The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 10
What on earth is going on?
“Y-Your Majesty… at this hour… how did you come here?”
“On foot.”
“?”
“Huh. Don’t you need any more water?”
“Oh, I’d still like to drink a bit more…”
Still parched, I reached toward the water glass he was holding.
“This is warm water—will that be alright?”
He lifted the glass slightly higher, as if to keep it just out of my grasp, and asked.
“You seemed to have just drunk cold water… or was that my imagination?”
“It wasn’t your imagination. The Empress appeared desperately thirsty, so I held the water in my mouth and then gave it to you.”
“…What?!”
Emperor Rinel looked as though he found my bewildered expression amusing.
“Things that touch my hands lose heat—it’s how that’s possible.”
“Oh, so that’s why the water turned cold?”
“Yes, it became even colder because it was in my mouth.”
His additional explanation left me speechless.
“Do you need more water?”
“Well… I do need some, but…”
“Then that means you need me.”
He murmured to himself, nodded, then met my eyes and gave a small laugh.
“Wait.”
As I swallowed hard, he brought the glass to his lips and spoke.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he drank and then leaned close to my face.
My lips parted instinctively, as if they’d been waiting.
I absorbed the water he gently passed to me through his mouth.
Strangely enough, the water that had been in his mouth felt as icy as chilled water.
The burning sensation in my mouth, which had felt like it was boiling, gradually cooled under the soft, cool contact.
“You still look… very thirsty?”
He whispered, gently cupping my chin after pulling away from my lips.
“I’m fine now, really…!”
Either he didn’t hear me or chose to ignore it—Emperor Rinel drank the rest of the water in the glass and passed more to me through his lips again.
“Haa…”
The fire that had been rising from deep within my throat now felt completely extinguished.
It was as if I’d stumbled upon an oasis in the middle of a sun-scorched desert and plunged right in.
Even after giving me that last sip, he kept his lips pressed softly against mine.
I pushed gently against his shoulders.
“R-Really, I’m all right now.”
I wiped my now-moist lips with the back of my hand, thanks to Emperor Rinel.
“I’m the one who gave you cold water, yet oddly… why do I feel warmth spreading through my body…?”
He fiddled absently with the glass still in his hand.
“It must be your imagination.”
Murmuring that, he lifted his head and looked at me again.
“Empress, are you unwell? A cold, perhaps?”
He placed his hand on my forehead and tilted his head slightly.
“No fever…”
Apparently, even he couldn’t sense the intense heat burning inside me.
“I’m not in any pain. I was merely thirsty in my sleep. But Your Majesty… what brings you here at this hour…?”
“I said during lunch that I’d come to the Empress’s quarters tonight, didn’t I?”
“Oh, yes, but since I received no notice by evening, I assumed you wouldn’t be coming.”
“I thought I’d be very late… didn’t want you losing sleep waiting for me, so I ordered them not to send word.”
“I see…”
“I only meant to stop by briefly, just to see your face, yet I’ve ended up waking you.”
“Via Your Majesty’s lips, it seems?”
I smiled as I echoed his words, but he continued to regard me with a worried look.
“You seemed… to be having a nightmare earlier?”
“Oh, it happens sometimes.”
I brushed it off lightly, and though he looked unconvinced, he didn’t press further.
“I see.”
We exchanged silent glances for a moment.
Unable to bear the awkwardness, I lifted the corner of my lips first—and since he seemed just as uneasy, he mirrored my small smile.
After a few awkward coughs, he rose from where he’d been sitting on the edge of the bed.
“Ahem. Well, since you’re alright now, I’ll be off.”
“Yes…”
“?”
At his words of departure, I instinctively rose from the bed to see him out.
“Are you returning to your chambers?”
“…Yes. Where else would I go?”
Emperor Rinel’s voice carried a certain coldness.
Though his words sounded decisive, as if he’d leave immediately, for some reason he remained rooted in place.
What was I supposed to say to the Emperor, who just stood there staring blankly at me?
Should I politely try to keep him? Or bid him farewell again?
This hesitation stemmed from one simple truth.
If I were truly his wife, I would’ve surely held onto his arm.
But I wasn’t.
“Then… please return safely…”
I wasn’t Emperor Rinel’s real wife.
In the end, I bowed my head and offered another quiet farewell.
“Just stay here. I won’t be back out.”
Emperor Rinel turned abruptly and spoke with a tone that sounded almost like a command as I followed him toward the bedroom door.
“Oh, yes.”
Watching his retreating back as he walked toward the door, I felt a faint pang of wistfulness.
A fleeting thought crossed my mind—if only he’d look back once more, perhaps I’d find the courage to go to him.
Click—
But he simply left the room without turning.
A strange emptiness seemed to seep through the gap of the closing door.
