The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 151

151. It’s Been a While

June 15, 2022

“Let me come with you!”

I quickly grabbed my gown and followed after him.

He opened the door and looked down at me with a displeased expression.

“Where do you think you’re going dressed like that?”

“That’s why I prepared this outfit too.”

I quickly put on the robe I had brought and wrapped it tightly around my body.

Linell still looked unhappy.

However, he knew that I wasn’t the type to stay put if he told me not to come.

“Don’t stray from my side.”

“Yes, I’ll protect you.”

I patted him on the back as I spoke, and he glared at me.

When we came out of the room, Raphael and Stian were already in the hallway, and Bonis and Sharon opened their doors with surprised expressions.

“Did everyone hear the scream?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We were enjoying another glass of wine in our rooms when we were startled and came out,” Raphael said, his eyes slightly tipsy.

“Just now, Commander Markrom went towards the direction of the scream,” Stian added, also looking bewildered.

According to Stian, the scream came from one of the staircases to the right, not far from our room.

“Let’s go.”

We headed towards where Commander Markrom had run off to.

As we walked, Prince Norton came out of his room, and Rosie’s door, a little further down from the prince’s room, was also cautiously opened.

Rosie approached me and asked in a frightened voice, “I thought there was a fight.”

“I don’t think it’s a fight, Rosie.”

Just then, Commander Markrom’s urgent voice was heard.

“Raphael! Stian!”

Everyone almost simultaneously ran towards the staircase where the voice came from.

“She needs emergency treatment! Get the magician Big here immediately!”

Commander Markrom was holding a woman in his arms, tearing his shirt and pressing it against her neck.

The white shirt was quickly being stained with red blood.

With that much blood flowing, she must have been quite seriously injured.

“Who’s hurt?” Linell asked.

“I recognize the aura, but I’m not sure who it is,” Commander Markrom replied. It was a natural answer for him, since he couldn’t see.

Rosie, who was next to me, suddenly covered her mouth with both hands and exclaimed, “Oh my god!”

I went down a few more steps at Rosie’s surprised reaction and examined the face of the woman in Commander Markrom’s arms.

She was a face I knew too.

“Misha?!”

It was Rosie’s maid.

“Her neck has been deeply cut from behind,” Linell said after examining Misha’s wound in Commander Markrom’s arms.

“It seems like she was attacked from behind.”

I also approached and examined the wound with him, then looked up at Rosie and said nothing, letting her process the situation.

She was pale and ran down to Misha.

“Oh my god, what kind of crazy person……! Why isn’t she waking up? Misha, open your eyes!” Rosie burst into tears, caressing Misha’s face and placing her hand on her neck to check her pulse, then breathed a sigh of relief.

Fortunately, Misha was still breathing.

On the landing where Misha had fallen, a silver tray and several sausages were scattered everywhere.

“It looks like Misha was coming up from the dining hall?” I stroked Rosie’s back as she cried and asked calmly.

“Yes, Your Majesty. Actually……,” Rosie answered me, then looked around at the faces of the people standing around, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand because her vision was blurred with tears, and looked again.

“It’s okay, they’re all close aides.”

Rosie continued, reassured by my words. “Moya said she wanted to eat sausages. It seems like Misha had this accident on her way up from the dining hall with the sausages…….”

“Who would try to kill Rosie’s maid?” Linell shook his head at Raphael’s words.

“If the purpose was murder, they wouldn’t have handled it this way. They would have aimed for a vital spot, rather than cutting the back of the neck.”

“That’s right. Something is strange,” Prince Norton also agreed with Linell’s words and looked down at the crying Rosie with pity.

“We’ll only know the situation when this maid wakes up. Has Big arrived yet?” Linell took his eyes off Misha and looked up at Raphael, and the Head of the Magic Tower appeared behind Raphael.

“Take her to my room. I will treat her myself.”

“You, Head of the Magic Tower?”

“Big is drunk and fell asleep an hour ago. So, let’s move her to my room.”

“Alright. Markrom, to the Head of the Magic Tower’s room.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Commander Markrom picked up Misha, and Bonis quickly pressed down on Misha’s neck with the shirt, keeping pace with the commander.

