The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 117

117. My Body Is Changing

2022.02.16.

Linell, unfazed by Prince Kalvain’s excitement, slightly adjusted his question with a relaxed voice.

“I heard there are some ministers trying to delay your wedding. Is that also true?”

“Ahem, the wedding… is scheduled after the hunting competition.”

Prince Kalvain replied with a displeased tone. Princess Jasper’s expression was also not good. Prince Norton, sitting next to them, glanced at me, his eyes asking if I knew why Linell was bringing this up. I shook my head slightly, indicating I didn’t know either.

“How about this?”

Linell once again focused the attention of the dignitaries.

“After the hunting competition in the Tevelo Empire, all the dignitaries from the Northern Continent move to the Partsha Empire. Of course, it would be even better if the dignitaries from the Southern Continent could join us.”

He extended a hand towards the dignitaries from the Southern Continent and continued.

“That way, everyone can attend and celebrate Prince Kalvain and his wife’s wedding, and enjoy the festival while relaxing from their journey for a few days… What do you all think?”

“I am amazed by His Majesty Linell’s thoughtful consideration! Hahaha.”

Prince Tesler looked back and forth between Prince Kalvain and Linell, who were sitting in front of him, and raised his voice.

“Oh, and on the way back to the Northern Continent, how about traveling through the sea route of the Delphi Empire, which is close to the capital of the Partsha Empire?”

His gaze reached Emperor Katria.

“That’s a good idea. We will gladly offer our empire’s ships. Surely, you won’t return the ships with the storage rooms empty, will you?”

“Of course not.”

He nodded and laughed cheerfully at Emperor Katria’s blatant request for a reward.

“How could he, how could he think of that…”

Prince Kalvain muttered to himself, still unable to believe Linell’s proposal. The dignitaries gathered in the banquet hall were already agreeing with Linell’s reasonable suggestion. I looked down at his hand still holding mine, then looked at his face. He didn’t have the leeway to look at me now, as he was still focused on Prince Kalvain. Prince Kalvain looked at Princess Jasper, seeking her opinion, and she nodded briefly in agreement. A smile spread across Prince Kalvain’s tense face. Linell seemed to have captured that moment, as he spoke again as if he had been waiting.

“I will provide a good excuse for some of the opposing ministers who are trying to delay the wedding.”

“What… do you mean by that?”

Prince Kalvain asked with a much more relaxed expression than before.

“Use the dignitaries from both continents to pressure the opposing ministers.”

“Ah…”

“Why not push through with the emperor’s coronation ceremony along with the wedding? Then the celebration will be doubled.”

No dignitary showed any opposition to Linell’s strong tone.

“Will you accept my proposal?”

Linell asked Prince Kalvain, raising his wine glass.

“Yes, of course. I am deeply grateful for Your Majesty’s consideration. But, Your Majesty.”

Prince Kalvain also raised his wine glass and carefully added.

“What is your real intention behind suddenly making such a proposal…?”

“Let’s just say, goodwill?”

He replied with a refreshing face, in stark contrast to Prince Kalvain’s complicated expression. Half of the dignitaries gathered in the banquet hall seemed to believe Linell’s words, while the other half looked at him with suspicion. My thoughts were closer to the latter. Prince Kalvain naturally had no reason to refuse Linell’s proposal. Considering the current situation of the prince and princess in the Partsha Empire, it was clearly a tempting offer. Prince Kalvain would eventually ascend to the throne of the Partsha Empire anyway. The only question was when. Even if the issue of legitimacy was set aside, there would inevitably be noise in marrying Princess Jasper, who was his sister-in-law, as his empress. I remembered what Linell had told me a while ago. In fact, quite a few ministers were deliberately dragging out and opposing Prince Kalvain’s wedding. So, if the major dignitaries from both continents were gathered, whether it was a wedding or a coronation, or even both at once as Linell said, it would be a great opportunity for Prince Kalvain.

“Of course, all of this would only be possible if Emperor Adrian of the Tevelo Empire, the new destination, agrees.”

