The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 33

33. Tempt Me

Linelle didn’t even chuckle. His face was frozen in shock as he stared blankly at me. It was the first time I’d seen his mouth hanging open for so long. Wait, was his jaw dislocated?

“Zelda.”

He called my name with a distant gaze. Thankfully, his teeth were all there, neatly in place. But, would an order like, ‘For daring to kick the Emperor’s mouth and knock his precious body over, she shall be executed!’ be issued? Was I going to be dragged out and killed like this? 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 the air.

“Your Majesty, I’m sorry…….”

“I’m fine.”

“Yes?”

“Even though you aimed for my teeth with your foot, I’m fine. Don’t try to kiss me out of guilt.”

What was he saying? Was he telling me to apologize with a kiss, or not?

“I have my pride too.”

He added, glancing at me sideways.

“……I’ll keep that in mind.”

I replied, pursing my lips.

“But, if you really want to rush at my lips as aggressively as your foot did earlier, I might just accept it.”

“……?”

So, he’s waiting for my lips? Linelle, who had been lying on his back for a while, turned to the other side and curled up, as if trying to look even more pathetic.

“Linelle…… I didn’t come here to do this today.”

I said apologetically, crawling back on all fours towards the side he had turned to.

“I didn’t kiss your instep to end up like this either.”

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

“Did I mistake it for a lollipop for a moment?”

Linelle muttered to himself, half audible, half not.

“I’m fine. I, the Emperor, am more sorry for startling you.”

He emphasized the word ‘Emperor’ and gave a fake apology in a tone that wasn’t sorry at all.

“Your Majesty…….”

He was silent again.

“Linelle?”

“What.”

He hesitated for a few seconds before reluctantly answering when I called him by his name again.

“Are you, perhaps, not coming to the Empress’s Palace anymore?”

He opened his eyes wide and looked up at me when I said that.

“Would you prefer I didn’t come?”

“No, that’s not what I mean.”

“Then what are you saying?”

“I’ve made such a big mistake, so now…….”

It would be perfect to cry here. But, tears didn’t come out as expected. Sigh, tears flowing down at times like this would be much more effective than a hundred apologies. My tears…… only came out when swordsmanship didn’t go as planned, or when I met a strong opponent and won, or something like that! There’s even a saying that a woman’s weapon is tears, right? But, unfortunately, it seemed that the only weapons in my life were swords and bows. Fortunately, a tearful voice was possible, so I begged him for forgiveness with a tearful voice instead of tears.

“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’s like you’re acting.”

Ugh, so even this tearful voice doesn’t work at all! Still, the attempt was good.

“They say you don’t cry when you’re too surprised.”

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

“Well, let’s just say that. If you’re not saying that because you don’t want me to go to the Empress’s Palace, then don’t even think about it.”

“Then, to my chambers in the future…….”

“I’ll go more often.”

Linelle said, slowly sitting up from his pitifully curled-up position. He had returned to the dignified atmosphere of the Emperor.

“Until my lips touch every part of your body.”

Linelle said as if making a vow. He was quite the conqueror.

“As long as you don’t try to peel off my skin…… I will humbly accept Your Majesty’s command.”

“Peeling off skin isn’t my taste. At least not that.”

I spoke a bit harshly to him out of relief, but he was very pleased with my answer. Whew, I’m alive. I thought he would be very angry.

“Then shall we hear the real reason you came to my bedroom now?”

His low voice seemed to be building a wall around me. A wall from which I could never escape.

“But Zelda, why have you been kneeling since earlier?”

Linelle asked, forcibly straightening my kneeling legs.

“Heup!”

A lewd sound leaked out from between my teeth without me realizing it.

“Why are you like this when I only touched your legs? It’s going to be a problem if you’re already like this?”

“Haa. Yo, Your Majesty!”

This time, I let out a voice that sounded like a resentful cry.

“Were your legs sensitive? I’m more proud than discovering a magic mine.”

Linelle’s eyes softened as his hand holding my leg tightened. I felt like I was going to die.

“Don’t touch me!”

“When you say it with that expression, it sounds like you’re telling me to touch you more.”

“Don’t put strength in your hand, heuht. My, my legs are numb, my legs!”

“Ah…….”

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

I begged him with my hands together, with an expression asking him to restrain himself.

“Is today the day your legs are working hard?”

Linelle touched his lips and burst into laughter.

“Agh! That’s too much!”

As if to take revenge on me, he deliberately tapped my numb legs with his hand. Once again, my foot almost flew into his face. After 1 minute, the numbness in my legs disappeared. The voices of him and me laughing and chatting also disappeared.

‘Now, tempt me.’

Linelle’s eyes seemed to be urging me like that.

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

Our conversation returned to square one. All of Linelle’s features were focused on my lips. His eyes were full of anticipation, making it impossible for me to lie.

“I wanted to come.”

Among the many excuses I had prepared in my mind while coming to the palace, the most bland answer popped out.

“That’s all?”

Linelle’s face was full of disappointment.

“Of course not.”

