The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 133

133. You Must Seduce to Survive

2022.04.13.

“Something’s strange…”

Grand Duke Martins repeatedly rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

He was utterly bewildered by the report from Lord Rolf, who had returned from trade negotiations in the Duchy of Aclato on behalf of his family’s trading business.

“Did the Duchy of Aclato really invite Hector of Tanya Island?”

Hector was the king of the barbarians who lived by piracy on Tanya Island.

“Yes, he probably arrived at Duke Heimitz’s estate this afternoon.”

“Hmm, I wonder what Duke Heimitz is up to, bringing that fellow in…”

“The head of the trading company there was very anxious, wondering if a war might break out with the barbarians of Tanya Island.”

“Ah, yes. Is that rumor going around in Aclato these days?”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

Tanya Island was smaller than the Duchy of Aclato, but the courage and cruelty of the pirates led by Hector were unmatched by any knightly order on the continent.

Grand Duke Martins had received reports from merchants of various trading companies led by his family several months ago that Tanya Island was gradually sinking.

If the barbarians of Tanya Island were eyeing the Duchy of Aclato, as the rumors suggested, that would be the reason.

Moreover, the Duchy of Aclato was also home to wyverns [large, dragon-like creatures], making it a tempting target.

Duke Heimitz, the master of the Duchy of Aclato, who knew this situation best, invited Hector of Tanya Island to the ducal estate?

Something smelled fishy.

“Does Duke Heimitz have a negotiation card to prevent war? Ah, perhaps…”

The face of Roxana, Duke Heimitz’s only daughter, suddenly flashed through Grand Duke Martins’ mind.

***

The Duchy of Aclato’s ducal estate.

Roxana, having finished her bath, sat before her vanity.

Rancy, Roxana’s maid, sniffled as she brushed her hair.

“Rancy, stop crying. Anyone would think I was going off to die.”

“My lady, His Highness is being too cruel. How could he order you to marry such a barbarian!”

“Then would you rather our duchy be ruined?”

Roxana asked Rancy in a flat voice.

“N-no, but surely there’s another way besides marriage…”

“There isn’t.”

Rancy stopped sobbing at Roxana’s frighteningly firm answer.

“Nancy, could you make my eye makeup a little darker?”

Tonight, she had to seduce the man called the king of the barbarians, or the pirate king, of Tanya Island.

‘Do you think I like this?’

Roxana thought, looking at her face in the mirror.

Did they think she hadn’t argued with her father?

All that came back was the familiar sting of the whip.

.

.

.

Two weeks ago.

“You fool! You selfish thing! You don’t even know what a great opportunity this is.”

Whack—.

The whip came flying after a long time.

What chilled Roxana to the bone more than the whip digging into her skin were her father’s words.

“You must act like a tongue in Hector’s mouth. That’s the only way for you, me, and our duchy to survive.”

Duke Heimitz looked down at his daughter, who had fallen to the floor after being struck by the whip he wielded, and earnestly urged her.

“If you fail, you have no reason to exist. If that barbarian doesn’t like you, I will adopt another noble’s daughter and push her at Hector.”

Roxana looked up at her father with blurred eyes.

She hoped it wasn’t a joke.

But Duke Heimitz was more serious than ever.

“Seduce him by any means necessary. We must use him to strike at the continent.”

Not to join hands with Hector to protect the Duchy of Aclato, but to cross over to the continent?

Roxana asked in a trembling voice.

“Father… why are you trying to wage war with the continent?”

“Hector is eyeing our duchy because Tanya Island is gradually sinking, but the situation on our island isn’t good either. The volcano has erupted twice this year alone. But unlike the barbarians, we don’t have the forces to set foot on the continent even if the island disappears.”

So, the plan was to use the barbarians of Tanya Island to wage war against the continent.

The timing was perfect.

The Great Hunt on the continent was about to begin [a competition or event that gathers royalty and nobles].

It was perhaps the best opportunity to wipe out the royalty and major nobles of all countries at once.

Roxana knew very well that her father had longed for the lands of the continent all his life.

Unlike Duke Heimitz, she was satisfied with her life.

The Duchy of Aclato, home to wyverns and rich in goods traded due to various specialties not found on the continent, was a place that other countries could not easily covet, even though it lacked the power to attack other countries.

But Duke Heimitz thought differently.

“If I can’t walk on my own legs, I have to borrow someone else’s strength. I must even be willing to be carried comfortably!”

