9th Grade Civil Servant In Another World Chapter 73 - Glass Greenhouse (3)

After the party ended.

I stayed up all night cleaning the house and garden that had become a complete mess.

“Now I can finally think a bit.”

I muttered while glaring at the disheveled Lucas in the mirror.

Looking out the window where dawn was gradually breaking, I sipped coffee loaded with sugar.

The Queen’s words swirled in my head.

***

“Lord Redan, you are my last hope.”

At that moment, a thrilling exhilaration shot through my spine.

‘Yes, this is it! This was the Queen’s purpose!’

Of course she wouldn’t have cherished me without any goal in mind. Now my twisted insides finally felt relieved.

“What would you have me do, Your Majesty? Please command me.”

When I bowed while speaking in an extremely polite and affectionate voice, the Queen let out a short sigh.

“Really, I can’t tell where your sincerity ends and your acting begins. Lord Redan, you have an overflowing talent for being a con artist. Just look at how you seduce the nobles.”

“You are indeed wise.”

“So shameless…”

She laughed hollowly.

“Well then, shall we have an honest conversation now?”

“How honest would you like me to be, Your Majesty?”

The Queen pondered for a moment, then smiled gently.

“Lord Redan, you think of this old woman as a friend, don’t you?”

“How could I dare harbor such presumptuous thoughts?”

“I told you to be honest. Even if it’s a relationship where you’re constantly looking for opportunities to exploit, that doesn’t mean you can’t be friends.”

I was briefly speechless at the Queen’s blunt rebuke.

“So Lord Redan, tell me. As much as you would confide in a friend you want to use.”

“…What are you curious about, Your Majesty? I’ll answer anything.”

“Just answer one thing. Do you truly revere Friedrich Kruger as Supreme Leader?”

“…”

I closed my eyes for a moment. Then slowly shook my head.

“No. How could I? All he’s given my family is oppression and abuse, and even now he’s nothing but a demon plunging countless people into suffering.”

I carefully pronounced each word.

I didn’t say nonsense like Kruger was a guy who would drag the entire continent into war and had to be stopped, or that I was just struggling to save my own life, or that I used to be a real Kruger fanboy but my soul had changed.

Such bullshit would be worse than saying nothing. She wouldn’t believe it anyway.

It was better to just insist that I hated Kruger to my bones but pretended to be a fanatic to survive.

“Your Majesty must have been quite surprised when you investigated me. Please forgive me. If I hadn’t thoroughly hidden myself, I would be buried in an unmarked grave by now. Or burned like trash with no trace remaining.”

I spoke without hiding the slight tremor in my hands.

The Queen quietly looked into my eyes. That was clearly the gaze of someone suspicious.

So I didn’t avoid her eyes, but instead smiled sadly.

As if all my bright behavior until now had been fake, and this was my real self.

Well, it’s about half true.

The Queen seemed to notice this and smiled faintly.

“You still don’t fully trust me? Well, fine. Understanding a young person’s wariness is an old person’s privilege. Now, Lord Redan, listen to my story…”

The Queen told me everything ‘honestly.’

Rubellia’s political landscape and the people steeped in pride beyond ‘national arrogance’ and the movements of forces trying to exploit that, her impression that Kruger was a shady character and her determination to somehow protect this country…

Really everything.

I could feel it wasn’t because the Queen was naive or loose-lipped. It was a powerful signal that she wanted to be in the same boat as me.

The long story ended.

From far away, the sound of chatter could be heard. It seemed people had finally decided to tour the garden.

“Your Majesty, it would be good to move locations.”

I realized the rain had stopped and folded my umbrella. My left arm ached like hell.

While winding our way around the paths, we encountered cheerful-looking nobles.

“Your Majesty!”

“Your Majesty the Queen!”

When the nobles politely paid their respects, the Queen waved her hand dismissively.

“Don’t mind me and enjoy yourselves comfortably.”

