Chapter 29

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 29

Chapter Title: The Dowager's Wrath

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“Right now, you're telling me the palace physician refused the princess's summons just to treat a mere paper cut?”

The maid caught the Queen Dowager's expression turning icy in an instant and realized there was something wrong with her answer.

“...I have committed a capital offense. Please forgive me.”

Trembling in fear, she quickly bowed her head and begged for mercy.

But the Queen Dowager's face grew even more menacing.

“Go back to the palace physician right now. Don't mention that I'm here—just say the princess's condition is critical and every moment counts. If you don't bring him, you'll be chased out of the palace yourself. Understand?”

“Y-yes!”

Terrified by the sharp threat, the maid nodded frantically and scurried off.

Watching the maid's frantic retreat, the Queen Dowager suppressed her boiling rage.

“What kind of nonsense is this...? How on earth is this palace being run?”

Her wrinkled hands trembled violently.

“...Your Highness, please calm your anger. It will harm your frail body.”

“A mere physician without even a title dares ignore a royal summons?”

Of course, the palace physician would prefer to curry favor with the Regent Duke's daughter over the neglected princess, even if just once.

The Queen Dowager scowled.

“There must be a reason he prioritized the young lady of House Claudio over Her Highness the Princess.”

Marchioness Pinatelli pointed out calmly.

The Queen Dowager knew well how people bowed to the strong and bullied the weak.

But she never imagined even the lowly servants attending royals would dare disdain Medea.

'Even with the king's seal, it's like this. If I had truly taken the seal from Medea...'

She could envision her granddaughter's miserable future. The Queen Dowager sighed deeply.

“These are the end times, truly the end times.”

How much time had passed?

There was a commotion outside the bedroom door. It seemed the person they'd been waiting for had finally arrived.

Before the Queen Dowager could even compose herself and adjust her seat, the bedroom door burst open.

“Damn it, I'm here. That good enough? Where's the princess?”

His footsteps were so surly with dissatisfaction. The medical bag in his hand looked utterly basic.

“Making such a fuss over a faint. Has the princess never collapsed before? She's got a tough life force—she'll drag herself up eventually. Did they really have to drag me here like this?”

He didn't seem to have any intention of carefully examining the patient from the start.

The palace physician strode into the bedroom.

“Look at her, lying there nice and comfy! Her life's not hanging by a thread or anything! Damn it, if I fall out of favor with Lady Claudio, are you all taking responsibility?”

He vented his irritation at the sight of Medea lying there, missing the shadow under the bed curtains entirely.

The physician roughly set down his medical bag without a care.

Even thinking back, the image of being forcibly dragged here after Lady Claudio wouldn't leave his mind.

“That lady has such a foul temper—screaming at me for going to the princess instead of her, what a bitch fit.”

The shadow stirred.

And finally, it swept aside the curtains, revealing itself.

“Currying favor or whatever, all for some faded kite string—wha—?”

The physician's mouth froze mid-rant. His eyes widened moments later.

“Y-Your Highness the Queen Dowager, why are you...?”

Why here? Why from there? Why now?

None of the questions swirling in his head found answers.

'Oh no.'

Before that, he recalled what he'd just said. His face drained of color in an instant.

“Y-Your Highness... Please kill me.”

He tossed his medical bag aside and dropped to his knees before the Queen Dowager in a flash.

“If you want to die, then die.”

But the Queen Dowager's expression was ice-cold.

“What are you waiting for? Drag him away. Since being a palace physician is such a bore, I'll grant his wish.”

“Y-Your Highness! Mercy, please! I wasn't in my right mind!”

The physician bowed his head repeatedly, begging until his legs turned to jelly.

The Queen Dowager glanced at him.

“Throw him out. For his disloyalty to the royals, strip him of his physician title, and ensure neither he nor his family can ever set foot in the capital again once he leaves the palace. Make sure he never struts around as a palace physician again.”

“Not that! Execute me alone instead, Your Highness! Mercy, please!”

