46 - The Crown I Will Take From You
Episode 46
‘How brilliantly it would shine when the chandelier's light hits it.’
Everyone's gaze would be on me.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to my aunt. As you said, it's too good to just leave it like this. This dress seems to suit your hair color much better."
“……”
Birna pondered the sudden stroke of luck.
"Go on, Birna. I think it would be better if you wore it."
'Since Medeia directly suggested this to me, Mother won't be able to blame me.'
Birna cautiously picked up the hem of the dress.
Even the slightly rough texture of the diamond dust clinging to her hand was welcome.
A moment later,
"Oh my, Birna. You look so beautiful."
Birna, wearing the diamond dress, looked breathtakingly dazzling.
Sparkling jewel decorations embedded in her pink hair and a tiara adorned with diamonds and pearls on her head.
'More! More beautiful! Enough to make Medeia look like my bridesmaid!'
Although the maids earnestly dissuaded her, Birna wore diamond jewelry on her neck, ears, and slender arms.
She was very satisfied with her reflection in the mirror.
Her mother's instructions had long vanished from her mind.
'I look better in it. Your dress, and your place.'
"How is it, Sister?"
Birna, full of confidence, asked with a slight lift of her nose. Medeia gently gave her the words she wanted to hear.
"You'll be the star of the party tonight. People won't be able to take their eyes off you."
\ \ \
Having finished their preparations, the two girls stood in front of the carriage to head to the banquet hall.
"Just a moment, Your Highness. Please get in this carriage. Tonight's banquet is being held at the palace."
Medeia frowned slightly.
"At the palace? I never received such a report."
"O-Of course, it's a surprise party! It was so hard preparing it without Your Highness knowing."
Birna made a clumsy excuse and glanced at Medeia.
Birna became anxious as Medeia stared at her intently.
If her foolish cousin got upset and declared her non-attendance, all the effort she had put into dressing up would be in vain.
"Oh, Your Highness. I'm sorry I didn't tell you."
She quickly softened her expression.
Then, she clung to Medeia's arm like a child and acted cute with a lovely expression.
"I really wanted to see Your Highness's surprised and delighted face. Let's go quickly. You wouldn't want Birna to get scolded by her mother, would you?"
Birna grabbed Medeia's hand and pulled her along.
"Let's go quickly. The banquet has already started, and everyone is waiting only for Your Highness."
\ \ \
Baldina Royal Palace.
The nobles invited to the banquet entered the hall one by one.
"Good heavens..."
The brilliant light of the chandeliers greeted them.
The attendees' eyes were busy examining the lavish decorations and interior.
Ice Stones with gold trim were placed as decorations on each pillar, and the beautiful symphony played by the orchestra filled the hall.
Golden candlesticks illuminated the space, and the fragrant scent of flowers wafted from the hundreds of fresh flowers decorating the banquet hall.
At the edges, towers of crystal glasses filled with champagne and snacks sprinkled with gold dust were piled high.
Most of those invited today were high-ranking nobles, but there were also some from Districts 3 and 4.
"People are freezing and starving to death in the streets... Fresh flowers and gold dust... How extravagant."
Someone grumbled.
The royal family members were also taken aback by the excessively large scale of the banquet.
The Queen Dowager frowned.
"Medeia requested that the banquet be held?"
"Yes, Your Majesty. The Minister of the Interior said so..."
Mrs. Pinatelli looked at the Queen Dowager with an unusually troubled expression.
'Everything is going according to my plan.'
Catherine rejoiced inwardly at the chilling reaction of the attendees.
"Honey, come here."
Duke Claudio, the Regent Duke, called his wife. He was with a middle-aged man with a sturdy build.
"It's been a while, Marquis Montega. Was your journey here peaceful?"
Catherine offered an elegant and kind greeting.
Marquis Montega had a stern face.
"Yes, but is there a reason for holding such a large banquet?"