I stood there, staring at the door until the sound of his footsteps faded completely.
Silence returned once more.
I turned off the small lamp he’d left on and lay back down in bed.
In the darkness, I recalled the hazy moment I’d briefly awakened earlier.
I traced my memory back to the exact instant his water seeped between my lips.
Then, placing my hand gently over my softly pounding heart, I tried to relive that feeling.
The cool water,
the soft touch of his lips,
the slight, yielding movement of his as he passed it to me…
Everything had felt sweet.
No—it *was* sweet.
And electrifying, too.
I brought the hand resting over my heart up to my lips.
And quite naturally, my fingers began to trace the scar on the right side of my face.
Would he still have left… if I’d held onto him?
“Get a hold of yourself. What are you hoping for?”
There was nothing for me in the Lapion Imperial Family.
I reinforced my role once again through quiet self-hypnosis.
I could never be his woman.
He would never come to love me.
So snap out of it!
…but what if he *did* fall in love with me?
“No.”
I shook my head vigorously, trying to dispel the growing hope.
“That’s impossible!”
Just as I let out a hollow laugh and pulled the blanket back over my head—
Click—
The bedroom door opened again, without even a knock.
I sat bolt upright in shock.
A tall, dark shadow stretched long across the room.
“W-Who’s there?!”
My panicked voice came out far too high.
Despite my question, the shadow offered no answer and slowly approached me.
The pitch-black darkness unnervingly heightened my fear.
“I asked who you are! At this hour, daring to enter without knocking! Can’t you hear me? Have you no fear? I asked who you are?!”
“Your fearless husband.”
“…Y-Your Majesty?”
I quickly lit the lamp.
Even in the dim light, his blue eyes were unmistakably clear.
“Why did you return?”
“I walked away and then thought better of it—it felt rather unfair.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Couldn’t you have at least offered me a cup of tea before I left, even if just out of courtesy?”
Emperor Rinel questioned me in a tone of displeasure.
I glanced quickly at the bedside clock.
“…Tea at this hour?”
“Well, I suppose it’s not exactly tea time.”
He checked the time following my gaze and, his earlier frown softening slightly, changed his words.
“What about inviting me to stay? Was that phrase completely absent from your mind?”
“I—I thought… Your Majesty might not want to…”
“How would the Empress know that?”
Emperor Rinel’s sharp gaze pinned me in place.
His eyes bore into me with relentless scrutiny.
“I know Your Majesty is kind enough to care for me, but I worried you might feel forced to come to the Empress’s quarters…”
“Empress, forgive me for cutting you off, but I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides…”
He raised a hand to stop me and continued.
“You think I’m kind? Today alone, over ten people lost their heads by my order.”
“…K-kindness is hereby rescinded.”
“Good. So you didn’t hold me back because of your consideration for me?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Then you clearly don’t realize your consideration only angers me.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty!”
“What I mean is—such consideration is unnecessary.”
He stepped closer to the bed.
“Instead, I’ll gladly accept your consideration in offering me a place beside you.”
“Huh? You mean to sleep here?”
I blinked wide-eyed, looking back and forth between Emperor Rinel and the bed.
“Do you think I came all the way back here just to complain that you didn’t hold onto me?”
“Well… then…?”
“I came to sleep!”
Emperor Rinel huffed petulantly and tossed his robe carelessly onto the floor.
When I just stood there stiffly, staring, he lightly patted my shoulder and then flopped onto the bed.
“Do you really intend to stand there glaring down at your Emperor? Well… it is rather refreshing, I suppose.”
“N-No, not at all.”
I immediately lowered my gaze.
“Empress, lie down. I’d like us to speak at eye level.”
He took my hand gently and pulled, his voice sounding slightly tired.
“I’m weary of always looking down at people. I want the Empress to meet my eyes up close.”
Carefully, I lay down beside the space he’d made for me and stared up at the ceiling.
“Turn toward me.”
He commanded.
I quickly turned my face toward the Emperor.
“How stingy. Turn your whole body toward me.”
His deep voice, though firm, carried a note of tenderness.
As if under some spell, I instinctively turned fully toward Emperor Rinel without thinking.
He was already facing me,
propping his handsome face on one hand, waiting for my gaze.
Seeing his fine features up close made my breath catch.
I swallowed nervously and moved my lips awkwardly.
After holding my gaze in silence for a moment, he covered my eyes with his large hand and whispered,
“I know I’m handsome enough to tempt you.”
It was his way of telling me to stop staring.
At my quiet giggle, he spoke again, this time without a hint of playfulness.
“I feel I’ve disturbed your sleep for no reason. Are you uncomfortable?”
“No, Your Majesty.”
I whispered, shaking my head.
“You understand me. That’s just how I am—I’m not the sort of person who makes others comfortable.”
“But… I’m comfortable with Your Majesty.”
