The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 20

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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 20

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Queen Mother’s Palace.

She entered the interior of the palace, impressive with its rose-colored lace carved into the stone walls.

The glittering ceiling paintings on the semicircular arched ceiling hinted at the great wealth and power that the palace’s owner had once enjoyed.

However, unlike the splendor of the ceiling, the corridor walls were lined only with numerous pale white goddess statues.

The occasional paintings were religious works, and the scent of incense that one might smell in a stone cathedral brushed past her nose.

After the eldest son’s death, the atmosphere of the Queen Mother’s Palace had become even more solemn.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve been here too.’

As a child, Medeia had been afraid of this place.

It seemed as if the goddess statues placed on every wall were glaring at her.

When she burst into tears from fear, the Queen Mother would scold her even more harshly, so she would bite her lips and swallow her tears.

She already knew that no one would care even if she cried.

“Grandmother-!”

As soon as they entered the room where the Queen Mother was waiting, Virna pushed past Medeia and ran ahead.

And she buried her face in the Queen Mother’s lap, acting cute.

As if she couldn’t sense the sharp atmosphere flowing coldly around them.

“Virna, you came too.”

The Queen Mother’s voice became slightly softer.

She patted Virna’s back briefly before pushing her away and turning her head.

The Queen Mother’s eyebrows became fierce. It was because the bane of her lifetime had filled her vision.

“You…”

Medeia slowly walked forward toward the Queen Mother. She stood in the center position facing her and calmly bent her knees.

“Medeia greets her grandmother.”

Even though multiple gazes were focused on her, there was no sign of shrinking back from her.

The Queen Mother immediately frowned at her clear voice.

“Kneel down!”

She scolded harshly.

The princess’s solemn greeting to her grandmother sounded even more stiff and distant in contrast to Virna’s informal one from moments before.

Even though she had ignored etiquette and rushed to the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother hadn’t scolded Virna.

However, though Medeia’s etiquette and greeting were flawless, the Queen Mother’s expression twisted from the start.

People could clearly see that the Queen Mother favored her second granddaughter more.

“Can’t you hear me? Hurry up and kneel down and beg!”

People were surprised.

Though the Queen Mother didn’t like her eldest granddaughter, this was the first time she had gotten angry so suddenly like this.

‘It serves Medeia right to get scolded, but why is grandmother acting like this?’

Virna rolled her eyes beside her grandmother.

Catherine, who had been about to step forward and curry favor with Medeia, also stepped back when she saw her mother-in-law’s anger was serious.

‘I thought so.’

Medeia hid her sneer as she watched her aunt backing down.

She soon spotted Lady Quizin, the maid supervisor with a sinister smile, standing below the platform where the Queen Mother sat.

Their eyes met. Lady Quizin raised the corners of her mouth in a fishy smile, then bowed her head in greeting.

“I will do as grandmother says.”

Medeia walked forward and knelt down.

There was no trace of servility in her quite reverent posture.

“However, I’m worried that excessive anger might harm grandmother’s health. If you would tell me the reason, I would like to beg grandmother’s forgiveness.”

“Are you truly asking because you don’t know? You’ve caused another uproar in this palace, and now you’re playing innocent?”

At her granddaughter’s calm words, the Queen Mother’s face became even more flushed.

“Do you have any awareness that you’re a princess? Is there nothing you know about proper conduct, showing your motherless upbringing like this?”

For a moment, Medeia’s eyes turned cold.

“What matter could it be that grandmother insults not only me but both my parents?”

For the first time, a chilly aura flowed from the princess who had been obedient throughout.

Medeia’s voice was somewhat cold and icy, creating a disconnect with her fragile appearance.

“You, insolent…! Don’t you know your own sin?”

“Please forgive my foolishness. I truly don’t understand what grandmother is saying.”

“Do you plan to make such excuses when I know everything?”

The Queen Mother shouted angrily.

“The maid supervisor has confessed everything. That you’ve been secretly sharing affections with a man!”

People’s eyes widened.

Especially those of Claudio’s mother and daughter.

