The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 334

334. Side Story 6: Eyes that Appeared on the First Night (6)

February 13, 2024

10 years later.

The Emperor, having completed the royal wedding, retired to the Empress’s palace as night fell.

He couldn’t enter the bedchamber immediately because the Empress was still finishing her bath, so he waited in another room.

“I wondered why she looked so familiar….”

Linelle had been startled when he first saw Zelda at the grand temple where the wedding was held.

She was the same woman he had argued with at the ‘Dignified Night’ clinic the previous night.

He hadn’t gotten a good look at her face because she had immediately donned a veiled hat as she left the consultation room, but he distinctly remembered those bright pink eyes.

In fact, the moment he saw those pink eyes at the clinic, he was reminded of the girl he had met at the Shato Neil royal palace 10 years ago, the one who had dared to make the Crown Prince wait for three hours and then never showed up, prompting him to provoke her without thinking.

And now she was to become the Empress.

He couldn’t help but chuckle in disbelief.

“You seemed uneasy before the royal wedding, but now that you’re married, you seem to be in a good mood?”

Raphael interpreted Linelle’s chuckle that way.

“Does this look like I’m laughing because I’m happy?”

“Really? Is there any reason to be unhappy?”

“Raphael, it’s that woman.”

“Yes? What woman?”

“The woman who stood up to me at the clinic yesterday.”

“Surely, you don’t mean Her Majesty the Empress?”

Raphael had heard that the Emperor had gotten into an argument with a woman in the clinic’s waiting room while he was away the night before.

After hearing the whole story, it was a quarrel that wouldn’t have happened if Linelle hadn’t spoken to the woman who was reading the newspaper.

“Yes, the Empress….”

Linelle still felt awkward calling her ‘Empress.’

“Good heavens, the woman with the pink eyes you provoked was the Empress?”

“Provoked?”

“I want to take your side, but even just hearing the gist of it, it’s clear that Your Majesty started it.”

At Raphael’s blunt words, he silently cursed.

“Hahaha, it seems like you’re a match made in heaven.”

At his sharp, cutting gaze, Raphael quickly laughed good-naturedly and interpreted their meeting in a positive light.

“But why did Her Majesty the Empress come to the clinic last night?”

“You say ‘Empress’ so easily.”

“Then what should I call her? ‘The one with the same eyes as a certain swordswoman who betrayed Your Majesty 10 years ago and didn’t show up at the appointed place’?”

Raphael said teasingly with a sly smile, then quickly changed his words at Linelle’s glare, who looked ready to throw something.

“Anyway, she’s the one who will be with Your Majesty for~ever. So forget about the argument at the clinic yesterday.”

“Who said anything?”

Linelle had a fleeting thought inside the grand temple, after lifting the bride’s veil, that the pink eyes he faced might be those of that girl.

But he smiled bitterly, thinking about how unlikely that was.

Besides, he recalled that pink eyes were as common in the Kingdom of Shato Neil as brown eyes were in the Lapion Empire.

“Your Majesty, I’m saying this out of concern, but you absolutely must not say anything strange.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like how you met a girl with pink eyes in the Shato Neil royal palace, or how you were excited while clashing wooden swords with that girl in the training grounds late at night, or how you were supposed to meet her the next day but she didn’t show up after waiting for hours, which made you angry, or how you think of her every year around this time, or how you wonder if that girl might be your first love. Don’t you dare say any of that. Understood?”

“……”

Raphael not only listed the facts but also added his own interpretation of Linelle’s inner thoughts.

“Oh? You’re not saying anything, so you were really thinking of asking?”

Raphael hit his forehead with his hand hard enough to make a sound, looking embarrassed.

“I mean… can’t I just ask? Saying it naturally, like the same eyes reminded me of something from the past.”

“Aigo [expression of frustration], it really shows that you’ve never been in a relationship.”

“What?”

“Think about it. Who wants to hear about another woman on their first night?”

“Since she has the same pink eyes, she might know that girl….”

