The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 143

143. Lie Down

2022.05.18.

I would have felt less guilty if I had actually caught a mosquito…

My palm was clean.

The justification for slapping His Majesty’s back vanished with the imaginary mosquito.

My palm only had traces of mulberry stains that looked like blood; there was no mosquito corpse.

Linelle glanced back and forth between my face and palm, one eyebrow twitching.

His expression seemed to ask, ‘There wasn’t a mosquito on my back in the first place, was there?’ so I hurriedly made excuses.

“There really was a mosquito this big on your back!”

Ah, why did I clench my fist?

“You caught a big wild boar [a common Korean expression for exaggerating], and now you’re exaggerating, my Empress.”

“…No, it wasn’t a fist. It was about this big, I think. Really.”

I corrected myself, raising my pinky finger.

“You’re so fast when hunting, but you missed a mosquito?”

Linelle grabbed my pinky finger and shook it, questioning me.

“You must have missed it because you can’t eat mosquitoes, so your morale dropped.”

The quick-witted remark was so adorable that I smiled bashfully, and Linelle shook his head.

“Haa, did you eat something weird? You’re talking nonsense. What did you eat to make your lips look like this? Like you tore apart raw meat.”

“It’s because I ate mulberries. Mulberries are good for boosting energy. Look, I picked them myself to give to Your Majesty.”

I quickly opened the cloth bag containing the mulberries to show him.

“Did you eat the most? You were the most noticeable from afar.”

He put his hand in the cloth bag, took out a few mulberries, and brought them to his mouth as he spoke.

“Isn’t it because I’m the prettiest?”

“It’s not heatstroke, but why are you talking nonsense?”

He touched my forehead with his hand and scolded me again.

“What if other people had seen you? I really couldn’t imagine you standing there ogling men’s bodies.”

“I didn’t know men would be doing that there either.”

“Coming to the valley was a coincidence?”

“Y-yes…”

In fact, ‘coincidence’ only applied to Melanie, and there was no coincidence for the rest of the raspberry expedition.

Everyone went to the valley voluntarily.

Again, I at least had a legitimate excuse to wash my hands.

“The other concubines are one thing. Zelda, what are you lacking? What’s missing that you were looking at other men’s bodies with your eyes so wide open?”

“I was… comparing and thinking, ‘As expected, other men are not as good as Linelle. My husband’s shoulders, chest, and abs are the best!'”

I raised both thumbs and shook them at his shoulders, chest, and finally down to his abs, shaking them wildly.

The spur-of-the-moment excuse was plausible enough that I felt proud of myself.

Linelle, who had been pouring out nagging, also paused.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at me with an expression that showed he was contemplating whether to continue being angry or let it go.

“I’m upset. It was a body only I could see, but now all the concubines know about it.”

I slyly touched his evenly chiseled abs and continued to flatter him.

His abs tensed as if my touch tickled him. The tensed muscles revealed their presence more clearly.

I see it every night, but seeing it in the daytime, especially outdoors, gave me a different kind of sexiness.

As my gaze continued to linger on his abs, he lifted my chin with his hand to make me focus on the conversation.

“Hoo, are you going to keep making me worry like this from the first day?”

His tone was like scolding a child, and a rebellious spirit rose within me.

“I’m… stronger than Linelle thinks.”

“Do you think… I’m worried because you’re weak?”

“Then?”

“Injuries can happen to strong people more easily. That’s why I asked you not to recklessly step forward even if something dangerous happens.”

“What if injustice occurs? Do I avoid it even then?”

“Avoid it. Pretend you didn’t see it.”

He stated firmly.

“I’ll take care of it. I just want my wife to stay safely and quietly in a safe place.”

“Am I a doll?”

“Dolls don’t talk back. And they don’t glare like that.”

Linelle’s serious reaction to my joke was funny, so I grinned and laughed.

He covered my face with both hands as if telling me to get a sense of the situation, then squeezed my cheeks together, putting strength into his hands.

“Please listen to me.”

I knew how ridiculous my face must look right now, so I quickly replied, “Yes.” Even my voice sounded muffled.

“But Linelle, did you come to the valley to wash your back too?”

I asked, looking down at the clothes in his hand.

“I was just going to wash my face. But I couldn’t because of the red-lipped tourists.”

“Why did you take off your top to wash your face?”

“I have a body cursed with hypothermia, but I sweat just like everyone else. I wanted to cool off a bit. It’s uncomfortable.”

It was ironic that I was sweating from the heat, but he didn’t feel the heat.

“But men have it so easy. They can wash their backs comfortably. I want to do it too, but it’s not the same for women.”

“You want to?”

“Yes, as you know, I’m a fiery woman who holds fire.”

I said, wiping the sweat flowing down my face.

The sweat I shed was hotter than other people’s.

“Come with me.”

Linelle suddenly grabbed my wrist as if a good idea had come to him and walked into somewhere.

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a cave before you get to the valley. Valley water also comes into the cave, so you can do it there.”

“Do… what?”

“You said you wanted to wash your back.”

“Huh?!”

***

After lunch, Hector visited Roxana’s room again and suddenly ordered her to wash his feet.

Roxana had no choice but to kneel and wash Hector’s feet.

It was a humiliating feeling.

It was something the servants used to do for her. Roxana couldn’t believe that she was washing someone else’s feet.

“You’re clumsy.”

She had set aside her pride and was doing her best to wash his feet, but Hector’s grumpy voice came out.

“…I’m sorry. It’s my first time doing this.”

Roxana forced a soft voice and replied.

“On Tanya Island, women even massage while washing feet, but you… never mind. Now wipe them.”

