The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 297

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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 144

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1st Prince’s Palace.

“Lord Menil, where have you been?”

In the sunny courtyard, the Valdinians met each other after a while.

It had already been a month since the First Prince’s Wife came to Kazen.

Despite being a foreigner, she had adapted to the unfamiliar life in Kazen so naturally.

And those who followed her were also busy adapting, taking a brief moment to catch their breath.

“I went to the capital’s training grounds following Lord Alpha. Even though we’ve greatly improved our facilities in Valdina, seeing this place made me realize we still have a long way to go.”

Menil made a weary face as he recalled the endless, vast training grounds and support facilities of the capital.

He had thought Valdina had become quite prosperous since opening trade routes, but buildings and places like these, accumulated through Kazen’s long history of wealth, couldn’t be created overnight.

“But in terms of skill, our Valdina is definitely not inferior. That’s certain.”

“Deputy Captain, how many knights of Kazen’s capital have you faced so far?”

“If we’re only counting simple close combat sparring, about twenty-five.”

As an Agema and disguised as a Facade mercenary, Menil had been busy traveling back and forth through Kazen’s capital.

“Have you roughly finished assessing their strength?”

Neryl lowered her voice slightly in case someone might overhear.

“Almost, except for the Imperial Palace knights. But I think I’ll see them soon. The swordsman I defeated at the training grounds turned out to be from the Imperial Palace.”

Menil somewhat proudly told the story of how he became friends with him, saying he was a neutral noble who was modest and had excellent skills.

Saya’s eyebrows narrowed upon hearing this.

“Be careful, Lord Menil. You know we shouldn’t trust anyone except His Highness the 1st Prince’s close associates.”

“I know, I know. That’s why I deliberately lost a few sparring matches as you said.”

Though Menil looked aggrieved, Saya spoke even more firmly.

“We caught twelve spies trying to sneak into the separate palace just this week alone. According to the Maid Supervisor, there have been more since Her Highness arrived. Aren’t they truly despicable? If they’re curious about our Highness, they should send a formal invitation or request an audience…!”

After the audience with the Emperor, there were constant attempts to find out the reactions of the 1st Prince and his wife.

“Since the two Empresses in the Imperial Palace openly ignore our Highness, others are following suit. They’re also venting the resentment they had suppressed out of fear of His Highness the 1st Prince.”

The common people on the streets still talked about the mystique of the First Prince’s Wife they had seen during the coronation ceremony.

The more they did so, the more arrogant nobles ostensibly ignored Medeia.

After word spread that the Emperor was Medeia’s patron, they couldn’t easily touch her, but instead treated her as if she didn’t exist at all.

Most critically, even the people of Kazen’s inner palace didn’t seek out the First Prince’s Wife.

Already staying in a separate palace away from the Imperial Palace, she was becoming increasingly isolated.

“Sigh. So now the only ones visiting the separate palace are the wives of nobles from the 1st Prince’s faction.”

But the major players in high society who could surpass the two Empresses had either passed away or distanced themselves from power, so those who remained were far from being worthy opponents for the First Prince’s Wife.

“What a petty and low-level way to slowly kill someone. Do they think our Highness would even bat an eye at such things?”

Our Highness is someone who saw through the ugly truth of the False Saint. Neryl muttered.

“Right, if we revealed that she’s a saint of the old religion even now, they’d line up in droves.”

“What kind of people are those from the Holy Kingdom. We can’t give them a chance to extend their reach again for such a trivial reason. Above all, Her Highness doesn’t want that.”

“I know that too. I’m just saying it because I’m frustrated.”

Menil grumbled.

The one and only high-ranking Princess of the new empire had married into Kazen, yet despite her unique position as a prince’s wife, no one sought her out.

If she had been an ordinary woman who had just married, she would have been flustered and ashamed by the current situation.

She would have been anxious not to damage her homeland’s reputation and would have been swayed this way and that.

But Medeia remained unshaken.

She never went out seeking connections, nor did she bother to hastily form friendships with other nobles.

She remained as composed as ever, flawlessly carrying out her duties as the mistress of the separate palace.

Even the 1st Prince’s subordinates admired her cold yet serene composure.

“By the way, the vassals of the 1st Prince’s faction have been coming to me, hinting that they’d like our Princess to gradually exert some influence in high society…”

Menil scratched his head.

