The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 15

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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 15

Neryl’s eyes widened, then she nodded resolutely.

“Let me see if I fall for my own scheme. No matter how he plans to handle this matter, he won’t be able to target Your Highness.”

* * *

“Here it is, Your Highness.”

There was a small side door in the wall of the Western Training Ground Storehouse at Valdina Palace.

“This is the tunnel the guards used when they went out for recreation. It connects directly to the city.”

Since it was a passage dug by the Royal Guard members themselves when they were confined to the palace and exhausted from harsh training, even the Royal Family didn’t know of its existence.

For a passage dug without proper equipment, it was remarkably well-organized, and Medeia could sense the madness of the former guards.

At the end of the tunnel, an ordinary four-wheeled carriage was waiting for them.

“Neryl, you finally came. I thought you were digging a new tunnel to get here.”

A young coachman who had been idly swinging his whip joked with Neryl.

His round eyes quickly took in Medeia standing behind Neryl.

“Hello, Princess.”

“Tom, show proper respect to Her Highness.”

“Hmm, cut me some slack. A lowly fellow like me can’t help being uneducated.”

When the freckled young man gave a cheerful greeting, Neryl warned him coldly.

“I apologize, Your Highness. I had warned him beforehand.”

“It’s fine. Hello.”

When Medeia graciously accepted the greeting, the young man called Tom hesitated for a moment before nodding.

‘An archer.’

She could tell from his sitting posture and the way his fingers held the whip.

He must be a disciple of the former Captain of the Royal Guards.

‘He doesn’t like me.’

Medeia read the clear antipathy hidden in the coachman’s eyes.

He probably thought he had hidden it well behind his smiling face, but his momentary emotion had already been read by Medeia.

Since rumors about the foolish princess had spread among the people, the coachman must also view her that way.

‘Still, this is rather mild.’

Compared to the colorless, odorless criticism and contempt she had experienced in her previous life, this was almost endearing.

“Giddy up! Giddy up!”

The carriage started with rattling sounds, stirring up dusty sand.

Her prediction about the coachman proved correct.

“Your Highness, please hold onto me here.”

The carriage that had been running smoothly became rougher as it moved away from the central district.

Once they entered the unpaved roads, the carriage rattled constantly, whether it couldn’t or wouldn’t go smoothly.

“Giddy up! Giddy up!”

The sound of enthusiastically urging the horses could be heard. The carriage wheels seemed ready to bounce off.

“That bastard…”

Neryl bit her lip, helped Medeia sit properly, and clenched her fist once.

“I’ll go have a word with him.”

“You’re sure we’re going to your master?”

“Yes. That’s true, but…”

“Then it’s fine.”

Medeia leaned back with a bored expression.

She didn’t care about the coachman’s silent mischief or the bumpy vibrations of the ground.

‘They probably think I’m a princess who’s never stepped in mud in her entire life.’

However, in her previous life, comfortable moments during expeditions with Jason were few and far between.

Since magical beasts jumping out from collapsed ground was commonplace, she could even sleep comfortably on bumpy terrain like this.

Medeia pulled back the curtain.

“The dust will come in and make things dirty.”

“It’s fine.”

Medeia didn’t take her eyes off the view outside the window.

The carriage had left the Royal Palace.

‘There’s no smoke from cooking.’

Desolate plains. Shabby houses scattered here and there that looked ready to collapse at any moment.

‘This is reality. This is the real Valdina.’

This was the truth the Regent wanted to hide from Medeia’s eyes.

It was different from the clean and splendid interior of the Royal Palace. This was the reality of present-day Valdina that had endured ten years of war.

‘It wasn’t easy even after winning the war.’

While Peleus was away, the Regent’s power within the kingdom had grown too large. Rebellions broke out one after another.

Moreover, the king’s only sister indulged in luxury and pleasure, and eventually was captured by rebel forces, becoming a disgrace to the Royal Family instead.

Even so, her brother had never once blamed her.

‘Peleus, I won’t let that happen this time.’

Around that time, Tom shouted from outside the carriage.

“Giddy up! We’re almost there. Do you see it? That’s Count Gilipos’ mansion over there.”

In the distance through the carriage window, a red brick mansion could be seen.

But tiny ant-sized dots were clustered around the mansion.

‘What’s that?’

Only after the carriage crossed the hill and entered the road did the identity of the gathered crowd finally become clear.

“They’re retired soldiers and their families. They’ve been continuously increasing as the war dragged on.”

Tom explained loudly enough for Medeia to hear.

Most of them were people whose hometowns had burned down, or who had become disabled and lacked the means to return home, so they wandered near the Royal Palace.

“They became like that fighting for the country, but hehe, far from being treated well, they were driven out without even being allowed to set foot in the Royal Palace.”

The end of his giggling laughter was sharp.

“The master, unable to turn away from their pitiful circumstances, took them in, but now the mansion is at capacity, so he can’t drive them away and just provides meals outside like that.”

“…”

“Giddy up~”

After racing like mad until now, he suddenly drove the horses leisurely.

It was when the carriage was passing through the cluster of retired soldiers.

With a rattling sound, the carriage tilted.

“Oh no. A wheel came off! Oh my, what broke here?”

A cheerful voice could be heard, and soon Tom’s grinning face appeared outside the window.

“What should we do? We’ll have to repair the wheel here before we go. It won’t take long!”

“You…”

Neryl stood up with a stern face. She was trying to get out of the carriage.

“Going to hit me? Well, I still can’t fix the wheel that came off right away. I’m not a magician.”

His cheeky face quickly disappeared.

“I apologize, Your Highness.”

“It’s fine.”

Medeia’s face was calm.

Meanwhile, the carriage that had suddenly stopped on the road drew people’s attention.

“Who is it? Who’s riding in there?”

“Did someone come to see the Marquis? I was thinking it had been a while since anyone came from the Royal Palace.”

Someone replied bluntly.

“Whoever it is, what’s it to us? Don’t drop the food you’re holding. As if His Majesty would care about us starving.”

Cold and hunger had made them sensitive.

As the war dragged on, the national treasury was empty.

Conversely, corvée labor and taxes increased daily, weighing down their shoulders.

Valdina, located in the barren north, was not originally a country abundant in resources.

“While we’re like this, they say banquets are held daily in the Royal Palace? At royal banquets, they drink wine like water and tables are filled with meat.”

“Wow. I could live for a week just looking at a piece of meat like that.”

“How could it be just meat? That cursed Princess walks around with all sorts of jewels dangling from her body.”

Though they didn’t know the detailed royal genealogy, they certainly knew about this one Princess.

“Those jewels, didn’t she buy them by sucking our lifeblood? What a greedy parasite. A leech of the Royal Family!”

People raised their voices one after another.

They condemned the King obsessed with war and his sister who turned away from the people and indulged in luxury and pleasure.

The retired soldiers had hastily pitched tents along the roadside and settled there, so the distance from the carriage wasn’t far.

Their angry voices could be heard all too clearly.

Medeia listened to the raw criticism directed at her coming through the window.

‘Are they making sure I hear this?’

She could read the intention of either Tom or Marquis Gilliphos.

“Your Highness…”

It was Neryl who was restless and didn’t know what to do.

Just then, someone argued back.

“Hey you, if you don’t know, don’t speak. What do you mean the Princess walks around with jewels dangling all over her?”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you hear? What kind of treatment the Princess received in the Palace? You people are slow with the news!”

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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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