The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 244

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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 91

Tom and Kensington’s eyes widened even more at the First Prince’s behavior of calling the Princess by name so familiarly.

Medeia let out a sigh.

“…Wait, everyone get out.”

Medeia sent away her subordinates who had faces demanding explanation and turned her back.

Chezare was already looking down at the map from Medeia’s position.

His golden eyes, burning like flames, gazed at the continental map spread on the table and each flag placed upon its points.

His outstretched finger gently caressed the edge of the map as if stroking it.

However, contrary to his peaceful actions, the aura emanating from him somehow seemed to chill the air.

“Chezare.”

“It’s been a while.”

A straight nose bridge and sharp jawline, perfectly symmetrical features.

Even an arrogant gaze that seemed to look down upon everything in the world.

The beautiful man who brought to mind an exquisite sculpture was boldly showing his face without any concealment.

It was no wonder that Kensington, who had seen him moments ago, nearly fainted.

Medeia frowned her delicate eyebrows at his appearance that showed no effort or intention to hide his identity.

“Be aware of your position. What business brings you here—”

“I think I wanted to see this face.”

She froze momentarily at his strange greeting, delivered as if he hadn’t heard Medeia’s cold question.

“Your Highness the First Prince. Are you now confessing to murdering General Jared?”

Her mind had been completely consumed by the oracle, and she remembered belatedly.

Him from that time when he had dealt with Jared in Medeia’s place and was summoned back to the Empire.

“I heard you were at your territory. Have you restored your private army?”

Was it because she couldn’t forget the warmth that had cupped her cheek then that she couldn’t turn away coldly?

“This isn’t the time to worry about my circumstances.”

Chezare let out a bitter laugh.

“To slay the evil dragon directly—how brave the Princess of Valdina is.”

The end of his flowing laughter was somehow sharp.

He irritably ran his hand through his hair.

Once he was left alone with Medeia, Chezare cast off the composure he had displayed moments before.

“If the evil dragon disappears, you can’t take me as your groom either. The fulfillment of the oracle would also become impossible.”

Unlike Medeia’s subordinates who couldn’t swallow their shock, Chezare wasn’t surprised.

Even during her days as a powerless puppet princess, no adversity could bring her to her knees—why would an oracle be any different?

However, what he hadn’t expected was this.

From beginning to end of Medeia’s plan, he was excluded.

She never extended her hand to him in the end.

This made Chezare feel terribly hollow.

Unlike himself who was uncontrollably rushing toward her, this subtle distance that Medeia maintained with him never shortened at all.

If he hadn’t encountered the oracle beforehand and rushed to Valdina, what would have happened?

“If I had been late, you would have already left and disappeared, wouldn’t you? Going on an expedition with those half-baked fools, claiming you’d slay the evil dragon.”

He gently but firmly grasped Medeia’s chin.

“Leaving me here behind?”

Even his furrowed brow was beautiful like a masterpiece painting, but somehow he seemed uncharacteristically irritable.

“Why? Dea, why? I said I’d become your sword. Someone as brilliant as you couldn’t fail to calculate my usefulness.”

“…”

Medeia’s lips trembled slightly.

Why wouldn’t she have considered Chezare as well?

But.

What Medeia was trying to do now was break the oracle—in other words, defy the gods.

She couldn’t easily tell anyone about this deed that would become taboo on the continent, yet to consider the heir of an enemy nation as a companion.

For a great undertaking where her entire life and fate hung in the balance.

“So enjoy it. Your finest sword.”

How could she place hope once again in his sweet flattery, when she had lost her mind to fabricated warmth of affection, leading to her nation’s destruction and her family’s death?

Medeia lifted her chin to gaze at Chezare.

A trace of cynicism crossed her delicate face.

“…”

The moment he saw those eyes filled with many words never spoken aloud, Chezare realized the reason.

“Ah. The brilliant Princess cannot trust me. My oath never reached you at all.”

He raised the corners of his mouth. He was clearly smiling, yet the air froze like thin ice.

“What a cute little coward you are.”

He spat out mockery through his twisted smile.

“You can only feel at ease when you have someone’s leash firmly in your grasp. So you can strangle them immediately if they betray you.”

But Medeia, she doesn’t know.

That his leash is already held in her hands.

Chezare roughly tore open his shirt front with his other hand.

“It wasn’t because of some trivial illness that I was waiting only for the day I’d die.”

Rip.

The linen shirt tore away along with its buttons, revealing his well-formed chest.

His muscles were firm and his skin had a pleasantly tanned color.

“What are you—”

“It was a curse made by primordial darkness.”

His firm hand cupped her chin, preventing her from turning her head away.

“Do you see? This is the trace of when I was most wretched and weak.”

The skin where his heart was located had turned black. Faint strands spread out like veins, as if something was extending outward.

“The pain of my heart hardening with every breath is still vivid. Sometimes I stay awake all night with open eyes. And I realize. This damned moment when I surrendered to death will follow me for the rest of my life.”

