The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 304

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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 151

Somehow, he looked familiar.

Where had she seen him before? While she was briefly thinking, the young novice had already disappeared from view long ago.

The gaze that seemed to be looking this way from afar had also vanished.

“Later, tell Kensington about their appearance so we can find out who they are.”

“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll do that.”

Fortunately, the path the young novice had told them was accurate.

Before long, the splendid dome of the Crown Prince’s Palace came back into view.

And only then did the movements of the palace servants begin to catch their eye.

The rest of the way was familiar.

The two soon successfully escaped the Crown Prince’s Palace,

and a massive black carriage engraved with the First Prince’s crest stood tall on the green grass, greeting them.

“Zeta!”

Saya ran toward Zeta with a delighted face.

“Why did it take so long? I thought something had happened and was about to storm back into the Crown Prince’s Palace.”

Zeta frowned in an uncharacteristic way.

“It was my fault. We almost—, I’ll tell you when we get back. It wasn’t anything serious.”

Saya, who was about to say they almost ran into the Emperor, quickly shut her mouth when she noticed the curious gazes watching them.

“Yes, the roses in the Crown Prince’s Palace were beautiful, so we were delayed a bit. Sorry for making you worry.”

“No, Your Highness. Rather than my worry—”

Zeta scratched her head as if she wanted to say something. However, she soon closed her mouth.

“Is it because you only took Saya to the greenhouse?”

Certainly, if Zeta had been there, they wouldn’t have gotten lost inside the Imperial Palace.

But while her skills were flawless, she wasn’t as optimized for the psychological warfare and subtle battles between people as Saya was.

If it had been Zeta or Neryl, they probably would have drawn their swords without hesitation the moment they saw the seat the Dowager Empress had prepared for Medeia earlier.

The thought of that scene made her smile a little.

“No, that’s not it…”

So Medeia failed to notice Zeta’s voice, which was unusually flustered.

“Hm?”

At that moment, her waist was suddenly lifted.

Her body floated lightly, a familiar musk scent filled her nostrils, and she felt like she was floating in the sky for a moment.

Someone had lifted her up and embraced her.

In rhythm with his steps, the hem of Medeia’s dress fluttered as if carried by the spring breeze.

“I came to pick you up, Dea.”

Lustrous black hair, eyes brilliant as the sun,

the First Prince, who looked exceptionally handsome today, was right before her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. I informed my lord. While everyone was coming out, I wondered if something might have happened inside…”

As if she were the culprit, Zeta bowed her head.

However, Medeia knew. The time she had spent alone with the Dowager Empress in the glass greenhouse was short.

So timing-wise, it was too early for Chezare to arrive here after Zeta sent word.

So he had

“planned to come from the beginning, didn’t you?”

She should have realized it when he suddenly offered to escort her this morning.

When Medeia gave him a sideways glance, Chezare kissed her cheek as if that was the correct answer.

“Speed is life when it comes to disposing of corpses. I was on standby to move immediately once the order was given.”

Zeta clicked her tongue inwardly.

Someone busier than the Emperor in this capital city on standby? Did her lord really think Her Highness would believe such an absurd statement?

“So, what’s the result?”

Medeia noticed the faint expectation in his subtly questioning voice.

“I didn’t kill anyone.”

“Oh, what a shame.”

“Though I did make one lady-in-waiting cry.”

Medeia easily found Princess Straus among the gazes watching them with shock over Chezare’s shoulder.

“She seems to have liked you for quite a long time.”

She had cleverly picked up one of the things the aristocratic ladies at today’s tea party had whispered behind their fans.

Actually, she had heard every single word.

That Princess Straus had desperately sought him even when the First Prince was terminally ill,

and that Duke Leniar, the leader of the First Prince’s faction and Chezare’s maternal grandfather, had once proposed a marriage arrangement between Chezare and her due to that devotion.

“So?”

What does that have to do with me?

Chezare looked as incredulous as if he’d been told he had horns growing from his forehead.

“I don’t even know who she is.”

“Too many past partners to narrow it down to just one?”

Medeia’s voice was quite cold.

