How much time has passed?
“It hurts...”
My eyes fluttered open as I groaned.
'What, why?'
I jumped.
Unlike usual, my whole body felt very light.
'What is this?'
I thought quickly when I regained my senses.
‘Sudden good health like this can only be achieved with wealth.
So what is this radiant energy of money flowing through my body?'
Indeed.
There was an IV needle in my left arm.
Drip, drip, drip of money...
No, I was hearing the sound of an IV drip.
I looked around.
'Here… it's the palace suite… it's also a single room used by VIPs!'
The calculation was made instantly.
Kiaros treated me very well.
‘Intravenous drip, this is so expensive that even high-ranking nobles cannot afford it!’
‘Oh my God, this is very good...’
It was still dawn, and the sky outside was stained a light purple.
I lay on the bed.
There was something soft wrapping around my body.
'I have to get to work right away from here.'
That was when I closed my eyes again to sleep a little more.
“Are you awake?”
Open the door.
Luca, a young man with brown hair and green eyes and wearing a doctor's gown, was walking by my bed.
"It happened faster than I thought.
Is it because of the fluids?"
Luca began checking my IV drip.
I looked at him and asked hurriedly.
“You used the best, didn't you?”
“Huh?”
“In such situations, the imperial family says: ‘Use the best.’ You cannot miss this opportunity.”
I continued to speak seriously.
“If you are using something ordinary, change it for the better now.”
"What?"
“Seize this opportunity to build virtue for your next life, by spending the Imperial Palace’s money.
Okay?”
Luca looked at me with a puzzled expression.
Luca Klass, he was also my classmate at the Imperial Academy.
Second place in the academy entrance examination.
He subsequently achieved first rank throughout his time at the academy; The upper part of the graduation examination, as well as the upper part of the imperial civil servants' selection examination.
Unlike me, who didn't say a single word in the original, I played the role as a good extra thanks to his outstanding abilities.
‘Honestly, he was a talent that the Ministry of Finance would have hired…’
But the ministry he chose was the Ministry of Health.
The reason was that he was a commoner, and there were limits to promotion in other departments related to personal relations.
'Well, skills always come first in the medical and health departments, so in the end he was right.'
Although Luca joined the civil service at the same time as me, he was currently thriving.
Even though he was in the same fourth year of service as me, unlike me who had not received even a younger colleague, he was already completely different in rank.
'Ah, I have an apprentice who ran away after one day.'
But Luca said it as if it was ridiculous, she thought bitterly.
“I'm really amazed.
Did you know that of all the times I've seen you, this is the most emotional?”
He shrugged and continued.
“I used a lot of the best stuff.
It's only for the imperial family.”
Oh my goodness, no wonder I felt so energized!
While my mouth was open, Luca raised his chin and added:
“For your information, I was the one who suggested the matter to His Highness that you need intravenous fluids because your nutritional condition was poor.”
“Awesome… Luca Klass, I didn’t know you had a sense of loyalty?”
At my words, Luka crossed his arms and answered calmly.
“Do you and I have a loyal relationship?
Not because of loyalty.”
“Oh yes...”
Luca shouted at my answer.
“Hey, don't you usually ask why?”
“I don't have the enthusiasm to do this...”
“….”
Luca looked confused at my words.
It wasn't surprising.
In fact, our relationship in the academy has always been like this.
Luca would always jump up and down when he saw me, and I would always answer unenthusiastically and gruffly.
"Namiya Rawabi.
You're practically on the verge of malnutrition.
Seriously… ha."
He was silent, looked at me intently, then spoke as if he could no longer bear it.
“Your house...is it still like this?”
“Huh?”
“I mean Baron Rawabi.”
Luca continued talking even though I didn't respond much.
“Working in the palace means you get good lunches.
But you, with this situation, it's as if you can barely eat one meal a day...”
He continued speaking with eyes full of anger.
He must have been very surprised at my state of health.
“Your salary… you can’t use it, right?
Honestly, rumors about it have already spread.”
"I know."
I muttered in frustration.
“What kind of damned person talks about other people’s private family matters so carelessly?”
“Every time your damn parents get into debt, they go around telling other people not to worry because they get your paycheck.”
Oh damn you!
I knew the civil service community was small, but I didn't expect rumors to spread so quickly.
“Speaking of debt, are they incurring debt now?”
An uncomfortable premonition briefly crossed my mind, but I didn't want to show any concern in front of Luca.
She spoke deliberately as if nothing had happened.
“Well, the overtime pay still belongs to me.
It gets paid in cash at the end of the month.”
“Hey, how much is that...”
“It's too little?
Oh, Juan doesn't talk about overtime pay at home either.
I think he wants to keep it for himself.”
As soon as she mentioned Juan, Luca's eyes suddenly narrowed into triangles.
Juan Rawabi.
On paper, he was my twin brother.
He joined the academy and took the imperial civil servant selection examination with me.
“Namiya Rawabi, let me ask you one thing.”
Luca asked in a low tone.
“Honestly, I wanted to ask you for a long time, but I held back.”
“Ah…then keep backing away.”
“Hey, don't you usually ask what it is?”
“I don't have the enthusiasm to do this...”
My constant feedback was ignored.
Luca asked, staring straight into my eyes.
“You wrote Juan’s report on the Imperial Civilian Personnel Selection Project, didn’t you?”
“….”
“This was done by a team of two, and your report ranked first by an overwhelming majority.”
“But you got the lowest grades and Juan got the highest grades because he did everything.”
In evaluating the selection of palace civil servants, 50% was based on the written examination score and the remaining 50% was based on the report score.
Juan received an average grade on the written exam, but received a perfect grade on the report, and obtained a position in the Ministry of Finance, the primary administration of the palace.
“But Namiah, you were on the same team as Juan, and you, of all people, didn't do anything?”
Luca looked directly at me and asked sharply.
“Just like you did all of Juan's missions when we were at the academy… it was the same during the government personnel exam, right?”
In response to Luca's barrage of questions, I responded with a frown, carelessly touching my ears.
“Why are you so interested in me?
Do you love me by any chance?
Is it possible that I haven’t known about your unrequited love for a long time now...”
“Are you crazy?”
Luca shouted.
“You are my rival, my rival!
Naturally, I should care about the rival who has been in my heart since the entrance exam!”
Oh, he's out again.
This sound.
I said roughly, waving my hands as if I was tired.
“Luca, please forget about the entrance exam...”
"How could I forget?
Someone got a perfect score on the entrance exam for the first time in 15 years, and your overall score was about 40 points higher than mine!"
“…um.”
"Hey, please at least answer me correctly.
Why can't you say anything clearly?
Ah, it's frustrating!"
Well, after seeing Luca's frustration, it seemed like I should acknowledge the value of an IV drip.
I gave him the appropriate answer as he wanted.
"It's the first perfect score in 17 years, not 15 years.
But 17 years ago, there were 56 people who got perfect scores due to a failure to control the difficulty, so I was evaluated as the only one in the academy's history.
Even though there is exactly a 42-point difference with you, who was in second place, you are 23 points ahead in the physical fitness exam, so there is a 65-point difference in terms of written evaluation alone.
If you are not going to forget the entrance exam in the future, will you remember it like this?" From now on?
“….”