The Stand-In Empress's Wedding Night - Chapter 68

“It was a mistake!”

I pushed his hand away and retied the sash of my bathrobe.

“Then you should have committed it. Mistakes are meant to be made, but if you fix it right away, what does that make me who just experienced it?”

Rinel sighed with a deeply disappointed look.

“If you make someone like this and then say it’s a mistake… Should I be angry or not? Though there’s already a part of me that’s angry.”

He cleared his throat and lowered his gaze, then mumbled “Take responsibility” as he looked back at my face.

“We’ll be late for lunch at this rate.”

“Then let’s change it to the banquet hall in the Empress’s Palace.”

Rinel made that decision, and I hesitated for a moment.

He then placed his hand on the back of my head and applied pressure.

My head nodded under the force of his hand.

“That’s right. You have the same thought as me. Approved, bang.”

“?”

He firmly said as he untied the sash of my bathrobe again.

“Zelda, how is it that even when you make mistakes, they’re the kind of mistakes I like?”

I just closed my eyes and smiled with a resigned feeling.

In truth, I desperately needed his love that yearned for me.

When I was close to Rinel, it felt like I could escape all my worries.

“Huh? You dare to ignore the Emperor’s words? Are you completely unaware of the tremendous crime you’re committing? You won’t be able to avoid that punishment.”

As he said, a terrifying punishment was soon delivered.

So sweet it was deadly, so overwhelming it brought tears to my eyes…

Without realizing it, I lost my sense of reality and gently bit his lips.

“Ah!”

“I’m sorry.”

As I burst into laughter and apologized, he quietly looked down at me, then said,

“Not only did you ignore the Emperor’s words, but you dare to bite his lips too?”

With an indignant expression, he fiercely pounced on me and said.

“I can’t let you get away with this.”

[This is the timeline separator]

Rinel leaned back against the headboard of the bed, watching Zelda walk towards the bedroom door.

Even after the door closed, her afterimage lingered for a while, bringing a smile to his lips.

He muttered to himself.

“It was an excellent choice.”

Today, by eliminating all the break times during the meeting and pushing through the discussions somewhat forcefully, he was able to have this intimate time with Zelda before lunch.

He hadn’t planned this from the beginning.

Last night, they had clearly made passionate love, and he woke up in this bedroom this morning.

They had a simple breakfast together, and after receiving a deep kiss from her, he returned to the main palace in a good mood.

However, as soon as the meeting started, his instincts spoke to him.

Is there really a need to have long meetings where the same things are discussed over and over?

Why not quickly approve the opinions of the ministers that are worth listening to, and immediately cut off the matters that are absolutely unacceptable?

Today, somehow, his instincts seemed far more rational than his reason.

By doing so, it really seemed possible to shorten the morning meeting time by about two hours.

Rinel secretly smiled with satisfaction, lifting a document in front of his face while facing dozens of ministers.

Originally, even for matters he could approve right away, he often deliberately delayed granting permission by taking breaks during the meeting.

Even for proposals from ministers that he would never accept, he didn’t refuse immediately. His method was to pretend to deliberate over time and eventually reject them.

But today, both approvals and rejections of agenda items proceeded smoothly.

The ministers spent the entire meeting in a bewildered state, being dragged along by Rinel’s decisions until the meeting concluded.

The Emperor’s usually relaxed and dignified behavior showed a different pattern from other times.

Like someone with urgent business, he headed towards the Empress’s Palace after finishing the morning meeting.

On his way to the Empress’s Palace, he occasionally took time for self-reflection.

‘Is it right to adjust even work hours to go see her like this?’

After all, they would spend time together when night came.

He found his unreasonable behavior amusing, and was surprised at his own determination to not turn back despite thinking this way.

But such thoughts vanished completely the moment he saw Zelda.

His instincts were right.

He realized it as soon as he saw her.

Before night fell, he absolutely needed this time to hold her in his arms, talk nonsense, and laugh together.

Though it wasn’t a long time, her warmth would linger on his body all day.

Feeling satisfied, Rinel looked around the bedroom where Zelda spent most of her day while waiting for her.

Come to think of it, every time he came here, he had never properly looked at this space, being focused on other things.

As he wandered around the bedroom, his gaze fixed on one spot.

He walked towards the open terrace door.

And stopped in front of the decorative table next to the terrace door.

He stared at the roses in the vase, rubbing his chin.

“I’m pretty sure I ordered red roses to be sent…”

He plucked out one white rose and smelled it. The scent was the same as the red roses he had smelled.

Two days ago, Rinel had looked at the red roses in full bloom in front of the main palace from the window of his office and thought of Zelda.

‘They resemble the passionate Empress.’

His secretary Raphael cautiously objected to his opinion.

‘Didn’t you say before that Her Majesty the Empress resembled a sunflower?’

‘Sunflower during the day, red rose at night.’

Rinel said after pondering for a moment.

Rinel didn’t bother to add that she smiles brightly towards him like a sunflower during the day, and shows passionate ardor like a rose at night, blushing…

After admiring the rose garden from his office window for a few minutes, he ordered the head servant to trim a bouquet of roses, put them in a vase, and send them to the Empress’s Palace.

An hour after his order, he even received a report from the head servant that the Empress’s face had turned as red as a rose when she received the flowers.

So he remembered clearly. The roses were red.

Rinel looked around the bedroom again.

They could have been placed in another vase.

But the vase in front of his eyes was the only one in the bedroom.

“If these are the roses I sent, why is the color…”

Do red roses change color over time?

