The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10

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“Your Highness, did you know? That the Maid Supervisor would move like this?”

Medeia, who had been standing by the window looking down at the Maid Supervisor’s subordinates leaving, turned around.

“Yes.”

A simple answer. However, the meaning it contained was not so simple.

The words the Princess had said while winning over the maids came to mind.

“For borrowing hands, this was quite cheap.”

She never imagined that the hands being borrowed would be the Maid Supervisor’s.

Moreover, that she would cleanly get rid of all the Princess’s maids without any burden whatsoever.

‘Then from that time already…’

Neryl stared at her blankly.

“The masters of the expelled maids will be wary of the Regent. When they find out what my subordinate did, he too will clutch the back of his neck.”

Neryl finally nodded.

“Who will our uncle resent? His competitors? Or the Maid Supervisor? At least it won’t be me.”

Because Medeia would just be a pitiful victim here.

“Your Highness, are you planning to make them fight among themselves?”

Instead of answering, a smile played around her lips.

“You don’t seem to be the Your Highness I knew.”

The original Medeia was someone whose human purity stood out more than her dignity as a Princess.

“That’s right. The Medeia you knew is gone.”

The Princess calmly agreed.

“After going through a life-and-death experience once, I realized. That I can’t remain foolish forever.”

Medeia looked at Neryl.

Her green eyes were looking at her, but somehow seemed to be looking elsewhere.

She was solemn, as if navigating through deeper and darker depths.

“How about you, Neryl. Do you dislike this kind of master?”

There was no wavering in her eyes.

As if nothing would change whether Neryl accepted the change or not.

‘She’s just like when I first met the late King.’

Neryl knelt on one knee.

She understood the girl’s words about not being able to remain foolish forever.

To endure alone on those small feet in this den of demons, change would be indispensable.

“Whatever form Your Highness takes, I will remain by your side.”

The Princess’s lips curved up faintly.

“That’s a relief.”

An expressionless, cold face. A calm voice.

Though there was none of the appearance she had known, Neryl thought this was more befitting of the Valdina bloodline than ever before.

She hesitated for a moment before voicing her remaining concern.

“…I hope the Maid Supervisor realizes her mistake and restrains herself, but it doesn’t seem likely. If she tries to pull another underhanded trick…”

“It’s fine.”

Medeia patted Neryl’s shoulder.

“If you know someone’s temperament and track record, you can predict it. What they’ll think, what they’ll try to do.”

The Maid Supervisor, her uncle, all of them – she had experienced them enough in her previous life. They were within Medeia’s predictions.

What made her hesitate was

the unknown things she had never experienced.

For instance…

Crash!

The teacup overturned with a sharp shattering sound.

Mariyu, who had turned pale, hurriedly poured tea into a new cup.

“Your Highness, I was just…”

She had come to personally bring tea she had brewed herself, trying to foster a relationship with the Princess.

‘I need to win back the Princess’s heart before the new maids catch her eye.’

Not long ago, she had seen the Maid Supervisor’s people take away all the maids from the Princess’s Palace.

If she hadn’t quickly hidden herself, she too would have been dragged out like a dog along with them.

Mariyu tried to suppress her anxiety and worked hard to please the Princess.

Because I know inside and out what the Princess, starved for affection, is weak to and moved by.

Besides, when I came, didn’t the Princess tell Neryl to go out for a while and send her away?

Though she had been cold to me recently, it was surely a signal that she was tired of that stone-like woman’s crudeness and wanted to keep me by her side again.

Steam rose gently from the teacup she had prepared.

“It’s berry tea. You said mine tastes the best when I brew it.”

Mariyu sat beside her and offered the teacup.

Medeia, who had casually looked down at the teacup, froze.

Dark navy-colored liquid. So dark that the bottom couldn’t be gauged. Like the poison she had drunk before dying, with a few drops added.

Suddenly, dizziness struck. For a moment, veins stood out on the back of her hand gripping the edge of the table.

“…I don’t feel like it right now. I’ll have it later.”

When Medeia didn’t even try to take the teacup contrary to expectations, Mariyu became anxious.

Why? Is the Princess still angry?

Isn’t everything resolved now?

