The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 11
“…Hmm.”
The soft, pliant sensation that had been wandering over my lips like a leisurely stroll began to firm up.
“Where are you trying to go again?”
It wasn’t that I wanted to escape his embrace, yet my body kept attempting to flee somewhere.
My body, stubbornly dragging even the Emperor along with it, was finally seized firmly by his strong arms.
“If you go any further, we’ll both end up falling off the bed, won’t we?”
Emperor Rinel wrapped one arm around my waist and gently set me back in the center of the bed.
“Were you planning to drag me down to the floor?”
He smelled wonderful.
More precisely, he carried an alluring, sensual scent.
His large hand traced slowly along the line of my face from left to right.
Ah, it’s cold. I might as well have touched a block of ice.
Although his hands felt as if they’d just been pulled out of a deep snowbank—bitterly cold—they were a welcome temperature to me.
Compared to his icy touch, his gaze burned so intensely it seemed capable of melting my entire face.
The coldest Emperor of the Northern Continent was nowhere to be seen in this moment.
Only an ordinary husband, wholly focused on his wife, remained.
No—scratch “ordinary.”
“Does that mean you want to do it on the floor? Hm?”
He gave our entangled bodies a slight, playful shake as he asked teasingly.
“No… that’s not what I meant. I just… moved without realizing it.”
“I can’t understand why you keep avoiding me. Are you shy? Or are you deliberately trying to tempt me further?”
It feels like you’re the one doing the tempting right now…
“Which is it, my dear wife…?”
“I’m still unfamiliar with everything. Especially in… this position.”
Despite my honest answer, he tilted his head slightly to the side.
Under his gaze, I felt as though my emotions were being closely monitored.
“May I take that to mean you don’t dislike me?”
His husky voice gently tapped against my heart.
“How could I possibly dislike Your Majesty?”
“Then that means you like me.”
“…”
His blunt question completely shut down my already sluggish mind.
“You’re taking your time, aren’t you? Hmph. I suppose you’re not quite there yet. But there’s hope for improvement, right?”
Though Emperor Rinel spoke with a slightly disappointed tone, his expression looked genuinely pleased.
“Your Majesty… may I ask why you suddenly asked that?”
Lost in admiration of his refined features, I pulled myself together and asked.
“I’m curious. About what you think.”
“You’re curious… about how I think of Your Majesty?”
Why?
“Yes. About what the Empress thinks. I know exactly what everyone else in the palace thinks of me, but the Empress is different.”
Does that mean… I’m special to him?
“I can’t tell what you think. And yet—it matters.”
“Why does it matter so much how I think of Your Majesty?”
“Because then I won’t have to agonize over how I should act around you.”
“I don’t quite understand what you mean.”
“I am the Emperor.”
“…Yes. I’ve never doubted that fact.”
At my serious reply, he placed a hand on his forehead and laughed for a while before continuing.
“Right. It means I can do whatever I please. But with the Empress… I can’t act freely. I shouldn’t, either.”
…Why not?
“Because you’re my wife.”
His surprisingly touching words made me clasp my hands together as if in prayer and look at him with tearful eyes.
“Well, apparently theological texts say that’s just how marriage is.”
Had he embarrassed himself with his own words?
He gave a couple of light taps to his throat and glanced sideways at me.
“But didn’t Your Majesty clearly say before that you don’t believe in the gods?”
At my words, Emperor Rinel smiled and nodded readily.
“Even so, out of the hundreds of things the gods supposedly said, a few were actually useful.”
“Your Majesty seems… warm-hearted.”
I said, holding his icy hand.
“You expect me to believe that? Where in this entire world is there a husband as cold as ice?”
Emperor Rinel lifted our clasped hands slightly and spoke self-deprecatingly.
He always treated his own curse of low body temperature as if it were the funniest joke in the world.
“I didn’t mean your body temperature, Your Majesty. I meant your heart.”
“Huh. That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that. It doesn’t quite sink in—my heart being warm.”
Rinel looked flustered.
But our current position was even more awkward.
He must have realized it too, because he slowly shifted his body away from hovering over mine.
He sat beside me for a moment, eyes darting around before leaning back against the headboard.
Then he crossed his arms firmly over his chest.
I sat up as well, leaning against the headboard and mirroring his posture with my arms crossed, staring straight ahead.
Not facing his eyes brought me immediate peace of mind.
We sat side by side like that, silent.
Then Emperor Rinel broke the quiet first.
“Could it be… you said my heart is warm because I gave you water earlier?”
Huh? Was he still thinking about that?
His question struck me as oddly endearing.
I turned my head the other way, silently smiling to myself before replying politely.
“Just the fact that you don’t treat me poorly—despite me being a foreign-born Empress—tells me enough.”
“It’s you who treated me poorly today. Anyway, I haven’t done anything kind for you yet. Not yet…”
He murmured softly, as if talking to himself.
