The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 188

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Part 2, Chapter 35

She clearly knew that dreams and reality were different.

But Jason couldn’t understand the reason for the inexplicable resentment that kept rising whenever he saw the cold Medeia.

Medeia hesitated.

Her fingertips trembled, and her delicate eyelashes fluttered like a butterfly’s wings.

‘She says she dreams.’

Dreams of Jason and Medeia together. No, actually it was a truth that once existed.

Somehow she felt she knew without hearing it.

What he saw in those dreams. What memories he reminisced about.

“I love you, Medeia. I am you, and you are me. We are like one body.”

Back then, he seemed like the only savior who could rescue her from her lonely reality.

“If I become Emperor, you will stand by my side, and our children will rule the Empire.”

She loved the future she painted with him by Jason’s side. So nothing she devoted to him felt precious enough to regret.

“…”

Medeia opened her eyes again.

At the same time, the reminiscences that had been floating around her were mercilessly shattered to pieces.

Medeia stared at Jason, who wore an ecstatic expression. A strange light gleamed in her green eyes.

‘Goddess. Are you testing me?’

Just how long she could keep this man alive.

“Sometimes… Duke, you render powerless what I had endured so much.”

“…Su-surely, you also have those dreams? You can understand me?”

Jason’s face brightened as he interpreted Medeia’s words however he pleased.

“…The matter with the children is regrettable. But since you’re here, you won’t be lonely. How fortunate.”

Over that smooth face filled with complete joy, Emperor Jason’s face overlapped.

Even those heartless eyes that had looked down at her as she wailed while clutching the bloodstained pouch of her daughter.

“Farewell, Medeia. I will deeply remember your contributions.”

Her vision wavered.

Though her mind understood that she was gradually moving away from reality, that her reason was growing dim, her heart couldn’t accept it.

‘What are you waiting for? That bastard is right in front of you.’

A dark voice whispered seductively.

‘Now is your only chance.’

In an instant, intense killing intent urged her on.

Neither the fact that Jason was Kazen royalty, nor that this was the Continental Fair where envoys from various nations had gathered, could stop the burning impulse.

Like a crimson demon of hatred blinding her vision.

Just then, the sword hanging at his waist caught her eye.

Medeia reached her hand toward Jason.

‘Three steps.’

In her mind, she calculated the trajectory of drawing the sword, pulling Jason close, and piercing his heart.

“Jason…”

“…!”

When his name was called, Jason unconsciously stepped closer to Medeia in surging joy.

‘Two steps.’

Now only one step remained.

It was the moment Medeia took that final step and reached out her hand.

“Are you blocking the path?”

A smooth movement grasped her wrist, and a black back blocked Medeia’s front.

“Kugh!”

At the same time, Jason was pushed far away by a tremendous force striking his side. The sudden shock left his mind reeling.

“In such a crowded and bustling place with so many people. Hmm?”

“Chezare-! What is the meaning of this!”

Unable to tell what or how he had been struck, he soon spotted Chezare and contorted his face.

“What do you mean? I’m rescuing my brother from trouble. For Kazen’s representative to be so flustered.”

It’s a national disgrace.

Though his tone was friendly, somehow his leisurely voice seemed to thoroughly provoke Jason.

At the same time, behind him, he lightly tapped Medeia’s grasped wrist twice before letting go.

“…”

Though it was a small contact, it was enough to bring Medeia’s reason back.

As she stepped back and swallowed, Chezare bent down as if to help Jason up.

“Get aw-“

“Didn’t you come as the Late Emperor’s dog? Then you should only bark as ordered,”

A low whisper only Jason could hear.

“Your arrogance pierces the heavens, Chezare. Do you think the whole world is beneath your feet? I am the diplomatic mission that His Majesty commanded-“

“Exactly.”

Chezare shrugged. He bent slightly to meet Jason’s eyes.

“Stop here. If it gets out that the hunting dog is wagging its tail elsewhere, wouldn’t that be troublesome?”

He gestured with his chin behind him.

There stood the Head Servant watching Jason. A reminder that he was still under the Emperor’s surveillance.

“…That’s none of your concern. Keep your petty advice to yourself.”

Jason glared at Chezare with a pale face.

‘It was the first moment she approached me.’

He hated the First Prince to the point of loathing for intruding at that crucial moment and ruining the opportunity.

Like smoke slipping from his grasp, he felt anguished. Jason’s eyes burned red.

“Medeia, I-“

“Brother.”

The moment Jason spoke her name, golden eyes gleamed darkly.

“Did my words sound like advice to you?”

Unlike the faint smile, the sharp energy brushing his nape made Jason hesitate. There wasn’t a trace of laughter in those golden eyes.

“…”

Jason frowned and tensed his eyebrows.

The persistent warning in that gaze made him feel as if his ribs were being crushed.

At this moment, was it the instinct of the weak submitting before the strong that made him reflect on what action might have displeased him?

“…”

At the same time, his mind recalled Medeia’s presence behind Chezare.

He bit his lips and struggled to compose his voice.

“Princess, I was very rude. Let’s continue our unfinished conversation another time.”

“…”

“Let go. I’ll walk on my own.”

And roughly shaking off the hand of the First Prince’s knight behind him, he finally left.

“…”

‘She must be watching this pathetic sight.’

His back burned as if on fire. Jason clenched his fists.

It was the first time he hated his damned cousin so much for not even giving him a chance to save face before the woman he cherished.

But at the same time, he felt it deep in his bones.

How completely reversed Medeia’s and his positions had become over three years.

Medeia was now the Princess of the great Valdina Empire, while he was merely a fallen royal surviving as the Emperor’s dog, chased away by a single glance from the First Prince.

With each step Jason took, the rising shame, anxiety, and self-loathing about his pathetic self caught at his feet.

* * *

Medeia watched Jason leave.

From his deliberately straight back, she could sense the emotions he felt.

Because they were the same color as the emotions Medeia had felt toward him in her past life.

Jason’s words that he and I are connected might not have been wrong.

‘Jason. Now it’s your turn to become me.’

Though no one intended or desired it, a stage was created where they could purely understand each other’s positions.

But it’s not over yet.

‘Feel more.’

The moment when love departs, the moment when sacrifice is betrayed, and ultimately the moment when no one and nothing remains by your side.

Just as flames were about to rise again in those calm green eyes, tap. Tap.

Light, gentle movements lightly tapped her and disappeared.

“Just as incidents have varying degrees of severity, so too do people have their uses.”

A cool yet rich voice whispered softly, tickling her ears.

“While there are precious beings like treasures, there are also those for whom even dust rolling on the ground would be too good.”

“What are you trying to say—”

The tone at the end was affectionate, as if teaching a child. Regardless of its form, the actual content was scathing.

“I’m informing Your Highness the Princess that my brother’s life is not so significant.”

Medeia looked up in surprise.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————