The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 111

111. Intense First Skinship

January 26, 2022

“It’s terribly comfortable.”

As I nestled in his arms, my eyes fluttered shut. Dealing with the baby wyvern and the story of the Avatar all at once was overwhelming. Plus, my body was heating up… But wasn’t it strange? Being held by Linelle calmed my mind, and the feverish heat subsided.

“I was hoping you’d say you were nervous…”

He looked as eager for reassurance as someone just starting a relationship.

“I can’t be nervous 24 hours a day. I need to be comfortable, at least during the day.”

Despite my calm words, my heart was already racing. Linelle looked slightly disappointed before pulling me into another tight embrace.

“Warm.”

I’m cool, though… We were sharing the temperatures we needed.

“Every time I hold you, it feels like spring.”

He loosened his arms around me for a moment, looking down at my face and whispering sweetly.

“And the face of my wife, whom I hold and look down upon like this, is like a flower.”

My nose tingled. I tensed my eyes to keep from crying, inadvertently furrowing my brow.

“Smile, I said smile! Like a flower in full bloom.”

He watched my frowning expression and ordered me as if threatening me. He tells me to smile, yet he wears a serious expression himself. His contradictory attitude made me burst out laughing. That must have been what he was aiming for. Sure enough, he looked pleased as he watched me laugh.

“What were you doing alone?”

He stroked my hair as he asked.

“Just… resting.”

“Are you tired?”

“Not really, but I’m a little sleepy.”

“Shall we take a nap together, then?”

He asked the question and nodded before I could even answer.

“Aren’t you busy?”

“If I take a nap, I’ll be busy afterward. I’ll have to rush back to the main palace.”

“Then let’s go back together now.”

“Let’s take a nap together.”

He ignored me affectionately. He stubbornly took my hand, led me to the bed, and forced me to lie down.

“I’m not sleepy anymore, so just…”

“Seeing your sleepy eyes made me sleepy. Like yawning is contagious, maybe sleepiness is too.”

Linelle lay down next to me, cradled my head on his arm, and closed his eyes. I turned my head to admire his handsome profile.

“Zelda, close your eyes.”

“?”

“I can’t sleep if you keep looking at my face like that.”

How did he know I was looking at his face? Since I was caught, I turned my body completely toward Linelle and stared at his face, asking.

“…Why? Why can’t I sleep if I look at you?”

“That’s just how it is. Like seeing delicious food brings back lost appetite, seeing someone handsome and sexy creates desire where there was none.”

He said, lying straight with his eyes closed. His arrogant boasting, which I couldn’t refute, was subtly annoying. So, I deliberately,

“Haaaah! Coo… ore.”

I yawned exaggeratedly and pretended to snore.

“Hehehe.”

Linelle’s laughter reached my right cheek, where the burn scar was. A cool sensation seeped into my cheek, and sleepiness washed over me. As I closed my eyes, I heard something flying around me. A mosquito? The buzzing sound was quite annoying, but I fell asleep anyway.

***

Bellos crossed over to the Lapion Empire as soon as he read the letter Misha sent via crow. Butler Logan tried to persuade Bellos to meet Zelda in his true form, but he stubbornly transformed into another appearance. He wanted to approach Zelda as a mysterious being who wasn’t too overwhelming. Thus, Bellos chose the form of a fairy. At first, he transformed to the size of a finger, but he reduced his size again to that of a little finger to be less noticeable to others and to approach Zelda more easily. He arrived at the Lapion Imperial Palace from the magic tower on Akrato Island in an instant with teleportation magic. Just as Bellos flew into the West Palace, he found Zelda coming out of Rosie’s palace. He recognized her at first glance. The aura of the Avatar, which had been in his body and hadn’t returned for 250 years, surrounded Zelda, so he couldn’t not know. But apart from that appearance, he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

‘Ah, I shouldn’t fall in love already.’

The moment he said those words, he had already fallen in love. Zelda was much more beautiful than he had imagined. Bellos’s heart fluttered for the first time in a long time because of her, whom he was seeing in person for the first time today, rather than the Avatar he had been waiting for for 250 years. Zelda left Rosie’s residence and headed to the Empress’s Palace with her attendants. When she arrived at the Empress’s Palace, she looked back at Bonis and Sharon in front of the bedroom door and said.

“I want to be alone for a while.”

She seemed to have a complicated mind because of her meeting with Moiya.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Rest comfortably.”

Bonis and Sharon understood Zelda’s complicated feelings and answered. Bellos clung to the bottom of her dress and safely followed her into the bedroom. As soon as the bedroom door closed, she went straight to the dressing table and sat in front of the mirror. Bellos sat on the table right next to the dressing table and watched her as if observing her in the mirror. She stared at her face in the mirror for a while and began to talk to the Avatar. The Avatar seemed to have a stronger energy than when it was in Bellos’s body. Surprisingly, the Avatar seemed to have noticed that Bellos had appeared.

‘Yes, it must feel my presence since it was in my body longer.’

Unless Bellos deliberately blocked the Avatar’s voice, he could hear what the Avatar was saying. The Avatar seemed to be subtly throwing his story at her.

‘It’s even telling her about the Avatar Sword.’

Moreover, the Avatar subtly mentioned the great magician—that is, himself—but she didn’t react at all. She seemed to be only concerned about whether to drink the last magic potion or not. In fact, Zelda’s feverishness was due to Bellos’s presence. It was because the Avatar felt Bellos’s presence and reacted.

