Chapter 28

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 28

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Take from You

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Reports brought by Marchioness Pinatelli were scattered all over the place.

It was because the furious Queen Dowager had thrown and scattered the documents.

"Embezzling the palace's assets to fill her own belly? Touching Medea's things? She's out of her mind!"

"Yes, Your Highness. They even swapped out all of Princess Medea's personal items with cheap knockoffs and falsified the documents."

Marchioness Pinatelli added.

"The maids from the Princess Palace who were dealt with before were also accomplices in the embezzlement, acting on Lady Quizin's orders."

The dead couldn't speak, so they had been fully transformed into Lady Quizin's minions from root to tip.

She had indeed planted a few spies there, so it wasn't entirely untrue.

By mixing truth and lies just right, it created a natural plausibility that backed up Lady Quizin's corruption.

"Ha! What nerve. Her guts have come right out of her belly!"

"She must have thought no one would pay attention to the Princess Palace, the most neglected place in the royal palace."

"How could such a cunning and insidious woman be the Royal Head Maid?"

And what enraged the Queen Dowager the most was,

"She dares to use me to strike at Medea? Has her mind come out of her belly?!"

No matter how coldly she treated her, would she ever cast out her own granddaughter with her own hands!

Forgetting the venomous words she had once poured on Medea, the Queen Dowager trembled with rage.

'She said the second prince cast me aside, and that's how Quizin schemed this.'

She recalled the words of the maid who had betrayed her granddaughter that day. If her son was the one who had appointed and dismissed Lady Quizin as Royal Head Maid,

'Could Quizin really have committed all these crimes alone?'

At that moment, the maid who had been assigned to watch Medea came running in.

"Th-the Princess has collapsed!"

The Queen Dowager, who had rushed over, checked on her unconscious granddaughter.

"By the time we arrived, she had already collapsed."

The princess, hastily moved inside the chapel, had not a drop of color in her face.

"Why was she discovered so late? No one knew her condition was this bad?"

"Your Highness ordered no one to approach..."

The maid answered hesitantly.

The Queen Dowager was taken aback by her granddaughter's state, which was far worse than the reports had suggested.

She had endured five days in nothing but a thin dress?

"Why are her lips all cracked? You should have at least applied some salve."

"B-but Your Highness said absolutely no water, not even a sip..."

"Since when have you followed my words like gold! Have you no sense at all!"

The Queen Dowager fumed. She was infuriated by these senseless underlings.

She even shot a small glare at the collapsed Medea.

"Insolent girl. Trying to torment this old woman, aren't you?"

"P-pardon? Y-yes..."

"Pardon my foot! How dare you!"

The Queen Dowager seemed to just want to vent her anger. The maids were at a loss.

"What are you doing? You plan to let the princess spend the night on this cold floor after collapsing?"

"Pardon? Th-then..."

"Move her to the palace! You, go fetch the palace physician!"

"Y-yes!"

Just moments ago, hadn't she been scolding the collapsed princess?

The maid was baffled by the Queen Dowager's unpredictable reaction.

Marchioness Pinatelli would have read the intent, but she had stepped away for the moment.

At the frostbite-like command, the maids lifted the princess onto one's back. The princess still hadn't regained consciousness.

"To the Princess Palace!"

A pale hand fell limply without strength.

The Queen Dowager's face turned deathly white.

For a moment, she recalled the day she had confirmed her son's corpse.

The horrific memory of that day, when all life had drained from him, leaving him rigid like a chopped log.

"Medea!"

She quickly turned her granddaughter over. Only after confirming the faint breath did she let the maid carry her again.

Late at night, the Princess Palace was in an uproar.

Partly because the princess, who had been receiving punishment in front of the chapel, had been carried in collapsed.

But more than that, because the Queen Dowager, who rarely stirred from her place, had come in person.

"W-we greet Your Highness the Queen Dowager. Infinite glory with the light of Baldina—"

"Enough. Just tend to your mistress properly."

The Queen Dowager scowled.

The Princess Palace was filled with a chill desolation.

Even for a secluded evening, it felt utterly devoid of life, steeped in poverty.

The young faces, clumsy even in palace etiquette, displeased her.

Why were there such riffraff swarming around the princess?

"Apparently, the previous head maid dismissed all the original maids for causing trouble and replaced them with these newly entered girls."

