The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 329

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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 176

“…Maternal Grandfather, thank you for making me a toy.”

Medeia carefully read through the contents of the letter written in clumsy handwriting.

It was a letter written by young Chezare in excitement after receiving a toy.

However, the fact that this was still left in this drawer meant that he had never been able to send this letter to the intended recipient.

‘As the Emperor’s illegitimate child entrusted to the Empress, he must have realized his position early on.’

The disparity between the child’s resignation who recognized too early that his position didn’t even allow intimacy with his maternal grandfather, and the crooked childish handwriting left on the letter paper.

It somehow made a corner of her heart ache.

‘When he returns, this time I’ll be the first to…’

I should silently embrace that lonely back. Just as he once offered me his embrace.

Medeia unconsciously felt around his spot with her fingertips and stopped.

She felt it.

Then, the entrance to the bedroom became noisy.

When Medeia turned her head, familiar faces appeared behind Neryl, who had turned pale as a sheet.

“Cough, cough…”

“Your Highness…”

Terrence, who was walking with Garo’s support, suddenly coughed up blood.

And then he lost consciousness.

“Terrence!”

While Menil hurriedly caught and supported him, Garo staggered and knelt before Medeia.

The wounds covering his entire body were vivid, and his skin, as if frostbitten, was frozen red and blue.

Even his face was covered in tears.

“Bo, Boss is…”

Before those words could finish, Medeia’s vision shook.

The bright sky she had been waiting for seemed to shatter into pieces before her eyes.

Clearly, Chezare’s group that raided the black mages’ stronghold had not failed.

“…Terrence found the golden tower hidden under a barrier behind the ice wall. Boss and I broke into the central area and fought the black mages of the golden throne, subduing most of them.”

The interior of the golden tower was literally a living hell.

The curse devices that enveloped the entire tower,

Erosion, specters, resentment – the primordial powerful darkness that the black mages displayed.

And the magical beast test subjects trapped inside were released and resisted to the end, resulting in a devastating final battle.

It was such an intense battle that they lost half their forces.

“We missed the remaining leader, the Central Black Mage. Boss chased after him.”

Garo gritted his teeth.

“Terrence had almost exhausted his magical power breaking the barrier. So Edra, that bastard who accompanied us… Damn it, he went on the pursuit with Boss, but…”

When Facade’s mercenaries arrived to help Chezare, it was already too late.

“Edra, that bastard… was a brainwashed assassin.”

Chezare, who suffered a fatal wound to his back, fell off the cliff of the iceberg along with the Central Black Mage, and the assassin fled in the chaos.

“The golden tower’s barrier reactivated when the leader fell. A massive avalanche occurred above it.”

In the pouring snow and ice, it became uncertain whether Chezare was trapped in the golden tower’s barrier or buried in the snow.

“There isn’t much time left. If we can’t find Boss inside there, he’ll be swallowed up along with the disappearing barrier.”

Garo anxiously bit his lips.

He didn’t seem to notice that his dry lips had split and blood was trickling down.

“Your Highness, what should we do? What should we…”

Garo, who never lost his playful spirit, seemed to fall into panic as his body stiffened, then soon lost consciousness.

He looked more out of his mind than when Chezare was terminally ill and facing death three years ago.

From that alone, people realized there was no hope regarding the 1st Prince’s life or death.

Medeia staggered and pressed her hand against the desk.

For some reason, it didn’t feel real.

Somehow, that dream where Chezare couldn’t escape from the tower engulfed in flames.

‘Was it a prophetic dream…’

* * *

Kazen Imperial Palace.

The tragic news of the 1st Prince from the border finally reached the Imperial Palace.

“Chezare, that bastard, is dead? What kind of nonsense is that?”

Perdickas II doubted his ears.

‘That bastard whose lifeline is tenaciously tough? The one who returned alive even from an unheard-of disease, could he really die so helplessly like this?’

“There was an assassin mixed among the subordinates the 1st Prince took with him.”

The Head Servant avoided eye contact and bowed deeply.

Although he added that it was missing rather than death, the Emperor’s reaction didn’t change.

“While subjugating the black mages’ stronghold, by the assassin… His chest was pierced and he fell off a thousand-foot cliff…”

Uncharacteristically for a Head Servant, his words were broken intermittently. He too seemed unable to fully believe the content he had received.

“Ah. Kazen’s glory is…”

Is this the end? Someone muttered and then closed their mouth after gauging the Emperor’s mood.

However, fortunately, Perdickas II didn’t hear it.

“Your Majesty!”

Because his massive body suddenly swayed helplessly.

Clang-!

The golden staff he dropped from his hand rolled on the floor, making a sharp noise.

“I’m fine. I am perfectly alright.”

Perdickas II, who sat back on the imperial throne with support, remained silent for a while.

‘…Conquering the continent during my lifetime is impossible.’

What felt more piercing than his son’s death was the despair that he could no longer continue his achievements as a conquering monarch.

Who would try to expand the mighty territory of Kazen in the future?

“Have you heard the news? The 1st Prince…!”

“Surely not that strong man? That can’t be. It’s just the usual rumors we always hear.”

“This time is different. He was stabbed in the back on the iceberg and fell off a cliff, but they haven’t found him even after several days.”

