The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 23

Of course, the priority was to deal with the current situation first.

Naturally, things were not looking good.

The Empress had already been arrested while in possession of poison. There were likely existing records of her dealings with the black market too.

She wouldn’t actively defend herself, nor did she have any faction to support her.

‘Ugh… Things have already escalated too far for me to clean up quietly behind the scenes.’

I blinked and fell into thought.

‘Guess I’ll have to stick my nose in again, despite being just a lowly employee.’

I pictured the Empress behind bars as my brain began spinning at full speed.

As I was thinking, an employee from a nearby team quietly approached me.

“Hey, Namia, is the rumor true?”

“Huh? What rumor?”

“That the Crown Prince fell for you at first sight.”

Ah… my life.

Of all things, why is this the part that has to follow the plot like clockwork…

I’d figured this kind of rumor would be floating around by lunchtime anyway.

‘Seriously, we’re all from the Scroll Bureau. Couldn’t they show even a shred of interest in how I made 166 scrolls and activated 172 yesterday?’

But no. It seemed like absolutely no one cared.

Instead, as if they’d found the juiciest gossip, more and more coworkers were suddenly swarming around me.

“Is it true he fell for your deep eye bags and scruffy clothes?”

“I heard he’s into lifeless women who look like they’re just barely breathing. That his ideal type is someone who has no will to live—is that real?”

“So that’s why he’s never shown interest in any of the delicate noble ladies! What an unusual taste!”

I sighed inwardly.

‘Ugh, even in the support division earlier, people were giving me weird looks.’

But I guess my expression had been too dark for them to comment openly.

Especially with the Empress being arrested and all.

Well, the rumor would probably die down in a week anyway…

“Namia?”

Osone stretched and walked over.

“Busy day? That’s why you came back?”

“Ah, yes.”

Cold sweat trickled down my back at the strange sense of foreboding, but I kept my expression neutral.

I answered in the usual hollow tone.

“His Highness said he’d review the documents, so I wanted to revise any editable drafts…”

“Ugh, you really are hopeless. This is why you’ll never get anywhere, huh? No sense of timing.”

Hmm. It seemed Osone hadn’t yet heard the scandal about me and Kiaros.

‘Well, he does look completely drunk on the attention he’s getting right now. Makes sense.’

While I was caught in thought, Osone clicked his tongue and waved his hand dismissively.

“Do you really think His Highness has the time or mental space to review those documents right now? Namia, do you ever read the room?”

Just then, the Director—who had looked pale earlier—approached with a suddenly brightened face.

Beaming now, the Director said with satisfaction, “Exactly. That review is going to take a veeeeeery long time.”

Which basically meant it wasn’t happening at all.

Once something was pushed down the priority list, it rarely came back up.

“Is our department the issue right now? The Empress just got arrested.”

He sounded practically gleeful.

“If they investigate her, the Tower might take notice of the Crown Prince’s involvement and interfere. They might tell us to back off. I even sent a petition to the Tower. Things are falling apart either way.”

The higher-ups were deep in discussion again.

I sat quietly like always, pretending to skim through a few documents.

Then, while no one was paying attention, I quietly slipped out of the department office.

‘Perfect.’

I grinned inwardly.

‘He’s not who I expected, but thanks to him, everything’s come together. I finally see a path forward.’

A way to save the Empress—even now that she’d been caught red-handed.

And a method that would let someone like me—just a low-level grunt—help without putting myself at risk.

My steps quickened as I left the department.

****

Empress of the Empire, Fron Polariwood, had been disarmed and locked away in a prison cell.

“Your Majesty, I believe in you. But others won’t.”

The Minister of Justice spoke solemnly to the Empress.

“If I’m going to defend you in court, I need to know the circumstances.”

Fron stubbornly kept her mouth shut, staring only at the cold stone floor.

The Minister sighed and shook his head.

“If you remain silent, even I might start to suspect you.”

“…”

“So please, explain. Why were you secretly collecting poisons? And only poisons specifically dangerous to the imperial bloodline?”

“…”

“You know poison is linked to the Crown Prince’s attempted assassination case, don’t you?”

“…”

Fron’s situation was dire.

An Empress caught sneaking out of the palace to obtain illegal poisons, from known black-market dealers no less.

Because she’d been a mercenary, Fron knew how to handle those shady dealers well.

“You went into back alleys alone, without even a single escort…”

The Minister glanced awkwardly at her muscles, then trailed off.

Her hobby was still strength training.

Not quite as strong as she once was, but more than enough to defend herself.

“If you truly meant to harm the Crown Prince, confess now. It will lessen your sentence more than silence.”

Still, Fron remained quiet. It was all she could do.

Even keeping silent required immense self-restraint from her.

‘Damn it. I’m screwed…’

Having lived a rough life, she cursed internally.

‘Should I just die?’

There was a reason Fron had been quietly tracking down rare poisons that affected dragonkin.

It was because of the Emperor.

‘My dumb brain can’t figure this out anyway…’

For a dragonkin to fall ill in middle age was unheard of.

Dragonkin had many enemies. Especially among hidden, non-human races. They were often targets.

So they never let their weakness show.

When young Kiaros had mentioned his “dark phase,” he’d been attacked immediately.

‘I can’t make things worse.’

The Minister sighed and left the cell.

Fron lay flat on the stone floor, thinking.

‘I just wanted to help His Majesty somehow…’

She’d started collecting poisons because she suspected the Emperor might’ve been poisoned.

Her past as a mercenary had shown her too many deadly toxins.

She couldn’t do anything with them herself, but had planned to show them to the Emperor upon his return.

‘Of course I can’t explain that.’

Saying she’d done it to help the Emperor would mean admitting he was weakened.

And that would spread across the entire Empire.

So Fron had no choice but to keep her mouth shut.

‘Damn it. Guess I do have to die.’

She might be the Empress, but first and foremost she was once a royal guard.

She had once sworn to protect the Polariwood bloodline, even at the cost of her life.

Revealing the Emperor’s vulnerability was not an option.

‘This way, even His Highness won’t be put in a difficult position.’

Would Kiaros suspect her?

Even if he didn’t, if she stayed silent, he couldn’t publicly defend her either.

‘At least it’s a good thing His Majesty isn’t in the capital right now.’

There were many nobles who viewed her as a nuisance.

They would no doubt pressure Kiaros.

‘The worst-case scenario is if the Crown Prince tries to save me and ends up revealing the Emperor’s condition.’

Fron was not a clever woman.

But even if a genius showed up, there seemed to be no way out of this mess.

Just then—

‘Hm?’

From a distance, a young woman she’d never seen before was approaching the prison with light steps.

She had shining silver hair and blue eyes.

A scrawny woman with not a muscle on her body.