The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 134

134. What Else Are You Hiding?

“Would you like to hold him, Your Majesty?”

Rosie asked, holding Rams out to Linelle.

Linelle, though flustered, awkwardly extended his arms.

“I’ve never held a child before…”

“Neither have I.”

Rosie carefully placed Rams in his arms.

Rams, nestled in Linelle’s embrace, blinked and gazed up at him before breaking into a smile.

His eyes, still unaccustomed to the world, seemed to recognize his handsome features.

As I watched Rams with affection, I felt his gaze shift to me.

“It looks good on you, Your Majesty.”

I meant it as a compliment, thinking he looked quite natural holding the baby, but Linelle’s eyes suddenly began to glisten.

Why is he like that?

As Rams babbled, looking up at him, his frozen expression melted away as he repeatedly cooed, ‘Goo goo ga ga.’

Rams laughed so hard his belly shook, and Linelle, in turn, shouted, ‘Alalalala,’ making funny faces.

If we had a child, would he hold them and be this happy?

The thought of a child who looked like both of us made me remember what Princess Resilia had said.

‘You can’t get pregnant.’

Fortunately, I had only taken one of the magic potions from the Shat O’Neil Kingdom siblings, so their wish hadn’t come true, but I almost ended up never being able to have children.

The thought alone is chilling.

Unknowingly, I frowned and lowered my gaze, but Linelle’s clearing of his throat made me look up again.

“Ahem, holding a baby isn’t easy.”

He passed Rams back to Rosie.

“Does this little thing not sleep all night and torment people?”

He spoke as if finding fault, but he couldn’t take his eyes off Rams.

“Making people crazy is what baby humans do best, moiya~.”

Moiya appeared from under the bed.

“Is that where you sleep?”

Linelle glanced under the bed and chuckled.

“Yeah, I sleep here, using his butt as a pillow.”

Moiya said, dragging Ao-ssi out by the tail.

“That cat is Ao-ssi?”

“Miyaong.”

He bent down to pet Ao-ssi, and Ao-ssi licked his hand, flopping over like a puppy and rubbing his face against his hand.

Moiya glared disapprovingly at Ao-ssi, who was acting affectionate towards Linelle, clicked his tongue, and flew to sit on my shoulder.

“Is Norton or Button even coming? Raphael, what time is it?”

“It’s exactly 10 o’clock, Your Majesty.”

“He’ll be here soon; he comes around this time every day.”

Rosie quickly replied.

“Ah, every day?”

Linelle looked at Rosie and repeated her words, and she answered, ‘Yes!’ before bowing her head.

Seeing Rosie’s flustered expression, he and I exchanged a glance and laughed silently.

“It’s strange that rumors haven’t spread, even though a foreign prince has been visiting a concubine’s chambers late every night. It’s fine today since you’re both here.”

Raphael said cautiously with a worried expression.

“It’s okay. Norton has a lot of skeletons in his closet, so he always comes in that way, moiya~.”

Moiya said, pointing to the terrace door.

Linelle burst into laughter at Moiya’s words, then turned serious again and asked Rosie.

“Does the prince still not know about Moiya’s existence?”

“No, Your Majesty. He did translate the ancient Patsha text about wyverns [a type of dragon], but I didn’t mention Moiya.”

“I see. Then you should go back in for now.”

Linelle said, pointing under the bed to Moiya.

“No way! Don’t order me around.”

“Moiya, go in.”

“Yes, Master!”

Moiya, who had been arguing fiercely with him, quickly went under the bed at my word, dragging Ao-ssi with him.

“I’m bored alone.”

“Miyaong!”

Ao-ssi struggled, but it was no use.

Linelle narrowed his eyes, his pride hurt, and looked at Moiya.

Just then, a knock was heard from outside the terrace door.

Knock, knock, knock-.

“He must be here!”

Rosie jumped up and down, smiling brightly as if she had been waiting for her lover, then saw me and Linelle and wiped the smile off her face.

“I’ll open it.”

He walked to the terrace and opened the door himself.

Prince Norton, assuming that Rosie had opened the terrace door, naturally stepped into the bedroom, then staggered when he saw him.

“Welcome.”

“Yo, Your Majesty?! Huh…!”

Prince Norton’s surprised gaze, which had been fixed on Linelle’s face, shifted to me, Raphael, and Sharon, who were standing behind him.

As Prince Norton stood there with his mouth open, Linelle nudged him into the room.

“Norton, why don’t you come in?”

