The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 231

231. First Jealousy

2023.03.22.

Pershili’s eyes darted around, her mind a blank.

He couldn’t have just been passing by.

And he certainly wouldn’t have stopped by to spend the night with her.

‘Could it be……?’

Just as Pershili was thinking of Prince Tesler, Rinel, who had been watching her changing expressions, made his move.

“I wonder what her relationship with Prince Tesler is,” he muttered, almost to himself.

At his words, Pershili instinctively wrapped her arms around her stomach in a defensive posture.

Rinel, completely unaware of her pregnancy, assumed she was simply scared and shrinking back.

So, he spoke more gently, as if trying to soothe her.

“Even if the Emperor is obsessed with only one woman, you, Pershili, are clearly an imperial concubine. Yet, you secretly met a prince from another country—and one who is imprisoned.”

“!”

‘How did he know?!’

Pershili wished she could just faint.

She had many secrets, but not the courage to match.

If it weren’t for the baby in her belly, she would have already lost consciousness in the Empress’s reception room.

Being questioned by Rinel after Roxana made her feel like her soul was being completely drained.

“Have you known each other for a long time? Your family owns the largest trading company in the Lapion Empire, so you must have visited many countries with the Marquis [a nobleman] since you were young, right? In the case of the Shato Neil Kingdom, which is close to the Empire, there would have been frequent exchanges… Moreover, you would have stayed in the royal palace with great hospitality, so wouldn’t you have naturally become acquainted with Prince Tesler?”

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty.”

Pershili took a breath and readily admitted it.

The Emperor acted like he knew everything and was just asking questions.

It seemed useless to try to deny it.

“You must be very close to bribe the guard who guided you with this much money.”

He took a small silk pouch from his uniform pocket.

“I don’t need to take out the diamonds inside to show you, do I?”

Rinel shook the silk pouch and asked.

‘How did he know about that too?!’

The Emperor seemed to have been sure from the beginning that there would be people approaching Prince Tesler and had set a trap in advance.

She felt pathetic for spending a fortune to bribe the guards of the spire and feeling relieved, not knowing any of this.

‘He wouldn’t be the Emperor for nothing. I was too naive…….’

Pershili was almost resigned.

There was no denying that she had a special relationship with Prince Tesler.

“Pershili, you know very well what Prince Tesler has done to whom, right?”

“Y-Yes…….”

“Then, let’s hear the reason.”

His command landed like a hammer blow.

Pershili looked up at him.

Looking at the Emperor’s face, she couldn’t lie.

He exuded a dignity that was on a different level from when she faced Roxana.

‘Yes, His Majesty is my lifeline. This might be the last chance to protect me and my baby!’

Prince Tesler’s position was precarious, and Roxana wasn’t very trustworthy either.

“Your Majesty! But I have a condition!”

Pershili knelt at his feet and pleaded.

“You dare to make a deal with me?”

His indifferent voice was filled with pressure.

“No, I just want to save my life, Your Majesty, please have mercy!”

Pershili began to cry.

‘There must be something more to this,’ Rinel thought.

Rinel looked down at her and raised his eyebrows.

He lowered himself and raised Pershili to her feet again.

“Alright, I promise. I will guarantee your life.”

“I… I want to save one more life besides mine…….”

“Are you talking about Prince Tesler?”

“No, Your Majesty.”

“Then… whose life are you talking about?”

Rinel’s expression hardened.

Pershili looked at him, who was looking at her questioningly, with a determined face.

“It’s my baby’s life.”

***

A subordinate of Hector was already waiting for them at the back gate of the spire.

Hector, who dismounted first, asked his subordinate.

“Where is Commander Marcrom?”

“Not yet. But you must hurry.”

Hector’s subordinate quickly opened the back door with a nervous expression and bowed his head to speak again.

“I will guide you.”

Hector escorted Roxana and followed his subordinate.

“This is the place.”

Hector’s subordinate, who had guided them to the basement of the spire, slipped a pouch of gold coins to the guard guarding the iron gate. The guard quickly put the pouch in his back pocket and opened the iron gate as if nothing had happened.

It was the same guard who had received diamonds from Pershili.

This time, he pretended to receive a bribe, but he was actually one of Commander Marcrom’s men, not just a simple guard.

The two, who had entered the prison, met the eyes of Prince Tesler, who was lying on his side on the bed.

“Your Majesty the Empress, I have been waiting!”

