The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 212

212. The Seal in the Villain’s Hands

January 14, 2023

“No, Your Majesty!”

Nancy hurriedly stopped Roxana, who had raised her whip, with both hands.

“How dare you, Nancy? Get out of my way!”

“Even though we are treated as a vassal state of the Rafion Empire, she is still a princess of the kingdom.”

Nancy glanced at Princess Resilia, who was pale and trembling, and whispered to Roxana.

“Your Majesty, if you do this, it could lead to……”

Roxana knew the unspoken words Nancy couldn’t bring herself to say.

Resilia was brought to the Empress’s Palace under the pretext that she had ruined Zelda’s wedding dress.

She couldn’t just lay a hand on the princess without evidence.

There was a risk that the courtiers would find fault with the Empress’s qualifications, or that relations between the two countries would rapidly deteriorate because of her actions.

But she couldn’t control her boiling anger.

The 300-year-old wyvern egg, which she had cherished since childhood, had been stolen.

And that’s not all.

She had taken the red potion through artificial means to awaken the wyvern egg and become the master of the Avatar Sword.

She even suffered from a fever, one of the side effects, and barely survived.

She was just about to be able to handle the Avatar Sword!

But now, the Avatar Sword was stolen before she could even use it properly.

All her efforts and sacrifices had gone to waste overnight.

Besides, she even got a burn on her right face from the fire…….

Roxana’s anger was bound to be fiercer than the fire in the dress room last night.

Slap-!

Instead of wielding the whip, Roxana slapped Princess Resilia’s cheek hard with her hand.

“Ha!”

The princess couldn’t keep her balance even with one slap and collapsed to the floor.

Roxana believed that Princess Resilia was the cause of all this.

All this misfortune must have started after the princess visited the Empress’s Palace yesterday afternoon.

‘It’s all your fault that I got a burn on my face!’

According to the doctor whom Hettor’s right-hand man, Vice-Captain Palto, had secretly brought from the capital last night,

‘I can help the burn heal quickly, but scars are beyond my ability…….’

The burn scar on her right face could not be treated with ordinary medicine.

If she wanted to hide the scar even temporarily, she had no choice but to take magic potions periodically.

“If it weren’t for you siblings, I wouldn’t have had to go into the dress room, and then the fire wouldn’t have happened. My face wouldn’t be like this either!”

“……What are you talking about? I don’t understand any of it!”

Princess Resilia cried out in fear.

“I’ll ask again. Where did you hide the wyvern egg and the Avatar Sword? Are they with your brother, Prince Tesler?”

“I, I really don’t know! I only heard that they were in Her Majesty’s bedroom, but I really don’t know what happened after that, sob……!”

Roxana stared silently at Princess Resilia’s tear-stained face.

Resilia’s heart sank at Roxana’s cold gaze.

‘Could it be that my brother really stole the wyvern egg and the Avatar Sword?’

If Roxana’s words were true, she would be taking the blame for everything.

‘Why is my brother just standing by like this?!’

Princess Resilia clenched her powerless fist.

Distrust and resentment toward Prince Tesler began to sprout.

“Your Majesty, please believe me! You shouldn’t be doing this to me, you should be meeting my brother! I really don’t know anything!”

She had to save herself.

Emperor Linel had handed her over to Roxana himself, so if she wasn’t careful, she might be whipped to death in this underground secret chamber of the Empress’s Palace without anyone knowing.

The Kingdom of Shatonil had been treated as a vassal state of the Rafion Empire, and the kingdom’s position had become even lower since the Continental Hunting Competition.

So it didn’t seem like Roxana, who had become the Empress of the Rafion Empire, would have to worry much about dealing with one princess of the kingdom.

Just looking at Roxana’s murderous face now, it wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

The overwhelming fear made Princess Resilia’s mind go blank.

“……Your Majesty, I think the princess has fainted.”

Nancy knelt down and checked the condition of Princess Resilia, who had collapsed weakly to the floor.

“Tsk, what did I do to make her faint? Lock her up in the secret chamber for now.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Roxana put on the veil she had thrown on the floor again and went up the underground stairs.

Hettor was waiting for her at the entrance to the secret chamber.

“What’s going on?”

“I need to find a magician to make a magic potion for me.”

Hettor said, lifting her veil.

“I still haven’t found the wyvern egg and the Avatar Sword.”

Roxana brushed off Hettor’s hand and complained.

“Your burn treatment comes first. I’ll meet the Master of the Magic Tower behind the scenes.”

Hettor whispered with a worried expression.

“Not Bellos.”

