The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 24

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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 24

Was it the Princess who put Samon’s bracelet wrapped in the handkerchief?

What was certain was that the Princess already knew everything. Even that I had betrayed her.

Meeting those cold green eyes felt like having ice water poured over me.

“Y-Your Highness… I was wrong.”

Realizing her situation, Mariyu finally began to be consumed by terror.

“How regrettable that Mariyu forgot her place and committed such acts. But what can be done about what’s already happened? She’s my maid, so I can’t just cast her out and pretend ignorance.”

Medeia let out a sigh.

“Grandmother. Please allow Mariyu to be joined with Minister Etienne. If she yearns for him so much behind her master’s back, the two must have a deep connection.”

“No!”

Mariyu screamed frantically, forgetting her station.

“P-Please spare me.”

She stumbled toward the Princess.

Each step felt like falling into a black abyss. Everything went dark before her eyes.

“Spare you? The Minister is a good man. He’s high nobility, incredibly wealthy, and even cherishes you. Mariyu, he’s the ideal husband you’ve always wanted.”

‘Husband?’

Me, bound for life not to my beloved Samon, but to that old, vile sodomite?

The miserable future of the Princess I had always mocked would become mine?

‘No. Absolutely not. I’d rather die than that.’

But could I escape? Could I get out of this ordeal from here?

“Congratulations. Though I’m sad to send you away, isn’t it a master’s duty to send you to a better place?”

The Princess’s gentle congratulations sounded like a funeral eulogy.

“N-No, Your Highness. It was all lies.”

Half out of her mind, Mariyu muttered.

“The Maid Supervisor ordered me to do it. She gave me the Minister’s handkerchief and told me to hide it in Your Highness’s room.”

People doubted their ears.

What did the Princess’s maid just say?

“Shut up!”

The Maid Supervisor tried to cover Mariyu’s mouth too late, but Mariyu was already sobbing and pouring out confessions like a burst dam.

“She said the Regent expelled her over the argument between Your Highness and her. That he would replace her with someone else… She came to me in anger and made me do such things. It was all Lady Quizin’s scheme. Please believe me.”

“No! Shut up! Don’t slander me!”

The Maid Supervisor roughly lunged at Mariyu but was restrained.

“She said since she dared to whip her, she would show the Princess a lesson too. If I helped her, she would have me adopted into a noble family as compensation. So I could cleanse my status.”

People murmured.

The palace servants present were people seasoned in palace life.

How many schemes, large and small, had they witnessed in the palace?

Listening to Mariyu’s words as she babbled in her delirium, they could understand the full story of the incident.

The Maid Supervisor, cast out by the Regent, had harbored resentment and tried to frame the Princess by planting fake evidence.

People were shocked by the Maid Supervisor’s wickedness in trying to ruin a young girl’s life, and shocked again that she had been the Regent’s person.

“S-So I was blinded, I must have gone mad. Mariyu was wrong. *sob*”

Mariyu seemed to hear nothing as she prostrated herself before the Princess, begging frantically.

“I won’t do this again. *sob* Please forgive me just this once. Your Highness, please save me.”

“…”

“Even if Mariyu was foolish, you cherished me. How long have I been with Your Highness… You won’t abandon me like this, right?”

Medeia looked down at the pleading Mariyu.

Her trembling eyes held a last hope.

A baseless faith that surely the Princess wouldn’t abandon her like this shone through.

In my past life, when Mariyu deceived me and handed me over to the rebel forces, did my face look exactly like that?

‘You betrayed me for your love. Then, and now too.’

Since you loved so passionately that you’d sell out your master, shouldn’t you now pay the price?

Medeia bent down and placed her hand over Mariyu’s.

She looked like a saint pardoning a prisoner.

How kind-hearted must she be to clasp the hand of the insolent wench who tried to harm her? People gasped in admiration.

But Mariyu trembled.

Because the Princess’s cold hand covering her own was peeling away each of Mariyu’s fingers clutching the dress hem.

“Don’t resent me, Mariyu.”

The Princess whispered low.

“So don’t resent me.”

Familiar words that seemed heard somewhere before.

