The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 23

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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 23

“There was nothing.”

“What?”

The assembly stirred. Lady Pinatelli bowed her waist and continued her answer.

“I report that we thoroughly searched all of Your Highness’s spaces, including the bedroom and reception room, but could find nothing that could be considered evidence.”

“That can’t be!”

The Maid Supervisor unconsciously raised her voice.

Then, realizing she had dared to shout at the Queen Mother’s confidant, she spoke again.

“Th-that can’t be. Lady Pinatelli, there must be something you missed. Did you thoroughly examine the Princess’s wardrobe and bedroom?”

In her shock, she had no presence of mind to filter the words pouring from her mouth.

“Are you saying I would handle carelessly a task that Her Majesty the Queen Mother personally entrusted to me?”

Lady Pinatelli responded with cold eyes.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant.”

“Due to the pressing time and the gravity of this matter concerning Princess’s honor, I conducted a cross-search simultaneously with a hundred maids. We searched thoroughly. I swear on my soul, we didn’t overlook even a mouse. No evidence was found.”

Lady Pinatelli replied sharply.

“And Lady Quizin. The Princess’s wardrobe? Don’t you think that’s quite presumptuous language for servants like us? Address Her Highness properly.”

She also pointed out the Maid Supervisor’s rudeness.

“Show some restraint. Nothing in your current words or actions shows the dignity befitting a Royal Maid Supervisor.”

Lady Quizin was greatly flustered.

‘Why is she cornering me?’

Her anxious face had turned pale.

‘No evidence either, what on earth is going on?’

She couldn’t understand why Lady Pinatelli was being aggressive toward her.

The lady was clearly the Queen Mother’s person and had no reason to harbor resentment against the Regent or herself.

Medeia smiled inwardly.

‘Why indeed, Quizin. The lady is eyeing your position.’

She quietly gazed at Lady Pinatelli. Under the lady’s dress was a faint grass stain.

Like that dawn.

Early dawn the day after Medeia rescued Neryl and returned, she went to the Northern Palace Gardens.

“What brings Your Highness here at this hour?”

A place so deserted that even mountain birds didn’t visit.

But she knew of a quiet visitor who frequented this place.

“It’s been a while, Lady Pinatelli.”

Medeia’s chosen one,

The person who would bring down Quizin in her stead.

“How about it? I think I can fulfill your wish.”

‘The lady’s surname before adoption was Sachin.’

Long ago, Minister of the Royal Household Sachin, whom Prince Claudio had framed and driven out using the late king’s seal.

After the Queen Mother’s death, her true identity was revealed in special news reports.

[Queen Mother’s Confidant, Real Identity Revealed After Death!]

Lady Pinatelli had survived alone after her father was executed and her family fell.

She laundered her identity, changed her surname, and entered the palace. After years of service, she became the Queen Mother’s most trusted person.

However, what she truly wanted wasn’t to be by the Queen Mother’s side.

‘To become Royal Maid Supervisor and clear her father’s disgrace.’

Moreover, the one who had framed him was the Regent.

The reason the Regent couldn’t win over Lady Pinatelli despite all his efforts was because he was her old enemy.

There was no way Lady Quizin, a commoner-born Maid Supervisor who entered the palace late, could know this background.

So she couldn’t have known that Medeia and Lady Pinatelli had joined hands.

An alliance between the Queen Mother’s strict chief maid and the despised Princess wasn’t in Lady Quizin’s script.

“That, that can’t be…”

“Strange. Maid Supervisor, why are you so certain? As if the evidence must be there?”

The Maid Supervisor’s face hardened as Lady Pinatelli’s sharp observation hit the mark.

The lady turned and bowed deeply to the Queen Mother.

“I stake Her Majesty the Queen Mother’s honor that this is true. There was no evidence whatsoever. However.”

Lady Pinatelli drew in a breath.

Like an actress waiting for the assembly’s mood to ripen, her voice was solemn and captivating.

“Mariyu, was it?”

Then she turned to ask Mariyu.

It surely wasn’t because she couldn’t remember. It was to imprint Mariyu’s presence once more on the assembly.

“The evidence was found in that maid’s room.”

“That can’t be!”

Mariyu gasped.

Lady Pinatelli paid no heed and showed a sky-blue object to the Queen Mother.

It was a sky-blue handkerchief, bulging as it wrapped something.

At the edge, embroidery sewn with golden thread was visible.

“…L. Larc… Etien…”

The Queen Mother slowly read the embroidered letters. Instantly, the air stirred.

Was this referring to Minister Etien?

The Princess, no, the Princess’s maid had fallen in love with that old, ugly man?

Everyone was shocked.

The Minister’s greasy gaze came to mind, sending chills.

‘Impossible!’

The most shocked of all was Mariyu herself.

‘Why is that there!’

Why was the handkerchief that should have been found in the Princess’s bedroom discovered in her room!

“No. It’s not true. That handkerchief isn’t mine. Someone set this up!”

“Really? Then this isn’t yours either?”

Lady Pinatelli revealed what the handkerchief had been wrapping.

A bracelet with dangling trumpet ornaments sparkled brilliantly.

‘Why is that… there!’

When Samon’s lost bracelet appeared, Mariyu felt like fainting.

Not one but two pieces of evidence. People exchanged meaningful glances.

“Several maids saw you wearing this around.”

“No, no. This is…”

“The bracelet is yours, but the handkerchief found with it isn’t? Is that what you’ll say?”

Lady Pinatelli relentlessly cornered Mariyu.

“That bracelet wasn’t from the Minister!”

“Then? Who gave it to you?”

“Th-that’s…”

“Don’t tell the blatant lie that you bought it. Everyone knows a Royal Maid’s salary couldn’t afford it.”

“…I received it as a gift from someone else.”

“Someone else? Didn’t you tell the maids it was your mother’s heirloom?”

“Th-that… that was…”

Anxious Mariyu rolled her eyes.

“This trumpet pattern is strictly managed by the Empire.”

As the Queen Mother’s confidant who had encountered many jewels, Lady Pinatelli could properly identify the bracelet.

“Those with the power to obtain this pattern and the wealth to give such an expensive gift as a present could be counted on one hand in Valdina. If not the Minister, who are you referring to?”

With her escape routes blocked one after another, Mariyu’s eyes trembled in shock.

Her heart pounded as if it would burst and her lips trembled violently.

She couldn’t say she had received that bracelet from Prince Claudio.

Right here, over there, was Lady Claudio, Samon’s mother.

‘No way….’

It was well known how obsessive the Lady was about her son.

Mariyu had also seen several times how the Lady dealt with maids who approached her son with her angelic, beautiful face.

‘If I reveal my relationship with Samon here now…. She’ll tear me apart.’

Would the Lady, who didn’t even approve of daughters from decent families, really accept me? Wouldn’t she rather try to quietly eliminate me to silence me?

So that not a single stain would mar her flawless son’s reputation.

‘If I speak, I won’t be able to see him anymore either….’

So I absolutely cannot speak. I must not speak.

Mariyu barely held onto her fading consciousness and bit her lips repeatedly. Then.

“It seems the one who shared secret affections with the Minister is not me. Isn’t that right, Mariyu?”

Medeia’s voice was heard.

An unwavering voice. Her calm expression didn’t seem particularly surprised by this commotion. It was as still as an undisturbed water surface.

As if she had known the Minister’s handkerchief would be with me.

As if she had predicted this entire situation.

Mariyu’s face turned pale.

‘Then she knew everything….’

Only then did she realize.

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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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