The journey from the frontier to the capital was arduous. Having witnessed the miserable state of the people with his own eyes, he couldn't help but feel resentment.
Catherine sighed at Marquis Montega's question.
"This banquet is not my intention."
Catherine put on a distressed expression, saying she didn't know how hard it was to do everything the Princess wanted.
"As the Marquis knows, how can we go against what the noble bloodline desires?"
Catherine blinked her eyes.
"Besides, the Queen Dowager cherishes the Princess, so we have no choice if we don't want to be misunderstood."
"Montega, you must understand. Dea is young. She has a long way to go before she matures."
The Regent Duke patted the Marquis's shoulder, echoing his wife's words.
"With the King's Seal and her mother's protection, what does Dea have to fear? Still, if we cater to her like this, she'll be quiet for a while."
“……”
Marquis Montega didn't respond, as if he was deep in thought.
The Regent Duke and his wife exchanged satisfied smiles.
"What can we do? I've accepted this part since I decided to take care of the young Highness, so I expected this day would come eventually."
The Regent Duke joked.
But Claudio didn't know. The Montega he knew was no longer a royal confined to the greenhouse.
'Claudio's words and the situation make sense. But... I don't like that look in her eyes.'
As a Marquis, he had defended the frontier, teeming with Demon Beasts, for over ten years. In the process of facing life and death, his intuition had become highly developed.
'I should see with my own eyes and then decide.'
He thought of the Late King and drank his champagne.
It was then.
"Her Highness Princess Medeia Casey De Baldina and Lady Birna Robin Claudio, Duchess of Claudio, enter!"
At the gatekeeper's booming shout, people paused what they were doing and turned their attention.
Under the light of the chandeliers, two girls walked in.
Birna was the first to catch the eye.
A lively gait and freshly waving pink hair. The dress sprinkled with diamond dust sparkled incessantly under the light of the chandeliers.
Catherine almost dropped her fan.
'Why is Birna wearing that-!'
Unaware of her mother's shock, Birna lifted her chin at the gazes of the people.
'Everyone is looking at me. They can't take their eyes off me.'
Birna subtly quickened her pace to show off her presence. She walked ahead of Medeia.
The lighting shining on her, the surprised eyes of the people, their gaping mouths.
She was so satisfied that she would have burst out laughing if she hadn't been taught etiquette.
'I belong here more. In this Baldina Royal Palace, rather than the Duke's estate.'
Marquis Montega narrowed his eyebrows as he watched Birna walk in triumphantly.
He guessed the girl's identity after seeing the dress that sparkled so much it hurt his eyes.
"Her Highness Princess Medeia. I am Montega, returning from the frontier to see Your Highness."
"Excuse me...?"
Birna was bewildered.
Who is this old man, suddenly-
"Birna!"
At that moment, Catherine, turning pale, called her daughter's name without realizing it.
Marquis Montega turned his body after seeing the flustered girl.
He soon realized that the girl he had politely bowed to looked quite similar to his sister-in-law, Catherine.
"If this girl is not Her Highness the Princess, then who is the Highness you have been talking about?"
Catherine was flustered.
What would all the words she had said earlier become?
With a face turning white, Catherine barely managed to answer.
"This child is my daughter, Birna. She is a cousin, so she looks quite similar to Her Highness the Princess."
"Ha, is it just her appearance?"
Marquis Montega replied with a raised lip.
"I have been away from the capital for a long time, but I know very well how much my niece Birna wants to resemble Her Highness the Princess."
Catherine's face turned pale at his scathing sarcasm.
"W-Well, it was originally Her Highness's dress, but Birna, why are you wearing it? Goodness, your uncle is misunderstanding..."
A suppressed voice barely escaped through gritted teeth.
Catherine wanted to slap the cheek of her immature daughter, who had ruined her plan.
"I, I just..."
Birna stammered. Even she could tell that something was wrong.
"Don't blame her too much, Aunt."
At that moment, Medeia stepped forward as if to defend her cousin.
