The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 311
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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 158
People’s gazes focused on the First Prince’s Wife.
The face that had been clear and delicate just moments before was no longer lovely.
“First Prince’s Wife, Your Highness. Why don’t you try making an excuse.”
The Captain of the Knights spoke triumphantly.
Medeia slowly opened her mouth.
“…It is true that I told my guard to take that sword outside and dispose of it.”
It’s true!
The First Prince’s Wife admitted it!
The sound of people gasping burst out from all over the banquet hall.
“However, my subordinate is innocent. I too swear before the Goddess that I have never done anything shameful to Kazen.”
Despite the countless sharp gazes and wariness around her, the First Prince’s Wife calmly answered toward the Emperor.
“However, there was a reason I could not easily reveal as a member of the Kazen royal family. If Your Majesty permits, I would like to quietly tell you the whole story separately-“
“Are you confessing with your own mouth?! That you spied for Valdina?!”
Perdickas II cut off his daughter-in-law’s words. His eyes were as sharp as a well-honed blade.
“Father.”
Then, the 1st Prince stepped forward.
“How can you listen to only one side?”
“Have you now become so blinded by your wife that you can’t tell heaven from earth?”
The Emperor’s anger grew uncontrollably.
“Are you the 1st Prince of Kazen, or the 1st Prince of Valdina? Are you now planning to offer this empire to Valdina and wag your tail for your wife?”
The Queen Mother beside him also subtly added her words.
“First Prince’s Wife. I’m sorry, but if you think you can escape this situation with your smooth words, you’d better stop. We accepted you as family of our Kazen royal family, yet you betrayed that trust and conspired with your homeland… That is treason.”
Cold pity appeared in her sharp eyes.
“You might be able to preserve your pitiful life with the immunity privilege His Majesty granted. But we can no longer keep you in this empire.”
The Emperor’s face hardened further at the Queen Mother’s addition.
‘These damn Valdina siblings tried to stab me in the back using the privilege I granted them.’
Confirming that anger was growing on her husband’s face, the Queen Mother swallowed a stifled laugh.
And as if genuinely sorrowful, she added toward the 1st Prince.
“Chezare, you were also uncharacteristically reckless. To suffer such a fate by misjudging a person…”
And she didn’t forget to throw a dagger at the 1st Prince, her son’s political rival.
“When you bring the wrong person into your household, it leads to the destruction of the entire family. Would the royal family be any different?”
While maintaining dignity befitting a benevolent elder of the royal family, her words contained reproach toward the short-sighted adopted son and cunning daughter-in-law.
Medeia slightly raised the corners of her mouth.
“When nothing has been revealed yet, you slander my homeland like this – what will you do if it turns out to be untrue, Your Majesty the Queen Mother.”
“First Prince’s Wife, I told you that you cannot resolve this situation with your smooth rhetoric.”
The Queen Mother’s voice was as benevolent as one scolding a foolish child, but it contained chilling condemnation.
“…”
Medeia stared intently at the Queen Mother.
“…First Prince’s Wife? What’s wrong.”
‘Could she have noticed that this was my doing? No… Even if she knew, it’s too late now.’
The Queen Mother’s heart suddenly grew cold. However, she soon put on a thin composure like a smile and asked back.
Meanwhile, Medeia let out a short sigh.
“As you know, I’m quite accustomed to the kindness I’ve shown returning as malice.”
She continued in a very slow voice.
“If you insist on doing so… it can’t be helped.”
After uttering those meaningful words that seemed aimed at the Queen Mother, she turned toward the dagger the Captain of the Knights had thrown as evidence.
“It’s true that my knight recently came to possess this sword by chance. However…”
She admits to the sword, but not the secret letter?
Understanding her meaning, the 1st Prince and the young minister of Valdina moved simultaneously. Each picked up one piece of parchment that had fallen from the handle, from their respective closest positions.
“Oh my.”
Though their actions of picking up were the same, their emerging expressions were different.
Unlike the 1st Prince’s smooth eyebrows stiffening slightly as if unexpected, the young minister of Valdina crookedly pulled up the corners of his mouth.
“A secret letter from Agema knight Menil to his homeland Valdina.”
Those who noticed the faint mockery in his voice thought about how arrogant Valdina, now a new empire, had become to show no remorse even when caught red-handed.
