The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 220

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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 67

“Your Majesty. Monk Eratosthe requests an audience.”

“Oh? Tell him to come in at once.”

Perdickas II brightened as if he had forgotten his seething hatred toward his son.

He even rose from his seat and hurriedly searched for his cane.

He lifted his heavy body and even descended from the Imperial Throne to greet the monk.

“Penteros-!”

The door opened, and an old man in a faded gray robe slowly walked in.

The old man’s thin frame was revealed between the fluttering hem of his loose robes.

The sleeves and hem were frayed at the edges, and the prayer book hanging from the tough leather cord at his waist had long been worn.

Deep wrinkles were clearly visible, as if roughly weathered by sunlight and wind.

He was a man reminiscent of withered branches.

However, only his sunken eyes emitted a sharp light that had never faded.

“I, Eratosthe, greet Your Majesty.”

A voice as upright as his body rang out.

After he finished his bow to the Emperor, he also greeted the two stiff figures.

“Queen Mother and Duke are here as well.”

“…I hope the Baron has been well too.”

The Queen Mother in particular could not hide her discomfort.

Because the shabby old man before her was once the father of Empress Eleanor, who had been her greatest political enemy.

“Just now, I heard both of your words from outside.”

The old man spoke.

“Though it may be presumptuous, people must weigh both usefulness and uselessness. If one lets a sword that could cut down enemies rust from fear that it might turn on oneself, then one has surrendered to the enemy.”

At the old man’s words, Perdickas II’s eyes changed.

His pupils, which had been shaking aimlessly with fear and hatred toward Chezare, found their center.

“Baron, watch your words. What if there are those who suspect that someone who should be devoted to monastic life has come here for other reasons?”

The Queen Mother could not understand why the old man was suddenly trying to protect Chezare.

‘This man who never visited the Imperial Palace even when the 1st Prince was facing death, why now…’

“I apologize. Your Majesty the Queen Mother, please withdraw both your concern and your title. Having even cast off my name, who would chase after a meaningless past now?”

The Queen Mother bit her lips.

The tongue of this old man, said to be confined in a convent in a small territory, was still as sharp as an awl.

“Though I left politics long ago, as a subject who once received the Imperial Court’s grace, I dare offer a word, hoping Your Majesty will consider it generously.”

“Oh, Penteros. How could I not know your heart? Queen Mother, that’s enough, both of you withdraw now. I understand my will.”

Penteros is a term commonly used on the continent to address one’s wife’s father.

Even after his wife’s death, Perdickas II seemed to want to remind the old man that he had not forgotten their old affection.

“Everyone withdraw.”

Finally, he commanded. The Queen Mother bit her lips.

“Your Majesty, but-“

“Enough, I said withdraw! Don’t make me repeat myself.”

As if his patience was limited to once, the Emperor shook his head irritably.

“Then, Your Majesty. May you enjoy prosperity and peace in your great enterprise.”

Duke Leniar slowly turned his steps toward the door.

He too was equally puzzled.

He could not understand the old man’s intention to side with the 1st Prince, and if he had to define the old man’s feelings toward Chezare, it would be closer to hatred.

Between the slow steps excused by old age, the Duke tried to meet the old man’s eyes, but failed.

Clutching his burning insides, the Duke moved his steps.

“Your Majesty, what happened? I heard Eratosthe entered the palace…”

“What happened indeed. Can’t you tell by looking at my state?”

The Queen Mother, who had returned to the Western Palace, snapped irritably.

She tried to calm her heart while looking down at the tea water the maid had brought.

“Then there was no point in going through all that trouble to disband that bastard’s private soldiers.”

Crash-!

But she failed. Far from calming down, the fire inside her only spread.

Veins bulged on the back of her hand gripping the cup.

The tea spilled, and the tablecloth was soaked in dark color.

“It was such a rare opportunity… What on earth is he thinking.”

She bit her lips.

“Like daughter, like father, truly selfish.”

Because she had just found that woman’s gaze in the old man’s piercingly upright face.

“Eleanor, Eleanor…”

The woman who was once the Queen Mother’s enemy and dream.