We passed the group of nobles and entered the now-quiet mansion. Only a few guests were eating food or chatting quietly.

Upon entering the hall, the Queen suddenly stopped when she discovered a large painting.

“Ah…”

It was Lucy François’s ‘The Coronation.’

The work I had acquired at the auction house that I used for my debut stage.

Honestly, when I bought it at the auction, I never imagined I could use it like this. I was just lucky.

I had moved the painting from storage to hang it here for the Queen to see, but with guests crowding around earlier, she hadn’t noticed it.

“How nostalgic.”

The Queen muttered while staring intently at the work.

“Back then I thought the whole world was beautiful. Now, how many of the people in this painting will I be able to see again?”

The Queen smiled and reached out her hand.

“Charlotte is there too.”

The Queen in an extravagantly luxurious gold-leafed dress representing the pinnacle of opulence, and beside her the black-haired woman holding up the dress train.

“Ah, this person is…”

Honestly, I was a bit surprised.

Charlotte in the painting looked exactly like Lucas.

If you took the female version of Lucas, made her a bit taller and gave her a slightly brighter atmosphere, that would be exactly Charlotte.

‘If only their personalities were a bit similar. Tsk!’

I clicked my tongue inwardly.

From the Queen’s stories, Charlotte seemed like a strong-willed and intelligent woman, but Lucas wasn’t like that at all.

The sun set and it was time for the party to end.

People laughing and chatting happily, people swaying drunkenly, people holding gift boxes in both hands while teasing their friends.

Everyone gathered in the hall.

“I’d like to thank all our guests for enjoying today’s party. We had hidden a total of 50 boxes. Shall we count how many you found?”

Guests came forward and placed their boxes on the table. Some had found over ten, while others hadn’t found a single one.

“One, two, three… seventeen, eighteen… forty-eight, forty-nine! We’re missing exactly one?”

“Good heavens, Luca! Where on earth did you hide the first place box? We absolutely couldn’t find it!”

“That’s right! I even dove into the pond!”

A guest whose still-wet hair hadn’t dried and was dripping water shouted, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

“Hmm, then shall I reveal it now?”

When I grinned, the musicians over there suddenly played a fanfare.

Looking puzzled yet parting like the Red Sea, Daniel walked out from among the people with his hand raised high.

Daniel held a golden velvet cushion with a box placed on it.

When he walked step by step solemnly to arrive in front of me, I carefully picked up the box as if handling a newborn baby and approached the Queen, kneeling on one knee.

“I present to Your Majesty a gift containing my heart.”

The Queen smiled and took the box. She opened the lid and held up a note that read ‘First Place!’ for everyone to see.

“Waaah!”

“You’re so mischievous, Luca!”

“Your Majesty! Congratulations!”

A mix of some boos and loud applause, grumbling and congratulations erupted.

This was what you’d call a rigged treasure hunt.

I’d planned it this way from the beginning.

Though I’d essentially made the other nobles play supporting roles, no one seemed upset. It had been a very enjoyable party, and the gifts they received were quite valuable too.

Most importantly, if you couldn’t understand that all of this was a game meant for enjoyment, you weren’t a true Rubellia citizen.

If this had been Schufaben people, the atmosphere would have suddenly turned cold, but this was Rubellia, a country of joy and passion.

“So what’s the first place prize, Lord Redan?”

“That would be…!”

I dramatically shouted while pointing among the people.

Once again people parted, and this time Erika came out holding a box. The only difference was that the box was a jewel case made of gold.

“The first place prize is the rare diamond necklace ‘Tears of the Moon’ and…”

This too was something I’d bought at auction. Really, who knew it would be used like this!

This time genuine gasps of surprise erupted from here and there.

Well, casually presenting a necklace worth 12 million rickel—nearly 1.2 billion won in Korean money—as a gift to the Queen would be quite shocking.

“…and Lucy François’s painting, ‘The Coronation’!”

The Queen’s face brightened with pure joy. Genuine happiness with no pretense.

