The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 119

119. So What If I Did?

February 23, 2022

“What… is that?”

I asked, my eyes dropping to Rynell’s hand. In it was a small silk pouch. The moment I thought it looked familiar, I almost collapsed. It was the same pouch I had received from the ‘Confident Night’ clinic.

“Apparently, this amount should last you until just before we arrive in the Tevelo Empire.”

“Th, this is…”

“Yes, it’s the magic potion you take.”

Rynell’s voice was calm. And I really did collapse right there. My body trembled violently. He knows. He found out. That I have a burn scar on my face. That I’ve been taking magic potions to hide that hideous scar… He knows! Rynell silently helped me up. He stared intently at my face, took my hand, and placed the silk pouch on my palm. Instantly, my arm lost strength, and I dropped the silk pouch he had given me. No!

“Whoa!”

At Rynell’s exclamation, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Whew…!”

I could only open my eyes again after hearing his relieved sigh.

“Zelda, do you know you almost broke all of this just now?”

By some stroke of luck, the silk pouch was intact in Rynell’s palm, his hand pressed against the marble floor.

“It would have been shattered if I had been a little slower.”

If it hadn’t been for his quick reflexes, the magic potion would have… The thought alone was horrifying. But this moment was just as terrible.

“Rynell… I, I…”

What should I say? Thank you? Sorry for deceiving you? That I couldn’t tell you because I was afraid you wouldn’t love me if you saw my true self? That I made a deal with Prince Tesler because of this magic potion and came all the way to the Lapion Empire as a surrogate empress? What should I say first…?

“I know. I know everything.”

Rynell said as he stood up. His tone, neither angry nor serious, made my heart even more uneasy.

“How… how much do you know?”

“I heard it from the magician Big. Would that explain everything?”

“Then… are you the one who took him away?!”

“Yes, I have him. Stian is feeding him, though. I hear he eats a lot.”

Rynell said quite seriously. I had so much to say, but I couldn’t open my mouth. I was scared and afraid of everything—what to ask him first, what stories I should listen to.

“Prince Tesler was the first to order this magic potion. This must have been the bait, right?”

He asked, shaking the silk pouch slightly. I nodded weakly and lowered my head.

“Zelda, who was a surrogate empress, look up. I told you, you are my wife and the empress of the Lapion Empire.”

He lifted my chin with his hand.

“Don’t bow your head to anyone. Not even in front of me. Understand?”

“…Yes. Thank you, Rynell.”

I answered, but my head was already falling again.

“Oh, you really don’t listen. I might just not give this to you!”

At his threat, I quickly lifted my head to look at him. There was a smile on his face that was too sweet for someone making a threat. Come to think of it, he was always like that. He made my secret, which I could hardly even whisper, seem like nothing. He cupped my cheeks with both hands and looked into my eyes. It was like he was talking to me with his eyes. *It’s okay. There’s nothing to worry about. Geez, you still look bad. You’re such an idiot. Smile, I said smile!* If his gaze could be put into words, he would surely have said that. I tried to smile. The corners of my lips went up. But at the same time, tears streamed down.

“What does it mean to smile and cry at the same time?”

Rynell’s tone finally became serious.

“I think I told you not to cry before, didn’t I? At this point, I could send you to prison for habitually disobeying the imperial order.”

“I’m thankful, sorry, and happy… so…”

“Still… don’t cry. It hurts my heart.”

He cut me off and hugged me tightly. More tears poured out. It’s because of Rynell. His love is so overwhelming and undeserved that it overflows as tears. I decided to think of what I’m shedding now as not tears but gratitude. So it’s okay to cry as much as I want, right? With that good excuse, I kept sobbing in his arms. He silently stroked my hair, patted my back, and hugged me again with both arms, repeating the actions in a different order.

“The magician Big said that the key ingredient in the magic potion, an herb called ‘Yakante,’ grows in a place called the Cocoa Forest in the Tevelo Empire.”