Marchioness Pinatelli, who had returned, whispered.

"Quizin, that insolent woman caused trouble to the very end."

The Queen Dowager scowled as she surveyed the palace thoroughly.

"We thank Your Highness for your generosity. The princess will not forget this grace either."

"Quiet. Do you think I don't know you're trying to sweet-talk this old woman with that silver tongue of yours, after faithfully bringing me news of the princess?"

The Queen Dowager sharply rebuked her, as Marchioness Pinatelli smiled softly.

"Your Highness, forgive me. Perhaps I've grown old and soft-hearted for no reason."

At that moment, a maid coming out with a damp cloth spotted the Queen Dowager and stepped aside.

"We greet Your Highness the Queen Dowager."

"......"

Through the slightly open bedroom door, the canopy of the bedchamber was visible.

Marchioness Pinatelli noticed the Queen Dowager's attention fixed entirely on the bedroom where Medea lay.

Creak. The marchioness subtly approached the bedroom and opened the door.

As if entranced, the Queen Dowager stepped inside.

The marchioness hid her smiling face and lowered her eyes.

The princess's bedchamber was slightly warm.

Not from firewood heating the room, but from the feverish breathing of the one boiling with heat.

"It's done."

The maid by the bedside spotted the Queen Dowager and tried to wake Medea.

The Queen Dowager waved her hand.

It was an order for everyone to leave. Marchioness Pinatelli took the inner maids and exited.

Creak. The door closed.

The Queen Dowager silently surveyed the bedchamber.

It was her first time visiting the Princess Palace, or seeking out Medea.

Yet everywhere, paint was peeling, and crude decorations caught her eye.

"To think she's the king's only sibling..."

How could the room of this country's sole princess be in such a state?

Even the sheets Medea lay on were rough.

Not the lowest quality, but far from suitable for royalty.

"Ugh......"

"......Are you coming to?"

At that moment, Medea opened her eyes, delirious with fever. She stared blankly at the Queen Dowager beside her and murmured.

"F-Father......?"

Then she reached out a trembling arm and clutched the Queen Dowager's sleeve tightly.

Weak as she was, she gripped so hard that veins stood out on the back of her hand, refusing to let go.

"Heh heh. I resemble my mother so closely that if you ever miss her in the future, you can just look at my face."

The Queen Dowager and Medea's father were the spitting image.

Her husband had once grumbled that she was her mother's face carved out.

So it was no wonder feverish Medea mistook her.

"Wh-what nonsense."

The Queen Dowager, flustered, tried to shake off her arm but suddenly stopped.

She had spotted an old pendant by the bedside. Its shape was strangely familiar.

Creak. Inside the open pendant,

"Yohan......"

Was a portrait of her eldest son.

It was so handled that the colors had faded completely.

The Queen Dowager, gazing alternately at the pendant and her feverish granddaughter for a moment, turned her head and stood.

"Your Highness."

As the Queen Dowager emerged, everyone stood up as if they had been waiting.

"The princess's fever isn't going down. What should we do?"

The maids chattered. The Queen Dowager scowled.

"Hasn't the palace physician arrived yet? Why is it taking so long?"

"Th-that is... Ah, here he comes."

Just then, the maid who had gone to fetch the palace physician returned. But she was empty-handed and alone.

"W-we greet Your Highness the Queen Dowager. With the infinite light of Baldina—"

"Enough. Where's the palace physician? Why did you come alone?"

The Queen Dowager waved off the etiquette and asked directly.

It was odd. The medical office where the resident palace physicians stayed was not far from the Princess Palace.

"He said he's busy now and will come after finishing his rounds, so I should go ahead first."

"That can't be. Didn't you explain the princess's condition properly?"

"No! I told him Princess Medea collapsed, her fever is like a blazing fire, please come quickly... over and over."

The maid protested innocently.

"......But he said he has to treat Lady Claudio's wound first, so he can't come now."

"Birna? How badly is she hurt, and where?"

The Queen Dowager reacted sensitively at the mention of her beloved young granddaughter being injured.

If it was serious enough to delay a visit, it must be no small matter.

"That is..."

The maid stammered in response.

With an expression unsure if she should even say it.

"Sh-she cut her hand opening an invitation."

"What did you say?"

The Queen Dowager asked again. As if she couldn't believe it.