53 - The Crown I Will Take From You
53
A stout, enormous, half-naked potbelly lumbered across the banquet hall like a crazed rhinoceros.
The guards protecting the banquet belatedly moved, but the Minister was far closer to the Princess than they were.
“Uwaaaa-!”
Medeia calmly gazed at the Minister rushing toward her.
Her small hand snapped the fan shut and readjusted her grip on its end, so she could pierce him in one go.
‘Now.’
Just as Medeia was about to stab the approaching toad’s solar plexus with the end of her fan, her body was lightly lifted.
‘What?’
Cesare had swept her up in his arms and whisked her away from the spot like the wind.
Like an iron butterfly taking flight, his movements were both soaring and swift.
As he moved away, he kicked the stout ankle of the charging Minister with his long, outstretched leg.
“Keuheop-!”
Medeia lifted her head from the embrace that filled her vision. A mercenary wearing an iron mask was looking down at her.
“…Achares?”
The man paused, as if he hadn’t expected Medeia to know his name, then curved his lips upward.
‘He can lift me with one hand.’
Cesare narrowed his brows. The slender waist in his grasp, the weight, was excessively light.
She was treated like a burden, so the royal family wasn’t even feeding her properly?
In the brief moment they caught their breath,
“Kyaaaaaak-!”
A piercing scream rang out.
Until a few moments ago, Birna had been gleefully watching the crazed Minister charging fiercely at her cousin.
However, the Minister, whose step had faltered from Cesare’s kick, teetered as he tried to regain his balance.
The direction had changed.
“Kyaa! He’s coming this way!”
“Run away!”
There were now no obstacles between the Minister and the group where Birna was.
As everyone frantically fled, someone stepped on Birna’s dress.
“Ah, my dress!”
Jjeok-!
At the ear-splitting sound, Birna paused, and a huge shadow fell over her.
“Lady Birna-!”
The Minister’s massive body, having gained momentum from his fierce charge, crushed Birna as she was.
It was a hair’s breadth.
If her dress hadn’t been torn, she could have escaped like the others.
Normally, it wouldn’t have torn so easily from being stepped on, but since it was a piece that Catherine had personally ‘tampered with,’ the result was disastrous.
The tangled pair was pushed by the momentum to the dessert table.
The table shattered under the heavy weight, and all the food on it was dumped over the two of them.
Various foods were poured over Birna’s tattered dress, making a mess, and her neatly styled hair was disheveled, with juice dripping down.
“Aaaagh! Ack! Wh, what is thisss!”
Birna shrieked at the messy sight.
“L, Lady, your dress…”
Her friends hastily reached out to help Birna, but the deranged Minister wouldn’t easily let go.
While they were struggling, the precarious hem of Birna’s dress completely tore off. A cool sensation washed over her lower body.
“Oh my, what am I going to do…!”
“Birna! Minister! Let go of my sister!”
While no one dared to approach the Minister’s rampage, Samon bravely charged forward.
However, far from saving his younger sister, he was instead grabbed by the Minister’s hand.
“Hee? You’re quite pretty. Come with me quietly, and I’ll let this girl go.”
“What outlandish nonsense are you spouting! Are you crazy?”
‘This crazy bastard, why is he so strong!’
Samon recoiled in disgust and tried to push him away. But the Minister tried to press his flushed cheek against Samon’s.
Unable to endure any longer, Samon flew into a rage and punched the Minister in the face.
“Keueung.”
The Minister’s face turned crimson.
The Regent Duke and his wife, who had belatedly returned, were dumbfounded by the scene unfolding before them.
Why was Minister Etienne crushing their son and daughter!
The corners of the Minister’s mouth were even frothing white foam like a rabid dog. He seemed completely out of his mind.
“Get a grip!”
“What are you doing! Seize the Minister at once!”
“Hey, can’t you let go of this!”
Several of the Regent Duke’s guards clung to the struggling Minister.
They had to lift the Minister like a sack of luggage to separate him from the Birna siblings.
As a result, Birna was forced to reveal her torn dress to the whole world, and she fainted from the stress.
“She’s fainted! Take her to the Court Physician at once!”
