The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 187

187. An Unexpected Reunion

October 19, 2022

“Any other information?”

“No.”

“Surely… you don’t even know the person’s name you’re looking for?”

Raphael couldn’t hide his bewildered expression.

“Yes.”

“Why are you trying to find someone you don’t even know the name of?”

“…That’s none of your concern.”

Linelle frowned, as if to say he wouldn’t answer any more questions.

“It would be easier to find them if we just knew their name.”

“That’s why I’m asking you, my capable secretary.”

“This seems unrelated to my capabilities.”

“Then, if your life depended on it, it wouldn’t be unrelated, would it?”

Raphael flinched and looked at him.

Linelle seemed serious.

“How does Your Majesty know such a woman with a story? As far as I know, you haven’t associated with anyone like that before.”

“How would you know everything about my personal life?”

*Because I’m with you every day?*

Raphael parted his lips, then closed them again.

He saw that unique glint in the Emperor’s eyes that appeared when he was being stubborn.

Suddenly, he didn’t know why he was being asked to find a woman whose name he didn’t even know, but Raphael tentatively replied that he would search diligently.

Then, Linelle began to describe the woman’s characteristics in more detail.

He started by saying she had a slender figure and a gentle voice.

Then he began to list characteristics that were of no help in finding her.

“She has a habit of walking sideways when she’s drunk.”

“?”

*No, how can you know even her drinking habits but not her name?*

Raphael gave up on asking.

But Linelle continued to reveal information that was of no help at all.

“She’s quite foul-mouthed, unlike her appearance.”

He almost added, ‘Even more so in bed.’

“So, anyway, you don’t know her name, right?”

“No.”

“…What about her hair color or eye color?”

“Ah, blonde hair and pink eyes.”

“!”

Raphael looked at Linelle with wide eyes.

“Your Majesty, the appearance you’re describing…”

“Yes, she’s pretty.”

“Pardon?”

“Even prettier when she smiles. And when she curses, she seems to become a bit sensual.”

*What is he talking about?*

Linelle closed his eyes, and the corners of his lips gradually rose as if he was recalling the woman he was trying to find.

Raphael stared at him intently with a questioning gaze.

He didn’t know about anything else, but blonde hair and pink eyes were the appearance of Empress Zelda.

Of course, there were quite a few women with that combination in the Imperial Palace, so it wasn’t a big deal.

*Surely not, could it be?*

Still, Raphael cautiously asked out of concern.

“Your Majesty, did you perhaps… meet someone while I was away? Like the woman you just mentioned…”

At Raphael’s question, Linelle opened his eyes again and flared up.

“Are you saying that I went to some strange place with a strange woman in a tavern, so you’re saying that?”

“…That’s not what I meant.”

“Find her within this week.”

Linelle lowered his voice again and commanded.

*Your Majesty, what’s important now is not finding a woman whose name you don’t even know.*

Raphael mentally thumped his chest.

*The Empress has come to the Imperial Palace!*

***

Raphael came out of the office with a worried expression.

“Did you somehow get separated from Her Majesty?”

Stian, who had been waiting outside, approached Raphael as he came out of the office and asked.

“Stian, can you spare me a moment?”

Raphael took Stian to a room a little away from the office.

“Something did happen in the Imperial Palace, didn’t it?”

Stian lowered his voice as soon as the door closed behind them.

“It did…”

“I knew it… Your Majesty’s complexion is definitely different from before he left the palace.”

“What? Why, what about His Majesty?”

Raphael, who thought he was being asked about his own work, asked back when Linelle’s story came up.

“How should I put it, it’s like he’s gained a vitality he didn’t have before.”

“Really? Did he drink a lot of alcohol and feel better?”

“But then, when he suddenly gets angry and flares up, it doesn’t seem like he’s just feeling good… Anyway, he’s subtly different.”

Stian said with a puzzled expression.

“That must be because I didn’t share a drink with him, so he’s sulking.”

Raphael boasted that Linelle cherished him even though he seemed to nag him.

Then he returned to a serious expression.

“Before going into the tavern, I had a bad case of diarrhea, so I was going in and out of the bathroom in the next building, and do you know what I saw?”

“Well, seeing as your face turned yellow, did you see stars in front of your eyes?”

At Stian’s absurd answer, Raphael waved his hand irritably.

“No. I saw Commander Makrom and the Master of the Magic Tower in the plaza…”

“Yikes?!”

Stian, who was startled, leaned back and hit the door with the back of his head.

Even though there was a sound of something breaking, he couldn’t even make a sound and covered his mouth with both hands.

“I haven’t told His Majesty yet.”

