The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 329

329. Side Story 1: That Day Long Ago (1)

2024.02.08.

The imperial carriage of the Lapion Empire entered the Shattonil royal palace.

“Linell, take a good look. This will be part of our Lapion Empire in the future.”

Emperor Kedwin said to his young son, opening the carriage window.

Linell, who had been sitting upright, turned his gaze to the outside of the carriage, where cherry blossom petals fluttered.

Some of the buildings in the Shattonil royal palace looked as if their roofs had been painted with watercolor paints.

It wasn’t as grand as the Lapion Imperial Palace, but its charming and pretty appearance immediately caught his eye.

“It would be wonderful to use as a summer villa.”

Empress Emily said to Emperor Kedwin, stroking her son’s head as she sat next to him.

“I see you like it. When I take over the Shattonil Kingdom, I will gift this place to the Empress.”

Emperor Kedwin confidently declared.

“Oh, will that day really come? Your Majesty, when will that be possible?”

“This is homework for Linell to solve. So, my son will gift it to you. Won’t you?”

Emperor Kedwin asked with a pleased smile.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Linell readily replied.

In fact, he wasn’t interested in the conversation at all.

He wanted to stay in the Lapion Imperial Palace and practice swordsmanship with Marcrom.

He hadn’t trained for several days because he had come all the way to the Shattonil Kingdom, and his whole body felt stiff.

Linell simply caught the fluttering cherry blossoms with his hand and thought that he should find out where the training ground was as soon as he arrived at the royal palace.

“The Shattonil Kingdom is already treated as a vassal state [a subordinate state]. We could absorb it into the Lapion Empire right away, but we need a justification for that. Find that justification.”

Emperor Kedwin said as if giving a special order.

‘If you want it so badly, why don’t you find it yourself, Father?’

Linell retorted inwardly, looking at his father.

‘Is it really necessary to put the Shattonil Kingdom under the Lapion Empire’s feet? We could get along well while keeping our distance, like how Raphael and Marcrom and I are close.’

However, because of his mother’s smiling and expectant face, he nodded obediently. Then, he turned his gaze back to the outside of the carriage window.

“Your Majesty, I heard that the King wants to form a marriage alliance with us? If we have a royal marriage, can’t we take over this place without using force?”

Empress Emily glanced down at her dignified son and said to Emperor Kedwin.

“That method isn’t bad either. We can keep them under our feet without bloodshed, but people’s greed is endless. Hahaha.”

Young Linell listened to the conversation between the two and organized his thoughts.

There are two ways to make this place, the Shattonil Kingdom, part of the Lapion Empire.

Conquer the kingdom by force, or form an alliance through royal marriage.

‘What if I don’t like the person I’m marrying…’

Linell frowned slightly.

Empress Emily, noticing what her son was worried about, spoke kindly.

“Princess Lesilia is said to be very beautiful. You’ll be able to meet her this time. Aren’t you excited?”

No.

“Yes.”

Linell, who answered differently from his true feelings this time as well, looked at the approaching main palace of the Shattonil royal palace.

At the same time, King Hale and his wife were leading Prince Tesler out of the lobby and had just arrived at the entrance of the main palace.

“Tesler, you must not be disrespectful.”

The King’s sharp voice further weighed down Tesler’s already tense shoulders.

“Don’t worry.”

Tesler replied, staring at the Lapion Empire’s imperial carriage, which was approaching the main palace.

“How is Lesilia’s condition?”

The King asked the Queen with an uneasy expression, and Tesler quickly answered in place of his mother.

“Fortunately, she is better than yesterday. Lesil is also upset.”

“She’s usually fine, but she’s sick at a time like this. She’s useless.”

The King clicked his tongue and sighed deeply.

Princess Lesilia, who had never been sick before, suddenly started suffering from severe mumps a week ago.

Her small, pretty face began to swell, and yesterday she looked like a completely different person.

The King, who had been waiting for the meeting with the Lapion Empire’s Crown Prince for a month, couldn’t help but be annoyed.

His daughter, whose only asset was her face, didn’t seem to be of any help at a time like this, and as expected, she disappointed him.

“Since Lesilia is in that state, you should behave yourself.”

The words ‘behave yourself’ meant that he should not offend Linell, the Crown Prince of the Lapion Empire, and should become close to him.

“I will keep that in mind…”

Tesler didn’t like his father’s order, but he had no choice but to accept it because he knew the current hierarchical relationship between the two countries.