Roxana shook her head.

“He’s stuck to Zelda right now. Besides, he’s the original owner of the Avatar Sword. He must know that I have the Avatar Sword. You’re going to entrust my burn scar to such a person?”

“Hmm, you have a point. Then what are you going to do?”

She couldn’t just keep covering her burn scar with a veil forever.

“I have to use Logan again.”

Come to think of it, Bonis, Logan’s daughter, was not seen among the group that left with Zelda.

Seeing that Zelda had also lost her memories of the Emperor, it was certain that Bonis had given Zelda the potion she had given her.

But why didn’t Bonis return to the Imperial Palace with them?

“Hettor, find out about Bonis’s whereabouts.”

***

Unlike the state wedding, there was no after-party at the concubine ceremony.

Moreover, the concubine ceremony atmosphere was very gloomy because the concubines from the Aclato Duchy could not hold the ceremony due to a sudden accident.

Linel finished the concubine ceremony and headed straight to the main palace for the rest of his schedule today.

He had promised tonight, so he wasn’t too sad to part.

Sharon and I took the Empress’s Palace carriage sent by Roxana in front of the chapel and moved to the place assigned to us as our new residence.

According to Roxana’s servant who came to guide us, my luggage from the main palace had already been sent to the new residence.

“Now that you’ve become a formal concubine, did the Empress’s Palace move your luggage and even send a carriage?”

Sharon asked a naive question.

At first glance, it seemed like Roxana’s consideration, but that couldn’t be.

“Moving the luggage is an excuse. She must have ordered her close aides to search the room I was staying in to see if there was a wyvern egg or an Avatar Sword.”

That was the purpose.

So she must have moved all my luggage to the new residence at the time the concubine ceremony was held.

“Well, she did take Princess Resilia away, but I guess she’s suspicious of us too.”

Yeah. Now all I need is for Prince Tesler to move…….

I nodded to Sharon and replied inwardly.

“But will Moiya and Moni be able to bring the Avatar Sword without being caught? I’m worried to death.”

Sharon asked quietly with an anxious face.

I told the two of them to bring the Avatar Sword from the armory in the training ground in the cypress forest.

Moiya and Moni each entered the bodies of the escort knights and headed to the training ground as soon as the concubine ceremony was over.

Only knights could carry swords around without being suspected by other palace people, so it was an unavoidable choice.

They said they could find out where I was even if I didn’t tell them the new residence, so there wouldn’t be much difficulty.

“I told them I’d let them eat as much sausage as they wanted if they brought the Avatar Sword safely, so they won’t stray.”

I chuckled as I looked at the box of sausages that Sharon had placed on her lap.

The sausages were requested from Rosie in advance and received as a congratulatory gift after the concubine ceremony.

“But I don’t really like handing the Avatar Sword over to Prince Tesler.”

Sharon didn’t like my plan, which she had only heard half of.

“It’s okay, the Avatar Sword will come back to me.”

If the Avatar Sword is properly imprinted on me…….

I don’t really like imprinting it with the help of a villain, but that was the only way that would be beneficial in many ways.

About that method…… I couldn’t tell Sharon in advance.

She would jump up and down and try to stop me.

After a while, the carriage slowly stopped.

“I think we’ve arrived.”

Sharon was preparing to get out of the carriage with an expectant voice, but the carriage door opened first.

“This is the place. Her Majesty the Empress has carefully chosen this residence, so I hope Zelda-sama likes it too.”

Sharon snorted and puffed out her cheeks at Roxana’s servant’s polite words.

“No, this is a building that has been almost abandoned!”

“So the servants must have had a hard time cleaning it? And since you have an owner as of today, shouldn’t you say that?”

The servant replied to Sharon with a friendly smile.

“What, what did you say?”

Sharon’s face turned red and her nostrils flared at my face.

The residence I was assigned to was surprisingly a building right in front of the smithy.

“Tell Her Majesty the Empress that I appreciate her consideration. And be sure to tell her that it’s exactly to my taste.”

I said to Roxana’s servant, looking at the smithy near the residence with a satisfied smile.

“……Yes? Ah, yes. I will.”

The servant looked quite embarrassed as he looked at my smiling face.

“I’ll look around my residence myself, so you can go back to the Empress’s Palace now.”

“Th, then I’ll step back now. Please rest comfortably, Mama [a respectful title for a concubine].”

Roxana’s servant bowed to me with a bewildered expression and climbed back next to the coachman.

“This is an insult!”

As soon as the carriage left, Sharon shouted, looking up at the building of the residence.

