The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night - Chapter 33

Rinel didn’t even let out a chuckle.

He stared blankly at me with a face that hadn’t escaped from shock.

It was the first time I saw his mouth open for so long.

Wait, his jaw didn’t dislocate, did it?

“Zelda.”

He called my name with a distant gaze.

Fortunately, his teeth were all densely packed without any gaps.

By the way, will an order like ‘For the crime of daring to kick the Emperor’s mouth and toppling His Precious Body, you shall be put to death!’ be issued?

Am I going to be dragged out and executed like this?

Seriously, why did he kiss my instep in the first place?

“Zelda?”

When I didn’t answer immediately, he frowned and called my name again.

His gaze was still fixed on empty space.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry……”

“I’m fine.”

“Pardon?”

“Although you aimed for my teeth with your foot, it’s alright. Don’t try to kiss me out of guilt, by any chance.”

What does he mean?

Is he telling me to apologize with a kiss, or not to?

“I have my pride too.”

He added, glaring at me slightly.

“……I’ll keep that in mind.”

I replied, pressing my lips tightly.

“But, if you really want to charge at my mouth aggressively with those lips like your foot earlier, I might just accept it.”

“……?”

So, he’s waiting for my lips?

Rinel, who had been maintaining his fallen posture for a while, turned to lie on the opposite side and curled up tightly, perhaps as a tactic to look more pitiful.

“Rinel…… This isn’t what I came here for today.”

I said apologetically as I crawled on all fours towards the side he had turned to.

“I didn’t kiss your instep intending for this to happen either.”

“……Th-that’s because you suddenly put your mouth on my instep……”

“Did I momentarily mistake it for a lollipop?”

Rinel muttered softly to himself, half audible and half inaudible.

“I’m fine. If anything, this Emperor is more sorry for startling you.”

He made a false apology in a tone that didn’t sound sorry at all, emphasizing the word ‘Emperor’.

“Your Majesty……”

He fell silent again.

“Rinel?”

“What.”

He answered reluctantly after a few seconds of hesitation when I called his name again.

“Now, are you not going to the Empress’s palace?”

He, who had his eyes closed, opened them wide and looked up at me at my words.

“Would you prefer I didn’t go?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“Because I made such a big mistake, so now……”

It would be perfect to cry here.

But tears didn’t come, as expected.

Sigh, tears flowing at this moment would be far more effective than a hundred apologies.

My tears…… only come out when swordsmanship doesn’t go as planned, or when I defeat a strong opponent, in such ridiculous cases!

They say a woman’s weapon is her tears, don’t they?

But sadly, it seemed the only weapons in my life were swords and bows.

Fortunately, a sobbing voice was quite possible, so instead of tears, I begged for his forgiveness with a whimpering sound.

“I’m really, hic, sorry……”

“Zelda, your eyes don’t look like they’re about to cry at all, why is only your voice like that? It seems like you’re acting.”

Ugh, I didn’t expect even this whimpering voice to be completely ineffective!

Still, it was a good attempt.

“They say when you’re really shocked, tears don’t come out, right?”

I tapped my dry eyes with my fingers as if wiping away tears and immediately returned to a normal voice.

“Well, let’s say that’s the case. If it’s not because you dislike me going to the Empress’s palace, don’t even think about such things.”

“Then will you still come to my chambers in the future……”

“More often.”

Rinel said as he slowly sat up from his pitifully curled-up position.

He had returned to his Emperor’s dignified demeanor.

“Until my lips have touched every part of your body.”

Rinel said as if making a vow.

He truly had the appearance of a conqueror.

“As long as you don’t intend to skin me alive…… I’ll humbly accept Your Majesty’s command.”

“Skinning alive isn’t my style. Not sure about other things though.”

I spoke a bit harshly to him out of relief, but he seemed very satisfied with my answer.

Phew, I survived. I thought he would be really angry.

“Now, shall we hear the real reason you came to my bedroom?”

His low voice seemed to be creating a wall around me.

A wall I could never escape from him.

“By the way Zelda, why have you been kneeling all this time?”

Rinel asked, forcibly straightening my two legs that were kneeling.

“Hnngh!”

A strange sound escaped between my teeth without me realizing.

“Why are you like this when I only touched your legs? It’s troublesome if you’re already like this.”

“Haah. Y-Your Majesty!”

This time, a voice like a groan of resentment burst from my mouth.

“Were your legs sensitive? I feel more pleased than discovering a magic mine.”

Rinel’s eyes gently creased as he gripped my legs more firmly.

I felt like I was going to die.

“Don’t touch!”

“When you say it with that expression, it makes me want to touch more.”

“I said don’t put strength in your hands! Hnngh. M-My legs are tingling!”

“Ah……”

“Just leave me alone for a moment, just for a moment. I’ll recover soon!”

I pleaded with him with an expression asking for self-restraint, putting my hands together.

“Seems like it’s a day for your legs to work overtime?”

Rinel burst into laughter, touching his own lips.

“Aack! How cruel!”

He deliberately poked at my tingling legs with his hands, as if taking revenge on me.

My foot almost flew towards his face again.

A minute later, the tingling sensation in my legs had completely disappeared.

The voices of him and me laughing and chattering also disappeared.

‘Now, try to seduce me.’

Rinel’s eyes seemed to be urging like that.

“So…… why did you come to my bedroom again?”

Our conversation returned to the starting point.

All of Rinel’s facial features were focused on my lips.

His gaze was so full of expectation that it made it impossible for me to lie.

“I wanted to see you.”

Of all the numerous excuses I had prepared in my mind on the way to the main palace, the blandest answer popped out.

“Is that all?”

Rinel’s face showed clear disappointment.

“Of course not.”

When I responded nonchalantly, his eyes creased beautifully again.

