The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 82

82. Courageous

“I know I shouldn’t be doing this as a member of the harem, but Your Majesty only loves our mistress… no, our Empress, so wouldn’t you turn a blind eye?”

At this passionate declaration from Rosie, I glanced at Linell. He had moved right next to me without my noticing. His expression was utterly bewildered, but thankfully, his face seemed less stiff than before. In contrast, Prince Tessler looked completely dazed, like someone whose soul had left their body. I wanted to grab Prince Tessler by the collar and throw him off the temple spire right away, but I missed the timing because of Rosie’s thrilling confession. Only one mouth was confessing love, but there were several ears listening. I was starting to look forward to Rosie’s next words, like watching a play. As I was about to take a sip of champagne to ease the tension, Linell snatched the glass from my hand and practically poured the champagne into his mouth.

“I’m definitely not asking you to accept my feelings. It’s not like I’m confessing because I want to mate with Prince Norton either…”

Contrary to the shocking content, Rosie’s voice was very shy and sincere.

“But since I’m confessing with my life on the line, wouldn’t you at least hold my hand once? I’m just a pitiful hand that’s only turned pages my whole life.”

She made a baseless request for skinship [physical contact] that sounded like a threat, then,

“Even though I seem like this, I know a lot… well, I only know a lot, so I’m just annoyingly pretentious and useless… but still!”

She didn’t hesitate to criticize herself, but in the end, she said again,

“Sometimes when I see you cursing non-stop, I think, ‘He lives so passionately,’ and it looks cute. So, what I mean is… I love you, Prince.”

“!”

The flow of her confession had taken a long detour, but in any case, it ended with saying she loved him again. Rosie must be very drunk… She didn’t have a fever, but she definitely seemed intoxicated. Linell and I were listening intently to Rosie’s bizarre confession to Prince Norton when our eyes met. He looked like he was holding back a laugh, and seeing that made me feel like I was catching his laughter, so I quickly looked away. His laughter leaked out as a snort, tickling my cheek. We naturally turned our gaze to Prince Norton, the object of this confession.

“He’s going to drop at this rate.”

Linell muttered, snatching the champagne glass from Prince Norton’s hand and sipping the champagne. Even after having the glass taken away, Prince Norton didn’t move, leaving his hand hanging in the air. An awkward silence fell. In this shocking scene of a concubine confessing to a prince from another country, no one dared to step forward except for Linell. Oh, except for one person. Rosie cleared her throat a few times and then continued.

“Prince, if this gets out, the Empress and I will be in trouble, right?”

At Rosie’s words, Linell glanced at me.

“Still! There’s an old saying that the power of love is greater than God and even greater than a wyvern [a mythical winged creature, similar to a dragon], right? I believe that Your Majesty, who is as wonderful in heart as you are in appearance, will understand!”

Was there an old saying that ‘the power of love is greater than a wyvern?’ I racked my brain, but it was the first time I’d ever heard of it. Rosie’s shadow, cast long from the corner of the temple building, showed her clenching her fists. The shadow slowly began to move forward. It looks like she’s finally coming out here. Everyone’s attention was focused on Rosie’s moving shadow.

“Oh my goodness, Your Majesty was here too! I’ve been caught red-handed~?”

Rosie walked out with light steps, as if skipping, then stopped and pretended to be surprised when she saw Linell. No, to be exact, she was acting surprised. I was more surprised by her awkward acting.

“Rosie, your courage is quite… vibrant.”

Linell said sternly with his hands behind his back.

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

Rosie shouted in a voice filled with emotion, as if she had received tremendous praise. Moreover, she lifted the hem of her dress almost to her chest and bent her knees deeply, almost touching the ground, before straightening up.

“You said you were sick?”

Linell narrowed his eyes and stared at Rosie’s smiling face as if observing her.

“That’s true.”

Rosie replied in a very healthy tone.

“You don’t look like it at all? Where does it hurt?”

“Lovesickness.”

“…In that case, I acknowledge it.”

He nodded quietly, looking speechless for a few seconds with his mouth open.

“The one who received the confession should say something too, right?”

Rosie turned her gaze and smiled brightly at the frozen Prince Norton. Oh my… She looked somewhat eerie, but I quietly watched the situation.

“Why… are you doing this to me? Rosie, Madam.”

