Chapter 32
Chapter 32
Translation: godsn
Valdina's Dungeon.
Cuisine had died after having the tendons in both hands severed and being whipped to death.
Mariyu had received the same punishment, but she was still alive.
The sound of footsteps echoed against the damp floor. Mariyu struggled to open her eyes.
"W-who...?"
Behind the bars stood Medeia.
"Long time no see, Mariyu."
"Y-your Highness!"
Mariyu was paralyzed with fear.
Having witnessed Cuisine's death right beside her, her terror was all the greater.
In Mariyu's mind, Medeia had already become a colossal, omnipotent axis of evil.
"P-please, Your Highness. Spare me. I'll do anything you say. Please, save Mariyu."
But at the same time, she was also a god. The only god who could save Mariyu now.
"But I can't trust you anymore."
"I was wrong, I'll never betray you again. Never. I'm Your Highness's slave."
Crawling desperately on her elbows to reach the bars, Mariyu buried her face in Medeia's dress and pleaded.
"How desperate."
Medeia spoke softly.
"There's nothing a cornered person wouldn't do. Promises made at the edge of a cliff—once you step away, they're all forgotten."
"No!"
Mariyu thrashed like a seizure had taken her. Why had she done it, why had she dared to cross that wall?
"I am Your Highness's eternal slave. Please, for the sake of our past bond... Just this once..."
Then, plink—a small vial fell before Mariyu.
"Grass pea. A paralyzing poison made from a toxic plant. It's so potent that without periodic antidotes, your entire body will stiffen until your breath is cut off and you die."
Medeia's voice was gentle.
"Who knows when you might forget today's oath?"
"Y-your Highness...?"
"Drink it. Then I'll spare you. I'll have your hands treated, and of course, I'll give you the antidote."
Only then did Mariyu realize.
Of course. The princess wouldn't spare her so easily.
This was the princess who had eliminated the Head Maid with an innocent face as if she knew nothing—what was handling poison to her?
"Can I trust you now, Mariyu?"
The princess asked with a pale face.
"......"
Mariyu pulled out the stopper with trembling hands. Her injured tendons made her fingers twitch uncontrollably.
Tears and snot streamed down her face, already caked with blood and grime.
Medeia watched the scene with cold eyes.
Mariyu is Samon's lover.
Which meant she still had uses.
She was a pawn. The smallest, most insignificant piece on the chessboard.
But she's the perfect bait to lure and discard.
So until she reached the enemy's end and was about to transform, she had to remain a pawn.
Gulp. Mariyu swallowed the poison and lifted her head.
"I—I am Your Highness's slave. So please..."
"Yes, Mariyu. I'll trust you."
The princess's smile, still gripping Mariyu's throat, was beautiful.
"Don't disappoint me again."
Mariyu couldn't even swallow her breath as she nodded frantically.
Around the time the fierce winds of reform that had swept through the royal palace began to subside, the Queen Dowager summoned Medeia.
"What jewelry would you like to wear?"
A maid asked Medeia, who was dressed in a pale blue dress.
"This will do."
What Medeia chose was a simple string necklace with a single small pearl.
"But isn't this too plain? Your Highness, you're meeting the Queen Dowager—let us adorn you beautifully."
Medeia shook her head.
The more simply and shabbily she dressed, the more she could win the Queen Dowager's sympathy.
Though the Queen Dowager could no longer scold her as before, she couldn't afford to let her guard down for even a moment.
Medeia rose to her feet.
Though her attire was modest, her posture was erect and her expression resolute, making her appear all the more virtuous.
"I shall attend Her Majesty."
Madame Pinatelli, who had been waiting until Medeia finished dressing, stood up.
"Her Majesty regrets her past actions. I hope Your Highness will understand," the head maid said pointedly as they walked toward the Queen Mother's Palace.
"She is a lonely woman. Still lost in grief, she may seem harsh toward Your Highness, but in truth, Princess, no one cherishes and protects Valdina's bloodline more than Her Majesty the Queen Dowager."
Medeia understood she was being warned about the Regent and his wife.
"I know. I've grown wise enough to distinguish sweet flattery from bitter medicine. That's why I don't resent my grandmother."
Madame Pinatelli's face showed relief.
Though she had coveted the position of Head Maid to restore her family's honor, her devotion to the Queen Dowager was genuine. Secretly, she had worried Medeia might hate the Queen Dowager.
"I can only marvel at Your Highness's generous understanding. Now, let us go in. Her Majesty is waiting."
As they entered the Queen Mother's Palace, cheerful laughter echoed from afar.
"Grandmother still treats me like a child!"
"You little troublemaker."
"I just want my grandmother's affection, that's all."
It was Virna's voice.
After the Queen Dowager had drawn her sword and effectively banished the Duke Claudio's family from the palace, they had been at a loss, branded with the shame of being side branches.
