16 - The Crown I Will Take From You
Chapter 16
He spluttered, saying that rumors were already spreading like wildfire throughout the Royal Palace.
“The Royal Palace Head Maid completely took over the palace and tormented the Princess. They only gave her rotten food in the Royal Palace, and they put needles in her clothes.”
“Yeah, yeah. I heard it from a shoeshine boy in the capital. They say the Princess couldn’t bear it alone and gave jewels to her Maids, begging them to stop the harassment.”
People tilted their heads. It was hard to believe.
“Is that true? She’s a Princess, after all. How could they do that to their master?”
“She’s just an orphaned Princess, and her brother, the King, isn’t around. She doesn’t have any family to protect her. So those awful people must have looked down on her. I mean, look. What can a young girl like our Emma do on her own?”
The soldier stroked his daughter’s hair as he spoke.
The braided girl was quite tall, reaching about to her father’s chest.
But her hands were still small, and her cheeks still had baby fat.
“Father?”
The girl looked up at her father with innocent, round eyes, bewildered.
It was a moment that made everyone who had been ranting feel awkward.
People suddenly realized.
Cursed, greedy, parasite. The Princess, whom they had been harshly criticizing until just now, was the same age as that girl.
What had they been doing?
Had they been pouring out all their resentment and anger on a young girl who didn’t even know the bitterness of the world yet?
“Those damn bastards.”
“Even so, how could they treat the King’s sister, a Baldina of royal blood, like that?”
They added words as if they were angry. It was also to ease their hidden guilt.
“But, you know. Didn’t the Princess’s uncle, the Regent Duke Claudio, know about it?”
Then, someone pointed out.
“The jewels the Princess sold were all gifts from that Duke. I don’t understand how someone as high up as the Regent Duke wouldn’t know that his beloved niece was being harassed.”
“Hey, how ambitious was the Duke, no, the Royal Prince, in his younger days?”
“He had the throne snatched away by his niece, and his only niece must have been an eyesore. Anyone can pretend to be nice in front of her face.”
“Hey, surely not.”
“Anyway, that’s why it’s said that you’re miserable without your parents. The Princess is pitiful too. Cursed or whatever, she was left alone at such a young age.”
The conversation shifted to whether the Regent Duke Claudio truly cared for his niece, the Princess.
“Still, I don’t like it. I can’t trust the King who gave the Seal to such a young child in the first place.”
“It’s all because of this damn war. When will it ever end!”
“When will the Goddess of Victory come to our Baldina!”
The soldiers’ conversation, which had been as hot as a boiling pot, moved on to an endless topic.
In any case, the megaphone that Medeia had handed to the Maids had done its job.
In the rumors spreading by word of mouth, the Baldinians’ firm belief in the Regent Duke would gradually fade.
Medeia closed her eyes and leaned back.
Her foolish self from her previous life came to mind. She vowed. This time, she would definitely make it different.
The setting sun shone fully on her face.
Clunk. The carriage started again.
\ \ *
Finally, they arrived at Gillifos’s mansion.
“Greetings to Princess Medeia.”
Following the butler’s guidance, who bowed politely, Medeia entered the mansion.
The mansion, like the atmosphere of its master who had stepped down from all power, had a rustic but profound charm.
“He is waiting. Neril, you stay here.”
The butler said in front of the thick mahogany door.
“I am also Her Highness’s bodyguard. I must stay by her side.”
Neril shook her head firmly and stood in front of Medeia.
“Do you think His Excellency would harm the Princess? Are you going to tarnish your teacher’s honor? Step back.”
The butler coldly scolded Neril, but she did not move.
Perhaps it was because she was heartbroken by the people’s harsh criticism of her master that she had heard earlier.
Like a mother bird protecting her chick, her appearance was quite sharp, and her legs on the carpet were as firm as old trees.
“Your stubbornness is still the same.”
The butler shook his head, then turned to Medeia.
“Your Highness, Princess, I apologize, but my master said he would not see anyone unless it was a private meeting. He also said that if you are worried about your safety, you may return to the Royal Palace and he would understand.”
The butler was polite and fluent, as if he had prepared the answer in advance. Neril was greatly disappointed.
‘Is my teacher also trying to sit on Her Highness’s head! How is this any different from the Regent Duke?’
“I didn’t expect you to do this, Teacher. If you were going to insult me like this, why did you reply to my letter?”
Just as Neril was about to protest with a stiff face, a small hand was placed on Neril’s shoulder.
“It’s okay, Neril.”
That was all, but the momentum that seemed about to explode subsided.
Neril, who had read the Princess’s intentions, stepped back.
“Let’s go in.”
There were no unnecessary words. That made her feel even more like the owner of this place.
“……Yes, Your Highness.”
The butler tried hard to hide his surprise at the sight of the young Princess, who did not lose control of the situation like a seasoned old tree.
