"Return to the palace."
Peleus, who had been tidying up the inside and outside of the chaotic castle walls, was about to turn around and leave the castle walls.
"Your Majesty?"
Peleus' blue eyes suddenly turned cold as he stopped walking.
D'Angel quickly picked up the object that caught Peleus' eye. It was an elaborately crafted dagger.
"This is..."
When the regent was about to strike Medea with his sword, it was a dagger that flew in just a hair's breadth ahead of Peleus and struck the sword away.
The sword fragments were so finely divided that they flew and lodged in the Regent's eyes because he had received a huge impact from the weapons flying from both sides.
Peleus raised his head, reflecting on the direction in which the dagger had come from. He could see a tower in the distance, facing this direction.
"Hey, search it."
"Yes, Your Majesty. But this...is Mithril."
D'Angel, who had been examining the dagger together, narrowed his eyes.
"You're throwing away a precious weapon made of natural materials and not even retrieving it?"
Moreover, he was skilled enough to strike with a sword from a great distance. No matter how you looked at it, he was no ordinary opponent.
Peleus' eyes scanned the sharp blade.
Pfft!
The dagger that had been fixed in his fingertips flew and lodged between the bricks of the castle wall.
'What kind of guy is approaching Dhea?'
His noble eyebrows twitched.
***
Valdina Queen's Palace.
The Queen Mother's bedroom was filled with the pungent smell of medicine.
The Queen Mother, who had stabbed herself in the chest with a dagger, fortunately avoided a fatal wound.
However, perhaps because the psychological shock from her son targeting her grandchildren was so great, she had difficulty waking up.
"If this medicine doesn't work, Her Majesty the Queen Mother's recovery... will be difficult in the short term."
Despite the pungent smell, the attending doctor, Sir Hertos, poured medicine into the corner of the Queen Mother's mouth with a blank expression.
After a while, the Queen Mother slowly opened her eyes.
"Your Majesty the Queen, are you of sound mind?"
She, who had been blinking repeatedly at the sound of Sir Hertos' voice, suddenly opened her eyes wide.
"Medea!"
The moment she sat up, she felt dizzy.
If Sir Hertos, who was nearby, had not grabbed the Queen Mother's arm and stopped her, she would have fallen out of bed.
"You shouldn't push yourself too hard. The wound might burst."
The Queen Mother didn't even look at the bandages wrapped around her body.
"What happened? Medea! Is she alive?!"
"Please hold on tight, Your Majesty. The Princess is safe."
"What happened, what happened?"
The Queen Mother's heart sank as Madame Pinatelli hesitated.
'Really, Joaquin, you...! Are you saying that you harmed your niece!'
Before she could faint from the surging anger and sorrow, Medea appeared behind Sir Heros.
"Hold on tight, Grandma. You can't move around like that because of the wound."
"Medea!"
"I am safe. My uncle's rebellion has also been suppressed. The palace is safe."
Medea calmly reported the day's results.
"Oh, God, thank you."
As soon as she saw her granddaughter's complete face, the Queen Mother broke down as if praying.
She groped and took Medea's hand, placed it against her forehead, and recited his thanks to the goddess.
"I thought I lost you. I thought I would send you away like John."
"..."
"I'm sorry. Medea. It's all this old woman's fault. I made it happen. Your pain, Joaquin's desires, it's all this old woman's fault for not doing her job."
It was something she couldn't say all along. It was something she couldn't say until the very end and it was stuck in her heart like a seal.
The Queen Mother offered her granddaughter a heartfelt apology.
"..."
Medea looked down at the Queen Mother who had her head bowed.
An indefinable ambivalence flowed.
We cannot blame all of this on the Queen Mother.
Medea herself was not free from the numerous mistakes she had made in her past life, so she could not blame her grandmother. But too much time had passed for her to understand and accept her later.
Because even such gentle understanding and generous forgiveness had long since worn away at Medea.
The tears of sorrow flowing down her wrinkled cheeks did not reach Medea. Unfortunately, the distance between their hearts was too great.
"At that time, my grandmother did her best."
However, it was clear that the Queen Mother risked her life to stop the Regent.
She was neither driven by kinship nor did she shirk her responsibilities. That alone was reason enough for Medea to protect the Queen Mother.
'So, Grandmother, this distance is just right for us. Just the right distance for you and I to coexist as royalty, as the pillars of Peleus.'
Medea had no intention of establishing a friendly relationship with the Queen Mother, nor of venting her belated resentment.
It will just stay there like an old tree that the wind blows and passes by.
"Peleus."
To protect the true owners of this country.
At Medea's call, a beautiful young man walked towards the Queen Mother.
"Medea, what did you just say-"
The Queen Mother, who was asking her granddaughter, opened her eyes wide.
She rubbed her eyes with her wrinkled hands as if she had seen something she shouldn't have seen.
Shining silver hair, clear blue eyes. Although thick and sturdy, he was the eldest grandson she remembered.
"Peleus, am I really seeing you?"
Peleus came and knelt beside her bed.
And he brought his face close so that the Queen Mother could see himself directly.
"Yes, Grandma. Your grandson is back."
"Plains war?"
As she stroked her grandson's face, a sudden thought occurred to her and she asked. At Peleus's nod.
D'Angel brought the scroll.
It was a surrender document received from the defeated chieftains.
"The tribes of the plains have been reclaimed. Valdina has triumphed, grandmother. Father's legacy has been upheld."
The Queen Mother's lips trembled. Hot tears flowed down her cheeks again.
"Great, great. Truly great..."
Medea stood back and watched the reunion between the King and Queen Mother.
One step. Two steps. She left the room without making a sound.
The pungent smell of medicine was actually welcome.
Because this irritating smell will fill the space where she is gone.
Medea left the Queen Mother's Palace, unaware that her brother Peleus's gaze had passed over her as she left.
***
"Your Highness, Kensington is waiting for you. Shall we take you there?"
Neril was waiting in front of the Queen Mother's Palace.
Medea nodded.
One day, on the streets where the two met again, this time Kensington arrived first and was waiting for her.
"Sir, you look nice."
When Medea greeted him first, Kensington responded in return.
"Your Highness the Princess. Everything went according to Your Highness's plan. It is truly amazing."
The rebellion of the King was a huge trap set by the Princess to bring down the regent Claudio.
When Kensington realized this, he was horrified, but he also secretly wondered how she would defeat the Regent.
But the return of King Valdina was a complete surprise to him.
The sight of the Regent's private soldiers falling like fallen leaves in the autumn wind due to the Agemas' overwhelming force still brings chills to his spine when he recalls it.
"Isn't that why you stayed here to check the results? To see if what I planned was right, and if I succeeded?"
Medea shrugged her shoulders expressionlessly.
There was an air of arrogance on her face as if Kensington's shocked expression was a perfectly natural reaction.
"... Not long ago, the young maid Your Highness brought in was the sister of the young rebel who killed the leader of the rebels. Was this something you had been planning since then?"
"You know that's not all I wanted to show you. You also saw me 'saving' Theo."
Medea asked in a calm voice.
"I saved the life of a rebel who hated me. Only because he cooperated with me, even if it was forced."
Kensington swallowed a laugh because he realized what the Princess was trying to say.
"Your Highness."
"Enough with the speculation. So, Sir, what is your response to my advances?"
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