“I cooled it to just the right temperature. You like it slightly cooled to lukewarm rather than too hot. Shall I feed it to you?”

“Later.”

“Oh please, Your Highness. Please. These are berries I went out to pick from dawn, getting my knees all wet. Please, for the sake of my sincerity.”

She stubbornly pushed the teacup forward.

“Please at least take one sip.”

Her attempt to bring the teacup to Medeia’s lips was somewhat forceful.

The dark tea liquid swayed before Medeia’s eyes.

“Hurry up and pour it! What are you doing not pouring!”

It felt like her throat was being strangled. Her vision went dark.

“I said that’s enough!”

Without thinking further, she knocked the cup away.

Crash.

The teacup Medeia had knocked away flew and shattered.

The air turned cold.

“How many times do I have to tell you.”

“Y-Your Highness. I was just-“

“It seems my words don’t even reach your ears.”

“Please forgive me, Your Highness. I made a mistake.”

Quick-witted maids grabbed the pleading Mariyu’s arms and took her away.

“Your Highness! Please forgive me. Please don’t hate this poor Mariyu anymore. I have no one but Your Highness!”

Bang!

The door closed.

“Hah.”

Only after confirming she was completely alone did Medeia let out a breath.

Her pale hand fumblingly caressed her throat.

“…”

She looked down at the tea in the teacup.

Dark-colored liquid.

The suffocating sense of rejection still arose.

Medeia reached out her hand.

Not for the tea, but to pick up the transparent water glass placed beside it.

It was fine. From touching her lips to going down her throat, there were no problems at all.

“Is it only colored liquids that don’t work?”

A trace left by her miserable death in her previous life, when poison had been poured into her.

The aftereffects seemed to be limited only to dark-colored liquids.

“It’s fine. As long as I don’t get caught, it doesn’t matter.”

In the pale silence, Medeia quietly muttered to herself.

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

Neryl, who had come running after hearing Mariyu’s scream, examined Medeia.

The room was a mess with broken teacups.

Neryl frowned as she looked at the spot where Mariyu had been dragged away.

“What does that wench believe in to act so brazenly? If it weren’t for Your Highness, I really would…”

She fingered the scabbard hanging at her waist.

“Wait and see. All the maids have been replaced so she has no one to vent her anger on, and I’m treating her coldly too, so she’ll explode soon enough. The time will come soon, and then we can deal with her completely.”

Medeia patted Neryl’s shoulder.

“Keep a close watch on Mariyu.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

* * *

Deep in the night when all the lights in the Princess’s Palace had been extinguished, Mariyu secretly slipped out of the palace.

“Samon!”

Under the dim lamplight, she saw her lover pacing anxiously.

Mariyu ran into his arms.

She buried her face against him and rubbed her cheek, as if releasing all the longing and sorrow she had felt.

“Shh.”

Samon Claudio.

He was the Regent’s eldest son and only heir.

He hurriedly grabbed Mariyu’s arm and pulled her inside.

“Mariyu.”

The only light illuminating the room was the faint moonlight coming through a small window in the wall.

Shadows fell across the man’s face.

Slender height. Grayish-brown hair. Delicate features.

Samon was considered quite handsome among Valdina’s young nobles.

However, if you looked closely, his thin lips seemed somewhat cunning. His two eyes, gleaming blackly in the darkness, had something petty about them, like those of a mouse.

But to Mariyu, he was an incomparable beauty in this world.

“Samon, I missed you so much.”

Mariyu spread her arms wide, but she didn’t feel her lover’s arms wrapping strongly around her waist as usual.

“What on earth happened?”

Her lover, whom she was seeing after a long time, gave her an irritated greeting. Mariyu’s smile stiffened.

“What do you mean?”

“All of Medeia’s maids have been replaced. What the hell did you do?”

“Darling, I couldn’t help it either. The Princess suddenly pushed me away – what was I supposed to do?”

Mariyu was worried about the same thing. She needed to win back the Princess’s heart before the new maids caught her fancy.

So she visited the Princess every day, trying all sorts of flattery, but her heart remained unmoved.

The sulking Mariyu showed him her shin.

“Look at this. She sent me to the Maid Supervisor and this is how-“

“Wait, Medeia pushed you away?”

Samon’s eyes flashed.

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