The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 120

120. Is It an Affair?

“Yes, this is Melanie. Just a moment… Hedon, come out. I can’t be the only one in trouble.”

Melanie turned around and quietly called her maid. Her maid hesitantly appeared from the corner of the training grounds.

“G-Greetings, Your Majesty.”

“…Yes.”

I glanced at Hedon for a moment before looking back at Melanie.

“What brings you here?”

“I regret to say, but it seems Your Majesty is here for the same reason as I am, isn’t she?”

Melanie pointed to the window of the warehouse and asked. When I didn’t answer, she asked again.

“Because of Catherine… am I right?”

“How did you know?”

I simply admitted it and asked her as well. Melanie already had a confident expression, and it wasn’t the time or place to make excuses. And it’s not like it’s my affair.

“Hedon’s cousin is a servant of Count Ethan. And I was the one who told Catherine that the Count works at the Imperial Palace smithy.”

“Ah.”

The situation began to make sense. Hedon must have heard from her cousin that Count Ethan was meeting Catherine at the training ground warehouse tonight, and she told Melanie. Melanie came all the way here to confirm if those two were really having a secret rendezvous. Just like me. What should I do now?

“Your Majesty, now that it’s come to this, how about we….”

Melanie pointed to the warehouse window again and spoke cautiously. She meant to eavesdrop together.

“Okay. But we have to be really quiet. We mustn’t get caught.”

Melanie nodded vigorously. When I gestured back towards the window, Hedon quickly helped Melanie up and dusted off her dress. The three women gathered under the window. Melanie stuck uncomfortably close to me. I wasn’t thrilled about being shoulder to shoulder with Melanie instead of Rosie, but since we had the same goal, I willingly gave her space. About five minutes after crouching under the window, we heard the warehouse door open. And soon after, we heard the voices of Catherine and Count Ethan simultaneously. I was secretly curious who would arrive first, but it seemed they had met from the entrance of the training grounds or the cypress forest. I put my index finger to my lips and signaled Melanie and Hedon to be quiet. They both nodded at the same time. But Melanie moved her foot, making a rustling sound. Fortunately, the sound wasn’t loud enough to be heard inside the warehouse, but I warned her again.

“The servant?”

Count Ethan’s voice leaked through the open crack of the window.

“I told him to hide near the entrance of the training grounds. What about your servant?”

“I came alone.”

“This is truly a place no one would know about. Who would imagine that a concubine would secretly meet a blacksmith in the training ground warehouse at this hour?”

Catherine seemed to be enjoying the situation.

‘Instead of imagining, there are actually three people here who saw it.’

And one of them is the Empress.

“Is it an affair? It is an affair, isn’t it?”

Melanie asked me with her lips [meaning silently, without speaking].

“We don’t know yet.”

I replied silently and continued to focus on their conversation.

“I called you here to talk quietly. Don’t misunderstand.”

Catherine immediately flared up at Count Ethan’s words after a moment of hesitation.

“What? Are you kidding me?”

Catherine’s anger wasn’t entirely unreasonable. The place he suggested to meet was already a place that could easily lead to misunderstandings.

“I didn’t call you here to have a secret relationship with you.”

No, seriously. The place itself is secretive!

“Then why did you call me?”

From Catherine’s questioning voice, I could feel how fierce her expression must be. But Melanie, whether she lacked imagination or not, kept trying to pop up above the window like a frog. I pulled Melanie’s dress down.

“I couldn’t think of any other place in the Imperial Palace where we could talk quietly without being seen by others.”

If Count Ethan saw us crouching under the window right now, how embarrassed would he be by what he just said?

“I thought you felt the same way as I did.”

Catherine’s voice was on the verge of exploding.

“I’m sorry, Catherine, but to get to the point… I don’t. Not anymore.”

“What do you mean you don’t? Did you find another woman? Is there a woman you met while wandering around the Imperial Palace? Is there?”

At Count Ethan’s one word that his heart had changed, Catherine began to write a novel [meaning she started imagining scenarios].

“It’s not like that. I just don’t have any feelings to give you anymore.”

Silence flowed for a moment. Was she shocked and lost for words? There was no response from Catherine for a long time.

Melanie started laughing silently next to me. When the conversation inside the warehouse continued to be silent, Melanie tried to straighten her knees again. I unknowingly slapped her back and pulled her arm.

“Why?”

Melanie asked silently. I made an X with both arms and shook my head. Please, just stay still.

“No.”

I said silently and looked at Melanie’s maid, Hedon. Fortunately, Hedon was quite perceptive. Seeing my expression, she gently held Melanie’s other arm. After a while, Catherine’s shrill voice spread beyond the window and into the forest.

“Are you kidding me? You’re rejecting me? How dare you!”

How dare you. That word, the moment it’s uttered, strangely has the power to incite even greater anger. It’s because the feeling of being superior to the other person is underlying.

“Is it because I abandoned you back then and you’re upset? Is that it? You’re still angry, aren’t you?”

Catherine, who had been angry, changed to a soothing voice.

‘Yes, after anger, the denial stage usually begins.’

“Catherine, it’s not like that.”

Count Ethan’s voice was tinged with regret.

“Then what’s the reason! Why are you pushing me away? There must be another woman. Otherwise, how dare you…!”

There it is again. How dare you. Repeatedly saying ‘how dare you’ is also proof that the situation is not going as desired.

“It’s not because of someone else. I’ve changed, I have!”