When I stopped crying and calmed down to some extent, he led me to the sofa and said. Yakante… I already knew where that herb grew through Rosie, but now I even knew the name of the herb.

“Is that why you changed the destination of the hunting competition to the Tevelo Empire?”

“Are you going to cry again if I say yes?”

Rynell narrowed his eyes and pointed to my eyes with his hand.

“I won’t cry…”

When I answered with my eyes wide open, the corners of his lips twitched.

“It seems the magician Big didn’t have much Yakante to begin with. This was made with the remaining Yakante.”

Rynell handed me the silk pouch again.

“You changed the destination to the Tevelo Empire, which is closest to the Northern Continent, not only because of the herb but also because the amount of magic potion isn’t enough…”

I said, fiddling with the silk pouch in my hand.

“That’s right. If there was enough magic potion, we could have finished the hunting competition in the Patsha Empire as originally planned and then stopped by the Tevelo Empire on the way back to the Northern Continent to get the herb.”

“It’s all my fault…”

“No, thanks to you, the hunting competition schedule has become easier for the other dignitaries.”

He raised his hand, tucked my hair behind my ear, and stroked my right face.

“I don’t care.”

I felt like someone was squeezing my heart with their hand. I couldn’t breathe.

“I don’t care anymore. Any appearance is fine. You’re the one who made me this way.”

“But the scar on my face is too…!”

“So what if it is.”

“Rynell…”

“I heard from the magician Big what the burn scar looked like. So I imagined it every time I looked at your face. I even imagined making an even worse scar on this right side of my face.”

He spoke to me as if he was scolding me, then paused for a moment, frowned, and opened his mouth again.

“But the conclusion I came to is, ‘So what if it is.’ Don’t argue with me about why I’m okay with it. Don’t tell me things will change when I actually see the scar. Don’t ask me that. I can’t answer you either. You’re the one who made me like this…”

Rynell’s blue eyes shone clearly.

“You are.”

With his words, tears streamed down again. He tilted his head and kissed the area on my right side where the burn scar was. Rynell’s lips stayed on my right cheek for a long time before falling away. He silently wiped away my tears.

“Is there anything else I can say besides thank you? What should I say in this situation…”

“I love you.”

Rynell said, getting up from the sofa.

“I think that would be enough.”

“I love you…”

I really love you. I said, looking up at him while sitting on the sofa. I wanted to stand face to face with him and tell him, but the hand holding the silk pouch kept trembling. I couldn’t move because I was afraid I would make another foolish mistake like before and drop the silk pouch.

“I’ll tell you when I get back.”

“Yes.”

“Why are you saying ‘yes’ so obediently?”

“…Why?”

“That was a push-and-pull tactic just now.”

“Who did you learn push-and-pull from… Ah, Raphael?”

“Why, did he teach you something weird again? I’m going to get that guy!”

“No, please tell me later. I’ll be waiting.”

He nodded and stood still.

“Aren’t you leaving?”

“Originally, I was going to kiss you around this point and then say, ‘I’ll do that when I get back,’ to complete the push-and-pull tactic?”

“…”

“But I want to do one of the two… I’m in trouble, Empress.”

His tone, which was like a pure boy at first, became very solemn at the end.

“Please do both when you get back. And tell Raphael it worked well on me.”

“Should I, then?”

He said regretfully, checked the time, and sighed.

“I should go to the conference hall now. The ministers have no gratitude for me at all, so they’ll be cursing at me. Let’s continue our conversation when I get back.”

“Yes, come back safely, I love you.”

“…Ah, I can’t do push-and-pull.”

Rynell, who had turned around, turned back, leaned over, and kissed me. The two lips met skillfully and overlapped, and their soft affection began to move.

“But I’ll still say I love you later.”

He said as he parted his lips, with a look that said his push-and-pull hadn’t completely failed.

“I’m already excited. I want to hear it soon.”