“Our Tesler will try his best. Don’t worry, Your Majesty.”

As the Queen spoke soothingly, the King’s expression finally eased a little.

For nobles, arranged marriages were generally common, and the higher the family, the earlier they would choose a partner in advance.

Royal marriages were no different.

Although they were still being treated as a vassal state of the Lapion Empire, if the royal marriage was successful, they could at least prevent the Shattonil Kingdom from collapsing.

In that sense, the visit of the Lapion Empire’s Emperor, Empress, and Crown Prince was very important to the Shattonil royal family.

After a while, the Lapion Empire’s imperial carriage slowly stopped in front of the main palace of the royal palace.

As expected of the best empire in the North Continent, its dignity was felt even in the appearance of the carriage.

The carriage door opened, and the Lapion Empire’s Emperor, Empress, and Linell got out.

Tesler made eye contact with Linell.

At that moment, he lowered his eyes without realizing it. It was an unintentional action.

He had heard that they were the same age, but the Crown Prince of the Lapion Empire looked like an older brother who was several years older than him.

Tesler, whose pride was hurt by the fact that he had avoided eye contact first, raised his head again and stared at Linell with strength in his eyes.

However, Linell was looking around as he climbed the stairs. It wasn’t until he had climbed all the way to the entrance of the main palace that their eyes met again.

Tesler smiled warmly first.

Linell maintained a blank expression as if he didn’t see the prince in front of him.

‘That arrogant bastard.’

He was a prince himself and he smiled first, but no one had ever shown such a reaction before.

The embarrassment soon turned into anger.

It was the first time he had felt such humiliation.

***

“Ugh, this is so annoying. What is this! The Crown Prince is here, and I can’t even see him.”

Lesilia lay in bed, kicking the blanket and getting annoyed.

Around the bed, noble young ladies, who were the princess’s companions and playmates, sat watching Lesilia’s angry face.

One of the young ladies carefully opened her mouth with a curious voice.

“But, what does Prince Linell look like?”

“Even if I don’t know, I think he’ll be less handsome than Prince Tesler or Lord Martins.”

Since no one had seen Linell’s face yet, the young ladies mentioned the two most popular people in the Shattonil Kingdom and speculated about Linell’s appearance.

“Your Highness is more curious about what Prince Linell looks like than we are, right? Because you’ll become the Empress of the Lapion Empire in the future.”

Another young lady said flatteringly, and the young lady next to her asked enviously.

“Are you really going to become the Empress of the Lapion Empire?”

“Of course. Who else would have a royal marriage? Oh, Zelda might.”

Lesilia didn’t know at this time that words could come true.

The princess raised her swollen face and boasted, then pointed to Zelda, who was standing in the corner without even being able to sit down.

At this, the young ladies looked at Zelda and burst into laughter.

Zelda was not a lower-class noble, but because she was an illegitimate child, she was ignored by the other young ladies.

“Zelda. Be careful not to be seen by Prince Linell until he goes back to the Lapion Empire. I mean, don’t tarnish the dignity of the royal family. Do you understand?”

“…Yes, Your Highness.”

Although she answered, Zelda couldn’t understand why she had to hear these words.

On the days she entered the royal palace, her family paid attention to her clothes, so on the outside, she didn’t look particularly different from the princess or other young ladies.

Her only friend, Bonis, even told her that she was prettier than Lesilia.

Zelda tried not to make an unfair expression.

“Go and get some drinks. Go with Hannah.”

Lesilia pointed to her maid and ordered Zelda.

Usually, the princess used Zelda like her own maid.

She also made her sit apart from the other young ladies on purpose.

Even in the same space, there was a clear line between them.

***

“Boring.”

Linell had been wielding a wooden sword in the room ever since he was guided to the guest room.

“Even though I’m keeping you company like this?”

Raphael grumbled, wiping away the sweat pouring down like rain.

Raphael regretted following Linell all the way to the Shattonil Kingdom with all his body.

“I wonder where the training ground is here?”

“You’re not thinking of going to the training ground at this hour, are you? This isn’t the Lapion Imperial Palace.”

“It’s boring because your skills are terrible.”

“You should read a book instead.”

“I’ve already read all the books I need to read at this age. You know that, right?”

“Then ask Prince Tesler to show you around the royal palace. Ask him what they do for fun in this royal family.”

“That guy? I don’t like him.”

