"Uh... you an my mother?"
I rolled my eyes with an awkward look.
Honestly, I didn’t even know my mother's face.
All I knew were the stories my father had occasionally told .
The Empress slamd the table with a bang and said,
"Yeah! Tell about your mother. You said she wasn’t dead, right? She ran away, didn’t she?"
"She might be dead... but it doesn’t really seem like it. If she were, knowing my father’s personality, he would’ve at least taken to her grave to pay respects..."
"Your father, just by looking, he’s one of those upright old-tirs who always fuss about duty, right?"
"...Yes."
The Empress’s assessnt was frighteningly accurate.
I rolled my eyes, recalling conversations with my father.
[Namia, I... I don’t want to say bad things about your mother.]
[But it’s because of Mom that you ended up like this. If she had even loved you a little, would she have run away leaving only behind?]
[Still, she’s the one who gave birth to you. I don’t even want to resent her for not loving . Those kinds of feelings aren’t sothing you can control with effort.]
[But that woman...!]
[Namia, still, she’s the one who carried you for ten months and gave birth to you. You shouldn’t call her "that woman."]
My father was truly a kind and upright person.
He only ever said the right things, like a naive ethics teacher from the countryside.
[Still, if you're curious about your mother... well, I’ll tell you, but I’ll leave out the bad parts.]
So, as a result, I didn't know much about my mother.
The Empress was still fuming, snorting through her nose.
'Looking at the atmosphere, I should say sothing.'
I searched through the few mories my father had shared about my mother.
[Hmm... First of all, she was pure, your mother.]
Could soone who accumulated that much debt from loan sharks really be called pure...?
[She thought all nobles were automatically wealthy and proposed to for marriage, doesn’t that seem kind of pure?]
That seed more like ignorance than purity.
And even then, my father was just the second son of a baron’s family.
[She had this naive charm, like she didn’t know how the world worked.]
Honestly, not knowing the ways of the world at her age was a bit of a problem.
[It sounds funny, but she was like a runaway princess... She didn’t even understand the concept of marriage registration. I was planning to register our marriage along with your birth, but it never happened...]
If she really had any sense like a princess, she wouldn’t have run away from ho in the first place...
Running away just leads to hardship.
[Though she hurriedly left us, I don’t think she was inherently a bad person.]
Is there even such a thing as soone born bad?!
[Maybe when she feels at peace, she’ll co back to us.]
Considering she left with all that debt, I doubted she’d ever find peace of mind in her life.
Anyway, that was everything I knew.
While I was roughly explaining to the Empress that "my mom was an airhead who didn’t know how the world worked and got buried in loan shark debt,"—
"There you are, Fron."
The door burst open, and a voice as gentle as the world itself rang out.
It was the Emperor, dressed neatly and impeccably.
Following him quietly was Kiaros.
"Oh my, and a guest too. It’s the first ti Fron has ever brought an outsider into this place. Who might this young lady be?"
The Emperor looked at with a soft smile.
Despite the friendly exterior and expression, the pressure emanating from the Dragonblood was overwhelming.
No wonder Oson almost confessed everything the mont he faced the Emperor.
I hurriedly stood up and bowed properly.
"I greet His Majesty the Emperor. I am Namia Roafi of the Scroll Managent Departnt."
"Hmm."
A subtle emotion flickered across the Emperor's gentle smile.
"Scroll Managent Departnt..."
He had only muttered it, but it was enough to make feel vague terror.
The Empress promptly picked up and sat back in the chair.
Before I knew it, it was , the Empress, the Emperor, and Kiaros sitting around the table.
'Is it really okay for to be sitting here?'
The lineup excluding was terrifying. While I was inwardly trembling, the Emperor continued speaking slowly.
"That problematic Legal Departnt employee also ca from the Scroll Managent Departnt, didn’t they?"
Although he said it kindly, cold sweat imdiately trickled down my back.