“It’s enough. For now…”
“Really? It’s not enough for me.”
“…Huh?”
“I mean the way you treat me. I should be able to say I’m satisfied with things as they are—just like you—but I can’t.”
“Have I… done something impolite?”
The once-warm atmosphere began to turn chilly.
“The problem is you’re being too polite.”
Emperor Rinel stroked his chin and complained.
“Listen. Anyone who deceives me or shows arrogance—I feel like cutting their head off right then and there. And when that urge comes, I don’t hesitate.”
Gulp.
I swallowed quietly at his words.
“Of course, I hold back more often. Right now, there are a few ministers whose heads deserve rolling, but the time isn’t right yet, so I’m restraining myself.”
Another gulp.
His tone was calm, but the content was so brutal I had to swallow several times.
I couldn’t help worrying that my own head might one day fly off by his hand.
After all, I was probably the one deceiving the Emperor most in the Lapion Imperial Family.
Unconsciously, my hand kept rising toward my neck and falling back down.
“But it’s strange, isn’t it?”
Emperor Rinel spoke with a hint of puzzlement.
“Even when the Empress acts annoyingly, I don’t feel angry.”
“…Really?”
“Yeah.”
Wait—if he said that, it means I did something annoying?
What was it?
I hid my tension and blinked repeatedly, putting on an intentionally innocent expression.
“Have I… ever done something that annoyed Your Majesty?”
“Earlier.”
“Yes?”
“You said ‘Goodbye’ to me.”
Emperor Rinel mimicked my voice and shot me a sideways glance.
“Oh…”
So it was because I hadn’t held him back earlier.
My neck suddenly turned cold.
Right at that moment—
“Oh! You scared me!”
As Rinel lifted his hand, I instinctively ducked away from him.
My torso twisted sideways like a boomerang, reacting with remarkable reflexes.
Fortunately, he didn’t look like he wanted to behead me.
Instead—
“…What? Why are you acting like this?”
He stared at me with an incredulous expression.
Then, with a snort, he abruptly grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back into place.
“Th-thank you.”
“Don’t thank me for every little thing. …Empress, I have a question. I’d like you to answer honestly.”
He chuckled softly, then abruptly shifted to a serious tone.
“Yes! Honesty is my greatest virtue.”
‘That’s rich. Coming from our stand-in Empress.’
The voice inside me sneered mockingly.
Go ahead, laugh. But aside from that one lie, I’ve lived honestly my whole life, haven’t I?
“Do you think of me… as Emperor?”
His questioning began.
“…As I said earlier, I’ve never doubted that. Keep asking, though, and I might start to.”
I couldn’t grasp what he was really getting at.
With a quiet laugh, he continued his questions.
“Do you think of me… as your husband?”
“Of course.”
Why did that feel ominous?
“Then…”
He’d been firing questions without hesitation, but now he paused briefly, taking a breath as he fixed his gaze intently on my eyes.
He seemed like someone waiting in advance, determined not to miss my expression or the look in my eyes once he asked his real question.
Slowly, Emperor Rinel moved his lips and asked:
“Do you think of me… as a man?”
“!”
Was he seriously curious about that?
If he’d yelled, “Woman! Did you and the Shattonil Kingdom really think you could deceive me to the very end?”, I wouldn’t have been this shocked…
His question hit me harder than the discovery that I was a stand-in Empress.
“I… I…”
I just flapped my mouth wordlessly like a fool, unable to answer properly.
“No, forget it.”
He said coldly, raising one hand and waving it dismissively.
Was he angry?
But immediately, he showed regret.
“I’ll hear your answer later. I think I asked too rashly.”
He gave a self-mocking smile and swept his glossy black hair back.
“Your Majesty.”
“Hm?”
When I tugged gently at his sleeve to call him, he replied with unusually tender eyes.
“There’s something I’d like to ask you too.”
In that moment, I should have kept my mouth shut.
I should have just pulled the covers over my head and gone to sleep.
This was clearly the Divine Sword inside me provoking me.
Whenever a feverish heat surged through my body, I occasionally acted recklessly without realizing it—and most of the time, it was the Divine Sword’s doing.
Things I’d been quietly suppressing or unconsciously thinking about would suddenly erupt into action, fueled by that rising inner heat.
For example, when noble ladies played cruel tricks on me or insulted me, I’d sometimes punish them fiercely without even realizing it.
Usually, my retribution was so cunningly executed that I avoided detection and escaped crises—but today?
I couldn’t be sure what would happen, or if I could fix it once it did.
“What is it? Something you’re curious about regarding me?”
Emperor Rinel narrowed his eyes slightly, showing genuine curiosity.
Ah, don’t look at me with such hopeful eyes.
“Please be honest with me too, Your Majesty.”