Linell said, recalling Prince Tesler’s pretentious smile.

“You haven’t even exchanged a few words with him.”

“I can just tell by looking at him.”

“But do you know what? The way you two looked at each other was similar.”

“That guy hates me too?”

Linell asked in an unexpected tone, and Raphael was even more surprised by Linell’s reaction.

“…Wouldn’t it be harder if he liked you? If he saw your cynicism.”

“It’s rare for people to hate me. There are many people I hate, though.”

“That’s probably…”

He was about to say that, but Linell beat him to it.

“I know. It must be because of my face.”

“…Ah, is that so? That’s right. It can’t be helped.”

Raphael smiled bitterly, trying to match Linell’s mood.

Because Linell was the Crown Prince of a country before he was his friend.

“I can’t do this. Raphael, I have to go to the training ground right now.”

Before being guided to the guest room, he had asked a guard about the location of the training ground.

“You’re not really thinking of going to the training ground at this hour, are you?”

“It’s only 8 o’clock.”

“You can’t!”

“Why?”

“It’s rude to come to someone else’s palace and go in and out of the training ground as you please.”

Raphael brought up etiquette because he didn’t have a good excuse.

“My father said that this place will be mine later anyway.”

So, he meant that he would do as he pleased.

“And we’re going to avoid the time when the knights are using the training ground anyway. It’s rude to go when they’re there. Who would be there at this hour?”

“That’s true. But if Your Highness goes to the training ground at this hour, you’ll stand out. His Majesty told you to refrain from reckless behavior and be careful with your actions, didn’t he?”

“I just won’t stand out.”

Linell said nonchalantly.

Raphael jumped up and argued that even at a glance, his appearance stood out, and everything he was wearing was saying that he was the Crown Prince, so how could he not stand out?

“I can’t help my face, but I can change my clothes. I saw some servants of the same age earlier, so go and borrow some clothes.”

At the Crown Prince’s urging, Raphael had no choice but to secretly call out a child who looked like a servant of the same age. He gave him a few gold coins on the condition that he kept his mouth shut and borrowed some clothes.

Linell, who quickly changed his clothes, looked in the mirror for a long time and then turned to Raphael with an expression that he didn’t like something.

“Do I still look too much like a Crown Prince?”

“Yes?”

“Even if I wear these clothes, don’t I still look noble?”

Raphael wanted to deny it right away, but annoyingly, Linell’s words were true.

“Then try messing up your hair.”

“Would that make me ugly?”

He said that, but Linell messed up his hair.

Even if he messed it up a lot, Linell’s beauty remained the same.

“See? I’m still handsome.”

“Yes, yes. You’re really handsome.”

His face was neat, so messing up his hair a little didn’t change anything.

This time, he made a cheesy 2:8 part [a specific way of parting hair] and asked Raphael again.

“How is it? Do I still shine?”

Either just ask a question, or just define it.

Raphael’s only resistance was to refuse to answer.

But because he kept urging him to answer, Raphael opened his mouth with a sullen face.

“No one will think you’re the Crown Prince because of your clothes. And the light on your face… darkness will cover it.”

Linell briefly agreed with Raphael’s answer, ‘I guess so?’ and then turned around.

“I’ll be back.”

“Wait a minute, Your Highness! Are you really going to the training ground alone?”

“It would be weirder if two boys were walking around. Besides, you can’t even run. It’s better for me to move alone.”

“But what if you meet a strange person?”

“How could there be a strange person inside the royal palace?”

Linell opened the terrace door and jumped down from the 2nd floor at the same time as he answered.

***

Thanks to the servant’s clothes, the palace people and guards he occasionally encountered passed Linell without thinking.

He arrived safely in front of the training ground, contrary to Raphael’s worries.

However, he was startled the moment he entered the training ground.

‘There are times when Raphael is right.’

He really met a strange person in the royal palace, no, in the training ground.

A girl who looked two or three years younger than him was wielding a wooden sword in the dark, wearing a dress.

“The connecting movements are really terribly bad.”

The girl tried the same movement several times, grumbling as if she didn’t like something.

Linell was surprised by her unusual swordsmanship skills and was stunned for a moment, but then he tried to turn around and leave again,

“Who are you?”

Zelda asked, pointing her wooden sword at Linell.

“Are you a servant?”

Zelda lowered her wooden sword, scanning Linell’s servant clothes up and down.

“…I’m not a servant.”

“Then?”