The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night - Chapter 38

“Ah, haha. The rock is so nice and flat.”

For lifting up.

As I awkwardly laughed and answered, Rinel also followed me with an equally awkward “Ah, haha.”

“Let’s just go today and sit another time.”

“Shall we? I should remember this. Near the lavender field…”

Rinel mumbled while looking around the dark surroundings, as if trying to remember the location of the rock.

“Let’s go now.”

“…Am I going back to the main palace bedroom now?”

“Why ask the obvious?”

He said, raising one eyebrow.

Since when did my coming and going from the main palace bedroom become obvious?

“I can’t just send away the first and last guest to my bedroom.”

I’m the last guest to his bedroom?

Hearing those words, the blood in my veins began to circulate rapidly.

“I’ll make you visit often.”

Rinel muttered as if making a vow.

“Is it a good restaurant?”

“…Well, depending on how you think about it?”

He shrugged and laughed.

“You’ll become a regular? I’ll make lots of good memories tonight.”

“Lots…?”

“Excited?”

“I’m nervous.”

“How innocent.”

The eyes of the very brazen person who called me innocent seem to be trembling quite a bit right now, don’t you think?

“Anyway, I’m glad. If the Empress’s stamina was too weak, I might have been in trouble.”

He pushed my hair behind my ear and made an extremely excited expression.

I didn’t understand what connection there was between my weak stamina and him being in trouble, but I was happy since he was happy.

“Your Majesty! My neck is starting to hurt!”

Just then, Raphael’s strained voice was heard.

He was grumbling while massaging his nape with his hand.

Since the Emperor had given orders, they couldn’t carelessly turn around, and everyone was expressing their discomfort by patting their shoulders and necks with their hands.

“Alright, let’s end the moongazing here and everyone lower your heads and turn back around.”

As soon as Rinel gave permission, the attendants all turned towards us while grabbing their necks.

“Oh my, what a shock! Y-Your Majesty? You’re not bleeding from your lips, are you?”

Raphael asked him while tapping the left corner of his own mouth.

“What?”

Rinel snapped back.

I quickly looked up at his face carefully.

When I saw the corner of his mouth that Raphael had pointed to, my face turned the same color.

“Your Majesty, my lipstick is on the left corner of your mouth…”

And it’s red, too.

I quietly said as I grabbed his arm and turned him around.

“Ah, I see. Zelda, would you lend me that lonely dangling left sleeve?”

“Why do you need this sleeve that’s lost its pair because of Your Majesty?”

“I need to wipe it off.”

He playfully tugged my sleeve upwards.

“My, you could wipe it with Your Majesty’s own sleeve.”

I retorted while hiding my hands behind my back, trying to hold back laughter.

“Your dress is already ruined. My clothes are fine.”

“…So?”

“Make a little sacrifice.”

Rinel added that he would make thrifty use of the dress like a napkin since it was going to be thrown away anyway, and eventually wiped off the lipstick on his mouth using my sleeve.

In the distance among the attendants, I could see Sharon’s surprised face.

Sharon seemed saddened by the sight of the dress she had so ambitiously chosen for tonight being in tatters.

I’m sorry, Sharon.

[This is the timeline separator]

“You’re saying our Empress herself visited the main palace?”

Grand Duke Martins frowned in contemplation as he received the report from his guard knight, Sir Rolf.

Sir Rolf found it difficult to gauge Grand Duke Martins’ mood.

He seemed to be not just surprised, but slightly pleased, while also somehow appearing angry at the same time.

“Moreover, isn’t it quite peculiar that the two of them went to the concubine’s quarters together?”

“It is peculiar.”

“Is it that His Majesty is strange? Or is Her Majesty extraordinary?”

Sir Rolf, who had tailed the imperial couple’s movements, was quite shocked to see them enter the concubine’s quarters together.

“The Emperor aside, I wonder what our Empress was thinking…”

Grand Duke Martins said, narrowing his eyes and tapping the table.

“Grand Duke, will you report today’s events to Prince Tessler as well?”

“Well, how should I report this?”

Grand Duke Martins chuckled after pressing his temples.

“That the Empress is overly immersing herself in her assigned duties? Or that Prince Tessler completely misjudged Emperor Rinel’s preferences, causing things to go awry?”

“The situation is certainly unfolding differently than expected.”

Sir Rolf nodded, agreeing with Grand Duke Martins’ words.

“There’s one more thing flowing unexpectedly.”

The Grand Duke, who had been sitting with his legs crossed, suddenly stood up.

Walking towards the bed, he proudly lifted the mattress.

Finding the mattress heavier than expected, the Grand Duke called for Sir Rolf while grunting.

“Sir Rolf! Come here and hold this up.”

“Yes, Grand Duke. But why are you suddenly lifting the mattress?”

Sir Rolf wore a puzzled expression at Grand Duke Martins’ abrupt action.

Unlike the grunting Grand Duke, Sir Rolf easily lifted the mattress.

“That’s good, now.”

Grand Duke Martins pulled out a high-quality silk pouch he had hidden under the mattress.

And from that pouch, he took out a sword hilt without a blade.

“Isn’t that the one belonging to Norton, whom I brought to you?”

“Yes. The one belonging to that Norton, whose origins were thought to be unclear, a mercenary knight.”

“But why did you hide it under the bed? Like a treasure?”

“Because it is a treasure. It really is.”

Grand Duke Martins smiled meaningfully as he caressed the middle part of the jewel-encrusted sword hilt.

There was a seal engraved inside where the jewel had been.

“Was it expensive as expected? It seems you’ve identified which family the seal belongs to?”

“It’s beyond price. More than just a family. How has that Norton been doing lately?”

“His body is gradually recovering. Though he’s still not talking much.”

“Not even asking about Princess Resilia?”