'That person I pointed out in the Legal Departnt... originally ca from the Scroll Managent Departnt?'
I had actually seen that person in person.
He was a middle-aged man.
He must have transferred departnts long before I joined.
'I didn’t know he was from the Scroll Managent Departnt? That ans it was more than ten years ago...'
Docunts were only available for up to ten years.
And I had already morized all ten years' worth of Scroll Managent Departnt docunts.
Which ant — whoever was behind all this had infiltrated the departnt a very long ti ago.
'Oh no.'
My vision spun.
This wasn’t just about Oson anymore.
'At this rate, the entire Scroll Managent Departnt could be dismantled. It’s basically a case of a spy having been embedded for years.'
Kiaros had already taken scroll access rights too — it was only a matter of ti before our whole departnt got blown up.
Of course, the Magic Tower would foam at the mouth and oppose it, but... the situation was just too serious.
'What’s going to happen to ...? Surely they won’t fire even a low-level employee like , right?'
But there might still be more spies hiding within the departnt.
A spy who could access Royal Civil Service docunts...
'And just like this ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ ti, they could sneak into Kiaros’s guard unit and orchestrate sothing.'
The more I thought about it, the more dire it seed for the Scroll Managent Departnt.
They might fire everyone for risk managent reasons.
"Your Majesty, however... Namia is not a dangerous person."
The Empress spoke up, trembling, on my behalf.
She started listing all the things I had done:
How I suspected Oson, how I saved the Empress, how I stalled during the trial to force a confession.
I also chid in a little to add that "I had the Crown Prince’s approval."
"I even said to His Highness the Crown Prince, 'I’ll do my best,' and... so I just pushed through to the end."
"...Hmm."
When I ntioned the hand signals we exchanged, Kiaros let out a low groan.
Well, it wasn’t my fault he misinterpreted them.
In any case, for Kiaros’s dignity, I didn’t ntion that the signal was a heart gesture.
"Ahem, I see."
After hearing the whole story, the Emperor sipped his tea and said softly,
"I thought Kiaros would be suffering thanks to the trial, but it turns out Miss Namia was the one doing all the hard work. anwhile, my son was welcoming by making heart gestures."
"Your Majesty, that heart, um..."
As Kiaros frowned awkwardly, the Emperor asked gently,
"Don’t tell ... that heart wasn’t ant for ?"
"Excuse ?"
"I felt so warm and moved the mont I arrived... It was the first ti since Kiaros’s adolescence that he expressed affection like that..."
"......"
Well, whatever.
It seed like it would be better to just let the heart incident slide.
At least it led to a happy ending between father and son.
The conversation continued.
The noble who killed Oson at the trial had a viscount rank, but investigation revealed he had been secretly trading titles with an unidentified woman.
"They’ve been targeting the royal family for a long ti. There was so misunderstanding among them this ti that allowed it to be resolved, but we still don’t know who’s behind it..."
The Emperor spoke slowly.
The voice was gentle, but the content was terrifying.
"Oh, and while we’re at it, I should update Miss Namia on so departnt news."
Just when I thought my heart couldn’t sink any lower, it thudded again.
"Kiaros reviewed all the Scroll Managent Departnt docunts at lightning speed, and he’s issued dismissal notices to everyone with issues."
"Everyone with issues"... ant...
I rapidly sifted through my mory.
There were so many people in our departnt who, just based on their files, deserved severe disciplinary action.
Especially the higher-ups...
The Emperor spoke very cheerfully.
"Naturally, he fired the Minister first. Kiaros, was Namia Roafi on the list too?"
"She was not."
That lofty Minister was fired just like that...
Didn’t the Minister even submit a petition to the Magic Tower?
I hadn’t done anything wrong, so of course I wouldn't be fired, but still — it really felt like the Scroll Managent Departnt might be disbanded at this rate.
"But wait..."
Kiaros opened his mouth slowly.
"I have sothing I would like to personally ask Miss Namia."
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