To do that, he was telling her to marry the king of the barbarians.

“The land of the Kingdom of Shato Neil in the continent is the easiest and most suitable. It is the weakest in terms of military power in the entire continent and the closest to the Valley of Death, the habitat of wyverns.”

Duke Heimitz’s face brightened as if he had already conquered the Kingdom of Shato Neil.

“Father, even if the Kingdom of Shato Neil is the weakest on the continent and the pirates led by Hector are brave, you know very well that we don’t have the power to take over that country.”

So, get a grip.

Roxana said, bracing herself for the whip to fly.

But Duke Heimitz did not wield the whip at Roxana.

Instead, he picked up the healing water prepared next to him and poured it directly on her back.

Usually, this was something a maid would do after the whipping was over.

It was the first time, so Roxana flinched, but she gritted her teeth and continued what she was saying.

“And they are allies with the Rafion Empire. They also recently welcomed an empress from the Kingdom of Shato Neil.”

Roxana braced herself against the pain in her back from the whip, placed her hand on the floor, and raised her upper body.

“Yes, a royal marriage makes it even stronger. That’s why I’m trying to marry you off to Hector and use you.”

Duke Heimitz nodded, wearing an expression that said, ‘I knew you would say that.’

“My beloved daughter, this father does not want you to end up as the wife of such a barbarian. What father would want to see such an uneducated son-in-law?”

“What… do you mean?”

“First, we will shake the continent through Hector’s pirates and make a deal.”

Duke Heimitz threw the whip behind him and sat down on one knee.

He caressed Roxana’s flawless and beautiful face, speaking as if handling a precious jewel.

“Prince Tesler of the Kingdom of Shato Neil is still unmarried. I’m thinking of marrying you to him.”

“Wh-what? But I’m already Hector’s…”

“That’s just a promise between insignificant island nations, and a real royal marriage should be with a noble lineage of the continent. This is my true heart.”

Duke Heimitz gave an uncharacteristic gentle smile.

“Then you’re only going to use Hector for war?”

“His role is just to set up the stage. But until then, you must do your best to seduce him. You must not fall out of Hector’s favor. A man’s desire for a woman disrupts his reason. Hahaha!”

Come to think of it, from Roxana’s perspective, marriage to royalty was much better than marriage to a barbarian.

“If you have a son with Prince Tesler, then this father will cut down the surrounding branches and sit on the throne of Shato Neil for a while.”

Duke Heimitz revealed his ambition.

“Until my grandson grows up, let’s play king for a while. To welcome such a glorious day, we must appease the barbarians of Tanya well. So, cater to Hector in every way. You must give him everything he wants.”

“Everything he wants…?”

Roxana asked back with a doubtful heart.

Then Duke Heimitz replied as if it were obvious.

“Yes. Everything.”

.

.

.

So, I have to endure.

Roxana steeled herself once again.

“Ah, my lady, Lord Hector has arrived.”

At the maid’s tense voice, she, who had been sitting in front of the vanity receiving her makeup, opened her eyes.

Before she could tell him to come in, her bedroom door burst open without permission.

‘A barbarian who doesn’t know manners.’

Roxana thought, bowing her head towards Hector, the pirate king of Tanya.

She hadn’t been able to see him properly at the banquet earlier because she was out of it, but Hector’s appearance up close wasn’t as bad as she had thought.

But the atmosphere he exuded was sickening.

Skin tanned by the sun and muscles hardened by plundering from others.

Hector’s height, which was far greater than the average man, was threatening enough on its own.

Roxana spoke to Hector first with a demure posture.

“I saw you at the banquet earlier, but I will formally greet you. I am Roxana, the princess of the Duchy of Aclato…”

“Why bother with such cumbersome greetings.”

Hector grabbed Roxana’s hand and pulled her towards him.

Then he gave her maid a displeased look.

“You’re in the way, so get out.”

What is that barbarian trying to do to my lady?

Rancy looked at Roxana, whose wrist was grabbed by Hector, with a frightened face.

“Yes, go out.”

Roxana said to Rancy, forcing a smile.

When Hector gestured for her to leave with his large hand, Rancy quickly left the room.

“A maid without a sense of timing is a headache. She should have noticed and left first when her master’s future husband arrived.”

“I will be careful from now on. What did you talk about with my father?”

Roxana asked Hector as she walked towards the table.

“Sit here.”

Hector grabbed Roxana’s hand again as she tried to sit on the chair.