“Don’t even mention it. I tried to casually bring up the princess a few times, but each time he glared at me. Once, he even tried to throw a punch!”

“You must have displayed your special talent.”

“My special talent?”

“Being snarky.”

“No! I was lucky to dodge because I’m quick, but that brute Norton still managed to smash a table to pieces.”

“It’s not that you’re fast, but that Norton is still slow due to his injuries.”

“Grand Duke… do you really have to point that out?”

Sir Rolf grumbled with a sulky expression.

“Hahaha, but what did you say that made him throw a punch?”

“I said that Princess Resilia would soon come here to remarry the Emperor of the Rapion Empire.”

“…And what did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything. He just smashed an innocent table and then looked down at the sleeping child.”

“Strange. He’s of a status where he doesn’t need to hold back.”

Grand Duke Martins muttered while examining the seal inside the sword hilt.

“Ah, that saying!”

“What saying?”

“What you just said, Grand Duke. Norton said something similar while caressing the child.”

“That he won’t stay quiet?”

“Yes, similar. He said he won’t let it be.”

“Huh, things will get interesting. The 3rd Prince of Partsha Empire, the largest in the Southern Continent, can’t just stay still.”

“What?! Prince?!”

“Yes. Of course he can’t stay quiet when the princess who bore his child is abandoning him to remarry the Emperor of the Northern Continent. Of course not.”

Grand Duke Martins burst into laughter as he put Norton’s sword hilt back into the pouch.

“Gasp, that mercenary of unknown origin is… what of the Southern Continent?”

“The 3rd Prince of the Partsha Empire. There was a princes’ rebellion three years ago when the Emperor died without properly passing on the succession.”

“Yes, you told me before. The 2nd Prince killed the 1st Prince…”

“Right, poisoned him, they say. But for some reason, the ministers of the Partsha Empire keep delaying the succession of the throne.”

“Could it be because he’s not of legitimate descent?”

“Well, maybe. But barring any unexpected events, the 2nd Prince Calbain will ascend to the throne of the Partsha Empire.”

Unlike the 1st Prince, the 2nd Prince Calbain and the 3rd Prince Norton are full brothers.

If Norton were to return to the Southern Continent now, he would likely take on an important role as one of the 2nd Prince’s closest confidants.

Moreover, if the 2nd Prince Calbain, who is still unmarried and childless, becomes Emperor of the Partsha Empire, the next heir to the throne would be the 3rd Prince Norton.

“When the 2nd Prince eliminated the 1st Prince, the remaining princes who had no interest in power left the Partsha Empire.”

“Norton must have been one of them.”

“That’s right, but who would have thought that the 3rd Prince of the Partsha Empire from the Southern Continent would sneak into the Chatonile Royal Family of the Northern Continent as a mercenary?”

Grand Duke Martins continued with an intrigued expression, and Sir Rolf chimed in.

“Not only that, he fell in love with Princess Resilia and even eloped!”

“Yes, and they even had a child together.”

“Is that all? Princess Resilia betrayed him and returned to the royal family! And Norton and his son fell off a cliff because of the royal knights.”

“But they survived in the end.”

Grand Duke Martins, who had been exchanging words with Sir Rolf, downed the wine on the table with a satisfied smile.

“If it weren’t for you, Grand Duke, he would have been dead by now.”

“Of course, it’s thanks to me.”

“The child would probably have become food for wild beasts too. You’re the savior of their lives, Grand Duke!”

“Of the 3rd Prince of the Partsha Empire from the Southern Continent? Hahaha!”

Grand Duke Martins’ laughter swirled inside the wine glass he was drinking from.

“By the way, Grand Duke, when Princess Resilia comes here, will Emperor Rinel’s heart waver?”

“If he doesn’t waver at the sight of Princess Resilia, he’s not a man.”

Sir Rolf automatically nodded as he recalled Princess Resilia’s face at Grand Duke Martins’ words.

“I feel sorry for Her Majesty the Empress. She’ll be hurt. Though of course, she came here as a proxy empress in the first place.”

“Don’t worry. Wounds heal quickly when affection is replenished.”

“Who will replenish it?”

“I will.”

“What?! Why would the Grand Duke give affection to Her Majesty the Empress…?”

Sir Rolf asked with a surprised face, but Grand Duke Martins just smiled and ordered Sir Rolf to go back.

[This is the timeline separator]

From the moment I entered the main palace, I was completely dominated by Rinel.

The rapidly beating pulse, the breathless panting, were not enough to keep up with Rinel’s passion.

“…Your Majesty.”

“I said I wouldn’t stop…!”

My two hands were fixed like nails next to the pillow, intertwined with Rinel’s hands.

Only our clasped hands didn’t move.

Looking up at his ecstatically trembling eyes, I could clearly see what emotions he was feeling as he gazed at me.

I couldn’t not know.

A bead of sweat trickled down his overwhelmingly beautiful face.

I couldn’t come to my senses under his passion that seemed determined to conquer even my soul.

When Rinel couldn’t control his emotions, he would pause everything for a moment and just stare down at my face.

As if following a set rule, after smiling, he would always kiss my neck and cheek in turn.

For a while, I repeatedly felt as if my soul would disappear forever, only to return to reality again.

I was going back and forth to heaven with his every breath.

I gazed intently into Rinel’s eyes.

He was speaking with his eyes.

Saying that he cherishes me.

That he loves me.

We shared, felt, and divided everything together.

The night was short, but our joy and ecstasy were endless.

Rinel held and embraced me for a long time.

Even when he moved away from me for a moment, he tried to keep some part of his body touching mine, like someone who could only breathe if he was in contact with me.

“I felt like I might cry.”

It was around the time when everything had become quiet.

Rinel’s low, shy voice shook me awake from my half-sleep.