The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 197

197. The Substitute Empress Appears

November 23, 2022

“Where are you going?”

I was about to head down the stairs when I bumped into Commander Macrome, who was bounding up them, taking three at a time.

“Ah… I was just thinking of going for a walk…?”

My voice trailed off at the end.

It was as if I’d confessed I wasn’t really going for a walk.

“Please come inside for a moment. I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? Can’t I hear it in 30 minutes? No, 10 minutes.”

Because I just needed to go to the annex, tell Nelli to go back, and then come back.

But Commander Macrome was firm.

“Taking a walk is not important right now.”

“What’s going on…?”

“I’ll tell you inside.”

Since I’m already late, a few tens of minutes more won’t make a big difference, right?

I couldn’t even step onto one stair and turned around to go back into the room.

Commander Macrome knocked on the doors next to mine and across from mine, summoning Empress Elan and the Master of the Magic Tower to my room.

“What’s going on?” Empress Elan asked as she sat down on a chair.

I just shrugged, with a look that said I didn’t know what was going on either.

The clock was just past 10 o’clock.

I’m getting impatient.

“Macrome, tell me what’s going on.”

I deliberately spoke in a calm tone, trying not to show that I was too impatient.

Commander Macrome looked at each of us and opened his mouth.

“Just now, I met Secretary Raphael.”

“No, where did you meet him?” The Master of the Magic Tower asked, raising one eyebrow.

“He came to my room in person.”

The room where Commander Macrome was staying was located one floor below us.

“How did Raphael know? Then, does he know I’m here too?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. A few days ago, he happened to see me and the Master of the Magic Tower in the plaza and followed us to this inn where we are staying.”

“Hmm, did he report to His Majesty as well?”

The Master of the Magic Tower, with a darkened expression, asked the Commander.

“He hasn’t told him yet. And the atmosphere in the Imperial Palace was the same as what Your Majesty heard from Rosie and Sharon.”

Commander Macrome carefully added, glancing at me.

“His Majesty… seems to be doing much worse than we thought.”

Everyone seemed to think that I would be curious about how the Emperor was doing, but that wasn’t the case at all.

I just nodded and gave an awkward smile.

My gaze was directed at the wall clock.

My attention was focused on the clock hands as 5 minutes passed after 10 o’clock, and then another 10 minutes passed.

I wonder if Nelli is wondering why I haven’t come yet?

How long will he wait?

If I can’t meet him today, it’s completely over.

He’ll get remarried anyway.

But, what was that thing he said I had to hear?

Yesterday, I was so angry and dumbfounded that I wasn’t curious about what he had to say at all, but as time went on, my curiosity grew.

If he’s waiting until I visit… then, let’s hear what he has to say.

“Your Majesty, Your Majesty? Did you hear me?”

“What? What did you say?”

Commander Macrome’s serious voice woke me up from my momentary reverie.

“We were talking about how it would be better to avoid the Imperial City for the time being.”

The Master of the Magic Tower told me what I had missed.

“Raphael thinks that it’s too dangerous for Your Majesty to stay in the Imperial City. And His Majesty also has some health problems…”

Commander Macrome carefully brought up the topic.

“That’s a relief.”

I blurted out my true feelings without realizing it.

“…It’s not that he’s physically ill, but it seems like he has some memory problems.”

Empress Elan and the Master of the Magic Tower’s eyes widened at Commander Macrome’s words.

But the two people’s eyes looked distinctly different.

Empress Elan’s eyes were filled with worry, while the Master of the Magic Tower’s eyes looked very embarrassed.

“He must have some memory loss, so what.”

What’s so important about that?

I’ve completely lost my memories of the Emperor?

“It seems that His Majesty also has no memory of Your Majesty.”

“!”

I was startled for a moment, then burst out laughing because Commander Macrome’s words were so absurd.

The Master of the Magic Tower rubbed his forehead with his hand after hearing the Commander’s words, and Empress Elan asked Commander Macrome in my place.

“Is that really true? Why did His Majesty lose his memory of Her Majesty?”

“Raphael doesn’t know the cause either. He speculates that His Majesty was under extreme stress after we left the monastery, with the appearance of the Allied Forces and everything else.”

Commander Macrome said with a tone of pity for the Emperor.

Could it be that he’s just putting on a show for the people around him, pretending that he doesn’t remember me because he wants to start anew with Roxana?

