50 - The Crown I Will Take From You
Episode 50
He burst into a hearty laugh as if he understood.
“Someone must have been blathering nonsense to Your Highness. Siseo (Lord)? You know that young man is more old-fashioned than an eighty-year-old. He’s desperate to find fault between Your Highness and us-”
“Minister.”
Medeia raised her hand gently.
She cut him off firmly, as if there was no need to listen to any more useless words.
“I asked the question.”
“……”
The smile gradually disappeared from the Minister’s face, which had been full of pleasure.
The alcohol had long worn off the young Princess who rudely interrupted him.
“Your Highness, I’ll take care of all the difficult and complicated matters. You don’t need to worry.”
The sinister eyes visible between his drooping eyelids glinted like those of a poisonous toad.
“Just enjoy yourself every day. Read books with the Maids, draw pictures, and attend banquets like this at night. Just like you always have.”
“Is that your answer?”
Medeia curled up the corners of her lips.
He pretends to care for me, but in fact, he’s just disrespecting the Princess with his outrageous words.
“Yes. You don’t have to worry at all. Everything is proceeding according to the rules and procedures.”
“In that case, bring me the budget and report for today’s banquet by tomorrow. As you said, it proceeded according to procedure, so there shouldn’t be any problems.”
The Minister’s mouth hardened.
I’ve been putting up with this bratty Princess until now, but what?
“Why do you want to see it when there are no problems? It’s just a difficult and complicated numbers game.”
“Wouldn’t Siseo (Lord) at least be curious? How this huge banquet, which neither I nor you approved, took place in this palace, and the reason for it.”
The hand holding the champagne glass stopped abruptly.
His eyes, red with anger, rolled around the banquet hall.
Finding a suitable place, a smile returned to his face.
He had to teach this arrogant Princess a lesson in a place where people couldn’t see them.
“Could we… move to another place to talk?”
“Of course.”
Etienne led the Princess to a small room at the end of the banquet hall.
Thud, the door closed.
Etienne’s servant took his glass and closed the door. Only Medeia and the Minister were in the room.
“Hoo. Your Highness.”
Etienne took a slow breath, loosening the cravat around his thick neck with his hand.
He seemed quite angry.
“Are you going to give me an answer now? If you’re not comfortable, I can ask my grandmother.”
Etienne swept back his hair and approached Medeia.
“Oh, Your Highness. Don’t you really know the answer?”
He looked down at the Princess with his small eyes, exuding ferocity like a hunter threatening a young beast.
“Who in this vast palace is on Your Highness’s side? Siseo (Lord)? The Queen Dowager? If I lift a finger, will Your Highness’s nights be peaceful?”
His voice was full of mockery.
“Your Highness only has employees by your side. The nobles despise Your Highness’s bloodline. If an attack were to happen to Your Highness, who would sincerely try to protect you?”
“……”
“So. Don’t do anything rash. Even beasts don’t go down the path to their own death.”
Clear intimidation. Vigor. Ominous voice.
An old man threatening a young girl is truly a sight you can’t buy with money.
After placing the glass she was holding on the railing, Medeia crossed her arms with a smile.
‘Sorry, but thanks to my war-like past life, your threats are nothing.’
“That remains to be seen. But do you know? Cuisine said the exact same thing.”
“……”
“Power is as light as flipping your palm. Your position can disappear overnight, just like the Head Maid.”
Etienne couldn’t stand the Princess’s provocation and glared at her.
To put the Head Maid, who disappeared like dew after foolishly rushing in, and him, the Minister of Internal Affairs of a country, on the same level?
Does she think my power is comparable to that of the Head Maid?
“Hmph. Are that wench and I the same? Would Your Highness be able to survive in this palace without my help? Fools only realize it’s a tsunami when it hits them.”
“Is that so? I will definitely not forget your opinion.”
“Yes. Please be sure to remember it.”
The Princess smiled at his last desperate answer.
But what a pity, there’s still a second foot left to make the toad’s poison rise.
“Speaking of which, Cuisine said something strange to me before he died.”
The Minister flinched, but asked nonchalantly.
“What do I care what that shameless man said?”
“He said that there was a dirtier and more foul-smelling maggot in the palace than me, and that the palace would only function properly if I caught it.”
“……”
“And that maggot, they say, has an ugly appearance and can’t even perform properly at night, so it’s been eliminated from the species altogether, let alone mating?”
