The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 315

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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 162

Perdickas II spoke with a bewildered expression to the bloodied Valdina knight who was receiving the famous sword.

“You are now a knight to whom I have personally bestowed a sword. If anyone harms this man without my permission, they will have to face my wrath first.”

Though it was a ceremonial courtesy to save face for Valdina’s Emperor and Chancellor, the sword the Emperor was giving was real.

“…Thank you, Your Majesty the Emperor.”

When Menil received the sword, envious glances passed among the Kazens who were skilled with swords.

To receive a famous sword that money couldn’t buy, in exchange for taking a few beatings and getting slightly cut by the Queen Mother’s blade.

Perdickas II, who couldn’t care less about his vassals’ longing, forced a dignified smile as if he wouldn’t show any more disgraceful behavior in this place.

“Dowager Empress, now you must lead this palace well. I trust you will do well without forgetting your duties or being intoxicated by your position.”

The Emperor spoke with an affectionate smile.

The Dowager Empress felt chilled by the warning subtly embedded within those words.

“Your Majesty has always been good to me.”

Nevertheless, she was relieved to notice that the Emperor’s excitement had somewhat subsided.

She gently caressed the back of his hand.

“I may not be confident in managing the Inner Palace well, but I am confident in devoting my heart to Your Majesty.”

The Dowager Empress was at least more skilled than the Queen Mother when it came to satisfying his heart.

“Yes, you understand what’s most important, so that’s enough.”

The Emperor’s gaze softened somewhat.

He pressed his temples.

His head was throbbing with heat, as if someone were slowly tapping his skull with a club.

Perdickas II staggered as he rose from the Imperial Throne.

The Head Servant quickly handed him a golden cane, which he used to stand up.

“Continue. Today is my birthday, after all. We cannot end it with just this commotion.”

Even as he left his seat, he did not allow the banquet to be suspended.

Even if his wife’s adultery had been exposed to the world, he couldn’t show that his dignity was shaken by such a thing.

“Head Servant, resume the banquet.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

At the Emperor’s command, the music began again.

The melody was more precarious than before, but no one noticed the change.

‘Now that the Queen Mother has fallen, what happens to the succession? Will she be able to recover?’

‘Should we withdraw our support now?’

Everyone in the banquet hall was lost in their own thoughts.

Even Perdickas II himself, who was leaving his seat.

‘When did the Queen Mother start harboring different feelings behind my back… Then what about Juan…?’

“Father, allow me to escort you.”

When the 3rd Prince approached, the Emperor glanced at his face.

Juan was trying to act nonchalant, but his face was ashen with shock.

The Emperor unconsciously tried to find traces of Prince Calais in his son’s face.

But in that face now, he could only see traces resembling the Queen Mother.

‘I must not act rashly yet.’

The Emperor shifted his gaze to look at the 1st Prince, who was leaning casually on the opposite side.

‘Juan is the only card I have left now.’

“…Stand back.”

Perdickas II coldly passed by the 3rd Prince.

The warm father who had embraced his son with emotion just moments ago was nowhere to be found.

“Father-“

The 3rd Prince who tried to follow was blocked by the Emperor’s knights.

Perdickas II left the banquet hall like that.

“Head Servant, come closer.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

He whispered quietly in the Head Servant’s ear.

“Investigate thoroughly how long the Queen Mother has been making a fool of me. We should search the Western Palace as well.”

It surely wasn’t a romance that ended with just one day’s transgression.

* * *

Meanwhile, the Dowager Empress spotted Medeia leaving the banquet hall in the distance.

“My goodness, what is all this about? I can’t think straight. I need to go touch up my makeup for a moment.”

“Yes, Your Majesty the Dowager Empress.”

The Dowager Empress slipped out of the banquet hall under the pretense of fixing her makeup.

Soon she spotted the tall maid of the First Prince’s Wife standing blankly in front of the ladies’ room.

“You all wait here.”

The Dowager Empress, her eyes gleaming, ordered her own maids before entering the ladies’ room.

Inside, a young maid was tending to the First Prince’s Wife’s hair.

“Saya, you may step back. Have you come, Your Majesty the Dowager Empress?”

The First Prince’s Wife rose from her seat with a calm expression.

Her attitude was so composed it was hard to believe she had been at the center of the commotion that had just turned the banquet hall upside down.

“It was you who did this, wasn’t it?”

However, the Dowager Empress didn’t glare hatefully at the First Prince’s Wife’s serene face as she had at the last tea party.

“How on earth did you manage it?”

Instead, she approached with a beaming smile and grasped Medeia’s hands.

“Alfred – I had forgotten about that man myself, so how did you find him? His whereabouts were mysterious after he left Kazen!”

The ladies’ room was far from the banquet hall.

Only after coming to a place where there was no worry of being overheard could the Dowager Empress finally let out the exclamation she had been holding back.

“How humiliated I felt because of the Queen Mother, but to have the situation reversed like this! They say there are no eternally green trees or flowers that bloom forever, and it was really true.”

The Dowager Empress cried out in a voice drunk with joy.

The moment she saw the Queen Mother being violently thrown to the floor,

all the frustration that had been building up since Angelique left seemed to disappear in an instant.