Though the words came from my mouth, it was clearly the Divine Sword manipulating my inner consciousness.
Its laughter echoed inside my cochlea.
Damn it.
Courage surged up my throat, fueled by the heat rising deep within my body.
“Do you… think of me as your Empress?”
My lips moved of their own accord—but it was also exactly what I’d been thinking silently after hearing his question moments ago.
“Yes.”
Emperor Rinel watched me echoing his own line of questioning, his lips twitching repeatedly.
“Do you… think of me as your wife?”
Stop it. Please.
That’s enough for today.
But my reason and instinct had already begun to split apart.
“Of course I think of you as my wife.”
Though he looked uncomfortable, his answers were sincere and steady.
Only one question remained…
We both knew what it was, yet tension hung thickly in the air.
Consciously, I pressed my lips tightly together, refusing to speak.
“Is this next question one that requires some thought?”
Seeing me just fidgeting my lips, he seemed frustrated and asked first.
He appeared to be enjoying this moment.
“It’s not a question I can just… ask.”
I clenched my molars and barely managed to speak.
“There’s one last question you want to ask, isn’t there?”
Seeing the slight disappointment on his face made my heart crumble like a sandcastle.
Emperor Rinel’s ocean-blue eyes tossed my heart back and forth.
The corners of his lips lifted lightly, like the tip of a small sailboat.
Watching him smile at me, my lips moved again without permission.
“Do you… think of me as a woman?”
Ah, I couldn’t resist the Divine Sword’s influence—I’d gone and asked that final question after all.
There was no turning back.
I felt so embarrassed I wanted to leap straight off the terrace.
Emperor Rinel’s eyes darkened further.
I wanted to avoid his gaze, yet I was also desperate to hear his answer.
Yes—I could hear his answer first, then throw myself off the terrace. It wouldn’t be too late.
Unexpectedly, his silence lasted far shorter than mine had when I’d been asked the same question.
“I think of you as a woman. I do.”
At Emperor Rinel’s clear, unwavering voice, my heart dropped heavily somewhere inside me.
But his next words brought it back to its place.
“Whether that can lead to love… honestly, I don’t know yet.”
“Yes…”
I tried hard not to look disappointed.
There was no reason to be.
Honestly, it made perfect sense.
“Are you disappointed?”
“No! Since Your Majesty doesn’t know me well yet, of course that’s only natural.”
“What if you got to know me better? Then what?”
“You’ll have to be careful…”
I whispered, covering my mouth with one hand.
“About what?”
“Not to fall for me too hard.”
“…Oh? You’re awfully confident. Are you serious?”
“Would I be serious? It’s just a joke.”
“?”
“You’re so naïve. I didn’t expect you to take it this seriously… Ghhk.”
I burst out laughing at his suddenly serious expression.
“You’re insane.”
“Ugh.”
Emperor Rinel pinched my lips together firmly with his thumb and index finger, silencing my laughter.
With my lips shaped like a duck’s beak, he stared intently into my eyes and declared firmly:
“But I have no intention of being careful around you.”
What did that mean?
“Because it felt warm. That moment we shared on our wedding night… I’ve been thinking about it constantly lately…”
“!”
He stopped speaking and released my duck-beak lips.
Then he rubbed his perfectly symmetrical features vigorously with both hands, as if washing his face dry.
“You might have… misunderstood.”
I patted his back gently and whispered. He looked up.
“Misunderstood?”
“A-at that time, the priests were waiting outside the chamber, and everything was so overwhelming… I think you just had a misunderstanding.”
I forced a nervous laugh, trying to ease the awkwardness.
“Could that be? Hmm. Maybe you’re right.”
Surprisingly, Emperor Rinel accepted my words easily and nodded.
“Which brings me to my point, my wife.”
“Yes, my… husband.”
“How about we find out again?”
He declared solemnly.
“Right now.”
“?”
Male lead first thought she played hard to get, only to realize she
really disliked him
Short intro:
What she can’t stand the most is the streets full of effeminate men, especially that so-called top beauty whom she avoids at all costs.
Shen Yaoxing looks at Jiang Mingyue, who keeps approaching her with coy shyness.
Shen Yaoxing: Bro, don’t be like this, I’m really about to throw up!
She fears nothing in heaven or earth, except for him getting close to her.
*
At first he thought she was just using the trick of feigning indifference to attract his attention. Later, he learned that she truly despised him.
This dealt a heavy blow to Jiang Mingyue, and he vowed to make her, like everyone else, fall at his feet in worship!
***
Synopsis:
Before transmigrating, Shen Yaoxing only wanted to find a reliable man to spend her life with. Who knew that after transmigrating, she would become a reliable woman herself…
A forced misandrist, highly skilled, and reliable female lead
vs.
An initially aloof and arrogant, later morbid, obsessed male lead
_____
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