Roxana looked up at him with a momentarily bewildered expression.

The place Hector ordered her to sit was on his lap.

‘An uneducated bastard.’

She forcibly endured Hector’s coercive attitude.

She had to cater to this barbarian man until her plan succeeded.

Hector’s lap, tall and large, felt like sitting on a saddle.

‘Even if he’s blunt, he seems to like me, which is a relief.’

Relief?

Roxana almost burst out laughing as she replayed the words she had just thought.

Hector groped her body with his large hands, but she couldn’t stop him.

‘Once we strike the continent, I’ll blow away your dirty hands with my own hands.’

Roxana clenched her teeth as she looked down at Hector’s hand groping her waist.

“You’re like a log.”

Hector said.

“Forgive me, I am shy.”

“Even if you smile at me, your eyes are poisonous berries.”

Roxana was startled by Hector’s unexpected sharpness.

She had expected Hector to be dull-witted due to his large size, but she was mistaken.

At Hector’s words, Roxana forcibly folded her eyes into a gentle shape.

“Don’t pretend to smile. It’s not that I don’t like it. If I let you live on the continent, your eyes will become tender.”

Hector, who met Roxana’s eyes, swallowed hard and said.

“Are you going to sleep… here tonight?”

If she could only escape this moment, Roxana felt like she could give Hector the 300-year-old wyvern egg she possessed.

“On Tanya Island, no woman asked me such a question. It’s a natural thing when you come into the room.”

“…I’m sorry, ah!”

Hector picked Roxana up and headed for her bed.

‘Bellos, you should have just married me back then! Because of you, I’m suffering this humiliation. You son of a bitch, I’m going to kill you. And that woman who is your mate that you so desire!’

Roxana’s anger extended to Bellos, the master of the magic tower, who had almost been engaged to her.

Heat began to boil inside her body.

‘I have to take the Avatar Sword from Bellos. Then I can live the way I want. My father, this barbarian, I’ll kill them all….’

The Avatar Sword.

That was the only hope that allowed her to endure this humiliation.

***

After dinner, I visited Rosie’s residence.

Linelle was scheduled to come here after finishing the last political affairs meeting before leaving for the Continental Hunting Competition.

He wanted to discuss Rams’ residence with Prince Norton before leaving for the competition.

I told Rosie that Linelle already knew everything about the creatures living here.

“Oh, what should I do? How resentful will His Majesty be of me?”

Rosie trembled, prostrating herself with her forehead on the marble floor like a condemned prisoner on the guillotine.

I gently placed my hand on the back of her neck and joked that her life wouldn’t be in danger.

Then Rosie was startled by my touch, pulled her neck in like a turtle, and fell to the side, letting out a short scream.

I sat her upright again and asked what Prince Norton had decided to do with Rams’ residence.

“Misha’s cousin is about to give birth soon. So, I suggested that it might be better to entrust Rams to her than to hire a stranger.”

“It’s safer than entrusting him to a complete stranger, but that cousin will be out of her mind once she gives birth…”

“Yes, I’m a little worried about that too. It seems like it would be difficult for her to take care of Rams since it’s her first time giving birth.”

But there didn’t seem to be any other alternatives.

“Has His Majesty found a place to entrust Rams?”

“I think so. I haven’t heard the details yet, so I don’t know. It’s almost time for him to come, so I’ll find out soon.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’m so glad. His Majesty understands Moiya, and even Rams…”

“I wonder if he will forgive you for raising Ao without reporting him to the administrator.”

Even though I said it in a playful tone, Rosie looked worried again.

“It’s not that I did it on purpose, I’ve just been out of my mind… But, how did His Majesty know that I didn’t report Ao to the administrator?”

“How would he know.”

I whispered, gesturing under the bed.

Rosie followed my gaze and glared at Moiya’s red eyes blinking under the bed, clenching both fists.

“I’m just going to…! Ugh, you’re always a troublemaker.”

Just then, there was a knock, and Linelle and Raphael came in.

“H-His Majesty the Emperor!”

Rosie bowed deeply to him with a very subdued face.

“You’re always a troublemaker.”

Linelle said, pointing at Rosie with his finger.

It was the same thing Rosie had said to Moiya a moment ago.

Rosie couldn’t straighten her back and trembled in that position.

I barely managed to hold back my laughter, straightened Rosie’s tense back, and told her it was okay.

Linelle went straight to the bed.

“This is the child.”

He gazed down at Rams, who was waving his arms and legs on the bed.