Chapter 36
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Chapter 36
"Um... my mother?"
I rolled my eyes with an awkward expression.
Truth be told, I didn't even know what my mother looked like. All I knew came from stories Father had occasionally shared.
The Empress slammed the table and spoke.
"That's right! Tell me about your mother. She's not dead, is she? She ran away, didn't she?"
"She might be dead, but... it doesn't seem likely. If that were the case, knowing Father's personality, he would have dragged me to her grave to pay my respects."
"Your father—just looking at him, he's the type of rigid, self-righteous old fool who nitpicks about propriety, isn't he?"
"...Yes."
The Empress's assessment was remarkably accurate.
I rolled my eyes and recalled a conversation with Father.
[Namia, I... don't want to speak ill of your mother.]
[But it's because of Mother that you ended up like this. If she'd loved you even a little, would she have abandoned me and run away?]
[Still, she's the one who gave birth to you. I don't want to resent her for not loving me. That's not something effort alone can change.]
[But that woman...!]
[Namia, she still carried you for ten months and brought you into this world. You mustn't speak of her that way.]
Father was truly a good and righteous man.
He spoke only what was correct, like some earnest village ethics teacher.
[Still, if you're curious about your mother... well, I'll tell you without the harsh parts.]
As a result, I knew very little about my mother.
The Empress was still furious, snorting indignantly and exhaling sharply through her nose.
'I need to say something, given the mood.'
I searched through the scant memories Father had shared about my mother.
[Well... she was pure-hearted, your mother.]
Could someone who'd accumulated so much debt from loan sharks really be called pure-hearted?
[From the moment she thought all nobles were wealthy and proposed to me, wasn't that rather impure?]
I thought that was less purity and more ignorance.
And Father was the second son of a viscount's house at that.
[She had an innocent charm, someone unfamiliar with the ways of the world.]
Being unfamiliar with the ways of the world at that age was rather problematic.
[This sounds funny, but she was like some runaway princess. She didn't even understand the concept of marriage registration. I was going to register your birth at the same time, but ultimately couldn't...]
If she'd been a princess with any sense, she never would have left home in the first place.
Running away from home only leads to hardship.
[She did leave us in desperation, but I suspect she wasn't a bad person by nature.]
Were there really people born inherently wicked?
[If she ever finds peace of mind, perhaps she'll return to us.]
Given that she'd burdened me with this debt, I doubted peace of mind would ever come her way.
In any case, that was all I remembered.
I was roughly explaining to the Empress that "my mother was an ignorant fool who knew nothing of the world and racked up debts with loan sharks" when—
"There you are, Fron."
The door burst open, and a warm, affectionate voice filled the room.
It was the Emperor, dressed in impeccable attire.
Crown Prince Kiaros followed silently behind him.
"My, I didn't expect we'd have a guest. This is the first time Fron has ever brought an outsider here—who exactly is this young lady?"
The Emperor regarded me with a gentle smile.
His appearance and expression were warm and affectionate, yet an overwhelming pressure radiated from him.
It was no wonder Oson had nearly confessed everything the moment he faced the Emperor.
I scrambled to my feet, bowed deeply, and offered my respects.
"Your Imperial Majesty, I am Namia Loapi of the Scroll Management Department."
"Hmm."
A subtle emotion flickered beneath the Emperor's gentle smile.
"The Scroll Management Department...."
Though he merely murmured it, an inexplicable dread seized me.
The Empress suddenly lifted me up and set me back down in my chair.
Now the four of us—myself, the Empress, the Emperor, and Crown Prince Kiaros—sat around the table.
'Should I even be sitting here?'
The combination without me was terrifying. As I trembled inwardly, the Emperor continued slowly.
"That problematic Ministry of Justice Official was apparently transferred from the Scroll Management Department."
His tone was gentle, but cold sweat suddenly trickled down my spine.
'That Ministry of Justice Official I identified was originally from the Scroll Management Department?'
I had even seen the man myself.
He was a middle-aged man of considerable years.