Linelle walked to the table first and sat down, and everyone gathered around him.

Prince Norton sat down on a chair, took a breath, and began to recount his situation.

Linelle, after listening to Princess Resilia’s elopement story from the person himself, quietly opened his mouth.

“You and I have something in common.”

“What… do you mean?”

“We have the same person we want to kill. But I’ll kill her first.”

“Your Majesty, I can’t concede that to you. Rams and I almost died falling off a cliff.”

“What the Tessler Prince did to the Empress and me is no less.”

Linelle retorted, clenching his teeth, then looked at Rams in Rosie’s arms and asked Prince Norton.

“I heard you were going to entrust Rams to Rosie’s cousin?”

“That’s right.”

“Instead of that, how about entrusting Rams here, to my secretary’s sister?”

He pointed to Raphael.

“……Yes?”

Prince Norton looked at Raphael with a puzzled expression.

Then Raphael cleared his throat and explained.

“You don’t have to worry about safety. The Imperial Knights will be on guard inside and outside my sister’s mansion 24 hours a day, and knights in plain clothes will also be patrolling the area to prevent suspicious people from approaching.”

“You should tell him something more important.”

Linelle gave Raphael a look.

“Ah, yes. I was just about to tell you.”

Raphael puffed out his chest and wore a proud expression.

“If I may speak about my sister, she is such a symbol of fertility that people around her say she’s having children as a hobby…”

“How many children has your sister had?”

I couldn’t help but interject into Raphael’s words.

Rosie also widened her eyes and listened to Raphael with a curious gaze.

Raphael replied as if he had been waiting for the question.

“She has given birth to seven children in ten years, and she said she will be taking a break starting next year. Even now, she has so much overflowing milk that she wastes more than she uses, and she’s regretting it.”

“……That’s good for Rams.”

I said, watching Prince Norton’s reaction.

“That’s right. I’ve always felt sorry for Rams when feeding him formula, but this is really great!”

Rosie was the happiest.

Linelle and Prince Norton were bewildered by Raphael’s story, but they nodded as the women all agreed it was a good thing.

“By the way, I told my sister that he is a child I had out of wedlock. So she will take good care of him as if he were her own flesh and blood.”

“!”

Everyone was amazed by Raphael’s unconventional lie.

“……But will she believe that?”

I asked Raphael with a worried expression, and Linelle slyly added.

“She didn’t even doubt it. Probably because her brother is so famous in that area.”

“What is Secretary Raphael famous for that she doesn’t doubt it?”

Prince Norton looked at Raphael’s gentle face and asked Linelle.

“The open fly of the Imperial City [referring to an unzipped pants fly].”

“……Yes?”

“He’s famous for that. Raphael, how many years have you been working as the open fly of the Imperial City?”

“Your Majesty, it hasn’t been years.”

Raphael whispered to him with an aggrieved expression.

Prince Norton looked up and down at Raphael, who was standing next to Linelle, and quietly sighed.

“I wondered… why his zipper was open.”

As if to add credibility to Linelle’s words, Raphael’s zipper was half open.

Raphael shouted, ‘It’s a misunderstanding!’ at Prince Norton’s gaze.

“You bastard, where have you been?”

At his question, Raphael replied, ‘To the bathroom,’ and quickly turned around and zipped up his zipper.

Raphael insisted that it was just a broken zipper, but Rosie and Sharon were already giving him a look of ‘eww.’

“Oong? Is there something great there?”

Moiya suddenly came out from under the bed, flew to Raphael, and grabbed his zipper area.

“Aah, what are you doing!”

“Raphael, open it willingly before I breathe fire here.”

Raphael was horrified by Moiya’s threat.

“Ao-ssi, help me! Just bite him.”

When Moiya asked Ao-ssi for help, Ao-ssi joined in and was climbing up Raphael’s leg.

I hope they don’t really bite him….

As I was watching Raphael with a worried gaze, I heard a loud thud and turned my head.

Prince Norton had fallen from his chair.

He seemed to have fallen quite painfully. Prince Norton was sitting on the floor, holding his arm and staring intently at Moiya.

It’s a complete mess.

Linelle and Rosie, who were watching Raphael and Moiya arguing, introduced Moiya to Prince Norton in my place.

“Well, that’s how it is. Anyway, my wife is the owner of that wyvern. Isn’t that amazing?”

Linelle said to Prince Norton with a proud expression.

While Prince Norton was processing this situation, Raphael glanced at us, who were silently watching his situation, and complained that everyone was being too much.

