The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 303

303. The Empress’s Seat

“Calm down, Zelda. Why are your fists clenched?”

He sat me back down and unclenched my tightly clenched fist.

The absurd news made my stomach churn, and I felt like flames would erupt from my fingertips.

Realizing this, Linell subtly took the water glass from the table and placed my fingertips into it one by one.

The cold water in the glass quickly turned hot.

“You really are a Wyvern Lord [a powerful magic user] with the power of fire.”

Emperor Katria, who was watching from the side, widened his eyes and said with admiration.

I didn’t have much to say, so I gave a slight smile and whispered to him.

“I need to see Rosie right away.”

I couldn’t sit still with the fire burning inside me.

“Before that, I think you should meet my lips first?”

He whispered so that only I could hear.

“?”

“Come out for a moment.”

He excused himself to Emperor Katria and Grand Duke Martins, took my hand, and left the audience chamber. Then, he headed to the nearest room and barged in.

As expected of an emperor who doesn’t care about what others think, his actions were unrestrained even in another country.

“Do you even know where you are barging into?”

“I’m barging in because I don’t know.”

Linell grabbed my shoulders and looked down at me intently.

His blue eyes were filled with affection for me.

He didn’t bring me here out of lust.

It was to cool down the heat in my body that was boiling with anger.

“It’s hot.”

His ice-cold hands touched my face and neck in turn.

Thanks to that, the heat that had been soaring until just before the explosion gradually subsided.

“I can’t stand it.”

“I understand. But it’s better not to get excited.”

Linell stroked my stomach and said in a gentle voice.

“Let’s put out the fire first.”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

There wasn’t much time as the meeting would start soon.

I immediately closed my eyes and raised my head towards him.

Before my head could even tilt all the way, a cool, soft sensation swept through my fiery mouth.

It felt like holding a piece of ice in my mouth.

A tingling sensation ran down my spine.

If someone who didn’t know the situation were to hear our conversation, they might misunderstand this situation in a strange way.

They would definitely misunderstand.

“Zelda, I have something to confess…….”

He shyly let the words slip through his parted lips.

“What is it?”

“When you get angry, I worry about the heat, but it makes me tremble.”

His cute confession made the heat swirling in my body lose its strength.

“Save the words for later, and do more…….”

I wrapped my arms around his neck and swallowed his confessing lips.

It didn’t take long for the coolness that started in my mouth to spread to my stomach.

“I think we’ve put out the immediate fire, right?”

“Yes. I think I can hold out until the meeting is over.”

“Tell me right away if you can’t stand it. It’ll be hard on our baby if you hold back.”

Linell stroked my waist again and urged me.

“I will. Let’s go out now.”

“Okay.”

As soon as he opened the door, Prince Norton was standing right in front of us.

He was reaching out his hand, so he must have been about to come in?

“I thought the audience chamber was next door? What business do you have in this room?”

“It seems like you two were the ones with business.”

We hadn’t done anything wrong, but Norton’s words made us both flinch.

“I saw you two leaving the audience chamber and entering here. I happened to have something to discuss separately, so I was about to knock.”

Prince Norton came into the room and closed the door.

“I heard. Bringing Princess Resilia here? Does that make sense?”

It wasn’t Norton’s opinion, but I couldn’t help but ask as if I was arguing.

“I expected it, but the opposition from the ministers is serious now that my position has changed.”

“They must be saying that they can’t accept a woman who was a concubine from another country as empress.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Moreover, it seems they believe that Resilia, Rams’s biological mother, is more suitable for the position of empress than Rosie, who was a concubine.”

“From the perspective of the ministers who don’t know the whole story, it’s not unreasonable to think that way, but Princess Resilia is really not qualified!”

The heat that I had barely cooled down reared its head again.

“I know that better than anyone.”

Prince Norton replied, wiping his face wearily.

“We have to stop it!”

“Zelda, don’t raise your voice because your temperature is rising.”