Prince Norton’s expression was sullen.

“What? What’s wrong with her… no, what’s wrong with me that you’re saying that with such a sulky face?”

Rosie glared at the person she had just confessed her love to and snapped at him.

“Heh…”

Prince Norton took a step back, looking shocked. Then Rosie widened her eyes and approached him. But Prince Norton created more distance as she approached. At first, I suspected that Rosie was falsely confessing to Prince Norton for my sake, as I was trapped. But after hearing her entire confession, I wondered if she really had feelings for Prince Norton. So… is she doing both? Helping me and confessing at the same time? I’ll only know the truth after hearing Rosie’s side of the story later, but what’s clear is that she helped me once again. I need to make sure Rosie doesn’t suffer any significant harm… It was difficult to clean up the mess because she, a concubine, had been caught by the Emperor confessing to a prince from another country. But I still have to clean it up. If I say Rosie’s words are false here, her position will only become more strange, and her mental state will be questioned.

“Your Majesty, please forgive me. Unlike what Rosie said, she never asked me to help her. It’s just that I felt so sorry for her, watching from the sidelines, that I arranged this meeting.”

“The Empress did?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Not Rosie, but I was the one who offered to help first. So, if you’re going to punish someone, punish me!”

I bowed my head deeply to him.

“Her Majesty the Empress…?”

Prince Norton was very confused by my statement, as much as he was by Rosie’s confession, and couldn’t continue speaking. It was a natural reaction. Clearly, I had told the Prince earlier that I had come to meet Prince Tessler. And I even said that we seemed to be trapped, but I suddenly changed my words, so he must be confused about what the truth is. But this method that Rosie had committed was the best for not only me but also Prince Norton.

“Prince Tessler. You must pretend that you didn’t see or hear anything that happened here today.”

After a moment of silence, Linell’s serious voice turned to Prince Tessler.

“Your Majesty! How can you just let it go when Your Majesty’s concubine confessed her love to a prince from another country? Moreover, Her Majesty the Empress took the lead in helping with such a huge matter? This is unacceptable!”

Prince Tessler foamed at the mouth and raised his voice.

“Did I just speak like I was making a request?”

“…Yes?”

“It was an order.”

Linell frowned as he spoke.

“Ha, however, this is a deception of His Imperial Majesty!”

Prince Tessler flinched for a moment at his fierce gaze, then burst into another fit of passion. It was ridiculous that he was switching tactics and trying to find fault with me for helping the concubine’s love confession, now that his ‘operation to create a rift between Linell and me’ had failed.

“This is not something you can just let pass, Your Majesty!”

“When did I say I was just going to let it pass?”

Linell’s voice gained strength.

“Yes…? Haha, that’s right. Of course, it’s not something you can just let pass.”

A slight look of relief appeared on Prince Tessler’s face at his reply.

“Since it’s a matter of my Empress and concubine, I will handle it myself. I’m only asking the Prince to refrain from mentioning what happened here to others, is that a difficult request?”

“It’s not, but…”

“If it’s not difficult, then you mean you don’t want to refrain from mentioning it.”

Daring. The last words were clearly conveyed in Linell’s eyes.

“Oh, misunderstanding, Your Majesty! I think I was being presumptuous for a moment out of concern… Please forgive me.”

Prince Tessler stepped back and secretly glared at me.

“Okay, let’s wrap this up. The vibrant confessor and the reluctant recipient are to come to my office in the main palace tomorrow. Everyone else, go back now. Oh, separately, of course.”

Linell pointed with his left hand towards the West Palace, where Rosie’s residence was located, and with his right hand towards the detached palace, which was directly connected to the back garden path.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Prince Norton replied quietly. On the other hand, Rosie still looked like she had something to say.

“Please don’t scold Her Majesty the Empress! Everything happened because of my bursting heart for Prince Norton, please…”

Rosie raised her voice and lifted her chest high with both hands. Oh my goodness, how much did she drink to be acting like this? There was no way the usually demure Rosie would act like a runaway horse like this otherwise.

“Rosie, put your hands down.”

I hurriedly grabbed her hands and pulled them down, whispering. Linell frowned deeply and avoided eye contact, while Prince Norton covered his face with his hands, looking completely overwhelmed.

“Dismissed.”