Catherine had several guards surround her daughter and take Birna away.
Samon, who had barely escaped from the Minister, drew his sword.
As the only heir of Duke Claudio, who had been raised with utmost care, when and where would he have experienced such low-quality harassment? And forcibly, in front of everyone!
“Young Duke, restrain yourself!”
“I’m going to kill that bastard today!”
“H, How dare you insult this body! Do you want to see what you’re in for?”
“Take Samon away. And quickly take the Minister to the Court Physician! Quickly!”
The Regent Duke belatedly dismissed the people, but it was difficult to avoid all the attention.
The banquet hall was truly a scene of chaos.
\ \ \
“Achares.”
While the Claudio family was in an uproar, Medeia called out the name once more.
“…Achares.”
The man paused, then lowered his head toward Medeia.
Cesare belatedly realized that he had been holding the Princess throughout the commotion.
The weight on his arm was so light and insignificant that he hadn’t even noticed.
Cesare stiffened at the shallow breath that reached his neck.
Was she even human? Was the blood of a fairy or spirit mixed in with her half-blooded lineage?
Without realizing that his thoughts were extremely subjective, based solely on his standards,
Cesare was quite astonished that such a physically frail being could exist in nature.
Medeia, too, was equally flustered.
They were close enough that she could see the clear Golden eyes behind the iron mask.
‘This guy. He’s incredibly strong.’
From the momentary movement in which he had scooped her up and whisked her away like Petrification, yet accurately kicked the Minister’s foot, she could guess at his skill befitting his reputation.
At least within this banquet hall, he seemed to have no equal.
Medeia blinked.
“Put me down.”
“My apologies.”
Her feet lightly touched the ground again.
When he had snatched her away like a swooping hawk, he had been so ruthless, but the hand that set Medeia down was surprisingly courteous.
“Seeing the Princess in danger, I found myself leaping in without thinking.”
When had he ever spoken informally? He was now using impeccable manners, yet there was a languid smile in his voice.
Medeia’s eyes glanced at Gallo, who was standing behind him.
Those strong individuals who straddled the line between rudeness and courtesy weren’t fickle in personality, but were actually accustomed to shaking up their opponents to gain the upper hand.
Medeia, who had no intention of being swayed by him, nonchalantly gestured toward Gallo with her chin.
“How presumptuous. Not even recognizing his own master.”
Gallo scratched his head.
The mercenary he had brought as a bodyguard had flown to save the Princess he had met for the first time right before his eyes, instead of protecting him, so he seemed quite embarrassed himself.
“It’s because this one isn’t my master yet.”
Cesare, unfazed by the rebuke, picked up the fallen fan and handed it over, then chuckled.
If she had the skill to recognize a flashbang, she would have easily noticed that the handle of the fan he had picked up a moment ago was made of steel.
“It seems I prevented a major accident today.”
At Achares’s brazen words, Medeia blinked, feigning ignorance.
Rather, when he feigned ignorance and raised his lips, Medeia became slightly annoyed.
He had interfered without knowing anything and only caused trouble, yet where was he trying to pull a fast one?
She completely excluded the mercenary and turned her body toward Gallo.
“Sir Gallo, I didn’t know you were raising even troublesome stray dogs that stick their noses in everywhere.”
Cesare didn’t expect to be so cleanly ignored.
“Be careful. Facade is a weapon dealer, not a doghouse, is it?”
“Y-Yes?”
“Then.”
Leaving Gallo, who had eyes as big as lanterns, behind, Medeia left the scene with a frigid greeting.
\ \ \
“You know that wasn’t like the boss, right?”
Gallo pouted his lips.
Cesare snorted.
“You deliberately changed the direction by tripping the Minister just now. You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool my eyes.”
Gallo pointed at his eyes with his index and middle fingers, then shook them at Cesare as if stabbing him.
“Nonsense.”
“No, then if you were going to save her anyway, you should have rescued the poor Lady Claudio too. It wouldn’t have been difficult for the boss.”
Cesare didn’t answer.
He, too, had acted unconsciously. The moment the Minister’s bloodshot eyes turned toward Medeia, his body had moved before he could think.