***

Fortunately, the Head of the Magic Tower’s room was located close to the stairs.

“Lay her on my bed. I’ll go to Big’s room and get what’s needed for first aid,” the Head of the Magic Tower instructed Markrom as he headed towards the magician Big’s room.

“Yes, I will.”

Commander Markrom immediately entered the Head of the Magic Tower’s room and laid Misha face down on the bed.

After a while, the Head of the Magic Tower came into the room with a first aid kit.

“You can take your hand off now,” the Head of the Magic Tower said to Bonis, who was sitting on the bed and continuing to stop the bleeding by pressing the shirt against Misha’s neck.

“Yes.”

Bonis took his hand off the shirt and stepped back.

Then, blood poured out from between the opened flesh.

The Head of the Magic Tower quickly disinfected the area, placed both hands on the wound, and closed his eyes.

His lips moved busily without a sound, as if he were chanting a magic spell in his mind.

Surprisingly, the blood that had been flowing endlessly gradually decreased and stopped completely after a few minutes.

Everyone gathered in the room was amazed by this sight and moved closer to the bed, carefully examining Misha’s wound.

Once the bleeding stopped, it was possible to assess the extent of the injury.

The back of Misha’s neck was deeply cut by the knife, to the point where bone was visible.

“Can’t you bring her back to consciousness?”

“I’ll try.”

At Linell’s words, the Head of the Magic Tower finished treating Misha’s wound and laid her straight.

The Head of the Magic Tower placed his hand on Misha’s forehead and concentrated again, as he had done when he stopped the bleeding, and recited something in his mind.

After a while, Misha’s eyelids twitched, and she slowly opened her eyes.

“Misha! Are you awake? I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked you to run errands for sausages and made you go through this……,” Rosie sobbed, grabbing Misha’s hand.

“Your Grace…… where am I?” Misha looked up at the ceiling with slightly unfocused eyes and asked Rosie. Then, she rolled her eyes, discovered Linell and me, and tried to get up in surprise.

“It’s okay, keep lying down,” I gently pressed down on Misha’s shoulder, who was trying to get up, and said.

“Yes, you’re dizzy because you lost a lot of blood. Fortunately, the Head of the Magic Tower treated you and stopped the bleeding,” Linell said, pointing to the Head of the Magic Tower.

“……Thank you, Head of the Magic Tower.”

“I’m glad you were found quickly.”

Misha’s worried expression changed to a relieved smile when she saw the Head of the Magic Tower, and the Head of the Magic Tower also showed her a similar smile.

It seemed like a slightly different kind of smile than the reaction she showed to the person who had treated her. It was the same for the Head of the Magic Tower.

“Do you remember what happened on the stairs?” Linell carefully asked Misha, and she closed her eyes and tried to recall something.

“Yes…… Your Majesty.”

After a while, Misha frowned deeply and opened her eyes again and said, “I was getting sausages from the kitchen and going back up the stairs. I thought someone was behind me, so I was about to turn around, but suddenly someone covered my mouth from behind and then my neck…….”

Misha trailed off, as if the horror of that moment had come back to her.

“You didn’t see their face?”

“No, Your Majesty. There was no time to see.”

“Suddenly appeared, covered your mouth, and cut the back of your neck? Hmm……. Anything else unusual?” Linell muttered to himself as if that wasn’t all there was to it, and asked Misha again.

“That…… after cutting my neck…….”

Misha, who had carefully brought up the topic, hesitated to speak for some reason.

“Anything you remember is fine, so feel free to talk,” I said, sitting on the bed and grabbing Misha’s hand.

“After cutting my neck, they drank…… drank my blood.”

“What?!”

Everyone in this place had a strange expression on their faces at the unexpected story.

“Is there a vampire among the people participating in the Continental Hunting Competition?” Linell looked at Prince Norton and the Head of the Magic Tower with a bewildered expression.

“I don’t know what’s going on……,” Prince Norton also had an incomprehensible expression.

The Head of the Magic Tower narrowed his eyes and seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

“But vampires don’t pierce the neck with their teeth and drink blood directly, they don’t cut with a knife, do they?” I asked.

Everyone nodded at my words.

