The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 139

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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 139

 

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The Imperial Palace of the Kazen Empire, the innermost office.

 

The interior of the vast room with its soaring ceiling, marble and gold reached the pinnacle of splendor.

 

On the ceiling were frescoes recording the triumphant moments when the Kazen Empire trampled the continent, while tapestries and sculptures displayed their majesty on each wall.

 

The Emperor’s throne was installed higher than anywhere else, structured so that visitors had no choice but to lift their heads and look up.

 

Opposite the throne, a deified sculpture of the Emperor gleamed with gilded, brilliant light.

 

“What is all this commotion about!”

 

The middle-aged man sitting on that throne roughly crumpled up a letter and threw it.

 

Wearing a splendid black robe embroidered with thick gold thread, he possessed a neurotic countenance.

 

Looking closely, traces of handsome features from his youth remained.

 

However, his thick eyebrows, sunken eye sockets, and bushy black beard created an eerie feeling.

 

His jet-black hair, soaked with sweat and clinging to his forehead, evoked a bizarre sense of impatience.

 

He was the current Emperor of the Kazen Empire, Perdickas II.

 

“Angelique, does this have any sense or not! I sent her to tighten Valdina’s throat, but not only did she bring relief supplies to personally feed those northern bastards, she’s now carrying a child with the blood of those lowly people flowing through it?”

 

Perdickas II trembled violently.

 

And soon, unable to contain his anger, he smashed the furnishings with the long golden staff he held in his hand.

 

“How much longer must I endure this disgrace!”

 

Crash! The furnishings struck by the swung staff collided and glass shattered. The white marble sculpture was smashed to pieces.

 

The young servants hastily gasped in surprise.

 

“Please refrain from excitement. It will only harm Your Majesty’s precious body.”

 

Only the elderly head servant, who had served him since the Emperor was merely a prince, spoke to him soothingly with a calm face.

 

“Do I look like I can avoid getting excited right now!”

 

“Please calm yourself, Your Majesty. How can I repay this grave sin of my unvirtuous daughter causing you worry?”

 

The Dowager Empress was also in this room. She too was shocked by the news of her daughter from Valdina.

 

‘Angelique, you foolish thing! Where did you put all of your mother’s advice to cause this trouble!’

 

However, finding out the whole story and scolding her daughter could be done later.

 

Right now, the urgent matter was to calm the Emperor’s anger and bring her daughter here as quickly as possible.

 

“Your Majesty, please save Angelique. She has fallen for the schemes of wicked people. You know she’s just a naive child who has only grown in body. So…”

 

“Even if she lacks sense, there should be limits! Carrying a bastard child – is this something that can be overlooked? Didn’t I tell you to discipline that child from the moment I heard she was getting involved with a commoner!”

 

When the Emperor’s anger showed no signs of subsiding, the Dowager Empress changed her approach.

 

Tears dripped down her flower-like beautiful face.

 

“Then what should we do if Your Majesty also turns away from us mother and daughter? Will Your Majesty put shame on Angelique, your own daughter born with Your Majesty’s flesh and blood? Will you let rumors spread that she carries a bastard whose father is unknown?”

 

Though it was a question, it was closer to a cry of despair.

 

“Your Majesty has always been heartless. I know that while you cherished Angelique, you were never satisfied with her. But, Your Majesty. Do you remember? That child is my only blood relative, born after I risked my life through difficult labor.”

 

The Dowager Empress looked up resentfully.

 

She had endured countless palace intrigues to rise to her current position.

 

After the Empress died, she had to share power with the Queen Mother, but she was undoubtedly the most noble woman in this palace.

 

Moreover, Perdickas II favored the gentle and lovely Dowager Empress far more than the Queen Mother, who had an arrogant and cold personality similar to the deceased Empress.

 

She had gained the Emperor’s love, but at the same time, she had lost much.

 

The greatest painful sorrow was falling victim to the Queen Mother’s schemes and becoming unable to have more children.

 

“Your Majesty has countless other children, so it wouldn’t matter to you what happens to one daughter. But I have only Angelique!”

 

The Dowager Empress ran toward the window. The head servant was startled and grabbed her as she seemed ready to throw herself out the window.

 

“Let me go! Your Majesty, if I’m a mother who can’t even protect my daughter, then I have no reason to remain in this palace any longer.”

 

“When did I say I would turn away! Empress, do not speak so carelessly!”

 

Even the cold Perdickas II couldn’t help but be shaken by the sight of the beautiful woman, whose beauty hadn’t changed despite having a grown daughter, beating her chest and shedding tears.

 

Hah. After letting out a deep sigh, he descended from the throne and stepped toward the window.

 

Then he naturally spread both arms as if to embrace the Empress.

 

“Your Majesty, please kill that wretched man. If only that bastard and the child disappear, there would be no reason for our Angelique to bear shame…”

 

Through her tear-filled vision, the Dowager Empress, not missing the Emperor’s opening, grabbed his sleeve and clung to him.

 

“It’s already too late! Even the Holy Kingdom knows! Are you going to make Angelique be treated as an apostate?!”

 

The conservative doctrine of the Holy Kingdom taboos both adultery and abortion.

 

Marriage and pregnancy. Going against the natural order is considered apostasy against God and treated as heresy.

 

“The, the Holy Kingdom?”

 

The Dowager Empress’s face was colored with despair. She instinctively knew it was irreversible.

 

“So, the best option now is to unite the two and preserve what remains of Angelique’s reputation. Claudio is still royalty of Valdina, so he’s not a completely unreasonable match-”

 

“That cannot be! Sob, Your Majesty, it cannot be. How can you dare attach that filthy Valdina blood to our daughter…!”

 

But the Dowager Empress shook her head violently in refusal.

