The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 14

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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 14

“It’s not impossible.”

“You’re insane.”

“The Princess may still be young, but she’s not at an age where marriage is impossible. Her youth would actually make it easier for us to manipulate her.”

“Us?”

The Maid Supervisor smiled slyly.

“It depends on your intentions, Minister. Prince Claudio isn’t the type to share his power. I didn’t think you’d stay with him forever either—was I being presumptuous?”

The bait had been cast.

Now all that remained was to wait for a bite.

A silent moment passed.

The Maid Supervisor waited patiently.

The corners of the Count’s tightly pressed lips slowly began to rise.

“No. It was quite appropriate.”

As she said, becoming the royal son-in-law would allow him to build power rivaling the Regent’s. Both justification and position would be sufficient.

“My lord, you won’t regret today.”

The toad had taken the bait.

Whether what he’d swallowed was food or poison would only be revealed with time.

* * *

On a night when all lights in the Princess’s Palace had been extinguished.

Mariyu once again secretly left the palace.

However, this time her attitude toward her counterpart was surprisingly arrogant and cold.

“What’s this about? What was that note?”

After being chased away from the Princess as if fleeing, Mariyu had discovered a note stuck to her door.

It was a note from Lady Quizin requesting a meeting with her.

“What’s this about, you ask.”

Maid Supervisor Lady Quizin flashed a greasy smile.

“I heard you’ve been treated worse than a dog lately, so I called you. You must have a lot you want to say, don’t you?”

“Ha, when did you beat me up? And compared to you, abandoned by the Regent?”

Mariyu shot back sharply.

How does that brat know about that…?

The Maid Supervisor bit the inside of her invisible cheek and replied coldly.

“Well, aren’t we in the same situation? I hear the Princess has turned away from you, so you’re busy cleaning with the lower maids these days?”

“…”

“Neryl has already taken your place. Accept it—the Princess has abandoned you.”

Mariyu pressed her lips tightly together and glared fiercely at the Maid Supervisor.

“If you don’t find a way to survive, you’ll be the one driven from the palace. There’s not much time left.”

Mariyu clenched her fists and looked angry, but couldn’t refute the Maid Supervisor’s words.

Because it was all true.

“What do you want?”

As if she’d expected this, leisure spread across the Maid Supervisor’s eyes.

She pulled out a sky-blue handkerchief from her bosom.

Letters embroidered in gold thread were visible at the edge.

“L. Etien… Wait, Lark Etienne? The Minister of the Royal Household’s?”

When the Maid Supervisor smiled instead of answering, an irritated Mariyu snapped back.

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“Why? Secretly place this in the Princess’s bedroom. Preferably in a discreet, secluded place where people won’t notice. Like between her undergarments.”

Mariyu flinched.

As a maid to the Princess, she couldn’t possibly not know what it meant for a woman to have a man’s belongings in her private chambers in conservative noble society.

“What are you trying to do? Don’t tell me…”

A pale Mariyu asked.

“Why ask when you’ve already guessed?”

“You’re insane. The Princess and the Minister? Are you serious? You’re crazy. That’s impossible.”

Setting aside the disgusting age difference between the two, who were like father and daughter.

Even if she was the royal family’s outcast, she was still the King’s sister.

She was in a completely different league from the Minister of the Royal Household, who was old, ugly, and followed by sordid rumors.

The Minister even had rumors of being a cruel sodomite.

If rumors spread that the two were lovers, no one would propose to the Princess whose reputation had already fallen.

‘Then Count Etienne would become the royal son-in-law… Medeia’s husband? That’s impossible.’

Though Mariyu always harbored feelings of inferiority toward Medeia, this time she unconsciously shook her head.

And she looked at the Maid Supervisor with horrified eyes for devising such a wicked scheme without batting an eye.

“We have to make it seem plausible.”

“My God, don’t you fear heaven?”

The Maid Supervisor sent a sneer at Mariyu’s response.

“You’ll soon be in my situation too. Before the Princess abandons you, shouldn’t you find your own way to survive? If this matter goes well, I’ll help you with your adoption.”

Adoption? Mariyu hesitated at the unexpected word.

“You know, don’t you? How I transformed into a noble.”

The Maid Supervisor crossed her arms and leaned against a pillar.

“My husband’s nephew still has no heir. If you spend a few years as their adopted daughter, you’ll become a noble lady.”

“A noble…”

Suddenly, that night’s voice came to mind.

“As a minor duke, I need justification to take a commoner like you as my wife.”

‘If I can just cleanse my status, I can stand proudly by his side.’

Gulp. Mariyu’s throat slowly vibrated.

“How about it? I can’t give you much time to decide. You know better than anyone how amazing the opportunity I’m offering is.”

“…”

Mariyu seemed lost in thought and didn’t answer. The Maid Supervisor frowned.

“If you’re not interested, forget my proposal. I can’t wait around leisurely either.”

