The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 32

“Uh… huh?”
“How could I possibly make a teleport scroll? I don’t even have the skills…”
I quickly pulled my hand back, slumping my shoulders as lifelessly as usual.
I couldn’t make one anyway, but I at least wanted to rub salt in the wound.
“I almost got disciplined last time just for overstepping a bit. There’s no way I could make something like that…”
“N-Namia, th-that’s—!”
“I only did what you taught me, Team Leader…”
“Hey, you—!”
Just as Osone, flushed with rage, raised his hand to strike me—
Honestly, I could’ve taken one hit. I’d been hit plenty of times by the baron and his wife.
‘Honestly, getting slapped is a bargain for how satisfying this is.’
Compared to the satisfaction of provoking him, a slap was nothing.
But suddenly, someone rushed in like lightning and twisted Osone’s arm.
“Aaaaargh!”
Osone screamed, leaping into the air.
At the same time, the palace guards came thundering down the hall.
“Your Majesty!”
“Your Majesty the Empress! Please don’t run like that!”
Amazingly, the one who had twisted Osone’s arm was the brawny Empress herself.
She grinned triumphantly.
“Come on! It’s time for the trial to start!”
“Your Majesty! You can’t just dash off like this—!”
“He looked like he was about to bolt! Why are you letting this shady guy wander around on his own?”
To that, the guards responded tearfully.
“The only person deemed too suspicious to roam freely in this trial is… Your Majesty the Empress. That man is a witness and accuser… Please try to remember that…”
“Oh, right. I forgot.”
The Empress blinked apologetically.
But she still didn’t let go of Osone’s arm.
“Anyway, let’s go. He has to come with us anyway, right?”
Giggling, the Empress winked at me.
She even whispered a playful “Give me the signal!”
And so Osone was dragged off by the guards, practically hauled along by the Empress.
The sight of his retreating figure resembled a cow being led to slaughter.
As I watched him go, my expression turned cold.
‘That guy… He really was up to something. Asking for a teleport scroll—he was planning to bolt, even if it made him a fugitive.’
At this point, I had every reason to press the attack.
Not just because I almost got hit. That was just a nice bonus.
***
Break time ended, and the trial resumed.
The Empress looked positively radiant.
On the other hand, Osone had grown paler ever since the Empress shouted that he was suspicious.
“We will now resume the trial.”
The Minister of Justice, already looking exhausted, made the announcement.
The Empress flashed a big grin in my direction.
Her expression said, What do I do next?
There was no need to recite legal articles anymore—we just had to exchange the pre-agreed signals.
[Give me the signal!]
Just like she’d whispered before.
I smiled and prepared to send the signal.
‘Hm?’
Unexpectedly, I locked eyes with someone else.
‘What? No way… Is he looking at me?’
It was Kiaros, seated at the front.
No doubt about it—Kiaros was staring at me with blazing eyes, like the sun itself.
‘W-Was I found out? Am I busted? How much does he know?’
Surely he wouldn’t single me out in this crowd unless…
As I blinked in confusion, Kiaros’s crimson lips slowly moved.
“Go for it.”
It was short enough that I could read the words from the shape of his mouth.
“Go wild.”
That commanding face, tinged with a sardonic smile.
Just meeting his gaze made my heart drop.
‘S-Scary!’
No matter how powerful she was, the Empress still felt like a person. But a yongin—a dragonkin—just meeting their eyes made my body tense.
‘What do I do…?’
Humans instinctively shrink back before a yongin.
And the Crown Prince was the top of the government food chain.
My answer was clear.
Yes.
Frozen stiff, I also mouthed my response.
I’ll do my best.
And in the meantime, the trial had resumed in earnest.
Mostly, Osone shouted about how unfair this was, while the Empress accused him of being suspicious.
…To any onlooker, it was like the plaintiff and defendant had switched places.
I gave the Empress a small heart sign with my fingers.
That meant, “Just keep going with it.” The Empress beamed and shouted,
“I ran into that bastard in the palace, and my battlefield instincts screamed at me! That guy’s seriously up to no good!”
“Your Majesty, please—you should begin by defending yourself…”
The Minister of Justice interjected with clear discomfort.
At that moment—
‘Huh?’
While the Empress and the minister bickered—
Kiaros, who had been watching me, suddenly looked confused.
***
[‘That’s because I’m not in a position to stand out…’]
Namia had said that earlier, wearing a slightly bitter expression.
Kiaros recalled Osone’s previous outburst.
Namia had created a scroll to save the Crown Prince, and all she got from her boss was a scolding for showing off.
‘With that level of skill, it should’ve been Osone listening to her…’
He remembered how she hung her head while being berated.
So, on impulse, Kiaros had mouthed the words to her:
“Go for it. Go wild.”
That part was fine.
But then Namia looked at him and moved her lips too.
And…
‘Hmm?’
In truth, Kiaros couldn’t read her lips.
Her mouth was small, and the distance was too great.
How on earth did Fron manage to read that?
‘…Could it be a vision-enhancing scroll?’
That’s when he finally realized what the crumpled parchment in Fron’s pocket might be.
Either way, he didn’t have that scroll.
He thought she mouthed yes.
But the next four syllables? He had no clue.
A-A-A-O? What is that?
Then, like lightning, her earlier words returned to him:
[‘Just follow what I do well.’]
Kiaros furrowed his brows.
“Follow what I do”? Was that it?
She dared tell the Crown Prince to copy her?
“I told her to go wild, and she really went wild…”
Unconsciously, Kiaros began to question himself.
Maybe Osone had thought the same thing.
That a boss could ignore their subordinate no matter what they said…
Had I just given her permission to do whatever she wanted, only to turn around and hold her to a different standard?
Kiaros was deep in muddled self-reflection when suddenly—
She made a heart shape with her fingers.
‘…Huh?’
Kiaros blinked, clearly skeptical.
Was all this really necessary? Was this some big master plan?
He had no idea what it meant, but maybe he should try doing it too?
He had told her to go wild…
‘Well, it doesn’t seem hard or anything…’
Frowning slightly, Kiaros raised his hand and formed a small heart with his fingers.
****
‘What… What was that?’
Kiaros was acting weird!
He sat there with the most serious face in the world and made a finger heart.
His expression was so solemn, it was downright shocking.
‘Did he… misunderstand something?’
But there was no time to clear up the confusion.
Thankfully, almost everyone was focused on the Empress and the Justice Minister.
They were causing a ruckus, with a trembling Osone caught between them.
“That bastard must be executed immediately! How dare he deceive the Imperial Family! I’ll rip him to pieces and scatter him in every direction!”
“Technically speaking, Your Majesty, the person under suspicion for deceiving the Imperial Family is… you…”
Even in that chaos, the Empress kept sneaking glances at me.
No matter what Kiaros was doing, we couldn’t stop here.
No one would bother watching me all the way in the back—but someone might see Kiaros.
‘It can’t be helped…’
Still, the embarrassment would be Kiaros’s, not mine.
As for cleaning it up afterward…
Well, grown-ups take responsibility for their own messes.
‘If I give the wrong signal now, Her Majesty the Empress might get confused too.’
Osone was a solid suspect—even tried to flee.
So, I raised both hands and made a bigger heart. That meant, “Go even harder.”