The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 167

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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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Part 2, Chapter 14

‘How dare they make Dea cry.’

She was a child who had never shed a single tear before. How wronged must she have felt to cry without even making a sound.

Medeia was both Peleus’s pride and his constant source of worry, his precious weak spot.

Peleus valued his responsibility as a sovereign and pursued righteousness.

However, if there was one exception to that principle, it was his one and only younger sister.

Peleus realized that the saint was at the center of this strange incident targeting his sister.

“What if I said I simply cannot exist under the same sky as that woman? Would you still be able to understand me?”

‘It was strange from the beginning.’

If that sharp wariness and anxiety so unlike Medeia that day had stemmed from that woman.

Peleus was ready to cut that woman’s throat at any time.

Whether she was the benefactor who saved him or the saint chosen by god.

Even if he would incur divine wrath for that sin and fall to hell.

Peleus’s blue gaze reached Rachel. She flinched and trembled at his cold stare, unable to read his thoughts.

Peleus spoke clearly and distinctly, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“That dagger is mine. I was the first to know of the saint’s injury, and I was the one who prohibited her movement. So for that reason, you know that I’m closer to being the culprit, don’t you, Saint? Yet why did you deliberately point to Dea?”

People gasped at those words.

“Your, Your Majesty has no reason to frame me…”

Rachel answered hesitantly while flustered. Peleus gazed at her with even more sunken eyes.

“Do you truly think so?”

“Pardon?”

“Ha. Your Majesty, do you wish to protect your sister? I heard the King of Valdina was young but wise enough to distinguish between public and private matters, but it seems that was all rumors.”

Then, Paollo stepped forward with a sneer.

The dagger with its short handle was clearly a woman’s weapon. It was adorned with jewels and far too small for Peleus’s hands.

“It wasn’t my sister who doubted the saint’s existence, but me.”

Medeia looked up in surprise at Peleus’s firm words.

Though she had expected him to protect her, she hadn’t known he would step forward in her place entirely.

Her brother’s back standing in front of Medeia was large and broad. As if he would prevent even a handful of criticism or sharp glances from reaching her.

Why hadn’t she known back then that she had family who would protect her completely without any price? Why hadn’t she even tried to know?

But the fleeting regret was brief.

‘I won’t miss it this time.’

While Medeia clenched her fist beneath her invisible sleeve, Paollo raised his voice.

“King, are you confessing that you just denied faith in the goddess? Aren’t you afraid of being branded a heretic?”

Then, Sisear bent down and picked up the dagger.

He examined the sword carefully beneath his monocle, then suddenly chuckled. At his blatant mocking laughter that he didn’t even try to hide, Paollo frowned.

“Superstition… High Priest. Let’s say these strange objects really were aimed at Miss Rachel, no, the Saint. But isn’t this rather odd?”

Sisear seemed to stroke the blade of the dagger with his hand, then pressed down with all his strength. Though it was clear the blade would cut into his flesh, there was no hesitation in his action.

“Sir…!”

“Look closely. There’s no blade. It’s just a well-made imitation.”

“What…”

Rachel was shocked.

‘That can’t be…!’

But hearing his words, the dagger’s gleam that had quickly faded was clearly different from the subtle radiance that only mithril possessed.

Mithril was an extremely rare natural resource.

There were only three known veins on the continent, and each was located in fortresses of nature, making mining difficult, let alone approach.

Due to overwhelming demand compared to supply, it was monopolized as the exclusive property of very wealthy nobles or powerful royalty.

So Rachel, who came from a gypsy background and had never seen real mithril in her life, couldn’t know the difference.

It was just a plausible-looking imitation.

‘I’m sure they said they brought the right one…!’

Rachel bit her lip.

What the black mages had taught her to death was only voodoo for casting curses and black magic.

She had neither heard nor known detailed explanations about weapons.

“This is not only not mithril, but also not Princess’s dagger. Therefore, the claim that Her Highness tried to frame the saint doesn’t hold either.”

Sisear sent his gaze toward Rachel without hiding his deliberate mockery.

“Though someone seems to want us to believe that.”

Now it was the Holy Kingdom’s side, who had been raging and slandering the princess, that was in trouble. The Knight Commander bit the inside of his cheek.

‘Damn. We should have checked the dagger first.’

All his attention had been focused on the argument between the High Priest and the Valdinians.

Even if it was the saint’s words, they should have verified it, but why had he blindly believed it so uncharacteristically?

“Then you’re saying it’s not my dagger…”

Then, Medeia’s voice calmly cut through the silence.

“How unfortunate. I thought the goddess’s representative would know better how to weigh matters. To think you’d be so hasty.”

Though it was a calm voice without blame, Rachel felt shame. Because she immediately grasped the meaning beneath those words.

The princess was subtly criticizing Rachel, saying she lacked the qualities of a saint.

“I, I…”

“This makes it certain. Someone deliberately tried to frame our Princess. But to have divine fever from a curse cast with a fake dagger – isn’t that too weak for the goddess’s representative?”

Sisear struck at the priests’ weakness with a smiling face.

“Can, can you guarantee this wasn’t the work of Valdinians? Even if not the princess, someone from Valdina…”

Paollo still refused to acknowledge the possibility that this might be the saint’s self-directed drama.

“Why would the Saint cause such trouble for no reason? Knowing that priests from the Holy Kingdom were coming, there’s no reason to deliberately create problems that would worsen relations with Valdina.”

When the Knight Commander, who had been watching the situation, also defended the saint, Sisear pointed out with a mocking tone.

“It could be for sowing discord. Princess is like a lighthouse for our Valdina. If such a person were brought down, Valdina would inevitably shake. I think this is actually a more reasonable motive-“

“That’s ridiculous!”

‘Why isn’t the brainwashing working? By now the effect should have taken hold and more…!’

Unaware that all the marks she had left had been completely destroyed, Rachel stepped forward and objected to the speculation against her.

Her flushed face still sweating profusely evoked people’s sympathy.

However, there was someone who felt otherwise.

“Your Majesty, you don’t believe it, do you? I risked my life to save Your Majesty. Why would someone like me-“

Rachel, who had hesitantly reached out to Peleus, staggered toward him.

“Ah, Saint, if you move so suddenly it’s dangerous-!”

Then, a maid who rushed out to support Rachel missed her footing and slipped on the carpet placed on the floor.

The carpet that had been askew moved with that motion, revealing the bare floor. And on top of it, a piece of paper that shouldn’t have been there was revealed.

The detailed drawing dotted with ink spots was-.

“This is… a structural diagram of our royal palace.”

It was a structural diagram of Valdina Palace.

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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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