The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 119

Keyvon continued evenly.

“For someone who doesn’t really know how to use her body… what exactly are you trying to have me do? You seem to have no feel for that sort of thing at all.”

“I couldn’t help it. I never learned any of that when I was young—no one can be good at everything, right?”

I scratched my cheek with a sheepish smile.

“My dad was miles away from that sort of thing too…”

“Ah.”

Keyvon’s eyes flashed for an instant. Even with his calm face, he couldn’t hide the sudden swell of interest.

“What’s with that face, full of impure curiosity?”

“I’m curious.”

“About what?”

“Everything.”

Keyvon’s eyes crinkled.

“If it’s about you, Minister, I’m curious about everything. Naturally, your childhood too.”

Strictly speaking, in terms of sheer, absolute beauty, he fell short of Kiaros.

But the fact that “Keyvon” was smiling with his eyes—that alone was remarkable.

More than the eye-smile itself, it was that sincere show of interest that made my heart give a small tremble.

“Uh… well, it’s nothing special. My dad was tall and slim—really skinny. He had no muscles to speak of, but his skin was very fair… no matter how much manual labor he did outside, he never tanned.”

Without realizing it, I found myself talking, almost entranced.

“I guess Dad just wasn’t the type to put on muscle. I must’ve taken after him. Exercise just doesn’t suit me either.”

Once said, it really was nothing.

Yet Keyvon looked at me as if he were hearing the most fascinating story in the world.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because it’s cute.”

“Oh. Right.”

“Aren’t you going to ask what I find cute?”

He gave a soft snort and propped his chin in his hand. I mirrored him, propping my chin and meeting his eyes.

Before I knew it, the original reason I’d called him had been pushed aside.

As I leisurely leaned into the ticklish atmosphere, Keyvon’s ears flushed a sudden, adorable red.

“You tell me something too.”

“Me?”

“Your childhood. If you don’t want to, then tell me something else.”

I offered options in case there were complicated family matters tangled up.

“Something about you that I don’t know.”

At that, Keyvon’s face immediately stiffened.

“Uh… then…”

What was this? The hesitance on his face looked unusual.

Even the calm aura he usually gave off had gone rigid.

It was just a light question from me, but his voice was so serious that I found myself tensing up as well.

“I’m sorry, but… I think what I’m about to say may disappoint you, Minister.”

“Then don’t. That’s an order.”

“Um, well… actually, it’s also something His Highness the Crown Prince wishes to convey.”

Keyvon took a deep breath, and in a tumble of clumsy honorifics, said it in one go.

“In truth, His Highness suspected you, Minister.”

Oh, come on.

All that tension for this? My shoulders relaxed as I answered.

“Ah. Okay.”

“He thought you might possibly be with the Reformists…”

“Ah. Okay.”

“…You’re not surprised?”

Keyvon looked more startled by my flat response. I’d long thought that was possible, so I answered honestly.

“His Highness is thorough. It’s only natural he trusts no one. I assumed from the beginning that assigning you to me was a form of surveillance.”

“Doesn’t that upset you? Doesn’t it hurt your feelings, make you resentful…?”

“Not at all.”

It was a completely sincere answer. I had secrets from Kiaros too.

Like suddenly knowing the future one day—and that monstrous power the Tower Master told me to keep hidden.

“I see.”

Keyvon looked more aggrieved than I did, and added with a bitter expression,

“Did you realize I was acting as a watcher?”

“Once we came to the palace and I learned you were connected to His Highness. Before that, I didn’t suspect a thing.”

“Are you… offended?”

“Please. You were just doing what you were told. I understand as a member of an organization. It wasn’t of your own will.”

At my nonchalant words, Keyvon let out a small sigh, then continued.

“In any case, His Highness has… ah, decided. If the High Priest truly turns out to be cooperating with the Reformists, then he will no longer doubt you, Minister.”

“Ah, really? He didn’t need to be so considerate as to explain it to me…”

I muttered, a little awkward.

He was the sovereign-in-waiting; he didn’t need to make any such declaration. He could doubt and then drop the suspicion on his own without anyone objecting.

“But then again—since you can relay His Highness’s words and all that…”

It was, in its way, meaningful.

Keyvon had voluntarily revealed how closely he was tied to Kiaros.

Which meant, at this point, there was something I was even more curious about.

“In that case… if there’s an opportunity, could you tell me more about the Reformists? It’s my father’s business too, so I’m curious. Only within what His Highness would permit, of course—I’d be grateful.”

Kiaros commanded countless informants. He might know even more than I did, despite my knowledge of the original story.

I couldn’t very well demand information directly from Kiaros. But Keyvon might be able to share a few pieces with me.

Keyvon answered immediately.

“I think you’ve already grasped most of what matters… but for now: from the moment you began to suspect the High Priest, we dispatched crows to every imperial temple. Until now, out of religious courtesy, we hadn’t interfered inside temple walls.”

Huh? Just like that, right now?

Is it okay to rattle this off without permission?

What I’d meant was—later, after clearing it with Kiaros, maybe pass along a few points…

“And also…”

While I was being awkward about it, Keyvon continued.

“His Majesty the Emperor personally interrogated the Minister of Education. We received the results recently.”

I nodded without much tension. At this point, the Education Minister wouldn’t know much anyway.

“The Reformists claim to know the future.”

At those words, it felt like I’d been smacked on the back of the head.

“They perceive this world as a book, as if they’ve been reincarnated into a story…”

Wait a second. Isn’t that… me?

I too had suddenly started perceiving this world as a book one day!

“They say it’s the result of some experiment… But since they’ve already altered the flow by knowing the future, I suppose that ‘original work’ is useless now.”

But the fact that it was the result of an experiment—

I suddenly felt the blood drain from my head.

“In any case, compiling the various reports—just as you inferred, they seem to be conducting bizarre experiments using the blood of those with special abilities.”

Keyvon went on.

“Just as we secured a pregnant monster subject last time—they’re doing the same with humans.”

A pregnant monster subject… I had already heard the results from Kiaros.

“But the mother who underwent the experiment showed no change, while the newborn exhibited a special trait… When we administered the drug to the mother, the reaction appeared in the offspring.”

Even after birth, when they experimented on the mother, the reaction appeared in the young.

A hypothesis shot through my mind, and my heart began to pound.

“The Tower Master’s daughter likely cooperated as well, wanting to become proficient at magic. She was a woman who treated her inability to use magic as a kind of complex.”

At that moment—

A peculiarity I’d noted back at the banquet flashed through my mind.

Father had said that the Tower Master’s daughter was exceptionally talented—that she would succeed the Tower Master. He said he’d heard it from Mother, who came from the capital.

But having spent a long time in the capital myself… people don’t actually know much about the Tower! If someone has no connection to it, why would they spread that kind of lie?

There was no way an ordinary capital resident would’ve heard such a rumor. And when I had said something along those lines to the Tower Master, her expression had been… peculiar.

Then she’d immediately left for the South, saying she believed she had discovered something more about her daughter.

Good heavens.

The pieces were snapping together so fast it made my head spin.

Could it be… that hopeless woman is my mother?