“What are you waiting for?”

The knights entered and seized the physician's arms.

“Your Highness!”

“Silence. Raise your voice again, and I'll seal your mouth forever.”

The Queen Dowager warned coldly.

Marchioness Pinatelli stuffed a white handkerchief into the physician's mouth.

“Wanbi(Queen Dowager), mmph! Pwease, fowgive me!”

The Queen Dowager turned away without sparing a glance at the physician as he was dragged out.

“Pinatelli, has Sir Hertus arrived yet?”

Sir Hertus was the Queen Dowager's personal physician, a man of such skill he'd earned a noble title.

“Yes, Your Highness. He said earlier he'd pack and set off right away, so he should arrive soon.”

The Queen Dowager held Sir Hertus in high regard, refusing treatment from anyone else.

Not even House Claudio dared summon him.

Having her cherished physician treat the princess was as good as declaring the Queen Dowager cherished her granddaughter.

Soon enough, Sir Hertus—who knew the Queen Dowager's fiery temper well—raced to the Princess Palace in a carriage.

He deftly took Medea's pulse.

Not a trace of rudeness toward the royal family's neglected princess could be found in his careful touch.

“How is she?”

Sir Hertus shook his head at the Queen Dowager's anxious question.

“It's not good. Her mind and body are worn down as badly as Your Highness's. It's a wonder she endured five days in such excessive tension and panic. Symptoms like this are usually seen in soldiers returning from long wars. How could a young princess...?”

“...”

“Your Highness, if I may be so bold—at this rate, it wouldn't surprise me if the goddess called for Her Highness the Princess at any moment.”

“Nonsense! You must restore this child to how she was.”

His faded blue eyes fixed on the Queen Dowager.

“How she was? Which time do you mean?”

Before the princess received her punishment?

Or before the funeral where the Queen Dowager had screamed at her young granddaughter?

Or perhaps...

When the late king and queen were still alive?

“...”

The Queen Dowager fell silent.

She knew none of it was possible.

“Grandma!”

She recalled little Medea, beaming happily in her son's arms long ago.

The child could have stayed that way. She could have protected her.

But she hadn't.

“I...”

The Queen Dowager staggered out.

The Queen Dowager ordered Sir Hertus to personally tend to the princess until full recovery, then departed.

“...”

Deep in thought, the Queen Dowager said nothing the entire way.

On the way back, something caught her eye.

“What is that place?”

“Ah.”

Marchioness Pinatelli followed the Queen Dowager's gaze and answered.

“It's the cottage house where Duchess Claudio and her daughter are staying.”

After her eldest son's death, the Queen Dowager had been so heartbroken that she'd kept her remaining second son close to forget her grief over losing a child.

His wife and children had basked in the Queen Dowager's affection as well, with House Claudio coming and going from the palace like it was their own home.

The Queen Dowager had even provided separate quarters in the palace because the journey was too far for the Claudio mother and daughter.

That was the cottage house.

It was unprecedented in Baldina's history for collateral royals to reside in the palace.

But amid the chaos at home and abroad, and thanks to the Queen Dowager's influence, it had slipped through.

“Ha.”

The Queen Dowager let out a hollow laugh.

The friendly name "cottage house" indicated modest servant quarters, not palace lodging.

Yet in reality, judging by the brilliant light spilling from the windows, it looked dazzling even from afar.

She turned to gaze at the Princess Palace.

The Princess Palace, emitting only a dim, hazy glow, was shrouded in darkness, barely visible.

Unlike the cottage house where faint music drifted out, it exuded an eerie desolation.

“It seems I've been holed up too long.”

The old woman's belated lament settled into the darkness below.

Lady Quizin was dead.

She had died in prison for insulting royalty, and before her corpse's blood had even cooled, a harsh wind swept through the palace.

“Find them all. Not a single one escapes!”

Under the Queen Dowager's protection, Prime Minister Sise gathered and rooted out all those involved.

A massive investigation unfolded.