The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success Chapter 86

“What are you talking about?”

“All your attempts at psychological experimentation have failed. You said it yourself—my mental strength is too firm and my will too powerful for you to touch.”

The organization had originally planned to strengthen Cedric and turn him into a human weapon.

Cedric had been an excellent test subject.

He endured all kinds of pain and never broke. Whenever he was given guidelines, he followed them to the letter.

As a result, he became incredibly strong—but there was a problem. Cedric wouldn’t obey them the way they wanted.

“Now, go ahead—feel rage at the world. Don’t you want to destroy everything? Every choice you ever made was the worst possible one, wasn’t it?”

They needed him to harbor hatred toward the world and align himself with their cause. But they couldn’t even get past that first step.

“Listen. Wasting time lamenting over things beyond your control won’t help your life. It’s better to look for ways to change things through effort. Got it? Steel your heart.”

“Hey! We’re talking about you! Your instincts suck! Why are you lecturing me?!”

The conclusion drawn about Cedric Roapia in the experiment lab was simple:

A bright-eyed ethics fanatic.

His values were so deeply ingrained that not even indoctrination worked.

“Don’t think. Let go of your will. If you entrust everything to us, you’ll be at peace…”

“One mustn’t rely on comfort given by others. Listen—so long as you’re human, you must never stop thinking. Only by constantly reflecting on what is right can you truly be the master of your own life.”

“This jerk’s lecturing again, for f**’s sake!”*

“Please don’t curse. Swearing doesn’t demean your opponent—it only cheapens your own dignity. If there’s a conflict, start by talking it out. Try rephrasing that.”

Eventually, the experiment team reached a verdict:

“The subject is too perfect. We’ve done everything we could to get him on our side like the others, but… unless we tamper with his mind, it’s impossible. And his mind is stupidly strong! Dammit!”

In order to manipulate Cedric’s mind, he would have to willingly choose to think, “I will cooperate with them of my own free will.”

That was the superficial reason why the masked woman had come to see him in person.

“Why are you so obsessed with messing with my memories? Answer me.”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Well, I’ve told you a lot about my daughter.”

“Who asked you to?! You were the one rambling!”

At that moment, blood trickled from Cedric’s mouth. Then, all at once, a thick gush of blood spilled out.

“Don’t worry.”

He spoke hurriedly after vomiting the blood.

“It’s just a side effect of the experiments. Sometimes, a month or so after a procedure, the blood starts to come back up. I feel queasy the day before, but once the bleeding starts, I actually feel better. It’s not a big deal. Honestly, it feels like I’m expelling toxins—it even makes me stronger.”

“…What are you even saying? I wasn’t worried.”

“In that case, if you weren’t worried, tell me something else instead.”

Cedric called out to her retreating figure with desperate urgency.

“Namia… Is Namia doing well?”

“How would I know that? Do you realize how far the capital is from here?”

She didn’t look back as she snapped irritably. Then, with a scoff, she added,

“She’s probably fine.”

Her footsteps quickened again, echoing as she walked away from the cell. But just under her breath—low enough that Cedric couldn’t hear—she muttered,

“…Because I made sure of it.”

Her heels faded into the distance, and Cedric was alone once more.

Only then did he let out a strained groan. The pain from the restraints throbbed with heat.

Fifteen years, locked up like a beast in this small cell.

“Namia…”

He had constantly felt like he was going insane—but every time, he held himself together.

“I’ve been pretending not to notice. If I did, she might stop coming…”

He spoke softly, just as he used to explain the events of the day to his young daughter.

“Isn’t your mom silly? Honestly, she really thinks I can’t recognize her just because she …

Chapter 6: Victor Arwin’s Circumstances
The day before the St. Cairo Banquet.

The Scroll Division was hectic. After all, they were in charge of one of the banquet’s core events.

“Her Majesty the Empress will be attending a banquet for the first time in a long while.”

I addressed the department staff kindly.

“If we pull off the opening ceremony successfully, people are going to see the Scroll Division in a whole new light.”

St. Cairo symbolized the love between mother and child.

The plan was for the Empress and the Prince to activate a scroll together, producing an overwhelming visual spectacle.

“You all know we requested cooperation from the Ministry of Education due to staff shortages, right?”

But it wasn’t an easy task. We needed a lot of magic power and collaboration.

That’s why we reached out to the Ministry of Education for support.

“We’ll be getting around seven fifth-year civil servants.”

Using another department’s employees as assistants for our event—especially fifth-years?
That was, frankly, a very rude request.

No wonder the Minister of Education came stomping over a few days ago, and Luka had tried to talk me down.

Still, the Minister eventually agreed to cooperate. So I personally selected the seven civil servants who would assist us.

I haven’t forgotten.

That exact group—who once mocked our team in a café on my first day as Minister.

I handed our staff detailed task lists specifically for the Ministry employees.

“Feel free to tell them exactly what to do.”

“B-but… are we really allowed to ask them to do this?”

“Yes. We’re even planning to cover their team dinner budget with our department funds, so don’t worry about it.”

With my firm response, everyone nodded.

No one said anything outright, but I could see the satisfaction on their faces.

They clearly hadn’t forgotten either.

“Of course, make them carry the scrolls too. Those decorative ones are really heavy.”

“D-didn’t it take a lot of work to make them?”

Anastasia asked with concern.

“T-that many… y-you made them all by yourself…”

I had made all the scrolls myself. It had cost me a few nights of sleep, but I had no choice. I smiled brightly and replied,

“It’s fine.”

Though honestly, I wasn’t that fine. I’d been feeling queasy for the past few days.

[You charged ahead without thinking and now you regret it, right? That’s why your face looks off—you look like your stomach’s upset.]

Luka really was a medical prodigy. The way he saw right through me from my complexion alone…

I probably overdid it. I’ll get some rest after the banquet’s over.

As I firmed up that resolve, Victor glanced up from the reports and asked,

“Minister, are you sure we don’t need a rehearsal? There’s no rehearsal scheduled.”

“Ah… I wasn’t able to make enough scrolls for a full rehearsal. And the banquet hall was undergoing renovations until recently.”

I smiled as I answered.

“Besides, His Highness and Her Majesty have been practicing here in the office all week. I was too busy making those scrolls. Still, I calculated everything precisely—it’ll be fine.”

Anastasia let out a deep sigh.

“M-maybe you pushed yourself too hard… Y-you could’ve left it to us… You did almost everything on your own…”

“You were all busy with other things too. It’s fine.”

I smiled as if I genuinely meant it.

“The scrolls in the green boxes—those were for office practice—they’ve all been moved to storage, so there shouldn’t be any confusion. But please keep double-checking the blue boxes I’ve sorted for the event. If anything gets swapped, it could be a disaster.”

Just then, the nausea returned.

Ugh… what is this? This has never happened before. Am I getting old?

Even when I stayed up for days writing reports for Juan, I’d just felt tired—never this queasy.

And back then, I’d eaten and slept much worse than I do now.

Well… it’s not like I can’t function. If I still feel this way after the banquet, I’ll go see Luka.

At the very least, it wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t hide it.

“Okay, I’ll explain your roles for the banquet now. Team Leaders, would you come into the Minister’s office?”

Anastasia and Victor both nodded. As I headed into the office first, Keyvon followed behind and spoke quietly.

“Minister.”

“Hmm?”

“Are you feeling unwell?”