The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 38

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 38

During her expedition life, she had wandered across the continent and endured all kinds of hardships.

There were times when she had to procure food for her party in the vast wilderness.

“Your Highness, this is not for eating. It’s a poisonous plant called Hallus.”

“Why? It smells nice.”

“It gradually drives you insane. It has no taste and silently causes madness, which is why it’s also called the silent killer. Even smelling it is lethal, so please stay away.”

“If you really don’t want to drink it, then fine.”

Medeia looked bored, as if she felt no interest.

“Your Highness.”

Just then, Neryl entered through the door and bowed at the waist.

“Welcome.”

“Wooow…”

A small figure peeked out from behind her. Curious black eyes sparkled.

“Oh! Mommy!”

A child’s clear voice echoed through the quiet palace.

The round little head that had been looking around moved as quickly as a squirrel when it spotted the figure it was looking for.

The child immediately ran to the kneeling maid and hugged her neck.

“Je, Jeremy… Why, why are you here…?”

Sisear’s maid still seemed dumbfounded. She couldn’t collect herself.

“Mommy called me, saying you’d show me around the Royal Palace. Even though you said absolutely not…”

The child pouted but soon his eyes sparkled.

“Don’t worry, Mommy. The pretty lady here promised to keep it a secret. Grandma doesn’t know Jeremy came here either! We promised to go ‘shh,’ right!”

The child made eye contact with Neryl as if to confirm. Neryl nodded.

“It’s so sparkly here! There’s lots of delicious food too. It smells good! But where’s the Princess? Does she really live here? Can I see her too? Does she really have horns on her head like this? Have you seen them, Mommy?”

Questions that had been held back came pouring out like a burst dam upon meeting his mother.

The maid panicked, then suddenly froze as if realizing something. Then she turned her head toward Medeia with fearful eyes.

Medeia stood up and approached the child.

“Yes. I really live here.”

The child in the maid’s arms looked at Medeia with wide eyes.

“A-are you the Princess?”

“Yes.”

“Th-the horns?”

Medeia lowered her head to match the child’s eye level.

“How about it, can you see them?”

“I can’t see them. I can’t see them at all. You just sparkle like the moon.”

The child, as if enchanted, reached out his chubby hand and grasped a handful of Medeia’s flowing hair.

When Neryl reflexively tried to step forward, Medeia raised her hand to stop her.

“It’s okay.”

Medeia waited until all the hair had slipped through the wriggling little fingers.

“You said your name is Jeremy?”

“Yes!”

“Aren’t you thirsty? Would you like some tea?”

It was then that the bewildered maid’s eyes widened in horror.

“Yes! I’m thirsty.”

Tea was offered to the child. It was the very same tea the maid had brewed and refused to drink just moments before.

“Can I drink it?”

“Of course.”

Medeia answered kindly.

“There’s plenty more.”

It was when the child, with expectant eyes, took the teacup and brought it close to his lips.

“No!”

The maid roughly knocked the teacup away.

Crash. The cup that flew into the wall shattered roughly.

“P-please forgive me.”

Holding the child and hiding him in her arms, the maid knelt down.

The maid bowed her head.

“I was wrong, I’ll tell you everything.”

“M-mommyyy!”

The sudden loud noise. The trembling felt within her arms.

The child finally burst into tears at his mother’s unusual atmosphere.

The maid, even more terrified, pulled the child into her arms trying to muffle his crying.

“Jeremy.”

Medeia quietly called the child’s name. But the maid knew it was directed at her, not the child.

“…Y-Your Highness…”

The Princess’s eyes looking at her were piercingly cold. A chilling shiver ran down the maid’s spine.

‘Wh-what have I done…?’

She could no longer hide or pretend.

Without realizing it, her arms holding the child went limp.

“Wahhh! Mommy’s acting strange!”

The child, unaware of his mother’s fear, burst into tears. Then he ran to Medeia, who had called his name earlier, and hugged her.

“Jeremy! Don’t…!”

The maid felt like her heart was falling. She couldn’t snatch the child away from the Princess and trembled all over.

“Don’t cry.”

