Chapter 64
Chapter 64
Translation: godsn
"Intruders! Check the prisoners!"
"The security's been breached!"
The sound of hurried footsteps rushing in belatedly echoed through the halls.
"Tch."
At that, the rope tightening around his neck loosened with a slow, eerie slack. The assassin kicked off the prison wall and leaped upward, vanishing into the shadows.
"Kuh—kuhhk!"
The Minister, finally freed, gasped for air in ragged breaths.
His eyes, having glimpsed the threshold of the afterlife, were now bloodshot.
His brief relief at surviving was short-lived, quickly drowned by a surge of bitter frustration. He slammed his fists against the floor repeatedly, his face contorted in rage.
His crimson, burning eyes looked as though they might shed tears of blood.
"CLAUDIOOOO!"
His venomous scream reverberated through the dark prison like a ghostly echo.
The next day.
Etienne, not even sparing a glance at the coarse, dust-covered bread left for him, gnashed his teeth.
After bribing the guards with every last gold nugget he had hidden on his person, he barely managed to summon the Princess's handmaid when they came to distribute lunch.
"Her Highness refuses to see you. She said she's done being fooled—once was enough."
"Just once—just one more audience! Tell her I know Claudio's most hideous secret! That I won't disappoint her! Please! Just once! Hurry!"
And that evening, the Princess came to see the Minister.
"Your Highness!"
Etienne was barely coherent.
Gaunt beyond recognition—his appearance unlike anything he had ever been in his entire life—he greeted Medeia as if she were his savior.
His bloodshot eyes betrayed the sleepless night he had endured.
"Minister, you look dreadful."
The Princess glanced down at him with a cold once-over before speaking.
He was at a loss for words. This prison was hell. No concessions had been made for him.
For an old man like him, the conditions were brutal.
'You motherless, fatherless bastards!'
The Minister cursed inwardly while nodding repeatedly.
"So. I hear you've been spouting nonsense about my uncle."
The Princess, clearly uninterested in lingering, cut straight to the point.
"Yes, Your Highness. There is a vile truth Duke Claudio has been hiding—one that you must know. That is why I, Etienne, dared to seek another audience with Your Highness despite my impropriety."
"A vile truth? My uncle's?"
"Yes, Your Highness. Until now, the Duke's power has been so overwhelming that no one dared speak of it."
"......"
"But as a loyal servant who has eaten the bread of Valdina—for Valdina's sake alone!—I have resolved to reveal the truth!"
Prostrating himself as if coughing up blood, the Minister cautiously lifted his head to gauge the Princess's reaction.
"Your Highness, protect me. Ensure the Duke cannot kill me. If you spare my life, I will reveal the truth about Duke Claudio—the man you trust."
The Princess's face remained impassive. Etienne grew restless.
"If more time passes, it may be too late."
"...Fine. I accept."
The Princess gave her consent.
"Th-then, if you could first assign me guards—"
"You're the one who lost my trust. If you don't believe me, I'll just leave."
The Princess turned away coldly.
Etienne snapped back to his senses. If the Princess left now, he was as good as dead!
"N-no! Of course, after what I've done, it's only natural that Your Highness wouldn't trust me. Ah, never mind."
He nodded repeatedly, desperately trying to rationalize Medeia's demeanor.
"Show your hand first."
"But—"
He couldn't reveal everything without a firm guarantee. As Etienne hesitated, Medeia's gaze turned icy.
"You seem to be mistaken. I make the decisions here, Etienne. Not you."
Gulp. Etienne swallowed hard.
There was nowhere left to run.
The Princess was his last lifeline.
Even tonight was dangerous—he had no room to hesitate or negotiate.
"...Ever since I took charge of the Imperial Household Department, many have come to me."
At last, he opened his mouth.
"Some sought position, others sought wealth. And I too... I confess, I forgot the gravity of my office and filled my own greedy desires."
"......"
"They were all the Duke's people, funneling the royal palace's interests to the Duke's household. Not just one or two. Duke Claudio's influence stretches throughout the entire palace."
Far from being surprised, Medeia let out a derisive snort.
"Is that all? How trite. It's hardly news that I've been surrounded by my uncle's people—this isn't my first day."
"No! Please, hear me out just a little longer. What I have to tell Your Highness is only just beginning."
Anxious that the Princess might rise and leave at any moment, he abandoned his initial caution.
"The greed of the Duke and his followers didn't stop at merely exploiting Your Highness to amass power and wealth. Those insolent wretches dismissed our young King's valor as mere recklessness, and in the end, they even harbored... unthinkable ambitions."
"Unthinkable ambitions? Speak plainly."
The Princess would not tolerate even the slightest evasion from Etienne.
With a nervous glance around, Etienne's face grew uneasy. It felt as if at any moment, Duke Claudio's assassins might leap from the shadows and strangle him again.
Gulp. Swallowing hard, Etienne answered.
"Treason."
Treason.
In that instant, the temperature in the prison seemed to drop, turning frigid as if plunged into deeper cold.
"They resolved to overthrow Valdina, incite rebellion, and depose His Majesty the King. And... I possess the signed document plotting that rebellion."
The rebels' signed confession.
Silence fell. The Princess said nothing.
The gravity of the matter was so immense that Etienne bit his lip and endured the silence.
"I......"
"Yes, Your Highness."
"How can I believe that? Etienne, this time you and my uncle must be conspiring to trap me. Even the vermin crawling here know you are his closest confidant and ally."
The Princess's voice was icy as she lashed out.
"That document must bear your name too. And now you expect me to believe this sudden, voluntary confession?"
"No! You misunderstand! He is no friend of mine! The Duke means to eliminate me!"
Etienne, forgetting all dignity, clung to the knees of the once-dismissed young Princess, sinking to the ground.
As if his earlier pressure on her at the banquet had been a past life, he was astonishingly abject.
"He intends to dispose of me before the document comes to light. How can one who discards me the moment I'm in danger be called a friend? It was here, at last, that I realized—Claudio, that ungrateful traitor, must never be left unchecked."
Even in this state, the Minister never ceased his self-defense.
Yet he could never have dreamed.
That the Duke had no intention of eliminating him—that outside these prison walls, he was struggling desperately to save him.
Medeia's lips curled slightly.
"I can't take your word for it entirely. Wait—I too must verify the truth, and that will take time."
"Th-then what of me...?!"
Etienne's face drained of color.
"Spare me, Your Highness. The next time we meet, I may already be a corpse."
"Don't fret. I'll have all the guards replaced. Men skilled with blades standing watch will make it impossible for any assassin to slip through."
Medeia replied with serene indifference, as if it were nothing to worry about.
She even remembered to soften her tone slightly, offering Etienne a measure of comfort.
"How worried you must have been. Your face is ghastly. I told my Saya to attend to your comfort—was she lacking?"
Etienne's jowls, though gaunt, trembled uncontrollably.
Her words felt so unexpectedly warm that the Minister nearly broke down sobbing, clutching at this Princess who could have been his granddaughter.
"My life... my life is in your hands, Your Highness. Please, spare this wretched body."
"Then we must confirm the truth as swiftly as possible. Tell me."
Medeia leaned closer. A green glint flashed in her eyes.
"Where, exactly, is that signed document?"