The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 2
“F-First night……?”
“Yes.”
Emperor Rinel’s voice was not annoyed, but it was not particularly affectionate either.
A deep and low voice that was hard to gauge his mood.
I gripped the hem of my slip tightly with both hands and sat up again.
“Is the first night possible……?”
Damn, the thought I had inside slipped out.
“I know you don’t like me.”
Emperor Rinel frowned for a moment before saying something unexpected.
The statement felt so absurd that I unwittingly tilted my head and looked up at his face.
How could anyone not like that face?
Your evaluation of your own appearance is too harsh.
“I also find you quite…….”
“?”
Quite, what.
Why stop mid-sentence?
The emperor, who had been speaking up to that point, stopped because of my gaze.
Our eyes awkwardly entangled.
The longer I faced him, the more my mind actually felt at ease.
It’s strange.
Does peace of mind come when a face looks too unreal?
He had told me to lift my head earlier, but now that I was looking, he turned his head away first.
And then he said, as if making an excuse.
“So what I mean is. You are not a wife who makes my heart burst out so much that I like you very, very, extremely…… Not yet.”
……What did I say?
I didn’t say anything?
That’s unfair.
I was just concluding to myself, ‘Does being handsome mean everything? Ah, yes, it does.’ I swear I wasn’t frowning even once and was listening attentively.
He cleared his throat awkwardly and spoke again.
“Even if we don’t like each other, we are already husband and wife.”
Ah, this isn’t good right now.
I nodded seriously to Emperor Rinel’s words, but suddenly a yawn came out.
‘Haam-.’
I thought I shouldn’t show such disloyal behavior to him, so I turned my head politely and yawned secretly.
“Are you listening to me?”
Emperor Rinel must have thought that sight was ignoring him, so he snapped his fingers to focus my gaze back on him.
“Yeees, of course. I am deeply engraving every word.”
“……Could you speak without that expression like you’re about to cry?”
It was because tears welled up from yawning secretly.
“I’m sorry.”
I just let him misunderstand.
Because explaining might make me yawn again.
“I don’t know what the god was thinking tying you and me together, but anyway, we even swore to the god.”
He muttered in a dissatisfied tone and sat on a chair about three steps away from the bed.
“Damn it. I don’t know if we’re serving the god or those priest bastards. Traditionally, the emperor’s first night is with that monster-like…….”
I opened my eyes wide at his words.
It was a reaction to a somewhat stinging word.
The word ‘monster’ is something I heard a lot in the Shattonil Kingdom since childhood.
Precisely after the burn scar appeared on my right face.
But after last night, the burn scar had cleanly disappeared.
Of course, it was temporarily gone from taking a magic potion.
Even though the burn scar was gone, my hand still habitually touched that area often.
“The word monster wasn’t said to you. It was just talking to myself about those priest bastards.”
He said, glancing at me slightly, thinking I misunderstood his words.
“Then you should have said it in your mind.”
“What?”
“I already heard everything.”
“…….”
I said it lightly as a joke.
He pondered my words for a moment before smirking.
“Now you’re speaking at length.”
He said with a subtle smile.
“I absolutely hate women who keep their mouths shut and make people explode, but it seems that’s not the case, which is a relief.”
“That is…… Your Majesty is saying that because you haven’t met someone who makes people explode just by opening their mouth.”
I said to him, clenching my molars while thinking of Prince Tessler inside.
“Well. I think I met someone like that last night…….”
Emperor Rinel ruffled his well-groomed hair, muttered to himself, and stared at me intently.
“!”
Last night?
Could he be remembering that we met?
My breath almost stopped for a moment.
But seeing no follow-up, thankfully it didn’t seem to be about me.
Phew…… That scared me.
An awkward silence flowed between us again.
This time, he spoke first.
“I know well that I’m not an affectionate man.”
I glanced at Emperor Rinel, who was suddenly self-reflecting.
He placed the wine glass he was holding on the mahogany table and stood up from the chair.
Why is he standing up again suddenly?
“You have a very displeased expression.”
He said, frowning.
“N-No, not at all.”
I quickly stretched my mouth sideways and forced a smile.
“Anyway, I intend to fulfill my duties as a husband.”
I almost glared at him speaking as if firmly resolving.
Not fulfilling your duties would actually help me?
“Tonight will be the day to start the first duty.”
Emperor Rinel pulled the string of his gown downward.
It felt like the string of my reason was loosening along with it.
Oh my, goodness!
As if heaven was opening from the sky, his dizzying chest muscles were revealed through the gown.
I stared blankly, admiring heaven.
Snap out of it!
I tried to gather my scattered reason again.
Anyway, once Princess Resilia arrives at the Lapion imperial family, my mission ends.
Then I return to the Shattonil Kingdom and receive the treatment to completely remove the burn scar from Prince Tessler as promised.
Until then, if I live quietly like a dead mouse in the Lapion imperial family, it’s half success.
Emperor Rinel, who looks cold as ice, seems to dislike me too, so it didn’t seem difficult, but what is this talk of husband’s duty!
“Does the empress believe in god?”