“Still, this isn’t the first time the 1st Prince has crossed the line between life and death…”

“Hmph. Have you ever seen the northern icebergs? The frozen ice grows like awls beneath the ice walls? Even if he survived the fall, it would be difficult to come out alive with a stabbed body from that place where snow covers up to one’s neck and freezes people to death.”

The 1st Prince’s tragedy spread outside the capital in an instant.

Such rapidly spreading rumors.

It was impossible without someone’s intervention.

Kazen’s nobles and vassals also had mixed reactions.

“Your Majesty, the body has not been confirmed yet. It’s too early to abandon hope. Please send a search party to the iceberg immediately!”

Those who couldn’t believe Chezare’s death and clung to the last possibility.

“We… merely follow Your Majesty’s commands.”

Those who remembered when the 1st Prince overturned his terminal diagnosis and returned alive, remaining silent in anxiety that he might sweep through politics again,

“With the treacherous iceberg now shrouded in black magic barriers, even the mighty 1st Prince’s army lost more than half its forces. At this time when we’re overwhelmed just trying to manage the chaos from the 1st Prince’s absence, we cannot waste national power!”

Those who sought opportunities from Chezare’s death.

Among them, Jason craved that opportunity more than anyone.

‘He attacked the golden tower… How exactly did he find out that location?’

The final sanctuary built by the black mages of the golden throne.

While his teeth ground at Chezare’s persistence in tracking down and entering that place to massacre the black mages, his spine also ran cold.

At the same time, he was delighted.

Because Chezare and the black mages, his long-cherished wish and his shame, had fought each other and disappeared together.

‘The golden throne bastards were ones who had to be eliminated someday. Now everyone who knew I was entangled with them has disappeared.’

Prince Juan, who emerged from the abyss, also swallowed his undeniable joy.

Though he outwardly bowed his head pretending to be sorrowful, inwardly he repeated the Queen Mother’s words.

‘Mother said that even if Chezare were alive, we must not let him return alive.’

Both Juan and Jason agreed on not sending aid to the iceberg.

Three years ago, he failed to eliminate the terminally ill Chezare, and as a consequence, lost everything.

This time, he was absolutely determined never to allow such an opening again.

He had to use the First Prince’s death as a stepping stone to create a new order without fail.

Some with silence, others with fervent voices.

The Head Servant’s calm voice settled the increasingly heated argument.

“The First Prince’s Wife enters.”

The First Prince’s Wife walked among the vassals with the same elegant gait as during the coronation ceremony.

Even though she must have heard the tragic news about her husband, not even a trace of dried tears could be seen on her beautiful cheeks.

Was her husband’s life or death outside her concern, or was her character so strong that she could hide even her worries?

“Duke Ippolito is wearing the robes of the Mage Tower. Has he come as a member of the Mage Tower?”

“Isn’t that blonde man next to him Facade’s leader? I heard Facade had entered under the First Prince’s command—was that true?”

Soon everyone recognized the two men following behind her as well.

The assembly stirred.

With the First Prince’s life or death uncertain, this entrance where two massive continental organizations displayed their presence was tantamount to showing they had sided with the First Prince.

The Head Servant inwardly swallowed a sigh.

‘Duke Ippolito being a childhood friend is one thing… but Facade… His Majesty would never be pleased that the continent’s arms dealer supports His Highness the First Prince.’

Sure enough, suspicion and jealousy flickered in Perdickas II’s eyes.

‘If he had even obtained Facade, was that why this bastard Chezare so arrogantly refused the crown prince position—because he could seize my imperial throne at any time?’

“First Prince’s Wife, I see you’ve come after hearing the news.”

The Dowager Empress greeted her first from beside the Emperor.

She wanted to observe Medeia’s reaction first and read the signs of whether Chezare was safe.

Only then could she know whether the First Prince’s ship she had boarded would remain steady or be wrecked.

“I greet Kazen’s Sun. I am sorry to disturb the Sun’s peace with troubling news, but the matter is grave, so I dared to come before you.”

“Your Majesty, we must quickly prepare the funeral. The ritual must be performed before the soul disappears so the First Prince can go to a good place.”

Count Montfort spoke hastily.

He hoped the First Prince’s Wife’s appearance would not shift the current atmosphere.

“A funeral when his life or death is still uncertain? Count Montfort, you speak as if you don’t wish for His Highness the First Prince to be alive.”

Medeia twisted the corner of her mouth.

Even though they had only heard news of his disappearance, these people were desperate to make Chezare’s death a reality.

“His Highness the First Prince headed to the border to subdue the foreign tribes there and add strength to Kazen. Yet when you all so lightly diminish that intention, who in Kazen will risk their lives for the homeland in the future?”

“That’s…”

Count Montfort was left speechless by Medeia’s sharp rebuke.

Having no more words to offer, he turned his gaze toward the Emperor.

“First Prince’s Wife.”

Perdickas II’s gloomy voice echoed through the hall.

His gaze also lingered briefly on Garo and Terrence standing behind Medeia before disappearing.

“…He kicked away the fortune I bestowed upon him, so the Goddess must be angry as well.”

Perdickas II’s voice was as cold as if it had never been warm toward his eldest son.

He was always a monarch who swallowed what was sweet and spat out what was bitter.

Even the robust spirit of First Prince Chezare, whom he had valued highly until recently, would be of no use once his breath was cut off.

“Now the man who protected you is dead. I’ll overlook it this time, but if you don’t watch that mouth of yours in the future, your head will fly off first.”

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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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