Swish.
The sound of the hem of Medeia’s dress lightly dragging on the ground was the only sound, as if nothing else existed.
The room she entered was filled with a heavy atmosphere.
A pressure that seemed to weigh down her shoulders.
Even in the midst of that, a sharp atmosphere that did not allow her to let her guard down.
As befitting a warrior who had once taught knights and played an active role at the forefront of the battlefield, various weapons were hung on all sides of the Marquis’s room.
Medeia looked at the old man facing the window.
Her eyes first went to the leather strap that carefully tied up his white hair and his thick beard, rather than his still imposing physique.
“Your Highness, Princess.”
Gillifos, the former Royal Guard Commander, turned around. His back was still straight even in his old age.
“It’s been a while, Marquis Gillifos.”
“Time is fleeting.”
Marquis Gillifos looked at the Princess.
The child who used to sob while clutching her pillow had grown up so much that she had come to visit him alone.
“You haven’t changed at all, Marquis.”
But she still had soft downy hair.
Her light eyebrows, round face, and small frame were reminiscent of a young, ungrown fawn.
That was why Gillifos couldn’t completely believe the rumors.
That frail girl, who seemed like she would tremble even holding a silver spoon, had beaten the Head Maid?
‘The exaggeration seems a bit much.’
“I heard the news. You saved my incompetent disciple. The old man offers his belated thanks.”
“Neril is my person, so there is no reason for you to receive thanks from the Marquis.”
Gillifos was relieved by the Princess’s answer.
Even if she was an innocent and foolish Princess, it seemed she still took care of her people, so his disciple would not die in vain.
“Since you have taken the trouble to come all this way, I will be honest with you.”
As if the unnecessary greetings were over, Gillifos opened his mouth.
“It is a good thing that Your Highness has become enlightened, even if it is late. However, I have been away from state affairs for a long time and have no intention of returning.”
“…….”
“If you are looking for me as a replacement for the Regent Duke, I dare to say that I cannot bear that weight.”
‘She must have been anxious because she had a falling out with the Head Maid.’
Gillifos thought that the reason the Princess had come to him was because she wanted his backing.
‘If not, why would she have secretly gone to the trouble of meeting me from so far away?’
A bitter taste rose from within. It was disappointment in the child of the master he had served all his life.
‘The Princess is once again seeking someone to lean on, a weak figure.’
His master was clearly a respectable figure, but Gillifos thought that his bloodline had failed.
The Late King’s brother was a wolf constantly seeking the throne, his son was a stubborn man immersed in war, and his daughter was a frail fool.
“Your Highness, Princess. You must not be deceived by their tongues. They are only using you for their own benefit.”
“So, are you saying that you are not? I know you are after the Seal!”
Gillifos’s earnest advice was obscured by the slander that cunning people were whispering in the Princess’s ear.
“The power of a leader comes only from the trust of the people. You must listen to their cries. This is the last piece of advice I will give you before I leave.”
But the Princess ultimately ignored Gillifos’s advice, and eventually he left the Royal Palace and retired from politics.
It was because he could not see any hope in the Princess, who had become a puppet of the Regent Duke, or in this country.
“If the Late King were alive, it wouldn’t have come to this……. Is God turning away from Baldina?”
Baldina had lost its light. And it seemed unlikely that it would shine again.
So now he had no intention of re-entering the quagmire of power.
“I am old now, and I have many things to protect. It is difficult enough for me to support myself, so how can I bear Your Highness’s great undertaking?”
Medeia could feel Gillifos’s long eyes observing her.
“I have lived this long, and you may ask what more I could want, but please remember the last request of an old man whose dream is to live a thin and long life.”
Gillifos drove the wedge in.
He did not hide his intention to avoid Medeia by feigning old age and illness.
‘His dream is to live a thin and long life?’
Gillifos, who said that, had died blocking the Demon Beasts from entering the Royal Palace when the monster horde covered Baldina in her past life.
Even though the Regent Duke and other nobles had all run away, he remained until the end to protect Baldina.
“I understand your thoughts well, Marquis.”
One of his eyebrows rose.
Medeia’s expression was calm. She didn’t seem disappointed or angry.
A look of surprise appeared on Gillifos’s face.
‘I thought I was confident in my ability to read people.’
Strangely enough, he could not read anything from the expression of the young Princess in front of him.
Then, Medeia placed a bundle of papers on the desk.
Just as Gillifos was narrowing his eyes to read the letters on the paper.
“It’s all my assets. I have a request for you, Marquis.”
As expected.
Gillifos let out a sigh at the Princess’s predictable reaction.
“Your Highness, I repeat, no matter what you offer, I have no intention of leaving this place-”
“No. What I need is not your protection or support, Marquis.”
Medeia firmly cut him off.
“Then……?”
