Chapter 43

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 43

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Take from You

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Medea noticed his sinister intentions and readjusted her grip on the fan staff. The cool touch of iron clung to her palm.

It felt unfamiliar holding a weapon again after so long since the expedition.

“Can't even handle a single lowly beast? Princess. What on earth did you tag along for?”

“Baldina's nothing special after all. Those fancy cavalry were all hot air!”

“Wouldn't it be better to turn back? You think we assembled this expedition just to babysit some useless woman?”

In her past life, the expedition's heroes had never been kind to Medea.

Since she wasn't in an official relationship with Jason, they didn't treat her like a duchess—they handled her like baggage for the group.

Even her lover Jason hadn't protected her.

“Medea, you know I need them. The day I become emperor, I'll make it up to you for all this hardship.”

It broke her heart that even the man she loved wasn't on her side. On nights when they slept back-to-back, she secretly soaked the pillow with muffled sobs.

“I can't keep living like this.”

And that's when she realized it. Only she could fully protect herself.

That if she didn't somehow prove her worth, she could be discarded in this brutal expedition.

From that moment, Medea began observing the heroes as they fought the beasts.

“I can't beat them in raw strength. So I'll have to win with speed and skill.”

“How can I land a decisive blow in one strike?”

The straightened fan staff traced an arc from inside to out.

Then,

“I want to prove it. That I didn't make the wrong choice.”

She struck precisely at the leader's windpipe.

The signature heft of Damascus steel reverberated through the impact point.

“Urk-! Wh-what...”

“I worked so hard. I want to go back with my head held high. I want to show everyone.”

Jason. I really thought

that if I just tried my hardest, if I gave it everything I had, it'd be enough.

For our love, for my child's future,

even for my dream of one day returning to my homeland with honor.

But I didn't know back then.

That the human heart runs as deep and endless as an abyss—that even a man I'd spent half my life with couldn't be trusted.

“Gah-!”

After the blow to the nape, a ruthless strike to the solar plexus sent the leader sprawling to the ground.

Pash!

Then Medea's fan staff plunged straight down, right beside the leader's ear as he lay there.

A little farther left, and it would have pierced his throat.

“Ugh, uh...”

The leader shuddered violently. A stench of urine rose from his darkening crotch.

Pit, pit, pit-!

At that moment, several darts hurtled toward Medea amid a deadly whistle of air.

“Your Highness, watch out!”

She deflected two, but the last one slipped past.

Saya's right behind me.

With that thought flashing through her mind, Medea didn't dodge fully—instead, she twisted just enough to turn a fatal hit into something glancing.

But the pain she braced for never came.

Clang-!

The dart that had flown so viciously struck something and ricocheted away.

“Are you alright?”

Neril rushed over and asked.

“Yeah.”

“That was incredibly dangerous. Why didn't you dodge?”

“...”

Neril spotted Saya trembling behind Medea and understood at once.

“What if it had been poisoned?”

As she listened to Neril's scolding—her face drained of color—Medea scanned their surroundings.

Someone had clearly blocked that final dart for her.

Where did it come from? Who threw it?

The silent forest offered no sounds.

Normally, she would have tracked the source, but the sun was setting. She had to get back before the palace gates closed.

She prioritized, sheathed her weapon, and straightened her attire.

Neril approached after dealing with the remaining grunts. She froze at the sight of the fallen leader.

As expected, Your Highness has been hiding her true strength.

“Should I finish them all off?”

Neril eyed the unconscious leader.

“Is there any need to dirty your hands more?”

They were useless now anyway.

In times when people starved, did beasts go hungry?

Even if they somehow survived the starving beasts and dragged themselves back to the streets, plenty would be waiting to settle their scores.

“When your master wakes, tell him this: Next time we meet, keeping his life won't be so easy.”

The grunts could only nod frantically in terror.

“Princess—that Baldina princess, right?”

Once the princess's carriage departed, Cezare and his group stepped out from behind the trees.

Garo, still dazed from the shaman's death, rubbed his eyes as if he couldn't believe what he'd just witnessed.

“Since when could the princess fight?”

Even the ever-composed Terence cocked his head in excitement.

“When she turned around, her killing intent hit me all the way over here. Hey, boss—that last dart bouncing off, that was you, right?”

He must have caught that much even in his stupor.

Cezare didn't answer. His gaze stayed fixed on the spot where the princess had vanished.

“...”

He replayed her image from moments ago.

Her noble poise that never wavered amid ferocious bandits. Her delicate, youthful features—like a cub's—stood out sharply even from afar.

The uncanny blend of serenity and vitality felt more at home in nature than in that savage palace.

But the peace shattered in an instant as she targeted the bandit's throat with unmatched ferocity.

In the sunset-dyed forest, her rippling silver hair gleamed gold for a fleeting moment.

Baldina's Golden Star...

Suddenly, the old woman's words resurfaced.

“Pitiful black star, ensnared by vile fates—Baldina's Golden Star shall save you...”

Cezare's eyes flashed gold, just like the princess's had.

Could the Golden Star she spoke of be a person?

If so, what were the odds that princess was Baldina's Golden Star?

The dawn's falling dew—could that girl truly find the antidote to lift his curse?

“Dig up everything on Baldina's princess.”

“This sudden? E-everything?”

“Everything.”

Thump-thump-thump.

Even the faintest possibility set Cezare's heart racing.

Baldina Palace.

“Saya will be attending me starting today. Treat her well, everyone.”

Saya, who'd followed Medea back to the palace, adapted to her new surroundings with remarkable speed.

“No hazing?”

“It'd be a lie to say there was none. But she's sharp and quick-tongued—won over the palace staff in no time.”

A street urchin brought home by the princess on an outing.

In a palace where status ruled all, Saya quickly became an eyesore.

But having survived alone on the streets, she didn't buckle under the bullying.

How could a stray stone win favor right away?

Besides, she had a knack for tugging at heartstrings.

“My birthday's my mother's death day. Father lost a leg in the war and could barely walk, but till the end, he got me white bread every birthday.”

She bared vulnerabilities that would doom a teenage girl without hesitation.

Folks don't snap at those barely scraping by with food and shelter.

It's the comfortable ones who bicker and compete.

“That day, I was out gathering herbs. Never dreamed I'd get snatched by traffickers—world went black.”

Her beady black eyes sparkled as she spun a vivid tale, fact laced with fiction.

“Bandits said my eyes and organs were already sold. Fled like mad, crashed into a carriage, saw this noble lady inside, and begged for my life.”

“Oh my goodness... how awful...”

The maids were hooked on her story before they knew it.

“If Her Highness hadn't saved me, I'd be chopped up and sold off, not a trace left. Guess my dead parents pulled some strings from beyond to keep me alive.”

Saya dashed away tears with a plucky fist. The maids dabbed at their own eyes in sympathy.

“The poor thing...”

“Saya might be young, but she knows right from wrong. I begged to repay the lifesaving debt—that's how I landed here. Only later did I learn she was the princess, so now I'm imposing on you all, sisters.”

Saya stood and bowed neatly.

“You're like teachers to me. I'm uneducated and full of flaws, so please correct me plenty. Your guidance? I'll cherish it like the heavens.”

“Oh, just listen to her!”

The maids burst into delighted laughter.