‘I need to cool down the heat a bit.’

Just as Bellos was about to reach out to her, there was a knock and the bedroom door opened. It was Emperor Linelle.

‘My mate’s lover.’

That’s how Bellos had always thought of Linelle.

‘She’s been my mate since 15 years ago, so of course, I’m her real husband. Yes, that’s right.’

Even though the two of them had a wedding first, it was just a formality, and Bellos didn’t care at all. Due to circumstances, Zelda was living with the Emperor of Lapion Empire first, but Bellos, who had lived 250 years after the age of 21, could be generous enough to embrace this.

‘I’ve met so many women during that time, so I’d be shameless if I couldn’t understand this much.’

However, he had been keeping his body clean since 15 years ago. He was currently purified only for his mate who possessed the Avatar. But, when he actually witnessed the two people’s affection in front of him, he was furious.

‘That, that lover dares to touch my mate like that?’

Bellos wanted to turn back into his true form right away, fairy or not, and drag out Emperor Linelle, who was embracing his mate.

‘Haa, why do I feel like this.’

The feeling of jealousy he was feeling now was very unfamiliar and embarrassing. He had lived normally for 21 years and abnormally for 250 years. A total of about 271 years had passed, but jealousy was a feeling he was experiencing for the first time. He had always thought that jealousy was a ridiculous feeling that only powerless humans had. That’s why Bellos didn’t care at all that Zelda had married another man first. After all, she was his mate, and it was an inevitable fate. But what was this?

‘I want to kill him.’

Bellos, who had transformed into a little finger-sized fairy, could only flap his wings in anger. The two people, who were completely unaware of his presence, barely finished their short and intense skinship and took a nap. Bellos, who landed on the headboard of the bed, didn’t want to hear the two people’s lewd sounds, so he put up a soundproof magic barrier around the bed and closed his eyes.

‘It’s better not to see or hear anything.’

When Bellos opened his eyes again, fortunately, the eyes of the two people who had been sparking until just now were closed. Bellos stared at Linelle’s face for a few seconds and then turned his gaze to Zelda. Her sleeping face was as pure as a child. But the energy felt from this delicate appearance was tremendous.

‘I’ve been waiting for a long time.’

Bellos greeted her in his mind. Then her eyelids fluttered. Bellos was furious again when he saw Linelle sleeping right behind her back, but he tried to focus only on her face. He looked closely at Zelda’s eyes, nose, and mouth. The Avatar had been acknowledging him, but Bellos blocked the Avatar’s energy from focusing on him. If he talked to the Avatar, she would wake up. He just wanted to quietly look at his mate’s face right now. But then, Zelda opened her eyes groggily.

‘Oh, should I greet my mate first?’

Excited, Bellos unknowingly moved his wings more frantically. Zelda’s beautiful pink eyes, drunk with sleep, looked at Bellos. She slowly held out her palm.

She seemed to be wanting to touch him, though she was still drowsy. Bellos was mesmerized by her half-open pink eyes and flew closer to her. Zelda blinked a few times and gently parted her lips.

“That… mosquito bastard…”

Bellos thought, ‘Did I hear wrong?’ and flew closer, hovering over her outstretched palm.

“Keep buzzing… so noisy…”

‘?’

Whack-! It was really instantaneous. Zelda clapped her hands together at the speed of light, as if catching a mosquito. Without even having time to dodge, Bellos’s body was flattened in her palm and fell onto the bed. In order for the flattened body to return to its original state, he had to stay still for 1 minute without moving.

‘Ugh.’

Although Zelda treated him like a mosquito and flattened his whole body, Bellos, who had fallen near her, looked up at her with a pleased expression.

‘Our first skinship is really intense.’

Bellos accepted this situation positively and began to recover. But then. Linelle, who was sleeping behind Zelda, opened his eyes at the sound of her catching a mosquito.

“Hoo-!”

He blew air and blew Bellos out of the bed. Linelle seemed to have mistaken Bellos, who had fallen on the bed, for a mosquito because he was still sleepy.

“Didn’t it bite you?”

He asked, kissing her neck in a sleepy voice. When Zelda nodded silently, he turned her body and made her bury her face in his chest.

‘Hey, lover! You’ve doubled my recovery time!’

Bellos, who had been blown under the marble floor by Linelle’s breath, seethed with resentment in his heart.

‘I guess that won’t work. I’ll have to appear in a more noticeable form next time.’

Bellos, who had recovered his body again, moved his stiff body around and fell into thought.

‘What kind of appearance will work well for my mate?’

***

Linelle enjoyed a sweet nap with Zelda in the Empress’s Palace and then returned to his office in the main palace. Raphael handed him a piece of paper.

“This is what you ordered. I received it an hour ago.”

He put the paper he received from Raphael on the desk and pondered for 30 minutes.

“Your Majesty…?”

Raphael, who was tired of waiting, cautiously called him. He raised his head and picked up the quill pen he had placed next to him.

“Yakante. Yakantera…”

He muttered, circling a part of the paper several times.

“Your Majesty, what are you planning to do?”

“Send Stian to the detached palace right now to deliver a message.”

He put down the quill pen and said to Raphael.

“I will obey your command.”

“Tell everyone to gather in the banquet hall tonight.”

“Ho, perhaps… are you going to change the destination of the hunting competition?”

Raphael asked with an uneasy look.