Linell now raised his wine glass towards Emperor Adrian.

“Hahaha, it would be a great honor for me to welcome the dignitaries from the Northern Continent, especially the two owners of the Lapion Empire, to the Tevelo Palace.”

Emperor Adrian accepted his proposal without hesitation.

“Since Emperor Adrian has also agreed, I hereby announce to all the dignitaries that the destination of this continental hunting competition has been changed from the Partsha Empire to the Tevelo Empire!”

Linell looked straight ahead and raised his wine glass high.

“Yes, we will follow your opinion!”

Everyone answered in unison, as if singing in chorus. He took a long sip of wine, and the dignitaries clinked their glasses with those on either side and in front of them. The banquet hall, which had been tense just a moment ago, was soon filled with laughter. Prince Kalvain put his arm around Princess Jasper’s shoulder and whispered something to her. Princess Jasper smiled brightly at her husband and turned her head to take a sip of wine.

‘Why is she frowning?’

I happened to witness her strongly furrowing her brow as she took her lips away from the wine glass. It was fleeting, but her expression was clearly unpleasant. What a strange expression. Just then, Princess Resilia offered her congratulations to Princess Jasper, and she smiled brightly again.

‘Well, I must have been mistaken. Or the wine tasted strange.’

“Why aren’t you eating?”

Startled by his voice whispering to me, I flinched.

“Pardon?”

“Everyone else is enjoying it, but the Empress hasn’t touched her food.”

He gestured to the deer steak in front of me.

“Ah, I should eat.”

“Go ahead and try it. They say it melts in your mouth. It’s that deer you missed at the training ground today.”

He smiled as he cut the steak with a knife.

“Really?”

Today is truly a series of surprises. I looked down at the deer steak with wide eyes.

“Of course, I’m just kidding.”

He chuckled. I laughed in vain at his joke and cut the steak, putting it in my mouth.

“Mmm. It’s really delicious.”

“Right? It makes you regret missing that deer today, doesn’t it?”

“It does. I should have caught it. Do the chefs only cook the deer meat? Do you know how they handle the antlers?”

I asked, gripping the knife and fork tightly.

“Just eating the deer meat is enough to boost your stamina.”

“I know, I’m a witness.”

I nodded, acknowledging his words, but in reality, my mind was filled with worries about the whereabouts of the magician Big.

‘This is all because of that bastard.’

I glared at Prince Kalvain and Prince Tesler, who were laughing and chatting brightly, and clenched my teeth. Princess Resilia, sitting next to them, frequently glanced at Prince Norton, who was diagonally across from her, even while enjoying a conversation with Princess Jasper. But strangely enough, Prince Norton was looking at Rosie more often than Princess Resilia was looking at him. I turned my gaze back to Prince Tesler. The prince picked up a spoon and scooped up the soup in front of him. I stared intently at the prince’s spoon and cursed inwardly.

“Ah! Hot, hot!”

Prince Tesler dropped the spoon on the floor, making a fuss as soon as he put the soup in his mouth.

“Are you alright, Your Highness?”

“Oh my, what’s wrong?”

The dignitaries around the prince were also surprised and asked with concern.

“The, the soup is too… hot.”

Prince Tesler replied after gulping down cold water. He grimaced as if the roof of his mouth had been scalded from eating the soup. Some of the dignitaries then took a sip of their own soup and tilted their heads.

“It’s not that hot?”

“Yeah, mine is at the perfect temperature to eat, it’s strange.”

Prince Kalvain, sitting in front of the prince, also tried his soup again and tilted his head.

“This isn’t that hot, but the soup I just scooped up with my spoon was really hot, like boiling water.”

Everyone started looking at Prince Tesler strangely. But that wasn’t a lie. The soup Prince Tesler ate was the one I raised the temperature of. But was it really as hot as boiling water, as the prince described? That couldn’t be… I have the ability to control flames and raise the temperature of objects, but I can’t raise the temperature to the point where he sticks his tongue out and says it’s hot. It doesn’t seem like Prince Tesler is acting? What happened? Prince Tesler kept gulping down cold water and grumbling to Grand Duke Martins, who was sitting next to him. The sight wasn’t very satisfying. But Prince Tesler’s laughter was too annoying to just sit here and do nothing. So, I played a little prank… but something felt strange. I started to feel a new sensation inside me. It felt like the hot heat that had been scattered all over my body was gathering in one place. What is this feeling? What is it?