There must be quite a few unlikeable people around the Emperor, but it was funny that he only couldn’t remember me.

Since both of us have lost our memories of each other, I felt like the resentment in my heart was somewhat relieved.

Unlike my feelings, the atmosphere became heavy.

I, the person involved, was fine, but the three people were carefully watching my mood and couldn’t easily start a conversation.

“As Secretary Raphael said, it would be best to leave the Imperial City for a while and observe the situation further.”

The Master of the Magic Tower, who had the worst expression among us, opened his mouth first.

“Since His Majesty has also lost his memory of Her Majesty, we don’t know what he will do if it becomes known that you are in the Imperial City. So, for now…”

“I understand. Let’s leave the Imperial City until right before the remarriage ceremony.”

I said, looking at the wall clock.

It had already been an hour and a half since the time we had promised to meet.

“The sooner, the better. How about moving after lunch?”

Everyone nodded at the Master of the Magic Tower’s suggestion.

“Then I’ll take a walk for a while…”

I was about to get up from my chair when a pigeon flew in through the terrace door.

“Master, Master!”

Moya returned to her original form and called out to me in a serious voice, unlike usual.

“Moya, did you sleep at Rosie’s residence?”

“Yes, I slept soundly with Ao’s arm as a pillow for the first time in a while… No, that’s not it. It’s a disaster! A disaster!”

Moya, who is usually full of mischief, was quite serious about what was going on.

“Why, did you find a delicious sausage shop?”

“No, my sausage line is about to be cut off!”

“Huh?”

“Sharon, Sharon is getting beaten up by that Roxana woman right now!”

“…What?! Tell me straight. What are you talking about!”

“Sharon secretly entered the Empress Palace’s dressing room and got caught, Moya~!”

“Why did Sharon suddenly go there?”

“Actually… this great Moya found out yesterday that the Avatar Sword is in that dressing room…”

“Sharon heard that story and went in there alone and got caught by Roxana?”

I felt like the sky was falling.

My legs gave way and I collapsed into the chair.

“You can’t go, Your Majesty!”

“Yes, it could be a plot to lure Your Majesty in!”

“That’s right, you must leave the Imperial City right now!”

The three people’s voices poured out to me at once.

***

“As I thought… she’s not coming?”

No, how could he be so impatient after waiting for only an hour and a half?

He had already resolved to wait for Dazel here until 9 a.m. tomorrow.

But for him, 1 minute felt like an hour.

“I hope she’s not having trouble finding the inn?”

That was a ridiculous worry.

She was the one who brought him here in the first place, so there was no way she couldn’t find it.

Besides, she said it was her regular place, so even more so.

“What if she had an accident on the way?”

Linell hit his forehead with his fist the moment he uttered those words.

How could he have such unlucky thoughts?

The wound on his crown, which had been injured by the iron bar, resonated to the core.

Yesterday, in a hurry, he confessed to her retreating figure, ‘I am the Emperor!’

But she didn’t come back.

Only the sound of an enormous snort of derision echoed in the hallway.

“Yeah, it’s hard to believe even if it were me.”

If he had known she would be so excited, he would have taken her to the main palace, even though it was risky.

Last time he saw her, she climbed over the terrace by stepping on the sculptures embedded in the building even when she went to Rosie’s residence.

Yes, in the first place, instead of the palace people’s lodging building, he should have climbed the outer wall of the main palace building together and confessed the truth inside the bedroom…

He was filled with regret.

He took out his pocket watch again to check the time.

He had an uneasy feeling, but for some reason, he felt like Dazel would come late.

Even if she came and slapped him on the cheek repeatedly, or kicked him in the shin, he would be happy to greet her if she just came.

Knock knock-!

Finally, the sound of knocking was heard.

She came. She came!

Linell didn’t ask who it was and hugged her as soon as he opened the door.

‘Hmm?’

Dazel’s body in his arms was strangely thick.

“Your Majesty, it’s me.”

The person who knocked was not her, but Raphael.

“…I told you to return to the palace first when you’re done with your business?”

He pushed Raphael away with both hands and closed the door again.

“No, just a moment, I have something urgent to tell you!”

Raphael quickly stuck his face between the closing doors and shouted.

“Speak.”

He sighed and opened the door again.

“Your Majesty, you must return to the palace immediately!”

“My business is not over yet.”

“Now is not the time to wait for a woman you met by chance at a tavern!”

Raphael raised his voice, patting his uniform.