Linelle doesn’t have any memories of Empress Zelda, but he does have memories of the Master of the Magic Tower and Makrom.

The absence of them, with whom he had participated in the Continental Hunting Competition, only reminds him that he sent them on an errand to the Thebelo Empire, but he doesn’t remember sending them away with the Empress for treatment.

“Did you meet and talk with them?”

“No, I just checked where they were staying and came back. It’s a crowded plaza, so if someone recognized them, they could be in danger.”

“Well, that’s true. Where are they staying? Didn’t you see the Empress?”

“It was a shabby inn. I didn’t confirm the Empress directly, but I think she’s staying there with them.”

“Oh my, our Empress is staying in a shabby inn…”

Stian put his hand over his pounding heart and asked Raphael in a hushed voice.

“What are you going to do now?”

“First, before telling His Majesty, I think I need to meet Makrom separately.”

***

The Empress Palace, where Roxana’s fever has created a somber atmosphere, and the Main Palace, where Linelle’s coldness flows.

Except for these two palaces, which are as quiet as a mouse, the West Palace, where the concubines’ residences are gathered, was rather noisy.

It was because of the three prospective concubines who came from the Aclato Duchy.

A month ago, Roxana, the Duchess, was surrounded by pirates from Tanya Island and the allied forces of the Aclato Duchy in the monastery, and proposed a peace agreement. And as a condition, she demanded Zelda’s abdication and remarriage with Emperor Linelle.

The officials of the Lapion Empire agreed to depose Zelda, who was revealed to be a proxy Empress.

And they agreed to Roxana’s remarriage with Emperor Linelle for the sake of the empire’s peace, but on the condition that the existing concubines’ status be maintained.

However, the officials, worried that Roxana would be favored, insisted on bringing in a few more concubines, and Roxana readily allowed three noble ladies to be brought in as prospective concubines.

However, the officials were outraged that the prospective concubines were from the Aclato Duchy.

Nevertheless, Roxana, who held the safety of the empire in her hands, did not care and tried to push ahead with the concubine ceremony.

The ceremony for the prospective concubines was supposed to take place immediately after the remarriage ceremony, but their ceremony was also postponed because Roxana was suffering from a fever.

In the meantime, the prospective concubines were living in the West Palace, causing minor and major disturbances.

They became increasingly arrogant, claiming that Roxana, who would soon become the Empress of the Lapion Empire, was from the same country as them.

Rosie and Melanie went for a walk together in the greenhouse and happened to run into the three prospective concubines who had stopped by.

“Is stealing other people’s things a characteristic of islanders?”

Melanie rolled her eyes at Yulina, a young lady among the prospective concubines, and muttered to herself.

Every time Melanie saw her, she thought it was strange that she was always wearing a dress similar to her style.

It turned out that Yulina had paid a premium to the designer at Rolland’s clothing store, whom Melanie treated like a personal designer, and had a dress made similar to her style.

It was a deliberate act.

Yulina was copying not only Melanie’s dress style but also her hairstyle.

Once, Rosie was walking in the West Palace garden and saw Yulina’s back and called out, ‘Melanie, Your Grace!’

“To call my dress designer into the palace separately! Are you crazy?”

Melanie deliberately raised her voice, aiming at Yulina, whose eyes were raised to the ends of her eyebrows.

“Gee, does she think that designer is her servant?”

Yulina retorted as if Melanie was supposed to hear her.

“I don’t know why a bunch of island flies are sticking to the Lapion Imperial Family, do you?”

Melanie waved her hand in the air as if she hadn’t heard Yulina’s words and said to Rosie.

“I know, right? Things that aren’t even a handful are buzzing around.”

In fact, Rosie caught and killed a fly that flew in front of her eyes with her hand and glared at the prospective concubines.

“It’s childish to be petty about something so trivial. I thought the women of the continent were more cultured…”

“Now that I’ve come here, I think they’re more ignorant and vulgar than I thought.”

El and Celine, twin sisters among the three prospective concubines, sided with Yulina.

“What, what? Ignorant? Vulgar?!”

Melanie’s eyes rolled back, hearing the two words she hated the most at the same time.

The conversations that had been going back and forth like echoes in the air, glancing at each other, eventually turned into a direct confrontation.

“Do you know how many books Rosie reads before you say that?”

“Hahaha, why are you talking about Rosie reading a lot of books? It’s not even about you.”

Yulina snorted.

“My head is Rosie’s head, and Rosie’s head is my head, why!”

‘What? We’re on the same side, but your words are a bit harsh.’

Rosie was surprised by Melanie’s terrible remarks, but it wasn’t a situation where she could show it on the outside.

