The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 246

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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 93

“That was the plan.”

A low, rich voice tickled her ear.

He had Facade prepare to expose the Central Temple.

On the day of the oracle, he obtained a list of those who were in the obelisk chamber and uncovered each individual’s corruption.

“The Holy Kingdom is ultimately no different. Purity is nothing but an illusion.”

Chezare had concentrated on gathering evidence of the High Priests’ corruption, from minor offenses like selling holy offices and fabricating heresy charges to major ones like colluding with other kingdoms in foreign lands.

“When the High Priests’ corruption becomes visible, the authenticity of the oracle will also be questioned.”

An oracle already given could not be reversed.

So Chezare found a lifeline to save Medeia by attacking the Central Temple.

Medeia couldn’t believe it.

“It’s literally the Central Temple. The sacred ground of the old religion.”

He shrugged his shoulders.

“Except for the Pope, the Saint and High Priests are already quite rotten. I’m just cutting that out to show the world.”

His languid yet rich voice created the illusion of a demon whispering from the darkness.

“When their lives are hanging by a thread, would they have the mental capacity to cry out about oracles or worry about a missing Princess?”

He smiled, saying it was merely taking advantage of the situation.

Those words were confirmation that this ship was meant to help Medeia escape from the oracle.

“…”

Medeia bit her lip.

Though spoken lightly, she knew better than anyone that the weight behind those words was anything but light.

Right now, he was risking making the Holy Kingdom his enemy to prevent the oracle’s fulfillment.

For Medeia, for her sake.

She felt a strange emotion.

“You’ve done something unlike yourself. I handle my own affairs. I don’t want any more variables.”

She truly wasn’t accustomed to learning that someone who wasn’t family, a complete stranger with no blood relation, had tried to protect her.

‘No, this man…’

He was incomparably superior to Jason from her previous life, and therefore all the more dangerous.

If he betrayed her, she would never be able to stand again.

At Medeia’s words drawing a line, Chezare twisted his lips.

“You think I’ll back down if you say that.”

A fierce energy swirled in his narrowed eyes. He leaned forward.

The distance closed until she could see her reflection in his golden eyes that burned like the sun.

Meeting those eyes felt overwhelming for a moment. Medeia turned her head away.

As her delicate, elegant eyes frowned, Chezare spoke in a languid voice.

“Medeia, you don’t need to think so hard. I’m just protecting what’s most important to me.”

“…”

“If you tell me to stop, I’ll stop for you. But not now.”

Not when the world is targeting you like this.

A dangerous aura was added to his gently curved eyes above his sharp nose.

At the whisper of the handsome man who could seduce even demons, Medeia unconsciously stepped backward.

Whether it was because warnings from her previous life echoed in her head or because of her violently beating heart, she wasn’t certain.

Chezare didn’t try to stop Medeia as she fled from the spot.

The picturesque smile on his beautiful lips briefly hardened.

Splash, splash. Only the sound of waves hitting the ship echoed fiercely.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that time, messengers from the Holy Kingdom arrived in each nation.

“An oracle has been given! This is His Holiness the Pope’s command to convey the divine will.”

Valdina and Kazen, including the two empires and various kingdoms of the middle continent, finally learned the contents of the oracle.

Each nation’s reaction was mixed.

“An oracle so suddenly, and with such contents… What in the world is this about.”

“This is an opportunity. The goddess has looked upon me with favor.”

Some were confused, some rejoiced, or.

Some were enraged.

Riiip—!

The stiff paper of the rubbing tore helplessly in Peleus’s hands.

“Are you saying Valdina dares to refuse the oracle?”

The priest who came as a messenger from the Holy Kingdom looked insulted upon seeing the torn rubbing.

“Valdina does not revere nonsense as divine will. Are there only foolish people in the Holy Kingdom who cannot even understand this simple logic?”

The messenger momentarily stepped back at the killing intent in that cold voice.

“How, how insolent, if you turn away from the oracle, disaster will befall this land. Does Valdina have the confidence to bear that—”

But before his words could finish, Peleus left the room.

