The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 298

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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 145

Medeia placed papers one by one on the table. They were palm-sized portraits.

“There’s something you need to do for me instead.”

“Countess Beaumont, Lady Evelyn, Headmistress Clarisse… aren’t these all the Dowager Empress’s close associates?”

Kensington recognized the familiar faces.

Countess Beaumont was a childhood friend who had grown up with the Dowager Empress since they were young,

Lady Evelyn was formerly Duke Dong’s financial manager, who came up to the capital together and now oversees the Crown Prince’s Palace household affairs.

Headmistress Clarisse was the headmistress of the Ladies’ Academy in the capital, responsible for educating Princess Angelique and other royal and prominent noble daughters.

“Your Majesty, do you wish me to discover their weaknesses? I’ll begin the investigation immediately. However, since I judged these individuals to be unrelated to politics, I haven’t placed any foxes around them… I cannot guarantee that I’ll be able to secure meaningful information before the tea party, no matter how hard I try.”

“There’s no need to investigate. I already know.”

“Pardon?”

“Do you remember when the golden chest Duke Dong sent to the Dowager Empress disappeared?”

Medeia lightly traced over Countess Beaumont’s portrait on the table.

“The culprit was Countess Beaumont. When the Dowager Empress became infertile due to the drugs, she stole the entire thing. Duke Dong didn’t even properly question the missing money, worried it would trouble his daughter.”

“Th-this is…”

“Lady Evelyn is a second wife who caused her husband’s eldest son to become disabled in an ‘accident’ to make her newborn son the heir.”

Medeia continued indifferently.

“The noble and virtuous Headmistress Clarisse, a model for the capital’s noble ladies, has an illegitimate child born from an affair with a married man.”

In her past life, the 4th Princess’s faction had flourished enough to rival the 3rd Prince’s faction. These secrets were things Medeia had obtained when targeting the 4th Princess.

“Your Majesty, is this really true? Are they truly…”

Kensington’s eyes widened.

“Who knows. Whether it’s really the truth, I don’t know either.”

Medeia shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and handed the portraits to Kensington.

“Now have the foxes deliver this news to the parties involved. Then we’ll naturally find out, won’t we?”

But Kensington knew.

‘She’s saying it’s the truth. These are their leashes.’

If she wasn’t certain, my lord wouldn’t have given me orders from the start.

“How did Your Majesty discover even these things?”

The inner workings of events that even I, the head of the intelligence network, hadn’t noticed were secretive and even vile.

What Medeia had given him wasn’t simple corruption or misconduct among nobles.

A retainer who betrayed their master in the most painful moment, a succession struggle disguised as an accident, the true nature of a scholar wearing a noble mask.

These were truths that would instantly destroy their lives and shock the world.

“I’ll move immediately. With weaknesses like these, no matter what schemes the Dowager Empress has plotted, they’ll have no choice but to abandon their master in the end.”

“At least they’ll try to protect me. The moment I fall, it’ll be the day they fall too.”

Medeia wore an enigmatic smile.

“Still, please be careful.”

Kensington looked at Medeia with worried eyes.

‘The Kazen Royal Family is deep and sinister like mountains surrounded by layers, so even those as lofty and strong as Mount Tai cannot endure under those thick shadows.’

Thinking of Empress Eleonore, Kensington soon lowered his head.

In any case,

As someone who had spent his entire life in Kazen, Kensington’s intuition that traps were hidden in the tea party was accurate.

The problem was that Kensington wasn’t the only one who had noticed this fact.

A few days ago, in the entertainment district of the capital.

In the innermost room of an exclusive club where only high-ranking officials were allowed entry, the fireplace flames flickered.

“Bring more. More! Isn’t there more alcohol?”

Jason roughly shook the bottle. The empty bottle only gave off a strong alcoholic scent.

He was already heavily drunk.

His neatly groomed hair was completely disheveled, and his usually impeccable dandy clothes were nowhere to be seen.

His smooth skin had dried up completely and with the alcohol flush, he looked almost like a carrot.

“Your Highness, you’ve already had too much. Tonight, please restrain yourself-“

“Didn’t I tell you to bring it!”

Crash-!

The bottle he threw shattered against the fireplace.

The attendant yelped and hurriedly left to bring more alcohol.

“…How could you… how could you do this to me…”

Jason, left alone, muttered.

Beyond the flickering fireplace flames, the image of Chezare and Medeia together appeared like a phantom.

Those two being married.

Medeia’s husband not being him, but that detestable bastard who had always been the blemish of his life.

“…She’s mine. She was my woman. It was me, not you. Me!”

Jealousy. Anger. Helplessness.

Unable to swallow the raw emotions that remained unresolved, Jason abruptly stood up and roughly swept everything off the table.

Crash-!

The sound of things breaking and shattering assaulted his ears.

“Again… I’ll take her back… what you stole, I’ll… all of it…!”

With bloodshot eyes, he panted and repeated.

“All of it!”

