Chapter 55

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 55

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Steal from You

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"It doesn't matter. There's no suitable match for you in this narrow little Kingdom of Baldina anyway. Our daughter deserves a far greater man. Young, capable... and one who has the empire at his feet..."

Duchess Catherine Claudio stroked Lady Birna Claudio's hair. Then, she muttered meaningfully.

"This mother of yours will make Medea pay for tormenting you. Don't worry."

Birna hesitated.

'Should I tell Mom that on that day, I slipped that bitch Medea some medicine?'

But in the end, she kept her mouth shut.

How could she conclude that the minister's freakout was because of her drug? That pig bastard might have eaten something else randomly.

"Shila, erase everything about that day from your mind. We know nothing. Got it?"

After her mother left, Birna strictly sealed Shila's lips once more.

Now, all she could do was hide the source as much as possible.

Count Etienne's residence.

The Interior Minister didn't care about public opinion like the Regent Duke. Or rather, he didn't have the capacity to.

"Why! Why!"

Since returning from the banquet, a serious malfunction had occurred in one part of his body.

"Hmm... It seems someone used a hallucinogenic drug. But the toxicity in its components doesn't suit Your Excellency's body, causing side effects."

"Who the hell?! Can you treat it? Give me the medicine now."

The physician who closely examined the minister's condition looked troubled.

"The thing is, hallucinogenic drugs are tricky to handle for side effects, and the affected area is particularly..."

Using strong medicine might make it completely impotent.

"What do you mean? You can't treat it?"

"Even if treated with difficulty, infertility is unavoidable."

Whether impotence or infertility, one was inevitable. The physician sweated profusely.

"Hah, for heirs, you'll have to prepare an adopted one."

At this bolt-from-the-blue news, Minister Etienne flew into a rage.

"I, Lark Etienne! A manly man among men like me, impotent? Infertile? Don't spout nonsense!"

But other physicians he summoned from far and wide also gave the same diagnosis.

In fact, due to his insistence, trying various tests and treatments labeled as "examinations," the condition worsened further.

Even a slight touch now caused excruciating pain, making him scream.

"Who? Which fucker did this to me?"

Initially, he thought it was meant to humiliate him, but the mastermind was aiming for something bigger.

Though uninterested in women due to his nature, Etienne had vaguely prided himself on eventually continuing his line through one someday.

With that pride shattered now, unprecedented rage and inferiority consumed him.

"...They know me very well."

Who knew his psychological reverse scale so precisely?

The minister gnashed his lips with fierce eyes.

"Investigate everything. Don't miss a single rat that scurried through that banquet hall that day!"

No matter how hard Birna tried, her opponent was the Interior Minister who controlled the inner palace.

"So, it was Birna Claudio?"

Tracing back step by step, he learned who had slipped the drug into the banquet that day.

A maid from Duchess Claudio had handed over the drug, and a palace servant had brought a dosed glass to hover near the princess.

"Master, then the duchess targeted Princess Medea. She got scolded because of the princess that day and harbored a grudge."

"..."

"Master?"

"You believe so easily based on appearances; that's why you're still like that, you fool."

The toad pondered with gleaming eyes.

"The princess is always a good excuse. What if the Regent Duke had his daughter target me?"

"Pardon? But... why would the Regent Duke target you? Aren't you on the same side?"

"Because I was about to let go of his hand."

He recalled how recently he had allied with Head Maid Lady Quizin to backstab the Regent Duke.

Joaquin Claudio, that petty man, never forgot even the smallest slight.

"If he comes at me like this, I have plans too. Think I'll just take it lying down?"

The paper crumpled in his thick fist.

"Send this to the Claudio Ducal House!"

The commotion at the royal banquet instantly dragged Kingdom Baldina's two sturdiest families into scandal.

But clearly, the Claudio Ducal House suffered more damage.

Rather than the already infamous minister, the beautiful and promising Birna siblings had far more to lose.

Normally, he'd have gouged out the eyes of the one who trampled his daughter and toyed with his son, then flayed their flesh—but this time, the Regent Duke couldn't.

His opponent was his most crucial right arm, Interior Minister Etienne.

"This is evidence that the drug Lady Birna used that day matches the one detected in our master's body."

But the Regent Duke never imagined he'd be silenced, unable even to negotiate something favorable from the minister.

"Master asks if the lady's action was per your will."

He had learned that the commotion stemmed from the drug his own daughter Birna used.

"Is the minister suspecting me? Do you think I'm mad enough to drag my children into filth!"

The Regent Duke grimaced, clutching the evidence.

"Of course not. But nonetheless, it's a fact that due to the lady's action, our master now suffers fatal aftereffects."

The minister's attendant, Umberto, bowed with utmost courtesy.

"Master wishes the ducal house to take 'responsibility' in some form."

"At least not this kind of responsibility!"

The Regent Duke trembled, hurling the letter the minister had sent.

"I must see him myself."

The Regent Duke immediately headed to Count Etienne's residence.

"I'm sorry. Due to aftereffects, master's condition is too poor; he cannot meet guests."

After repeating these obvious refusals for hours, the minister finally consented to meet.

"What business does Your Grace have up to this point? I already sent everything via letter."

Claudio seethed inside but held it in, presenting the prepared gifts.

Precious artifacts the minister had long coveted, various tonics for bodily health—enough to fill a carriage.

He even included a treasure inherited from the late king.

It hurt down to his bones, but as head of the interior affairs, Etienne was essential to his ambitions.

'The head maid has already been replaced; I can't lose Etienne too.'

"Though the count's house won't lack for medicine costs."

He forced a smile at the minister's curt reply.

"A small compensation for the trouble my daughter caused. And this is the Sage's Book, received from His Late Majesty when I left the palace before."

"The Sage's Book...!"

The minister's eyes widened briefly at the chest wrapped multiple times in black velvet, then soured again.

"It's too generous a treasure to accept lightly..."

"Not at all. I'd even give you the Sage's Stone if I could. Someday, perhaps."

The Regent Duke's flattery, meant to move him, instead made the minister uncomfortable.

'Yes, Joaquin is aiming for the throne.'

What would be left for him if he helped make the man king? What could he enjoy clutching his withered, dead manhood, grown old?

"No need for gifts, Duke. Do you know what happened to me because of your daughter's drug?"

As the minister coldly pushed the chest aside, the Regent Duke's eyebrow twitched.

'Even offered the Sage's Book, and he's still on about this?'

"The physicians say I can never sire children. The Etienne line is about to end. Joaquin, how will you compensate for this?"

The attendant's words were true.

The Regent Duke's vision darkened.

"It's just one physician's word. As they say, you need to see many doctors—"

"Many have already come and gone. If it weren't certain, I wouldn't have brought it up with you."

"..."

"Give me your answer now. Since your daughter caused it, she should clean it up, right?"

The Regent Duke went rigid.

"I don't quite follow."

"You do. Lady Claudio takes responsibility for the House of Count Etienne."

"Insane! I won't allow it!"

He cut him off in shock.