When I answered playfully, his eyes crinkled gently again. He was quite enjoying this situation. He didn’t seem like someone who had just been ‘mouth-blocked’ by his wife with a foot. Looking at the corners of his mouth that were rising prettily, I reflected again. What on earth had I done to those beautiful lips! I felt even more sorry.

“I felt uncomfortable all night after you left my bedroom last night.”

“So, is that all?”

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

“You felt uncomfortable and came all the way to my palace to see me tonight? My bedroom must be more uncomfortable?”

“The biggest reason was that I missed you.”

“Hoo…….”

Linelle took a long breath and glanced at me before continuing.

“I’ve finally heard it.”

He said quietly with a relieved expression.

“Now I’ve seen your face.”

He lifted my chin slightly and looked at my face from side to side, with a troubled expression.

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

It wasn’t a question to me, but to himself.

“What do you want to do?”

I also tilted my head and asked in a whisper.

“You’ll be surprised if I tell you?”

*** Melanie finished her bath, put on a full makeup in front of the dressing table, and stood up.

“Ah, right.”

Melanie turned back to the dressing table as if she had forgotten something, humming and spraying perfume all over her body. It was almost pouring perfume. The maid who was attending to her next to her slightly turned her head to the side and secretly wrinkled her nose at the overly strong scent.

“What time will His Majesty come to my chambers?”

Melanie said, looking at her own figure in a revealing slip with a satisfied look.

“Has the child who went to see the palace situation not come back yet?”

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

“It’s about time she came, Madam.”

“Really? Haa, if I were the first concubine like Catherine, I would have spent the first night before any of the other concubines! Humph, if that were the case, the world would have already changed today. Well, it can’t be helped. I just need to give birth to a prince first.”

Melanie walked to the bed with a confident gesture. At that time, another maid who had gone to see the palace situation came into the bedroom with a troubled expression.

“Madam, I’m back…….”

“His Majesty? Is he coming here now?”

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

“That, that is…….”

For some reason, the maid who had gone to the palace had a very dark complexion.

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

Melanie thought that Emperor Linelle had spent the night with Catherine’s chambers last night. So, when her maid hesitated, she had an ominous feeling that he might have gone to Catherine’s palace again today. The two were former fiancées, so she thought it was possible enough.

“Why are you not saying anything? I’m asking if that bad girl Catherine has snatched His Majesty in the middle!”

Melanie shouted at the maid and shook her shoulders.

“Hi, His Majesty did not go to Catherine…….”

“Surely, he didn’t skip me and go to that bookworm Rosie?”

Melanie glared at the maid with more annoyed eyes than before and shook her shoulders.

“It’s not Rosie either!”

At the maid’s answer, Melanie stepped back and blinked with a dazed expression.

“Ah, then did he go to Pesillini?”

“No, Madam.”

“Then why on earth…… is he not coming to my chambers yet?”

“Ji, the Empress is in the main palace bedroom right now!”

“Who?!”

Melanie was dumbfounded that the person who interfered with her first night was not Catherine but the Empress.

“That can’t be, you must have misunderstood something!”

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

“Be careful, Madam!”

The maid next to her quickly grabbed Melanie’s arm and helped her up, and she pushed the maid who had grabbed her aside with an annoyed face.

“Get out of the way!”

Melanie began to wander around the room in a daze and tear at her long hair with both hands.

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

“Yes, Madam…….”

“Aaaagh!”

At Melanie’s angry scream, the maids huddled together and lowered their heads, trembling.

“Was the Empress a fox [sly and cunning]? Even though she’s from the Shato Neil Kingdom?”

Just the existence of the hateful first concubine Catherine was already a headache, but even the Empress, whom she thought was insignificant, was blocking her way.

“Did I underestimate her too much?”

Melanie began to roll her head, grabbing her hair between her ten fingers.

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

As it is, Catherine alone is in the position of the first concubine, and her nose is soaring high into the sky [acting haughtily].

“In this situation, to have my first night taken away by that foreign Empress.”

It was a really humiliating thing for Melanie.

“Is it Catherine’s trick?”

Yes, there must have been some kind of error in the middle. Melanie kept suspecting that Catherine had interfered with something in the middle.

“It’s possible enough. She’s the kind of person who would do that. She lied to His Majesty that I was sick, or used the Empress to prevent His Majesty from coming to my chambers today.”

Melanie was almost accepting her speculation as fact. The Empress, who had not even blocked the first night of Catherine, who was the first concubine and the Emperor’s fiancée, suddenly had no reason to block the first night of her, the second concubine.

“It’s definitely Catherine’s doing. She’s the kind of person who would do that.”

Melanie gritted her teeth. The maids were all standing with their backs against the wall at Melanie’s angry appearance. They held their breath, trembling with fear that the sparks would fly on them at any moment.

“Do you think I’ll just let it go?”

Melanie’s eyes flashed sharply. She bit her fingernails with her mouth and moved around the bedroom in a daze.

“What should I do? What should I do?”

She had to quickly come up with a way to get the Emperor to come to her chambers tonight.