The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 286

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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 133

“….”

Chezare also raised his eyebrows as he watched Medeia, who had stopped for a moment.

Then he immediately saw the white anemone and understood the entire situation.

A cold glint appeared in Chezare’s eyes.

‘It hasn’t even been half a day since we entered the capital city.’

His enemies were already targeting Medeia.

Just as Chezare was about to step forward, Medeia pretended not to notice and picked up the anemone bouquet.

A faint satisfaction flickered in the Queen Mother’s eyes.

“Your Highness, the First Prince’s consort?”

Medeia, who should have placed the bouquet on the succession dais, unexpectedly turned around.

Then she walked toward the Queen Mother. Her velvet dress hem swayed elegantly over her unhurried steps.

One step. One step.

Under the piercing gaze, the Queen Mother’s clasped hands resting on her knees naturally tensed.

‘…Did she notice? Is that why she’s coming straight to protest to me?’

Behind the Queen Mother, the noble ladies who were watching the situation began to stir slightly.

The Queen Mother soon relaxed her stiffened shoulders.

‘That would be good too.’

If Medeia became emotionally shaken here and now, that alone would reveal to the world that she was inexperienced.

No matter how much the First Prince suppressed Kazen’s nobles with fear, completely controlling high society was difficult.

A place ruled by tongues sharper than swords.

Here, one could easily destroy a person without lifting a finger.

She wasn’t afraid of the First Prince’s reaction either. The Emperor would be behind her now.

Her husband, who was more obsessive and stubborn than anyone when facing a common enemy.

“The First Prince’s consort—”

Just as the Queen Mother was about to speak first.

Just before reaching her, the First Prince’s consort gracefully turned her body.

‘What exactly is she trying to do?’

The moment people’s gazes focused on her, the First Prince’s consort stepped back and quietly set down the white anemone bouquet she was holding.

On the empty Empress’s seat.

“I would like to dedicate the noble intention I offer for the first time as a member of the Imperial family to the two Majesties who are currently supporting this Empire.”

Two Majesties.

For the first time, turmoil appeared on the Queen Mother’s face.

In a clear voice, the First Prince’s consort asked High Priest Norman, who was left speechless.

“High Priest, surely the Goddess would graciously understand the discourtesy of acting as my heart leads me?”

“Y-Your Highness the Prince’s consort….”

“Everyone knows who truly symbolizes Kazen’s legitimacy at this moment, more than the succession dais.”

“….”

“Since His Majesty’s throne is absent here, I have offered this courtesy to the Empress.”

The First Prince’s consort knelt toward the Empress’s seat where she had placed the bouquet, without disturbing a single breath.

It was exactly the same etiquette she had shown during the oath to God and Empire moments before.

‘Ah. Yes, there was an Empress.’

People finally remembered. That it was the Empress who had raised the First Prince.

No matter how much the Queen Mother and Dowager Empress competed for power, there was only one legitimate wife of Perdickas II carved on the succession dais: Empress Eleanor.

“That’s right. Poor woman, she was like a living saint.”

“Having raised the First Prince safely through such hardships, she deserves to receive the First Prince consort’s courtesy.”

“If she were alive, how moved she would be to see this moment.”

Those who remembered the Empress began to speak one by one. Their eyes all became dreamy as if recalling distant memories.

‘This little bitch….’

The Queen Mother’s skirt was wretchedly wrinkled in her grip.

The forgotten name of Empress Eleanor had risen to the surface again through Medeia’s single action.

It was like pouring cold water on the Queen Mother’s face, who had struggled desperately for decades to erase her.

‘She uses cunning tactics.’

By highlighting the dead Empress, she made people perceive that Imperial legitimacy naturally passed to the First Prince she had raised.

Despite the fact that those two people didn’t share a single drop of blood.

The Queen Mother’s gaze, cold enough to freeze a person, turned toward Medeia.

However, Medeia received it without any wavering at all.

Meanwhile, Chezare, who had been watching all of this, hesitated. How did Medeia know about his mother’s existence?

But he soon thought of Kensington, who had been by Medeia’s side.

‘How much does Dea know?’

Beyond the publicly known fact that the dead Empress Eleanor was the Empress who raised Chezare,

Did she also know what kind of love, hate, and regret remained between the two of them?

He straightened his body.

His golden eyes, alternately looking at the empty Empress’s seat and Medeia, were deeply sunken.

[Master monk.]

Meanwhile, Eratosthe, sitting on the opposite side, also stiffened. So much so that he didn’t notice the young monk shaking his sleeve.

“….”

Sharp eyes between wrinkled eyelids watched Medeia intently.

* * *

With memories and future intermingled, the coronation of the First Prince couple ended successfully.

Now only the procession remained.

It was the moment when the First Prince’s consort, who had undergone the coronation, would reveal herself before Kazen’s crowds.

“…Your Highness. I handled it as you instructed.”

Saya, who had approached under the pretense of adjusting disheveled clothing, whispered quietly. Medeia smiled brightly and climbed into the carriage.

