The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 100

What the hell is this?

I’ve never had anything like this happen before—what even is this?

I was completely caught off guard.

At the same time, Keyvon kicked off the blankets and sprang up.

“Are you alright?!”

Even while sick, his movements were sharp and swift. He hurried over, grabbed my shoulders, and asked,

“What are your symptoms? Has this ever happened to you before?”

“N-no…”

I quickly wiped my mouth with the wet towel I’d been holding.

“My stomach’s been feeling queasy for a few days, but…”

“Hah… I knew we should’ve gone to the hospital then.”

But who goes to the hospital just for some indigestion…?

Naturally, I assumed it was just nerves ahead of the St. Cairo banquet.

But now that I’d coughed up blood, the nausea was suddenly gone.

I’d just vomited blood, but strangely, I felt great. For the first time in days, I was even hungry.

“Get on my back.”

Keyvon turned his back to me.

“Huh? Where are we going?”

“To see a doctor.”

“What? It’s the middle of the night—what kind of doctor is even open now?”

It was 3 a.m. No hospital would be open.

Still, he picked me up onto his back without hesitation. I was suddenly airborne.

At that exact moment, the bed he’d been lying in collapsed with a thud.

“Hey! Where are we going?!”

“If we head to the palace, the imperial physician—”

“No!”

Was he out of his mind? Why would the imperial physician see me? They only treated royalty.

“And this… it’s kind of suspicious.”

Keyvon was already sprinting outside. Fever or not, he didn’t hesitate at all.

I whispered into his ear.

“Stop for a second, Keyvon. I’m not saying I won’t go to a doctor. It’s just… I’ve never had anything like this before—”

At that moment, a street tree nearby suddenly toppled. Keyvon muttered under his breath, gritting his teeth,

“This twisted pervert bastard… even now…”

“The thing is, someone might be targeting me. You don’t know this, but I’ve gotten myself tangled up in royal affairs lately—”

My mind had already calculated everything coldly and logically.

I figured the Reformists might try something at the St. Cairo banquet. That’s why I planned to keep a low profile starting tomorrow. But if they were already targeting me beforehand…?

Then spreading news of my symptoms would be like laying my cards out for the enemy to see.

I gave Keyvon, who had briefly paused, a direct order.

“Take me to Luka. You know his boarding house address.”

I’d made sure to get it when I’d asked about his boarding house before.

“He’s the only doctor I can trust.”

Luka Klass. The one who, in the original story, saved all of Jaden’s closest aides.

Even Jaden once said, “He’s better than the imperial physicians.” So I knew I could at least trust Luka’s skill.

“But the imperial physician—”

“That’s an order. Don’t argue, just do as I say.”

To the clueless Keyvon still harping on about the palace, I gave a firm command.

“I have enemies. If I make a fuss and let everyone at the palace know I’m sick, and that ends up putting me in more danger—will you take responsibility? Enough talk, move.”

“…Then I have a condition.”

Keyvon immediately snapped into obedient mode at the word ‘order.’

“Tomorrow morning, you must still consult the imperial physician. I’ll inform His Highness Crown Prince Kiaros.”

“You?”

“Yes. When I met him about the Howard Olten incident, he granted me permission to contact him directly anytime, anywhere.”

Ah, right. The eldest son of the Olten merchant guild, the one who got sent to the countryside for workplace harassment…

Keyvon did say he’d testified to Kiaros about that…

“Ugh, what imperial physician… Just don’t get scolded for bothering royalty with something trivial.”

I grumbled, displeased, but Keyvon didn’t reply.

“And it’s not ‘when I met the Crown Prince’—it’s ‘when I was granted an audience with His Highness’…”

Even as I corrected his speech, he had already started running with me on his back, heading for Luka’s boarding house.

***

“Hm.”

Luka greeted Kiaros and me in his pajamas.

At first, he just stared at us half-asleep. But when I said, “Your rival is dying!” he immediately began an extremely thorough examination.

