The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 214

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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 61

The maid’s words about him being beaten to death were true.

Her father’s body was covered in bruises and blood, swollen beyond recognition. It was a truly horrific sight.

From her father’s terribly hardened expression, she could almost feel the pain he had endured before death.

“Raju-! How dare that bastard kill our father! That lowly nouveau riche killed someone with Valdinian blood!”

No matter how much Raju had cherished her like a daughter, no matter how much she had enjoyed the wealth and conveniences that poured from his affection, how could that compare to the father who had given birth to and raised her?

Moreover, though Joaquin Claudio may not have been an affectionate father, for Virna he was the source of her pride in carrying royal bloodline.

The only thing current Virna, who had neither wealth nor honor, could compare to Medeia with.

He was the very person who had passed down this precious bloodline that she could take pride in as being far more pure-blooded than the daughter of a lowly dancer.

So Virna’s rage was understandable.

“N-no. Virna, it’s a misunderstanding. There was a misunderstanding-“

Catherine rushed over and grabbed Virna.

“What misunderstanding? I saw him being taken away. He’s the culprit! He beat our father to death until he ended up like this!”

Virna screamed.

Her voice, ugly and cracked with tangled anger and grief, cut through the air.

“Then why did he kill him? What did father do to deserve being beaten to death so brutally!”

“I-it was an impulsive murder. He absolutely didn’t intend to kill him, it was a mistake. Your father hit me, so he tried to stop it…”

Catherine made excuses.

“He’s not normally like that. You know he’s not bad enough to kill someone, Virna. Right? You know.”

“Mother, are you insane? Is that what you should be saying? Father is dead right now! How dare he, how dare he! Why didn’t you stop that madman!”

Virna couldn’t understand her mother at all.

Her mother’s words sounded like she was defending her godfather instead.

“Does that lowly bastard think he can get away clean after killing father? I’ll never let it slide. Just like what father suffered, that bastard will writhe in pain until he dies the same way…”

“Ahhh! I said no!”

Rather than being helpful, her daughter was fanning the flames of hatred toward her biological father and pressuring her, finally snapping Catherine’s precarious mental thread.

“Virna, please, just leave mother alone! It’s hard enough without you- ugh!”

“Madam! Madam, pull yourself together!”

The storm blowing through the estate showed no signs of subsiding yet.

* * *

“He’s dead! That bastard Joaquin Claudio is dead!”

The next day, the Strait was ablaze with excitement.

As Raju was dragged away by security officers, news of Joaquin’s death quickly spread to the public.

“The Goddess has finally brought justice!”

“Ah, that bastard can never threaten our Valdina again, what good news. What good news!”

Joaquin Claudio.

The rebel who had brought Valdina to the brink of destruction three years ago and tried to seize the throne was dead.

If Joaquin had known that his miserable death had united the Valdinians in such cheers and joy, he would have coughed up blood.

“But you know, I have ears to hear with, and I heard that bastard was actually beaten to death. And there’s a rumor that the culprit is Count Roberto Laju.”

After the untimely festive atmosphere faded, various secrets about his death began circulating.

“Count Roberto Laju? Weren’t they close? He was even the godfather to his daughter. What could have happened…”

“Why else? Remember how great that bastard’s ambitions were during the recent Regent incident? You know his son lost his leg in the temple explosion?”

“Of course I know!”

People gathered and whispered outside the tightly closed gates of the Claudio Estate.

The onlooker urged them to hurry up and tell the story.

“Since his only son ended up like that, he must have thought it wouldn’t do. He brought women in for three straight days and got caught by his wife in the bedroom. The Count, enraged by what he saw, stepped in.”

“Good heavens, what kind of shameless behavior is that for an old man?”

A passerby who had been clicking their tongue paused.

“Wait, but why the Count? Even if he was beaten to death, shouldn’t he have been beaten to death by his wife?”

“Huh? Now that you mention it, that’s true… Well, since the Count was the daughter’s godfather, they must have been quite close?”

Even though people didn’t know the inside story of the incident, they found parts that strangely didn’t fit together in the surface truth.

“But to beat someone to death? That’s also rather strange…”

This was followed by discussion about the culprit who killed Joaquin, Count Roberto Laju.

The situation was quite ambiguous.

The dead victim was Valdinian royalty, but also a rebel who had turned the country upside down.

And the perpetrator was once Valdinian but had returned to Kazen and received a legitimate title – a Count, no less.

To punish him would inevitably lead to conflict with Kazen.

They were already in a power struggle with Kazen over the recent attempted assassination of the Emperor.

It would be truly troublesome to cause another dispute with Kazen over the rebel leader who had put Valdina in crisis.

At the same time, Joaquin still had the symbolic significance of Valdinian royal bloodline. For diplomatic face-saving, they couldn’t simply let his murderer go free.

In this ambiguous situation, Raju was detained by the Security Bureau.

“Robi.”

Raju looked up from behind the bars.

Catherine stood tall. She’d had to give the gatekeeper a hefty pouch of gold coins to get in here.

“Good heavens, how did this happen…”

Seeing Raju’s face again after such difficulty brought mixed emotions. She barely held back the tears that threatened to spill.

Three years ago, Raju had come to visit her when she was imprisoned as a Valdinian rebel, and now the situation was reversed with Raju imprisoned.

But then and now, the unchanging fact was that this man had always been her salvation.

“I’m sorry. Because of me, you’re in such trouble.”

“Don’t say that, darling. Things turned out this way, but I absolutely don’t regret killing that bastard. How dare he lay hands on you.”

Raju reached through the bars to caress Catherine’s cheek, fire flaring again in his eyes.

“What should we do? If you’re executed because of me, I won’t be able to bear it.”

Catherine burst into tears.

“Don’t worry. They absolutely can’t kill me. They know that killing me now would become the spark for war.”

“But will the Emperor try to save your life?”

With Jason, whom he served, also summoned to the Empire with the 1st Prince, Catherine worried whether Kazen’s Emperor would confront Valdina to save Raju’s life.

“I have thoughts about that too.”

Raju also didn’t think Perdickas II, who would abandon even his own son, would save his life.

But he already knew a way to move the Emperor.

‘I just need to send word that I found the Former Emperor’s secret ledger. Even just to find out about the Former Emperor’s treasure, Perdickas II will have to save me.’

Of course, the fact that he had already siphoned off part of that inheritance had to be kept strictly secret.

‘The reliable source of money will disappear from now on, but there’s still the smuggling business…’

It pained him to have to give all the remaining inheritance to Perdickas II, but right now the important thing was somehow breaking through this situation.

In Valdina, he couldn’t avoid execution.

“My love. I’m just sorry for showing you that cruel side of me. I lost my mind without realizing it…”

“No, that bastard deserved to die. It’s actually good, Robi. You took revenge for me.”

Their arms intertwined through the bars. Catherine wrapped her hands over Raju’s roughly torn knuckles.

She thought for a long time.

Raju was the murderer who killed her husband, but she didn’t feel repulsed at all. Rather, her affection overflowed more than before.

What was truly disgusting was her dead husband.

Not only had that bastard abandoned his child and committed adultery, but when caught, he had slapped her cheek and acted with shameless effrontery.

Even though it was a marriage that began without love, unlike herself who had been faithful, her husband had stabbed her in the back.

“I don’t need anything else now. When you’re summoned to the Empire, I’ll go to Kazen too.”

Catherine spoke in a resolute voice.

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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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