Linell put his hand on the back of my neck like a wet towel and tried to calm me down.

I took his hand and placed it on my forehead, reassuring him.

I took a breath to calm my excitement and stared closely at Prince Norton’s face. His slender face had become even more gaunt in the past few days.

If he suffers any more mental anguish here, he might be able to poke the ministers’ heads with his chin.

While Prince Norton was withering away, I was honestly a little surprised when I saw Rosie’s face yesterday.

The person who should have lost her appetite because of this incident had fuller and plumper cheeks, as if the food of the Partsha Empire suited her taste.

Only her expression was full of worries, but her appetite was like a fairy living in a peaceful world.

Rosie’s constantly moving mouth was so mysterious and beautiful.

“So, what is it that you wanted to discuss separately with me?”

“Since Rosie was Your Majesty’s concubine, I thought there might be something Your Majesty could say to them.”

“For example… do you need testimony that she was like an invisible person even when she was a concubine?”

Linell asked, immediately understanding Prince Norton’s intention.

“…Something like that. Just tell them the truth about the parts of Rosie, who was a concubine, that the ministers are worried about.”

“It might hurt Rosie if I speak too honestly, but I guess it can’t be helped for the sake of the greater good.”

He readily accepted Prince Norton’s request.

I feel a little uneasy.

I don’t know how honestly he’s going to talk about Rosie that he’s smiling like that.

“And it might be better to bring Resilia here.”

What?

Prince Norton’s face was quite serious as he said something absurd.

“Are you crazy?!”

I forgot that the person in front of me was about to become the emperor of the Partsha Empire and shouted.

“No, Zelda. I think it might be better to bring Princess Resilia here and settle things once and for all. A leaky bucket inside might spring a hole outside [better to deal with a problem directly than let it fester].”

“As the announcement went to the dignitaries after the funeral, a party is scheduled before the coronation ceremony. Wouldn’t it be better to bring her before that?”

Prince Norton asked with a cautious face.

“But even if she comes as soon as possible, Princess Resilia won’t arrive here until after the coronation ceremony, will she?”

“Then let’s borrow your friend who travels around here and there.”

Linell winked at me as he said.

“…Bellos?”

***

Meanwhile, in the imperial palace of the Lapion Empire.

“The congratulatory delegation must have arrived in the Partsha Empire a few days ago, and today is Prince Kalvain’s coronation ceremony.”

Princess Resilia drew an X on the date written on the wall with a small stone.

“Why bother marking that stuff?”

Prince Tesler looked at her with a pathetic expression.

These siblings had bribed a guard with money sent from the Shattonil royal family, allowing them to visit each other’s rooms for exactly 10 minutes every other day.

“It’s all over. Even Father abandoned us, so what are you expecting?”

“That might be true for you, Brother. But I have Rams. The Kalvain imperial couple will soon adopt our Rams.”

“Do you think Rams will even remember you?”

Prince Tesler scoffed.

“As long as my son is alive, I have hope.”

“Wake up. Once Prince Norton marries that concubine, it’s game over. After rotting in this dungeon for a few years, when you return to the kingdom, Rams will be toddling around, calling that concubine ‘Mother’ and following her.”

“He’s still a stranger with not a drop of blood in him. Brother, do you know what I dreamed about last night?”

Princess Resilia seemed more excited than usual.

“I don’t care.”

Despite Prince Tesler’s disregard, Princess Resilia began to ramble about her dream.

“I was wearing a wedding dress and walking around the Partsha Empire’s imperial palace. The people there even greeted me politely first.”

“It’s a pipe dream.”

Prince Tesler sneered.

“In the end, I held Rams in my arms. It was a really unusual dream, you know?”

“Yeah. It must have been a dream you had because you were so desperate.”

Prince Tesler patted Princess Resilia on the back, feeling sorry for her, and stood up.

It was almost time to return to his cell.