But the clever Catherine soon discerned the Queen Dowager's intentions. Rather than resist, she took the initiative to relinquish their privileges, easing suspicions.
And almost daily, she brought Virna to visit the Queen Dowager.
At first, the Queen Dowager had been angry, but as the granddaughter she'd always favored came daily to play the coquette, her heart gradually softened.
Though the Claudio women no longer resided in the palace, they often stayed at the Queen Mother's Palace until the gates closed.
"Medeia will be here soon. Clean this up."
"Ahaha! You can't leave me out! I want to stay too. I want to see my sister."
"Oh, who would stop you?"
Virna's clear voice rang distinctly even outside the door.
"I wasn't aware Lady Virna of Duke Claudio's household was still present."
Madame Pinatelli studied Medeia's expression.
'Why insist on staying by the Queen Dowager's side at this particular moment?'
As someone who earnestly wished for the grandmother and granddaughter to reconcile quickly, Madame Pinatelli found the Claudio women's intentions suspicious.
"I've come to see my grandmother."
Medeia pushed the door open and entered.
Step by step. Still composed, without hesitation.
"Good."
The Queen Dowager fixed her gaze.
This time, she noticed the etiquette of her granddaughter that she'd been too furious to see before.
Posture. Expression. Gait. Astonishingly, there wasn't a single flaw.
The Queen Dowager's eyes, honed by a lifetime at court, were exceedingly strict.
Yet even she could find nothing amiss with Medeia now.
"Sit."
The Queen Dowager personally poured the tea. Medeia drank it with perfect composure.
Even in these quiet moments of the tea ceremony, the Queen Dowager couldn't stop scrutinizing her granddaughter piece by piece.
Yet she found nothing to criticize.
To the point where the Queen Dowager almost regretted her own prejudiced eyes that had once dismissed Medeia as the daughter of a lowly dancer—Medeia was elegance personified.
Medeia lowered her gaze. She knew the Queen Dowager was observing her every move.
Still, she was confident.
'This much has become tediously familiar.'
In her past life, when she'd followed Iason to the Kazen Empire, countless people had attacked her.
Rumors of the cursed half-blood Princess had spread throughout the empire before her arrival.
Medeia's awkward mannerisms—utterly lacking in royal dignity—had only confirmed those rumors.
It wasn't until arriving in the empire that she realized how utterly foolish she'd been.
She'd been pathetic, having learned nothing under her uncle's so-called "protection."
At the time, she'd thought that was why Iason never summoned her to the imperial palace.
He couldn't possibly present such an inadequate, deficient Empress to the world.
So she'd worked harder.
Leaving no flaw untouched. She'd torn everything down and rebuilt from the ground up. Bloody practice followed bloody practice.
Medeia hadn't wanted to embarrass her beloved husband.
National treasures, the Evil Dragon, even the imperial throne—though everything Iason enjoyed had been built by her hands, she'd always scurried about like a debtor.
'What a worthless endeavor.'
In the end, Iason—who'd sucked the marrow from his wife's bones—had repaid her by stealing her position and giving it to Saintess Rachel.
'If only I'd used that time to hold my children one more time.'
What worth did that cheap devotion spent on someone like Iason hold?
Even if I'd poured all that love into my precious children—who I wouldn't mind carrying in my very eyes—it wouldn't have been enough.
'Rian. Lea.'
More painful than her husband's betrayal was this foolish mother's regret.
Her emerald eyes wavered momentarily before settling into profound stillness.
Though those endured years had been bitter, it seemed not all had been wasted.
Now that her chance had come again, the blood-soaked sufferings of her past life had become Medeia's weapons.
"You've mastered etiquette well," the Queen Dowager remarked coldly.
Madame Pinatelli relaxed her tense shoulders. Given her mistress's temperament, this was high praise indeed.
"It feels like just yesterday the etiquette tutors gave up and ran away—when did you learn to carry yourself so splendidly, sister? You must share your secret with me."
Then Virna pouted and interjected.
"Or were you hiding your wild side on purpose all this time? One doesn't improve this much overnight—how truly marvelous."
Her words carried silent accusation—had Medeia deliberately driven away the etiquette teacher Catherine provided, only to put on this performance for the Queen Dowager?
Medeia responded serenely, "The teacher my aunt sent was undoubtedly skilled, but not suited to me. They specialized in noble etiquette, not royal protocol."
Royal and noble etiquette should differ by nature.
Yet Catherine, wanting Medeia to grow up ignorant, had intentionally assigned her a noble etiquette tutor while excluding her from proper imperial education.
"That can't be. I received instruction from that very teacher," Virna countered.
The Queen Dowager's gaze flicked toward Virna.
The second granddaughter's attitude toward the eldest struck her as increasingly peculiar.
Since the recent incident, Virna's bright demeanor no longer seemed as endearing as before.
Perhaps that was why—her constant interruptions in conversation, her barbed words, her overly animated eyes—everything about her was beginning to grate.