The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 137

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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 137

 

Medeia looked down at the scene from the high tower of the royal palace.

 

“Your Highness should have been down there as well.”

 

Neryl let her shoulders droop as she sighed.

 

“Forgive my impertinence, but I still cannot understand why Your Highness adamantly refused to participate in the triumph ceremony.”

 

Her voice grew louder.

 

She couldn’t help but let her regret and inexplicable sorrow seep through.

 

“The Regent’s downfall, the suppression of the rebellion, the victory on the plains—none of it would have been possible without Your Highness’s arrangements. It was Princess Your Highness who protected this country.”

 

Do those people shouting in celebration truly know?

 

That for today’s victory, the Princess staked everything of herself each time.

 

That to tighten the noose around the enemies’ necks without an inch of error, the Princess too had countless sleepless nights.

 

“Neryl, I’m sorry for not recognizing you, for being foolish.”

 

“Neryl, where is your master now?”

 

“Neryl, prepare my sword.”

 

All the moments the Princess had arranged, when she had moved to help her, flashed through Neryl’s mind.

 

As if understanding her heart, a small hand approached and patted Neryl’s shoulder.

 

The Princess said with a slight upturn of her lips.

 

“That place down there isn’t where I belong.”

 

‘I don’t deserve to be there either.’

 

She had merely returned to her homeland what she had stolen and taken away, finally after all this time.

 

Medeia gazed wistfully at the scene of the triumph ceremony.

 

The lively and joyful atmosphere of the royal palace overlapped with the Valdina from her previous life that she remembered.

 

Gray smoke, piles of corpses of monsters and humans. The ruined land where no life remained. It was the curse she had brought upon it.

 

‘It’s different. This time it’s changed. I… I changed it.’

 

Her other hand, not extended toward Neryl, clenched tightly into a fist beneath her dress.

 

A firm resolve flashed through her green eyes.

 

‘And I will continue to do so.’

 

It was both a wish and a conviction she repeated to herself.

 

“The triumph ceremony doesn’t matter now. Neryl, don’t forget we still have tasks remaining. Who visited the prison where Claudio is held?”

 

At Medeia’s question, Neryl suppressed her disappointment and regained her composure.

 

She must not forget that what mattered most to her was helping the Princess as her reliable hands and feet.

 

Though she wore a sullen expression, Neryl, who had been with the Princess all this time, instinctively sensed that Medeia’s plan was not yet finished.

 

‘How far ahead is Your Highness looking?’

 

“Yes, Count Raju came with medicine and a physician.”

 

“Hmm… Raju managed to survive well.”

 

‘He was good at walking the tightrope back then too.’

 

Count Raju, while receiving Perdickas II’s hatred, had fully supported Jason from beneath the surface.

 

And when Jason’s ascension to the throne became certain, only then did he finally emerge from the shadows.

 

‘Someone like him wouldn’t give up on his daughter so easily.’

 

While Medeia gazed toward the direction where Claudio was imprisoned with an unreadable expression.

 

Somewhere else in the royal palace, two other people were confronting each other, unable to bridge their positions.

 

“Saya, you’re being deceived!”

 

It was the siblings Theo and Saya.

 

Theo had come to the royal palace to meet Saya.

 

Without even a moment to rejoice at their reunion after several years, a sharp atmosphere arose between the two.

 

“Do you even know what kind of person the Princess is, the woman you’re serving?”

 

“What am I being deceived about?”

 

Saya asked sharply.

 

The girl who always smiled brightly and received all the affection of the Princess’s Palace was gone.

 

She looked at her brother’s face with a dry expression devoid of any smile.

 

Theo’s face had changed quite a bit from what Saya remembered. His height and build had grown considerably, and his features had become more defined.

 

His handsome face remained the same, but somehow he exuded a gloomy and weary air.

 

His eyes, once full of youthful passion and vitality, had long since lost their life like a faded painting.

 

Saya could guess that Theo’s time apart from her hadn’t been entirely comfortable either.

