The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success-Chapter 62

I hastily gathered my wits and gave a proper bow.

“This is Namia Roafi from the Scroll Department, greeting Her Majesty the Empress and His Highness the Crown Prince.”

At that, the Empress jumped up and hugged me, spinning me around in circles.

“Sit down, hurry. Wahahahaha! Namia finally came to see me! Ahahaha!”

It was a bit awkward with Kiaros here, but I didn’t let it show.

He sipped his tea with elegance and spoke.

“It’s quite the curious coincidence that I happened to stop by for a courtesy visit as well. Is it all right if I stay?”

Those jewel-like red eyes stared at me quietly.

I flinched and responded.

“Y-yes, of course.”

I mean, I couldn’t exactly say no here...

Honestly, it was even better this way. With Kiaros around, handling the initial situation would probably go more smoothly.

‘This is something Her Majesty needs to know, but like Kibon said... there are some issues with trusting her entirely.’

Kiaros being here was unexpected, but in a way, a relief.

I cautiously held out the documents to the Empress.

“It's just that, Your Majesty, there’s something... strange...”

“Eeh?”

She cut me off, waving her hand dismissively.

She didn’t even pretend to take the papers, instead shouting:

“Even if you tell me, I’m a blockhead who won’t understand! Why bring something this dangerous and dreadful to me?!”

As expected, the first obstacle.

I was just about to mention it involved the Prince when—

“How about we let our smart, brilliant, handsome, well-built, flawless-from-head-to-toe Crown Prince handle this with you instead?”

At that moment, Kiaros’s face turned bright red.

From the looks of it, he was genuinely flustered. The Empress leaned over and whispered to him quickly:

“Didn’t I do a good job, huh?”

Her eyes sparkled as she continued:

“I’ll keep working hard. I’ll lay down my life to support you, so fight, win, and claim your rightful place, Your Highness. Victory!”

Kiaros let out a deep sigh. Then he turned his gaze to me.

“You heard all that, didn’t you?”

“Yes, smart, brilliant, handsome, well-built, flawless-from-head-to-toe Crown Prince.”

“...Give me those documents.”

I handed the documents over to Kiaros immediately.

I had assumed summarizing and analyzing them would be my job, but my workload just shrank dramatically.

“Hmph.”

Kiaros flipped through the documents at an unbelievably fast speed.

‘Is he even reading them?’

I frowned and tilted my head as I watched.

Then Kiaros looked toward the Empress and said quietly:

“Your Majesty, I believe there’s a problem with Jaden.”

His reading speed was absurd.

‘You’d think he wrote it himself...’

The Empress’s face went pale in an instant.

“W-with Jaden?”

She looked like she was about to jump up—then suddenly froze.

Her eyes flicked to the letters scattered across the table.

Maybe she wasn’t much for tidiness; the letters were spread out everywhere in a mess.

“Hmm...”

The Empress looked around with a lacking sense of confidence.

“T-then... I hate to ask, but all the more reason to entrust it to the brilliant Crown Prince...”

Seriously? She was handing it off to Kiaros without even checking what the issue was?

I looked at the letters on the table. Among them was one of mine.

Your Majesty, if you have a moment, I’ll be visiting shortly due to an urgent matter. — Namia Roafi

And right below that...

Forget it. Don’t bother. I prefer doing things alone anyway. — Jaden Polariwood

There it was—a letter that reeked of utter rudeness.

‘Yep. That’s the one.’

I had been waiting for that exact letter.

In the original novel, the Empress is falsely accused and dies a bit later.

That was the last letter Jaden ever sent to her.

‘He regrets it deeply even as an adult...’

I had been waiting for the exact timing of that letter.

Looks like I timed it well.

As I stared at the letter, Kiaros followed my gaze.

“Hmm?”

Kiaros furrowed his brow, looking genuinely surprised.

Seeing his expression, I shrugged internally.

‘Only Kiaros and the Emperor don’t know. Jaden’s a total disaster of a kid.’

Jaden acted like a completely different person around Kiaros and the Emperor.

Quiet, polite, lacking in social skills but still seemingly well-mannered.

But in reality? People openly cursed him as a rotten little brat behind his back...

‘The Emperor’s often away due to his illness, so it can’t be helped. As for Kiaros, well, no one ever dared say anything bad about Jaden in front of him.’

If anyone even hinted at Jaden’s flaws, Kiaros would show visible displeasure.

Which is why no one had ever dared tell him the truth about the boy.

‘Now that he’s seen this disrespectful letter himself, he must be shocked, right?’

Sure enough, Kiaros wore a grim expression.

He pointed at the letter and asked the Empress,

“What is this, Your Majesty?”

“W-what? Ah...”

The Empress seemed flustered as she answered.

“Well, there’s the St. Kairo Banquet coming up soon...”

The St. Kairo Banquet.

An exclusive event only open to royalty, high-ranking nobles, and senior officials.

In the original novel, there was a line that went “Five days before the St. Kairo Banquet, Jaden sent a reply to the Empress.” That helped me time it just right.

‘Ugh, right. I have to go to that too now...’

A month ago, I never would’ve dreamed of attending something like that.

But now I had to. I was a Minister.

‘When am I going to get a dress made? And who’s escorting me?’

Still, that wasn’t the issue at hand.

I forced the thought aside and focused on the Empress.

She gave a sheepish smile.

“T-that... it was about discussing attire or, you know, that kind of thing. That’s what I sent the letter about, and that was his response.”

Her shoulders slumped as she added:

“But, well, he’s not wrong. I’ve always just ended up as a laughingstock at those events anyway... I haven’t gone to any banquets lately, for Jaden’s sake. I shouldn’t have sent that letter this time either.”

Serious. This was getting serious.

I sighed inwardly.

‘This is exactly why I came here in the first place—to solve this.’

The root of the problem was crystal clear.

At that moment, in the Ministry of Education—

“What do you mean, the Scroll Department got this much budget?!”

The Minister of Education slammed the papers down.

“That sly old fox from Finance—did he get played by that little girl from the Scroll Department?!”

The Education Minister had opposed Namia Roafi’s appointment from the very beginning.

He had been watching with satisfaction as the Finance Minister took the first swing.

But now...

The Finance Minister had sharpened that blade only to kneel and present it to Namia.

“This is unbelievable. Just absurd.”

He ground his teeth.

“A twenty-three-year-old girl from a baron’s house drowning in debt, as a Minister. Ha.”

The Education Minister placed great value on noble background and titles.

And the people he hated most were those with noble blood who still acted disgracefully.

“Thanks to places like House Roafi, all the lower-ranked nobles get lumped together and insulted!”

He absolutely loathed Namia Roafi and her origins.

And hearing rumors that she was close to the Empress only enraged him more.

“Birds of a feather, huh. Perfect match.”

The person the Education Minister despised the most was the Empress herself—a former mercenary turned consort.

From his ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) perspective, it was just a bunch of contemptible lowborns forming a clique.

“She even had the gall to reject His Highness’s proposal? How insolent.”

Of course, he would’ve insulted her even if she hadn’t.

“She’s a nuisance, Minister.” freēwēbnovel.com

Just then, someone entered the office.

“Ridon?”

Ridon Hiel.

Head of the Royal Education Team. He had just returned from reviewing Jaden’s assignment.

With a smirk, Ridon stepped on a document labeled Minister Namia Roafi of the Scroll Department.

He raised an eyebrow and said,

“A nuisance should be dealt with accordingly, don’t you think?”