The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 12

 

After speaking with sincerity for the first time in a long while, my brain finally started functioning again.

‘Wait a second.’

I blinked rapidly and sucked in a breath.

‘Did I just interrupt the Crown Prince?’

Even if preventing a war was my top priority, still!

If I had interruptedOsone   like that, all hell would have broken loose.

And Kiaros wasn’t justOsone  —he was the Crown Prince, way higher on the ladder…

‘Am I going to get disciplined? What’s the regulation on this…?’

As I turned pale and caught my breath, Kiaros turned sharply to his aide, his expression grave.

Then he asked very seriously:

“Where is that employee now?”

“Ah, I believe… he took sick leave due to mental distress…”

Kiaros’s eyes glinted coldly. He looked like he was calculating his next move.

‘…Wait. I’m not getting scolded?’

Too drained to keep my eyes open properly, I let my eyelids droop. Then he turned back to me and spoke:

“Forgive me, but we’ll speak again another time, Namia Roapia. Your sharp insight was incredibly helpful.”

“Ah… yes?”

“I’ll ensure you’re rewarded, including for this incident.”

“Uh… yes?”

“You saved my life.”

Our eyes met for a brief moment.

In those crimson eyes I had once found terrifying, I now saw something gentler—a flicker of warmth.

‘Wait. Including this incident…? My insight was helpful…?’

He was going to take what I said seriously. Not only was I not being punished—he was going to reward me?

It made sense, and yet… in the Scroll Management Department, that was unheard of.

‘Wait, seriously? This has never happened since I started working.’

The realization hit me, and it left me stunned. I mumbled in disbelief:

“I… I just did what anyone would have…”

“That’s not true. It gave me a new perspective on scrolls.”

He added in a low voice:

“I wanted to give my thanks properly… but it seems that will have to wait. It’s important to know exactly what I’m grateful for.”

Ah. So that’s why he called me here—just to thank me.

Not because he was going to confess love at first sight or something.

Time to quietly toss my Cinderella operation in the trash.

I responded with the utmost politeness:

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll wait.”

That meant, don’t forget to call me back properly.

“Thank you again… for what you said about scrolls.”

As I added that, Kiaros nodded.

Then, as if something had just come to mind, he strode into his office.

He opened a desk drawer with elegant movements and pulled something out, then returned to me.

“Your Highness?”

Frozen in place in the hallway, I blinked in surprise.

Kiaros held something out to me.

“I saw up close earlier… you’re far too thin.”

My eyes widened at the thick envelope in his hand.

“Take this and use it. I don’t have time to use it anyway.”

“Huh?”

“It’s not like you’re in poor health because you lack income. This might be better for your health than just giving you cash.”

I accepted the envelope with trembling hands.

Inside were stacks of meal vouchers—gift certificates for all kinds of restaurants across the capital.

They were… just as moving as the IV I got this morning.

Loyalty surged through me like a tidal wave.

“For now, head home for the day. File it under an official Crown Prince Office summons.”

My god.

Dismissed from work—without even taking paid or sick leave?!

I lowered my head, not just out of etiquette, but in genuine gratitude.

“Thank you.”

He said he’d summon me again later, so that meant I’d have another chance to meet him one-on-one.

Clutching the envelope full of food tickets, I turned to leave, my heart feeling strangely light.

It was the emotional aftershock—the delayed wave that came once the tension finally passed.

‘So… he called me here just to thank me…’

After spending so long in a department where you got punished for standing out—whether you made 166 scrolls or 1,660—I must’ve forgotten how normal workplaces worked.

‘Honestly thought I’d just get tossed a commendation and that’d be the end of it. But he said I gave him a new perspective on scrolls…’

I didn’t feel bad. On the contrary—it had been so long since I’d felt any sense of accomplishment.

Maybe… since joining this job?

The feeling was so unfamiliar, I felt giddy.

‘That’s right. Scrolls… are amazing. Truly.’

I even recalled the thrill I’d felt when I first started studying scrolls as a child.

It was… something like a passion I’d long forgotten.

‘Saving the Crown Prince was great and all, but… this feeling is just as wonderful.’

That’s when I realized something important.

Using my power with scrolls after so long—maybe I hadn’t done it just for others. Maybe… I did it for myself too.

Achieving something and being recognized for it with scrolls…

‘It’s really, really been so long since I felt like this.’

Looking past the layers of reality that had piled on top, I glimpsed the core beneath it all.

That core, long forgotten, was something called a dream.

“Then, I’ll see you next time, Your Highness.”

I offered my farewell and gently closed the office door behind me.

Just as I turned down the hallway—

“Namia!”

Someone suddenly grabbed my arm.

“You haven’t been home for two days! What’s going on?! Huh?!”

Silver hair. Green eyes.

“Juan?”

It was Juan—my twin brother, at least on paper. He worked in the Imperial Treasury.

Judging by his appearance, he’d probably been searching for me since morning.

‘He must’ve waited outside the Crown Prince’s office, unable to just barge in.’

Whatever this was about, it made me sigh.

He wasn’t worried about me out of genuine concern, that much I knew.

“Anyway… could you take this for me? It’s really urgent, due tomorrow.”

Juan shoved a bundle of papers into my arms.

‘Ugh. Treasury paperwork, obviously.’

I used to help Juan with his work at home too.

Technically, leaking internal department documents like this was a serious offense, but Juan simply didn’t have the skills to handle it alone.

“And you really need to go home. You know how frantic Mom and Dad have been looking for you? It’s a mess.”

Oh great. There’s more?

My head was already pounding.

If they were that desperate to find me, something big must’ve happened.

And once again, I must’ve been the first solution they thought of…

‘But… it won’t be long now.’

I swallowed the rage bubbling up inside me. There was only one memory that could help suppress it:

[“My darling girl, just wait a little longer. You know Daddy loves you, right?”]

[“Yes, Daddy… I’ll wait, bravely and patiently.”]

I knew what kind of decision my real father had made for my sake.

So… I needed to make my own decisions for him.

I took a deep breath—and dashed off.

***

Kiaros was disgusted with himself.

He couldn’t even remember what that Ministry of Law official had said.

Unthinkable, really.

In the past, such a lapse in awareness would’ve been inconceivable. But the shock had dulled his senses, and he hadn’t even processed the situation properly.

“Sigh…”

He irritably ran a hand through his hair.

Even so, he couldn’t help but recall Namia at that moment.

[“Your Highness! Wait!”]

The moment her spiritless eyes had suddenly come alive—gleaming with intensity.

It was the same look she had when using scrolls.

‘Just before that, her eyes were completely unfocused… and she couldn’t even articulate her words properly.’

The aide, fidgeting nearby, spoke hesitantly.

“Your Highness, she’s… truly exceptional. Everyone in the knight order heard the same thing, yet none of them could make that connection.”

He wasn’t wrong.

And yet, the idea of Namia being “exceptional” felt oddly jarring, considering her past.

‘If she had real talent, the Mage Tower would’ve scouted her back in school.’

Those clear blue eyes from earlier now overlapped with the zombie-like image from their first meeting.

After making her point about the law official, Namia had slipped right back into mumbling, sluggish eyes—the exact image from before.

The dissonance was staggering. Kiaros couldn’t think of her without feeling slightly bewildered.

At that moment, a voice came from outside the office.

“Namia!”

It was a young man’s voice.

Naturally, Kiaros turned his ear toward it, listening closely.