The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 307

307. A Totally Crazy Party

“The secret is dancing.”

Moya, transformed into Princess Resilia, took a large bite of a cookie and replied.

The young ladies tilted their heads, noticing the sudden change in the princess’s demeanor.

“What… what kind of dance is it that made the Prince fall for you?”

Everyone perked up at Lady Esther’s question.

“Not only the Prince, but all the men from the Northern Continent’s celebratory delegation drop their jaws and laugh when they see that dance.”

“…Why do they laugh?”

“It means they are happy and joyful. Just seeing that dance.”

Moya interpreted it that way.

“How do you do it? Can we really learn it too?”

The young ladies all looked at Princess Resilia with eager eyes.

“Everything comes with a price, you know?”

Moya tucked Princess Resilia’s pink hair behind her ear and asked coyly.

“What price do you want?”

Esther thought Princess Resilia might want something valuable.

“Are your ears blocked? I told you, sausages.”

Princess Resilia, or rather Moya, muttered quietly to herself, but when she said ‘sausages,’ she spoke clearly.

“Huh?! Are you kidding?”

Lady Savannah asked in disbelief.

The other young ladies were also dumbfounded.

It wasn’t that they didn’t understand Princess Resilia’s words.

They were just puzzled that the price the princess was asking for was merely ‘sausages.’

***

“Is it here?”

The concubines and I entered the art viewing room in the East Palace after receiving word that Jasper’s concubine had acquired dresses for the party.

The most famous dress designer in this Imperial City had brought dozens of the finest dresses from her shop to this East Palace where the dignitaries were staying.

Since there had been a recent imperial funeral, it wouldn’t look good to the commoners if the celebratory delegation roamed the Imperial City to buy dresses.

Everyone was grateful for Jasper’s concubine’s consideration of these circumstances.

I wanted to ask her about Princess Resilia, but I thought it would be better to ask after choosing the dresses.

Jasper’s concubine also seemed to be mindful of Rosie and was careful with her words.

“Welcome. Due to the limited time, I called the designer to the Imperial Palace. Please feel free to look around, and if you don’t find a dress you like, you can go to the shop and choose one yourself.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary.”

As soon as I entered the art viewing room, my eyes were drawn to the splendid and beautiful dresses hanging on the racks.

The concubines were also busy scattering around and choosing dresses.

“Alright! Before choosing your own dresses, let’s pick a dress that suits Rosie first.”

I clapped my hands and reminded the concubines, who were engrossed in the dresses, of our mission.

Fortunately, the concubines all said ‘Ah!’ and, after looking at Rosie, returned to their senses.

“We have prepared only the most popular styles of dresses in our Partsha Empire.”

The designer said with a proud expression.

“The dresses are all so beautiful that it will be hard to choose.”

As I said with a smile, the designer’s shoulders rose even higher.

However, the expressions of the concubines who were looking at the dresses gradually became troubled.

Why are they doing that?

“Is there something wrong with the dresses?”

When I asked, Catherine quietly replied.

“The problem isn’t the dresses, it’s the sizes.”

Ah, that’s right.

I didn’t think of that.

These days, unless it’s a special party for themselves, people prefer dresses that are already finished rather than custom-made ones.

They only alter the waist or length.

If the size is too big, you can reduce it, but if the waistline doesn’t fit, there’s no way to fix it.

Unfortunately, most dresses worn by noble ladies are made based on slim figures.

So, it was obvious that there wouldn’t be many dresses that Rosie, who had gained weight lately, could wear.

“Klang, can you pick out dresses that fit Rosie’s size separately?”

Jasper’s concubine ordered the designer.

The designer scanned Rosie’s body and said in a despairing voice.

“Unfortunately… I don’t think there will be many.”

“If there isn’t a matching size, can’t we open the waistline and add fabric?”

At my suggestion, the designer replied with a tearful face.

“If it really comes down to it, we’ll have to do that, but even then, there may be some fabrics used in the dress that are not available in the clothing store, so the choice is extremely limited, Your Majesty.”

“It may be a bit troublesome for you, but I’m making a special request because it’s an important party.”

I said earnestly, holding the hand of the designer named Klang.

The designer also said she would do her best and began looking for dresses that fit Rosie.

Everyone started examining the size of the dresses with their eyes wide open.

Among the dozens of dresses, there were only three with generous waistlines.

“The styles are plain.”

Melanie patted Rosie’s back, who had become gloomy, as if to comfort her.

