The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 285

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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 132

The surprises continued.

The First Prince climbed the cathedral steps, perfectly escorting the Princess as if protecting her.

Perhaps because they had already held a grand wedding ceremony in the Holy Kingdom,

the First Prince standing beside the Princess looked surprisingly natural—like an ordinary man who cherished his wife.

‘Could that person not be His Highness the First Prince, but a demon wearing His Highness’s mask?’

When the First Prince’s eyes met the Princess’s and he gave her another gentle smile, people couldn’t help but rub their eyes once more.

The First Prince’s appearance—without mockery, without dangerously lurking murderous intent—was simply unfamiliar.

Meanwhile, the First Prince and his wife walked on the red carpet spread toward the altar.

The pipe organ belatedly began to play. Soon, an antique melody flowed.

“Your Highness the First Prince. Your Highness the Princess.”

“Congratulations.”

As they drew closer, Kazen’s high nobles rose from their seats one by one.

The only ones who could remain seated without standing in this place were the Emperor, who held higher status than the First Prince, and his wives.

However, since the Emperor was not present in the cathedral today, only the Queen Mother and Dowager Empress enjoyed that privilege.

“…”

Chezare’s eyes grew cold as he looked at the empty Imperial Throne, seeing his father’s blatant attitude revealed by not attending even the coronation ceremony after the wedding.

At the end of the altar, the High Priest waited for them with holy oil and vows.

“Norman, servant of God, greets His Highness the First Prince and Her Highness the Princess.”

The old man who gave them a slight nod with a low whisper was High Priest Norman, who would officiate today’s coronation ceremony.

Though originally belonging to the Holy Kingdom, he had stayed in the old church’s Kazen Empire branch for many years and had somehow become closer to the Kazen Royal Family than to the Holy Kingdom.

Norman’s eyes silently swept over Medeia.

He recalled the urgent message the Pope had personally sent not long ago.

‘This woman… is truly a saint…’

His wrinkled lips pressed into a straight line.

‘And to wholeheartedly assist the saint? His Holiness must be losing his reason with age.’

To see him being swayed by some young Princess of Valdina.

A subtle displeasure spread as wrinkles across the proud High Priest’s nose.

Unless he saw evidence with his own eyes, he had no intention of serving this young woman as a representative.

Meanwhile, the ceremony began.

Medeia and Chezare knelt below the altar, recited their vows, and lit the Imperial candlesticks.

“Please place your hands on the oath stone.”

Finally, both their hands overlapped on the stone tablet engraved with the Imperial crest.

This stone tablet, said to be engraved with the eternal vow the founding Emperor made to his Empress when the Empire was established,

was revered as the first Imperial registry in Kazen’s history and the origin point from which all Imperial bloodlines branched out.

“Therefore, I offer this blood and breath to You, the Almighty.”

High Priest Norman, having finished the oath to God and the Empire, poured holy oil over their overlapped hands.

The clear holy oil spread like ink over the stone tablet engraved with Imperial names, and golden flames bloomed.

Chezare Dwaisler Kazen.

Medeia Keisey de Kazen.

Beside Chezare’s name, positioned below the densely packed names of Kazen royalty, Medeia’s name was engraved.

Medeia stared blankly at the sight. Her green eyes sank as if wandering to distant places.

‘I used to desire this so much before.’

Old memories overlapped over the golden flames of the stone tablet.

The days when she struggled to take root in Kazen beside Jason, holding children in her arms.

That obsession and hunger that could never be filled

might have stemmed from the realization that she was not her husband’s official companion.

Then, Medeia felt a strong grip on her hand and looked up.

Vivid golden eyes were gazing at her.

“…”

Chezare stroked the back of Medeia’s hand with his thumb.

The warmth conveyed silently was warm.

It felt like it was comforting her past days when she had been lonely like duckweed drifting without purpose.

Medeia slowly closed her eyes as if fever was rising.

And she carefully slipped her fingers between the firm hands that tightly wrapped around the back of her hand.

Medeia’s slender pinky wrapped around Chezare’s firm ring finger like a ring, holding it tight.

An unconscious movement that even she herself didn’t notice.

Their interlocked fingertips calmed the anxiety rising in her chest and made her heart peaceful.

Meanwhile, the attendees who had been watching the ceremony flow smoothly like water as if enchanted each raised their eyebrows.

‘How can she be so perfect?’

Those who had been captivated by the First Prince’s unusual appearance realized a beat late.

That they couldn’t find even the slightest flaw in the Princess of Valdina performing the coronation ceremony.

‘How does she know everything so thoroughly…’

Her kneeling posture for the oath was refined without a single disturbance,

and when reciting the vows, she pronounced the archaic language and rhythm that even most royalty found difficult with perfect accuracy.

