Chapter 85

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 85

Chapter Title: The Crown I'll Take From You

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However, Medea responded coolly.

"I'm grateful for the thought, but I don't want to hear anything about the princess of Baldina receiving support from Facade."

"The people of Kazen are different from those of Baldina, Princess. Acting all high and mighty will just make them look down on you."

The Kazenites reveled in pleasure and luxury, backed by their fertile national power.

Paradoxically, they wouldn't miss a chance to pounce if you slipped even slightly on etiquette or fell behind the trends.

"Don't worry. I know them as well as you do."

She had dealt with them plenty in her previous life.

"They're more worldly than anyone, yet quick to bow to power. They might even be easier to handle than the unyielding Baldinans who won't break even in death."

In her past life, when Jason seized the throne, the Kazenites accepted the new emperor without resistance.

Of course, all the rivals who might have rebelled had already been killed off.

"......Why?"

Medea paused.

She had noticed the eyes staring steadily at her.

"As far as I know, Princess, you've never left Baldina in your life, yet you seem to know the empire quite well."

It was the question she'd expected. Medea shrugged casually.

"Acares, that's why people invented writing and news. You must have been too busy forming your merchant guild and hiding your identity to keep up."

She spoke in the indulgent tone of a senior maid instructing a newbie.

"......"

"If you want, I can send you some books too."

Cezare spotted the faint mischief tugging at her expressionless lips and let out a snort of laughter.

If Garo knew, he'd be throwing a fit, demanding why he wasn't hurling daggers at the princess.

"Fine. Then I have something to tell you as well."

Cezare's body hesitated for a moment as he started toward Medea.

It was late at night, just the two of them in the bedroom.

To him, she was a naive young princess, but she might not see him the same way.

For a girl her age, nothing mattered more than chastity and purity. He'd been too casual.

But Medea, who had been his wife and the mother of two children in her previous life, felt no discomfort at all.

The thrill or tension that might arise between a man and a woman had long since withered and crumbled in her heart.

"......"

Cezare snapped out of his thoughts under her emerald gaze, which looked up at him as if asking what was wrong.

The princess's face was serene, while he was acting like some immature boy.

Regaining his composure, he placed an ornament atop Medea's pale hand.

It was a cat-shaped brooch, with an emerald embedded where the eyes should be.

"Press this."

His thick finger pressed the tail, and with a click, the cat's mouth opened, revealing a sharp needle glinting inside.

It was an exquisitely designed weapon.

"It shoots out. Coated with a powerful paralytic poison. Even a graze will keep them down for three days."

"Perfect for stabbing rude types like you."

Even as she said it, Medea couldn't tear her eyes from the brooch.

"Will you refuse this one too?"

"......"

Medea didn't answer.

As if he'd expected that, a light chuckle escaped from beneath his half-mask.

"Knew you'd like it."

"I've never liked—"

Medea bristled, feeling exposed without knowing why.

"See you later, Princess."

But Cezare vanished as swiftly as he'd come.

Medea rose and gripped the windowsill. A cold night breeze rushed in.

"What a selfish man."

He came like the wind and left like a typhoon, threatening to sweep her away if she didn't hold on tight.

Her sigh-like murmur settled over the brooch's glittering emerald eyes.

The administrative palace of Baldina.

"Prime Minister? Already at this hour...... No, you haven't left the palace yet?"

In the early dawn, Sise's aide spotted him and widened his eyes.

The table was strewn with notes from his informants scattered across the battlefield, spread over a map.

"How was your visit to the Princess Palace yesterday? Oh, what's this?"

"Ten days ago, the Rasai tribe's grain transport heading to the front lines was torched."

A servant noticed a letter and a charred fragment of a flag, tilting his head.

"No way... Did Her Highness do this?"

"Tell Peleus not to miss his chance."

"Send this to His Majesty's camp. It's urgent—do it as fast as possible."

"Yes, sir."

The servant hurried out.

Sise suddenly realized something.