“What does that mean? Does that mean you two are at the same level?”

Yulina asked, scanning the two of them up and down.

“Yes!”

“No!”

Melanie and Rosie’s words overlapped at the same time, sounding like ‘Yesno.’

The two looked at each other.

Rosie smiled purely at Melanie, so she answered Yulina, ‘Yes, we have a lot in common.’

“…Well, anyway, let’s get along well with each other. The palace atmosphere is already bad enough because Her Majesty the Empress is sick.”

El, the older of the twin sisters, tried to settle the argument in a fairly polite tone.

“Her Majesty the Empress? The ceremony hasn’t even been held yet!”

Rosie glared at the prospective concubines as if she were looking at people who had been caught plotting treason.

“And who’s already a concubine?”

Melanie also deliberately gasped and whispered as if it were a big deal if someone heard her.

Then the prospective concubines turned to the entrance of the greenhouse with astonished faces.

“Let’s not deal with them and go.”

“Yes, let’s go. By the way, I hope our Empress recovers her strength soon.”

“That’s right, so we can tell you in detail how the palace has been running in the meantime.”

They laughed, deliberately bringing up Roxana’s story to scare Rosie and Melanie.

“They’re saying that for us to hear, right?”

Melanie glared at the backs of the prospective concubines and huffed.

“Yes, I think it’s a threat.”

Rosie also clenched her fist without hiding her resentment.

“Will our Empress continue to stay in the Thebelo Empire? I hope she’s safe.”

Since some time ago, Melanie has been adding the word ‘our’ whenever she brings up Zelda’s story.

Melanie had heard the story of the Empress’s situation from Rosie, so she had a rough understanding of the situation.

“She said she would definitely come back, so she will. I believe it!”

Rosie’s eyes became moist.

“But I don’t think she’ll be able to come to the palace. Roxana is standing firm in the Empress Palace, would she come? Aside from being upset, it’s dangerous.”

“That’s true, but… she’ll find a way somehow because she misses me and Sharon.”

Rosie replied in a confident tone.

“Oh my? Why are you leaving me out?”

Melanie jumped up and felt wronged.

***

Why did a full moon have to rise today?

I arrived in front of the secret passage and looked up at the night sky.

The full moon that rose today was particularly large and bright.

It’s a day when I have to move secretly… that full moon was like a lamp shining on me.

I wore the servant’s dress that Commander Makrom and Empress Elan had obtained for me and arrived at the secret passage of the Lapion Imperial Palace without difficulty.

Before entering the Imperial Palace, I dug a hole next to the secret passage and put the black robe I was wearing and the extra dress I had brought just in case, rolled up together.

After checking the daggers on my thighs and ankles one last time, I bent down and put my head into the secret passage, pushed aside the bushes covering it, and crawled in.

This secret passage, if I were to talk about it…

It is a passage with history and tradition as a passage that has been with the Lapion Imperial Family since its birth and the love stories of the servants who cried and laughed… Sharon told me before.

Was it on the way back from Rosie’s residence?

On the way back to the Empress Palace from the West Palace, I said that I wanted to walk along the open backyard road, so Sharon showed me this place, saying that there was a secret place in the Imperial Palace where I could easily enter and exit the Imperial City.

I suddenly asked Sharon, who seemed to have a special affection for the secret passage.

‘Have you ever gone out here to meet a man?’

‘I… I’ve only gone out because I missed my parents so much.’

‘Ah, early in the morning?’

‘Yes….’

I burst out laughing at Sharon’s cute lie.

‘Sharon, even so, a lady shouldn’t be crawling through such a secret passage.’

It seems like only yesterday that I said that while pretending to be elegant…….

“Oh, the hole is narrower than I thought. Is it only for skinny kids?”

That elegance that I had been feigning countless times was now burned to death, and I, who was the Empress, would become one with the floor and pass through the secret passage.

What! My butt is stuck in the middle of the secret passage and won’t come out.

I can’t pull my body back, and I can’t move forward by rubbing my body on the ground…….

Damn it! What a mess.

What should I do?

Then, a man’s shoe tip came into my sight.

And the voice I heard before I even raised my head.

“What are you doing here?”

Hmm? It’s a familiar voice.

I raised my head with my butt stuck in the secret passage.

“…Gasp!”

It’s the man I met at the tavern last night, the one I took to the inn, so… the one I had an accident with while sober.

Even if I closed and looked at my eyes several times, it’s that face.

He was right.

But why is this man in the Imperial Palace?

Ah, that’s right!

I knew he was unusual……!

I looked up at the man and asked elegantly.

“Do you work here?”