“Your Highness, please calm down. Who has hurt Your Highness’s heart so?”

Just as he was about to rage again, gentle hands caressed Jason’s chin.

Sweet fragrance. Coquettish speech patterns. It was one of the club’s ladies.

As if she couldn’t see the chaos spread at her feet, the woman sat beside Jason.

Her focus solely on the man before her was remarkably natural.

“What could a thing like you possibly do?”

Jason snorted.

While not hiding his blatant disregard for her, he didn’t stop her from touching his face.

“Did you go to the gambling den again? I told you not to get into fistfights.”

“…”

“Oh my, that place only has scary people, so it’s dangerous. What if someone as precious as Your Grace the Duke gets hurt?”

“If I don’t do at least that much…”

Even picking fights and getting thoroughly beaten couldn’t erase Medeia’s image.

“What?”

The lady who had been kissing Jason’s wounded hand looked up with wide eyes.

“You need to open your eyes wider. Don’t smile so loosely.”

“Your Highness…?”

“Have you forgotten how to pretend to be innocent after being so worn out?”

“Ah, it hurts, Your Highness…”

Jason gripped her chin tightly and turned it this way and that.

“Look at me with eyes that say you love me so much you can’t bear it. As if I’m the only one in your world, as if you could do anything for me…”

Perhaps because he had longed for it to the bone, overlaying Medeia’s face onto this woman’s wasn’t too difficult.

“Medeia. Dea, my wife… my love…”

He leaned down.

The lady stiffened. It wasn’t just because of the strong alcoholic scent that stung her nose.

‘Medeia?’

Being a high-class club, she had memorized all the names of royalty and high-ranking nobles.

The name of the woman he was calling being the same as the First Prince’s Wife was just a coincidence, right?

‘That can’t be. They’re family after all.’

No matter how much Duke Castulo had lost all his former influence, he wouldn’t be shameless enough to covet his cousin’s wife.

“Answer me, Dea.”

Then, Jason gripped the woman’s chin roughly again and demanded.

“Y-Your Highness.”

“Tell me you’ll come back to me. Tell me you chose that bastard to make me realize my mistakes. Tell me you still love Zim, that you belong to Zim…”

Zim? Even his way of addressing himself was now all mixed up.

The Lady found it somewhat amusing that even this pitiful Duke still harbored dreams of the Imperial Throne in his heart.

“Your Highness, please don’t handle me too roughly. I’m supposed to perform at the tea party the Dowager Empress is hosting in a few days.”

She acted coquettishly as she pushed against Jason’s chest.

“The new First Prince’s Wife is also coming, and even though I’m lowly, I don’t want to go there all bruised up, do I?”

“The First Prince’s Wife? At the Dowager Empress’s tea party?”

“Yes? Yes…”

At that moment, Jason’s previously unfocused pupils suddenly sharpened. The Lady felt a chill at the sight.

“Are there no others, no other people?”

“Besides me, three or four of my colleagues are going too. Everyone’s so excited since it’s their first time going to the Imperial Palace. Who would have imagined we’d get to see such noble people?”

The Lady’s voice full of anticipation no longer reached Jason’s ears.

He knew the Dowager Empress.

Would a woman so thoroughly bound by class consciousness, befitting the 4th Princess’s mother, really have a vulgar Lady perform at her tea party? But.

‘If Medeia is there, then it makes sense.’

This tea party was a trap targeting Medeia.

‘See, Medeia. Do you think anything will change just because you marry that bastard Chezare? You’ll face more enemies than in your past life and walk on even more dangerous ground.’

A strange gleam flashed in Jason’s eyes.

‘This is an opportunity. I need to make Dea realize that he’s an even worse choice.’

“Wh-where are you going, Your Highness?”

He hastily rose from his seat.

He didn’t care that the Lady who had been leaning against him fell into an unseemly sprawl.

“Duke, Your Highness?”

The coachman waiting in front of the club looked surprised.

He had expected the Duke to come out heavily drunk around dawn as usual, but he was coming out already?

“We’re going to the Duke of the North’s Mansion.”

Three years ago, the Emperor had reclaimed the Castulo duchy from Jason and sent him to Armandi in the North.

And Jason had joined hands with the Black Mages to eliminate the Duke of the North at the time, who had been the Emperor’s man.

The current Duke of the North was clearly an ally, if not explicitly Jason’s supporter. They knew each other’s secrets and families well.

‘The Duke of the North’s daughter had long desired Chezare. They were even engaged at one point.’

So much so that she remained in the Capital City instead of going north with her family, just because Chezare was there.

“At this hour, sir?”

No matter how close they were, wouldn’t it be rather rude at this time of night?

But before the coachman could hesitate further, another order came flying.

“And find out if you can get an invitation to the Dowager Empress’s tea party.”

“Pardon? Yes, sir.”

“If you find Countess Olkein Delgano, it shouldn’t be difficult. Let’s go.”

Clatter, clatter.

The carriage departed.

Jason glanced out the window. The pitch-black night seemed just like his life without her.

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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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