The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 135

135. Endured

2022.04.20.

Commander Mac Roth was standing in front of the library, a fur coat in his hands.

It seemed he had arrived early and was waiting for us.

Commander Mac Roth, who had been facing the library door, turned towards us.

“Why are you so late?”

“We were talking for a while. Why didn’t you join us?”

Rinel nudged Commander Mac Roth’s shoulder playfully.

“There are already so many people; there’s no need to add me.”

Commander Mac Roth seemed to be fully aware of the situation.

Indeed, there was no way Commander Mac Roth wouldn’t know what Raphael and Stian, Rinel’s close aides, knew.

It was convenient for me since I didn’t have to explain anything to the Commander separately.

“Let’s go inside first.”

At Rinel’s words, everyone entered the library, and Stian locked the door again from the inside.

*What was Rinel going to say to me here? What could it be that he brought all his close aides here for?*

I looked around the library from where I stood.

I had been to Rinel’s personal library on the third floor, but this was my first time in the second-floor library.

The structure was similar, but the second-floor library was much larger than his personal library, and the number of books was overwhelmingly greater.

As I finished looking around the library, Rinel calmly began to speak.

“Do you remember me saying that I also had a secret?”

“Yes…”

*Of course, I remember.*

*Ah, was he finally going to tell me his secret?*

When I was about to confess that I was a ‘surrogate empress,’ he said that he also had a secret he couldn’t tell me.

Since then, I had often wondered what that secret could be, but it didn’t seem like there was anything that could be a secret for someone who seemed so perfect.

By the way, weren’t there too many people here to hear his secret?

I looked at Raphael, Stian, and Commander Mac Roth, his closest aides, in turn.

Judging by their expressions, they all seemed to know what Rinel was going to tell me.

“You know that I have a much younger brother, right?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I thought I should let the Empress meet Joseph before leaving for the hunting competition.”

“Really? Actually, I was secretly waiting for it!”

On the first night, he told me,

*’Joseph also suffered the same curse as me. I wasn’t completely deprived of my body temperature by the magical curse wave, but Joseph was different. He is trapped in ice now…’*

That’s all he told me about Joseph’s situation, and he didn’t tell me where the Grand Duke was.

At that time, he clearly said that Joseph was trapped in ice by the magician Phillique, but why did he bring us to the library?

“Are we… meeting here?”

I slowly turned around, scanning the library again.

*Was Joseph in the library?*

But this was not a space where Joseph, trapped in ice, could be.

*Could it be…?*

I suddenly remembered the dark space behind the bookshelf that I had accidentally discovered in Rinel’s personal library.

The cold air that rushed up from under the stairs.

*Yes, it’s beyond that bookshelf!*

If my guess was correct, there was a high possibility that the stairs in that space beyond the bookshelf were connected to this place.

I waited for Rinel to tell me directly. But my eyes kept glancing at the bookshelf on the wall in front of me.

“He’s here.”

He said, pointing to the library floor with his hand.

I felt like I knew what that meant, but without any reaction, I looked at him and met the eyes of his aides standing behind him.

Stian turned his head towards the bookshelf on the wall and gestured with his eyes, and Raphael’s finger also pointed to the same place.

Rinel continued his explanation.

“There’s a secret chamber here. I’ve brought Joseph there. Fortunately, the volume of the ice hasn’t increased further and has stopped, but the ice hasn’t decreased or melted either.”

He barely continued, with a painful expression.

“Joseph can only move his eyes in the ice.”

I wanted to hug him right away, but I held back because of the aides watching us.

*That magician Phillique who trapped Joseph in ice, if I catch him, I’ll burn him from head to toe!*

I clenched both fists and gritted my teeth, vowing inwardly.

As anger arose, heat flared up in my palms and then disappeared.

“I wanted to let you meet him before leaving for the continental hunting competition…”

“Ah, right. Because we won’t be able to see each other for over a month.”

“It’s been over three years since I last saw Joseph.”

Rinel gave a bitter smile.

“Why?”

“If I approach Joseph, the strength of the ice becomes stronger. That magician did that.”

*Magician Phillique, his heart is so nasty that it’s vicious.*

“Was the last time you saw him at the Valley of Death, the last battlefield?”

He nodded weakly at my question.

My heart ached at his sad eyes.

The traces of blaming himself countless times for being helpless in the face of the curse were evident in his expression.

“Since then, Raphael, Stian, and Commander Mac Roth have been taking care of Joseph for me.”

At Rinel’s words, I shifted my gaze to the three of them.

“There’s nothing we can do for Grand Duke Joseph either. We just go in for a short time and tell him the news of His Majesty.”

Raphael said in a somber voice, and Stian quietly added.

“We can’t even stay long.”

“I will definitely kill Phillique, that cunning bastard.”

Commander Mac Roth clenched the fur coat he was holding roughly and gnashed his teeth.

Magician Phillique, who knows how to handle wyverns. He gave Rinel hypothermia, trapped Joseph in ice, and took away Commander Mac Roth’s sight.

*Where can I find him?*

*Ah, so that’s why Rinel asked the Master of the Magic Tower about his whereabouts with such a fierce expression.*

The Master of the Magic Tower didn’t seem to have good feelings about Phillique, who was his disciple, but he wouldn’t pretend not to know his whereabouts, would he?

Feeling the flames about to rise in the middle of my palm, I quickly clenched my fist again.