At my answer, he smiled contentedly and muttered, ‘It’s working,’ as he left the bedroom door, looking for Raphael. I couldn’t move for a long time, holding the silk pouch containing the magic potion to my chest. Only after the silk pouch was soaked with my tears could I get up from the sofa.

***

Rynell said he wouldn’t be back in the bedroom until after 12 a.m. after finishing the meeting with the ministers. With the Continental Hunting Competition just three days away, there must be many things to discuss with the ministers for the last time. The current time is 9 p.m. There are about three hours left before he returns to the bedroom from the conference hall. As soon as the immediate fire was put out, things I had been putting off popped up in my head one by one. First, the thought of the baby wyvern Moiya and my doubts about being the Wyvern’s Road—these two things wouldn’t be resolved no matter how much I worried about them right now. I was curious about the Avatar Sword that the Avatar had mentioned, but I had no desire to get my hands on it. There was no particular reason to do so. If I get the Avatar Sword, I can have the world? Why should I have the world? Rynell is my whole world, so being by his side now is no different from having the world. Any more wishes are greed. I am rich and grateful enough just to be able to love him now. I wasn’t too worried about the Continental Hunting Competition either. I was a little concerned about whether the concubines would adapt well, but it would be fine unless there was heavy rain or monsters appeared during the journey. Ah, come to think of it…

“Are Catherine and Count Ethan really going to meet in the warehouse?”

Among various worries, something I had completely forgotten suddenly came to mind. They were supposed to meet at 10 p.m. tonight, so the two of them hadn’t arrived at the training grounds yet. I opened the bedroom door and went out to call Sharon, who was in the waiting room, into the room.

“Sharon, do you remember the uniform we had made a few days ago?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. All the uniforms you ordered have been brought to the main palace’s wardrobe.”

“Bring me just one uniform.”

“Why a uniform at this hour… Are you perhaps going to the training grounds?”

As expected, Sharon is quick-witted. When I smiled and nodded, Sharon checked the time and said with a slightly worried voice.

“Wouldn’t His Majesty be worried?”

“I’ll be back before then. Even if he knows I went to the training grounds, he won’t say much. He already knows I can do martial arts.”

“Are you going with Commander Markrom?”

“I can’t take him because I’m not going to practice swordsmanship.”

“What… what do you mean?”

Sharon asked with a puzzled look.

“I’m going to spy. There’s something I need to confirm.”

“At this hour? Who?”

“I’ll tell you when I get back. I’m short on time.”

“…Ah, yes. I’ll bring it right away.”

Sharon still had a worried expression, but when I urged her, she had no choice but to go to the wardrobe and bring the uniform.

***

I shouldn’t go inside the training grounds, should I? I arrived in front of the training grounds building, went around the back of the building, and went to the window of the warehouse. I took out my pocket watch and checked the time, 9:40 p.m. It seemed no one had arrived yet. I went into the warehouse this afternoon and slightly opened the window, which I had unlocked in advance, and sat down under it, lowering my body. I had heard enough of Catherine’s feelings at the smithy, but I hadn’t heard Count Ethan’s thoughts. It might be something related to Rynell. That was why I came here. Count Ethan said he had something to say to Catherine, so let’s just listen to that and leave.

“Heeiik, kyaak…!”

“?”

Someone was approaching from the darkness, found me under the window, and fell backward. I couldn’t hide either. The person who fell covered their mouth with both hands, and I almost screamed too, but I quickly shut my mouth. Is it Catherine’s maid? Ah, maybe she came to watch. Did she see my face? What if she did? Should I just knock her out? My thoughts were complicated.

“Y, Your Majesty?”

Damn it, she saw me. This won’t do. I’ll have to knock her out and leave. Even if she wakes up later and says she saw the Empress here, almost no one will believe her. Catherine would probably not believe her, saying her maid saw something that wasn’t there. Even if she believes it, I, as the Empress, can just deny it. I was slowly trying to get up,

“What, what brings Your Majesty here?”

What, whose voice is that? I quickly approached the maid who had fallen.

“…Melanie?!”

Why is she here?