“Your Highness, Your Imperial Highness. We will pass through the square and circle the city. It will be chaotic, but since these are people gathered to see you both, please endure it a little.”

Medeia, sitting on the open carriage, nodded.

Bang- Bang-!

Celebratory cannons signifying congratulations exploded everywhere.

People packed the streets crossing the center of the capital city. They craned their necks trying to see the rumored First Prince couple.

“Is that her? Is that the Princess of Valdina?”

“She’s completed the coronation, so now she’s our Prince’s consort! Can’t you tell by looking at His Highness the First Prince right next to her?”

The First Prince couple received the crowds’ fervor and gazes with their whole being.

Especially, people couldn’t take their eyes off the First Prince’s consort rather than the First Prince, whom they had grown familiar with through numerous triumph ceremonies.

The beautiful First Prince’s consort and the small coronet crown on her head matched surprisingly well.

When the First Prince leaned over to whisper something, the First Prince’s consort smiled.

The sight of the beautiful man and woman, like a painting an artist had devoted their lifetime to create, made people feel good just by looking.

“Y-Your Imperial Highness, w-welcome!”

A child shouted from a second-floor window. A pile of flower petals thrown from tiny hands fell toward the carriage.

“Stop-!”

However, the moment the flowers fell, the procession came to a complete halt.

“Check it quickly!”

Imperial guards rushed urgently toward the carriage.

Just something flying from the air made them reflexively on edge.

Swoosh-!

One guard leaped up from his horse and grabbed the child at the window by the scruff of the neck, dragging them down.

Kazen’s Imperial family had been the target of as many assassination attempts as their reputation,

And among them, the First Prince had received the most death threats.

“Waaaah!”

The child burst into tears at the rough guard’s handling.

“Didn’t you know that touching the Imperial family’s carriage would result in severe punishment?”

The stern voice of the guard echoed through the air.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry. The child is young and didn’t know any better. I’m sorry. Please, please forgive us just this once.”

The child’s father, pale as a sheet, rushed forward and bowed his head.

Fearing he might offend these noble personages, he frantically covered the mouth of his wailing child.

The hierarchical order of Kazen, a continental superpower, was absolute.

The Kazen royalty were as arrogant as they were wealthy and powerful, never tolerating mockery from commoners.

What’s more, his child had thrown flower petals at the First Prince’s consort, even stopping the procession.

The father’s heart raced, wondering if he had somehow offended his superiors.

Just as the child’s father squeezed his eyes shut, fearing that the deadly man who was said to behead anyone who so much as breathed wrong on the battlefield might draw his sword at any moment.

“A young child acted with good intentions. Guard, forgive them this once.”

A gentle voice rang out.

“But Your Highness,”

“I said to leave it be.”

The First Prince’s consort spoke quietly but commandingly. The guard, startled by her soft yet authoritative voice, hesitated awkwardly.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Then, receiving Chezare’s cold stare as well, he completely backed down and withdrew.

“Her Highness the Prince’s consort has shown you mercy, so retreat at once and watch the procession quietly.”

The knight, who had been fierce as a blade, immediately sheathed his sword and withdrew at the First Prince’s consort’s single word.

The father, who had been prepared to be dragged away, held his child with a bewildered expression.

“What are you doing not retreating! Do you intend to delay the procession further!”

“N-no! Thank you. Thank you, Your Highness!”

The father bowed repeatedly toward the First Prince’s consort.

At that moment, the child in his father’s arms made eye contact with the First Prince’s consort.

Medeia smiled gently and picked up the flower petals that had landed on her lap. Then she tucked them behind her ear.

Recognizing the flower petals he had thrown earlier, the child’s face lit up like the moon.

“Pretty! You look like a princess! Even prettier than our own princesses—!”

“Shh! Daddy told you to be quiet! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

The father, barely having escaped one hell only to have his child try to drag him into another, quickly covered the child’s mouth and backed away frantically.

Even after the father and child disappeared into the crowd, the First Prince’s consort did not remove the flower from her ear.

Though it was a wildflower that didn’t match her splendid crown at all, all the people present witnessed her not dismissing the commoner child’s gift.

Even the arrogant First Prince, instead of ordering the child to be seized, merely overlooked it and gently tucked a strand of the consort’s hair that had come loose from the flower behind her ear.

This gesture of magnanimous forgiveness, so unlike him, made even his subordinates feel awkward.

“Waaaah!”

Even as he was dragged away by his father’s hand, the child exclaimed in wonder at seeing the First Prince’s consort wearing the flower he had given.

The First Prince’s consort responded by gently raising her hand and waving at the departing child.

Seeing this, one of the Kazens murmured as if enchanted.

“They say Valdina’s Emperor treats his people like his own children. Indeed, perhaps it’s because the same blood flows through her veins. She’s quite different from Kazen’s arrogant royalty.”

Her sincere treatment of the child’s humble gift touched their hearts.

It was then.

An unbelievable sight unfolded before the eyes of the people filling the streets.

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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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