Queen of Revenge - Chapter 92

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 92
“…I have no idea what you’re babbling about.”
As Catherine forced the corners of her mouth upward, Benedix let out a soft snort.
A contemptuous laugh that said he could see right through her schemes.
Her mind went cold.
“You certainly have a talent for rendering perfectly capable people useless.”
“The way you speak, one would think I orchestrated that entire incident myself, Your Grace.”
“Perhaps you did. Perhaps you didn’t.”
How infuriating.
Catherine shoved Benedix away as though casting off refuse.
Despite pushing with all her strength, the man didn’t budge an inch—a fact that made her want to throttle him. Why could he never simply humor her?
Benedix adjusted his crooked cravat and offered counsel.
“Attempting to accomplish too much at once is unwise. The more you rush, the more cracks appear in your foundation. Had you truly annihilated House Uter, would His Majesty not have grown suspicious?”
“You think I’m rushing?”
“What makes you so anxious? What drives such desperation? Half this kingdom is already yours without such frantic measures.”
“There is such a thing as momentum, Your Grace. Something a man like you could never comprehend.”
When the moment comes, you must strike with overwhelming force.
If you lay your foundations with leisurely patience, erecting pillars at your own pace, only to have the earth overturn beneath you? To be struck by lightning without warning?
From the moment Catherine failed to exile Iolet to the Castlaine Territory, she had sensed catastrophe approaching.
She had trampled that pest into the ground from the very beginning to prevent this very situation, yet that cockroach refused to die, stubbornly raising its head again and again.
Catherine gnawed at her lips.
“You will never understand me. A young lord raised without a single want could never fathom it. You, who have never tasted failure in your life—”
He would have understood.
Catherine’s expression twisted.
Kairon Winterbark.
If that man—accustomed his entire life to deprivation and contempt—had been her husband instead…
Even if he could not aid her in seizing the throne, she might have found liberation from this suffocating loneliness and despair.
That man’s overwhelming presence, glimpsed only once, haunted her thoughts relentlessly.
Yet he belonged to Iolet.
She had thought that stealing the man who had always been Iolet’s would quench this resentment.
Catherine’s gaze drifted downward, and her heart clenched with sudden pain. Benedix’s left ring finger was bare.
A wedding ring worn only when eyes were watching. A marriage bed stubbornly postponed. Cold indifference.
Yet Catherine’s pride would not permit her to acknowledge these facts.
“Tonight, spare me the excuses. Come to my chambers. That is an order.”
Catherine straightened her spine and turned away.
On days when frustration accumulated like this, she even found herself missing Ahil, who had departed for House Melshier. Kicking and beating that face—so like the Late King’s—had always soothed her rage.
The moment Catherine returned to her office, she overturned the table.
“Aaaaagh!”
At her furious scream, the Butler hastily shut the door and withdrew.
“Iolet, Iolet, Iolet! What in blazes does that wench think she is!”
Catherine intended to live as a king, but she had no desire to abandon her pride as a woman.
She wanted everything—as a sovereign and as a woman. After all, she was the Crown Princess.
Yet why did everything slip through her fingers like sand?
Catherine stood in her disheveled office, breathing heavily for a moment.
The Late King had entrusted her with the roster of the Diplomatic Corps that Iolet would lead. But merely planting her eyes and ears within the delegation was insufficient. Catherine bit her lip to regain her composure.
‘I must admit that Iolet sees one move ahead. Then I need to outmaneuver her by two moves.’
Could Iolet truly fail to anticipate that Catherine’s loyalists were positioned throughout the delegation? Really?
If she were in Iolet’s position, she would find a way to shake off any surveillance. Besides, Kalande lay entirely beyond Catherine’s sphere of influence.
So she had to prepare. Whatever schemes Iolet devised, every possible escape route had to be sealed.
Catherine’s mind raced at breakneck speed.
‘I must find someone in Kalande whose interests align with mine. Someone with the power to control Kalande itself.’
Lightning flashed in her eyes.
One person.
There was exactly one person.
Catherine shouted to the butler outside her door.
“Summon the Commander of the Black Eagle Knights. Now!”
