The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 145

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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 145

 

“The drug’s effects are taking quite a while to kick in.”

 

He glanced at the teacup on the table.

 

Kensington couldn’t believe it.

 

Cough. Even as blood leaked from the corner of her mouth and the agony in her heart spread throughout her body, she simply couldn’t believe it.

 

She had thought that showing her Jason’s punishment earlier was merely the Emperor’s warning.

 

She never imagined that an even more miserable end awaited her…

 

“Your Majesty! I am Your Majesty’s hand, Your Majesty’s eyes. How! How can you do this to me, gah…!”

 

In her resentment over her denied loyalty, Kensington reached out her hand.

 

She had devoted her entire life to building an intelligence network that spanned the entire continent, staining her hands with countless blood. She had refused all glory from the shadows, willingly becoming a dirty janitor.

 

All for Perdickas II, her master.

 

Though jealousy and desire served the wrong master, she thought she should embrace them even more because she was a subject.

 

She believed that the bond built over that long time since he was a prince also existed in the Emperor’s heart.

 

Like herself, who had deliberately turned away from the hand extended by the Princess of Valdina, she thought he too still retained the loyalty between lord and subject that couldn’t be easily abandoned.

 

She never expected to be so completely betrayed.

 

“That’s your delusion. You’re just a part that can be replaced anytime once you’ve outlived your usefulness. How long must I tolerate your arrogance in presumptuously acting as if you’re the sovereign?”

 

The Emperor kicked away Kensington’s hand.

 

“The Red Fox Clan grew this large because I allowed it. So it’s mine. Not yours!”

 

“No, Your Maj-esty!”

 

“But what did you do, Kensington? You used that to threaten me, betraying me while looking for opportunities to switch sides!”

 

The Emperor’s shout was close to a beast’s death throes. The golden staff struck Kensington’s body roughly.

 

The sound of solid metal crushing bone could be heard.

 

But the Emperor wasn’t satisfied. He had intended to strike Kensington’s head.

 

“Hah, hah…”

 

He wheezed and drew in ragged breaths. Unable to bear his trembling hands any longer, he threw away his staff.

 

“You’ve been at this too long. A generational change is needed. It’s time to throw out the dirty water and pour in fresh water.”

 

He was a hunter. He had obtained this imperial throne the same way.

 

The law of the wild – eat or be eaten – was no exception in Kazen’s imperial family.

 

During the succession struggle, Kensington’s help had been desperately needed. But now, decades after he won that fight, an organization with two leaders would only cause confusion.

 

With the dishonor of having usurped his nephew’s position, it hadn’t been easy to eliminate the loyal subject who had worked for his throne all this time.

 

That’s why this current situation was the perfect justification for Perdickas II.

 

By pinning all the wrongs committed by the Valdina diplomatic mission on Kensington, he could wash his hands clean.

 

“Your… Maj… esty…”

 

Kensington tried to move her stiffening tongue, but it was futile. The Princess’s voice echoed in her head.

 

“Even if you die by the Emperor’s hand, will that loyalty remain valid?”

 

Her body stiffened and she collapsed to the floor with a thud.

 

“Count Kensington, deeply feeling responsibility for this incident, has disciplined herself. What a tragic affair.”

 

Looking down at her dying form, Perdickas II spoke solemnly. His eyes were full of ruthlessness.

 

“I have decided to respect even this loyal subject’s final choice, so announce Count Kensington’s death and honor her will.”

 

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

 

The Head Servant bowed his head respectfully.

 

Tsk. As if his business was finished, the Emperor clicked his tongue once. Then he immediately swept past the fallen Kensington, his robes fluttering.

 

Left alone in the office, the old Head Servant offered a brief prayer toward the fallen Kensington.

 

“I’m sorry it came to this, Count. Please understand.”

 

That evening, a cart loaded with straw left the imperial palace.

 

The cart reached the deep river that crossed Persepolis, the capital of the Kazen Empire.

 

At the deserted riverbank, men pulled Kensington’s corpse from the straw and placed it on a wooden raft.