“The reason I haven’t been able to kill that magician is because of Joseph. I can live like this, but if I kill him, Joseph’s curse might never be lifted.”

But Rinel jokingly complained that if he had known that he wouldn’t show up for so long, he should have just killed him back then.

“Wouldn’t the Master of the Magic Tower be able to lift Grand Duke Joseph’s curse? Why don’t you ask him?”

I carefully spoke to him.

“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it. But I don’t know what kind of person the Master of the Magic Tower is yet, so I’m hesitant to show Joseph to him rashly.”

It was a valid point.

“I think it would be better to have Joseph meet him after experiencing the Master of the Magic Tower at the hunting competition.”

I fully agreed with his opinion.

“Yes, that would be better. In many ways, I hope the Master of the Magic Tower is someone who can help us.”

“I agree. Now… are you ready to meet Joseph?”

“Of course. I want to see him soon.”

*Would Joseph look a lot like Rinel?*

*Would he know about me?*

If he had given me a heads-up, I would have paid more attention to my face and clothes.

I looked at Sharon and asked if I looked okay now. She fixed my hair and said I looked fine.

“Grand Duke Joseph is very curious about Her Majesty the Empress. We’ve told him a lot about Her Majesty.”

At Raphael’s words, Commander Mac Roth and Stian, who were standing side by side, nodded at the same time.

“I want to meet him soon too, please guide me.”

As I grabbed his hand and urged him,

“Just so you know, the temperature inside the secret chamber is very low.”

He said with a worried look.

“It’s okay. I have a lot of heat in my body. I can overcome the cold in the secret chamber.”

At my confident answer, he showed a slight smile, but his eyes were still uneasy.

“You must wear this to go inside.”

Commander Mac Roth handed me the thick fur coat he was holding.

“I don’t think I need it…”

“Please wear it anyway.”

Sharon quickly took the fur coat from Commander Mac Roth and draped it over my shoulders.

“It’s good to dress warmly. It’s a cold that’s hard to endure.”

Rinel fastened the front of the fur coat draped over my shoulders and urged me.

As soon as I put on the fur coat, the incarnation inside me complained that it was hot, but I endured the heat to ease his worries.

He finally walked to the bookshelf on the central wall and pressed somewhere on the middle shelf with his palm. Then, the bookshelf and the wall slid to the side at once, revealing a dark space.

*I knew it.*

The cold air that I had faced before was felt again.

The cold was on a different level from what I felt when the library wall first opened.

“This is it. Your Majesty the Empress, if you get too cold, don’t hesitate and come out immediately.”

“I will.”

I fastened the fur coat tightly in front to ease the worries of the trio and entered the secret chamber.

***

I couldn’t close my mouth at the sight that I couldn’t believe even with my own eyes.

Although he couldn’t move his body, it could be seen that Joseph’s eyes were moving towards me at the same time as the secret chamber wall opened, as if he could hear the sound.

I walked to where Joseph was and stood in a position where he could see me well.

“Hello, Grand Duke Joseph. I’m finally greeting you today. I am Zelda, the Empress, who is the wife of your brother, His Majesty, and the sister-in-law of the Grand Duke.”

I calmly introduced myself.

Joseph’s pupils widened as much as they could.

Seeing the young Grand Duke trapped in ice with my own eyes made me even angrier.

*If I catch that magician Phillique, I don’t know whether it would be better to put him in this ice, burn him alive, or alternate between the two.*

“As you heard from Raphael, the Continental Hunting Competition starts tomorrow. His Majesty only told me today where the Grand Duke is.”

I deliberately blamed Rinel and made a regretful expression.

“If you had told me sooner, I would have come often. Actually, I don’t get cold at all.”

Joseph blinked his eyes, as if wondering what nonsense the suddenly appeared sister-in-law was talking about.

I took off the fur coat I was wearing to show that my words were credible.

Joseph widened his eyes as if to say please don’t.

“Don’t worry. I’m fine. I’m breathing out like this, but I’m really not cold.”

Only then did Joseph seem a little relieved.

“I’ll come every day after the hunting competition. Get closer to me than His Majesty, okay?”

Joseph blinked his eyes repeatedly. It seemed like a good sign.

“Ah, and His Majesty told me to tell you this. He said he’s so, so grateful that you’re enduring well, and he misses you a lot.”

I reinterpreted and conveyed what Rinel had told me to say, ‘I’m sorry.’

Joseph probably wanted to hear that he missed him more than saying sorry to Rinel.

“What should I tell His Majesty in reply?”

At my question, Grand Duke Joseph’s eyes moved in various directions and began to ponder.

“Shall I tell him that the Grand Duke also misses His Majesty?”

At my words, Joseph blinked his eyes twice in affirmation.

“Ah, shall I also convey that he loves him? But it seems like the Grand Duke will love me more in the future. How about it? If you’re okay with it, blink your eyes twice in a row this time.”

Joseph blinked twice without hesitation this time as well.

“Okay, I’ll tell him that. It’ll be boring, but please wait a little longer. I’ll come back with a lot of fun stories from the hunting competition. I might even talk all night.”

I put my hands on the cursed ice and looked at Joseph up close.

I felt an electric shock from my fingertips to the inside of my elbows.

I was startled by the feeling of being electrocuted and wanted to take my hand off, but for some reason, I felt like I was losing to that magician Phillique, so I gritted my teeth and endured tenaciously.

Zzzt-.

At that moment, I felt a strong pain in the palm of my hand that was touching the cursed ice.