“Heo [another expression of surprise or disbelief]? Your Majesty. That’s why you shouldn’t ask!”

Raphael raised his hand and vehemently waved it.

“If you’re going to ask, ask on your 10th wedding anniversary, no, your 20th anniversary. After that much time, she might calmly accept that you dated a woman with the same pink eyes. Until then, never bring it up, okay?”

“Alright. Alright. Don’t make such a fuss.”

He was getting an earful from his secretary’s nagging.

“It’s better to be fussy than to be clueless.”

“……Are you saying that for me to hear?”

“……Of course not. That’s just how it is.”

Just then, there was a knock, and Stian’s voice was heard.

“Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress says all preparations are complete.”

Hearing those words, Linelle swallowed involuntarily.

“Let’s go now.”

Raphael opened the door.

“Where to?”

“Where else? To Her Majesty the Empress’s bedchamber, of course!”

As Raphael fussed, looking frustrated as if the feared event had finally occurred, Linelle said awkwardly, “Ah, right,” and stood still.

Seeing him like that, Raphael whispered with a serious face.

“Since Your Majesty is completely ignorant in this area, I dare to offer some advice.”

“……Give it.”

He was annoyed that Raphael knew his private life so well, but he was already listening intently to Raphael.

Even if it hurt his pride a little, it seemed better to listen to even a small piece of advice before going in.

“Your Majesty. If it’s too difficult, just be unconditionally gentle, slow, and affectionate. Understood?”

Raphael whispered in his ear.

He wanted to ask what he was doing, as it was ticklish, but he thought he would be ridiculed if he asked more, so he just snorted and left the room.

“Have a good night. Then I’ll see Your Majesty tomorrow morning, a true adult!”

“That bastard, really.”

Raphael’s smile, which was clearly teasing, was unpleasant to look at, but there was no time to delay.

Despite Raphael’s advice, Linelle couldn’t stop thinking about the pink eyes of that girl from 10 years ago.

“Please go quickly. The Empress must be waiting eagerly.”

“I’ll be back.”

“Y-yes? You should be sleeping in the bedchamber, not coming back!”

“Ah. That’s right. But do we really have to sleep in the same bed?”

“Your Majesty, how can you ask such an obvious question so doubtfully?!”

“The Empress will be cold?”

Ever since he received the low-temperature curse from a magician named Philike from the Southern Continent in the Battle of Death Canyon three years ago, his body temperature had been consistently in the dead of winter.

It was okay for short periods, but if someone was close to him for several hours, it would definitely affect their body temperature.

“I’m sorry to say this to Her Majesty the Empress, but that is also Her Majesty the Empress’s fate. Instead, you can treat her warmly, can’t you?”

“Right.”

Linelle nodded at Raphael’s advice.

It was a piece of advice that resonated with him for the first time in a while.

“Your Majesty. You can do it, right?”

“Is there anything I can’t do? I’m good at anything that involves the body.”

I knew he would say that.

Raphael said, grabbing the back of his neck.

“This isn’t sword training or hunting!”

“Who said it was?”

“Then why do you look like you’re going to fight?”

“In a way, it’s a fight. Hunting and the first night are the same in that they use the body. Only the place is different.”

Linelle thought that way to feel less nervous.

“……Y-yes?!”

What should I do?

Raphael was restless.

“I’m afraid someone will hear, really.”

Raphael raised his hand to cover Linelle’s mouth, but he brushed Raphael’s hand away.

“How dare you raise your hand.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I almost touched the lips that Her Majesty the Empress should touch first.”

“Why would the Empress touch my lips?”

Linelle quietly muttered, rolling his lips into his mouth.

Do I have to tell you even this?

Raphael sighed deeply and opened his mouth.

“Because a kiss is the beginning of the wedding night.”

Then he chuckled in a sinister voice.

“The wedding night is when feelings arise….”

“What do you think the first night is for? You have to uphold the traditions of the imperial family!”

Raphael immediately cut him off and raised his voice.