He must have transferred departments long before I joined.
'I didn't know he came from the Scroll Management Department? That means this happened over ten years ago....'
Documents could only be accessed up to ten years back.
And I had already memorized every single file from the Scroll Management Department for those ten years.
Which meant this mastermind targeting the Royal Family had infiltrated the Scroll Management Department a very long time ago....
'What do I do.'
The world spun before my eyes.
This wasn't just about Oson alone.
'The entire Scroll Management Department could be dismantled. When you think about it, a spy has been embedded there for years.'
If Crown Prince Kiaros took away our access privileges, our entire department could collapse in an instant.
Of course, the Magic Tower would protest vehemently, but the situation was far too grave....
'Then what happens to me.... Surely they won't cut even a lowly employee like me?'
But there could be more spies hiding in the Scroll Management Department.
A spy with access to Imperial bureaucratic documents....
'And just like this time, they could have infiltrated Crown Prince Kiaros's guard unit and orchestrated everything.'
The more I thought about it, the more dire the situation became for the Scroll Management Department.
They might dismiss everyone in our department as a precaution.
"Your Majesty, but... Namia is not a dangerous person."
The Empress stepped forward on my behalf as I trembled uncontrollably.
She then began to elaborate at length on everything I had accomplished.
How I had found Oson suspicious, how I had thus saved the Empress, how I had drawn out a confession by stalling during the trial, and so forth.
I myself interjected briefly to indicate that I had received permission from Crown Prince Kiaros as well.
"I told His Highness the Crown Prince that I would do my best... and so I simply pushed forward to the very end."
"...I see."
At the mention of our hand signals, Crown Prince Kiaros let out a low groan.
Well, there was nothing to be done about his misunderstanding.
In any case, for the sake of Crown Prince Kiaros's honor, I refrained from mentioning that the hand signal had been a heart shape.
"Ahem, so that's how it was."
After hearing the full account, the Emperor sipped his tea gently and spoke in a warm tone.
"I thought Kiaros was suffering greatly because of the trial, but it seems Namia Loapi has been bearing all the hardship instead. Our son was just making heart shapes to welcome me."
"Your Majesty, that heart was, well..."
As Crown Prince Kiaros looked troubled and furrowed his brow, the Emperor asked gently.
"Surely you made that heart to welcome me, didn't you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"My heart grew so warm the moment I arrived, and I was deeply moved... It's the first time since your adolescence that I've received such an affectionate gesture..."
"...."
In any case, it seemed best to let the heart incident pass as it was.
After all, it had turned into a heartwarming ending of filial piety.
The conversation continued.
The person who had killed Oson in the Trial Court was a Nobleman with Viscount Title, but upon investigation, it turned out he had been secretly dealing in titles with an Unknown Woman behind the scenes.
"They've been targeting the Imperial Family for a long time. There was some misunderstanding between them in the middle, and things worked out well enough, but it's still difficult to determine who's behind it all..."
The Emperor spoke slowly.
His voice was extraordinarily gentle, but the content was chilling.
"Ah, and I should inform Namia Loapi about the department situation while we're at it."
My heart, which seemed to have already sunk as far as it could go, plummeted once more.
"Kiaros reviewed all the Scroll Management Department documents at a remarkable pace and issued termination notices to everyone with problems."
Everyone with problems... that would mean...
I rapidly searched through my memories.
There were far too many people in our department who deserved severe disciplinary action on paper. Especially the higher up one went...
The Emperor spoke with perfect clarity.
"Of course, we started by firing the Minister. Kiaros, was Namia Loapi's name on the list by any chance?"
"It was not."
So that distant Minister was being dismissed just like that...
Hadn't the Minister even sent a petition to the Magic Tower?
Since I had done nothing wrong, I naturally wouldn't be fired, but at this rate it seemed the Scroll Management Department itself might be dissolved.
"But wait a moment..."
Crown Prince Kiaros slowly opened his mouth.
"There is something I would like to ask Namia Loapi personally."
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