He momentarily entertained this absurd question before letting out an incredulous laugh.

As he was closely examining the white roses, he noticed a small bottle next to the vase.

“What’s this?”

The small glass bottle was empty.

He opened the cork stopper of the glass bottle and smelled it.

There was no scent at all.

As Rinel was alternately looking at the white roses and the small glass bottle, he heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and quickly put the glass bottle he was holding into his pocket.

[This is the timeline separator]

The banquet hall in the Empress’s Palace.

In the end, the lunch venue with the Chattonil siblings was changed from the main palace to the Empress’s Palace. I had hoped the lunch appointment would be canceled altogether, but that didn’t happen.

“I heard Her Majesty the Empress was feeling under the weather. Are you alright?”

Prince Tessler asked me as the meal began.

I was curious about what excuse Rinel had given for changing the lunch venue, and it seems my condition was the pretext.

“Ah… I’m fine. I wasn’t feeling well this morning, but I’m a bit better now.”

To be honest, it was true that my whole body had felt chilled since seeing Prince Tessler in my bedroom.

“Oh my. Then you must have no appetite at all. Still, please eat slowly, little by little.”

Prince Tessler acted as if he was seeing me for the first time today, with impudent skill.

That irritating upturned corner of his mouth was more than enough to awaken the latent violence within me.

Moreover, I was quite hungry, having expended energy in various ways since morning, and was just about to put a large, well-cooked piece of steak into my mouth.

But thanks to that bastard starting a conversation, I couldn’t show my vigorous appetite.

He really knows how to torment people in all sorts of ways.

I had no choice but to pretend I had no appetite, cutting the steak I had already cut to eat in half again before putting it in my mouth.

“Prince Tessler, you seem to be in a better mood than yesterday. Did something good happen?”

Rinel asked Prince Tessler as he put a few pieces of pre-cut steak on my plate.

I looked at him in surprise, but his gaze was directed at the prince.

Although he didn’t say anything to me as he handed over the steak, my heart warmed at his action.

Of course, the steak that had passed through his hands had cooled down, but still.

“Of course I’m in a good mood, enjoying a meal with the two of you, the rulers of the Raphion Empire.”

As Prince Tessler uttered his artificial words, Princess Resilia chimed in as well.

“The food is also more delicious than I expected. And the Empress’s Palace… seems so splendid and beautiful. I’m curious about Her Majesty’s bedroom, please show it to us!”

Princess Resilia said to me with sparkling eyes.

“Of course.”

I had expected her to say something like that.

She must be curious to see with her own eyes the things that would have been hers originally.

What the interior of the Empress’s Palace is like, what the bedroom she shares with the Emperor is like…

“We can take a look after the meal, it’ll help with digestion too.”

I couldn’t help but frown at the princess who spoke as if she was simply announcing rather than asking.

“Today…”

I started to refuse but, realizing my position, tried to change my words to agree, when Rinel interrupted me.

“Today. Since the Empress is not feeling well, it would be better to postpone it until tomorrow, Princess Resilia.”

“Ah, I was thoughtless…”

Princess Resilia responded with a slightly embarrassed expression, then opened her eyes wide and said to me again.

“Then would it be alright if I tour the Empress’s Palace separately? I think one of Her Majesty’s attendants could guide me…”

“Resil. Her Majesty the Empress isn’t feeling well, as we’ve said. If you wander around the Empress’s Palace, she won’t be able to rest properly because she’ll be worried.”

Prince Tessler said, seemingly scolding his sister while watching Rinel’s reaction.

How can he speak such artificial words so smoothly without even blinking an eye?

It was a talent, if you could call it that.

“It’s fine. As the princess said, a tour of the Empress’s Palace interior can be done with a servant’s guidance, so it doesn’t matter.”

Rinel nodded at my words, and Princess Resilia’s lips twitched slightly at one corner.

She probably thought that if she pushed that far, I would reluctantly offer to guide her through the Empress’s Palace myself.

If I hadn’t seen Prince Tessler in my bedroom this morning, I might have indulged her.

But today, I didn’t have the energy to deal with both siblings.

“Ah, Your Majesty. I have a question for Your Majesty. May I ask?”

Princess Resilia asked him, narrowing her eyes prettily.

“A question for me? Go ahead and ask.”

Rinel replied to the princess after taking a sip of wine.

“Which part of Her Majesty the Empress’s appearance do you like the most, Your Majesty?”

…What?

What’s the intention behind asking him such a question?

“Among the Empress’s appearance…”

While Princess Resilia waited for his answer with eyes full of curiosity, I also turned my gaze to him as he seriously pondered her question.

And our eyes met.

He was resting one elbow on the dining table, supporting his chin with his hand, and looking closely at my face.

Perhaps I made a strange expression for a moment, because he smiled slightly and said.

“Well. That’s a difficult question.”

“In my opinion…”

Resilia spoke up in a coy voice, as if she had been waiting for this.

Please don’t say it, your opinion.

I quietly sighed as I watched her speak with her lips pursed forward like a bird’s beak.

“I think Your Majesty probably likes Her Majesty the Empress’s fair and clean skin the most.”

“!”

Ah, so that’s what you wanted to say?

I let out a small snort.

Today seems to be the day when the siblings take turns threatening me about the burn scar on my face.

I felt Rinel’s gaze on me grow hot again.

I couldn’t bring myself to look at him directly, so I gazed at Rinel’s faint reflection in the wine glass in front of me.

He raised his hand and caressed my right cheek.

It was where the burn scar had been…