He said firmly. Linell and I headed to the main palace, Rosie turned back around the corner of the temple building towards the West Palace, and Prince Norton and Prince Tessler headed to the detached palace. Everyone quickly dispersed.

***

Linell was silent the entire way back to the main palace. I quietly closed my mouth as well, listening only to the sound of the insects chirping and his footsteps. He kept his mouth shut, but he held my hand tightly. After arriving at the main palace, passing through the lobby, and climbing the central staircase, I finally mustered the courage to speak to him.

“Your Majesty, how did you end up coming to the back garden path with Prince Tessler?”

He seemed to stare at my face for a moment, then looked forward again and replied as he climbed the stairs.

“After the banquet, the Prince came to me and said he had something to discuss about the hunting competition.”

“What kind of discussion?”

“It wasn’t anything special. Then he suggested a walk, so I was going to go with him to pick you up from Rosie’s residence.”

“I see.”

He stopped walking on the second-floor landing.

“Your Majesty, about Rosie’s confession earlier…”

“Go up to the bedroom first.”

Linell cut me off coldly and said in a commanding tone.

“Yes? Ah, I will. What about you, Your Majesty?”

“I have something to take care of, so I’ll stop by the office and go up, so wash up and wait for me.”

“Really?”

“We can wash together later.”

He seemed to be joking, but he didn’t have the usual smiling face, so I couldn’t tell how he was feeling.

“It’s not that, I was wondering if you had work to do at this late hour.”

“Why, shouldn’t an Emperor have work to do at night? There’s even an Empress drinking champagne with another man in the temple garden at this late hour, you know.”

“…I’ll wash up and wait.”

I answered obediently with my hands neatly folded.

“Okay, I’ll see you later. Stian, escort the Empress.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

He gave the order to the chamberlain and immediately headed to the office.

***

After returning to the bedroom, I went straight to the bathroom, soaked in the tub, and came out. I thought he would be in the bedroom by the time I finished bathing, but he hadn’t returned from the office yet.

“Does he have a lot of work to do?”

I wandered around the empty bedroom. Then, a splendidly patterned scabbard [a sheath for a sword] hanging on one wall like a decoration caught my eye. As I held the scabbard in my hand, the sexy and intense sword dance of the Empresses of the Tevelo Empire suddenly came to mind. Linell must have been mesmerized by the Empresses’ sword dance too.

“It didn’t seem like such a great move? Yeah, it wasn’t a very difficult dance.”

I recalled the Empresses’ movements in my head and began to imitate the sword dance they had performed. But the movements, which I thought were easy, were very different from what I imagined. My body didn’t move as I wanted it to, and my upper and lower body moved separately. I had to express the flow of movements and the sensuality at the same time, so the muscles I used were very different from when I was doing swordsmanship. The most difficult movement was to bend the waist backward, swing the sword, then straighten the waist again, shake the hips, and split the legs.

“Heok, ego [Korean exclamation, similar to ‘oof’ or ‘ugh’].”

I was shocked by the fact that there wasn’t a single movement among the many movements that the Empresses had performed that I could properly execute. But it’s too early to give up. As I continued to shake my whole body, I gradually found my own sword dance style. Then, surprisingly, I felt my joints gradually softening. Of course, if someone saw my dance, they might say that there was no progress at all, but so what? It’s a sword dance that I’m dancing alone anyway. I shook my limbs more freely. I became more and more engrossed in the wild dance that seemed to shake out my soul.

“Hehe.”

“?”

A snicker was heard from behind the pillar in the corner of the bedroom at 9 o’clock.

“Wh-who is it!”

It couldn’t be Linell, right? I didn’t hear anyone opening the bedroom door. More than that, even if I didn’t hear the door, there was no way he would be hiding behind a pillar wearing black clothes and a mask. Then, could it be an assassin? This is the Emperor’s bedroom in the main palace? Then that means he came in aiming for him in the first place? I was so engrossed in the sword dance that I didn’t even know an assassin had broken in… With belated remorse, I drew the sword from the scabbard in my hand with a determined look. But something was strange. It should have made a sharp friction sound from the sharp blade from the beginning, but there was no sound at all. After checking the condition of the sword, I was even more surprised than when I discovered the assassin.

“Huh?”

The scabbard was fancy, but the sword was just… a blunt decorative item. Damn it, I have no choice but to fight with my bare hands!