The Crown I Will Take From You - Chapter 50
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 50
Soon he burst into hearty laughter as if he understood.
“Someone must have whispered useless words to Your Highness. Was it Sisear? You know that young fellow is more old-fashioned than an eighty-year-old man. He’s desperately trying to find fault between Your Highness and us—”
“Minister.”
Medeia slowly raised her hand.
As if she had no need to hear more useless words, she firmly cut off his speech.
“I was the one who asked the question.”
“….”
The smile gradually disappeared from the Minister’s face, which had been full of joy.
His drunkenness had long since vanished at the young Princess’s rude interruption.
“Your Highness, I handle all the difficult and complicated matters. You don’t need to worry about anything.”
The sinister eyes visible between his drooping eyelids glinted like those of a poisonous toad.
“You just need to enjoy each day pleasantly. Reading books with your maids, drawing pictures, and attending banquets like this at night. Just as you always have.”
“Is that your answer?”
Medeia slightly raised the corner of her mouth.
He pretended to care for her, but his words were actually insolently dismissive of the Princess.
“Yes. You don’t need to worry at all. Everything is proceeding naturally and according to procedure.”
“Then bring me the budget and report for today’s banquet by tomorrow. Since you proceeded according to procedure as you said, there should be no problems.”
The Minister’s expression hardened considerably.
He had been tolerating this Princess acting spoiled and insolent, and now what?
“Why do you want to see it when there are no problems? It’s just difficult and complicated number games.”
“At least Count Sisear would be curious, wouldn’t he? About how this grand banquet came to be held in this palace without approval from either me or you.”
The hand holding the champagne glass stopped abruptly.
His eyes, reddened with anger, rolled around the banquet hall and its surroundings.
A smile returned to his face when he spotted a suitable location.
He needed to properly discipline this arrogant Princess somewhere out of people’s sight.
“May we… move to another location to speak?”
“Of course.”
Etien guided the Princess to a small room at the end of the banquet hall.
Click, the door closed.
Etien’s attendant took his wine glass and closed the door. Only Medeia and the Minister were in the space.
“Huu. Your Highness.”
Etien loosened the cravat around his thick neck with his hand and let out a slow breath.
He seemed quite angry.
“Will you give me an answer now? If not, I can ask grandmother about it.”
Etien ran his hand through his hair and approached Medeia.
“Oh, Your Highness. Do you truly not know the answer?”
He looked down at the Princess with his small eyes, emanating fierce menace like a hunter threatening a young beast.
“Who do you have as allies in this vast Royal Palace? Sisear? The Queen Mother? If I lift a finger, would Your Highness’s nights truly be peaceful?”
His voice was full of mockery.
“Your Highness is surrounded only by employees. The nobility despises Your Highness’s bloodline. If an attack were to happen to Your Highness, who would sincerely try to protect you?”
“….”
“So. Don’t do anything rash. Even beasts don’t walk the path to their own death.”
Clear threats. Intimidation. A sinister voice.
The sight of an old man threatening a much younger girl was truly a spectacle you couldn’t see even if you paid for it.
After setting down the glass she was holding on the railing, Medeia smiled and crossed her arms.
‘Sorry, but thanks to my war-like previous life, your threats are amateur level.’
“That remains to be seen. But do you know? Quizin said exactly the same thing.”
“….”
“Power is as light as flipping one’s palm, isn’t it? Your position could disappear overnight too. Just like the Maid Supervisor did.”
At the Princess’s provocation, Etien couldn’t contain himself and glared at her.
How dare she put him, a Minister of a nation’s Ministry of Interior, on the same level as that Maid Supervisor who foolishly charged ahead and vanished like dew long ago?
Does she think my power is comparable to something like that Maid Supervisor?
“Hah. Am I the same as that wench? Could Your Highness survive in this Royal Palace without my help? Fools only realize it’s a tsunami when it hits them.”
“Is that so? I’ll certainly not forget your wise opinion.”
“Yes. Please be sure to remember it in your head.”
The Princess smiled faintly at what seemed like a last desperate answer.
But what to do, there was still a second blow left to make the toad’s poison rise.
“Speaking of which, Quizin said something strange to me before he died.”
The Minister was startled but asked nonchalantly.
“What could that shameless one have said?”
“He said there’s a maggot in the palace that’s dirtier and more foul-smelling than him, and that maggot must be caught for the Royal Palace to function properly.”
“….”
