The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 39

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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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Chapter 39

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“Boss, see this?”

White Rose Manor in District 2.

“The Regent sent it. The Royal Palace is hosting a banquet to commemorate the Princess’s recovery.”

Garo picked up a stiff card. It was the topmost one among the pile of invitations on the table.

“Bro, look at this. It’s paper sprinkled with ground gold. The Royal Family is struggling with no money right now, but where does the Regent get the funds to sprinkle gold powder on even a single invitation like this?”

He brought the card close to his face as if examining it.

“Anyway, the boss is invited too. Keep your schedule free. You have to go with me that day.”

“No.”

A flat refusal flew back as if such trivial matters weren’t even worth considering.

However, Garo didn’t back down, seemingly accustomed to Chezare’s dismissiveness.

“If we want to keep staying in Valdina, we can’t completely ignore the Regent. We promised Sisear we’d show our faces publicly too. You have to attend.”

“Then you go alone.”

“Look here, ‘To Sir Acares the Mercenary.’ It says the boss should come too.”

Garo rolled the dice on the table. Dice of the same shape and size filled and cluttered the table.

Acares

The pieces with alphabets carved on each face changed their arrangement like dancing with a single gesture from Garo.

Chezare

“They must know the boss’s notoriety, yet they’re bold enough to specifically ask you to come together.”

“…”

“So, are you really not going? He may look like this, but he’s a prince of this country and the one and only Regent. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know him while we’re at it.”

Regent.

Chezare casually rolled that word around in his mouth. His lips curled up crookedly.

“They’ve given an excessive title to an idiot.”

“Boss, come with me. I’m going just because I’m curious about the Princess’s face.”

Mischief appeared again in his cheerful eyes.

“Look, a banquet celebrating the Princess’s recovery. Aren’t you even curious when the title itself has such sinister intentions?”

Garo actually found Prince Claudio, the Regent, quite interesting too.

After trying to cut off his niece’s maid only to have his own right arm cut off and his money source severed, what was he plotting this time?

The Regent still hadn’t even realized that his own niece was the real mastermind behind ousting the former Maid Supervisor.

“How is he still breathing when he’s this stupid?”

“That’s why I said it was excessive.”

Finally, a response came back.

Hmph, pretending not to listen while hearing everything. Garo snorted and said.

“But I don’t think the Princess will just take it lying down this time either. She sent someone outside the Palace on an errand recently. I secretly looked into what she obtained, and she found several rare herbs.”

“So what? She’s probably trying to make potions.”

When Chezare spoke as if he was making a fuss over something trivial, Garo exclaimed.

“Among those herbs, there was one that causes sexual dysfunction when used together!”

The arm holding the cup stopped in mid-air.

Garo stretched both his cheeks as if he was dying of curiosity.

“Who on earth is the Princess planning to use that on?”

“Seeing how you’re curious about such useless things, you must still have plenty of free time.”

“No! I was just taking a break! Look, I’m going back to work!”

When Chezare spun a dagger at his fingertips, Garo ran away as fast as he could, afraid another dagger might come flying.

In the now quiet room, Chezare turned around.

“Come in, Terrence.”

A tall young man walked in from the connected passage, holding a steaming cup.

He was an impressive young man with a slightly thin body and long limbs that moved languidly.

The glasses he wore and his long light brown hair enhanced his calm atmosphere.

“That bastard Garo is still as noisy as ever.”

“You should have come in if you arrived early.”

“Your ears must be tired from all that useless talk, so why bother.”

Terrence pushed up his glasses. His bloodshot eyes showed his fatigue.

Since accompanying Chezare, he had been searching through materials every night looking for a cure for the curse.

“How’s your body?”

“Fine. Thanks to you.”

Chezare answered briefly while receiving the cup.

The dark green medicine inside was bitter as wormwood, but he didn’t even blink.

Three years since receiving a terminal diagnosis.

Even though he had far exceeded the time limit the first court physician had given him, and despite seizures that brought him to death’s door, he could still move around perfectly fine thanks entirely to Terrence.