“It seems like we can just avoid the eyes of the priests….”

“Your Majesty! The priests aren’t guarding the bedchamber like before, but whether there are priests or not, you have to uphold the traditions of the imperial family, okay?”

“Do we really have to do everything tonight?”

He said, scratching his head.

Seeing the Emperor talking about the first night like it was a task, the chamberlain Stian, who was standing behind him, began to pray, and Raphael grabbed his hand and said seriously.

“Oh, no. Your Majesty! You’re not thinking of having the wedding night in stages over several days, are you?”

“…….”

His expression says it all.

Raphael was in despair.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.”

“You have to know something to… take care of it.”

“Then what do you know so much about that you’re showing off?”

“I dare to say that there is only one area in which I am superior to Your Majesty. That is ‘love.’”

“Messy guy.”

“No, why do you define my love that way? Huh?”

Raphael jumped up with an aggrieved face.

“Enough. Move.”

Linelle opened the door and finally started walking down the hallway.

However, his steps slowed as he got closer to the Empress’s bedchamber.

Raphael watched his back, feeling anxious.

***

He wasn’t that nervous when he opened the bedroom door.

However, his composure crumbled as he entered the room.

Seeing Zelda sitting on the bed in a thin slip, his heart rate began to become unstable.

She was sitting precariously on the edge of the bed, as if she would fly away with a puff of breath.

‘If you’re cold, put on some clothes. Why is she trembling like that?’

Linelle frowned, looking down at her trembling body.

He was more worried about whether she could handle his low body temperature.

He wondered if he should take off the clothes he was wearing, but he was only wearing a gown, so he couldn’t easily take it off.

Anyway, he would have to take it off soon.

‘Ah, so that’s why the Empress was waiting almost naked? Because she was going to take it off anyway?’

Linelle was reminded of a somewhat embarrassing scene and made eye contact with her.

As soon as Zelda made eye contact with him, she lowered her head again.

‘The Emperor wouldn’t recognize me, would he?’

She wasn’t trembling because she was cold, having come here as a ‘proxy Empress’ [someone acting as Empress in place of the real one].

To make matters worse, the Emperor was the man she had argued with in the waiting room of the ‘Dignified Night’ clinic the night before, where she had gone to buy a magical potion to temporarily remove burn scars.

‘Ah, I really have the worst luck!’

Things were seriously twisted.

“Why don’t you lift your face?”

That was the first thing he said.

Unintentionally, his tone came out too cold.

He was surprised himself, but he couldn’t correct it because he had already said it.

“Did you commit a crime?”

He made a joke to smooth over his stiff tone, but she looked even more frightened.

He didn’t know that his smiling face looked more ferocious than his expressionless face.

He really meant to make her laugh, but seeing Zelda’s serious face, he took a deep breath and smiled again, saying,

“You look like you’re hiding something from me?”

He thought she would laugh and find it funny, but this time she was startled and turned into a truly guilty face.

“What’s with that guilty expression all the time?”

He wanted to see her pink eyes up close, so he told her to lift her head, but instead of lifting her head, she closed her eyes.

“I-I’m sorry!”

Zelda apologized with her eyes tightly closed.

‘Ha, anyone would think I threatened her into a royal wedding.’

Seeing her expression as if she had been forcibly dragged and seated on the bed, he was quite displeased.

As Raphael said, they were now married, so why was she so nervous?

His tone kept coming out sarcastic out of spite.

“We’re about to have our first night, shouldn’t we see each other’s faces properly?”

Those pink eyes, I want to see those eyes.

He lifted Zelda’s chin with his hand.

He only lifted her chin, but her body was lifted with it.

“Oh my!”

Then she fell backward onto the bed.

‘Damn it, why is her body so flimsy?’

She was definitely not the girl he had met 10 years ago. That girl was not this weak.

Linelle was also embarrassed inside, but without showing it, he leaned towards Zelda with an even bolder gaze.

“You have a fiery personality. Anyone would think you’ve been waiting for this day?”

“!”