The 1st Prince Chezare’s cruel nature and the infamy spread among the public made him an object of fear.

Therefore, there were always limits to gaining widespread support or attracting new forces.

But seeing Medeia suddenly rise as a symbol of protection among the people, it seemed the retainers had found hope.

“His Highness the 1st Prince hasn’t said anything, so who are they to speak?”

Neryl snorted.

She was still dissatisfied that the 1st Prince was her master’s companion, but she couldn’t deny that he treated Medeia with special care.

This was evident from how he had handed over the 1st Prince faction’s purse strings to Medeia, so that the vassals now couldn’t dare approach Medeia directly and could only indirectly convey their intentions through her subordinate Menil.

“Everyone, don’t let your guard down. Always check for surveillance, and if anyone approaches carelessly, you must keep a close eye on them.”

Then, Saya warned once again.

“Kazen’s capital… doesn’t seem to be a place where people are killed simply by the sword alone.”

Having grown up in the slums, she felt the color of environments through her skin more than others.

Here in Kazen, even the district streets where mere commoners walked were polished and orderly.

However, she knew from experience that the more brilliant the surface, the more ugly and dangerous what lay hidden behind it.

“Yes, let’s do that. It’s the path our Highness has chosen, so this Menil cannot be a burden.”

Menil nodded and placed his hand on his sword hilt. A green aura, more stabilized than before, rippled from his fingertips.

The sons and daughters of Valdina steeled their hearts once more and raised their thorns.

If anyone dared to carelessly touch their master, they should be prepared to have their hands pierced by these thorns.

* * *

At that moment, in the First Prince’s Wife’s reception room.

Medeia was meeting with Kensington.

“Still, the capital’s streets are bustling with talk of Your Highness. When the High Priest sent from the central temple arrives, the news that Your Highness has inherited divine will should become more of an established fact.”

Medeia nodded.

“When the people’s will gathers, it becomes a powerful force. So, Sir, what I asked you for?”

“Yes, here it is.”

Kensington placed a thick leather book on the table.

“Belmore, Sutton, Fontaine… Are these the representative neutral nobles?”

“Yes. They are also those who once studied under Duke Eratosthenes. After the Duke retired to the countryside, they built up neutral forces that don’t involve themselves in the succession struggle. And now that the Duke has returned to politics, he has naturally become the leader of this faction. Both the 3rd Prince and the Dowager Empress’s side are trying to win him over.”

Kensington hesitated for a moment before adding.

“Lord Eratosthenes is also the father of the late Empress, so he would be the maternal grandfather to His Highness Chezare.”

Coincidentally, these were the people whom Chezare had spirited away from the execution ground and saved after the Empress’s death.

However, far from repaying their debt to the 1st Prince, they had built up an independent neutral faction.

Kensington didn’t think they were ungrateful.

However, he considered it quite a generous act that the 1st Prince had deliberately left them alone and tolerated them.

If Chezare had set his mind to it, the neutral faction wouldn’t have even had the chance to grow their power like this.

“…Eratosthenes.”

It was a name that didn’t exist in Medeia’s previous life.

She tapped the table and fell into thought.

“When the continental conference was held, he attended as Emperor Kazen’s representative, but I’m not sure if Your Highness might have seen him.”

Kensington paused while answering.

He had noticed a pale pink invitation placed on the cabinet beside the table.

“Your Highness, this…”

Medeia gestured slightly as if to say he could look at it.

“For the Dowager Empress to suddenly… Are you thinking of attending?”

Kensington’s eyes narrowed sharply as he unfolded the invitation.

“It can’t be a coincidence that she suddenly decided to invite Your Highness. And right before the event, no less.”

It was a major breach of etiquette that an Empress would naturally know about, and a blatant provocation showing she wouldn’t give Medeia time to prepare.

“There must be a trap. I heard the Dowager Empress’s sister-in-law has been frequenting entertainment districts lately, so let me investigate their schemes more thoroughly.”

“There won’t be time for that… Isn’t this a tea party with an official invitation? If we avoid it, they’ll just bite harder.”

If people think the First Prince’s Wife is staying secluded because she’s a coward hiding with her tail between her legs, even her mystique would end.

“It’s fine. I was planning to go anyway.”

Medeia smiled.

“I have something to say to the Dowager Empress too.”

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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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