The Low-Ranking Civil Servant Wants to Achieve Success-Chapter 43

“.......”

Silence continued to flow.

Even the normally noisy Empress was covering her mouth, unable to say anything.

I had no choice but to roll my eyes slightly and add,

“Uh, um. I meant...... I don’t want to marry Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

It couldn’t be clearer.

Then Kiaros slowly blinked and asked in a low voice.

“......Why?”

Uuuum?

Was he always this self-absorbed?

I hesitated a little in disbelief and answered.

“Uh...... well...... because I want to marry someone I love?”

Shock remained frozen on Kiaros’s face.

He rolled his eyes as if dumbfounded, then asked again with a cracked voice,

“......All of a sudden? No, I mean, why.......”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence.

Because the Emperor, covering his mouth, whispered loud enough for everyone to hear.

“You’d better stop, Kiaros. Honestly, it’s getting a little pathetic.”

“But, it’s just......”

“She said she doesn’t love you. No matter how amazing you are or how prestigious the Crown Princess seat is, she doesn’t want to marry you. When someone who dislikes you says no, you shouldn’t cling on asking for reasons.”

This chapter is updat𝓮d by freēnovelkiss.com.

I-it’s not that I dislike him though......

At that moment.

The door burst open.

The Tower Master, having apparently dropped off the Minister of Justice, strode back in.

Then he shouted at me.

“Minister Namia Roafi!”

“Ah, yes.”

“Come out with me for a moment! We need to talk about scrolls! Anyway, these folks must be bored, so let’s have our discussion elsewhere!”

“Ah, yes.”

I answered the Tower Master and politely asked the royal family,

“Is there anything more you wish to say to me......?”

The three of them said nothing. The Tower Master laughed loudly and shouted,

“They said no! They said no! Everything’s settled! Let’s go, Minister!”

And without even giving me a chance to bow properly to the royals, he picked me up and carried me out of the room.

***

After the Tower Master took Namia away, only four people remained in the Empress’s room.

The Emperor, the Empress, Kiaros, and the aide.

Kiaros frowned in silence.

He couldn’t figure out where or how things had gone wrong.

Just a while ago during the trial, she said she would marry the Crown Prince?

“K-Kiaros.”

The Emperor cautiously looked at him and asked,

“I thought you were so composed...... I assumed you must be confident....... You even made a heart with your arms earlier.”

“That was......”

“I know it wasn’t meant for me. I’m not an idiot....... I just acted exaggeratedly because I thought Namia might feel embarrassed or something......”

The Emperor sighed heavily with a helpless face.

“Well, thinking about it, it is strange.”

“What’s strange?”

“Is it really normal to keep liking a girl you’ve never even met? Honestly, she could think it’s creepy.”

He added weakly, his face filled with anguish.

“Was it my fault? Maybe because I said something about Dragonbloods being obsessed with their mates....... Maybe she got scared, thinking you’d be possessive......”

“No, Your Majesty. Please don’t worry.”

Kiaros quickly said.

“Actually, I only acted that way to put Your Majesties at ease...... I didn’t really like her.”

“......?”

“I'm a normal person too. Would I really keep liking a girl I’ve never even seen? As you heard earlier, I was just trying to keep my promise because Namia said she wanted to marry a rich man.”

The Emperor and Empress looked at him suspiciously.

Kiaros took a deep breath and continued.

“So, it was simply to fulfill my spoken promise. Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely, I didn’t like her. Even when I realized she was Namia Roafi, it didn’t stir any feelings.”

“Hmm...... then why are you making that embarrassed face?”

It was at that moment.

The aide, who had finished cleaning the messy room, cautiously spoke up.

“Um......”

“What?”

“May I step outside for a moment?”

Kiaros’s aide was extremely diligent and loyal.

So it wasn’t like him to suddenly leave without a reason.

Even amidst his confusion, Kiaros asked the aide.

“Why? What’s going on? Is it urgent?”

“Ah......”

The aide rolled his eyes and answered.

“I need to cancel the wedding hall reservation.”

Silence fell for a moment.

The aide lowered his head and added.

“Didn’t Your Highness instruct me to cancel it immediately if Namia refused marriage?”

The Empress trembled as she brought both hands to her mouth.

The Emperor’s mouth fell open.

“Then, I’ll hurry. The wedding hall staff are about to get off work.”

The aide bowed and left.

As he left, he muttered,

I’m really quick-witted for not mentioning this in front of Namia.’

The slam of the door closing sounded especially loud.

“K-K-K-Kiaros......”

The Emperor stammered with a trembling voice.

“You...... already had the wedding hall reserved....... Good heavens.”

“Your Majesty, that’s......”

The Empress looked at him with trembling pupils, full of pity.

“So Your Highness was that happy when you realized it was Namia....... To think you rushed to reserve a wedding hall......”

“No, it’s just......”

“You’re very bold, but if you just say ‘I’ll marry you’ like you’re doing charity, what do you expect....... If your feelings were so deep, you should have begged her to marry you.”

For the first time in his life, Kiaros broke into a cold sweat.

He frantically waved his hand.

“Th-That! That was just because I thought Namia might want marriage. They said the reservations were hard to get, so I booked it in advance....... I really, really didn’t have any special feelings for her.”

“.......”

“.......”

“Truly. I’m perfectly fine right now.”

“.......”

“.......”

The Emperor and Empress exchanged glances, utterly at a loss. Then they began looking at Kiaros with the saddest expressions imaginable.

Finally, Kiaros pressed his forehead and let out a deep sigh.

‘Of all times, the aide had to say it then.......’

It didn’t seem like this misunderstanding would be cleared up anytime soon.

In the end, he decided to forcibly change the topic.

“......By the way, Your Majesty, was your special ability teleportation?”

“Ah.”

“Otherwise, you couldn’t have arrived so fast.”

Everyone else believed the Emperor and Empress had ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ plotted and brought the Emperor here instantly.

But only Kiaros and the Empress knew there had been no plan at all.

“Yes, Kiaros. That’s my special ability. At this point, there’s no hiding it.”

The Emperor smiled gently as he spoke.

“We almost got caught, but thanks to the Empress’s quick thinking, we managed to cover it up somehow. Since I lived alone in the West for so long, no servants know exactly when I left.”

In a way, it was a complete mess, but it had somehow been cleaned up.

Kiaros lowered his eyes.

‘I'll do well,’

just like that thought, Namia somehow managed to pull everything off.