Even though the rivalry hadn’t officially started yet, he couldn’t just let me die first—that was his reason.

After a long round of various tests, he frowned and muttered,

“…This is strange…”

Kiaros felt like his chest was caving in. So this was what it meant for the world to shake.

Guilt immediately followed.

She said her stomach felt off. I should’ve taken her to the imperial physician. No—any doctor would’ve been better than nothing…

His heart ached like it was on fire.

“Haah… seriously, this is so weird…”

Luka kept tilting his head. Kiaros was breathing heavily, on edge.

When Namia had coughed up blood, he’d honestly thought the world was ending.

Even if it turned out to be incurable, he would find a way. He would save her. No matter what.

“What exactly is weird?” Namia asked flatly, still surprisingly calm.

Luka pressed his lips together like he wasn’t sure what to say, then replied,

“She’s perfectly normal. Everything.”

The tension drained from Kiaros all at once, and he swayed on the spot.

Namia let out a shout.

“What the heck! If everything’s normal, why is that weird?!”

“It’s weird because she’s normal. I’ve never heard of an illness where someone coughs up blood and all the tests come back clean.”

Luka clicked his tongue and continued,

“You said your stomach was upset for a few days? But now that you’ve thrown up blood, you feel better? I’ve never seen symptoms like that, Namia.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Either way, everything is normal now. There’s no medication to prescribe, no surgery to do.”

Luka crossed his arms and declared firmly.

“But just in case, I’ll do a little more research. I’ll need to take more blood.”

“Okay.”

Namia nodded obediently.

Kiaros watched quietly as she had her blood drawn.

He wasn’t about to just take a health department employee’s word for it. No matter what, he’d get her to see the imperial physician.

“You’re losing a lot of blood today.”

Luka muttered as he drew her blood.

“Huh? What blood?”

“Ah… The Grand Chamberlain also suddenly coughed up blood. I got an urgent message to examine him, but he insisted it was just a chronic issue and refused treatment.”

“The Grand Chamberlain…?”

“Yeah.”

Luka yawned as he continued.

“Well, he looked fine eating at the banquet, so I just left.”

Kiaros furrowed his brow slightly. The Grand Chamberlain had said earlier that he wasn’t feeling well…

“I see…”

Namia answered slowly. Her eyes, which had still been sparkling even after vomiting blood, dimmed.

She paused in thought for a moment, then changed the subject.

“Luka, can you check on Keyvon too? He had a high fever earlier. The medicine helped, but his temperature still isn’t normal.”

“Huh? Why me?”

Luka shrugged.

“He’s clearly not seriously ill. He’ll get over it soon.”

“What if it gets worse?”

“Then he can go to a hospital. It’s not urgent. Don’t make top-class professionals like me see second-rate patients.”

To his knowledge, every healthcare worker dreamed of treating royalty just once in their lives…

In any case, Keyvon didn’t look eager to be examined by Luka either.

So he reached out and gently grabbed Namia’s arm as she started to glare.

“I’d really like to go now. I truly am fine.”

“But still…”

“His Highness told me I could contact him anytime. I’ll request the imperial physician immediately.”

“Oh, really?”

Namia’s eyes lit up with a spark.

Kiaros flinched.

Just a moment ago, she was so indifferent, saying “What imperial physician…” and all that.

Why the sudden change of heart?

Namia smiled brightly. Kiaros, instinctively, felt uneasy. Whenever she made that face, she became completely unpredictable.

“Then, when you contact him, pass on a message for me.”

“Uh… a message…?”

“There’s something I need to request in secret. Ask him if it’s okay to drop his name for it. He’ll probably say yes without thinking much, but still—bring me that ‘yes.’”

Having already once earned himself the title of “Dragon Oppa” by casually saying “Sure” without thinking, Kiaros muttered under his breath,

“…How far and in what way are you planning to use his name this time…?”