She would never forget that satisfying sight that still vividly came to mind when she closed her eyes.

“The Inner Palace has come into my hands! Now, I will never let that woman take it from me again.”

Not only had that woman who was like a thorn in her eye fallen,

but the power that the Emperor had never given her had finally come into her hands.

How could the Dowager Empress not be delighted?

“Congratulations, Your Majesty the Dowager Empress.”

“Your contribution was great. I will not forget it.”

She grasped Medeia’s hands again with an excited face.

“Now that the Queen Mother has been abandoned, naturally her son will be cast out too… If I bring Angelique back at this opportunity-“

“Your Majesty the Dowager Empress.”

Medeia quietly grasped the delighted Dowager Empress’s wrist.

“It would be troublesome if you mention the 4th Princess before His Majesty using this opportunity.”

The Dowager Empress’s expression hardened slightly.

It was as if cold mud had been thrown on her hopes.

“Why shouldn’t I? The Queen Mother has finally fallen so miserably!”

“If His Majesty feels that you didn’t make the decision proactively yourself, he will someday shift that responsibility back to the 4th Princess or the Dowager Empress.”

The Dowager Empress still looked like she couldn’t understand.

Medeia continued to address her doubts.

“Would you make the 4th Princess leave again so soon after she arrived in the Capital City?”

“…That, that cannot, no, must not happen…”

To send her barely rescued daughter back to that barren wasteland again – that absolutely must not happen.

“Then please wait.”

“….”

“Even without Your Majesty the Dowager Empress going to such lengths, the 4th Princess will naturally return to the Capital City.”

Medeia gazed steadily at the Dowager Empress.

“…Then how exactly do you plan to bring her back? In this current situation, how could you possibly-“

“You must wait.”

Though her tone was quiet, it carried a warning that she would not tolerate the Dowager Empress creating any variables.

The Dowager Empress clutched at her dress hem.

‘This girl managed to find a weakness even in that flawless Queen Mother and bring her down.’

If I act recklessly, wouldn’t that put Angelique in danger too?

Though she found those green eyes warning her to be extremely impudent, she felt the same chilling sensation as she had before the Emperor moments ago.

“If you say so, then I have no choice.”

The Dowager Empress finally acquiesced.

Though she couldn’t fully understand all of Medeia’s words right now, since she had brought down even the Queen Mother who had been impenetrable as a needle’s eye in an instant,

she had no choice but to wait as she suggested.

“If only Angelique can return, what wouldn’t I do? First Prince’s Wife, I’ll do as you say. So-“

Medeia cut off the Dowager Empress’s words as she spoke anxiously, unable to hide her impatience.

She smiled calmly.

“Have my words ever gone unfulfilled?”

After the Dowager Empress left,

“Ha, she won’t forget Your Highness’s great contribution? The Dowager Empress acts like she wasn’t in the same banquet hall as us just moments ago.”

Saya, who had been watching the entire conversation between the Dowager Empress and Medeia from the side, grumbled.

“If it weren’t for Your Highness, the Dowager Empress would have spent her whole life being ignored by the Queen Mother. Now that the Emperor has handed over the Inner Palace that was taken from the Queen Mother, I suppose the world looks different to her?”

Just moments ago, the Dowager Empress had spoken as if Medeia had ‘helped’ her.

When in reality, the Dowager Empress had done absolutely nothing on today’s stage.

“It’s fine.”

Medeia calmly stroked Saya’s head in response to her complaints.

But the anger in the young maid’s eyes didn’t easily fade.

“Your Highness, aren’t you even angry? People’s true nature is different going into the outhouse versus coming out!”

Her cheeks puffed up from gritting her teeth, looking like steam might come pouring out of both ears.

“Especially since she’s the mother of that wicked 4th Princess, it’ll be even worse. Who knows what she’ll say if the 4th Princess really returns.”

However, Medeia didn’t care.

“Don’t worry, Saya. The Dowager Empress doesn’t have the ability to protect what she’s taken from the Queen Mother right now.”

Medeia smiled.

“Rather than the Queen Mother targeting only me, it’s more advantageous now that she has to aim for the Dowager Empress as well.”

Since the Queen Mother’s power would inevitably be divided, it would become easier to deal with the Third Prince faction whose poison had reached its peak.

“The Dowager Empress will serve as quite a useful shield for us.”

Only then did Saya swallow the frustration she had been holding back. She shook her head as if fed up.

“The people smiling at the beginning and end of the banquet have changed.”

That was exactly right.

In just a few hours, the positions of the Dowager Empress and Queen Mother had switched like heaven and earth.

It made her newly realize how fierce the power struggles in Kazen’s court were.

“The real thing starts now. The Emperor still has to investigate the truth.”

Medeia turned her head.

Through the small window of the Lady’s Room, she could see the silhouette of Perdickas II walking away in the distance under the lamp lights of the Imperial Palace Garden.

He who had reigned by betraying his wife and loyal retainers had for the first time today found himself on the opposite side.

Today’s events would remain as an unforgettable scar for him, shallow though it might be.

However, Perdickas II needed to know.

The price of all those moments when he had given others

betrayal in return for their trust would someday be collected from him exactly.

“Tell Kensington to move.”

Medeia’s voice echoed low.

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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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