She seemed more delighted to receive ‘The Coronation’ than ‘Tears of the Moon.’

After the party where everyone without exception could enjoy themselves ended.

As the Queen boarded her carriage, she whispered to me as I came out to see her off.

“Lord Redan. No, Lucas. I’ll give you everything. All I want is just…”

“Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll become your dog and horse and serve with all my heart and soul.”

When I quietly answered in a subdued voice, she nodded.

I maintained respectful etiquette until the carriage left the mansion.

***

“To keep Kruger in check… As a descendant of royalty?”

I put down my empty coffee cup and yawned while stretching.

“At least I can feel less guilty. Good.”

If I still have any of that left in me, that is.

Anyway, instead of me unilaterally exploiting her, we’d become a relationship of mutual exploitation.

And we both clearly understood that.

“Grr, woof!”

Colin, who had been sprawled sleeping on the floor, suddenly opened his eyes and barked softly at me.

“Yes, Colin. I’m going to bed.”

I rubbed my tired eyes and went upstairs to the bedroom.

***

The Queen’s promise to ‘give me everything’ wasn’t empty words.

From the next day, the Queen began backing me with power so blatantly it was obvious.

The Queen had already lost most of her legal authority. No, she had laid it down with her own hands. But that didn’t mean she’d lost all her power.

She couldn’t have completely abandoned power. That would be nearly impossible.

Not because she was power-hungry, but because that’s the nature of power.

Even a mere celebrity has privileges, so how much more so a Queen beloved by the entire nation.

There were quite a few things she could do if she set her mind to it.

First, the Queen had the painting I gave her framed in gold leaf and hung in the hall of White Palace.

She wore ‘Tears of the Moon’ around her neck wherever she went, and invited me for tea every other day.

Moreover, thanks to her publicly declaring she would invest in the business I was promoting, enormous investment funds poured into a business where I was still just showing rough concepts and dabbling around.

Because even hesitant nobles jumped in shouting ‘This will definitely succeed!’

“Ah shit, I’m screwed now.”

I broke out in a cold sweat looking at the investment attraction summary Erika brought me.

“How are you going to handle this now?”

“Hah… Can’t be helped. I’ll have to think about this seriously.”

What I’d planned to do was mining.

I was going to make flimsy materials claiming there were valuable mana stone mines in the still-unexplored Great Desert based on ‘reliable rumors,’ take in some investment money, do some token exploration, then say ‘No mines here, sorry!’ and run.

But now I’d have to scrap that plan. If I didn’t properly recover the investments, my life would be in danger.

Soon after, the Queen invited me to a gathering of the royal family.

While praising me as a very excellent young man, the sharp gazes of the Queen’s children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren made me very uncomfortable, but what could I do? I had to smile and bear it.

At this point, people became suspicious. There were even unseemly and embarrassing rumors that I was the Queen’s lover.

Finally, on the day the Queen mentioned giving me a knighthood, I asked boldly in shock.

“Your Majesty, how can you trust me so much?”

Then the Queen laughed.

“Lucas, think again. Even if you were a con artist, what would I have to lose? I’m going to die soon anyway, so there’s nothing to fear. Rather, shouldn’t you be the one who’s afraid? I’m the Queen, after all.”

A chilling coldness wrapped around my body.

No matter how benevolent, a person in power is still a person in power. The weight that a throne carries was that heavy.

The Queen was trying to bind me with that weight, with power, with money. So I could never pull out, so I could never think of anything else.

“You understand, don’t you? So, accept it.”

“Your grace is overwhelming.”

That’s how I received a knighthood despite being a foreigner.

The official reason was that I had promoted friendship between Schufaben and Rubellia. So, like a civilian diplomat.

Several breathless months passed.

Just as I was suffocating from the expectations of the Queen and nobles.

Finally, an opportunity came.

“The schedule is set. The first country to visit will be Schufaben.”

I’d gotten to join the Queen’s diplomatic mission and return to Schufaben.