“If you had just controlled your diet since coming here, you could have chosen a few more.”

Catherine pointedly glared at Rosie’s stomach.

Rosie took a breath and sucked in her stomach at Catherine’s nagging, but it didn’t make much difference.

“We need to pay more attention to her hair and makeup.”

Everyone strongly agreed with my words.

“Let’s try on the dresses Klang chose first.”

Rosie took a tube-top style dress with her servant and went into the dressing room that had been prepared in advance.

While waiting for Rosie, the other concubines and I began choosing dresses to wear to the party.

We went in front of the full-length mirror and waited for Rosie, holding the dresses we had chosen against our bodies.

Knock, knock, knock.

A knock echoed in the art viewing room.

Everyone’s eyes turned to the door.

Jasper’s concubine nodded to the servant standing in front of the door, signaling that it was okay to open it.

As the servant opened the banquet hall door, young ladies with more splendid figures than the displayed dresses poured in.

Eight young ladies, in step, slowly approached the concubines and me.

“What brings the young ladies here? Did you enjoy your tea with Princess Resilia?”

Jasper’s concubine asked with a slightly displeased expression.

The young ladies didn’t seem to find her intimidating at all.

Perhaps it was because her family had lost its authority among the nobles and she would soon be leaving the Imperial Palace.

“Yes. We were on our way back after enjoying tea, but we heard that the concubine had called a designer for the dignitaries, so we stopped by because we wanted to be of help.”

A young lady said boldly.

“Help?”

Jasper’s concubine straightened her back and asked in a dignified voice.

“Yes. We thought you might need our discerning eyes.”

She smiled kindly and spoke as if she cared about us, but I knew what they were really thinking.

“Um, which one of you is Rosie?”

The young ladies rolled their eyes at the concubines and me.

Just as everyone was about to turn their heads towards the dressing room where Rosie had gone in.

The young ladies stopped us, saying they had made a bet among themselves to guess who Rosie was.

A young lady who introduced herself as Esther from the Volteer family started off on the wrong foot by pointing at me first.

“You must be Rosie? I had a feeling.”

“No. Esther’s feeling is completely wrong.”

My voice was refreshing, but my expression was deliberately serious, so Esther blushed and stepped back with an apology.

Then, Miss Glenn took a step towards Catherine and said.

“I thought it was you from the beginning.”

“You were wrong from the beginning.”

Catherine, who already had a cold image, replied cynically, causing Miss Glenn to flinch in fear.

As the young ladies guessed wrong in succession, they stared intently at Melanie and Pesilini, but everyone stared at Melanie.

“I’m sure this time. Rumors were circulating that Norton had stopped looking at your face, but they were all lies. You’re so beautiful.”

A young lady admired Melanie’s beauty and flattered her.

In fact, Pesilini, who was less beautiful than Melanie and therefore not chosen by anyone even though it was a wrong answer, snorted unpleasantly behind me.

“Your eyes are accurate, but you’ve picked the wrong person.”

Melanie pouted, touching her face.

“Then, could it be you, Your Majesty?”

Lady Esther, who had first pointed at me as Rosie, asked Pesilini with a slightly apologetic expression.

“It’s not me either, okay?”

Pesilini’s voice echoed loudly in the art viewing room.

It was the first time I had seen Pesilini, who was usually quiet, speak so irritably.

“Then, who on earth is Rosie?”

The eyes of the embarrassed young ladies wandered around.

Then, they discovered Rosie coming out of the dressing room, hesitating.

“It’s me.”

Rosie walked towards the young ladies in a determined voice.

However, the chest area of the dress began to descend lower and lower.

“Ro, Rosie!”

I gestured for her to pull up the chest area, but she was looking at the young ladies and not paying attention to me or the concubines.

Rosie was strangely making the young ladies look down on her.

Only after the dress in the chest area had come down to a precarious point did Rosie realize that her chest was about to see the world.

“Oh my goodness!”

Rosie belatedly covered her chest with both hands, but it was not enough.

“She’s killing their spirits in a strange way.”

I muttered quietly, and the concubines strongly agreed.

Compared to before, the young ladies’ momentum had definitely subsided.

The young ladies, who seemed like they would stick around here, meddling in everything, each said they had urgent business and hurried out.

As soon as the young ladies left, Rosie turned her back and grumbled.

“The zipper won’t go up……”

The dress zipper was stuck at her tailbone.