Linell narrowed his eyes at Raphael’s unusual prodding.

It seemed like something urgent had happened in the Imperial Palace…

Even so, meeting her was the most important thing to Linell.

“The competent secretary can take care of it. Get out now,”

As he pushed Raphael’s back, Raphael stood with his back to the door and shouted.

“The Empress has gone to the palace!”

“The Empress?”

Linell doubted his ears.

“…Are you talking about that Substitute Empress?”

***

“I didn’t expect you to crawl in on your own two feet this quickly.”

That bad b*tch, no, that was the first thing Roxana said to me.

And my first words were:

“If you come in through the dog door, you can crawl in quickly.”

“What did you say?”

“Never mind. What’s the reason for whipping Sharon?”

I asked, glaring at the whip Roxana was holding.

I remembered Roxana’s appearance in the Master of Magic Tower’s room during the Continental Hunting Competition a month ago.

When I was staying in the Tevelle Empire, I had asked the Master of Magic Tower about what happened that day.

‘She came to me to ask for healing magic directly because Logan was absent. She commissioned the teleportation magic from a witch in the Aclato Duchy.’

And the Master of the Magic Tower told me about the healing magic that Roxana was taking.

I learned that she had been abused by her father, Duke Heimich, all her life since she was a child.

He said that if she didn’t take the healing magic periodically, the whip scars would appear on her back as they were.

I thought that it was similar to my situation of taking magic potions after hearing that story.

After hearing the whole story, I confessed to the Master of Magic Tower that I had been secretly suspecting that the Emperor and Roxana had been meeting since then.

Then the Master of the Magic Tower strongly waved his hand, saying that was absolutely not the case.

But for some reason, it felt like there was something more that I didn’t know.

There were many things I wanted to ask Roxana directly about what happened that day, but Sharon was more important now.

‘The Avatar Sword is gone. I hid it in preparation for you to come.’

The Avatar inside me said.

The Avatar’s words were correct.

Roxana must have known that the Avatar Sword only reacted to me.

“Sharon sneaked into the dressing room like a stray cat.”

Roxana also dropped the honorifics when I did.

“But… I heard that there have been quite a few stray cats in the Empress Palace since a while ago, besides Sharon?”

“Really? That’s the first time I’ve heard of it?”

Roxana replied shamelessly.

What are you pretending not to know, you, you!

I’m talking about you and the people of the Aclato Duchy.

“Why did you come back to the Imperial City? Even though you were the Substitute Empress.”

Roxana’s voice became more vicious.

“To see the remarriage ceremony.”

I replied with a smile.

Then Roxana shouted at me with a look as if she had been covered in filth.

“Are you trying to joke around with me in this situation?”

This situation that Roxana was talking about seemed to refer to the situation where my life was in danger.

“Even if it’s a joke, would you be my match?”

Since I’ve come here, it’s all or nothing.

If I didn’t come, Sharon would have been beaten to death for days.

I was sure when I saw Sharon’s state now.

It would be difficult to get out of here in one piece, but I was confident that I wouldn’t be killed by that b*tch.

Of course, I had faith that Commander Macrome and the Master of Magic Tower had horses waiting not far from the Empress Palace, and Empress Elan was lying in ambush near the back gate of the Empress Palace.

I told Moya not to show up under any circumstances, but it was obvious that she would transform into something else and be nearby again.

Anyway, even if I die here in the worst case, I’ll take Sharon out of here, and I’ll take Roxana or whatever she is with me.

I resolved to do so.

Roxana seemed to have the same mind as me and revealed her true colors.

“No one will know even if you die here. No, even if some people know, they will have no choice but to keep their mouths shut.”

As I tilted my head to the side, she raised her chin and continued to speak.

“Because I will soon be the Empress of this country.”

Her confident voice was so unsightly.

“Who said that you can kill people as you please just because you’re the Empress?”

“?”

“If you count only the people whose heads I flew off when I was the Empress, there would be dozens of them?”

“!”

“I guess you don’t know the Continental Law because you’re from an island country?”

“You’ve lost your nerve!”

Roxana’s facial muscles moved violently, and I could see that the hand holding the whip was getting stronger.

…Hmm, I needed to restrain myself a little too.

At that moment.

“Agh!”

The whip snapped-! It made a sound and struck Sharon’s back before falling off.

As I tried to approach Sharon, Roxana raised her hand high as if to show off and tried to swing the whip at Sharon again.