It was because he, well-versed in both magic and medicine, was using all his knowledge to artificially delay the curse’s onset.

The man examining the forearm with bulging dark blue veins frowned.

“You had another seizure. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Instead of answering, Chezare only spun his dagger around.

“Chezare, there isn’t much time left. The intervals are getting shorter.”

More frequent seizures. He might not wake up next time.

“…I know.”

“Even if we find the priestess, can you guarantee she’ll lift the curse? What if she doesn’t know how? What will you do then?”

“That’s why you’re by my side.”

“You call that an answer…? Is this really the time for jokes?”

Terrence glared at him at Chezare’s jest.

“Chezare.”

The smile gradually disappeared from his face as he looked at his friend, replaced by seriousness.

“Three years have already passed. Death has come closer to you than erasing the curse.”

Terrence followed Chezare as a friend before being a subordinate.

First Prince of Kazen.

Youngest Supreme Commander. Duke of Romagna. Lord of the Duchy of Benapro. Ruler of Alphanon. And even Captain of Facade’s mercenary group.

These were too many and too heavy titles for one person to bear.

But if you knew Chezare, not a single one was lacking. He had seized all of this with his own hands.

‘The one who jumps first into the most dangerous path.’

His incredibly bold decisions and willingness to embrace danger captivated people.

Terrence was also one of those captivated by him.

“Look, Terrence. People like that don’t know how to give up. Achievement comes faster than surrender. They don’t stop until they get what they want.”

His master, the Matap Master, had once said this casually while watching Chezare.

“So be careful. When people like that encounter obstacles, rather than avoiding them, they smash right through.”

However, Terrence didn’t know he wouldn’t give up even against death.

A human defying something primordial—was it brave or reckless?

“Go to the Matap. Master could delay the curse’s onset as much as possible. Even if the primordial darkness can’t be eliminated, the speed could—”

“Then I just wait around to die slowly?”

The cold question left Terrence speechless.

“You know that’s not who I am.”

“…”

Terrence had seen many patients.

“At this rate… enduring won’t be easy. Can you really handle it?”

Was there anyone who didn’t crumble under the fear and despair that constantly washed over them?

No matter how outstanding, no matter how high their position. There were no exceptions before death.

“Do I need to answer?”

At the implication of asking when you already know the answer, Terrence let out a sigh mixed with admiration and lamentation.

“…Aren’t you afraid? Not knowing when or where the curse might swallow you up in an instant, how can you be so calm?”

“Terrence, can’t you hear the gasps of amazement that will spread on the day I lift this curse?”

The one who pushed back primordial darkness.

The conqueror who devoured even death.

It will be carved across the entire continent beyond Kazen.

“Do you still hold hope even in this situation?”

“There’s never been anything in my life that wasn’t a gamble.”

Chezare placed his hand over his chest.

The dull thudding sound echoing from his hardening heart. He could feel death approaching as time tightened around him.

However, he had no intention of sitting still and helplessly waiting for the curse to engulf him.

He would somehow grasp the fate slipping through his fingers. Until the very last moment before his life ended, he would not give up.

For his victories had always been won that way.

“I control both the beginning and the end. Even with just a handful of possibility, I will struggle.”

“You, really…”

Flames ignited in his golden eyes. They flickered dangerously as if they would burn everything down.

“I don’t need a comfortable death.”

* * *

On a bright afternoon, Gilliphos’s message was delivered to the Princess’s Palace.

“Your Highness. Master has sent word.”

The Soldier’s Village that Medeia had commissioned him to build had been successfully completed.

A small village for retired soldiers to reside in had been established, and it was named the Kasey Almshouse after Medeia’s middle name.

More than half of the retired soldiers living outside the castle had moved in, and he added that the number of residents would continue to grow.

I regret to inform you that there was no soldier named ‘Theo’ as Your Highness specifically requested.

However, without giving up, after making inquiries throughout the Royal Palace and beyond,

we found that a retired soldier who passed away long ago had twin siblings named Theo.

Medeia was able to achieve what she had hoped for.

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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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