‘She really knew everything…!’

When Mariyu raised her head, eyes full of coldness were glaring at her.

Chills ran through her.

“…!”

She fainted right where she sat.

The Queen Mother held her throbbing head.

“What a… spectacle.”

So this whole mess was the Maid Supervisor’s scheme? And the Princess’s maid went along with it?

‘Medeia was innocent from the beginning?’

“What a bold wench. To dare slander her master, and Valdina’s blood at that.”

Then Lady Pinatelli spoke first.

The lady noticed the Queen Mother’s confusion and cleverly mentioned Valdina’s blood.

If she had limited this incident to Medeia’s affair, the Queen Mother wouldn’t have been greatly shaken.

But Valdina’s blood was different.

This went beyond personal dislike of a detestable granddaughter to attempting to tarnish the sacred royal family’s honor.

The Queen Mother’s eyes turned fierce.

“Take away those two unpredictable wenches.”

As soon as the words fell, sturdy maids grabbed the Maid Supervisor’s arms. They carried the unconscious Mariyu.

“No! It’s lies! The Princess used her maid to scheme! Catherine! Help me! This is a trap! They’re framing me!”

Sensing her end, the Maid Supervisor went mad.

But Catherine bit her lips, busy watching the Queen Mother’s expression.

‘Why is that stupid maid suddenly dragging us into this!’

At the mention that the Regent tried to replace the Maid Supervisor, everyone was looking at her with suspicious eyes.

She couldn’t even hear Lady Quizin’s screams, thinking of ways to escape this situation.

“Ahhh! Let go! Princess! You did this! It was all planned, mmph!”

The Maid Supervisor struggled before being dragged away with cloth stuffed in her mouth.

“Cut the tendons in both hands so she can never slander her master again, and beat her until death. Count Sisear, show a proper example.”

“Yes, I receive Your Majesty’s command.”

Sisear nodded.

Only after the main culprit was dragged away did the tumultuous atmosphere subside.

It was like a storm had passed.

Everyone present remembered how harshly the Queen Mother had scolded her granddaughter earlier.

How wronged must the Princess feel, bearing such vile accusations and even betrayed by a trusted subordinate?

People thought the Queen Mother would at least comfort her granddaughter.

‘As if that would happen.’

Medeia knew this wouldn’t end with just punishing the Maid Supervisor.

As expected, the Queen Mother’s eyes remained cold.

“Hmph, holding the King’s seal and acting like you’re the master creates subordinates who look down on you.”

Though clearly Medeia bore no fault, the Queen Mother thought it was her granddaughter’s mistake.

“Even stuck here in this place, Medeia, I’ve heard all about your maddening antics.”

“…”

“Do you think the King entrusted you with the seal so you could do whatever you please? It’s heaven’s curse that Peleus has a sister like you. You thoughtless, foolish thing! Who gave you such power! As Queen Mother, I can no longer stand by and watch you disrupt the Palace.”

The Queen Mother stared coldly at her granddaughter.

“Hand over the seal. Enough of this foolish nonsense.”

Medeia stood perfectly still without moving.

“I told you to bring it, what are you standing there for!”

The Queen Mother raised her voice once more, but there was no response.

Her rough breathing revealed the anger she felt in every breath.

“Mother, please calm yourself. Getting excited will only harm you.”

Catherine stepped forward to protect the Princess.

She stood in front of Medeia. Just like a mother protecting her young.

“Princess surely had no other special intentions. She’s still young and doesn’t understand the Palace’s complex relationships. It must have been her thoughtless heart caring for her people. Please be generous and consider Her Highness’s pure heart.”

Catherine’s words seemed to defend Medeia at first glance.

But in reality, she was reconfirming that Medeia ignored Palace protocol and acted selfishly.

The Queen Mother’s eyes grew sharper.

“Youthful folly, my foot! Even Virna, who’s younger than her, is so dignified! How long must I tolerate that wretched thing!”

“…Your Highness, please ask for forgiveness. If you say you won’t do it again, the Queen Mother will let it pass.”

Catherine gestured slightly to Medeia.

However, Medeia didn’t move as if she couldn’t hear.

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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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