The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 308

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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 155

“Of course, you came at the right time. I’m truly glad you’re here today.”

Medeia smiled.

Unlike her usual impassive face, she didn’t hide her joy at meeting a vassal from her homeland at all.

Moreover, if it was Sisear, wasn’t he the person who got along with her better than anyone else in Valdina?

“How is everyone doing?”

Sisear gazed at the Princess, no, his little master who had now become the First Prince’s Wife of Kazen.

Medeia had her silver hair pinned up with pearl ornaments and wore a light purple silk dress.

A pink blush graced her pale skin, and her clear green eyes sparkled with joy, making her look like a young fairy who had just entered the human world.

“…”

In Sisear’s eyes, the young Princess of Valdina overlapped with that image.

The image of her lively and innocent childhood, when she had grown up receiving all the love of the late royal couple.

The fact that he was seeing that image again here in Kazen, not in their homeland Valdina, when it had been fading even from his memories, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“…Everyone is doing so well that Your Highness’s worries would be meaningless. They only… miss Your Highness. His Majesty and… everyone.”

Sisear had to bite the inside of his mouth to avoid thinking about why Medeia looked more dazzling than the chandeliers illuminating the Grand Banquet Hall.

“I have many errands to deliver to Your Highness, including His Majesty’s letter. I’ll send someone after the banquet.”

“Are you planning to return immediately after the birthday celebration?”

Unaware that Sisear was struggling to answer, the smile on Medeia’s face faded slightly. It seemed like unconsciously revealed disappointment.

Her face was saying, ‘I thought you would stay a bit longer.’

Sisear unconsciously clenched his fist, as if he could grasp the air that couldn’t possibly be caught.

“Yes, forgive me. There are many pressing matters—”

“Still, shouldn’t you rest and recover from your journey?”

Just then, a languid voice interrupted.

A shadow fell between the two people. It was Chezare.

His black hair gleamed with a luster darker than darkness under the light.

The golden thread embroidered with the imperial crest on his sharply tailored black military uniform was the only element that made the man look gentle.

“Why don’t you stay a bit longer? If only for the sake of those waiting for you.”

Something lightly settled on Medeia’s shoulders.

It was a lace cape intricately woven with silver thread.

Woven with Silvarend thread made by elves, immediate warmth enveloped her cooled skin.

Chezare spoke while draping the delicate cape over his wife with surprising skill, a cape so fragile it seemed it would tear at the slightest wrong touch.

“If you leave in such a hurry, Dea will be disappointed.”

He didn’t hide that he cherished his wife.

His subsequent invitation of Sisear to his palace also seemed to be an extension of such an attitude.

“…”

The two men’s gazes met for an instant.

The wife’s vassal and the master’s companion. The distance between them was exactly that much.

“Damn it, Akaress. At least make an excuse!”

“Call it contradictory, call it cowardly. Either way, I don’t have the luxury of being considerate.”

As if no one could recall, or rather, as if they chose not to recall, that final moment when their long friendship had shattered.

“…”

Sisear, who had been silent for a moment behind his wire-rimmed glasses that had become opaque from reflected light, soon bowed in greeting.

“…I’m grateful for the First Prince’s consideration. Then, I shall stay for a few days, however, to avoid any personal misunderstandings as Valdina’s representative, I will arrange separate accommodations.”

Nothing but courtesy could be felt in his diplomatically flawless, smooth voice.

“…Fine, as you wish.”

However, no one noticed that Chezare’s expression had actually hardened slightly at such a response.

Just then, the melody of the music changed. It was time for the royals to dance.

“Medeia, we have to go.”

Chezare took Medeia’s hand.

She nodded and turned toward Sisear.

“Count Sisear, Kazen’s nights are most pleasant at this time. It would be a shame to miss it, so you should go get some fresh air.”

Though it sounded like a suggestion, Sisear soon realized it was Medeia’s tacit command.

‘She wants to tell me something away from prying eyes.’

For a moment, his heart raced, wondering if she might be conveying her intention to return to Valdina.

But he soon realized.

‘If that were the case, she wouldn’t have said it where Chezare could hear.’

“…Yes, I think I need some rest as I’m feeling tired.”

Sisear watched Medeia’s retreating figure as she headed to the floor.

Even that was obscured as she was embraced by Chezare, making it difficult to see properly.

Eventually, Sisear turned around.

The corridor of the Grand Banquet Hall.

Kazen’s cold night breeze greeted Sisear.