Prince Tesler got up with a look of salvation and greeted them politely.

However, Roxana was momentarily speechless when she saw Prince Tesler’s face.

Aside from the fact that he had changed terribly in a few days, Prince Tesler’s pronunciation sounded very unnatural.

“It’s the work of Emperor Rinel.”

Prince Tesler slightly raised his upper lip and growled.

“Heok!”

She had known in advance through Hector, but seeing it like this was much more miserable and ridiculous.

Roxana failed to manage her expression and met Hector’s gaze.

Hector, who was always expressionless, couldn’t help but twitch his facial muscles at the sight of the toothless Prince Tesler.

“He is a much more vicious human being than Your Majesty the Empress knows.”

Prince Tesler didn’t bother to mention that he had lost his reproductive ability.

However, Roxana’s gaze had already reached the patient’s gown shirt that Prince Tesler was wearing.

She already knew that Prince Tesler had become a eunuch [castrated man].

‘Rinel ordered Commander Marcrom to do it, right?’

Roxana, who had no way of knowing that it was Commander Marcrom’s small revenge for Bonus, laughed out loud as soon as she heard the news, saying that Rinel was venting his complex on Prince Tesler.

“I don’t have much time, so I’ll ask you just one thing.”

Roxana erased her flustered expression and said seriously.

“Yes, you must have come because of the Avatar Sword.”

Prince Tesler smiled slyly and took the lead.

Perhaps because he had no teeth, Prince Tesler’s image looked openly vile, unlike before.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t see the wyvern egg that day.”

“Does that mean Zelda has the Avatar Sword…? Are you sure?!”

“Yes, I saw it with my own eyes. Moreover, I stabbed that bitch’s heart with the Avatar Sword! I don’t know how she survived…….”

“What are you talking about? I heard she bled a little, but the wound wasn’t deep. And she looked fine to me.”

“Yes? Th-That can’t be……? I clearly felt the Avatar Sword piercing her heart with this hand!”

Prince Tesler shook his palms and became agitated.

‘Did he lose his mind after losing his reproductive function?’

Roxana instinctively distanced herself from Prince Tesler.

There seemed to be no need to have a long conversation.

“Anyway, it’s certain that Zelda has the Avatar Sword, right?”

That was all she wanted to know.

“Of course! But, she might have already moved it to another place, right?”

Prince Tesler asked with anxious eyes.

“That’s impossible. Since Zelda moved her residence to that place, I have been thoroughly monitoring everything that goes in and out of there.”

“Hahaha! As expected, Your Majesty the Empress is flawless.”

*You vicious bitch.*

He was smiling on the outside, but he despised Roxana on the inside.

Roxana felt the same way.

“When the trial begins in earnest, we cannot avoid mentioning the Avatar Sword. If we can find the Avatar Sword that was stolen from Zelda’s residence, the Prince’s crime of attempted murder will be much lighter.”

Prince Tesler’s face brightened at Roxana’s words.

“Please make it so! Although the plan to bring the Avatar Sword back to Your Majesty the Empress has failed, I believe you will appreciate my loyalty!”

‘Loyalty my ass.’

Roxana snorted inwardly.

If he had taken the Avatar Sword out of Zelda’s residence, Prince Tesler would have returned to the Shato Neil Kingdom that way.

Even if Princess Resilia was being held hostage in the detached palace.

“Of course. We are already in the same boat. So, Your Highness must firmly insist that the Avatar Sword is in Zelda’s residence. That way, we will have a reason to search the residence.”

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Ah, and before the trial, I will arrange for Princess Resilia to live in the detached palace again.”

“Thank you once again for Your Majesty the Empress’s generosity.”

Prince Tesler lowered his head and secretly lowered the corners of his mouth.

‘You’re acting like you’re doing me a favor for something obvious… damn it.’

“I should go now. I’ll see you on the day of the trial.”

Roxana wanted to get out of this space as soon as possible.

“Yes, until then, please monitor Zelda’s residence more thoroughly.”

“Of course, they won’t be able to sneak out even a knife.”

***

Knock, knock, knock-.

I opened my eyes when I heard a knock from outside the window.

I must have dozed off while watching Sharon, who was knitting while leaning against the head of the bed after taking a bath.

“It’s Moiya and Moni.”

Sharon smiled as she opened the window.

“Welcome. But did you two fight? Why do you look like that?”

