61 - The Crown I Will Take From You
61
“I didn’t think Minister would still believe in the Duke so firmly.”
Ciseo shrugged.
He acted as if he was doing the Minister a special favor, since the Minister hadn’t noticed.
“How else would I have known that the Black Eye Merchant Guild was smuggling the Court Physician’s children to other countries?”
“What?”
“Duke Claudio leaked it on purpose, so at first I thought the two of you were using me as bait. But lo and behold. The tail you’d hidden so well actually came out.”
Ciseo chuckled.
His eyes scanned the shabby Minister up and down, as if he felt sorry for him.
“So, I thought the two of you had completely broken up, but now it seems that the Minister was just being taken advantage of unilaterally.”
“Lies! Do you think I wouldn’t recognize an attempt to drive a wedge between us?”
He bared his teeth roughly, as if he would devour Ciseo.
“If that’s what you think, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Shut up! Your intentions are obvious! You’re trying to drive a wedge between me and the Duke and separate us!”
Unlike his confident shout, Etienne’s eyes were shaking fiercely.
It sounded like a thin crack was forming in their solid bond.
Ciseo stifled a laugh. He felt like he could dance in front of the Minister.
“Goodness, Minister, you can’t possibly be so naive as to not know that political allies are originally this flimsy.”
“……That can’t be. The Duke is in the same boat as me. If I fall, he falls too!”
“Is that really the case? Instead of falling together, wouldn’t he absorb your fallen power and strength to grow even bigger?”
Ciseo shrugged as he asked back.
Etienne was speechless.
“Well, I’m sure the Minister knows the answer better than I do. Anyway, I told you the truth out of past friendship. So, when the executioner’s blade reaches you, don’t resent me.”
He lightly bowed and placed a small bottle below the bars.
“I heard you like vodka. I hope it provides warm comfort on the night of your abandonment.”
Ciseo, who had turned Etienne inside out, left with light steps as if he had nothing more to say.
“You bastard-! Do you think I’ll fall like this! I’ll get out of here soon and tear you limb from limb!”
The Minister threw the small bottle that Ciseo had left behind to mock him straight at the wall.
Clang-!
The bottle shattered against the stone wall, and the strong scent of alcohol filled the prison.
“Hah, hah. Hah.”
While panting and breathing out his anger, Ciseo’s words from earlier kept replaying in his head.
His mind was fiercely calculating the possibility of the truth.
‘There are only two people who can move the Black Eye Merchant Guild, for which evidence has been found.’
Duke Claudio and Etienne himself.
Etienne wouldn’t gamble with his own life…….
Then there is only one culprit.
Duke Claudio.
Doubt began to gradually settle in the Minister’s steadfast heart.
Duke Claudio already had a history of using his daughter to poison him and try to bring him down.
Besides, before Ciseo barged in, weren’t the two of them engaged in a fierce power struggle to the point of breaking up?
Etienne suddenly became uneasy. Why had he only trusted the Regent Duke?
If he changed his mind, he would be finished.
“Ahem, a guest has come and gone, so, Minister……. Is there anything you need or want to order?”
The guard walked into the space Ciseo had left. Then, he rubbed his palms together and examined Etienne.
The ambiguous situation where Etienne’s punishment had not yet been decided.
The guard still believed in the power and authority that Etienne had wielded as the Minister of the Royal Palace and looked after his convenience.
It was also because the bribes that the Minister gave him whenever he ran errands were quite lucrative.
“Medeia…….”
Etienne muttered.
“Yes?”
“Call the Princess. The Princess, quickly!”
A thin gold nugget was transferred to the hand he gave the guard.
“Of course, Minister. I’ll run to the Royal Palace as soon as I leave.”
The guard grinned and nodded. The sound of the gold nugget rolling between his fingers, which were stained with dirt at every joint, was audible.
\ \ *
Three days later.
At some point, a clear and clean fragrance began to permeate the stench of the prison, which had been filled with a musty smell.
In response, Minister Etienne, who had been half out of his mind, raised his head.
Gradually, silvery hair that seemed to brighten even the dark interior of the prison came into his eyes.
He was so glad that he forgot his dignity and stood up abruptly, almost shouting.
“Princess, Your Highness!”
Here I am! I’m here! He grabbed the bars and shouted fervently.
“Oh my, Minister.”
Medeia walked slowly. Her calm green eyes scanned the Minister’s appearance from head to toe.
“What’s going on? Where did that imposing and dignified figure go?”
Medeia clicked her tongue as if she felt sorry for him.
It wasn’t a statement intended to upset the other person.
Minister Etienne was actually rotting in prison, looking like a lump of dough that had fallen from the top of a tower, been crushed, and become dirty.
While fueling suspicion and anxiety about Duke Claudio, who had not responded to the Communication device he had sent with difficulty.
“I guess the advice you gave yourself, that a fool only knows the sea is rough when he’s about to drown, has come true.”
Despite the Princess’s subtle mockery, Etienne simply prostrated himself. His change of attitude was indeed extraordinary.
“Well. Of course, I believe your sincere excuses, but things have gotten too big.”
Medeia shook her head.
“Somehow, your story has spread beyond the Royal Palace and throughout the entire Royal Capital. Now, even ordinary people are clamoring for you to be executed to avenge the children.”
Etienne had been imprisoned, so he didn’t know any news from the outside.
His subordinates and the Duke were too busy filling Chests with gold coins to have the leisure to spread news of the world to the Minister.
“So, I don’t know if they’ll believe your excuses. It’s become a headache.”
Etienne’s face turned pale.
The people hated and despised him even more. He was notorious for kidnapping commoners at will, claiming to be a powerful figure.
‘Those bastards will try to chew up and swallow my corpse.’
Etienne knelt down and stretched out his hands outside the bars towards Medeia.
“Your Highness, please help me. You won’t regret it if you get me out of here.”
Originally, he would have contacted Duke Claudio somehow.
But somehow, there was something unsettling about it.
The seeds of doubt that Ciseo had sown had grown rapidly in his heart in just three days.
The Minister wanted to avoid being backstabbed by Duke Claudio at all costs, even if it meant hearing his criticism for ruining his future plans.
Minister Ciseo was determined to punish him, and Duke Claudio could no longer be trusted.
So now, the only lifeline left for him was the Princess.
Medeia snorted.
“Just like that? Minister, don’t be naive.”
The Minister paused, but soon shook his head as if he had never been flustered.
“Of course not. Your Highness, I have a hidden slush fund. It’s a huge amount that could be called my entire fortune. I’ll give it all to Your Highness.”
“Hmm, a slush fund.”
The Princess showed interest. The Minister cheered inwardly. Of course, who would dislike money!
Etienne’s weasel-like eyes gleamed.
He approached the bars on his knees. He struggled to twist his handcuffs, barely creating enough room to move his fingers.
Etienne took out a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket.
‘The Princess has only lived in the Royal Palace her whole life.’
It was easy to deceive a naive girl with no experience in the world.
Unlike his true feelings, he handed over the piece of paper with a very sincere attitude. It was a checkbook used by the guild.
“It’s the voucher for my secret vault. It’s my slush fund. I’ve had many difficulties since I was born, so I’ve saved a lot of money little by little. It’s all yours, Your Highness. Only if you get me out of this hellhole.”
The secret vault of the Minister of the Royal Palace.
His slush fund, which had made him one of the richest people in the capital in an instant, would be so enormous that anyone would turn their eyes upside down and rush for it.
Neril, who was listening from the side, also widened her eyes and looked back and forth between him and Medeia.