The Emperor’s suppressed rage was palpably clear in his roughly fluttering robes.

“Please understand, Priest.”

Sisear swallowed a heavy sigh behind his wire-rimmed glasses and then erased his expression.

And he turned toward the agitated priest from the Holy Kingdom.

“Oracle or not, where in the world is there a brother who would obediently follow orders to sacrifice his own sister as an offering?”

“But the oracle must be followed to prevent the disaster that will befall the continent—”

“Do you have family, Priest? Could you, right now, push your only family into mortal danger without a moment’s hesitation?”

The priest was speechless at Sisear’s question.

“The goddess wouldn’t have accepted as believers those who lack even such basic human compassion.”

“…I’m merely a messenger who came to deliver the oracle. I don’t have the power to… postpone the ritual date.”

“Just give us a little time to accept the situation. Nothing has happened yet, after all.”

As the priest’s anger gradually subsided under his persuasion.

“I seek an audience with Your Majesty.”

Peleus was at the Princess’s Palace.

Passing by the maids who had turned pale and were bowing to him, he headed straight to Medeia’s bedchamber.

A parchment fluttered on the table in the bedroom. Peleus looked down at the letters that had become embedded in his mind from reading them over and over again.

[Peleus, I’m sorry for leaving like this. I’ll definitely return.]

A single sentence written in Medeia’s handwriting.

In those few words, he seemed to read all of her unconcealed worry and fear.

Thud. Peleus slumped onto his sister’s bed. The bedroom still seemed to hold Medeia’s scent.

Peleus pressed his temples with his fingertips and swallowed his silent resentment.

“Still no news of Dea?”

“My apologies, Your Majesty. It is my negligence.”

Diangel bowed his head with a miserable expression.

Peleus picked up the wooden doll placed neatly beside the bed.

That crude doll he had carved for his sister on the battlefield—Medeia had kept it by her side all this time.

‘I promised to protect you, but that only made you more afraid.’

His heart felt like it was being torn apart by the fact that his young sister had hurriedly left without even revealing her destination, worried about bringing harm to Valdina and her brother.

“Perhaps it’s for the best. Tell the Agema to stop searching for Dea.”

He muttered while gripping the wooden doll until blood seeped from his hands.

“And Diangel.”

He turned around.

“From now on, you will follow Medeia’s trail. And when you meet Dea, stay by her side.”

The young Emperor’s handsome face looked emotionless from suppressing his feelings too much.

“When they learn Dea has disappeared, the Holy Kingdom will surely pursue her. You must protect that child in my place.”

Clink.

Peleus handed his sword to Diangel.

“Until that child safely escapes and settles somewhere, until she meets someone and bears a child, until there’s no more danger—watch over that child’s life.”

The large bastard sword engraved with an eagle emblem was a blade that Peleus had never once removed from his side since his first time entering the battlefield.

“And if Dea asks about me, tell her this. That I will definitely come find her someday.”

However, even Peleus couldn’t be certain how long that someday would take.

If the fact that Medeia had escaped became known,

And if disaster befell the continent as the oracle foretold.

He would have to protect Medeia not only against the Holy Kingdom but against the entire continent.

And to the extent of his power, even at the cost of his life, he would eliminate the disaster.

If that was the only way to keep Medeia, that child, safe.

So perhaps, this might become a promise he couldn’t keep.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Diangel prostrated himself while receiving Peleus’s sword.

“I will protect Princess with my life. Please forgive me for failing to fulfill my duty at Your Majesty’s side.”

He raised his head to look up at his Emperor.

“Diangel, I’m sorry to you.”

Anguish was etched on the young Emperor’s face.

“I may never see you again, Your Majesty. Being able to work together for Your Majesty and our homeland’s prosperity is something I will never forget even in death. Please, may divine protection be with Your Majesty… no, may the star of victory always be with you, and I will always pray for that.”

Diangel, who had been about to mention the divine, swallowed a bitter smile and stepped back.

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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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