The princess hadn't struck the Rasai supply line using forces from the Baldina palace, but outsiders.

'Mercenaries... did she hire them?'

"If no word reached my ears, they're no ordinary bunch."

There had been no news at all until two weeks ago.

To target the fierce Rasai so precisely and vanish in such a short time required exceptional skill and secrecy...

"No way... Facade?"

An incredulous breath escaped him.

A group of royal maids emerged from the Kazen delegation's lodgings.

"Whew, we only heard rumors, but the Fourth Imperial Princess has some temper. This is no good, that's no good. How do her subordinates even put up with her whims?"

"Tell me about it. Just now she complained the lodgings were shabby and sent the count off to fetch imperial decorations."

The maids clicked their tongues.

"Tsk tsk, how's he supposed to find those things this late? Poor guy. Even an imperial count is powerless before royalty."

On the streets of Baldina's royal capital, lined with darkened shops, Kensington halted in his search for the Fourth Princess's errands.

A familiar silver figure had appeared before him.

"What brings the princess of Baldina out at this late hour?"

"Count Kensington, care to walk with me a bit?"

He followed without protest, but wariness darkened his eyes.

After the Red Fox Unit had been exposed and he'd come this far, he'd been agonizing over how to approach her.

Yet here was Baldina's princess seeking him out first.

"I had my doubts whether Umberto could deliver the message properly. I figured just getting the word to you would suffice. But I didn't expect you to come find me yourself."

"......The matter is rather pressing, isn't it?"

"Worried all your plants in Baldina will be rooted out? Don't fret. That's not why I sought you."

"Then why?"

Unlike his kindly demeanor leading the delegation, his sharp gaze—devoid of any smile—fixed on Medea.

The real Kensington was a bit arrogant, a bit cautious, and even prickly.

"I came to give you a warning, Count."

"If I may be so bold, I fail to see what counsel a princess of a small kingdom could offer a servant of Kazen."

Kensington subtly provoked her, testing her reaction.

"What if I reveal Your Highness's true nature to the imperial family right now?"

The veiled threat came with it.

True to the head of spies operating across the continent, his tone was calm but laced with undeniable chill.

"True nature... Like you, who seems an ordinary diplomat but actually commands the espionage network across the continent?"

Kensington froze at her smiling retort.

"Count, threats are for those with nothing to lose. Even then, I'm not sure who'd believe you."

Medea lifted the corner of her mouth.

"Frankly, no one knows what passed between you and me except us two."

To expose the princess's secrets, he'd have to admit first to secretly planting a spy on Baldina's Interior Minister.

Both knew Kensington wouldn't risk that.

"Clever count, you've sent countless spies across the continent and used their intel for preemptive strikes."

Her eyes held the truth.

"Even I know the current emperor ascended safely thanks to your loyalty from the shadows."

"......"

"But now, it's dangerous. The Red Fox Unit, once your strength, will soon be choking you."

Medea stopped and turned. Kensington met her vivid emerald eyes.

"Because Kazen's emperor will betray you."

The air crackled with tension. Kensington warned her.

"Princess, think carefully before spreading rumors."

"Personally, I respect you, Count. Especially your unwavering loyalty and sacrifices, generation after generation."

A thread of genuine respect shone from her small, pale face.

"But has Kazen's emperor rewarded you properly? Can a lord-vassal bond endure on one-sided devotion? Kensington, you need a better master."

Fury blazed in Kensington's eyes. His toes gripped the ground opposite her.

"Foreigners trying to sway me aren't new, even if Your Highness is the princess of Baldina. My answer remains the same then and now: Kensington serves only His Majesty."

As if she'd anticipated his firm reply, Medea nodded faintly.

"I respect your convictions. But I had to warn you—you're too valuable to be sacrificed to the greed of ungrateful fools."

Even after the princess left, Kensington couldn't move. For a moment, anger surged beyond his control.

The biggest reason, no doubt, was that he couldn't deny the girl's words.

That his lord, Perdiccas—now on the throne—would betray him before long.