At today’s tea party, she had learned about all the young ladies who had ever been mentioned as the First Prince’s potential partners.

“…Are you jealous?”

“As if.”

Medeia snorted as if it was ridiculous.

However, contrary to her words, her eyes were directed not at him, but toward Princess Straus.

The lady-in-waiting’s almond-colored eyes were wide open as she watched Chezare carefully setting Medeia down.

Much wider than when she had been slapped by her earlier.

Affection and longing for Chezare were clearly spread across that gaze.

Medeia stiffened.

‘I… can’t look at him like that.’

Because she realized that at least when it came to love, Princess Straus was superior to her.

In this life, she had never felt such emotions for anyone, but the moment she became aware of that fact, a subtle sense of defeat seeped into Medeia’s heart.

Lost innocence, naivety that doesn’t doubt affection, longing directed solely at one person.

Things that no longer existed within her were still vividly alive and breathing in that lady-in-waiting.

Medeia unconsciously grabbed Chezare’s arm.

“Dea?”

The face of the man who shone most brilliantly even in this splendid Imperial Palace filled her vision.

Slightly furrowed dark eyebrows and a straight nose. Golden eyes examining her closely, trying to read her expression.

Veins stood out on her slender hand as if proving ownership.

Those lips that call my name, this firm arm I’m holding now, and even the hot pulse flowing beneath it—everything.

‘I won’t let it be taken away.’

From deep within Medeia’s heart, an intense desire that was foreign even to herself surged up.

She thought everything had burned away leaving only ash, but did she still have such embers remaining?

“Dea, what’s wrong?”

Chezare noticed that her gaze was directed behind his shoulder.

When he was about to turn his head that way, Medeia grabbed both of Chezare’s cheeks and fixed them toward her.

“It’s nothing. The Dowager Empress—”

She felt a petty and childish desire to show Princess Straus—no, actually everyone—who this man belonged to.

Even while vaguely aware that this wasn’t like her, that she would regret this moment later.

Medeia reached out her hand.

Chezare, like an obedient hound, savored his wife’s strange transformation.

As her small, white hand swept through his hair,

“—is a gift from her.”

Even when his wife mumbled this excuse while tucking a red rose blossom beside his ear, he deliberately bent his waist to meet his wife’s eyes.

“…The flower, or you?”

The beautiful man, who harmonized perfectly with the deep rose without any sense of discord, asked mischievously.

“….”

When Medeia kept her mouth tightly shut and said nothing, he burst into laughter.

What could have happened to make her, who had always stood outside the line, take such a bold step forward?

Whatever had served as a catalyst at the Crown Prince’s Palace, he was simply delighted.

Chezare, who had no intention whatsoever of rejecting the affection he had been waiting for, immediately caught her small hand and pressed it to his lips.

“Doesn’t the Queen Mother have any tea party plans?”

If not, I’ll have to ask the Late Emperor.

“Shall I bring my brothers back? There are too few royals remaining in the palace right now to hold tea parties every day.”

White fingers mercilessly pinched his whispering arm.

As if he hadn’t expected an answer anyway, Chezare pulled her into another tight embrace and lifted her up.

Ahaha. He burst into laughter.

The laughter spilling between his well-shaped lips, the moment it shattered piece by piece under the sunlight, was dazzling.

Medeia surrendered to the momentary impulse and pulled Chezare’s neck toward her with both arms.

And just as he had done, she buried her face in his shoulder.

Unaware that he had frozen at the sensation of lips touching his neck, she struggled to suppress the bright blue flames spreading deep in her chest.

It seemed like it would be alright.

Even if this intense flame that had captured her now was merely possessiveness toward this man,

Even if it was a reaction to her past life where she had only been robbed of everything.

She felt that this man in these solid arms she was embracing now would willingly remain by her side.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that same time, in the Western Palace of the Kazen Imperial Palace.

“I heard that the new High Priest sent by the Holy Kingdom has arrived at the Cathedral.”

The Queen Mother was receiving a report from her maid.

“What has become of it, Bridget? How long has it been since I sent that message, and there’s still no reply?”

She reproached the middle-aged woman of mature years.

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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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