The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 109

As soon as the highest authority figure spoke, Anastasia immediately shut her mouth.
The Raven, who had been eagerly echoing her, did the same.

The two exchanged glances that said, “Ah… right. The Crown Prince likes Namia, doesn’t he?”

“Uh, but… who are you?”

“Hmm… Think of me as an elite knight operating in secret.”

“W-Wow…”

Anastasia and the Raven, who had apparently grown friendly, began murmuring to each other.

Meanwhile, Victor—still seething—turned back to look at me.

“I meant it. Namia Roapia, I… you… yeah. This is the only way I know how to have someone.”

His voice was laced with ragged breaths.

“You don’t know anything about me, Namia.”

Victor, eyes brimming with tears, spoke in a dark tone I had never heard from him before.

“I’ve always hidden it—my childhood… In truth, my real parents…”

I stared at him blankly. He seemed about to reveal some secret about his upbringing.

But right then…

Despite all my efforts to hold back, I couldn’t help it—my mouth opened:

“Haaaaaahhhhm…”

It was truly unavoidable. An unrelenting side effect of the sleeping pills.

Victor looked more betrayed than ever, glaring at me as if he’d lost the will to speak.

“S-She… she really doesn’t want to hear it, does she…”

Only Anastasia muttered to herself, rolling her eyes.

“See? I told him… Confession isn’t something you ‘try.’”

***

[I only reported everything happening in the Scroll Division. After that, I was contacted and told to obtain the Crown Prince’s blood at all costs.]

That’s what Victor said as he was being dragged away by the Ravens.

[I don’t know exactly who gave me the orders. All I know is that they’re part of the Reformist faction. Especially after the Saint Cairo Banquet, all communications came through my personal mailbox inside the palace.]

It sounded plausible.
Victor had joined the Reformists in his teens and only left once he was adopted by the Arwin Marquis.

[Marquis Arwin knows nothing. Please… please make sure he doesn’t suffer for this.]

That last plea from Victor sounded genuine.
It made sense, too. No way would the Reformists have entrusted critical intel to a mere pawn.

[Please… please… Marquis Arwin gave me a new life because he believed in me…]

[Did you ever show him your true self?]

[…No. I’d never want him to know.]

Victor was dragged away, still concerned for the Treasury Minister. At least he had a weakness—that was fortunate.

[The blood of the Dragonkind… I placed it in my mailbox, where I’ve been receiving messages from them. That’s all.]

[If that’s a lie, I’ll start with the Treasury Minister.]

Kiaros ordered a decoy vial—filled with ordinary blood—to be placed in the mailbox.

Victor was then assigned surveillance and told to report to work as usual.

This was all to deceive the Reformists into thinking their plan had succeeded.

That trap was the plan from the beginning.

After all, the Imperial Palace wasn’t a place anyone could walk into, especially at night.

Victor’s mailbox was a government-designated one, and it was located inside the palace.

If someone came to retrieve the vial, they’d catch a Reformist operative who was already hiding within the palace.

“Then I’ll leave cleanup to you.”

Kiaros addressed the two Ravens.

One of them took position by Victor. His sky-blue eyes turned toward me once more as he said blankly,

“…You’ll have to be careful now, Namia.”

It was the first time I’d seen such an empty expression in his eyes.

“Up until now, you’ve only been safe because of me. They already know who you are.”

I said nothing.

But I already suspected it. It’s part of why I entered the palace immediately after the banquet.

“They believed they could get Dragonkind’s blood from you. That’s why they didn’t hurt you… yet.”

I understood what Victor meant.

Now that they thought they’d succeeded in getting the blood, they might come for me.

That meant someone inside the palace—someone with access to Victor’s mailbox—could be a threat to me.

Even with guards, even inside the palace, I could be in danger.

“…It was true—I’ve wanted to have you since the first time I saw you.”

Before our eyes could meet again, Kiaros stepped between us.

“Go.”

He issued a quiet but firm command as he stood before me.

“Now. Immediately. Quickly. Without delay.”

At his words, the Raven escorting Victor swiftly disappeared with him.

Kiaros then turned to Anastasia.

“Miss Anastasia, you should take medical leave. Let’s say you were gravely injured by Victor and are now in critical condition. Also—don’t try to dig any deeper into this.”

“Y-Yes! Understood!”

Thus, Anastasia’s situation was more or less taken care of.

“Still, just in case, I’ll assign someone to guard you.”

The same Raven who had saved Anastasia—and grown somewhat close with her—was chosen to be her bodyguard.

Once both left with their respective Ravens—

Kiaros looked at me as I stifled a yawn.

“You must be exhausted, but… could I ask you to muster just a bit more energy?”

Those nervous red eyes of his reflected me completely.

“How about we keep watch together to see who approaches the mailbox?”

“I was hoping for that too.”

I nodded vigorously.

So we moved with the remaining Ravens to Victor’s mailbox.

One Raven placed the fake vial containing regular blood inside.

Then we crouched low in the brush nearby to wait.

As I sat there silently, waiting for someone to approach the box, Victor’s final expression kept coming to mind.

“Why?”

Kiaros watched my face and asked,

“Are you… feeling conflicted?”

I let out another yawn, then gave him an apologetic look as I answered,

“Not really. I think I was already so shocked with what happened to Anastasia… Now it just feels like, ‘Yeah, I guess that can happen too.’”

“Still, Victor Arwin blamed you, didn’t he?”

“That’s just classic deflection. No matter his background or what he’s been through, I don’t owe it to him to excuse that.”

Anastasia had muttered earlier, “M-Mysterious sad boy with a backstory… kinda my type…”
But I hadn’t cared to ask.

It just wasn’t my nature.

“Sure, we might have worked out. Bad timing, maybe. But…”

I blinked slowly and went on.

“You can’t call it love if you’re just trying to control everything so it goes your way.”

“…You’re right.”

Kiaros replied a beat later.

Only then did I realize I was rambling quite a bit to him.

He’s my superior… Why am I saying all this?

Maybe I’d grown too comfortable around him.

At some point—though I wasn’t sure when—I had stopped trembling just from seeing his face. It was nothing like our first meeting.

And that was all because he had made me feel at ease.

He had approached me warmly, with interest, and with kindness.

“In any case, I’ll make sure they don’t harm you.”

Kiaros said in a low voice.

“You are my guest. And I’ll protect you no matter what.”

Just as I was about to reply—

Someone approached Victor’s mailbox.

He quietly removed the vial of “Dragonkind blood” and tucked it into his coat, then turned to leave the way he came.

“Follow him.”

Kiaros gave a low order, and a Raven soared into the air, trailing silently behind the intruder.