It was the moment when the heat that had been quietly burning inside was extinguished.

“Oh my!”

A middle-aged noblewoman hurrying through the corridor stumbled as her heel caught, swaying. The hem of her dark dress fluttered.

She avoided falling ungracefully by turning and grabbing onto a statue in the corridor.

However, the violent movement caused the brooch on her collar to fall and roll away.

“Oh my, where did it go? It definitely fell here…”

The lady frantically composed herself while looking around.

“Madam, are you looking for this?”

Click. It was when Sisear picked up the brooch that had stopped at his feet.

“…”

He paused.

Because he caught sight of a small, intricate red fox shape engraved on the back of the brooch.

At such close distance, it was such a small pattern that he wouldn’t have noticed it unless he had consciously flipped it over to examine it closely.

“Oh my, there it was. Thank you.”

The lady approached Sisear with relief.

“It would have been troublesome if I had lost it since it’s something important I can’t afford to lose. Especially on a day like today…”

The lady smiled sweetly as she took the brooch.

A piece of parchment slid under their touching fingertips.

“Then, may the joy of today’s birthday celebration be eternal for such a kind guest.”

The lady curtsied slightly in greeting and passed by.

It was an utterly ordinary encounter that no one would pay attention to.

Sisear stopped walking.

‘…Your Highness’s person is beside the Queen Mother?’

He had already confirmed that the lady who returned to the banquet hall went to the Queen Mother’s side.

The fact that they had deliberately sent a stranger to deliver this, even though Valdina-born members of the Princess’s faction including Menil and Neryl were still in the banquet hall, meant…

‘It seems someone is plotting something concerning our Valdina today.’

Sisear pushed the parchment deep into his pocket with an indifferent expression.

And as if nothing had happened, he resumed walking.

* * *

Meanwhile, at that moment, a carriage arrived late at Kazen’s Imperial Palace.

The decorations carved on the carriage bore the style of a foreign country, not Kazen’s way.

The carriage door opened, and a middle-aged man stepped out.

“Welcome to His Majesty the Emperor’s birthday celebration. The Grand Banquet Hall is this way.”

“I know.”

When the palace servant tried to guide him, the man waved his hand and immediately began walking.

A purple cloak with exotic patterns wrapped around his long, lean body.

Though traces of time were lightly etched on the man’s face, he was still a striking handsome man.

The man’s face bore faint traces of time, yet he was still a strikingly handsome man.

With that youthful appearance, it was easy to imagine how he must have made countless young hearts flutter in his younger days.

“My goodness, who is this? Alfred!”

A Kazen nobleman who had been strolling through the Imperial Palace garden, escaping the noisy banquet hall, spotted the man and joyfully spread his arms wide in greeting.

“It’s been a long time.”

“Just how long has it been? You haven’t changed at all. Even the demon of time seems to have gone easy on you.”

The Kazen nobleman clicked his tongue.

He gazed enviously at the man’s still full head of hair and trim waistline, so different from his own already thinning crown and body full of excess flesh.

“Yes, it’s been decades since I’ve been to Kazen. I thought I’d never set foot in this place again before I died.”

“What a terrible friend you are. I sent you correspondence so many times, but not a single reply? You’re truly heartless.”

At the nobleman’s grumbling, the man smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the palace dome.

* * *

At that moment, back in the Grand Banquet Hall.

Sharp tension appeared around the Queen Mother’s eyes.

“Princess Straus did not attend today. It seems true that the Duke of the North came to the capital city himself to take his daughter away, Your Majesty.”

Maid Bridget whispered carefully into the Queen Mother’s ear.

Befitting the Queen Mother’s confidant, Bridget wore a refined dark dress that blended naturally into the splendid banquet hall.

“Among the people of the capital city as well, rumors are spreading that the reason the First Prince struck down the Duke of the North this time was because his daughter had conflicts with the First Prince’s Wife.”

The Queen Mother set down the glass she was holding. Her sharp gaze swept over the empty seat to her left.

It was the First Prince’s Wife’s seat, prepared on the same dais as hers.

‘Indeed, it was right to move now. When did she openly hate that girl, yet His Majesty suddenly tries to give her such face like this.’

Riding on even the Emperor’s whims, the First Prince’s Wife was reaping the full benefits.

‘If I let my guard down, that naive little girl will try to climb above my head next.’

She gazed coldly at the young couple sitting together, as if staring at a pair of unpleasant insects.

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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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