Chapter 67

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 67

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Steal from You

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“But in that case, wouldn’t it be better to just eliminate one minister? Wiping out everyone in the mansion is……”

“I want to do that too! But Father won’t allow me to kill that madman—what the hell am I supposed to do!”

Samon exploded in anger.

“Etienne—we’ll make an example out of that bastard. Let them know that if you mess with me, Samon, even if you’re Father’s strongest right-hand man, you’ll regret it!”

But the shadow clicked his tongue inwardly.

How could a young duke of a nation speak so lightly of innocent lives?

Unlike his refined features, his master was utterly cruel and cowardly.

Anyone could see that resorting to these backhanded tactics because he lacked the confidence for a direct confrontation with the minister was hardly the mark of a great man.

Still, he never forgot his place. A dog simply carried out its master’s orders.

“Yes.”

Otherwise, he’d be the one skinned alive.

Count Etienne’s office, the minister’s study.

Medea, who had been locked in a silent brawl with the first intruder, tumbled across the floor with him.

A magic circle activated in a flash of blue light, swallowing Medea whole.

A sensation of freefall, like plummeting off a cliff, enveloped her body.

Splash! She rolled out onto damp soil that reeked of moisture. The scent of grass and brackish water stung her nostrils.

But the magic circle had transported not just Medea, but her entangled foe as well.

There was no time to take in their new surroundings.

Medea pinned her opponent down and drove the dagger embedded in her shoulder deeper with all her strength.

Undaunted, he seized her throat with his uninjured other arm.

No emotion flickered in his impassive eyes.

They held the cold calculation of a seasoned killer debating whether to squash a bug.

In that split second, a pair of vivid golden eyes peeked through his mask—eyes that felt strangely familiar. Without thinking, Medea murmured.

“Aka……res?”

His grip on her throat hesitated.

The tide turned in an instant. Now he was astride her.

Rip. His rough hand tore away her mask like it was nothing.

Her pale face was revealed. A few strands of silver hair, tied back roughly, scattered across the muddy ground.

Cezare gazed down at Medea with chilling eyes.

“Long time no see, Princess.”

A slow drawl leaked from beneath his mask.

He neither denied it nor released his hold on her throat, simply acknowledging his identity.

“Noble Baldina blood out for a midnight stroll in such an exotic spot?”

Despite the sodden mud and fishy stench of the swamp, he greeted her with ballroom elegance.

“No courtesies for royalty.”

Cezare let out a hollow chuckle at Medea’s indifferent retort.

This tiny princess showed no hint of fear, even cornered.

He couldn’t tell if her haughty demeanor grated on him or charmed him.

Medea observed Cezare in turn.

Instead of the iron mask mercenaries typically wore, he donned only a cloth mask. Wasn’t it supposed to hide burn scars?

If not, some other reason kept his face concealed—and perhaps tied to why he’d infiltrated the minister’s manor.

“Sorry, but letting you go isn’t an option.”

At that moment, a rigid finger tapped her throat lightly, as if to snap her out of her thoughts.

“I’ve never let anyone who knows my face walk away.”

Pressure built in the hand encircling her neck.

His languid tone carried a hint of amusement, but the eyes staring down at her were ruthless.

He truly intended to kill her and eliminate any loose ends.

“What if I have no intention of talking?”

Medea asked coolly. No fear or defiance showed in her emerald eyes.

“Proposing a deal even now?”

“We both want tonight covered up.”

She, Baldina’s princess, had no more desire than he did for her covert visit to Etienne’s manor to come to light.

Medea’s point was rational, valid. With each holding the other’s weakness, the terms seemed fair.

Just as Cezare’s eyes narrowed with intrigue.

Medea whipped a crossbow from her bosom. Her draw was astonishingly swift.

Expression unchanging, she fired point-blank at Cezare.

Whoosh! The bolt sliced through the air.

But it missed.

As if anticipating her counter, he dodged and snatched the crossbow mid-flight, hurling it aside.

The arm that threw it now bound both her wrists and slammed them to the ground.

Cezare leaned in close—close enough for Medea to see her reflection in his golden eyes.

“Don’t lump me in with idiots like the Regent Duke, Princess.”

Her emerald eyes widened for the first time at the mention of the Regent Duke.

“No one knows Pinatelli, the Queen Dowager, and Etienne have all been played by the ‘foolish’ princess. You can fool anyone in Baldina, Princess—but not me.”

His voice dripped with arrogance and confidence. The fingers on her throat pulsed against her racing vein.

“Dying here would make it all for nothing.”

Pressure mounted on her neck. Was this truly the end? Medea’s gaze grew dull.

She wasn’t afraid of death. But—

Hiss! Something black erupted from the ground to her right.

A water serpent with a triangular head lunged at the pinned Medea.

It had been watching the intruders for some time.

Beast instinct drove it to target the easier prey first.

As its sharp fangs gaped wide to rip into her throat, Cezare thrust out his arm.

Slash! Silver flashed.

The serpent’s head flew, its black blood splattering the soil. A few drops trickled ominously along Cezare’s blade.

“……”

Medea froze.

Why… did he save me?

The snake had targeted her, not him.

Screech! Hiss!

But there was no time for reflection. A new head sprouted from the severed neck.

Incredibly, two heads emerged from a single stump.

The pair glared at Cezare—the one who’d decapitated their neck—with glossy black eyes, backing into the swamp warily.

At the same moment, the other eight heads in the swamp lifted one by one.

The beast unleashed fierce killing intent at this powerful intruder, the strongest it had ever encountered here.

“……Hydra.”

Medea whispered.

Etienne’s secret in this sub-space. The reason everyone trusted him with the signed documents.

The legendary magical beast Hydra guarded them here.

“There’s a magic circle in my study that leads to where I’ve hidden the documents. But……”

Etienne claimed this illegally imported legendary beast, raised from infancy, obeyed only him.

“Bringing a magical beast into the pure land guarded by the Sage’s Stone? Are you insane?”

Had he not been behind bars, Medea might have strangled him then and there.

“I-I know. I know my sins. But I’ve imposed restrictions that prevent it from leaving this sub-space, so it’ll never be unleashed on Baldina. It’s just… difficult to retrieve the documents it guards without my direct command.”

“Hah. What good is a guardian land then.”

She heard Facade’s mercenary scoff.

He showed no surprise or fear at the Hydra.

If anything, he seemed appalled at the minister for hiding and raising a monster in a sub-space.

“Pathetic inside and out.”

His mockery lambasted Baldina’s current state for allowing a mere retainer such brazen acts.

Behind the Hydra’s emerging body gleamed a white orb.

A scroll lay preserved inside the sphere, bobbing untouched atop the swamp’s surface.

The signed documents.

Medea’s emerald eyes flashed.

She shoved Cezare aside and sprang up, snatching the crossbow he’d thrown earlier.

The moment she charged without hesitation toward the Hydra lurking deep in the swamp—

“Are you insane?”

Her arm was seized.