The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success-Chapter 80

I answered calmly.

“Ah, I’m planning to dig a little trap. But for that, I’ll need His Highness the Crown Prince’s permission for one small thing...”

“Hm?”

“May I, uh... use Your Highness’s name just a bit?”

Kiaros laced his fingers together, clearly intrigued.

“Explain.”

He ordered with a slightly crooked smile.

“I’m looking forward to this.”

Seeing how naturally the command rolled off him, I took a breath.

This man had never once bowed his head to anyone—born with arrogance in his bones. He’d restrained emotion and indulgence so long out of consideration for others, it had become second nature. And yet, knowing full well how exceptional he was, he exuded confidence.

“...Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Ah...”

I fidgeted with my fingers as I answered.

“It’s just... I thought, His Highness probably hasn’t ever been scolded, not even a little. Not once in your whole life.”

A man born to rule, raised to reign. Even other royals treated him kindly.

“That’s... cool.”

To have both power and skill... That’s truly admirable. I want to be like that someday too...

Kiaros gave a small chuckle and leaned his chin on his hand with indifference.

“Well.”

He looked straight at me and replied leisurely.

“I suppose that’s true.”

***

The next morning, Scroll Department office.

“Hey, are you kidding me right now? Huh? Are you laughing? You’re laughing?! You think this is all funny? Hilarious? What? You weren’t? Then what, I imagined it? I’m seeing things now? Is that it? Huh? Stand up straight, you punk!”

Kibon was getting endlessly chewed out.

“I told you, didn’t I? I didn’t like your eyes from the start. Look at this scammer face—left your sense of shame in a ditch somewhere, huh? Pfft, unbelievable...”

All because Jaden and the Empress had stormed in.

“You were there too, weren’t you? You knew everything and still tried to screw over our Crown Prince? Huh? How dare you request to be his partner?”

The Empress clutched her chest, clearly outraged.

Jaden stomped his feet and shouted,

“My grand plan got ruined because of you!”

From their point of view, sure, they had every right to be angry.

After all, both of them had been dying to pair me with Kiaros.

‘Honestly, if Kibon hadn’t submitted the partner application, Victor would’ve done it. But they probably don’t know that.’

Jaden grabbed his head and cried out in despair.

“Ugh... And last night, I heard the Crown Prince summoned Namia to his office!”

He did summon me... Though, partnering up wasn’t really the reason.

While the two of them shrieked, I nudged Kibon in the side.

Kibon replied in a flat voice.

“I apologize. I didn’t understand properly.”

That’s something I drilled into him this morning.

[Kibon, the Empress and Prince Jaden are definitely going to make a scene today.]

[Understood.]

[...No, you’re supposed to say ‘Oh no, what should I do?’ not ‘Understood.’ Ugh. Anyway, just keep saying, ‘I apologize. I didn’t understand properly.’ That’s all.]

Kibon had to attend the Saint Cairo banquet today.

There would be high-ranking nobles present. If he acted out of place, it’d be a huge headache.

‘But the way he acts is... really ambiguous.’

It wasn’t something I could pinpoint as clearly problematic, but there was definitely a weird mismatch.

So I chose avoidance over correction.

[At the banquet too—if anything feels off, just keep saying, “I apologize. I didn’t understand properly.” Got it?]

[...Will that fix everything?]

[You keep saying it until it works. Eventually, the other person will back off from sheer blood pressure. People who don’t understand are unbeatable—that’s how it works.]

But we couldn’t exactly stall royalty forever waiting for “eventually.”

So I stepped in and called Kibon away.

“Kibon, come get to work. You’ve got a pile waiting.”

There was no better way to calm down the Empress and Jaden.

“I’ve been working him hard lately, rolling him around like a ball. He’s extremely busy.”

Make it seem more miserable under me than with them.

I dumped a huge stack of paperwork on Kibon’s desk, and his face went pale.

I wasn’t even lying—the work really had piled up.

Then, I smoothly redirected the Empress and Jaden’s attention.

“First, let me show you how to use a scroll. I’ll have everything calculated right up to the point of activation. All you need to do is shout the command word...”

After a few demonstrations, I handed them off to my staff.

I returned to my office—there was still too much to do.

And then, Victor peeked in—his official first day of work.

“Ohh, Minister.”

Victor had already finished his first report.

He walked in, handed me the file, and smiled.

“Looks like you really poured effort into those banquet scrolls for Saint Cairo. Geez, must’ve been an all-nighter. Want to grab lunch together? The staff cafeteria’s not bad today.”

His tone was easygoing and full of warm humor.

“And I heard a wild rumor yesterday. That our dear Minister is the femme fatale who broke the Crown Prince’s heart.”

I took the report and skimmed through it.

As expected of the ever-diligent Victor, it was excellent.

He must’ve learned from his adoptive father, the Finance Minister—the formatting was flawless too.

“So here’s what I thought,”

Victor raised his eyebrows playfully.

“Wow, with standards that high, who’d even dare confess to our Minister?”

I didn’t look up from the report as I replied.

“Pardon? What’s so scary? Don’t tell me you mean His Highness?”

Victor raised his arm dramatically and replied,

“No. I meant your sky-high standards. Who’d even try confessing unless they were a small, cute guy like me?”

I burst out laughing—puhah!

Victor was built like a bear. Hearing him call himself “small and cute” was too much.

At that moment, I heard a snap—Kibon’s quill pen broke as he was working behind me.

Victor noticed first and spoke up.

“Oh? Our intern friend broke his pen. Can’t afford to break focus mid-calculation. Here, borrow mine for a sec.”

But Kibon didn’t even look at him and curtly refused.

“That won’t be necessary.”

Victor didn’t mind at all and chuckled.

“Come on, don’t be shy. No need to be stiff with family. Oh, and I’m not giving it to you permanently. This one was a gift from Namia a while back. Use it, but make sure to return it.”

He flicked a pen from his pocket toward Kibon.

I stared at the pen for a moment.

A cheap one I’d scraped together money to buy back in school.

‘He still has that?’

I {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} drifted into a brief reverie, then forced my eyes away and continued the conversation.

“Anyway. Even if someone did confess to me, His Highness isn’t the petty type to be bothered by that.”

Just then, Kibon walked up with the pen and firmly placed it on top of Victor’s report on my desk.

Geez, ignoring someone’s goodwill like that—how small-minded.

I shook my head internally and went on talking.

“He’s always so confident. I’m sure he’s above things like jealousy.”

“Right? Even if I confessed to you—ahhh! Kibon! You just stepped on my foot! Are you anemic? Were you dizzy? Do you need to go to the Medical and Public Health Department?”

Victor stumbled after getting his foot stepped on.

I gave Kibon a suspicious look. That... felt intentional.

He definitely likes me, doesn’t he...? Is he just too young? He seemed to have zero emotional control.

What’s he trying to do being so obvious. Tsk, tsk. Nothing more dangerous than an office crush—not even workplace dating compares.

Victor rubbed his foot and continued chatting.

“Someone like His Highness wouldn’t get jealous. Even if things went well between you and me, he’d just wish us well, right? His character is—AUGH! Wait! My pen!”