 

Crack! They set the raft on fire.

 

It was a simple funeral the Head Servant had prepared for Kensington, risking discovery.

 

Under the light that illuminated the darkness, Kensington’s eyes remained frozen in shock. Her bulging eyes revealed her blood-soaked resentment, ghastly to behold.

 

Following the flowing river, the raft drifted away.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

The men who had been watching the receding fireball turned and disappeared.

 

How much time had passed like that?

 

As the black river water rippled silently, a silent boat approached the raft from the darkness.

 

Splash.

 

The figure that jumped into the water lifted Kensington’s corpse into the boat and let the raft continue on its way.

 

The crimson fireball drifted downstream into the quiet waves as if nothing had happened.

 

Splash!

 

The mysterious figure lifted a bucket and poured river water over Kensington’s corpse.

 

Splash again!

 

The moment water droplets slid endlessly down her soaked, pale face, Kensington bolted upright.

 

“Cough!”

 

“Now that you’re awake, please drink this.”

 

The mysterious figure offered Kensington a clean water bottle in a cheerful voice.

 

Kensington raised her head. A young man covered in freckles was looking down at her.

 

As Kensington groped through the sense of déjà vu – he seemed both strange and familiar – she soon contorted her expression.

 

“Red Fox!”

 

It was because she thought of her comrades.

 

‘The Emperor wouldn’t stop with just me.’

 

The Red Fox Clan followed only Kensington as their leader. Even the Emperor had failed to win them over or extract them.

 

Given Perdickas’s paranoid personality, rather than leave the Red Fox Clan alive when they wouldn’t submit to him, he would burn them all.

 

Then, as if to reassure her, the mysterious figure winked.

 

“They’ve already moved to safety. They’re waiting for you, Count.”

 

“Leader…”

 

A familiar face appeared behind him. It was Umberto.

 

“The Princess of Valdina… No, Her Highness the Princess… sent this one. Along with a note saying to evacuate the comrades if the leader didn’t return from the palace.”

 

At first, Umberto hadn’t believed it. But somehow he felt uneasy. The Princess of Valdina had never been wrong.

 

“So I sounded the white flag alert. Everyone took cover before the Imperial Capital knights could storm in. The Red Foxes are safe.”

 

At Umberto’s words, a single tear flowed from Kensington’s eyes.

 

At the same time, red blood trickled down between her bitten lips.

 

If not for the antidote stone the Princess had given her, she would have died from the monkshood poison the Emperor had offered.

 

Kensington had already swallowed the antidote stone before meeting the Emperor. Did that mean she had betrayed first by not trusting her lord?

 

Yet wasn’t the Emperor, who ultimately cast her aside, the one who betrayed her?

 

“Ha, haha, hahahaha!”

 

A hollow yet eerie laughter spread.

 

It was almost like a scream dragged up from deep within.

 

Tom and Umberto quietly waited for her to regain her composure.

 

Finally, Kensington raised her head. The tear stains that hadn’t yet dried reflected the moonlight, emanating a desolate aura.

 

“I must go to Valdina.”

 

“Yes, I’ll escort you. You won’t regret it.”

 

Tom smiled.

 

“Before that, I need to stop by the Holy Kingdom. The Red Fox Clan’s headquarters is there.”

 

“Isn’t it here in Persepolis?”

 

“I chose that place in case Kazen was attacked or I died. The darkest place is under the lamp – no one would think we’d hide in the shadow of our enemy nation, the Holy Kingdom.”

 

So that even if Kensington died, the Red Fox Clan could continue its activities.

 

Even Perdickas II didn’t properly know the headquarters’ scale or location.

 

The loyalty she had tried to offer the Emperor, the defensive barrier that would have placed the Empire in the ranks of eternal great powers forever – this was what it was.

 

Clatter, clatter.

 

On the path leaving the road they had traveled without rest, flames of vengeance blazed fiercely in Kensington’s eyes.

 

“Yes. I’ll go to the Princess.”

 

Her former master had burned away even her last lingering attachment. Now there was nothing left to hold Luiza back.

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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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