His voice mixed with inhalation and exhalation was low and sharp.

“Dea. Now you know my weakness. How to bring down the black demon that everyone fears.”

He made Medeia’s hand cup his neck, as if putting a leash on himself.

“…”

“So command me. Tell me to cut down the enemies you point to and fulfill your wishes.”

“…”

Chezare felt those green eyes carefully measuring him.

It was a gaze like a hunter contemplating whether they could perfectly control a hunting dog.

He quickly pressed his cheek against the back of her hand. It was close to a wolf’s attempt to prove its harmlessness while wearing a dog’s hide.

Yet unable to overcome his true nature, he finally couldn’t help but speak.

“Dea. Choose me with your own hands.”

Before I destroy all your options and make it so you have no choice but to select me.

The domineering and sinister command leaked through his clenched teeth, sounding desperate instead.

“I have no intention of obediently retreating beyond the line you’ve drawn.”

“…”

Medeia, who had been hesitating, reached out her hand.

Very lightly, her fingertips brushed across his skin.

But that alone was enough.

Chezare’s golden eyes flashed.

“The evil dragon can never have a bride.”

Though he had never been anyone’s chess piece before, the fact that he was forcibly included in Medeia’s plan was breathtakingly delightful.

Because it was proof that he had entered within Medeia’s boundaries.

* * *

The person who least welcomed Chezare’s joining was Tom.

Tom was the person who was least pleased about Cesare joining them.

“Your Highness, that man is joining our expedition. How can we trust and accompany him, the blood relative of Emperor Kazen? We never know when we’ll be stabbed in the back!”

The aura emanating from the 1st Prince made his spine tingle. Tom unconsciously clenched his hand that kept reaching for his sword.

Pfft. Chezare let out a laugh through his well-shaped lips.

“I was never an enemy of the Princess.”

“That’s a li-“

Just then,

Chezare took out a silver mask and brought it to his face. Tom’s words stopped.

“Ah, Akaress…?”

Below the half-mask, the sharp jawline and handsome lips looked familiar.

There was no way Tom wouldn’t recognize that familiar silver mask.

Three years ago, he had gone to the sword duel against Kazen’s Jared in place of Medeia.

And he had ultimately achieved victory, bringing Valdina the joy of victory and double the aid,

The mercenary captain of Facade who had seamlessly supported the Valdina Empire’s leap forward ever since.

“The, the same, person? Did, did Your Highness the Princess know about this?”

Tom looked back and forth between Medeia and Chezare as if he couldn’t believe it.

Kensington had also experienced both the mercenary Akaress from three years ago and the current 1st Prince Chezare.

Only now did everything fall into place.

He clicked his tongue.

To think he had perfectly deceived everyone all this time about the true owner of the stateless arms dealer Facade being Kazen’s 1st Prince.

Even Perdickas II probably didn’t properly grasp the true identity of his terminally ill son.

How many secrets must this man be hiding beneath that beautiful appearance?

Goosebumps rose.

“We need to depart as quickly as possible. We need a sturdy ship that can endure the long voyage to the Pitch-Black Forest.”

“The ship is already prepared. It’s waiting for you at the pier.”

Chezare chuckled and lightly leaped through the window.

“We’ll depart immediately once preparations are complete.”

The person himself left as lightly as he had come, but the presence he left in the space did not.

“…”

After Chezare left, while Neryl and Saya were busy preparing to depart for the Pitch-Black Forest.

“Your Highness the Princess. Is there something else troubling you?”

Kensington asked Medeia, who was deep in thought.

Tap. Tap.

Only the sound of her index finger rhythmically tapping the table could be heard in the room.

“There’s something that bothers me.”

Apart from the beast called the 1st Prince putting a leash on himself and joining this life’s expedition, there was something tugging at her nerves.

Not just this incident, but a more fundamental question.

A dark shadow fell between Medeia’s fine brows, as if wandering through an endless tunnel.

“Why now, I wonder.”

She knew the oracle would appear someday, but it was curious that the timing was now, and that its content was aimed at her.

In her previous life, the oracle had only come down after she returned from the expedition, ended the arduous fight for the throne, and Jason ascended to the throne.

‘…The past I knew is changing.’

“It’s too fast.”

She murmured.

“Kensington, did you investigate that wave that occurred during Jared’s incident?”

Medeia recalled the monster wave that had opened in the empty air above the strait’s sea during Jared’s kidnapping attempt.

The location, the types of magical beasts that emerged from there – it was an artificial wave that didn’t suit Elamouz.

“Yes. This was the first time a land magical beast wave appeared in the Elamouz Strait. The scholars also found it puzzling.”

Tap, tap.

Her index finger struck the table again.

Following Rachel’s appearance, the consecutive magical beast waves, and even the oracle.

All were milestones that existed in her previous life, but the connecting links between those points were quite sudden.

“…Things are flowing strangely.”

Medeia felt an inexplicable sense of unease.

“Sir, how is the investigation into Rachel proceeding?”

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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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