The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 219

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

Part 2, Chapter 66

Virna didn’t forget to cruelly threaten her as she handed over the black book.

“If you even think of doing anything else, I’ll tear your limbs apart and throw them to the wild dogs. Even if I have no power, surely I can handle one lowly wench like you.”

The maid quickly lowered her head with a frightened face and trembled violently.

“…I will never betray you, miss. Please, trust me.”

Virna glared at the maid as she disappeared around the corner entrance of the delegation’s quarters.

“Now you’re finished, Raju.”

She muttered ominously while gnawing her nails. So she had no way of knowing.

“It’s been a while, Umberto. You look well after abandoning me and escaping from that cesspit alone?”

The fact that before the maid who had passed the corner could even enter the delegation’s quarters, she had handed that book to someone else.

“Abandoning? My role was only supposed to go that far anyway.”

“Hmph, same difference.”

The young maid’s voice that snorted had lost its childish tone.

“Anyway, good work. You should also return at an appropriate time. The mission ends here.”

The Red Foxes badge hanging on the chest of the man turning away glinted.

* * *

Princess’s Palace in Valdina Castle.

Raju’s lifeline that Virna had ambitiously handed over while vowing revenge had come into Medeia’s hands.

The green eyes looking down at the black ledger placed on the table were indifferent.

“The Former Emperor’s secret inheritance…! Your Highness, how did you…!”

It was Kensington who couldn’t hide his surprise.

He was even more so after confirming the amount of slush funds recorded in the ledger.

“Raju, that man is truly out of his mind. How could he think to hide and embezzle this scale for so long…”

It was like hitting Perdickas II in the back of the head with an iron club.

“Princess, how on earth did you know? That he had the Former Emperor’s inheritance?”

What surprised Kensington more was Medeia, who had noticed the existence of this ledger that no one had been able to grasp.

“I didn’t know for certain either. I was just guessing.”

Throughout both her previous and current life experiences, no matter what incidents or accidents occurred, Raju consistently maintained a wealthy lifestyle.

“So I thought there might be some backing. But Sir, I didn’t know it was the inheritance of Former Emperor Kazen either. I was lucky.”

Kensington inwardly clicked his tongue.

The Princess had suspected the backer hidden behind Raju’s wealth, stimulated his daughter Virna, and ultimately got her hands on the ledger.

Could this complex and meticulous process really be dismissed as mere luck?

“So now Kensington, I need your power. It seems we need to… touch up the ledger a bit.”

“So the Emperor will want to kill Raju immediately upon seeing this, you mean?”

Kensington understood his lord’s intention.

Neither she nor Medeia had any intention of presenting Perdickas II with a new money bag.

“We must be careful. If even the slightest pretext that we’re involved is caught, this side will be in considerable trouble.”

Medeia warned in a low voice.

“Please leave it to me. I will never disappoint Your Highness.”

It was very rare for Kensington to voice such confidence.

But she was truly confident.

Especially work like money laundering, erasing traces, or causing confusion with fake decoys was what she had been doing for over ten years.

Moreover, this time she intended to put forth her utmost effort ‘specially’ for her former master.

“By the time news reaches Persepolis (Kazen’s capital), the Emperor won’t be able to find even a single gold coin written here.”

He would only be rummaging through empty warehouses.

If one never knew of its existence it would be one thing, but losing it after knowing is more painful.

How furious would the Emperor be when he learned that the gold and treasures that should have come into his possession had completely disappeared? How much would his teeth gnash at that loss?

Just thinking about it brought elation.

* * *

Persepolis, Kazen’s Imperial Palace.

“Your Majesty, no one who has disgraced Kazen’s name should be an exception.”

In the golden room that reached the pinnacle of splendor, the Queen Mother’s solemn voice echoed.

With her refined attire and calmly arranged hair, she was not as stunning a beauty as the Dowager Empress, but she exuded a concise yet sophisticated atmosphere.