Both of them sat on my thighs with gloomy faces.

“There are other people who should be fighting, Moiya~.”

“Yeah! It looks like they’re going to have a big fight, Moni~.”

“Who and who?”

Sharon sat back in her chair and asked as she started knitting again.

The two girls’ moist eyes turned to me.

“How should we tell our master this terrible news…….”

Moiya opened her mouth cautiously in an uncharacteristic, serious voice.

“What news is it?”

“We met His Majesty on the way here, Moni~.”

Moni replied instead of Moiya, who was hesitating.

“Why, is His Majesty not coming here?”

“No, not yet… I don’t know.”

Not yet?

Moiya’s answer was somehow strange.

When I tilted my head and looked at her, Moiya cleared her throat and carefully opened her mouth.

“We saw something strange a little while ago, Moiya…….”

“What did you see?”

“Our handsome Majesty… was with Pershili, Moni!”

Moni clenched her fists as if she couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Huh? Do you mean His Majesty went to Pershili’s residence in person?”

It was hard to believe even after hearing it.

Rinel visiting another concubine’s residence?

“Does Pershili have any health problems?”

She had severe nausea and coughing at the banquet, and I wondered if she had been examined by Roxana’s doctor and heard bad news.

“I think so too.”

Sharon nodded in agreement with my muttering, but I caught a glimpse of anxiety on Sharon’s face as well.

“Oh? Seeing the servants at Pershili’s residence spreading rumors to the servants at other concubines’ residences, it doesn’t seem like a health problem, though?”

Moiya sighed deeply and said.

“Maybe Pershili is pregnant too? Then we might have to give up tonight, what should we do?”

I was the only one who laughed at my joke.

Sharon’s face became as stiff as a statue, and Moiya and Moni’s expressions were also unusual.

“There must be a reason.”

“Yeah! But Master, what’s in there? Is there a reason in there?”

Moni blinked and asked.

Only then did I realize that I was clenching my fist tightly.

“Oh? Master is also clenching her teeth, Moiya~?”

Moiya flew over and sat on my shoulder, touching my chin.

I laughed heartily and opened my mouth, moving my chin back and forth.

To be honest, I felt a little strange.

However, I was sure that he would open my bedroom door with a sweet smile tonight as well.

It was unexpected that he suddenly visited Pershili’s residence, but I didn’t feel anxious or bad.

“Were you talking about me?”

Rinel asked with a smile on his face, leaning against the bedroom door.

“Y-Your Majesty!”

Sharon was horrified to see him appear like a ghost and bowed her head deeply.

“You said you only mate with our master! I’m really going to be disappointed, Moni~.”

Moni shouted in a sulky voice, and he frowned.

“I did. I came here to do that… what’s the problem?”

Rinel stared at my face and asked Moni.

Then Moiya grabbed Moni by the back of her neck and lifted her up.

“Don’t worry about that. That body can’t mate anywhere else.”

She whispered and flew back out the window.

Sharon also closed the bedroom door with a sense of tact, leaving only the two of us in the bedroom.

“Where are you coming from?”

I asked him, probing him slightly without realizing it.

“Are you asking even though you know? Are you angry?”

“Didn’t you do something to make me angry?”

It’s strange.

My tone was constantly going against my will.

Rinel raised one corner of his lips strangely and smiled with his eyes.

Did he show that eye smile to Pershili tonight too?

The more he smiled sweetly, the more his face floated in the dark night and shone, the more jealousy was revealed in my tone.

“You’re coming from Pershili’s residence, right?”

In the end, I asked him directly first.

Vexingly, he only nodded.

Seeing that made me feel strangely upset.

“Why… did you go there?”

My voice popped out on its own.

“It’s a business secret, so I can’t tell you?”

“…Since when did you have secrets?”

As resentment and annoyance mixed, my nostrils kept flaring.

“From the moment you squinted at me and glared at me.”

Rinel sat on the bed with a grin and suddenly put something soft between my lips.

“Ugh, what are you doing all of a sudden?”

I pushed his shoulder away with a sulky face.

“Why don’t you cool down first? Our baby is getting stressed because you’re angry. Huh?”

“Baby, I’m okay. It’s just that your father went to another woman.”

I looked down and stroked my stomach.

Then he stroked my stomach in the same way.

“Baby, don’t misunderstand. I’ve never done this to another woman.”

He bit my lower lip and whispered.