He was quite enjoying this situation.

He didn’t look like someone who had just been ‘mouth-blocked’ by his wife’s foot.

Looking at his beautifully upturned corners of the mouth, I reflected once again.

What on earth had I done to those beautiful lips!

I felt even more sorry all of a sudden.

“After you left my chambers like that last night, I felt uneasy all along.”

“So, is that all?”

He asked in a disappointed tone, as if my answer was still not sufficient, but he seemed in a much better mood than before.

“You came all the way to the main palace at this hour to meet me because you felt uneasy? Wouldn’t my bedroom be more uncomfortable?”

“Missing you was the biggest reason.”

“Huu……”

Rinel let out a long sigh, then glanced at me and immediately continued speaking.

“Now I’ve heard it.”

He said quietly with a relieved expression.

“Now I’ve seen your face.”

He gently lifted my chin and scrutinized my face from various angles, then put on a contemplative expression.

“What should I do with you who came to my bedroom? I……”

It seemed like a question he was asking himself, not me.

“What do you want to do?”

I tilted my head and asked in a whisper.

“You might be surprised if I tell you?”

[This is the timeline separator]

Melanie finished her bath and stood up after completing her makeup at the dressing table.

“Oh right.”

As if she had forgotten something, Melanie twirled back to the dressing table and sprayed perfume all over her body while humming a tune.

It was almost to the level of pouring the perfume.

The maid serving beside her secretly wrinkled her nose, slightly turning her head to the side due to the overly strong scent.

“I wonder what time His Majesty will come to my chambers?”

Melanie said, looking at her reflection in the mirror with satisfaction, dressed in a revealing slip.

“Hasn’t the child who went to check on the situation in the main palace returned yet?”

Melanie, who had been staring into the mirror for a while, asked the maid standing behind her through the mirror.

“She should be back by now, Your Highness.”

“Is that so? Haa, if I were the First Consort like Catherine, I would have spent the first night among the consorts first! Hmph, if that were the case, the world would have changed already today. Well, can’t be helped. I just need to bear a prince first.”

Melanie walked to the bed with confident gestures.

At that moment, another maid who had gone to check on the situation in the main palace entered the bedroom with a troubled expression.

“Your Highness, I’ve returned……”

“His Majesty? Is he on his way here now?”

Melanie asked in an excited voice, sweeping all her long hair over one shoulder.

“Um, about that……”

For some reason, the complexion of the maid who had gone to the main palace was very dark.

“What is it, don’t tell me he went to Catherine again today?”

Melanie thought that Emperor Rinel had naturally spent the night together in Catherine’s chambers last night.

So when her maid hesitated to speak, she had an ominous feeling that maybe he had gone to Catherine’s palace again today.

She thought it was quite possible since the two were former fiancés.

“Why are you silent? I’m asking if that wicked Catherine intercepted His Majesty in between!”

Melanie yelled at the maid.

“H-His Majesty didn’t go to Catherine, Your Highness……”

“Don’t tell me he skipped me and went to that bookworm Rosie?”

Melanie grabbed the maid’s shoulders and shook them violently, her voice even more irritated than before, her eyes wide open.

“It’s not Rosie either, Your Highness!”

At the maid’s answer, Melanie took a step back and blinked with a bewildered expression.

“Ah, then did he go to Pecilini?”

“No, Your Highness.”

“Then why…… Why hasn’t he come to my chambers yet?”

“Th-The Empress is currently in His Majesty’s bedroom in the main palace!”

“Who?!”

Melanie was dumbfounded to learn that the person interfering with her first night was not Catherine but the Empress.

“That’s impossible, you must have misunderstood something!”

Melanie, who was shouting at the maid, stepped on the hem of her long slip and flailed her arms.

“Be careful, Your Highness!”

The maid beside her quickly grabbed Melanie’s arm to help her up, but she pushed the maid aside with an irritated face.

“Get out of the way!”

Melanie began pacing around the room frantically, pulling at her long hair with both hands.

“Are you sure the Empress is in His Majesty’s bedroom?”

“Yes, Your Highness……”

“Aaaaaargh!”

The maids huddled together, bowing their heads and trembling at Melanie’s furious scream.

“Was the Empress a vixen? Despite being from the Shattonil Kingdom?”

It was already a headache with the existence of the annoying First Consort Catherine, and now even the Empress, whom she thought insignificant, was blocking her path.

“Did I underestimate her too much?”

Melanie started to rack her brains, grabbing her hair between all ten fingers.

“If His Majesty doesn’t come to my chambers tonight, how much will that arrogant Catherine look down on me?”

It was already bad enough that Catherine alone had risen to the position of First Consort, her nose so high in the sky.

“To have my first night stolen by that mere foreign-born Empress in this situation.”

It was truly a matter of wounded pride for Melanie.

“Could this be Catherine’s scheme?”

Yes, something must have gone wrong in between.

Melanie kept suspecting that Catherine had interfered somehow in the middle.

“It’s entirely possible. That nasty woman might have lied to His Majesty that I was sick, or used the Empress to prevent His Majesty from coming to my chambers today.”

Melanie was accepting her speculation almost as fact.

It seemed unlikely that the Empress, who hadn’t even prevented the first night of Catherine, the First Consort and the Emperor’s former fiancée yesterday, would suddenly interfere with her own first night as the Second Consort.

“It must be Catherine’s doing. That’s just like her.”

Melanie ground her teeth.

The maids all pressed their backs against the wall in unison, terrified of Melanie’s furious appearance.

They held their breath, fearing when the sparks might fly at them.

“Does she think I’ll just let this slide?”

Melanie’s eyes flashed fiercely.

She bit her nails, pacing frantically around the bedroom.

“What should I do? What should I do?”

She needed to quickly think of a way to make the Emperor come to her chambers tonight.