“What?”
Something in my answer seemed off—Emperor Rinel’s perfectly straight eyebrows shot upward.
He sat up slowly and looked down at me with a serious expression.
“To say your husband is ‘comfortable’ in bed… is rather insulting, isn’t it?”
He’d misunderstood my words in the worst way.
He sounded genuinely offended.
“No! I—I didn’t mean ‘comfortable’ as in not feeling you as a man! When we kissed, my heart pounded so hard I wanted to tear it out—not your lips, my *heart*—I wanted to tear out my own heart…!”
“…”
What on earth was I babbling about?
Flustered beyond repair, I rambled senselessly until I gasped for breath and stopped.
“Go on.”
“I’m sorry, Your Majesty! I was half-asleep and forgot myself, speaking wildly before you.”
“Keep going. I’ll handle the ending—you just rant or ramble as you please.”
“…Huh?”
“I happen to be quite talented at endings. Wars, people—whatever it is, I see it through to the end.”
Hearing that sent a chill down my spine.
“So what I meant to say was…”
“You want to keep our lips together?”
“Yes! I want to join them again… w-wait, whaaat?!”
“If that’s what you desire, I’m more than willing.”
Emperor Rinel’s hands cradled my face.
“I permit it.”
He immediately began teasing my lips.
“Join them. As much as you like.”
His sweet voice resonated within me.
I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.
My shoulders tensed sharply, and my whole body went rigid with nervous anticipation.
“Empress, is the reason you’re not opening your lips now because there’s no water in my mouth this time?”
Emperor Rinel asked, nuzzling my lips with his while tilting his head.
Only then did I realize I’d been clenching my lips shut.
“Oh, I’m sorry… mmph!”
As I exhaled the breath I’d been holding, my lips parted.
Emperor Rinel seized that tiny opening and slipped inside.
Ex-husband Wants Reconciliation
One-line summary: Chasing the wife to the crematorium (making an effort to attract someone who has become indifferent), the female lead doesn’t look back, the second male lead takes the position.
Intro:
To repay the kindness of the older generation, Su Mu crossed into a female-dominated world and became a live-in daughter-in-law of the Yan family, single-handedly saving the Yan family from fire and water.
But her husband, Yan Jiyue, the eldest son of the Yan family, treated her with sarcasm and never showed her a good face.
It wasn’t until after Su Mu’s death that this pampered and arrogant young master shed a few fake tears and pretended to want to die for love.
This life’s kindness was enough. If there was a next life, she would definitely kick Yan Jiyue away.
Who knew that the heavens would be so kind as to allow her to be reborn, returning to the time when she had just married into the Yan family.
Su Mu glanced at the Yan eldest son, who still spoke coldly to her, and threw a divorce letter in front of him.
“Let’s divorce!”
***
Yan Jiyue never imagined that he would be reborn. He happily went to find Su Mu, wanting to make up for the mistakes he had made in his ignorant youth.
Wasn’t the reason the heavens allowed him to be reborn to let him reconcile with Su Mu?
But when he pushed open the door to Su Mu’s room, the person lying on the bed was another man.
Su Mu’s personal attendant, Xie Yi.
Yan Jiyue hated him so much that his teeth itched. In front of Su Mu, Xie Yi was a gentle and considerate whisperer of sweet nothings, but in reality, he was vicious-hearted and deliberately sabotaged their husband and wife relationship.
In the previous life, it was he who secretly hid in Su Mu’s coffin and committed suicide, stealing a step ahead of him to be buried with Su Mu.
Yan Jiyue’s eyes were filled with hatred as he cursed, “What kind of thing are you? Your background is lowly, what right do you have to occupy Su Mu?”
Xie Yi looked at the sleeping Su Mu and no longer pretended to be a whisperer of sweet nothings.
He proudly stuck out his belly, “I have the right because my belly is capable of giving the Wife-master a daughter.”
***
Yan Jiyue was consumed with jealousy. He spread rumors that Xie Yi had once been branded with the mark of a “harlot” on his chest.
But on the night Xie Yi cut off the flesh bearing that mark, Su Mu suddenly realized something was amiss.
“How did you know the exact moment I was poisoned? And why did you show up a month early?”
Xie Yi remained silent, blood from his wound soaking through his robes. His sapphire eyes brimmed with anguish – or was it just a flawless act?
Between a once-arrogant husband now seeking redemption, and a gentle soul willing to die for her – who truly held the darkest secrets? And could it be that Su Mu and Yan Jiyue weren’t the only ones given a second chance at life…?
[Reading Guide]
1. True divorce, chasing the wife to the crematorium, the female lead doesn’t look back, the male lead is Xie Yi.
2. The ex-husband did not cheat, he just realized too late and didn’t realize that he liked the female lead.
_____
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