“But that maggot, you see, has such ugly appearance and can’t even perform its night duties properly, so it’s been completely eliminated from mating, let alone breeding?”
His thick hands trembled as he tried to contain his anger.
“So to restore his broken self-esteem, he bullies weak and young ones— Minister, are you alright? Your face is red.”
Medeia stopped speaking and sent a worried look.
“The room, the room is… hot. Please continue.”
The Minister’s jowls trembled as he forced a smile.
‘I should have slaughtered that Quizin before he died.’
Who knew he’d go around spouting such nonsense behind my back.
Just then, he noticed a glass nearby. Without thinking further, the Minister gulped it down.
As the cold beverage went down his throat, the burning heat inside seemed to subside a little.
“But I really don’t understand. Since the Minister has been in this palace for a long time, do you have any idea who Quizin was talking about?”
“Well. I’m not sure either….”
He drew out his words while looking at the Princess standing before him.
That wench… what does she know to be spouting such things.
Her very clear eyes held no murkiness, so Etien couldn’t be certain how much the Princess actually knew.
“I’ll certainly remember Your Highness’s command and look into it. Managing the palace is also my duty.”
“Of course, I’ll rely only on the Minister.”
Medeia smiled and welcomed this.
“Then, I’ll take my leave….”
The Minister fled the room and strode out of the banquet hall. With each step he took, steam seemed to rise from his head.
Only when he reached a small room in a corridor where no one could see did he finally vent his belated rage.
“Damn it all!”
Crash—!
“If she weren’t royalty, she’d be just a bite-sized morsel—! How dare she babble! What maggot? Maggot?”
The fuming Minister snatched the wine bottle from his following attendant’s hands and downed it in one gulp.
“It’s lukewarm! You stupid bastard! You fool! Can’t even get the temperature right?!”
Unreasonable harsh venting poured out.
“I’m sorry, master. Please forgive me.”
The Minister grumbled and put the bottle to his mouth upside down like blowing a trumpet.
Glug glug, only when the sharp alcohol went down his throat did the surging heat seem to subside a little.
Meanwhile, Umberto, who had collapsed helplessly from Etien’s kick, recalled the message that had arrived a few days ago while cleaning up the wreckage his master had left.
When the time comes, put the toad
on the market.
‘The market? When is the time?’
He had sent another note asking about the vague instructions, but contact was cut off after that.
Umberto finally realized that the time the note mentioned was today.
A small medicine bottle rattled in his pocket. The note also included instructions to mix this into alcohol and make Etien drink it during the banquet.
The vial contained components that would maximize the effects of the incense.
Unaware of this, Umberto faithfully carried out the instructions from the note.
‘By marketplace, they must mean this banquet hall where everyone can see, right?’
Umberto glanced at the Minister who was guzzling alcohol like a madman.
‘He was someone who at least restrained his vile nature when in public.’
Today, after meeting the Princess, he seemed completely drunk and had forgotten where he even was.
‘Is this the aftermath of that incense?’
Though he had been by his side for years, the man had never fallen for ordinary provocations before.
The mastermind behind this anonymous note truly seemed intent on properly destroying Etien.
‘If he shows such a disgraceful state in front of all these people…’
It would be social annihilation. His reputation and everything else would be completely shattered.
“What are you still standing around for! The alcohol’s all gone! Bring more, you bastard!”
The Minister hurled a stone statue at him.
There was no point worrying about such a wretch. Umberto decided to stop thinking about the Minister.
“Yes. Of course, master. I’ll go down to the kitchen right now and bring cool alcohol and sweet refreshments.”
Even as he left, bowing and scraping until the very end, he deliberately didn’t close the door properly, leaving the gap loose.
So that the toad could be released at any time.
Walking through the cold corridor, Umberto couldn’t hide his somewhat anticipatory mood.
How many filthy and infuriating incidents had there been while staying by this vile man’s side.
He had wondered how long he’d have to endure this sight, but it seemed it was all for today.
* * *
“Hah.”
As the Princess left her seat, a hidden observer who had been watching this scene while perched on a tree outside the banquet hall finally exhaled.
“Is that her usual personality? The Princess of Valdina really has no fear. How does someone so small not shrink back at all?”
“…”
“By the way, Valdina’s discipline is really a complete mess. The Regent, the Minister, they’re all just thinking about making a fortune off the Princess-“
“Shh.”
As Garo chattered incessantly, Chezare raised his index finger to his lips.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————