 

A union with Claudio, from a small country and completely fallen to commoner status through rebellion, meant that Angelique would be completely pushed out of succession.

 

With such a useless burden attached, it would become impossible to surpass the other princes.

 

Perdickas II also noticed her intention, and his eyes turned cold.

 

“Empress, when the current changes, if you don’t change direction, you’ll only be swept away. I want to at least preserve Angelique’s princess title.”

 

At the Emperor’s warning, the Dowager Empress came to her senses.

 

“I, I was just worried about Angelique, sob, Your Majesty…”

 

“I understand, so Dowager Empress, please return now. You servants, escort the Empress out.”

 

“Your Majesty, but-!”

 

“I told you to return. Don’t worry about Angelique. I won’t let my bloodline bear false shame.”

 

The Dowager Empress scattered tears as she was led out of the office by the servants.

 

Click. As the door closed, Perdickas II pressed his temples.

 

His head ached. His head was throbbing.

 

“Valdina, Peleus, Claudio… They’re all nothing but irritating bastards!”

 

“Your Majesty, now is the time to think strategically.”

 

The head servant pointed out calmly. His neatly groomed white mustache stood out on the old man’s wrinkled face.

 

“The King of Valdina has finally gotten his hands on the plains. But now that even the Regent’s rebellion has failed…”

 

Moreover, that damned Samon Claudio said that if they didn’t save him, he would even reveal evidence to the King that the Kazen Royal Family had aided the Regent.

 

Still, they couldn’t kill him.

 

“Setting aside that the Regent has already lost one eye, there’s Samon Claudio. That bastard is the only bloodline of the previous king except for the current king. If he disappears, it means that young Peleus bastard’s absolute monarchy will be realized.”

 

Perdickas II trembled with rage.

 

The power of a throne without alternatives is immense.

 

Now that he had even reclaimed the plains, there was no telling what influence he might have on Kazen in the future.

 

‘With Peleus’s rotten temperament, he’ll surely try to take revenge on our Kazen for all the resentment so far.’

 

That’s why, while he was away from home, they had tried to install the incompetent Claudio, who had only grandiose dreams but no ability, as king…

 

“That stupid fool! I supported him so much, how did it come to this! How could he fail so miserably!”

 

Perdickas II gnawed at his fingernails with grinding sounds.

 

“That can’t happen. Valdina… That Philosopher’s Stone must come into my hands…”

 

He muttered anxiously. Without even noticing that his already tattered fingernails were torn and bleeding.

 

“Your Majesty.”

 

“The magical beasts will tear our Kazen apart from all sides! They’ll invade the Imperial Capital and try to destroy my throne!”

 

He shouted violently.

 

Thanks to the Philosopher’s Stone, Valdina, which magical beasts cannot invade, is called the land of protection.

 

But Kazen was still suffering from the frequent attacks of magical beasts.

 

Even the Kazen Empire, which had conquered the tribes and established itself as the hegemon of the continent, had failed to eliminate magical beasts. Every quarter, hundreds of knights were deployed solely to deal with magical beasts.

 

That’s why installing Claudio as king of Valdina to extract the Philosopher’s Stone and establish an ultimate and lasting safe zone was the Emperor’s wish and plan.

 

“Everyone! They’re all half-witted, defective idiots. I have to point out and decide everything one by one. When just one thing goes wrong, they all come running to me asking for help.”

 

If Chezare had been there.

 

“If the 1st Prince had been alive…”

 

The Emperor repeated the words that had sprung from his heart.

 

“I wouldn’t have needed to rack my brains like this! That bastard would have already brought me that young bastard’s head! I wouldn’t have had to worry about the Empire’s future like this, nor would I have needed to covet Valdina!”

 

Chezare would have been different, if it had been that bastard, everyone would have knelt in terror and bowed their heads.

 

The Empire’s glory would have prospered for eternity.

 

The Emperor repeated the same words. Like trying to grasp a mirage that had vanished.

 

“So we need a method. The Philosopher’s Stone—only with that can we protect this country even after Chezare dies.”

 

The Head Servant listened to his master’s monologue while thinking he was duplicitous.

 

‘He misses the First Prince yet already treats him like a dead man.’

 

The First Prince had a terminal illness, but he was still clearly alive and breathing.

 

But this wasn’t the first time the Emperor showed such duality.

 

When the First Prince was so prosperous and established as heir, the Emperor was constantly anxious about losing the throne and wary of his son.

 

Thanks to that, despite achieving so many accomplishments, the First Prince never even received the title of Crown Prince.

 

All of the First Prince’s current power and the reputation built by his notoriety—he had created it all himself.

 

So the Emperor’s despair over Chezare’s absence was… inevitably contradictory.

 

‘It’s fortunate that the First Prince is such a cold person without feelings.’

 

If it were him, he might have gone mad long ago.

 

But the Head Servant hid all the thoughts crossing his mind behind his wrinkled face and bowed respectfully.

 

“I understand Your Majesty’s concerns well. Then, what shall we do?”

 

“Claudio’s life must be preserved.”

 

“But he has been erased from the royal lineage. Neither he nor his son would be suitable to stand as rivals to the King, would they?”

 

“As long as his life is preserved, everything else can be rebuilt. Look at me. What have I failed to reform since taking this throne? What matters is the blood flowing in his body! The identity of being a descendant of House of Valdina!”

 

Perdickas II turned around.

 

Whoosh—! He threw the letter he had hastily written.

 

“Deliver this to the King of Valdina. Tell him that Prince Claudio is the father of my grandson, so both he and his family must be kept alive.”

 

“The King might ignore it and proceed with the execution.”

 

“That’s why we need to throw bait tempting enough to prevent that.”

 

The Emperor’s eyes gleamed with madness as he looked at the continental map.

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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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