He asked seriously.
I wanted to shout to him, ‘Your Majesty’s chest muscles are far more reliable than god!’ but my mouth just opened and closed.
I’m not really the empress, and I don’t believe in god either.
I pondered for a moment how to answer him.
Looking at his eyes pressuring me to answer quickly, unintentionally loyal words slipped out.
“From now on, I will believe in and follow Your Majesty more than god!”
It was by no means a prepared answer.
“Ha, hahaha! When the priests arrive shortly, say the same thing, won’t you? That you believe in me more than god.”
Emperor Rinel burst into loud laughter.
“I will keep my mouth shut to the priests. I am a woman who dreams of long life without illness…….”
I unwittingly retorted again.
I bit my lower lip and pressed my thigh hard with my fingernail at the same time.
Zelda von Trova, are you crazy?
I decided to just keep quiet!
Why, why.
Why do I keep retorting to the emperor?
“Interesting.”
He said, raising his beautiful eyebrows.
But wait?
There was something in what he just said that caught my ear.
“Your Majesty, what do you mean by priests arriving……?”
Knock knock knock-.
At that moment, overlapping with my voice, a knocking sound came from outside the bedroom.
An ominous energy I didn’t know what it was began to wrap around my body like a snake.
“They seem to have arrived. We’ll continue the conversation after the priests leave.”
He took a deep breath and continued solemnly.
“Empress. We’ve shared enough words, now it’s time to share something else.”
Emperor Rinel’s gown fell to the floor.
“W-What to share……?”
From what I heard, Your Majesty said that…… part you share is lacking!
Unknowingly, I stretched both hands forward to block him approaching.
To dare make such a gesture to the emperor!
I pointless scanned the marble floor once, looking for my lost courage I didn’t know when I lost.
“It means it’s time to prove to the priests that we have become husband and wife.”
Emperor Rinel replied, looking down trivially at my hands blocking him.
“What witnesses, and what does it mean to prove in front of them?”
“You didn’t know?”
“Was there something I needed to know?”
“The tradition of the Lapion imperial family.”
“?”
“It means the priests come in on the emperor’s first night and we prove to them that we have truly become husband and wife.”
Excuse me, actually, I’m just a proxy empress?!
“Whaaat?”
At my scream close to a wail, Emperor Rinel’s sculpted features shattered.
But it’s a trap that he still looks handsome.
“I believe the traditions and major customs of the Lapion imperial family were sent in advance to the Shattonil Kingdom?”
“T-That…….”
I didn’t have the leisure to hear such things!
I bit my lower lip and swallowed my words.
Emperor Rinel stared at me piercingly as if observing.
-“Your Majesty! It is time to begin.”
Chief Steward Stian’s voice came from outside the bedroom door.
“Wait a moment!”
-“Yes, Your Majesty.”
As he shouted toward the door, Chief Steward Stian’s reply came, and the murmuring noise quieted down as well.
His sharp gaze flew back and stuck into me.
“Any last words?”
It sounded like asking a prisoner kneeling on the guillotine right before execution for their final words.
My spine had been chilling for a while, and now my mind was starting to chill too.
My hand habitually went to the right burn scar again.
“Where…… does it hurt?”
Emperor Rinel grabbed my hand and asked.
“N-No, Your Majesty.”
Even at my words that I was fine, he stared penetratingly at my right face.
The burn scar area burned under his gaze.
‘Prince Tessler, you bastard!’
He should have told me in advance that priests come in on the first night. Then I could have prepared my mind at least!
[This is the timeline separator]At the same time, the Shattonil royal family.
“Will Emperor Rinel, who doesn’t even glance at ordinary women, spend the first night with Zelda?”
Prince Tessler asked Sir Ken, his escort knight, while downing a glass of strong liquor in his office.
“It’s a state marriage, so wouldn’t he?”
“I assured Zelda that Emperor Rinel is almost impotent. Heh heh, by now she’s surely cursing me? Calling me a bastard.”
Prince Tessler, with a sly smile, gulped down the remaining liquor in his glass and said.
“I can see it clearly.”
“Setting that aside, wouldn’t it have been better to tell Lady Zelda in advance about the Lapion imperial family’s first night tradition?”
Sir Ken carefully voiced his opinion.
“If I did, would she have gone obediently? I had no choice.”
“That is true.”
Prince Tessler was obsessed with the state marriage with the Lapion Empire, even using the unreasonable move of a proxy empress, largely for political reasons.
Three years ago, there was a war between the two continents to possess the baby wyverns.
The northern continent and southern continent each have three countries, totaling six nations.
The northern continent has the Shattonil Kingdom closest to the Valley of Death, the resource-rich Ekia Empire, and the Lapion Empire with the largest territory and formidable military power; these three countries border each other.
The countries of the southern continent do not have military power concentrated in one nation like the north; all three have nearly equal military strength.
The two continents were originally one continent, but 300 years ago, lightning struck from the sky for three days, splitting the continent.
A waterway connecting by sea formed between the split valleys, and eroded by wind and waves, it has now widened to the point where ships are needed to cross.
