33 - The Crown I Will Take From You
Chapter 33
"If the tutor doesn’t suit you, we can always change them.”
As if to end the conversation, the Queen Dowager gestured to Mrs. Pinatelli.
“Anyway, Medeia. For the only Princess of this nation, your appearance is excessively modest.”
A plain dress. A single small pearl necklace as an accessory.
Medeia’s attire, from head to toe, contrasted sharply with Birna’s elaborately adorned appearance, drawing the Queen Dowager’s attention even more.
‘She’s a Princess in name, but I can’t leave her like this. Medeia doesn’t have a mother like Birna to take care of her… I have no choice but to take care of her myself.’
As if on cue, Mrs. Pinatelli, who had been waiting, opened a large velvet box.
Splendid jewels wrapped in purple velvet were revealed.
‘That’s Grandmother’s jewelry box?’
Birna, who was glancing from the side, widened her eyes. It was something she could barely see during national events.
“Medeia, choose something you like. This grandmother will give it to you as a gift.”
It was an indirect apology for the past events.
Medeia quietly stared at the Queen Dowager, as if trying to gauge her intentions.
The Queen Dowager felt as if she had been struck when she saw her granddaughter, instead of being happy with the gift she had offered, was first and foremost trying to read her mood.
‘Was I so callous that this child acts like this?’
“Don’t worry and choose.”
Only after adding another word did Medeia nod.
“Thank you, Grandmother.”
The way she carefully examined the jewelry box was as cautious as a kitten.
Birna was annoyed.
The jewelry box that the Queen Dowager had opened contained the coronation tiara and necklace that she had begged to be given to her when she got married someday.
‘Why is she giving such precious things to Medeia of all people!’
Every time Medeia’s eyes touched a piece of jewelry, she felt anxious as if her own possessions were being taken away.
She really didn’t want to give even a tiny pearl to Medeia.
What if that gloomy thing takes the best one first?
“Sister, if you don’t like anything, I’ll choose first.”
In the end, Birna couldn’t stand it and pushed Medeia aside, quickly taking the spot in front of the jewelry box.
She snatched a large necklace as if Medeia would take it away.
“Grandmother, I like this sapphire necklace! Don’t you think it goes well with my eye color?”
At that moment, the Queen Dowager’s eyebrows twitched.
“How dare you!”
“G, Grandmother…?”
Birna’s eyes widened.
Her grandmother, who had never raised her voice in her life, was suddenly scolding her?
“I didn’t say I was giving it to you as a gift. It’s not even your turn, yet you’re recklessly touching the Princess. Where did you learn such manners?”
“S, Sister wasn’t choosing… I was just….”
Her lips were pouting, and her bewildered eyes were filled with injustice.
“Sister? You should address her properly as Your Highness! Birna Robin Claudio!”
Thump! The Queen Dowager slammed the table.
‘Even when Medeia came in earlier, Birna didn’t even greet her and kept lying on my lap.’
Like a master receiving the respect of a subordinate.
“Just because you’re in this palace, do you think your surname is Baldina? Medeia is your master whom you must serve, before being a relative.”
“G, Grandmother…!”
“Until when were you planning to act recklessly like a tomboy? Does the Duke Claudio family not know the etiquette of serving the monarch?”
The frosty scolding pierced her heart like a dagger.
Birna had never imagined that her grandmother, who had only ever doted on her, would even point out the difference in status.
“Apologize quickly. Show the Princess proper respect.”
At the Queen Dowager’s words, Birna bit her lip. Her eyes, filled with anger, were brimming with tears.
It was humiliating enough to be scolded in front of Medeia, but to apologize to that girl?
And with proper respect?
‘What did I do wrong?’
She was even the daughter of a Prince and a Duchess.
Her blood was far nobler than that half-breed girl who had a mere dancer as a mother.
“How can you do this to me, Grandmother? You’re being too much!”