“Be careful.”

Princess Resilia scolded her brother and elegantly cut the deer steak with a gesture, bringing it to her mouth.

‘Let’s try again.’

I decided to check the power that had changed. The medium-rare deer steak was entering her mouth. I focused my mind on the steak that Princess Resilia had pierced with her fork. The surface of the steak began to sizzle as if it were being grilled directly over a fire. As soon as Princess Resilia put it in her mouth, she let out a scream and immediately spat out the steak she had put in her mouth.

“Aah, hot, hot!”

Following Prince Tesler, Princess Resilia also shouted that it was hot and made a fuss. It was definitely my doing. I couldn’t deny it since the reaction was the same as Prince Tesler’s a moment ago.

How could this be? I felt like flames rose to the top of my head and then went out inside my body. ‘Why are you so surprised? Your abilities have only just begun to manifest,’ the incarnation inside me said nonchalantly, as if it were nothing. Princess Resilia stuck out her tongue and fanned herself with her hand, drinking cold water like Prince Tesler. Anyway, it seemed like the siblings’ tongues were definitely burned. That’s a relief. It’s a very small revenge, but it felt pretty good. The corner of my mouth slightly turned up without me realizing it. Is the power I have really growing, as the incarnation said? I need to have a serious conversation with the incarnation about this issue again. I felt hungry after using my power a bit. I took my eyes off the two siblings and was about to start eating the deer steak in earnest when a suspicious gaze caught my eye. Emperor Adrian was looking at me with a smile that I couldn’t understand. How long had he been watching? Well, whatever. Silver Fish couldn’t have imagined that I had drastically raised the temperature of Prince Tesler’s soup and the steak that Princess Resilia ate.

-“Why didn’t you just burn the steak to a crisp?”

Emperor Adrian sent his thoughts in a rather cheerful voice.

“……”

How did that human know? Emperor Adrian coughed until his face turned red, as if he had choked from laughing alone, and picked up a water glass. I stared at the water glass at the moment when Silver Fish put his lips to the cup. After a few seconds, bubbles began to rise from inside the water glass.

“Heh heh.”

Emperor Adrian looked into the water glass as he was about to drink the water and smirked slightly. Then he put the water glass back on the table without drinking the water. He’s such a slippery eel.

-“It doesn’t work on me. Your Majesty the Empress.”

Silver Fish raised his left hand to the table with a triumphant expression, flicked his index finger, and then picked up a fork with his left hand. Is he left-handed? Emperor Adrian seemed to have been using only his left hand since I first saw him. It’s not that he doesn’t use his right hand at all, but he uses his left hand almost 90% of the time. Anyway, I stared at Emperor Adrian’s fork handle, imagining it slowly heating up over a fire.

“Ugh.”

After a few seconds, Silver Fish dropped the fork on the floor. As soon as the fork fell to the floor, one of the attendants waiting behind him brought Silver Fish a new fork. Silver Fish shook his left hand, which had been holding the fork, and glared at me.

-“Oh, I was careless.”

If I could send my thoughts to Silver Fish, I would have retorted like this.

‘So don’t act up. Unless you want to experience your palm prints melting away in the fire.’

I pretended not to know anything and focused on my meal. Just then, I heard Rosie whispering to Melanie, who was sitting next to her.

“Why are they acting like that?”

“Maybe the siblings can’t eat anything hot, but what about Emperor Adrian? I don’t know.”

Melanie elegantly cut the deer steak and replied to Rosie.

“Hmph, and I knew it from the moment that princess spoke carelessly? She’s just as careless when it comes to eating.”

Melanie’s voice, who said that, was also carelessly loud. But I had no intention of scolding her at all.