“Please see for yourself and speak, Your Majesty the Emperor of Kazen.”
Sisear tried to hand the parchment to Perdickas II. Then the Emperor snorted and waved his hand dismissively.
“There’s no need. What would I gain by knowing more of your schemes. Though Valdina calls itself a new empire, its mindset is still nothing but a small nation.”
“Then, you’re truly saying it doesn’t matter if I read this here.”
At Sisear’s retort, the Head Servant hesitated. Something was strange.
‘If that guard were truly a Valdina spy, neither the 1st Prince couple nor this minister could remain so calm until now.’
Before the Emperor’s reply came, the Head Servant quickly stepped forward and picked up the parchment.
“…!”
His hand holding the small note suddenly stopped. His wrinkled face turning pale was a bonus.
“…Your Majesty. This… you should see it yourself.”
The Head Servant, who had turned ashen, held it out to the Emperor.
The Emperor’s face gradually turned red and blue as he read it. His philtrum and brow began trembling violently.
Only the onlookers were puzzled by his intense reaction, as if his madness had relapsed.
What on earth was written in the secret letter to cause such a reaction?
‘Why is he acting like that again.’
The Queen Mother also frowned.
The parchment should contain information about Kazen’s classified documents or secret locations,
‘Of course it was selected to contain matters that would anger the Emperor, but that reaction is still excessively intense.’
Meanwhile, the Emperor glared at the First Prince’s Wife. After glaring for a long time, he finally opened his mouth.
“…You are quite thoughtful.”
It was sudden praise when just moments ago he was like a kettle beginning to boil, unable to contain his anger. People became confused.
‘The Emperor’s mood has changed again. Ha, you never know which way he’ll turn.’
The Queen Mother bit the inside of her lips.
“Your Majesty. This is treason. I beseech you to show the dignity of Kazen’s sovereign by not letting such a grave crime pass vaguely.”
3rd Prince Juan also thought this was a good opportunity to trip up the triumphant 1st Prince faction and supported his mother’s words.
“Privately, she is our sister-in-law, but isn’t this a matter involving Kazen’s reputation. Father, please reconsider once more-“
“Silence!”
The teacup the Emperor threw shattered at the Queen Mother’s feet. Small fragments sharply struck her cheek and fell.
“Queen Mother, if you’re in charge of the Inner Palace, you should know how to embrace family, so how can you step forward first to create discord!”
A fierce voice echoed.
“Return to the palace immediately and reflect. Don’t come out until I permit it.”
This was the Emperor’s birthday celebration. For the head of the Inner Palace to be confined to the palace at a gathering with distinguished guests, ministers, and even foreign delegations.
It was no different from slapping the Queen Mother’s face.
‘Why on earth…?’
The faces of the Queen Mother and her son hardened at this humiliating act. They couldn’t understand why the Emperor’s anger had suddenly turned on them.
They couldn’t understand how the situation was flowing.
‘Where did his mood get damaged again-‘
Then, the Queen Mother’s eyes briefly caught the parchment thrown at her feet along with the teacup.
Instantly, she gasped as if cold ice water had been poured over her head.
“M, Mother…”
The 3rd Prince carefully called to his mother, but she seemed unable to hear her son’s voice.
The Queen Mother slowly picked up the parchment.
[My beloved Alphie-]
‘H, how…’
The color gradually drained from the Queen Mother’s face as she read through the unfolded secret letter.
Her fingertips trembled slightly.
A familiar handwriting was clearly positioned on the parchment.
[This place Kazen is like a silent prison. Are you living well after abandoning me? You don’t care at all about us mother and child who are bound to the shadow of an old, sick mountain and rotting away day by day, do you?]
Why was a love letter written in her own handwriting on this parchment!
She closed her eyes tightly and opened them again, but the letters remained the same.
‘Bridget-!’
The Queen Mother raised her head sharply.
She looked for her trusted subordinate whom she had recently instructed to put the secret letter inside the dagger.
Her eyes sharply swept across the banquet hall.
But she wasn’t there.
Nowhere in this bright and bustling banquet hall could she find Bridget, who had moved like the Queen Mother’s hands and feet, like a shadow.
When a chilling sensation swept down the Queen Mother’s spine, she finally realized.
‘I, I have fallen into a trap.’
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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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