The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 302
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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 149
“How dare you suggest forming an alliance with me now?”
The Dowager Empress let out a scornful laugh. There was savagery at its edges.
“How can I trust you, who dragged my daughter to the ground?”
“If you wish to rekindle old hatred, you should first consider who those flames will consume.”
Medeia gazed calmly.
“It seems the Dowager Empress has prepared to throw yourself into the fire as well?”
If you aim for me, you too will burn together, completely consumed.
In that gaze and question, a cold blade that pierced the Dowager Empress’s heart was properly sharpened.
The Dowager Empress swallowed a hollow laugh.
‘Who, who on earth said Valdina’s daughter was foolish.’
Now I understand.
How cunningly this young woman had been hiding her true nature beneath the surface.
“Or does Your Majesty the Dowager Empress still believe your daughter can become the Empire’s successor?”
“….”
The Dowager Empress bit her lips tightly.
She could no longer deny it.
Once she had dreamed. Of the day her daughter Angelique would sit on the golden Imperial Throne.
But now that brilliant dream had long since fallen to the ground and been covered in dust.
Her daughter had already been pushed from the center.
Princess Angelique was already a discarded card in politics.
Even if a miracle occurred and the 1st Prince or 3rd Prince died, the nobles of Kazen would bring other princes rather than enthrone Angelique as Emperor.
‘Far from the Imperial Throne, even seeing that child again is distant.’
The cold Emperor treated his daughter who had defied his will and ruined his plans like an enemy.
Loyal retainers fled to save their own lives, and even Duke Dong, who had tried to save his granddaughter, was bedridden with illness.
Now all that remained for the Dowager Empress was eyes that grew raw each night and longing that couldn’t even easily speak her child’s name.
“….”
“You cannot trust me, I suppose.”
Medeia smiled gently and quietly stroked the rim of her teacup.
The tea had long grown cold, and she had no intention of drinking more, yet her touch caressing the smooth surface was tender.
“What if the first step in building trust between us was bringing Princess back to this capital?”
What? The Dowager Empress suddenly raised her head.
Her large eyes filled with suspicion and surprise at once.
“Ha, that’s impossible.”
Soon the Dowager Empress scoffed as if it were nonsense.
“Your situation is desperate, so you’re spouting words beyond your means. Did I look so easy to you?”
“I imagine Your Majesty the Dowager Empress has endured weary days without being able to harbor even a glimmer of hope.”
A calm but seemingly comforting voice settled down.
“Even so, wouldn’t giving up be too cruel to Princess, who waits only for her mother?”
“Shut up! A mere girl like you has no right to speak of such things!”
Even I, her mother, couldn’t do it.
How desperately I struggled to save Angelique.
Even bringing all available means – favor, power, and wealth – I ultimately couldn’t change the Emperor’s heart.
“To His Majesty, Angelique is no longer a daughter. She’s the one who ruined your plans and made Valdina prosperous. She is His Majesty’s wound itself, a mark of failure.”
Like an unconscious reflex, the Dowager Empress’s true feelings burst out.
The Emperor’s madness and obsession grew worse daily, and no one could break his stubbornness.
“Every time your husband gained power, every time Valdina’s name was mentioned, His Majesty thought of Angelique. And he directed all blame and resentment toward that child. So… that child’s return will never be permitted.”
How ridiculous.
To reveal my deepest feelings, never shared with anyone, before this detestable girl who deserved to be torn apart.
A child now forgotten from everyone’s minds.
Had my heart been swayed by this girl’s words about saving my daughter, whom only I missed?
I really have become pathetic, the Dowager Empress thought.
“Yes, it’s certainly not an easy task. That’s what makes it all the more valuable.”
But the First Prince’s Wife remained unchanged.
As if completely untainted by the depth of despair the Dowager Empress had unconsciously revealed, her beautiful face remained calm.
The confidence reflected on her pale face belonged to one who had never been crushed, never once fallen.
Just as her daughter Angelique once had.
“Actions speak louder than a hundred words.”
Seeing the Dowager Empress’s distorted expression, Medeia smiled.
“Let’s discuss our alliance again on the day Princess sets foot on the capital’s soil once more.”
“Get out!”
The Dowager Empress gritted her teeth and shouted. Medeia calmly bent her knees in greeting.
“Then, Your Majesty the Dowager Empress, may you remain well until then.”
* * *
“That insolent thing….”
Even after the First Prince’s Wife left, the Dowager Empress couldn’t fully vent her indignation.
As she pressed her lips tightly together, catching her breath,
“Your Majesty….”
She raised her head at the familiar voice.
Countess Beaumont, Lady Evelyn, and Headmistress Clarisse stood before the Dowager Empress with faces like corpses drained of souls.
Their pale faces were filled with tears, and their bloodless lips trembled finely.
Having caused their master’s plan to fail, now only bearing that anger remained.
“Please kill us, we dared to abandon Your Majesty.”
They knelt down. Their faces were stained with tears.
“Pathetic things. Coming back to beg my forgiveness without knowing shame? Did I… did I seem foolish enough to accept rotten traitors?”
Splash—!
Tea water poured over their heads.
Fragments of the thrown and shattered teacup grazed their faces and hands, creating red streaks.
These were people of such status that their names alone were recognizable.
Though they had never experienced such humiliation even within the palace,
knowing the sin they had committed today, they couldn’t even think to wipe away the bloody tea water flowing down, keeping their heads bowed.
“The First Prince’s Wife…. I, my child…. I simply couldn’t….”
“My mother… to the First Prince….”
Incomprehensible excuses leaked out between tangled sobs.
The Dowager Empress shot back coldly.
“Where did those pathetic oaths to serve me loyally even unto death go! Knowing the First Prince’s character, did you stay by my side without being prepared for some of your people to die?”
Her eyes glaring at them were like frost.
The mere fact that those she trusted most had ruined her plans and thrown filth in her face made them deserve strangling to death on the spot.
“We’re sorry, Your Majesty…. Truly sorry…. *sob*….”
“I, for a moment, lost my mind. I was so afraid…. *sniff*….”
The First Prince’s Wife had calmly admitted it.
That she had used her husband to kidnap and threaten the families of the Dowager Empress’s close associates.
‘Claris has an ailing mother, and Beaumont and Evelyn are devoted to their children.’
Such petty family affection should have been cast aside before loyalty between lord and retainer. However.
‘Even I couldn’t sever those harsh feelings, so how can I blame them?’
The Dowager Empress squeezed her eyes shut. The rising anger was extinguished as if someone had poured a bucket of water over the flames.
The Dowager Empress swallowed a short sigh.
“Ha, enough. Leave. Don’t show your faces until I call for you.”
The tear-stained faces looked up in surprise.
The fact that the Dowager Empress wasn’t immediately having the maids beat and drive them out surely meant she would forgive them.
“Y-Your Majesty. Never, never again will I do such a thing.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty, truly huu…”
“Quiet, get out.”
The Dowager Empress waved her hand irritably.
Seeing them all with faces pale as corpses, it was obvious without saying how much their hearts must have burned with worry for their families dragged away by that cruel bastard.
“Pathetic fools, when those under me are all in such a state, no wonder I suffer this humiliation even from that green 1st Imperial Princess.”
However, contrary to her words, the hatred toward Medeia that once burned within her was now absent.
It was because the words she had left behind just moments ago had breathed a handful of hope into the Dowager Empress’s heart.
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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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