Medeia gently wiped the child’s tears. It was when the child stopped crying with a hiccup at the warm touch on his cheek.

She took the small fern-like hand in hers.

“…So small. And fragile too.”

“Your Highness, please…”

A pleading moan escaped from the maid. It was barely swallowed back at Medeia’s cool gaze.

“I have something to discuss with your mother, will you wait until we’re finished?”

“*Sniff* *Hiccup*… Then can I eat that while I wait?”

The child glanced at the cookies on the refreshment plate with tear-filled eyes.

Medeia smiled and handed him the entire plate of refreshments. “Wow,” the child’s mouth opened in amazement.

“Can I look around too, *hiccup*?”

“Anywhere you like.”

When Medeia gestured to another maid, she took the child and left.

“See you later, Mommy~”

Waving his chubby hand, the child disappeared cheerfully as if he had never cried.

Too distracted by the cookies to notice that his mother’s face was stained with despair.

The maid crawled on her knees and clung to the hem of Medeia’s dress.

“Your Highness, I-I’ll tell you everything. It’s Prince Claudio. He gave Sisear tea containing Hallus and told me to make him drink it. He-he threatened to kill me if I refused. I wanted to live, I was scared, terrified…”

“Since when?”

“He first contacted me three years ago. But I kept refusing…”

Three years. She let out a hollow laugh.

They had already been moving long before Medeia realized it.

“I have that child and a sick elderly mother. My father died early, so I’m the only one who can take care of my mother. Without me… The threats were so frightening, so terrifying… *sob* *sob*”

“Enough, how long has Sisear been drinking that tea?”

“It-it’s been four months since I first served him the tea…”

Four months.

It hadn’t even been half a year, so it was still too early for poisoning.

If they stopped the medication and took care of his body, he could recover without problems. Perhaps it was fortunate, if it could be called that.

“This is all I know. I will resign immediately upon my return and accept whatever punishment you decree. So please, Your Highness, show mercy and spare my child…”

Heart-wrenching sobs followed. The maid’s face was soaked with tears.

“I will not decide your punishment. Go to Sisear and tell him yourself.”

The maid raised her head. In her tear-filled eyes, Medeia saw a glimmer of hope bloom within despair.

Did she think she could hide it from Sisear, or perhaps find some way to save herself in the meantime?

“Your child will stay with me until then. Unlike my uncle, I won’t threaten you with your life. As you’ve already seen.”

Medeia’s lips curved upward.

“Because it won’t be you who dies.”

It was a cruelty that didn’t suit her youthful face.

“P-please spare him. That child knows nothing…”

“Oh, that will depend on you.”

She patted the maid’s shoulder.

“I’ll make your son an attendant in my palace. He’ll receive the education of palace servants and grow up almost like nobility.”

She would keep him close and cherish him dearly.

So that he could become a leash to strangle the maid’s throat whenever she betrayed her.

The maid before her understood this meaning as well.

“…I-I will do it. My body, my thoughts, my everything shall be according to Your Highness’s will.”

The maid let out a deep groan and collapsed, bowing her head.

* * *

In the deep of night, Medeia’s bedchamber door finally opened.

“Mama!”

The maid grasped the hand of the child running toward her energetically and shuffled out.

Mariyu stood trembling silently with fearful eyes, her mouth shut tight.

Neryl gestured for her to leave, then closed the door.

“…”

Medeia sat gazing out the window into nothing but darkness.

Neryl walked over as usual and stood behind her.

“I showed you an ugly sight.”

She had threatened a mother by holding her innocent child’s lifeline. For Neryl, with her noble chivalry, it must have been distasteful.

She had even made Neryl bring that child to her.

Medeia didn’t deny it. She had no excuse to offer for her wretched actions.

“If it’s hard to watch, you may leave. I won’t stop.”

To punish beasts, she too had to become a beast. When her revenge was complete, her hands would be stained with blood and filth.

Still, it was fine. She wanted this.

“Your Highness.”

Neryl knelt on one knee.

“I swore an oath. To support you in everything.”

“…Thank you.”

Her last words were barely a whisper.

Late in the night, a scops owl cried mournfully, oblivious to the hour.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————