Hector compared Roxana to the women of Tanya Island again.

‘How can those lowly barbarian women be compared to me, a princess?’

Roxana turned her head to pick up a towel, tightening her lips, then relaxed her mouth again as she wiped Hector’s feet.

“I’ll assign you a servant from Tanya Island so you can learn various things.”

Herot said, getting up from his chair.

“What… do you mean learn?”

“Things that please me.”

“…Yes, Great King.”

Roxana suppressed a hollow laugh and bowed her head in response.

Hector patted her delicate shoulder once as if to say she had done a good job and left the bedroom.

About an hour after Hector left the bedroom, her maid Nancy, who had gone out, came in.

“How did it go?”

Roxana grabbed Nancy’s hand, took her to a corner, and asked quietly.

“They made it! But you have to hurry. You have to drink it within two hours to prevent pregnancy. They have a carriage waiting at the back gate of the castle.”

“Good job. Do you know where my father and that guy are now?”

“It seems the Duke is in his office, and the Great King is touring around with his men, trying to learn the structure of the castle.”

“That’s good. Let’s go now.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Roxana left the bedroom with Nancy, pretending to go for a walk, but turned and headed for the stairs connected to the spire building.

It was a place where even the servants didn’t usually go.

Halfway up the stairs, there was a passage connected to the spire, and passing through it led to stairs that could escape through the back door.

The two of them put on the robes they had brought as they passed through the passage connected to the spire.

When they reached the stairs leading to the back door, Roxana relaxed and spoke to Nancy, who was following her from behind.

“If I drink that medicine, I really won’t get pregnant even if I have relations during my fertile period, right?”

“Yes, Miss. The witch says it’s certain. And she said that even during the fertile period, you don’t always get pregnant, so don’t worry too much.”

“No, that barbarian bastard me…”

I don’t know how many times he tormented me all night.

Roxana couldn’t bring herself to say the rest and replaced it with a sigh.

Nancy, who understood the meaning of her sigh, also remained silent.

“If I can just get my hands on the Hwansin Sword [a legendary sword], I’ll start with that bastard’s vital parts…”

“Are you talking about our Great King now?”

Roxana, who was going down the stairs, stopped at the voice that interrupted her.

It wasn’t Nancy’s voice.

Roxana’s spine chilled at the unfamiliar man’s voice that came from behind.

She stopped breathing and turned around.

“Nancy!”

A man with tanned skin was choking Nancy with one arm, holding a sword to her neck.

Roxana asked the man with a trembling voice.

“W-who are you!”

“I am a servant of Hector, the Great King of Tanya Island. You are…”

The man, who appeared to be a Tanya soldier, used the tip of the sword he was holding to Nancy’s neck to pull back Roxana’s robe hood.

“…Princess?”

“!”

What should I do?

Hector’s soldier recognized her.

She had said unnecessary things.

The man must have heard everything Roxana said to Nancy.

‘What did I say a little while ago?’

She mentioned taking medicine to prevent pregnancy and also talked about the Hwansin Sword.

Moreover, she even said she would kill Hector.

Roxana, who had said three things that should not have been heard, and the man who had heard all those words, stared at each other intently.

At that moment, the voices of men began to be heard from the spire passage, and the voices were getting closer and closer.

In the voices of two or three people mixed together, the word ‘Great King’ was also heard.

It seemed that Hector was thoroughly searching even these remote places while touring the castle.

“What to do, Princess?”

The soldier took away his surprised expression and began to sneer at Roxana.

“I was already upset that the Great King was marrying the princess of Aclato Island, but this is good. Our Great King never forgives traitors. No matter how much you bewitch the Great King with that fox-like face, it won’t work.”

“Really? Then shall we test it out?”

Roxana’s eyes, which had been filled with fear, changed.

Either way, it was all or nothing.

***

The cave was not far from where he had lectured me.

The entrance of the cave was large enough for two adults to enter side by side.

I was dragged into the cave by Linelle’s hand.

“I discovered this place myself when I first came hunting in the Elange Forest as a child.”

He had already put on his shirt and was rolling up his sleeves.

“Since then, whenever I come hunting here, I sometimes go into that cave alone to rest.”

Contrary to my expectation that the cave would be dark, it was relatively bright.

The clean valley water looked more transparent because of the pure white limestone on the floor. In addition, light leaked in from various places on the cave ceiling, illuminating the inside of the cave like a light.

I was looking around when his heavy voice was heard quietly.

“Take it off.”

“Really… is it okay?”

I asked him while already unbuttoning my uniform.

“No one will come in. Even if someone does come in, it’s a perfect place to get rid of someone, so don’t worry.”

He casually told me his murder plan as he hung his uniform jacket on a pointed stalactite.

“Is human hunting originally allowed in the Continental Hunting Competition?”

“Only for humans who come in while I’m washing my wife…”

He looked at me blankly as I took off my shirt, then chuckled at my question.

I looked around, wondering where to put my shirt and jacket.

“Give it here.”

Linelle took my clothes and hung them together above where he had hung his uniform jacket.

It was too hot, so I took it off, but I felt embarrassed when I took it off, so I made an X with my arms to cover my chest.

“Zelda, why are you so shy as if you’re taking it off in front of a man you’ve never met before?”

Linelle, who said that, was just as shy in handling his gaze, as if he was witnessing a woman taking off her clothes for the first time.

“Being in a cave with my top off like this… it’s like being a barbarian.”

“Isn’t the bottom too dressed for that?”

Linelle bent down and put his hand in the valley water first as he spoke.

“How is it? Is it cool?”

“Yeah, it’s like ice water to me.”

He got up and said to me solemnly.

“Lie down.”