To put it plainly.”
In the quiet silence, only Victor’s voice resonated low.
His tone carried an unmistakable warning, brimming with aggression.
“There, when I tell you to step aside from Namia’s side, you step aside. When I tell you to disappear, you disappear. Understood? Act like the inferior you are.”
Toward the silent Kiaros, he slowly drew the cigar from his lips and exhaled one final plume of smoke.
Then he smiled thinly.
“Well, I suppose I’ve talked your ear off right before lunch.”
With nothing more than a squinted smile, the same gentle atmosphere that surrounded Victor Awin in the office began to settle around him.
“You wouldn’t know, but Namia never wanted for anything throughout her school years.”
He added in a kind and gentle tone.
“And yet, I was always her first priority. I hope you don’t harbor any foolish hopes without understanding that.”
Kiaros stared directly at Victor.
Until now, he’d found the whole thing so absurd it was almost amusing, but suddenly something suffocating surged up from deep within.
Victor grinned and raised his eyebrows.
“In any case, I hope you’ve understood well, our New Intern friend.”
Kiaros, who had remained silent all this time, finally opened his mouth.
“I understand perfectly.”
“As expected of our New Intern friend, quite clever…”
It was just as Victor was smiling with satisfaction.
Kiaros extended his long arm and took the cigar Victor was holding.
“Hey, what are you—”
Before Victor could even protest, Kiaros brought the cigar toward Victor’s cheek with a slow, leisurely motion.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing right now!”
Or more precisely… he brushed past his cheek by a hair’s breadth and extinguished the cigar against the wall Victor had been leaning against.
Victor’s smiling face turned deathly pale in an instant.
If it had touched him even slightly—just the slightest bit—it would have been a burn.
“Practice.”
Kiaros spoke as if it were nothing.
The way he pressed the cigar firmly against the wall to extinguish it was slow and leisurely, making it all the more chilling. Staring at Victor’s expression of shock, he let out a soft laugh.
“I’ve helpfully extinguished your cigar as befits an inferior. Is there a problem?”
Victor’s face laid bare an expression that screamed, “Is this man insane?”
“W-what in the….”
“How fortunate that you understand the banquet’s rules so well.”
Kiaros flicked the extinguished cigar onto Victor’s shoe with a soft tap, then continued speaking without the slightest flicker of emotion across his features.
“I shall eagerly await seeing you conduct yourself according to your rank, Team Leader.”
The gazes of the two men collided. Kiaros’s lips curved upward in the faintest smile as he spoke.
“Thanks to you, Team Leader, I find myself looking forward to the banquet all the more.”
Kiaros turned away, his expression suggesting he no longer deemed the man worth his attention. Behind him, the sound of grinding teeth echoed.
‘…This….’
Without so much as a backward glance, I found myself thinking unbidden.
‘It’s more refreshing than I expected.’
As the Crown Prince, I had always been forced to weigh every action, every word—this felt remarkably liberating.
Victor’s expression had been quite the sight to behold in that moment of shock. Yet that exhilaration proved fleeting. His confident words echoed back to me.
[Her first priority has always been me.]
There had to be a reason behind such certainty.
In the hours of Namia’s life I knew nothing of, I had no way of knowing what shadow Victor Awin might be casting.
‘What is this? Why….’
I irritably ran a hand through my hair. An unpleasant sensation swept through me—one I could do nothing about.
‘Why does it feel so suffocating? So painful?’
The phrase “first priority” continued to circle through my mind, leaving me dizzy.
It was still lunch hour. I had time before returning to the Scroll Department. I decided to head to the Crown Prince’s Office instead, intending to make time to see the Royal Physician.

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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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