Moreover, her fingertips lighting the sacred bronze torch were as natural as if she had been born Kazen.

Someone pursed their lips at the Princess’s appearance, like a living textbook of etiquette.

“Hmph, how much must she have prepared? It’s beside His Highness the First Prince! How desperately must she have learned, fearing to lose a position beyond her station?”

But everyone knew.

That Kazen’s court etiquette was not something that could be learned overnight.

The etiquette was famously thorough and complex, matching the arrogance of a great power.

The noble ladies who had been expecting to see the Princess of Valdina’s clumsy appearance hurriedly opened their fans to hide their embarrassment.

“…”

The Queen Mother looked at Medeia on the altar with cold eyes.

‘I thought she was a formidable woman from our time in the Holy Kingdom.’

Every move exceeds expectations.

Her eyes grew coldly.

“Queen Mother. I have no intention of letting that impudent Valdina wench strut around with her nose in the air in my country.”

Though only a husband in name, at least regarding the Princess, Perdickas II and the Queen Mother shared the same opinion.

The Queen Mother also had no intention of losing even a bit of influence to the newly appeared Princess of Valdina.

‘Unless it’s making her kneel.’

That stiff neck needed to be broken at least once.

Even things that advance like breaking bamboo learn to shrink their necks from the next time once they hit a wall hard enough to break their necks.

Wasn’t that a law of worldly affairs that could only be learned through personal experience?

The Queen Mother’s eyes met those of the High Priest on the altar. She lowered her chin with a cold expression.

“Medeia Keisey de Kazen.”

Meanwhile, the joint ceremony of the First Prince couple ended, and the time came for the individual ceremony performed by the First Princess alone.

“Though born of Valdina’s blood, you now breathe the air of Kazen, and though you entered as a foreigner, from this moment you shall become the blood and bone of this land.”

High Priest Norman applied holy oil to Medeia’s forehead.

“Under God’s oath and in the name of the Kazen Royal Family, I officially recognize you as the formal First Princess, companion of First Prince Chezare Dwaisler Kazen.”

A thin coronet crown was placed on Medeia’s head.

Though lighter than an Empress’s crown, its brilliant sparkle was sufficient to represent the authority of a Princess.

Medeia slowly turned toward the crowd.

A breathless gasp flowed from somewhere.

“Your Highness the First Princess, please now offer the flowers.”

As Norman’s words fell, priests came out carrying silver trays piled high with bouquets.

“On this Succession Dais where the founding Empress received her oath, please place Your Highness’s intentions and pay respects to God and this Empire.”

Norman selected the largest, most fully bloomed bouquet from the silver tray and handed it to Medeia.

Each petal was spotlessly clear, and it was a fresh bouquet that gave off a rich, fragrant flower scent just from holding it.

“…”

Medeia stopped her hand that was reaching for the bouquet and looked at the High Priest.

And once again, she turned her head.

The altar where she and Chezare stood was positioned to overlook everyone in the cathedral.

“What troubles you, Your Highness?”

At High Priest Norman’s urging, Medeia’s green eyes sparkled with an unreadable light.

‘What an interesting little trick.’

Medeia lightly touched the edge of the bouquet with her fingertips.

Compared to her previous life when she couldn’t even ascend to the throne, this would be incomparable glory, but truly, no glory comes without its dangers.

Mixed within the bouquet the High Priest offered were white anemones.

Anyone else would have accepted it without a second thought.

If they were a foreigner who didn’t know the meaning white anemones held in Kazen’s history.

‘White anemones were used to mourn usurped bloodlines.’

During the middle period of Kazen’s founding, it was the flower left behind by a crown prince who had his throne stolen before his death. Due to that symbolism, it was treated like a taboo in imperial ceremonies.

But if I were to place this flower upon the Succession Dais.

‘The Emperor would be furious. He’d think I was deliberately criticizing his legitimacy.’

Perdickas II, who had pulled down the previous king and driven out his nephew to sit on the throne, would never be able to overlook such a thing.

‘Who could it be? The Dowager Empress is extremely obedient to the Emperor, so she wouldn’t dare touch such a sore spot…’

That naturally left the Queen Mother, who wouldn’t hesitate to ruthlessly strike at her husband’s most painful weakness.

‘Even before I’ve entered the Imperial Palace. Queen Mother, you haven’t changed at all.’

The coronation wasn’t even finished yet, but the power struggles had already begun.

It was so like the thorough Queen Mother, who never left any opening for any enemy.

Medeia’s lips curved up slightly.

‘She’s trying to break my neck from the start to prevent the First Prince’s wife from gaining power.’

After all, the First Prince’s wife, who had openly earned the Emperor’s hatred, could never get her hands on the Empire’s power.

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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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