55 - The Crown I Will Take From You
Chapter 55
"It doesn’t matter." There’s no one for you to marry in this small Baldina anyway. My daughter should meet a more impressive man. Young, capable… a great man who holds the empire under his feet…”
Catherine stroked Birna’s hair. Then, she muttered meaningfully.
“This mother will make Medeia pay the price for tormenting you. Don’t worry.”
Birna paused.
‘Should I tell Mom that I used drugs on Medeia that day?’
But she kept her mouth shut in the end.
How can she be sure that the Minister’s fuss was because of her drug? It could be something else that pig ate.
“Sheila, erase everything that happened that day from your mind. We don’t know anything. Got it?”
After her mother left, Birna sternly silenced Sheila once more.
All she could do now was to hide the source as much as possible.
\ \ \
Count Etienne's Residence.
The Minister couldn’t care about public opinion like the Regent Duke. Or rather, he didn’t have the leeway to do so.
“Why! Why?!”
Since returning from the banquet, a serious disability had occurred in one part of his body.
“Hmm… It seems someone used hallucinogenic drugs. However, the toxicity in the ingredients doesn’t suit the Minister’s body, causing side effects.”
“Who the hell?! Can it be treated? Give me the medicine quickly.”
The doctor, who carefully examined the Minister’s condition, looked troubled.
“That is, hallucinogenic drugs are difficult to treat in the first place, and since the area is the area…”
He said that if he used strong medicine, there was a higher chance that he would become completely impotent.
“What are you talking about? Are you saying it can’t be treated?”
“Even if treatment is difficult, infertility cannot be avoided.”
The doctor sweated profusely, saying that he had to be prepared for either impotence or infertility.
“Well, you should prepare to adopt an heir.”
Etienne was furious at the shocking news.
“This Lark Etienne! Me, a man among men, impotent? Infertile? Don’t talk such nonsense!”
However, other doctors he brought in from all directions gave the same diagnosis.
Even worse, the Minister's condition worsened as he tried various treatments and tests due to his extreme behavior.
The pain became so severe that he screamed at the slightest touch.
“Who the hell? Which bastard did this to me?”
At first, he thought the purpose was to embarrass him, but the person behind it was aiming for something bigger.
Due to his nature, he was not interested in relationships with women, but even so, Etienne had a vague pride that he would one day continue the lineage through a woman.
So now that his pride was shattered, Etienne was consumed by unprecedented anger and inferiority.
“…They know me very well.”
Who on earth is the one who knows his psychological Achilles' heel so well?
The Minister gnawed on his lip with ferocious eyes.
“Investigate everything. Don’t miss even one rat scurrying around the banquet hall that day!”
No matter how hard Birna tried, the opponent was the Minister of the Inner Palace who held the Inner Palace in his hands.
“So, it was Birna Claudio?”
As a result of tracing back one by one, he learned who had brought the drug into the banquet that day.
The Duke Claudio’s Maid handed over the drug, and the palace servant brought the glass with the drug to the banquet hall that day and lingered around the Princess.
“Master, then it seems the Princess was targeting Medeia. She must have harbored resentment because she was ridiculed because of the Princess that day.”
“……”
“Master?”
“You only see what you see and believe it so easily, that’s why you’re still like that. You idiot.”
The toad pondered with gleaming eyes.
“The Princess is always a good excuse. What if the Regent Duke is actually targeting me through his daughter?”
“Yes? But… Why would the Regent Duke target Master? Aren’t you on the same side?”
“Because I was trying to let go of that hand.”
He recalled the fact that he had recently joined hands with Head Maid Cuisine and betrayed the Regent Duke.
Joaquin Claudio, that stingy guy, never forgets even the smallest things.
“If you come out like this, I have my own ideas. Did you think I would just take it?”
The paper was crumpled in his thick hand.
“Send this to Duke Claudio!”
\ \ \
The commotion at the royal banquet immediately put the two most solid families in Baldina in the spotlight.
However, of the two, Duke Claudio’s family was clearly more damaged.
The Birna siblings, who were beautiful and had a bright future, had more to lose than the already infamous Minister.
If it were someone else, they would have gouged out the eyes and minced the flesh of the person who trampled on their daughter and harassed their son, but the Regent Duke couldn’t do that this time.
That’s because the opponent was Etienne, the Minister of the Inner Palace, who was his most important right-hand man.
“This is proof that the drug used by Miss Birna that day and the drug detected in our master’s body are the same.”
However, the Regent Duke did not know that he would not be able to say a word, let alone extort something from the Minister by amicably resolving this matter.
“Master asked if the lady’s actions were your intention.”
This is because he learned that the origin of this commotion came from the drug used by his daughter Birna.
“Does the Minister suspect me? Am I crazy enough to drag my own children into the mud!”
The Regent Duke frowned, clutching the evidence.
“That’s impossible. But in any case, it is clear that our master suffered fatal aftereffects due to the lady’s actions.”
Umberto, the Minister’s attendant, bowed with extreme politeness.
“He said he hopes the Duke family will take ‘responsibility’ in some way.”
“At least not this kind of responsibility!”
The Regent Duke trembled and threw away the letter sent by the Minister.
“I’ll have to see him in person.”
The Regent Duke immediately visited Count Etienne’s Residence.
“I apologize. Due to the aftereffects, the master’s condition is not good, so he cannot meet guests.”
After repeating the obvious refusal for several hours, the Minister finally met the Regent Duke.
“What brings you here, Duke? I’ve already told you everything I wanted to say in the letter.”
Claudio was burning inside, but he held back and presented the prepared gifts.
He filled the carriage with precious relics that the Minister had coveted for a long time, as well as various medicines to nourish his body.
He even included a precious item inherited from the Late King.
It hurt, but Etienne, the head of the Inner Palace, was an essential figure for his ambition.
‘The Head Maid has also been replaced, so I can’t afford to lose Etienne.’
“I hope the Count’s Residence doesn’t lack medicine.”
He forced a smile at the Minister’s prickly answer.
“I brought it to give you at least a small compensation for the accident my daughter caused. And this is the Sage's Book I received from my father when I left the palace.”
“Sage's Book…!”
The Minister’s eyes seemed to widen slightly as he looked at the Chests wrapped several times in black velvet cloth, but then he became sullen again.
“This is too much of a treasure to receive so readily…”
“It’s not too much. If I had my way, I would want to give you the Philosopher's Stone. Someday, when that day comes, I might be able to do that.”
The Regent Duke’s flattery to impress the Minister rather made him uncomfortable.
‘Yes, Joaquin is aiming for the throne.’
If I help him become king, what will be left for me? What can I enjoy with my old, dead lower body?
“The gifts are fine, Duke. Do you know what happened to me because of the drug your daughter put in?”
The Regent Duke’s eyebrows twitched as the Minister coldly pushed away the Chests.
‘I even gave you the Sage's Book, and you’re still talking about that?’
“The doctor said I will never be able to bear children again. The Etienne Count's Residence is about to be cut off. Joaquin, how are you going to compensate for this?”
The attendant’s words were true.
The Regent Duke felt like he was going blind.
“Isn’t that just one doctor’s opinion? It is said that you should see many doctors when you are sick-”
“Many have already come and gone. I wouldn’t have brought it up to you if I wasn’t sure.”
“……”
“Now give me an answer. Since it was your daughter’s fault, shouldn’t she be the one to fix it?”
The Regent Duke froze.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You really don’t know? I’m saying that the Claudio Princess should take responsibility for the Etienne Count's Residence.”
“Crazy talk! I can’t allow it!”
He was shocked and immediately cut him off.