“How can they give a building right in front of the smithy as the residence of His Majesty the Emperor’s concubine? This is really ridiculous!”

“Sharon, I like it here.”

“Yes? Are you kidding me?”

“I’m serious. A smithy just a stone’s throw away! Isn’t it too romantic?”

Sharon’s mouth dropped open as I twinkled my eyes at the smithy.

“I can go to the smithy every day, and if I ask Count Ethan, I can even try making a sword myself, right?”

Just thinking about it made my hands itch.

The heat rising from my body and the hot weather are painful, but other than that, artificial fire has no effect on me.

Rather, I could use the fire to my advantage.

I confirmed that fact in the dress room fire at the Empress’s Palace last night.

“It’s a bit inconvenient for Prince Tesler to come here because it’s far from the main palaces.”

“But will he really come all the way here?”

“If he hears from Duke Martins that I have the Avatar Sword, he’ll come. If he doesn’t come, he’s not Prince Tesler.”

“He’ll come to save his sister, right?”

“Sharon, you still don’t know Prince Tesler. He got the Avatar Sword, do you think he’ll give it to Roxana?”

“Is he such a scumbag that he’ll abandon his sister?”

I nodded without hesitation at Sharon’s question.

“If he’s such a cruel person, it’s too dangerous to bring him here.”

“That’s why I’m calling him in.”

I smiled and entered the residence with Sharon.

When I came up to the bedroom floor, there were two knights standing in front of the door.

I burst out laughing at the sight of the knights, who should have been facing forward, facing each other.

It was Moiya and Moni.

“You brought the thing properly, right?”

Sharon approached the two knights and said quietly.

“You’ve prepared the price properly, right?”

Moiya also asked Sharon secretly.

“Of course.”

“……Let’s not do this here and go inside, everyone.”

I pushed the three people’s backs into the bedroom.

The Avatar Sword was stuck in the scabbard of the knight Moiya had transformed into.

Moiya pointed to the handle of the Avatar Sword with her hand and complained.

“It was hard to keep covering this red jewel with my hand, Moiya~.”

“Ang [onomatopoeia], I tried to pull it out, but it really didn’t come out, Moni~.”

The guys who were grumbling opened the sausage box that Sharon gave them and were overjoyed.

“Good job, everyone.”

I said, fiddling with the end of the Avatar Sword’s blade with my hand.

Several hours later, Moiya and Moni, who had returned to their original forms, were hungry and insisted on going to Rosie’s residence to eat more sausages.

So Sharon told them not to come into my bedroom tonight instead of going to Rosie’s residence.

Moiya explained to Moni, who asked why not, instead of Sharon.

“It’s mating day.”

“Ah, I know that humans usually mate at night, Moni~.”

It was funny that Moni immediately agreed.

As the two guys transformed into butterflies and flew out the window, Sharon became busy this time.

“Oh my, it’s already this late, I’ll hurry up and prepare the bath!”

“Okay, I’ll leave it to you.”

I opened the window and looked at the night sky, which had already darkened.

***

“Is everything ready to welcome the Emperor?”

Linel was leaning against the door with a wine bottle in one hand and two wine glasses upside down in the other.

My eyes were drawn to his disheveled appearance with his shirt unbuttoned to his sternum.

“How does it look? Does it look like I’m ready?”

I slightly lifted the hem of my slip dress, which was barely covering me, and greeted him.

“It looks perfect.”

He smiled contentedly and slowly walked towards the bed.

“The residence…… I’ll move you.”

“Just try it!”

“What?”

“I like it here. So stay still, I don’t mean stay still tonight.”

“Then…… should we start with a kiss or a hug?”

“Let’s start with the wine you’re holding.”

I got off the bed and said.

Linel handed me a wine glass and poured wine into it.

“For our first wedding night.”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not our first night.”

I smiled softly as I clinked glasses with him.

“Our real first night has disappeared from our memories, so let’s consider today our first night.”

“Okay. But…… what was our first night like?”

“I would have welcomed you warmly. You’re an Empress who came to a strange country, so how well would I have treated you with consideration?”

“Yes, I think you would have. You would have been as kind as you are now…….”

I agreed with his opinion, but I trailed off because I felt uneasy.

Does my subconscious know differently?

I was about to take a sip of wine.

“I’ll give it to you.”

Linel drank the wine and kissed me as it was.

The wine that flowed between my lips moistened my mouth coolly.

I closed my eyes.

The wine he gave me and the soft sensation quickly made me drunk.

Then, I sensed a strange energy and slyly opened my eyes.