Birna resented the Queen Dowager and ran out.
“That, that immature thing. Tsk.”
The Queen Dowager clicked her tongue and turned to Medeia.
“Your Highness. Shall we bring Lady Claudio back?”
Mrs. Pinatelli asked worriedly.
“Leave her be. She needs to learn the difference in status now. How long will we let her do as she pleases like that?”
The Queen Dowager grumbled.
Although she didn’t cherish the Claudio mother and daughter as much as before after the Court Physician incident, the fact that she didn’t bother to bring her back and scold her showed that there was still affection lingering.
Medeia, who had been quietly watching the Queen Dowager, opened her mouth.
“Grandmother, please understand Birna. We’ve always been together since we were young.”
“Hmm?”
“Whatever I had, Birna had too, and whatever Birna didn’t have, I didn’t have either. So, your words must have been very bewildering to her.”
‘Whatever Birna didn’t have, Medeia didn’t have either?’
The Queen Dowager paused for a moment, frowning, and then said firmly.
“Whatever it was like when you were young, it has to change now. You are a Princess. Your path is different from that child’s.”
Medeia asked calmly.
“Grandmother, Birna has spent more time in the royal palace than at the Duke Claudio estate. If you tell a dog raised in a wolf pack that it’s not a wolf, will the dog understand that?”
“……”
“Will other animals feel that the dog raised among wolves is a dog?”
The Queen Dowager was speechless.
She was silent for a while, as if lost in thought.
After throwing a burden heavier than a rock onto her grandmother, Medeia leisurely examined the jewels.
“Grandmother, can I choose this?”
Medeia picked up a purple fan placed at the end of the jewelry box.
“A fan? Isn’t it too modest? Why don’t you choose something better?”
“I like this one.”
Medeia fiddled with the cold handle of the fan.
‘Damascus steel.’
Damascus steel was strong enough to cut through rocks and at the same time had elasticity that prevented it from breaking, making it an excellent weapon.
‘I needed a weapon anyway, so this is good.’
It seemed good to carry around and use for self-defense when needed.
“Alright, if you like it, then do so.”
Medeia thanked the Queen Dowager and left with the fan.
“……That child is right. We shouldn’t have brought them into our fold from the beginning. Birna too. Joaquin too.”
The Queen Dowager sighed deeply.
‘Is Birna the only one who is mistaken about her place?’
Her granddaughter’s words from a moment ago had awakened her sense of caution.
Her wrinkled hands nervously tapped the table.
“Your Highness……”
Mrs. Pinatelli looked at the Queen Dowager. She couldn’t find a smile on her face.
“Monte must send a letter to my nephew. Tell him to return to the royal palace.”
That night, a carriage carrying the Queen Dowager’s letter to a member of the royal family left the royal palace.
\ \ *
Duke Claudio estate.
“Birna? What’s wrong? Tell me without crying.”
Catherine raised her beautiful eyebrows when her daughter returned to the estate crying.
She wondered what had happened since she had sent her alone to the palace today because she couldn’t go with her.
However, when Birna told her the whole story, her expression hardened.
“How could you run out of there like that? Just because your grandmother dotes on you, do you think she’ll overlook your rude behavior in front of her?”
She scolded her immature daughter.
“Besides, what did I tell you? Don’t give people an excuse to criticize your behavior.”
To lose her temper in front of the Queen Dowager at this chaotic time of all times.
“Do you think you’re in a situation where you can do as you please? Why are you so thoughtless!”
The very fact that no communication had come from the palace yet, even though Birna had run out like that, showed that the Queen Dowager’s feelings were different from before.
“Besides, now there’s even Medeia. You’re not the only granddaughter to your grandmother.”
She was doing everything wrong when she should have been trying to please her. Her efforts to go back and forth to the royal palace until her feet were blistered to soothe her mother-in-law’s heart had been in vain.
Catherine almost forgot her refinement and slapped her daughter.
