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Chapter : 12
After pouring out my thoughts so earnestly for the first time in a while, my mind finally started to clear.
Wait a second.
I blinked and took a breath.
Did I just interrupt His Highness the Crown Prince and start speaking?
Even if preventing a crisis is the top priority, this was still bad!
If I had interrupted Oson like that, there would have been absolute chaos.
But Kiaros was the Crown Prince—far above someone like Oson……
Am I going to be punished? Is there a regulation for this?
As I panicked and struggled for breath, Kiaros suddenly turned to his aide with a serious expression.
Then he asked in a very grave tone.
“Where is that employee now?”
“Ah… I believe he took sick leave due to mental shock……”
Kiaros’s eyes glinted sharply, as if calculating something.
…Huh? I’m not getting scolded?
Too exhausted to even keep my eyes fully open, I relaxed my eyelids.
Then he turned back to me.
“I’m sorry, but let’s speak again later, Lady Namia Roapi. Your sharp insight was very helpful.”
“Ah? Yes?”
“I will compensate you properly later for this incident as well.”
“Ah? Yes?”
“You saved my life.”
Our eyes met for a moment.
In his usually intimidating red eyes, there was now a clear warmth.
Wait a second.
“Later compensation”…
“My sharp insight was helpful”…
That means… he listened to me and is actually considering it. Not punishment… but reward?
For me, this was unthinkable in the Scroll Department.
What… what is this? This is the first time this has ever happened since I started working here.
I was so flustered I unconsciously stammered.
“I-it was just… something obvious…”
“It wasn’t obvious. It also gave me a new perspective on scrolls.”
He said quietly.
“I wanted to properly thank you in person… but I suppose I’ll have to do it next time. It’s important to clearly understand what I should be grateful for.”
Ah, so that’s why he called me.
It wasn’t some romantic confession after all.
Quietly abandoning my Cinderella theory, I answered politely.
“Yes, Your Highness. I will wait.”
That was my way of saying: Don’t forget and make sure to call me again.
“Thank you very much for your words about scrolls.”
Kiaros nodded.
Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he walked briskly into his office.
He opened a desk drawer elegantly, took something out, and approached me.
“Your Highness?”
I blinked, frozen in the hallway.
Kiaros held out what he had taken from the drawer.
“You looked too thin up close.”
My eyes widened at the thick envelope in his hand.
“Take it and use it. I don’t have time to spend it anyway.”
“Pardon?”
“You’re not undernourished because you can’t earn money, so giving you cash might not help your health. This should be better.”
With slightly trembling hands, I accepted the envelope.
Inside were stacks of restaurant meal vouchers from across the capital.
It was… genuinely as moving as the IV drip I had received earlier that morning.
A strange sense of loyalty welled up inside me.
“Consider it your leave for today. Submit your paperwork through my office.”
Unbelievable.
Leave? Without even using annual or sick leave?
I bowed deeply.
“Thank you very much.”
Since he said he would call me again, I would likely have another chance to meet him privately.
Clutching the meal vouchers, I walked away feeling strangely light.
Only after everything ended did the emotional confusion arrive late.
So… he called me just to say thank you…
Maybe I had been in a place where getting punished for the smallest mistake was normal, so I couldn’t even think of such a simple explanation.
I thought I’d just get a token award and leave. But he said I changed his view of scrolls…
It didn’t feel bad. In fact, it was a long-lost sense of achievement.
Maybe… for the first time since I started working?
It was so unfamiliar that it made me strangely emotional.
Right. Scrolls… really are powerful. They truly are.
I even remembered the excitement I felt when I first studied scrolls as a child.
It was something like passion… something I had long forgotten.
This feels as good as saving the Crown Prince…
Only then did I understand the essence of what I had done.
Using scrolls again after such a long time wasn’t just for someone else—it was also for myself.
Creating and being recognized through scrolls…
It’s been so long. This feeling.
The buried essence beneath reality finally surfaced.
The name of that long-forgotten essence was dream.
“Then I will take my leave, Your Highness.”
I bowed, closed the office door, and stepped into the hallway alone.
And then—
“NAMIA!”
Someone suddenly grabbed my arm.
“You haven’t gone home for two days! What is going on?!”
Silver hair, green eyes.
“Juan?”
It was Juan—my twin brother on paper, working in the Imperial Treasury.
He looked like he had been searching for me since morning.
So he couldn’t enter the Crown Prince’s office and waited outside…
I sighed immediately. He wasn’t here because he was genuinely worried.
“Just… take this. It’s urgent. Due tomorrow.”
He shoved a stack of documents into my arms.
As expected, Treasury paperwork.
I sometimes handled his work at home. Technically illegal, but he couldn’t manage it alone.
“Also, go home quickly. Do you know how much Mother and Father are looking for you? It’s serious.”
Great. Not over yet.
My head already started pounding.
If they were looking for me, something serious had definitely happened again… and they probably wanted me to solve it.
But… there’s not much time left anyway.
I swallowed the rising frustration.
Only one memory calmed that fire.
[Our daughter, just wait a little. You know I love you, right?]
[Yes, Dad… I’ll wait patiently.]
I knew what my father had chosen.
So… I had to make my choice for him as well.
I took a deep breath—
And ran.
Meanwhile—
Kiaros felt utterly foolish.
He couldn’t even remember what that Ministry of Justice official had said.
Something unimaginable for him before. His perception had dulled so much that he hadn’t even processed the situation properly.
“…Ha.”
He ran a hand through his hair irritably.
Even so, Namia’s voice echoed in his mind.
[Your Highness! Wait a moment!]
Her empty eyes had suddenly lit up brilliantly.
Exactly the same eyes he saw when she used scrolls.
She looked so unfocused just moments ago…
His aide hesitantly spoke.
“Your Highness, that woman is exceptional… even the knights couldn’t think of that interpretation.”
That much was true.
But her past behavior didn’t match the word “exceptional.”
If she truly had talent, the Magic Tower would’ve recruited her long ago.
Her bright blue eyes overlapped with her almost zombie-like first impression.
After finishing her logical explanation, she returned to that same unfocused voice and hazy expression again.
The contradiction was striking.
Kiaros found her deeply confusing.
Then—
A voice came from outside the office.
“NAMIA!”
A young man’s voice.
Kiaros naturally turned his attention toward it.