“Now that I hear it, that’s true. If it’s a vampire, there’s no reason to use a knife. Isn’t it just a human crazy about blood?” Rosie rubbed her arms hard with her hands, as if she had goosebumps from what she had said.

“If they overpowered you with strength, it must have been a man?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Judging by the size of the hand that covered my mouth and the strength I felt, it must have been a man.”

“Did it feel like they were big?”

“It seemed like it, but surprisingly, they weren’t very strong. They moved with me as I struggled. But the strange thing is that the strength holding me seemed to get stronger as time went on.”

At Misha’s explanation, everyone looked at each other again with bewildered expressions.

“Weren’t they surprised and staggered because you were resisting so strongly at first?” When Rosie asked, Misha nodded, saying that could be the case, then touched her forehead with her hand. She seemed dizzy from losing a lot of blood.

“She needs to rest a bit,” the Head of the Magic Tower said, putting his palm on the top of her head as if to check Misha’s condition.

“Let’s do that. It’s better to take some more rest here than to move her right away, what do you think, Head of the Magic Tower?”

“I think so too, I’ll watch her condition and send her back when she gets better.”

The Head of the Magic Tower readily accepted his opinion.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you. Do you need someone to watch over her?”

“No. I think it’s enough to take care of her alone. If that guy wants more blood and breaks into this room, then I’ll give him the back of my neck.”

“I wonder if the culprit will try to consume the blood that has lived for 270 years,” Following the Head of the Magic Tower, Linell’s joke continued, and everyone’s serious expressions relaxed.

Even Misha gave a slight smile.

The urgent atmosphere seemed to have returned to normal.

“Let’s do as you say for now. And if you think of anything else, don’t hesitate to find my secretary and tell them,” Linell patted the Head of the Magic Tower on the shoulder and said, then shifted his gaze to Misha and said.

“I will, Your Majesty.”

With Misha’s words, everyone left the room. I looked back at the Head of the Magic Tower one last time and urged him.

“Then take care.”

“Don’t worry, and get a good night’s sleep right away. Your Majesty.”

I nodded at the Head of the Magic Tower’s words and turned around, raising the corners of my lips.

It sounded like an order to go back to the room and go to sleep instead of doing something else.

I exchanged greetings with the Head of the Magic Tower and then my eyes were drawn to the Hwaseon Sword, which I hadn’t seen earlier.

The Hwaseon Sword was in the cloth it was kept in, and it was unusually placed upside down.

As I was about to turn around, the Hwaseon Sword, which was leaning well against the wall next to the bed, fell to the floor with a thud.

The cloth came off as it fell, and the handle of the Hwaseon Sword was briefly visible.

A red jewel was embedded in the sword handle.

“Have a peaceful night, Your Majesty.”

The Hwaseon Sword was hidden as the Head of the Magic Tower moved and greeted me.

I nodded lightly and left the room.

‘It felt like the sword moved slightly as if it was vibrating…… Did I see it wrong?’

***

“I greet the Head of the Magic Tower.”

After everyone returned to their rooms, Misha got out of bed and lowered her body to greet him.

After coming to the Rafion Empire from Aclato Island, Misha had been mainly exchanging stories with Bellos through letters, and it was the first time in a long time that she was meeting him.

Even after Bellos participated in the Continental Hunting Competition, the two only exchanged glances and had no opportunity to have a direct conversation.

“Don’t move. It’s not good to move your body yet,” Bellos helped Misha up and made her lie down on the bed again.

“I’m sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you, but I’m showing you this side of me.”

“It’s okay.”

Bellos looked down at the Hwaseon Sword that had fallen on the floor and replied.

‘It’s reacting to its partner.’

The red jewel attached to the sword handle was swirling in a vortex shape, receiving the energy of fire.

He picked up the Hwaseon Sword, retied the fallen cloth, and placed it against the wall.

“Um, Head of the Magic Tower.”

Misha called Bellos in a different voice than before.

“The person who drank my blood…….”

“Yes, did you think of something else?” Bellos raised his eyebrows and sat on the bed.

Misha lifted the blanket and showed the Head of the Magic Tower the hand she had been clenching in a fist.