Eventually, Raphael asked me for help.

“Your Majesty the Empress! Please get this wyvern off me… Hey, hey, where are you grabbing! Let go?”

“It doesn’t look like there’s anything here, so why are you yelling and screaming like you’ve hidden treasure?”

Moiya got angry.

Raphael pushed away Moiya’s small head, then said urgently as if he had remembered something.

“I’ll give you a sausage, so let go, let go!”

“Oong? Did you hide a sausage here?”

“Puhuhuh…!”

I barely managed to hold back my laughter, but Linelle burst out laughing.

When he laughed, everyone started laughing without restraint.

Even Prince Norton, who had a serious expression, laughed.

“Moiya, there’s no sausage there. Let go of the zipper and come here.”

When I gestured, Moiya flew towards me but continued to glare at Raphael.

“I’ll find out what you’ve hidden there someday….”

Moiya clenched his fist and muttered in a determined voice.

Raphael took a few minutes to calm down, then returned to his gentle face and continued his story.

“Although it is a somewhat unfair rumor, it is true that I have such a nickname.”

It seemed that Prince Norton began to trust Raphael from this point.

“So, my sister thought so too. She even reacted with, ‘The time has come.’ ‘It’s later than I expected.’ Well, that’s how it was.”

“……Thank you, Raphael. I will repay you handsomely later.”

Only then did Prince Norton get up from the floor, hug Raphael, and thank him.

“Yes, I will not refuse and look forward to it. Your Highness.”

As Raphael replied with a pleased expression, Linelle suddenly interjected.

“I’m the one who allowed you to use my concubine and my secretary, so why is all the credit going to Raphael?”

“I will definitely repay Your Majesty as well.”

“Don’t forget me either.”

I couldn’t stay still, so I quietly raised my hand and said.

“Of course, Your Majesty the Empress.”

“Norton, you should be most grateful to me! I’m the one who played with your baby every day, moiya~.”

Moiya shouted, circling around Rams, and Ao-ssi also wiggled his front paws.

Rams looked back and forth between Moiya and Ao-ssi, then clapped his hands and started laughing.

Prince Norton still couldn’t believe the existence of the wyvern in front of him, and he had a curious expression every time Moiya spoke.

“Well, anyway, now that we’ve shared each other’s secrets, let’s continue to help each other in the future.”

Linelle said, offering Prince Norton a handshake.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

Prince Norton grabbed his hand with both hands.

“Raphael’s sister is waiting in the carriage I came in. It’s time to say goodbye to Rams.”

The atmosphere suddenly turned somber at Linelle’s words.

Rosie, with a face that looked like she was about to cry, handed Rams, whom she was holding, to Prince Norton.

“I’m sorry that we have to be apart again. You have to be good until the hunting competition is over. Okay?”

Prince Norton said, hugging Rams and closing his eyes.

Rosie teared up and burst into tears as soon as she said goodbye to Rams.

“Rams, see you after the hunting competition. I’ll miss you every day. Grow up well while drinking breast milk. Sob.”

Prince Norton patted Rosie’s shoulder and comforted her instead.

“Having a child makes them look like a couple.”

Linelle whispered to me, looking at the two of them.

I nodded and glanced at his face.

His eyes, looking at Prince Norton holding Rams, were filled with envy.

“Rams is so pretty, isn’t he?”

I asked, gently grabbing his arm.

“Well, so-so. I don’t really want to have children, so I don’t know….”

He said something completely different from the emotions in his eyes.

“Are you serious?”

“Of course.”

His voice was firm, but Linelle’s eyes were shaking.

I don’t know why, but he lied.

How can he say he doesn’t want to have children while looking at Rams with such loving eyes?

***

We put Rams in a basket so that he wouldn’t be noticed by the other palace staff and got into the main palace carriage with Linelle.

The carriage arrived in front of the main palace, and we also said goodbye to Rams.

But Rams was already asleep in Raphael’s sister’s arms with a comfortable expression.

Raphael’s sister also knew that he was her brother’s child, so she looked at Rams with loving eyes.

We watched the carriage heading to Raphael’s sister’s house before entering the main palace and climbing the central staircase.

“What’s wrong?”

Linelle stopped suddenly while climbing the stairs without saying a word.

“Zelda, I have something to say before we leave for the hunting competition tomorrow.”

His expression seemed somewhat nervous.

“Yes, tell me.”

“Let’s go to the library first.”

“At this hour… the library?”