People call that place the ‘Valley of Death’.
And the wyverns began settling, divided in half between the ‘Valley of Death’.
From then on, the fierce war between the two continents to possess the wyverns began.
Fully grown wyverns are hard to tame, but baby wyverns can be easily tamed by mages or high-ranking knights.
For that reason, the nations of the two continents spilled countless blood between the Valley of Death to possess the baby wyverns.
Thanks to the wyverns’ habit of migrating to different areas every three years and returning, the war is currently in a temporary truce.
“Your Highness. The time for the wyverns to return to the Valley of Death is approaching soon.”
When that time comes, war will start again between the two continents.
“The only way for our kingdom, closest to the Valley of Death, to minimize damage is to receive protection from the Lapion Empire.”
“Right.”
“So this state marriage is important. The sacrifice has some flaws, but until we find Resilia, we have to keep her in the empress position.”
Prince Tessler recalled Zelda’s burn scar area and tapped his right face with his finger.
“What do you plan to do after that?”
“Well, what to do…… with our Zelda.”
Prince Tessler burst into laughter and trailed off.
“Are you okay? Your face seems hot.”
Emperor Rinel’s hand back headed toward my right face.
I was inwardly cursing Prince Tessler when his worried voice startled me.
“N-No. I’m just nervous.”
Unknowingly, I turned my head sideways to avoid his touch.
He narrowed his eyes and looked at me with a piercing gaze before obediently lowering his hand.
“You don’t need to mind the priests.”
He said in a casual tone and turned to pick up the wine glass on the table again.
I glared at his seemingly carefree back.
How can I not mind when the priests have eyes?
No matter how I look, Emperor Rinel’s calm appearance didn’t seem like someone about to have the first night right away.
Moreover, he didn’t seem to have any feelings for me.
That’s the same for me.
Yet, I don’t know why my heart has been acting up on its own since earlier.
First, before sharing bodily conversation with him, I think we need to have more proper conversation.
We can’t suddenly share each other’s intimate sounds like this, right?
Even if talking a few more words right now won’t greatly help this awkward situation, still.
“Your Majesty, I have a question!”
I rolled my eyes around and gently raised my hand.
“I’m looking forward to it. What the empress is curious about in this situation…….”
Emperor Rinel leaned his upper body toward me and tilted his head.
His beautiful body suddenly filled my vision without warning.
“Go ahead.”
His low voice had a tendency to grow my tension rapidly.
Tension rising from my danjeon already made me breathless.
“Um…… when you take a concubine later or welcome a new empress, do the priests come in on the first night too?”
“…….”
The emperor’s expression gradually twisted as he listened to me.
It was a question thrown to have a proper conversation, but somehow it created a weirder atmosphere than silence.
“Is the empress curious about such a thing right now?”
No.
“Whether the situation when I welcome a new empress will be like this?”
I just…… blurted it out to buy time, and it happened to be that.
“I-It was a slip of the tongue.”
“It was a slip…… why.”
“Yes?”
“Why did you make such a slip? For the empress who just married today to casually say ‘new empress’ from her mouth.”
I was at a loss what expression to show looking at Emperor Rinel’s suspicious face.
“Listen carefully.”
He exhaled long and continued in a determined tone.
“No matter how the god hasn’t helped in my life, anyway, today I even swore the marriage vow in front of it. So me welcoming a new empress-.”
“……”
“Will not happen.”
Boom!
It felt like lightning striking my head repeatedly.
Your Majesty, please be flexible about divorce and remarriage!
“There are exactly two cases where I would remarry.”
He lightly tapped my nose bridge with his index finger,
“You die, or you cheat.”
With a nailing gaze,
“Only then.”
He said very firmly.
Male lead is reincarnated to save his wife
I’ve also read this one twice already. The female lead is kinda soft and gets embarrassed easily—not really my type, but the plot is definitely worth reading. Hurry up and read it, y’all!
Intro
When Shen Yuan encountered Su Jin again in his previous life, she had already become the Prime Minister of the current dynasty. As for him, the former top young master of the capital, he had long since fallen into the abyss, becoming a singer on a pleasure boat.
After a song ended, he was redeemed and sent to the Su Residence.
Su Jin respected and cherished him, gave him a roof over his head, and bestowed him with warmth. Shen Yuan fell deeper and deeper, but before he could express his feelings, Su Jin passed away.
Shen Yuan died to follow her in death, but instead, he returned to when he was fifteen years old.
At that time, he was not yet engaged, and Su Jin was just a poor scholar.
Shen Yuan gritted his teeth, casting aside all his pride, and thought of ways to coax and entice her every day.
The colder and more indifferent Su Jin was towards him, the more proactive Shen Yuan became.
He was not afraid of being mocked by the world, only wanting to marry his Wife-master early, to hold her hand and never let go for a lifetime.
[Note: This story will not specifically point out the male lead’s reincarnation time point; it’s all in the details. Whenever you feel that the male lead is acting strangely, he has most likely been reincarnated.]
[Touch the gear icon in the bottom right corner of the screen to move to the next chapter if you want.]
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