The waist area fit, but the zipper couldn’t go all the way up because the chest area didn’t fit.

The designer said she would have to add a piece of fabric about the width of her palm to the back panel and couldn’t help but admire as she measured Rosie’s chest area with a tape measure.

“Everyone must think I’m weird, right?”

“They’re probably more envious. You seem to have a very strong sense of self-assertion.”

I replied, giving her a thumbs up.

“Of course, you were just showing off your charm.”

Melanie comforted her, and Catherine added her approval.

“Yes. Rosie, your strengths are very… distinct, which is good.”

At the continuous compliments, a smile gradually spread across Rosie’s face.

***

Three days later, a celebratory party was held before the inauguration ceremony.

We gave Rosie the most expensive and splendid jewels and watched with satisfaction as she entered the party hall with Norton.

Norton escorted Rosie throughout the party and greeted people together.

The majority of the ministers and nobles who attended the party seemed displeased that the two were walking around the party hall together.

Rosie seemed awkward and kept looking at me.

I kept encouraging Rosie to straighten her shoulders and walk tall, and the other concubines also made eye contact with her and sent her encouraging glances.

“Hasn’t Princess Resilia arrived yet?”

Melanie asked me.

“She’ll show up soon.”

It would be nice if she didn’t show up at all, but the princess I knew was not one to miss a party.

Princess Resilia appeared an hour after the party had started.

She entered the party hall, attracting everyone’s attention like the main character of the party.

She had a beauty that was enough to attract attention.

Her prison life was not easy, and she had lost more weight than before, but it had the effect of evoking sympathy.

About eight young ladies, centered around the three concubines who were being considered as concubine candidates, gathered around Princess Resilia like bees.

I felt sorry for Rosie, who seemed to shrink at the appearance of Princess Resilia.

“Has she already gained the support of the young ladies?”

I picked up a juice glass and asked the concubines, gesturing towards Princess Resilia with my chin.

“She invited the young ladies to the Empress’s Palace and even enjoyed tea with them, so she must have won them over then. Did she give them money or something?”

Melanie grumbled and glared at the princess and the young ladies.

“Who knows what kind of deal they had.”

I put the empty juice glass on the table and replied, then made eye contact with Moni, who was peeking out the party hall window.

“Where’s Moya?”

When I approached Moni and asked, Moni’s ruby-colored eyes darted around quickly.

‘What kind of trouble have these guys caused again?’

A bad feeling began to creep in.

Moni hesitated whether to speak or not, then opened her mouth.

“Master, Moya went to earn sausages, Moni~?”

“What are you talking about? Where is Moya right now?”

“O~ver there.”

That can’t be.

I haven’t seen Moya walking around in here at all?

The moment I turned around, the music changed to a cheerful waltz.

Suddenly, Princess Resilia and the young ladies came out to the center of the hall.

With the princess as the center, the young ladies stood in a row on both sides.

“What is it?”

The direction they were facing was where Norton and Linell’s group were gathered.

“……What are they doing?”

Melanie grabbed my hand, saying she would go closer to see.

Everyone’s attention was focused on Princess Resilia and the young ladies.

Princess Resilia suddenly moved her shoulders from side to side, and the young ladies began to follow her.

“Did those things eat something wrong as a group……?”

It was a very funny movement that went well with the cheerful waltz.

Thanks to that, the party hall instantly became a mess.

People here and there began to laugh, holding their stomachs, and the nobles who seemed to be from the family of the young lady who was dancing the shoulder dance knelt down and writhed in shame.

Among them, Princess Resilia’s gestures were the most flamboyant.

The appearance of a tragic woman from a while ago was nowhere to be found, and she was burning with the will to kill someone with laughter.

Linell shrugged at me and couldn’t hide his embarrassment at the situation unfolding before his eyes and burst out laughing.

Whether there was a young lady he liked, Raphael was the only one in Linell’s group who danced the shoulder dance with them.

True to the reputation of the open pants of the Imperial City [a reference to someone being overly flirtatious or having loose morals], the more he danced, the more the zipper was automatically lowered.

“Ah- how lewd, how lewd.”

I shook my head and turned my gaze away.

Moni had already entered the party hall and was secretly stealing cake, then looked at me and smiled.

“Is that Moya?”

When I pointed to Princess Resilia with my finger and asked with my mouth, Moni nodded.

“!”

Good heavens.

How on earth did this happen?

At that time, a servant was entering the party hall, holding Rams in his arms.