‘What, she pretended to be so demure but was secretly meeting a man? Those who pretend otherwise are worse. But who could it be? Who would think to meet such a worthless wooden block?’

Unlike Virna who swallowed her sneer, Catherine’s reaction was more serious.

‘No. There’s no man around Medeia.’

She could say this with certainty.

Since the princess’s marriage also had to be used as a long-term chess piece, how thoroughly had they managed to prevent any random flies from getting attached.

‘If that child had a man, there’s no way I wouldn’t know.’

So the maid supervisor’s confession was a lie.

A blatant lie created to corner the princess.

‘What on earth is she thinking? Why did she do something this serious without any discussion?’

Catherine looked at Lady Quizin, the maid supervisor.

It was to gauge at least some answer, her intentions.

“I apologize, Your Majesty the Queen Mother.”

However, Lady Quizin came forward while ignoring her.

“I also apologize, Your Highness the Princess. But I can no longer hide this serious fact.”

The maid supervisor spoke loudly toward Medeia.

“After I learned of Your Highness’s affair, Your Highness even created rumors that I was persecuting you to silence me.”

She beat her chest and knelt down.

“But as Quizin, one who has devoted all loyalty to the Valdina Royal Family, I could not turn away from the truth. This matter is directly connected to Valdina’s honor. But since you pretend not to know, I have no choice.”

The maid supervisor’s gaze turned to one woman.

When she gave a light signal with her eyes, Mariyu walked forward.

“I am Mariyu, a maid to Princess Medeia. My mother was Your Highness’s wet nurse, and I too have served Your Highness my entire life.”

Mariyu elegantly placed her hand on her chest and bent her knees slightly as she introduced herself.

Her greeting and carefully adorned appearance were closer to a noble lady than a maid.

The Queen Mother frowned at Mariyu’s vain appearance, but didn’t say anything else.

“Your Highness had me accompany her every time she met her lover. I told her this wasn’t right, that it would damage the royal family’s honor, but Your Highness instead banished me to a shabby room and tried to punish me by having the maids torment me.”

Her soft, seemingly frightened voice sounded truthful.

“After the late king and queen departed, Princess Medeia was very lonely. Perhaps that’s why she fell helplessly despite knowing it was wrong…”…”

Mariyu dabbed at her eyes with the front of her sleeve. Then she looked at Medeia and sobbed.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. *sob* Please don’t forgive me…”

The maid supervisor bowed her head together and added.

“Princess, please don’t try to hide the truth with lies and fabrications anymore. Please show an example as a direct descendant of Valdina.”

The two of them looked like loyal retainers bowing their heads and offering faithful counsel.

However, beneath their bowed heads, their eyes sparkled as they curved into crescents.

‘Hah, you’re finished.’

‘That’s right, why did you banish me first.’

It was a well-orchestrated script. The audience, the actors, and the protagonist princess were all here.

Now that the play had ripened, all that remained was the protagonist’s downfall.

“Medeia, what a spectacle!”

The Queen Mother exploded in anger.

What angered the Queen Mother more than the maid supervisor and Mariyu’s loyal confessions was her granddaughter’s behavior of losing her dignity to a mere servant.

‘Where in the world is there a master who gets caught and reported by their subordinates! And a royal at that!’

Even though the noble blood of the former kings surely flows through that body, how could she be so foolish?

Though born from the same womb as Peleus, how could she be so pathetic?

‘That scarred girl has absolutely no awareness that she’s a Princess!’

The Maid Supervisor, noticing the distortion in the Queen Mother’s expression, couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.

‘I knew it would be like this.’

The Queen Mother would absolutely never tolerate the fact that her granddaughter, not even of age yet, had an affair with an outside man.

‘Heh, what would the Queen Mother’s reaction be if she found out that the person she secretly met was none other than Count Etienne?’

The Queen Mother’s rage would explode.

Beyond just expelling her from the Palace, she might even confine the Princess to a convent for life.

The surging imagination delighted the Maid Supervisor immensely.

However, the rising haze of joy disappeared silently at the calm voice that reached her ears.

“Their words are not true.”

Medeia calmly denied it.

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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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