Count Ethan, who had been speaking gently, also raised his voice. They were taking turns raising their voices so that the eavesdroppers could hear them easily. Suddenly, Melanie tapped my arm and said silently.

“Oh, quite charismatic, isn’t he?”

“?”

“Is it because he’s a strong blacksmith?”

“……”

I was almost speechless at Melanie’s rather impressed expression and about to burst out laughing. And what’s even more absurd is… Melanie was holding my arm. When did she even link arms? Anyone would think we were best friends. I looked back and forth between her arm and face. Melanie didn’t seem to notice at all. Catherine’s voice was heard again.

“You what? Changed? You expect me to believe that now?”

Catherine’s arrogance had not yet subsided. She seemed to think that Count Ethan was deliberately pushing her away. Melanie curled one of her fingers around her ear, mocking Catherine’s statement.

‘You’re just as bad!’

I wanted to curl my finger around my ear while looking at Melanie, but I held back.

“Okay, Ethan. Then just listen to this. I’ll get straight to the point.”

The moment I heard those words, Melanie and I instinctively raised our bodies slightly.

“Just help me have a child.”

“Wh-What?!”

It wasn’t just Count Ethan who was surprised by Catherine’s bombshell. The three people who were lurking outside the window like stray cats were also startled and fell on their butts at the same time. Because Melanie had her arms linked with mine and Hedon’s, when she was surprised by Catherine’s words and fell backward, I and Hedon ended up falling as well. In fact, if Melanie hadn’t fallen, I would have fallen alone. Catherine’s outrageous words were that shocking.

“It wouldn’t be bad to raise your child as a prince, would it? Think about it! That child could become the emperor of this country. I, no, our family will make it happen.”

“Catherine, you… are you out of your mind?”

“No? I’m too sane, so I’m trying to find a way to survive!”

“What are you doing. Ugh! Catherine, what are you doing!”

Count Ethan’s suffocating sound was heard. I risked danger for a moment and raised my head above the window. I told Melanie not to, but I lost my self-control first. It couldn’t be helped because Catherine might be threatening Count Ethan. But inside the warehouse, Catherine was showering Count Ethan with kisses. When Count Ethan refused, Catherine pushed him with all her might onto the pile of straw behind him.

“That crazy…!”

Melanie’s exclamation burst out quietly. I quickly covered her mouth and turned around the training ground building again, heading towards the cypress forest.

“We have to tell His Majesty. She’s trying to make another man’s child the emperor of this country!”

Melanie clenched her fists tightly and said when we were quite far from the training ground building.

“Melanie, the child hasn’t been born yet.”

I patted Melanie’s back to calm her down.

“She really can’t break her old habits! She was like that even when she was engaged to His Majesty. We should chain both of them to their ankles and throw them in jail….”

“Count Ethan clearly refused. We heard it together.”

“Then instead of lying on the straw, he should have thrown the straw at Catherine. Don’t you think?”

It was quite a valid point, so I nodded without realizing it, and then shuddered.

“Rolling around on the straw. How vulgar!”

“Ahem.”

Melanie’s words reminded me of that day when Rinell and I were passionately kissing on the straw in the warehouse, so I coughed for no reason.

“…Count Ethan didn’t lie down. He lost his balance and fell because Catherine pushed him.”

Hedon, her maid, took my side, saying that I was right.

“Melanie, we clearly witnessed the same scene, but why is your interpretation so different?”

She had no hesitation in adding details to things that weren’t there. If Hedon hadn’t been there, I would have doubted my memory, wondering, ‘Did I perhaps see it wrong?’

“That’s why we should have watched until the end. Should we go back and watch the rest now?”

“Count Ethan made his thoughts clear, so nothing will happen.”

“How can you be so sure? He already lay down. Isn’t that the end of it?”

“……Are you serious?”

“Didn’t it sound like that?”

Melanie asked me back with a look that was even more dumbfounded than mine.

“I’m sorry. Your Majesty.”

Hedon quietly apologized to me. Then Melanie looked at Hedon with a look that asked, ‘Why is she suddenly apologizing to the Empress?’

“We can’t go back to the training grounds. We might run into the two of them, and….”

I was about to say that it was time for Rinell to return to the bedroom, but I felt sorry for Melanie, who was a concubine, so I held back. But Melanie persistently dug into that part.

“And? And what else?”

“His Majesty will be returning from the Grand Council [a formal meeting of important officials]… it’s time. I’m sleepy too.”

I reluctantly replied and rubbed my neck, feeling awkward. But then.

“Oh my, sh……oot!”

Melanie suddenly shouted loudly. For a moment, I was startled and looked at her, thinking she was cursing at me. But Melanie was frozen, staring at something with an expression that looked like she was about to have a seizure. I turned my gaze to where she was staring. An owl was looking at us on a cut tree that came up to my knees.

“Oh my, you scared me! Your Majesty, I thought my heart was going to fall out because of that thing.”

“Hmm? It’s cute, though?”

I replied to Melanie, looking at the owl with sparkling eyes.

But that look… it’s much smaller, but it looked very similar to the deer I saw during the day. Were animals’ eyes always so sparkling and clear like that?

“Oh my gosh… Your Majesty, that owl’s neck is turning! Ugh, look at it keep turning!”

Melanie screamed and hid behind me.

“Owls’ necks turn like that. Oh? It looks like it hurt its leg?”

I approached the owl, which had blood flowing from one leg.