The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 290

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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 137

* * *

At that moment, the Cathedral of Kazen Capital. 

Unlike the dark outside, the interior was as bright as midday with dozens of candles.

“Ugh…!”

Chezare looked down at the man kneeling on the floor. 

The priestly robes that had exuded dignity at the coronation were now stained with filthy dust, and the mitre that had stood tall lay crumpled pathetically on the floor.

It was High Priest Norman.

There was no way Chezare would let slide the one who had deliberately handed Medeia a flower tray containing a trap at the coronation.

“I, I was wrong! I had no choice either… The Queen Mother forced me!”

Like all those cornered, High Priest Norman tried to escape this situation by placing all responsibility on the Queen Mother.

“Your Highness might not have known… but I, I had no… choice… There was no path I could choose. If, if I didn’t follow orders, she threatened to expel me from the diocese…”

“His Holiness didn’t place the high priest’s crown on your head so you could crawl beneath royal feet.”

Chezare chuckled. 

With pathetic excuses layered over his desperate face, he had become an unbearable sight. 

“So in the end, you took their side.”

Oh no. Norman hastily bit his tongue, but it was already too late. 

“At that time, I, I really had no choice. Count Montfort approached me first-” 

“That’s a boring excuse. You should have spoken up three years ago.”

Chezare indifferently cut off the desperately added excuses as if he had no need to hear more.

“You had plenty of time, didn’t you?”

Norman’s face turned deathly pale at Chezare’s casual remark. 

‘He’s known about my collusion with the Queen Mother since three years ago.’

He recalled his past self who had believed that the terminally ill First Prince would never survive the primordial curse.

That meant they had known everything all along and simply watched.

“Your Highness, I was momentarily blinded. Seduced by vain desires, I did what I shouldn’t have done as God’s servant-“

“Humans are naturally beings who pursue desires, so how would God’s servants be any different?”

Chezare adjusted Norman’s disheveled collar with a benevolent voice as if he fully understood. 

“Your only mistake was one thing.”

As his hand gripped the collar, Norman’s breath caught. It was a grip strength close to grabbing someone by the throat.

“You touched someone you shouldn’t have touched.”

“F-First Prince Your Highness…”

“Did you act out without even this much resolve?”

“Forgiveness, please forgive me! I will never again do such foolish things. I will dedicate all my divine power to the First Prince’s Wife. I will provide all support so Her Highness can dominate the Imperial Court-“

The fierce strength increasingly tightened around his throat. 

As golden eyes pierced through him, Norman couldn’t move as if a beast had bitten his neck. 

“What use would the power of a mere ordinary priest be, not even a high priest?”

“Wh-what?”

‘Ordinary priest’? 

Norman’s eyes widened. Why would he, the highest clergyman leading the old church in this empire…

As if confirming the vague anxiety creeping up, 

Chezare stepped on Norman’s mitre that had fallen to the ground and smiled coldly.

“A new high priest will come from the Holy Kingdom.”

By now, today’s news that Facade had conveyed would have reached Pope Benedict’s ears as well. 

The head of Kazen diocese would soon be replaced.

“Th-that can’t be, that’s impossible! Your Highness cannot arbitrarily decide Holy Kingdom appointments… You, you cannot do this!”

How did I climb this far! 

“Oh, the Holy Kingdom can’t stop me. No, they won’t stop me.”

Chezare twisted his lips. A mischievous voice echoed.

“In a situation where the proxy they’ve waited hundreds of years for might abandon the old church, between the proxy and an old priest who doesn’t know his place. Which would the temple choose?”

Norman had even targeted Medeia, who was a saint. 

While ignoring even the urgent messages from the Central Temple and the Pope.

They say ignorance breeds courage. It was a foolish act he could dare commit only because he hadn’t personally felt the atmosphere of the Holy Kingdom, already anxious from Medeia’s rejection.

So the result was obvious.

Far from protesting Chezare’s expulsion of Norman, they would send a pro-saint high priest to help Medeia. 

“N-no…”

Norman, finally properly grasping the situation, groaned. 

The price for his petty schemes had returned in unimaginable magnitude. 

‘If I had known it would come to this, I would have refused the Queen Mother’s request even if it meant losing my head!’

But it was already too late.

“Urgh…!”

Norman’s aged body couldn’t withstand the excessive shock and regret. 

Clutching his stiffly hardened chest, he rolled his eyes back white and collapsed powerlessly.

“He’s fainted.”

Alpha, who had turned Norman over to check, reported.

“No need to call the Temple Knights all the way to Kazen. Transport this thing to the border.”

Chezare indifferently kicked the fainted ‘thing’ with his foot.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

While Alpha loaded Norman onto a donkey’s back and tied him up tightly, Chezare turned toward the priests standing behind.

“Before the new high priest arrives, I hope this serves as a useful lesson for you all.”

Thwack-!

With his lips twisted mischievously, he kicked the donkey’s flank.

“Hee-haw!”

The donkey cried out long and startled, leaping forward. 

Clatter clatter.

Rising and falling unevenly, Norman’s soiled priestly robe fluttered precariously.

The priests silently watched as the clattering donkey and Norman tied up on its back disappeared outside the cathedral doors.

“You may go now.”

Only then was the dismissal given.

