The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 294

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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 141

“If that ‘doing well’ means making my wife and me stand here for two hours with this archery game, you should have let me know in advance.”

“….”

“Then I wouldn’t have needed to rush here, abandoning even my honeymoon at the Late Emperor’s summons.”

“Chezare, you can’t help but act arrogantly and lowly.”

Perdickas II’s eyebrows shot up sharply.

“Vulgar fool, are you so displeased that I’m teaching your younger brother a lesson? If you have time to laze about using your honeymoon as an excuse, you should first straighten out that twisted nature of yours as the eldest son!”

The Emperor openly turned his gaze toward the Queen Mother and the 3rd Prince. His face showed no intention of hiding his favoritism.

“Look, this child has been trying so hard to please me since early morning, while you only think of trampling on me. What I need is not hollow prowess but loyal devotion!”

He gripped his staff and glared at Chezare, grinding his teeth as he spat out the words.

“Do not defile the Empire I built with blood with your vile creature’s filthy heart!”

But Chezare didn’t care at all whether the Queen Mother used the Emperor as a shield or whether the Emperor disparaged him.

“Ah. I understand, Late Emperor. I’ll engrave it deep in my heart.”

Rather, the indifferent smile that crossed his lips gave off a meaningful feeling whose true intentions were impossible to fathom.

“Juan. I’m sorry for interrupting this time when you’re receiving such great teachings from the Late Emperor. I didn’t know you so desperately craved skill, so I’ll pay special attention to you from now on.”

It seems I’ve been too indifferent to my blood brother.

At Chezare’s languid words, the faces of the Queen Mother and her son hardened.

Juan’s eyes also wavered slightly. What he truly wanted was his father’s favor, not some battlefield where lives were at stake.

“Since the Late Emperor seems to be busy with official matters, we’ll consider that you’ve already received our couple’s greetings and take our leave now.”

“You, you…!”

The Emperor gasped as if heat was rising within him.

“Two hours should be sufficient to fulfill my duty as a son, wouldn’t you agree?”

The Emperor also hesitated at his eldest son’s meaningful threat.

Even while holding his staff, he felt vulnerable, as if he were standing unarmed on the front lines without a single weapon.

In the end, the anger he couldn’t release toward his eldest son didn’t target the eldest son but instead flew toward the eldest son’s wife who stood quietly.

“Have you learned nothing!”

He didn’t even respond to Chezare’s words and immediately shouted at Medeia.

“No matter how lacking your origins, didn’t Valdina’s Emperor teach his sister even one rule of etiquette for meeting the sovereign?”

He grumbled.

“Well, what would a backwater country that lived off aid know? Forget etiquette—did you even properly learn what the duties of royalty are? Just because you wrap yourself in the grand silk called the New Empire, you think you’ve become equal to Great Kazen!”

“For the Late Emperor to speak of duty.”

However, before Medeia’s mouth could even open, Chezare’s cold laughter burst forth first.

“Do you truly wish me to speak aloud what the ‘duty’ of this Imperial Court where I was born and raised really is?”

The meaning contained in those words was clear.

It was an obvious provocation asking whether even the bloodline the Emperor created by going against natural order with his sister-in-law was included in this Imperial Court’s duty.

‘How dare he, in front of the Princess of Valdina!’

Perdickas II’s face immediately turned red with rage.

“Late Emperor, never insult my wife again.”

Chezare continued indifferently, yet with bone-chilling firmness.

“As my mother personally taught me, I swore to protect my wife without allowing even the tiniest scratch on her heart. Since I wish to follow my parent’s will, you must permit even my rudeness.”

Chezare coldly twisted up the corner of his mouth.

“You wicked child, do you even know who your parents are?”

When even the deceased Empress Eleanor was mentioned, Perdickas II’s eyes blazed with fire.

Though he was the one with real blood ties, didn’t Chezare speak as if only Eleanor were his parent?

“Please calm yourself, Your Majesty. How can you trouble your noble heart with such heartless words that show no concern for Your Majesty’s well-being?”

The Queen Mother stepped forward and gently took the Emperor’s hand, patting it.

“That’s too much, 1st Prince. No matter how much you hate our mother and son, you shouldn’t turn away from the truth and only protect your wife.”

And she gazed at Chezare with resentment.

“Not only I, but everyone here clearly saw that your wife didn’t even bend her knee to His Majesty. Are you going to defend your wife by even bringing up the will of the deceased Empress?”

The Queen Mother advised Medeia with feigned dignity, like an elder of the Imperial Court.

“The 1st Prince’s Wife shouldn’t act so foolishly with her husband backing her up. She didn’t even greet me either. It seems her brother cherished his sister too much.”

“Ha! Even to the Queen Mother! Valdina’s daughter truly had nothing in her sight.”

At the Queen Mother’s words, Perdickas II added as if gaining momentum.

“You too, Chezare, surely know that this person has worked tirelessly to care for the Inner Palace since the Empress departed. Even after receiving such kindness, how can you turn away so arrogantly?”

“….”

“Because you disrespect the Queen Mother, your wife follows your example!”

“No, Your Majesty.”

The Queen Mother stepped back and spoke gently.

“I didn’t take on this heavy burden to hear pleasant words.”

Even as she said this, the Queen Mother slightly turned her head and wiped her eyes.

The court attendants’ eyes sparkled at her appearance, seemingly absorbed in the role of a mistreated stepmother.

When today’s events became known, rumors would spread that 1st Prince Chezare was an insolent person who didn’t even show proper respect to his stepmother, the Queen Mother.

She wasn’t afraid of a single trivial word.

But when such rumors accumulated over time, they became a force that couldn’t be ignored.

And with this invisible power, the Queen Mother had built up influence enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the 1st Prince’s faction.

“I apologize, Your Majesty the Queen Mother. It wasn’t intentional.”

Then, Medeia’s calm voice rang out.

She calmly bowed her head toward the Queen Mother, but once again, she did not bend her knee.

“Then what’s the reason you’re still standing stiffly! Are you trying to mock me and the Queen Mother?”

At Perdickas II’s furious outcry, Medeia quietly opened her mouth.

“Your Majesty. You may have forgotten, but once Your Majesty personally said you would become my guardian. At that time, Your Majesty granted me the privilege of not having to kneel before Your Majesty.”

Along with those words, Medeia removed the diadem from her head and held it out to the Emperor.

The Emperor’s face stiffened at her bringing up something he had completely forgotten.

“Therefore, if I were to bend my knee to the Queen Mother, it would mean kneeling to the Queen Mother with knees that I don’t even bend to the sovereign. I couldn’t dare determine whether that would be proper etiquette, so I ended up committing this discourtesy.”

Her clear, resonant voice rang out without the slightest waver.

At Medeia’s words, Perdickas II’s face flushed red and his lips and the hand gripping his staff trembled.

He recalled the meager compensations he had hastily offered to resolve the chaos when Valdina’s Emperor had occupied the border trade routes.

They were privileges he had generously distributed, thinking it would be better to give away honor rather than practical benefits.

‘Back then, I didn’t know that princess would become my daughter-in-law!’

But now, all of that struck Perdickas II in the back of the head a step too late.

If he tried to revoke the privileges he had granted Medeia here and now,

It would amount to trampling on his own dignity.

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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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