 

However, that provided her with no comfort.

 

“Saya, the Princess threatened me with your life! She used you as bait to stop the rebels! She took you in as a maid for that purpose from the beginning!”

 

Theo beat his chest as if frustrated.

 

He thought his sister had fallen for the Princess’s cunning schemes.

 

Once she learned the truth, his sister would also be shocked and horrified at having helped such a cruel villain as the Princess.

 

However, contrary to his expectations, Saya only asked calmly.

 

“So what?”

 

“What?”

 

“So what do you want to do now, Theo? Are you dissatisfied that the rebellion ended halfway? Are you unhappy that Princess Your Highness personally petitioned the King to spare your life?”

 

“Saya, how can you say such things to me…”

 

Theo looked at Saya with shocked eyes. Dismay, betrayal, and disappointment flashed across his face.

 

“What I did to save you! What I gave up! My freedom, my beliefs, everything—”

 

“Don’t rationalize yourself using me as an excuse!”

 

Saya shot back sharply.

 

They were siblings born from the same womb and raised together. Each other’s thoughts were as clear as day.

 

“Theo, don’t I know you? If you had truly believed in them, if the revolution had been real, you would have protected them until death no matter what threats the Princess made. You would have endured any sacrifice. Even if that sacrifice was my life.”

 

Even if it tore your heart apart, you would have thought it couldn’t be helped.

 

You would have considered the small sacrifice inevitable for the greater cause.

 

Just like when Theo had left Saya behind without hesitation.

 

“Should I be grateful that between a fake rebellion and my life, you valued the latter more?”

 

“I…”

 

Theo’s complexion turned pale.

 

Only after being struck at his core by his sister could he look back on the past.

 

Why had he thought his sister would simply understand him when he had left the royal palace without hesitation, driven mad by resentment and anger?

 

The rift between the siblings created by time was too deep.

 

Too deep for Theo to easily bridge now.

 

“Saya. I was wrong. How hurt you must have been… I’ll make up for everything. Come with me. Let’s leave this place, okay?”

 

Theo offered his belated apology while reaching out his hand toward Saya.

 

He thought he could gradually comfort his wounded sister’s heart.

 

What mattered was that he couldn’t leave his sister by the side of that vicious Princess.

 

“We’ll go to the Holy Kingdom. If we apply to the temple, it won’t be difficult for both of us to make a living.”

 

“…”

 

“I can’t leave you by that woman’s side any longer. She’s evil, seeing people as nothing but chess pieces, and who knows if she’ll use you again—”

 

“Theo, while you worry about me like this. Didn’t you think about how I had to survive alone on those streets after you left like that?”

 

Back then, she had so much she wanted to say to her brother.

 

So many things she wanted to pour out sorrowfully, to complain about, to resent.

 

But those stories, and her heart that had searched for Theo, had all disappeared at some point as if buried in sand.

 

“Princess Your Highness warned me.”

 

“You might regret having me as your master.”

 

Saya still hadn’t forgotten what the Princess had said on the day she accepted her earnest plea.

 

Perhaps she wasn’t surprised by Theo’s accusation because she had anticipated such a day.

 

“Oh, mine is so shabby…! But this is Your Highness’s most precious possession. You look at it every night before bed!”

 

The King’s bracelet that the Princess had insisted on giving her. The silent apology the Princess had tried to convey.

 

Now everything made sense.

 

‘Your Highness had no need to feel sorry toward me.’

 

She knew the Princess well now.

 

‘The fact that someone who leaves no loose ends spared a disloyal person like Theo…’

 

It’s because he’s my brother.

 

He made an exception for my sake, knowing I would be heartbroken by Theo’s death.

 

Saya roughly rubbed her reddening eyes. Somehow, it felt like unsightly tears were about to fall.

 

“Theo, His Majesty spared your life because you’re my brother.”

 

“What?”

 

Theo’s eyes widened like saucers.

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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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