They stared at Chezare with sickened eyes. 

Today, before the priests gathered in the cathedral, the First Prince had personally dragged out High Priest Norman. 

The intention hidden behind that languid voice was all too clear.

The reason he had detained them like prisoners at this late hour was to make them witness Norman’s downfall with their own eyes. 

As the price for touching the First Prince’s Wife, the high priest who had once reigned from the cathedral’s pinnacle was instantly dragged to the bottom. 

The Queen Mother’s backing that Norman had boasted of provided no protection until the moment he disappeared like baggage on a donkey.

“…”

“Oh God.”

The priests who witnessed that miserable scene closed their eyes tightly and made the sign of the cross. And they swore firmly in their hearts.

‘No matter how the power struggles of the Kazen Imperial Court unfold, we will devote ourselves solely to prayer as God’s servants.’

* * *

After Norman was expelled and all the priests had returned.

Chezare casually checked his watch. The time had already passed midnight.

“Boss, you’re going to Facade, right?”

On the way out of the cathedral, Garo stretched his stiff body and matched his pace to Chezare’s. 

“No.”

“Huh? Why? It’s too late. Why don’t you just sleep at Facade and go tomorrow?”

“…”

“Hm? If you go to the palace, I’ll have to go all the way to the palace again tomorrow morning to report. What a waste of time. If we stay at Facade, we can see messages from the Holy Kingdom as soon as they arrive-“

Then Terrence snapped bluntly. 

“Garo, did you forget? Chezare now has Her Highness. He’s no longer idle enough to stick with you day and night.”

“Ah. Right….”

Garo scratched his head while gauging Chezare’s reaction. The silence meant Terrence was right.

“Hmm, then I’ll go to the palace too. I’ll tell them to redirect messages there.”

“….”

“Huh? Boss, that’s okay, right? Should Terrence come along too? Should we all just move to the palace—”

“If you want to announce to the world that Facade belongs to the First Prince, go ahead.”

Hup. Garo quickly shut his mouth, but Chezare’s languid sneer didn’t stop.

Under the cathedral’s light, shadows fell across his sculpture-like smooth profile.

“You seem to be living quite comfortably these days.”

In the heart of Kazen, where the mad Emperor and all the royals were desperately trying to pull Facade to their side.

“Ah, fine, I get it. I won’t go! I won’t even go near that place.”

Garo grumbled with his lips pouting.

He could have just said he wanted to be alone with her, why did he have to be so cold about it.

Whether Garo felt hurt or not, Chezare leisurely leaned back and mounted his horse as if it wasn’t worth caring about.

His light yet agile movement revealed his firm thighs between the folds of his clothes.

“See you tomorrow.”

With that short, indifferent farewell, the black horse carrying him quickly disappeared into the darkness.

“Geez, look at him running away like I’m going to catch him. Isn’t that too much? Since when has Boss been so domestic?”

Garo scratched his head in disbelief.

He looked like a puppy wagging its tail to greet its master, only to get scolded instead.

His disheveled blonde hair became even more of a mess.

“Good grief, if he’s going to make such a fuss, how are us single people supposed to live? Right, Terrence?”

“….”

“Huh? At this point where our friendship is crumbling so shallowly, don’t you have anything to say?”

“Go home.”

Terrence waved his hand in the air with a tired expression, as if it wasn’t worth responding.

Pop—!

The moment a thin flame flickered, he vanished. It was teleportation magic.

“Ah, seriously! Aren’t you all being too much?!”

Only Garo’s indignant voice scattered futilely through the cold night air.

* * *

The palace.

Chezare’s steps faltered as he entered the bedroom.

It was late, nearly dawn, but the room was still lit.

“Dea?”

The candlestick cast bright light.

On the table sat a cold teacup, and beside it was a woman who had fallen asleep sitting curled up with her back against the headboard.

The candlestick’s shadow flickered across her pale face.

That sight was etched in Chezare’s eyes like a landscape painting.

Perhaps because it was the first time he had seen someone waiting for his return.

Though Chezare was always smooth and unhesitating in everything, this strange emotion he felt now seemed impossible to properly explain with any words.

“….”

After gazing down at Medeia sleeping in an uncomfortable position for a moment, Chezare reached out his hand. He carefully lifted her and laid her on the bed.

Mmm.

As the soft sheets touched her skin, Medeia flinched slightly.

Clear green light glimmered between her barely open eyelids.

“Chezare…?”

“Yeah.”

Though it was just one syllable, Chezare felt his voice was strangely subdued.

“…I’m back.”

His low voice scattered through the air.

He pressed his lips to Medeia’s temple.

Medeia blinked, trying to see him properly, but finding it difficult to fight off the approaching drowsiness, she soon fell asleep again.

Chezare watched her sleep again, then quietly laid his head beside hers.

Every hair on his skin, which had grown cold in the chilly night wind, seemed to recognize the warm heat radiating from her.

His large hand covered Medeia’s hand.

His well-shaped index finger playfully wandered over her soft hand.

“Hmm….”

When Medeia shifted and exhaled as if tickled, his finger stopped abruptly.

“I was confident I could wait indefinitely.”

It had been excessive arrogance.

A hollow laugh escaped his sculpture-like face, beautiful as a god who seduces the night.

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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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