She was a woman who stood firm like a sturdy tree, unshaken by any storm.

Even when she couldn’t bear children and was pointed at as a barren empress, enduring all kinds of humiliation and checks,

Even when her husband, who had ascended to the throne, handed her a bastard child to raise as her official offspring,

Even when rumors spread that the bastard was actually the seed of adultery between her husband and his sister-in-law, the former empress.

Though called rumors, everyone knew.

If it weren’t true, no matter how much he was his first child, Perdickas II would never have granted a mere bastard the status of ‘1st Prince’.

‘I would have gone mad.’

Even the Queen Mother, who had chosen Perdickas II as her partner purely out of lust for power, could not dare put herself in Eleanor’s position.

What that woman’s life must have been like, having to maintain the empress’s position among wolves while keeping her husband’s living infidelity by her side with that noble disposition.

She would have killed that bastard.

There were already too many targeting the 1st Prince, who was first in the line of succession anyway.

It wouldn’t have been difficult at all to feign a moment’s carelessness and let the child’s breath be cut off.

The Empress had no need to protect the 1st Prince and endure that humiliation and shame for her entire life.

But she did so.

She despised the bastard, but she also didn’t let others take the child’s life.

People pitied the Empress, saying how could there be such a tragic life.

But they don’t know.

Only the Queen Mother, who had pursued her for so long, knew.

Eleanor, that woman was always arrogantly selfish.

Just as she had chosen him over the flood of marriage proposals when Perdickas II was an insignificant prince,

When the 1st Prince, whom she had raised with such difficulty amid all kinds of humiliation, finally won the continental war and she was about to reap the benefits.

That woman abandoned life without regret.

In life and in death, the choices of the woman she could never surpass always caused people’s shock.

“Because he wasn’t your child, you could do that.”

Though no one was in the room, the Queen Mother murmured as if conversing with the empress sitting across from her.

Because she didn’t bear him from her own womb, because he wasn’t blood kin made from her own flesh and bone, she had no such hesitation.

Unlike herself, who was still bound to this tiresome den of intrigue to protect her son.

Sometimes, she was madly envious of that woman who had let go of everything without a handful of regret. But whenever that happened, the Queen Mother steeled herself harshly.

“Watch, Eleanor.”

Though she couldn’t wear the empress crown, she was now truly the substantial mistress of the Empire.

Because while the Dowager Empress may have received the Emperor’s affection, she never became his political partner.

“Just as I took your place, eventually the master of this country will also be my son.”

She would celebrate her son’s glorious coronation with the blood of her son, 1st Prince Chezare.

The Queen Mother burst into bitter laughter.

Well, anyway, that heartless woman probably wouldn’t be too sorry about it.

* * *

Back to the Imperial Palace.

In the Golden Chamber with everyone dismissed, there were only Perdickas II and Eratosthe.

“Penteros, in this den where everyone is busy pursuing their own interests, you are the only one who truly awakens me for the Empire’s sake.”

Eratosthe pointed out dryly.

“Your Majesty, you must no longer call me by that name. I am merely a sinner who allowed my unvirtuous daughter to bring shame upon Your Majesty and the Imperial Court.”

His deeply wrinkled face looked rather like a faded, poor-quality canvas.

It had been even more so since his daughter’s death.

“Don’t say such things! You are always my Penteros. Don’t you know why I have kept the Empress’s seat vacant all this time? Because to me, Eleanor is the only Empress.”

The Emperor, unable to control his intense emotions, grasped Eratosthe’s hand firmly.

“You’re right. Now is not the time to deal with Chezare. Yes, indeed it’s not.”

The Emperor ground his teeth as he thought of the young ruler of Valdina, who had become as much of a primary enemy threatening him as his own eldest son.

Not content with arrogantly threatening him with trade routes, that bastard had even touched upon his weakness.

“Penteros, don’t you know? That place is where Eleanor and I first met. It’s the only remaining trace of the Empress from when we were at our youngest and most pure.”

“….”

“But that arrogant upstart from Valdina trampled that land and made a fool of me! I will never forgive him!”

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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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