Chapter 78
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Chapter 78
That lunch hour, I ate with Victor.
"Victor, Victor!"
"Ah, our Student Council President, won't you hear me out on a suggestion?"
"Victor? I have something to tell you...."
But I truly only ate lunch.
Because countless people came and pretended to know him.
No one paid any attention to me standing beside him.
"Huh, huh?"
Only Luca Class, who chased after me daily chanting his rival mantra, bothered to speak to me.
"Why are you eating lunch with the Student Council President senior? Have you finally come to your senses and decided to get some study notes?"
Then Victor turned to Luca Class and answered.
"Hmm? What a delightful fellow. You must be friends with Namia Loapi, I take it?"
"W-well, senior, why exactly are you with Namia Loapi? It's quite surprising...."
"Me? Actually, I've taken an interest in Namia Loapi. I'm planning to bother her frequently, so don't be surprised from now on."
Victor laughed heartily and patted Luca Class on the shoulder.
"By the way, are you interested in study notes? What subject information are you curious about?"
And just like that, Victor became close friends with Luca Class in an instant.
His sociability was truly remarkable.
"Just you wait, Namia Loapi."
When lunch hour ended, Victor winked at me.
"I failed today because people kept talking to me, but I still want to hear your story."
After that, I ate lunch with Victor several more times. He often visited my classroom.
I had always been alone without friends. During my Academy days, I was extremely uncomfortable getting close to anyone. Since I attended the Academy with Huan Loapi, I worried that if I made friends, our stories might contradict each other and expose our family circumstances.
So whenever Victor came looking for me, I had no excuse to refuse and could only spend time with him. That's how I ended up spending break time with him several times as well.
Even when Victor failed the civil service exam, we ended up working together at the Scroll Management Department.
And....
'Victor still doesn't know anything about my situation....'
It wasn't because I was hiding my circumstances so carefully.
It was simply that we had so few opportunities to talk that even deliberating whether to tell him felt like wasted energy.
Not long after getting to know Victor, I stopped deliberating whether to tell him about my situation altogether. Even now, I think it was a truly efficient decision.
Therefore.
'How familiar this development feels....'
I clicked my tongue watching the civil servants gathered around Victor.
That was when it happened.
"W-what are you all d-doing? In someone else's d-department! And right in front of m-my desk! Are you i-ignoring me right n-now?"
Anastasia furrowed her brow and slammed her desk with a bang.
"Don't underestimate us just because there are only ten people, thinking we don't have much work. I'm the Team Leader here. Understand? Just recently, I single-handedly caught a criminal who trespassed without permission!"
At Anastasia's momentum, everyone straightened up.
And they all froze and spoke one by one.
"Oh, I'm so sorry... It's been so long since we've seen each other, I got a bit too excited."
"It's been over three years. I just wanted to say hello."
Victor and his friends shared a distinctive trait—they were all genuinely kind-hearted and innocent.
That's why they could act so casually in front of a minister.
Well, we'd all known each other since the Academy, so it made sense.
"Hey, let's step outside and talk."
"Yeah. We should at least say hello properly, right?"
Victor laughed good-naturedly and scratched the back of his head.
"Oh, wait a moment. I need to hear what happened in our department."
His friends exchanged awkward smiles at me before turning to jeer at Victor.
"Ugh."
Pressed by his friends, Victor let out a small hum and shrugged his shoulders. Even so, he set down his coffee cup, clearly intending to follow them.
I gazed quietly into Victor's sky-blue eyes.
The one person who had extended his hand to me during those difficult times.
Someone so warm and radiant that I always found myself watching his back.
I spoke to him quietly.
"Come prepared. Our department is swamped. We've lost more than half our staff."
"Wow, really? Ten people including the minister?"
Victor chuckled, so I shrugged and added, "Starting tomorrow, there won't be time for personal chitchat. Even our Intern is working late into the night with nosebleeds."
"Even our Intern is working late into the night with nosebleeds."
Victor's eyes widened in surprise.
"Our department... had work that required overtime?"
"We need to start preparing for the Saint Kairo Banquet tomorrow. The Empress and the Young Prince will be attending an event there."
I crossed my arms, my eyes gleaming with determination.
A Scroll event with the Empress and the Young Prince together. I genuinely wanted to pull it off flawlessly.
It was the perfect opportunity to show that we were no longer the hopeless Scroll Management Department of the past.
Only then would we attract capable new recruits after next year's entrance exam.
That was when it happened.
"Oh, the Saint Kairo Banquet!"
One of Victor's friends crowded around him shouted out.
"There's a banquet! Victor, now you can go! You're the Marquis's son!"
"Aha, that's right. Victor, you're a high-ranking noble now, aren't you?"
Victor's mouth fell slightly open, as if he hadn't considered it.
True enough, he'd left for an extended business trip not long after becoming Marquis Awin's adopted son.
His new identity as the Marquis's heir was still unfamiliar to him.
"Ah... right, I hadn't thought about it. But don't banquets require a partner?"
Victor blinked his round eyes slowly, then turned his head toward me.
"Namia Loapi, you'll be going too, right? Since you're the minister?"
"Yes."
"Have you decided on a partner?"
"No."
"Ah, then...."
That was when it happened.
Kibon, who had been standing quietly, cut off Victor's words.
"Minister."
Everyone's eyes turned toward Kibon.
Kibon looked at me and spoke.
"I would like to be that partner."
Anastasia shattered her coffee cup with a sharp crash. Victor also startled, his brow furrowing.
I answered calmly.
"Very well."
At that, even Victor's friends were taken aback.
One of Victor's friends stepped forward with unwarranted concern.
"Huh? Minister? The Intern wouldn't be qualified to attend, would he? He's a foreigner without a title?"
"No. By convention, only high-ranking nobles attend, but if one receives an invitation, it's not impossible."
I scratched my cheek as I spoke.
"And truthfully, I made a promise with Young Prince Jayden earlier. Whoever applied first would be my partner. It's a royal decree, so there's no helping it."
This was genuinely unavoidable.
"Ah, I see...."
Victor mumbled reluctantly for a moment, then broke into a bright smile.
"Well, I'm going anyway. It's fine. It's actually nice to give the young foreign intern friend a chance to experience an Imperial banquet."
"Why do you keep calling me your friend? I am not your friend."
"Look here. It's only natural to provide cultural experience to someone who can't even speak the Imperial language well."
Victor winked at Kibon and tapped my shoulder twice.
"Anyway, we can finish all the conversations we didn't get to at that banquet, right?"
"Ah, yes."
"High-ranking nobles, you say... I don't know anyone there. Since I only know you, I'll have to follow you around."
Victor laughed heartily, and his friends giggled along with him.
Throughout it all, Kibon, who had maintained an expressionless face, spoke quietly.
"Let us depart, Minister."
In stark contrast to Victor, his tone was fundamentally quite rigid.
"There is much work to be done."
Victor was the one who answered.
"Right, right! Hang in there. When I come in tomorrow, I'll help out a lot. Young intern friend, just hold on a little longer. Your hyung will be leaving soon."
Kibon made no response. Victor laughed heartily and disappeared with his friends.
'Wow.'
One thing was certain.
'Their personalities are really different, yet neither one backs down.'
Neither Kibon's introverted strength nor Victor's extroverted charisma yielded an inch.
And not long after.
A message came through asking me to stop by the Crown Prince's Office after work.
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