“Wait.”

When the Maid Supervisor tried to take back the Minister’s handkerchief, Mariyu hastily grabbed the edge to stop her.

Lady Quizin secretly raised the corners of her mouth.

“I’ll take that as your decision.”

After the Maid Supervisor left, Mariyu looked down at the handkerchief.

‘…Samon, I have to keep this secret from Samon.’

A scandal between the young Princess and the decrepit old Minister would be too shameful.

Since it would also involve the honor of the Valdina royal family, Samon would never agree to it.

He wouldn’t want her joining hands with the Maid Supervisor, who was already a discarded card.

Status cleansing was bait that was desperately needed only by her.

She smiled bitterly.

Mariyu loved Samon, but she knew he was an indifferent man.

If he weren’t, he wouldn’t have left her in the shadows for so long.

‘It’s all because of the Princess. If the Princess weren’t here, I wouldn’t need to stay here anymore. I could go to his side.’

Her twisted anger bounced in the wrong direction.

‘Etienne and the Princess…’

The Princess’s cold eyes that had looked at her came to mind.

The initial shock she’d felt upon learning the Maid Supervisor’s plan faded, and anger filled its place.

Even if she became the wife of that disgusting, ugly old toad, would the Princess still be able to look at her, who would be Lady Claudio, that way?

‘Medeia, you shouldn’t have ignored me like that.’

The eyes looking down at the golden embroidery rippled strangely. The hesitating woman reached out toward the handkerchief.

“You were the one who pushed me away first, Your Highness.”

Mariyu muttered, crumpling the thin cloth like paper in her grip.

“So please don’t resent me.”

* * *

A few days later. Dawn was breaking.

“It was just as Your Highness said.”

Neryl, who had left the palace with Medeia to meet Marquis Gilliphos, spoke with a deeply furrowed brow.

“A few days ago, Mariyu secretly left the palace and made contact with the Maid Supervisor.”

Medeia listened to her words while basking in the pale yellow sunlight from the sky. The weather was clear.

“I felt uneasy about it, so I kept my eyes on her. For a while, she seemed to be poking around here and there in the Princess’s Palace.”

Neryl swallowed at this point. It was to suppress her anger and regain her composure.

She pulled out a sky-blue handkerchief from her bosom.

“Mariyu secretly entered Your Highness’s bedroom and hid this in your jewelry box.”

Medeia’s steps came to a halt.

“It has the initials L. Etien embroidered on it. Isn’t this the Minister of the Royal Household’s?”

“Haha.”

A laugh that seemed purely admiring escaped from Medeia’s lips.

“To think of linking me with Etien, the Maid Supervisor really used her head quite well.”

“How dare those wicked creatures involve Your Highness with that filthy man…”

Neryl’s hands twitched. As if she wanted to swing her sword right away.

“I’m confident in concealment and disposing of bodies. I can handle two, no, even three corpses without leaving a trace. If you would just give me permission—”

Medeia smiled.

“Three including the Minister? Then, Neryl, you wouldn’t be safe either.”

“I don’t care as long as I can remove these evil traitors from Your Highness’s side.”

Medeia swallowed her laughter, unsure whether to scold or praise her upright maid.

“It’s not time yet.”

“…”

She looked at Neryl’s dissatisfied face and added reassuringly.

“I don’t leave alive those who target me.”

They will die here.

Just at the time and moment I desire.

“So, the handkerchief?”

Medeia extended her hand.

“Here, I’ll take it and burn it. I won’t leave even a trace.”

“No.”

A small, white hand stopped Neryl from taking the handkerchief back.

“Neryl, you said earlier you were confident in concealment.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Has Her Highness changed her mind now?

Neryl, who couldn’t abandon hope, answered obediently.

Medeia smiled with satisfaction and pulled out a sparkling piece of jewelry.

“This is… Isn’t this the trumpet bracelet that Mariyu had back then?”

It was the bracelet that Samon had given her.

“Your Highness, it’s a bracelet that Mariyu dropped… It seemed strange to me.”

Mariyu hadn’t only been caught with the bracelet by Medeia. Moreover, her unfaithful attitude had earned her the complete dislike of her colleagues in the Princess’s Palace.

“She claims it’s her mother’s keepsake, but it looks too expensive for that. She brags about it so much, I think she probably stole it. Isn’t it yours? Could you ask the Duchess or Lady Virna if they’ve ever had a bracelet stolen?”

“Yes, I’ll look into it more, so don’t tell Mariyu yet that you found the bracelet.”

“Of course! She’s already exhausted herself searching for three days straight.”

That’s how Medeia obtained the bracelet containing Samon’s ‘love.’

She carefully wrapped Mariyu’s bracelet with the Minister’s handkerchief.

Then she handed the bulging bundle of handkerchief to Neryl.

“Later, put this in Mariyu’s belongings.”

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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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