Especially from her thin lips that rarely smiled and deep eyes, one could feel the restrained dignity befitting the actual mistress of the Imperial Palace.

As the focal point of the 3rd Prince’s faction that had competed evenly with the 1st Prince’s faction, she was also a capable power holder.

Indeed, after Chezare’s return, among the Emperor’s children who had fallen like dominoes to his counterattack, only the 3rd Prince, the Queen Mother’s son, had been able to maintain his position.

“The 1st Prince arbitrarily executed His Majesty’s subject, diminishing the Empire’s authority and causing discord with Valdina.”

Such a woman would not miss the opening that the 1st Prince had exposed himself.

“How could one who kills even subjects who should be embraced, swayed by personal emotions, inherit Your Majesty’s prosperous reign, and how could the people trust and follow him?”

Cold desire flashed between her innocent-looking eyes.

“Since the harm the 1st Prince has caused to Kazen is extreme, Your Majesty must firmly punish him to set an example.”

She didn’t forget to praise Perdickas II while criticizing Chezare.

“There are flaws in the Queen Mother’s words. This old man does not agree that the 1st Prince has caused harm.”

Duke Leniar, who had been standing quietly on the opposite side, spoke up.

He was the father of the former Empress and the focal point of the 1st Prince’s forces.

“His Highness made a decision for Kazen’s honor. Can’t you foresee how the situation might have worsened if that man Jared had lived?”

Gray hair and a wrinkled face.

Though his appearance showed his years, his characteristic imposing frame and dignity befitting a meritorious subject of the Empire remained unchanged.

“Must I remind you again that he was caught in the act of attacking the Emperor’s Royal Guard and coveting his only sister in Valdina’s territory?”

Leniart was truly the mainstay of the 1st Prince’s faction, and the Queen Mother was his opponent standing at the opposite pole.

“If Prince Chezare had not dealt with it immediately, if that man had died at Valdina’s hands, it would have spread into an even greater fire.

Leniart countered.

“Moreover, His Highness has already begged forgiveness for his sins, disbanded his private army, and headed to the Abyss of his own accord.”

“…”

“Yet the Queen Mother still preaches about the Prince’s sins, so this old man’s humble mind cannot understand what exactly you want.”

“Chezare made a decision for Kazen? So the result is our subjects being detained and Valdina’s young Emperor trampling our land? Didn’t he make things worse?”

“Your Majesty. ‘Trampling’ is not a word to be used so lightly. Since you haven’t experienced the worst war that trade route blockades cannot even compare to, I understand, but…”

“Duke, keep your insults to a reasonable degree. I’m talking about the clear overreach that child committed. The 1st Prince is neither His Majesty, the supreme ruler of this Empire, nor the Crown Prince who inherits the throne. Not yet.”

The Queen Mother coldly stared at Duke Leniart.

“Yet he acts so arbitrarily, so when he truly becomes the Empire’s master, will you or I or His Majesty even be able to breathe?”

Duke Leniart frowned at the Queen Mother’s last words that cleverly mixed in terms to stimulate Perdickas II’s inferiority complex.

“The Queen Mother has a point.”

Perdickas II, who had been watching the confrontation between the two, bluntly spoke.

“Your Majesty.”

“Is the Duke now trying to teach even me?”

Sharp eyes turned toward Leniart.

In the pupils that had been steadily gazing at him with unreadable eyes, flames were now blazing.

The Emperor’s madness was unpredictable.

Sometimes it was cold as ice, sometimes it boiled like flowing lava.

However, from some point on, it showed a consistent pattern only when facing his eldest son who overwhelmed him.

Wariness and hatred. Suspicion and fear.

‘That bastard is an enemy. An enemy who covets my throne and threatens imperial authority!’

Confirming the vivid hatred slowly filling the Emperor’s black pupils, Duke Leniart swallowed a sigh.

‘How can those be the eyes of one thinking of his own child?’

The Duke inwardly swallowed a sigh.

Amid the tense atmosphere where neither side would yield an inch, the Head Servant suddenly spoke up.

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