Minutes later, the Commander of the Black Eagle Knights rushed into the Crown Princess’s Palace, breathless.
An unexpected order fell upon the panting knight commander.
“You are to prepare to depart for Kalande at once with your knights under your command.”
“Your Highness?”
“You must reach Kalande before the Diplomatic Corps. Go and deliver this letter. The recipient is….”
Upon hearing the Crown Princess’s subsequent command, the knight commander’s mouth fell open in shock.
Yet a sovereign’s orders were absolute. Before the future king, doubt and complaint had no place.
The knight commander bowed with proper decorum instead of questioning.
“I receive your command, Crown Princess.”
Chapter 9
The carriage wheels rolled across frozen earth.
The procession of the Diplomatic Corps stretched long across the snow-covered plains. Behind the mounted vanguard, three carriages followed at regular intervals.
Through the white breath of the horses, the Border Command Tower of Elovis appeared in the distance.
The carriage slowed, then came to a complete halt.
Someone stood before the entrance to the command tower.
“Who goes there?”
The knight responsible for protecting the Diplomatic Corps narrowed his eyes. A man was striding toward them.
Black hair, black mask, black cloak and clothes. The only vivid color was the piercing green of his eyes.
Somehow, his face seemed familiar.
“Wait… Aren’t you the Vice Commander?”
The knight leaped from his horse and rushed toward him.
As the distance closed, certainty grew. The knight called out warmly.
“It is you, isn’t it? Vice Commander! I heard your injuries were severe, but you’re alright— huh?”
The man who had lightly grasped the knight’s shoulder simply passed by him.
“Pardon me, Vice Commander? What are you—”
The Guard Knight who had called out to him turned to survey his surroundings only belatedly. Somehow, without his noticing, Border Guard Soldiers had encircled the entire procession.
“You’ve done well to come this far, Knights.”
Commander Lefebvre appeared on horseback, parting through the soldiers.
“From here on, we shall attend to the Princess, so you may return to the Command Tower and rest at your leisure.”
“Pardon? That cannot be. The King himself commanded us to escort the Diplomatic Corps to Kalande.”
“My, but you all look absolutely exhausted. Rest, I say. All of you who came with the Princess should do the same.”
“No, we haven’t done anything strenuous, so there’s no reason to be tired—”
“Then shall I give you reason?”
“What?! Why—why are you doing this, Commander-in-Chief!”
At the Commander-in-Chief’s gesture, Border Guard Soldiers rushed forward in a flood, obscuring the Knights’ view.
In that moment, Lucian moved toward the carriage at the front of the procession.
As he opened the door and extended his hand, a small hand emerged from within and rested delicately upon his palm.
The Princess, draped in a fur coat, descended from the carriage with Lucian’s escort.
Seeing the Princess’s composed expression, the Guard Knight finally understood.
“Your Majesty… surely not…?”
But the Border Guard Soldiers had already surrounded the remaining two carriages.
While the Nobles inside looked bewildered, soldiers who had leaped onto the driver’s seats cracked their whips.
“Wait, where are we going? We’re supposed to be heading to Kalande—!”
“I’ll be back soon. Rest well.”
“Your Highness! Your Highness, wait!”
Iolet waved to them from the carriage window.
The Diplomatic Corps, finally grasping the situation, erupted in protest.
“The Crown Princess will never forgive this—!”
The carriage sped away toward the Command Tower.
“Don’t worry too much. The Commander-in-Chief will treat you well. …Oh, they’re already gone.”
Iolet brushed off her hands and climbed into a fresh carriage that had been waiting near the brush.
This carriage had been prepared and stationed here since receiving word that she would depart from the Capital.
As expected, the King had entrusted the compilation of the Diplomatic Corps roster to Catherine. The list she provided was filled with names of Nobles from the House of Deloras and House Laurent, both supporters of Catherine.
There was no reason to travel all the way to Kalande under watchful eyes. She had instructed Lucian and Marcel to deposit them at the Command Tower.
They would remain confined there until she completed her business in Kalande and returned.
“Now then, let us depart. We still have a long way to go.”
The carriage, having slipped away from the Diplomatic Corps procession with ease, began its dash toward the Kalande Border.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————