“No, it was definitely a good omen. Maybe I’ll be going to the Partsha Empire soon thanks to our Rams……?”

Princess Resilia couldn’t erase the vivid feeling she had in her dream.

“It felt like reality, not a dream.”

She hugged herself with both arms.

“Resil, the farthest you can go from here is my cell next door. And you can’t even stay there for more than 10 minutes. That’s our reality right now.”

Prince Tesler reminded the excited Princess Resilia of reality.

But she didn’t care and hummed with a smiling face.

Prince Tesler was starting to worry that something might be wrong with his sister’s head.

***

Catherine, Pesilini, and I gathered in Rosie’s room in the main palace after dinner to drink tea.

I had already told the concubines in the carriage to the main palace that the ministers here were trying to put Princess Resilia in the empress’s seat instead of Rosie.

Everyone was furious.

I don’t know if it’s because they hated Princess Resilia so much or because they had grown fond of Rosie, but everyone was genuinely worked up.

Melanie joined us late after going to the most famous dress shop in the Partsha Empire’s imperial castle on behalf of the concubines.

As soon as Melanie arrived, she scolded Rosie.

“Rosie, are you a wyvern?”

“Huh?”

“If not, why do you keep eating sausages like that? I thought you were Moiya and Moni.”

“…….”

“This is not the time for this! Do you know what I heard at the dress shop earlier?”

Melanie didn’t even sit down and stood up, dusting off her clothes and raising her voice.

“What did you hear that made you glare like that? I’m already upset.”

Catherine looked through the dress book that Melanie had brought from the dress shop and began to choose a dress to wear at the party before the coronation ceremony.

“What’s going on, Melanie?”

Rosie asked as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“I overheard the young ladies talking. The ministers are planning to bring in concubines! That stupid princess isn’t the only problem!”

The sausage that had gone into Rosie’s mouth came right back out.

Moiya, who was eating sausages together underneath, caught the fallen sausage and danced.

Rosie, who had only smiled bitterly when she heard that Princess Resilia would be coming here soon, looked quite shocked at the mention of concubines.

Princess Resilia and concubines.

Rosie’s future felt bleak.

“What?!”

Rosie began to bite her nails with an uneasy expression.

Melanie continued to speak.

“So they were saying that the party before the coronation ceremony is very important?”

“Then all the concubine candidates will attend the party?”

Catherine asked with a determined look.

“Of course, they’ll attend. That’s why the dress shop was so crowded. They’ll probably dress up a lot to catch Prince Norton’s eye?”

Melanie looked up and down at Rosie, who had gained more weight than a few days ago, and made a desperate expression.

“Okay. Let’s crush the spirits of the Partsha Empire’s young ladies at this party!”

I clenched my fists and shouted as if I was fighting.

“Mother-in-law, no, Empress. The way to crush spirits at a party is with beauty. It’s not a sword fight.”

Melanie jumped up and down.

“First of all, the cards we have…… aren’t in very good condition, but let’s put our heads together and find a way.”

Catherine’s gaze stopped at Rosie for a moment before squeezing out a hopeful voice.

What’s wrong with Catherine?

“That’s right! We have two people who dominated high society. Besides, they’re former and current concubines. Ohoho!”

Melanie pointed to Catherine and me with her fingers, showing confidence.

Positivity is contagious.

“There’s even a former empress.”

I also raised my hand and joined in.

“Let’s identify the concubine candidates first and then choose a dress.”

Melanie’s head is spinning very fast in this direction.

First, I held out the back of my hand to show that we should all unite.

Then, hands pledging unity began to pile up in an instant.

Even Moiya and Moni.

“Shouldn’t we get rid of all the ones prettier than Orange Head, Moiya~?”

“Huh? Then should we kill them all, Moni~?”

“Oong? Oops, only Rosie will be left?”

……Ah, I need to unite the mouths of those two who I don’t know if they’re enemies or allies first.