His thick hands trembled as he tried to contain his anger.
“So, to restore his collapsed pride, he torments weak and young offspring- Minister, are you okay? Your face is red?”
Medeia stopped speaking and sent him a worried look.
“The room, the room is… it must be because it’s hot. Please continue.”
The jowls of the Minister, who was barely smiling, trembled.
‘I should have butchered that Cuisine before he died.’
To think he would spread such nonsense behind my back.
Just then, he saw a glass next to him. Without thinking any further, the Minister grabbed the glass and drank it down.
The cold drink went down his throat, and the heat inside seemed to subside a little.
“But I really don’t understand. Minister, you’ve been in this palace for a long time, so do you have any idea who Cuisine is talking about?”
“Well. I don’t know either, but……”
He trailed off and looked at the Princess standing in front of him.
That girl… what does she know to be talking like that?
There was no turbidity in her very clear eyes, so Etienne couldn’t be sure how much the Princess knew.
“I will definitely remember and look for Your Highness’s instructions. Managing the palace is also the duty of the Divine Physician.”
“Of course, I trust only the Minister.”
Medeia greeted him with a smile.
“Then, I’ll be on my way……”
The Minister, who had escaped from the room as if fleeing, strode out of the banquet hall. It seemed like steam was rising from his head with every step he took.
Only when he reached a small room in the hallway where no one could see him did he finally unleash his pent-up anger.
“Damn it!”
Crash-!
“If you weren’t royalty, you’d be a mouthful-! How dare you talk so carelessly! What, a maggot? A maggot?”
The Minister, panting, snatched the bottle of alcohol from the hands of the servant who was following him and swallowed it in one gulp.
“It’s lukewarm! You idiot! You moron! Can’t you even get the temperature right?!”
A wild outburst of anger for no reason poured out.
“I’m sorry, Master. Please forgive me.”
The Minister snorted and put the bottle to his mouth upside down as if blowing a trumpet.
As the pungent alcohol poured down his throat, the rising heat seemed to subside a little.
Meanwhile, Umberto, who had been helplessly knocked down by Etienne’s kick, was cleaning up the mess left by his master and recalled the message that had arrived a few days ago.
When the time comes, put the toad
on the market.
‘The market? When is the time?’
He sent another note asking about the vague instructions, but contact was cut off after that.
Only then did Umberto realize that the time the note was talking about was today.
A small vial rattled in his pocket. The note also included instructions to mix it into Etienne’s drink during the banquet.
The vial contained an ingredient that maximized the effect of the Scented candle.
Unaware of this, Umberto faithfully carried out the instructions in the note.
‘The market must mean this banquet hall where everyone can see.’
Umberto glanced at the Minister, who was pouring alcohol like a madman.
‘He was a man who restrained his filthy nature, at least on the outside.’
Today, after meeting the Princess, he was completely drunk and seemed to have forgotten where he was.
‘Is it the aftermath of that Scented candle?’
He had been by his side for several years, but he had never been provoked so easily.
The person behind this nameless note really seems to be planning to completely ruin Etienne.
‘If he shows that kind of behavior in front of so many people……’
It’s social annihilation. His reputation and everything else will be shattered.
“Why are you still standing there! The alcohol is all gone! Bring it quickly, you bastard!”
The Minister threw a statue at him.
There’s no point in me worrying about a guy like that. Umberto decided to stop thinking about the Minister.
“Yes. Of course, Master. I will go down to the kitchen right now and bring you cool alcohol and sweet snacks.”
He bent over until the end as he left, deliberately not closing the door properly and leaving the seam loosely attached.
So that the toad could be released at any time.
Umberto walked down the cold hallway and couldn’t help but feel a little excited.
How many dirty and frustrating things had happened while he was next to this filthy man?
I wondered how long I would have to see this, but it seems it was for today.
\ \ *
“Haa.”
As the Princess left, a hidden spectator who had been sitting on a tree outside the banquet hall and watching this scene finally exhaled.
“Is she always like that? The Princess of Baldina is really fearless. How can she not shrink back at all when she’s so small?”
“……”
“By the way, the discipline in Baldina is really terrible. The Regent Duke and the Minister are all just thinking about making a fortune off the Princess-”
“Shh.”
Cesare raised his index finger to his lips as Gallo chattered incessantly.
