The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success - Chapter 94

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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 94
The Emperor delivered his opening remarks and returned to the VIP Seating. After glancing around, he turned to the Empress with a question.
“Where is Kiaros?”
“Well, I’d rather you didn’t look for him.”
The Empress spoke with sparkling eyes.
“Namia isn’t here either.”
She giggled and shrugged her shoulders.
“Come on, Jayden! I’m starving! I was so nervous about the event that I barely ate lunch… Let’s go grab something to eat!”
She headed toward the table with finger foods, Jayden in tow. The Emperor watched her departing figure with an amused smile.
The Minister of Finance beside him let out a deliberate cough.
Victor, the Minister of Finance’s adopted son, was also nowhere to be seen.
“It seems the Crown Prince hasn’t given up on the Minister of Scrolls.”
Throughout the banquet, everyone watched Kiaros and Namia with knowing glances.
Rumors had spread that Kiaros had been rejected by Namia, but in truth, people whispered behind closed doors: “Why would Namia refuse?”
[If I were her, I’d accept his proposal the moment he confessed.]
[Doesn’t Namia regret it? A few words spoken face-to-face and she’d change her mind.]
Kiaros looked particularly beautiful today, as if he’d deliberately dressed for the occasion.
Though he’d been keeping to himself, his complexion appeared worse than usual, as if he were overworking himself.
“Well.”
The Emperor shrugged with a subtle expression.
“He was rejected once, but he told me it wasn’t because they’re incompatible—it was just too sudden and they weren’t close enough. So if he approaches carefully, there’s still a chance. Honestly, I wonder if there’s a better man than Kiaros in this entire Empire.”
The Minister of Finance chuckled and simply took a sip of his drink.
The Emperor immediately understood that the laugh meant: “You’re the Emperor, so I won’t argue, but I disagree.”
“Why? Do you think differently?”
“Hehehehe.”
“Speak honestly. I won’t mind if my feelings are hurt.”
“Well, it’s nothing major, but…”
The Minister of Finance smiled knowingly.
“I know the Minister of Scrolls well. I’ve spoken with her several times, and I grasped her nature immediately. In some ways… she’s quite similar to me.”
“Hmm? Well, you do have a rather rough appearance. Perhaps you should look in a mirror…”
“I mean her inner nature. Namia is essentially a born, rigid civil servant. She desires power and achievement, but she wants recognition for her abilities rather than flattery.”
The Emperor had no choice but to nod.
Namia spoke little despite her ambition for power, and while she didn’t hide her abilities, she wasn’t particularly ingratiating either.
“If she can’t shine by her own light, she becomes powerless. She knows this about herself very well.”
“I see…”
“So from the beginning, she instinctively wouldn’t see the Crown Prince as a man. He would certainly overshadow her brilliance. People of her type are drawn to capable subordinates instead.”
The Emperor waved his hand dismissively at this.
“Come now, who would refuse to be the wife of a powerful man when they love power?”
The Minister of Finance shrugged in response.
“Didn’t the Tower Master’s Daughter, Aran, do exactly that?”
The moment the Emperor heard the name of Aran, the embodiment of lust for power, his expression hardened instantly.
Only a select few knew that Aran struggled with magic and harbored a deep complex about it.
The Tower Master had insisted on finding her a powerful figure from the Magic Tower as a husband, but Aran refused, arguing it would be meaningless if she couldn’t showcase her magical talents there.
She had run away and remained missing ever since, causing the Tower Master considerable distress, though the details of what happened afterward remained unknown to most.
“…Why is your analysis so unnecessarily thorough? And your examples are so easy to understand. Are you some kind of stalker of Namia’s?”
That was when Victor, who had stepped away earlier, returned.
His adopted son wore his usual good-natured expression, but he was limping noticeably.
“Victor? Did you injure your foot?”
“I twisted it while lost in thought. I didn’t want Father to worry if I stayed away too long, so I came back. I’ll visit the Medical Room briefly. It’s not a serious injury.”
The Minister of Finance nodded readily. His thoughts about Namia stemmed directly from Victor.
Three years ago, right after Victor became his adopted son and left for a foreign assignment.
[Everything else is fine, but there’s a woman I like, and I’m a bit regretful about that.]
[A woman you like? There’s someone like that? Which family is she from? If it bothers you, why not get engaged before you go….]
[She’s just a junior colleague in my department. Besides, the timing isn’t right now.]
Victor had laughed awkwardly while deflecting the question.
[She doesn’t need me yet. Even if things are miserable, she just got into the department she wanted….]
[Hmm?]
[She’ll only depend on me once things get harder. Unless she goes through absolute hell, she probably….]
At that moment, the Minister of Finance sensed something unsettling in Victor’s gentle-looking face.
[She must hate being a shadow beside someone who shines brighter than her. But I can’t help but shine, can I?]
Back then, he had simply thought that young people these days made romance unnecessarily complicated and moved on.
But after encountering Namia several times, he immediately recognized her as Victor’s ‘junior colleague.’
[If you marry Victor, I approve.]
That was why he had made such an abrupt statement to Namia before.
[I originally planned to bring you to the Ministry of Finance, but it seems rolling around here is working out well too.]
And today, seeing the anxious glint in Victor’s eyes as he watched Namia, he became certain.
“In any case, Your Majesty. To be perfectly honest….”
After Victor left, the Minister of Finance chuckled and spoke.
“The Crown Prince is far too perfect, the most radiant man in the Empire, which is precisely why he won’t be attractive to Namia. But our Victor is different. He’s now her capable subordinate.”
“Interesting, Marquis. Are you suggesting we compete for a daughter-in-law?”
“I’d lose decisively in a competition for a son, but a competition for a daughter-in-law is worth playing for.”
The Minister of Finance remained composed even at the Emperor’s quip. Paradoxically, this very confidence was why the Emperor trusted him.
“If my foolish son gets starry-eyed and stubbornly clings to pride rather than submitting, victory will be distant indeed.”
“Hmm, well. By your logic, wouldn’t the possibility of eye contact be higher with the lowest-ranking member of that department than with your son, the Team Leader?”
The Emperor chuckled teasingly. Of course, internally he was thinking, ‘This is an emergency, a real emergency. What am I going to do about this,’ and was visibly flustered.
* * *
As Victor left at Kiaros’s behest, only he and I remained on the balcony. I spoke awkwardly as I looked at him.
“Well, um… I originally came out here alone to get some fresh air. I didn’t expect Your Highness to arrive so quickly… It seems the letter from the Tower Master wasn’t anything urgent after all.”
“That’s not quite right.”
Kiaros approached slowly and stood beside me.
“Nothing unusual. It’s about the Gaejo Faction.”
“Hm? The Gaejo Faction, all of a sudden?”
“He finally confessed everything just now. Apparently, he’s been investigating the Gaejo Faction all this time.”
Wait—the Tower Master had been neglecting the Scroll Management Department for such a noble cause?
My eyes widened as I asked the question.
“Why are you telling me such a beautiful, self-sacrificing story only now, all of a sudden?”
“It’s not particularly self-sacrificing… It’s just that the Tower Master’s Daughter appears to be a leader within the Gaejo Faction. Before the Imperial Family could discover it, he wanted to quietly extract her.”
It was genuinely shocking. I clicked my tongue in disbelief.
“Good heavens… I mean, the Magic Tower’s princess who lacks for nothing—why would she join the Gaejo Faction?”
“Ah, there was one thing she lacked.”
Kiaros spoke matter-of-factly.
“She couldn’t use magic at all.”
“…What?”
Something felt off.
Father had said the Tower Master’s Daughter was exceptionally skilled in magic and would inherit his position.

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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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