Chapter 53

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 53

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Steal from You

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A plump, massive, half-naked potbelly barreled across the banquet hall like a mad rhinoceros.

The guards assigned to protect the banquet sprang into action belatedly, but the minister was far closer to the princess than they were.

“Uwaaaah—!”

Medea calmly fixed her gaze on the minister charging straight toward her.

Her small hand snapped the fan shut and gripped the tip firmly, positioning it to pierce him clean through in one go.

‘Now’s the time.’

The moment Medea thrust the fan’s tip toward the oncoming toad’s solar plexus, her body lifted lightly into the air.

‘What?’

Cezare had scooped Medea up and whisked her away from the spot like a gust of wind.

His movement was as swift and soaring as an iron butterfly swooping in.

As he pulled back, his long, straight leg lashed out, hooking the minister’s thick ankle mid-charge.

“Guhk—!”

Medea raised her head from the chest filling her vision. A mercenary in an iron mask gazed down at her.

“......Akares?”

Caught off guard that she knew his name, the man paused, then curled the corner of his mouth upward.

‘Light enough to carry in one arm.’

Cezare narrowed his eyes. The slender waist in his grasp and her negligible weight felt far too delicate.

They said she was the family disgrace—had the royals not even fed her properly?

In the brief moment they caught their breath,

“Kyaaaaah—!”

A piercing scream tore through the air.

Just minutes ago, Birna had been gleefully watching the mad minister lunge at her cousin like a rabid beast.

But with his step thrown off by Cezare’s kick, the minister stumbled, trying to regain his balance.

His trajectory shifted.

“Eek! He’s coming this way!”

“Run!”

Now, nothing stood between the minister and Birna’s group.

As everyone scattered in panic, someone stepped on Birna’s dress.

“Ah, my dress!”

Riiip—!

The ear-splitting tear made Birna freeze, and a massive shadow loomed over her.

“Lady Birna—!”

Momentum from his frenzied sprint carried the minister’s enormous bulk straight onto her, flattening her completely.

It was by a hair’s breadth.

Had her dress not torn, she could have dodged like the others.

It wouldn’t have ripped so easily underfoot otherwise, but Duchess Catherine Claudio’s personal handiwork had made the outcome catastrophic.

The tangled pair tumbled onward, crashing into the dessert table at the end.

The heavy impact splintered the table, dumping every confection atop them.

Birna’s tattered dress was buried under a mess of food, her elegantly pinned hair unraveling as juice dripped in clumps.

“Aaaah! Eugh! W-what is thissss?!”

Birna shrieked at her ruined state.

“L-Lady, your dress……”

Her friends reached out to help, but the deranged minister wouldn’t let go easily.

In the struggle, the precarious hem of Birna’s dress tore clean off entirely. A chill swept over her lower body.

“Oh my, how dare you……”!

“Birna! Minister! Release my sister!”

As no one dared intervene in the minister’s rampage, Samon Claudio bravely charged in.

But far from rescuing his sister, he ended up seized by the minister instead.

“Heh? You’re a pretty one. Come quietly with me, and I’ll let this wench go.”

“What nonsense is this?! Have you lost your mind?”

‘This lunatic—why’s he so damn strong?!’

Samon recoiled, shoving him away. But the minister pressed his flushed cheek toward Samon.

Unable to endure it any longer, Samon swung a furious fist at the minister’s face.

“Nngh.”

The minister’s face turned beet red.

The Regent Duke and his wife, arriving late, stared in stunned horror at the scene.

Why was Interior Minister Etienne crushing their children?!

Foam flecked the minister’s lips like a rabid dog. He seemed utterly unhinged.

“Get a grip!”

“What are you waiting for?! Seize the minister!”

“Hey, won’t you let go?!”

Several of the Regent Duke’s guards piled onto the thrashing minister.

They had to hoist him up like luggage to pry him off Birna and her brother.

Exposed in her torn dress before the entire hall, Birna—overcome by stress—finally fainted.

“She’s fainted! Get her to a physician, now!”

Duchess Catherine Claudio surrounded her daughter with guards and whisked her away.

Samon, finally free of the minister, drew his sword.

As the sole heir to the Claudio Ducal House, raised in pampered comfort, when had he ever endured such vile harassment? And forcibly, in front of everyone!

“Young Duke, hold back!”

“I’ll kill this bastard today!”

“H-how dare you insult my body! Want a taste of your own medicine?”

“Take Samon away. Get the minister to the palace healers too! Hurry!”

The Regent Duke belatedly pulled people back, but avoiding all the stares was impossible.

The banquet hall had devolved into utter pandemonium.

“Akares.”

Amid the Claudio Ducal House’s chaos, Medea called the name once more.

“......Akares.”

The man paused and lowered his head toward her.

Cezare belatedly realized he’d been holding the princess in his arms throughout the commotion.

The weight against his arm had been so slight and insignificant he hadn’t even registered it.

He stiffened at the faint breath brushing his neck.

Was she even human? With that half-breed bloodline, maybe fairy or spirit essence was mixed in.

Unaware this thought was utterly subjective by his own standards, lacking any objectivity,

Cezare was genuinely astonished that such a physically frail being could exist in nature.

Medea was just as flustered.

They were close enough for her to see the vivid golden eyes behind the iron mask.

‘This one’s incredibly strong.’

She could gauge his infamous prowess from that split-second move: scooping her up like stone and evading while precisely kicking the minister’s ankle.

No one in this banquet hall could match him, at least.

Medea blinked.

“Put me down.”

“My apologies.”

Her feet touched the ground lightly once more.

One moment he’d snatched her midair like a hawk, the next his hands set her down with surprising gentleness.

“Seeing the princess in peril, I couldn’t help but leap in.”

After the casual address earlier, now flawless courtesy laced with a lazy amusement.

Medea’s eyes flicked over the mercenary.

These types who toggled between rudeness and politeness weren’t capricious—they were just used to unsettling foes to seize the upper hand.

With no intention of getting swept up, she coolly jerked her chin toward Garo behind him.

“Acting on your own whims. Can’t even recognize your own master.”

Garo scratched his head.

His hired mercenary had ignored protecting him to dive in and save a stranger princess right before his eyes—he seemed fairly embarrassed too.

“He’s not my master yet.”

Ignoring the rebuke, Cezare picked up her fallen fan and handed it over, then chuckled softly.

With skills sharp enough to spot a flash bomb, he’d surely noticed the fan’s handle was forged steel the moment he saw it.

“Looks like I just prevented a major incident today.”

Medea blinked innocently, playing dumb at Akares’s brazen words.

But as he feigned ignorance with that lip curl, she grew mildly irritated.

Butting in cluelessly and ruining everything—now playing coy on top of it.

Dismissing the mercenary entirely, she turned to Garo.

“Sir Garo, I hadn’t realized you kept nosy mongrels that poke around everywhere.”

Cezare hadn’t expected to be so thoroughly ignored.

“Be careful. Facade deals in arms, not kennels, doesn’t it?”

“Y-Yes?”

“Well then.”

Leaving Garo with his saucer-wide eyes, Medea departed with an icy farewell.

“That wasn’t like you, boss, you know?”

Garo pursed his lips.

Cezare scoffed.

“You tripped the minister on purpose to change his course. You can fool everyone else, but not my eyes.”

Garo pointed to his own eyes with index and middle finger, then jabbed them toward Cezare.

“Mind your own business.”

“Nah, if you were gonna save someone, why not pull out that poor Claudio lady too? Wouldn’t have been hard for you.”

Cezare didn’t reply.

He’d acted on instinct. The moment the minister’s bloodshot eyes locked on Medea, his body had moved before his mind caught up.