The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 93

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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 93
I glanced down beneath the balcony first. Palace Knights were patrolling below.
Even if Victor were a spy, I didn’t think I needed to worry about my own safety. If anything happened, it would only confirm his status as a spy anyway….
“Namia, what are you thinking about? You’re not even answering me.”
“…Oh.”
I startled at Victor’s voice, which had drawn close without my notice, and opened my eyes wide. Victor handed me a champagne flute with a smirk.
“It’s been a really long time, hasn’t it?”
“Pardon?”
“Us talking alone together.”
His light brown hair fluttered slightly in the night breeze. His affable sky-blue eyes gazed at me quietly.
“That’s… true.”
I accepted the champagne flute while thinking that I absolutely should not drink this.
“This is actually our first time having a conversation alone since we first met back then, Senior.”
“That… is it? Ah, I suppose it does seem that way.”
Victor laughed as if bewildered. Yet he continued to smile broadly, never taking his eyes off me.
“But the timing was never right, was it?”
“The timing?”
“Yes, the timing.”
Suddenly, Victor’s eyes I met seemed distant. As I gazed at him intently, he spoke with a faint sigh.
“We have a four-year age gap. I met you when I was in my final year, and I reached adulthood four years before you did.”
A four-year difference meant nothing now, but for sixteen and twenty, it was an enormous gap.
“And when you joined the Scroll Management Department after your employment, I was already scheduled for an extended overseas assignment.”
In fact, two months after I started, Victor left for a foreign country.
“Only now could I finally return.”
“Oh come on… really.”
I laughed and waved my hand dismissively.
“Even so, it’s not like we had absolutely no chance to talk alone. We never even had a meal together after I started working.”
“The ‘timing’ I’m talking about, Namia.”
Despite my lighthearted words, Victor continued slowly, his voice devoid of any playfulness.
“It’s the timing where we can continue to be ‘alone together’ from now on.”
Victor drank his champagne slowly. Then he smiled again, brightly.
“Namia.”
“Yes?”
“Since we’re here, I just thought of something—want to play one of the Academy’s traditional games?”
“There’s something like that? I don’t know what it is anyway. I’ve never played it before.”
“Yeah. It’s called the truth game. I’ve only heard people say we should play it together, but I’ve never actually done it. This would be my first time playing with you.”
A truth game. It was exactly the kind of game that would drive Anastasia crazy.
But thinking of Anastasia’s name made me feel gloomy again.
When Anastasia dealt with Riedan using coffee grounds and hot water, she seemed so trustworthy….
Could she possibly be a spy….
“Let me demonstrate first. It’s actually a drinking game….”
He spoke playfully, tilting his champagne glass slightly toward the railing of the balcony. It was an ordinary railing, about the width of my wrist.
“You must tell the truth first, then pour a little of the drink onto this railing. If you tell the truth, the god of alcohol blesses you, and the drink doesn’t fall below the railing—it just beads up. But if you lie, it drips down with a splash.”
“That’s not scientific at all.”
“That’s why you must speak only the truth. If you dare waste alcohol by lying, the god of alcohol takes offense and curses you. Unsettling, isn’t it?”
“I’ve never heard of a god of alcohol.”
I furrowed my brow in response to Victor’s explanation.
“Isn’t this just a typical ploy to set the mood between a man and woman who like each other? Spouting something completely unscientific like ‘god of alcohol,’ and then preparing an escape route if something feels off.”
“Huh? Well….”
“If I were the god of alcohol, I’d show the bitter taste of youth to men and women who sell themselves out in places like this.”
“Cough, cough. I’m glad you’re not the god of alcohol. Anyway, let me start.”
He tilted his glass toward the railing before I could say anything.
“I’ve met many people. So the moment I saw you, I knew you were special.”
A drop of alcohol settled on the railing with a soft tap. According to Victor’s rules, it meant the truth. I watched silently.
“But I wished only I knew that.”
Another drop beaded on the railing without falling.
“In fact… I wished you didn’t know it either.”
Sensing the atmosphere growing serious, I interjected abruptly.
“Senior, stop. This game isn’t fun.”
But Victor tilted his champagne glass once more and continued.
“I’ve never been honest with you. Far more than you think.”
His sky-blue eyes gazed at me quietly. In my memory, his eyes had never held only me like this before.
“You actually… know almost nothing about me.”
Another drop fell and beaded on the railing without rolling, annoyingly persistent.
“I was afraid. That the timing wasn’t right yet… that a day would come when I’d grow this impatient.”
His sky-blue eyes remained fixed on me. He took a shallow breath and added quietly.
“That others might recognize you.”
The drops merged into one, growing quite large, yet it clung stubbornly to the railing without falling. Victor exhaled softly and continued in a low voice.
“You know I think you’re special. You’re perceptive enough to have noticed.”
He tilted his glass once more. Again, the drop didn’t fall.
“I was special to you too, wasn’t I? Among those around you, I certainly didn’t shine the brightest?”
I stared directly at Victor. He spoke like an adult dangling candy before a child.
“Don’t you want to possess something that shines? It’s human nature.”
In truth, I wasn’t familiar with Victor’s face from the front. I knew his profile, his back.
If Victor insisted on crossing the line now, I needed to respond in kind.
I slowly opened my mouth.
“Yes.”
I tilted my glass. My drop beaded on the railing with a soft tap.
“That’s right.”
Then it happened.
With a loud crash, the balcony trembled slightly.
I turned toward the source of the explosion. Remarkably, Kiaros stood with his back to the magnificent Banquet Hall, his crimson eyes cold and piercing.
‘What?’
As I stood bewildered, Victor extended his hand and asked.
“Namia! Are you alright?”
That was when it happened.
Another crash echoed as the floor between Victor and me fractured violently. Kiaros spoke in a voice as jagged as the cracked ground beneath us.
“I distinctly told you not to follow other men. That I’d return quickly.”
So I responded promptly.
“Yes. I didn’t follow him—he followed me here.”
And I examined the floor seriously.
‘Surely the Administrative Support Department conducted a safety inspection before the Banquet?’
The safety inspection checklist definitely included the Balcony. I was mentally reviewing the detailed checklist once more when—
Victor’s expression grew momentarily flustered, then he blinked and whispered just loudly enough for me to hear.
“Ah, you said you refused him, right?”
Then he immediately smiled in a friendly manner and greeted first.
“It’s an honor to meet you formally, Your Highness. I am Victor Awin.”
“Get out.”
“…Pardon?”
“Why are you questioning me? When I tell you to leave, you should leave, shouldn’t you?”
Why was he being so authoritarian, so unlike his usual self? Or was he suspecting Victor of being a spy and speaking carelessly?
Victor’s expression was somewhat taken aback, yet he still bowed respectfully.
“Yes, of course. I understand.”
Just as Victor was about to leave the Balcony—
I impulsively spoke to him.
“Ah, Senior. Just one last thing, please.”
“Hmm?”
I tilted my wine glass toward the railing.
“There’s so much to point out that I’m not sure where to begin…”
The droplet of wine merely formed on the rim but refused to fall.
“If I’m being honest about what matters most… it’s clear to anyone now that I shine far brighter than you do.”
I gazed at him with a sorrowful expression and continued.
“And since things have become awkward forever anyway, from now on, just call me Minister of Education consistently. No matter how alone we are together.”

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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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