“It’s better not to move. Unless you want to kill your servant quickly.”

That’s real!

I ran in front of Sharon and grabbed the flying whip with my bare hands.

Roxana’s haughty expression was distorted nicely.

It was possible because there were only me, Sharon, Roxana, and her servant who seemed to be her close aide in the underground space.

Roxana was flustered and used all her strength to try to pull out the end of the whip that I was holding.

“Are you going to have a strength contest with me?”

I looked at her, who was struggling with all her might, with an indifferent face.

Then, my true feelings suddenly popped out.

“The way you’re trying so hard right now is just like your life.”

Roxana flinched at my words, but soon glared at me as if to kill me and shouted.

“…It seems like you’ve made up your mind to die today, so I’ll grant your wish!”

The more Roxana’s anger grew, the more I enjoyed it.

I burst into laughter without realizing it, but the laughter sounded eerie even to me.

Is this kind of emotion a sequelae of being infected with the energy of evil?

I deliberately let go of the whip line I was holding.

And slowly approached Sharon.

I could feel Roxana and her servant staring at me with surprised eyes.

‘Ugh!’

As expected, this time the whip struck my back.

It was a fight that I was going to start by taking a few hits first anyway.

I gritted my teeth and endured the pain, and sat down in front of Sharon, lowering my body.

Sharon was almost in tatters.

In particular, her back was torn to shreds due to the whipping, and the wounds were serious.

Heat was boiling in my body.

The heat that would burn this space was gathering in the middle of my chest.

A small flame was rising in my palm.

Sharon shook her head when she saw it.

Sharon shook her head, grabbing my wrist with trembling hands, as if she had a hunch that I was going to cause an accident, even though she didn’t know what I was going to do.

In the meantime, Roxana swung the whip at my back again.

Once my body started to heat up, this level of pain became ticklish.

As I turned my head and smiled mockingly, a slight fear lingered in Roxana’s eyes as she looked at me.

“What, what… what kind of crazy b*tch is that?!”

Roxana swung her arm wide and slammed the whip down with all her might.

I reached out and grabbed the third flying whip again.

It was enough to get hit by the whip about twice.

This time, I snatched the whip from her hand altogether.

Roxana, who was running at my strength, fell to the floor as it was.

“Lady!”

Her servant was startled and supported her.

The whip in my hand started to sizzle and burn.

Ah, I can’t let the evidence be destroyed like this.

I let go of the whip and rubbed the embers that were burning little by little from where I was holding it with my foot to put it out.

Is it my turn now?

As I was about to slowly approach Roxana, who was trying to get up from the floor awkwardly.

“His Majesty the Emperor is here!!”

I heard the voice of the chief steward, Stian.

And from far away, I could see the silhouette of the Emperor walking towards this way.

Suddenly, my survival instinct was activated without my knowing it.

I quickly lay down next to Sharon.

Then, I quickly picked up the whip and wrapped it around my body.

“Y-Your Majesty… please don’t do this, please…!”

Sharon, who was lying next to me, grabbed the hem of my dress and stopped me with a hoarse voice.

Leave me alone, I’m doing this to live too.

“Sharon, tie this up. Put it in between, hurry!”

I whispered to Sharon, giving her one end of the whip in her hand.

I borrowed Sharon’s hand because I could wrap it alone, but I couldn’t tie it alone.

Sharon couldn’t resist my urging and had no choice but to put the remaining whip between the gaps.

But… I think I wrapped the whip too tightly.

My body was so tightly constricted that I couldn’t move.

Besides, my arms are starting to tingle.

Damn it, I feel like the blood isn’t flowing.

I can’t undo it, what should I do?

“What is all this doing!”

I heard the Emperor’s roar.

I didn’t know if that roar was directed at me or at Roxana.

I closed my eyes and pretended to be unconscious while lying on my side.

Hey, ex-husband. This is all because of the whip.

No, it’s because of that damn whip owner, keep that in mind.

‘You… just you wait!’

I looked up at Roxana with my eyes wide open.

Roxana seemed to be approaching the Emperor and waving her hands, saying something to him.

But Roxana’s voice was just buzzing in my ears and I couldn’t hear it properly.

I was curious about the Emperor’s face, but I closed my eyes again.

Someone seemed to be approaching me and bending over.

“…No, you, you are? What on earth are you doing here…!”

It’s a familiar voice.

It seemed like that voice was trying to lift me up, who was lying down.