The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 149

149. The Wife’s Scent

“Because we have to go eat.”

You don’t expect me to go down to dinner wearing just a robe, do you?

He looked adorably puzzled by my obvious statement.

“Then what was the outfit you wore earlier for?”

The outfit I wore earlier? What? The uniform?

“I’m planning to wear that again in a few days.”

“Ah, didn’t you like it? It looked good on you.”

“It’s not that I didn’t like it, but it’s a bit uncomfortable to relax in. This is more comfortable.”

I said, lifting the hem of my house dress.

Linelle nodded with a ‘Well, if you say so’ expression.

But his expression seemed a bit unfamiliar.

“Alright, it’s time to go down to the dining hall.”

He said, taking my hand.

As soon as I heard those words, my stomach, which had been fine until then, started to rumble.

Perhaps because I had been more active than usual, I suddenly felt as hungry as if I hadn’t eaten in days, even though I had a hearty lunch.

“Oh? It’s back?”

Linelle asked, burying his face in my neck as we were about to leave the room.

“Did I go… somewhere?”

“Your scent, I mean.”

“……Pardon?”

What is he talking about now?

“To think you’d shower again just because of something I said… I’m touched.”

He nudged my arm with his elbow and grinned.

He must be drunk to be talking nonsense like that.

Ah, is that why he refused to bathe with me?

“Did you go out to drink with Raphael?”

“What?”

“You seem drunk.”

That must be why he’s saying such random things.

Linelle kissed my shoulder and said,

“Yeah, drunk on your scent.”

……He’s definitely drunk.

“But why did you just leave again earlier?”

Even after seeing my wet back in the bathroom.

“Stian said he had something to discuss regarding the seating arrangement for dinner.”

“Ah, I see.”

Raphael was in front of the bed earlier, and Stian interfered in the bathroom.

“My aides are taking turns interfering with us.”

Linelle was thinking the same thing as me. But unlike my true feelings, I gracefully comforted him.

“I believe they are simply being diligent in their duties, Your Majesty. You must focus on work during the day.”

“There’s a brat like Moiya inside me.”

Linelle said seriously, as if confessing.

“……Excuse me?”

“He doesn’t listen. He defies me even during the day, so what can I do?”

“Ah……”

As my head naturally lowered, he lifted my chin with his hand.

“Pretend you don’t know. Because if you acknowledge him, he’ll become even more arrogant.”

“Alright, you little rascal. There’s no one to bother us at night. Let’s calm down now, okay?”

I said, patting his back.

“Did… the Empress drink the alcohol? Your scent is back, but your fear is gone.”

He said solemnly, twitching his cheek at my informal speech.

“I wasn’t speaking to Your Majesty. I was talking to the arrogant brat.”

I replied politely.

He suddenly reopened the door he had just closed.

“Sorry, even I have trouble controlling the brat’s rebellious phase.”

Linelle grabbed my arm, pulled me back into the room, and showered me with kisses.

***

“Half of the Blue Diamond is mine.”

Rosie kept repeating to Moiya from the moment she entered her assigned room.

“No way, I don’t want to, I can’t give it to you! Half is too much, Moiya~”

Moiya, who had been transformed into a white butterfly, returned to her original form and took a firm stance.

“What are you going to do with the Blue Diamond? You keep misunderstanding, but you’re not a person. You are……”

“I know! I’m a great Wyvern.”

“……Right, why would a great Wyvern want something like a Blue Diamond? You have no use for it. So just give it all to me. Okay?”

Rosie coaxed Moiya gently, flashing a sweet smile.

“How would a lowly human know whether I have a use for it or not? What about you? What are you going to do with the Blue Diamond?”

“What else? I’m going to wear it. They say you look three times prettier with a Blue Diamond necklace and earrings.”

“Yeah, would that make you look a little more ordinary?”

“You little sh……”

Rosie forcibly suppressed the bubbling anger inside.

“But who’s going to notice if you look pretty?”

Moiya asked as if she really didn’t understand.

“Huh?”

“Ah, you want to look good to Norton?”

“Miyaaong. (Oh, you’re so smart.)”

Aoshi, who had been kneading Rosie’s thigh with her two front paws, exclaimed in admiration at Moiya’s words.

“Hey! Absolutely not! You’re completely misunderstanding! Why, why would I want to look good to the Prince?”

Rosie jumped up and shouted, then demurely tucked her hair behind her ear at the end of her sentence.

As always, Moiya ignored Rosie’s words and sat on the bed, rubbing her chin as she pondered.

“Ooh? Is it that time of year?”

“What time?”

“Well, it’s about time for you too.”
Moiya, who had been staring at Rosie with profound eyes, nodded as if she finally understood.

“What time?”

Rosie wasn’t at all curious about what Moiya was talking about, but she had developed a habit of asking Moiya’s words because the little rascal always said such absurd things.

Just as she was internally concluding, ‘Whether I ask or not, it’ll either be frustrating or crazy,’

“Mating.”

“Mat, mat…… What?!”

Rosie doubted her ears at the lewd word.

Moiya’s butt wiggled.

That movement was like a perky warm-up before causing an accident.

And the flapping of wings that seemed to be slowly starting.

Rosie felt a sense of unease as she watched Moiya’s flapping wings.

A feeling that something was about to happen.

“Rope, isn’t there any rope around here?”

Rosie began to scan the room, looking for something to tie Moiya up with.

Even if she tied her up, she would find something else to shapeshift into and escape, but she thought it would make her feel a little better if she couldn’t move for the time being.

“If you want to have a mating and want to have the Blue Diamond to look pretty, I’ll think about it too.”

Moiya was very serious.

“I’m scared someone might hear this conversation…… really.”

Rosie glanced at the door, anxiously wondering if Moiya’s embarrassing voice might leak out.

Even though she’s been in an egg for 300 years, maybe that’s why, her appearance is that of a baby Wyvern, but her meddling in human mating without hesitation was simply astonishing.

“If you’re scared someone might hear, I’ll go tell Norton myself!”

“Miyaaong? (Oh, you’re so thoughtful?)”

Aoshi licked Moiya’s wing and praised her, and Moiya puffed out her chest and raised her chin.

“Yeah, I’m going to do such a good deed again.”

“Miyaaong! (You know what? You’re really kind!)”

Aoshi jumped up and down and wagged her tail, as happy as if it were her own business.

Moiya transformed back into the white butterfly that was perched on Aoshi’s head and flew out the open window.

“……Is she crazy! Huh? Where is that crazy Wyvern going now?!”

Rosie, who had been looking down and tearing at her hair, lifted her head with a chilling feeling and jumped up in shock.

“Miyaoong. (To your mating partner.)”

***

The attendant came to Emperor Adrian’s room, saying it was dinner time.

“I understand, you may leave.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Emperor Adrian, who had been resting in bed, forced himself to get up.

He grabbed the doorknob to leave the room, but pain shot through his right arm.

He groaned in agony and pressed his forehead against the door.

“Damn it, the symptoms suddenly got worse.”

Emperor Adrian grabbed his trembling right wrist with his left hand.

He had been fine with opening doors and holding forks with his right hand as long as it didn’t require much strength, but now he couldn’t exert any force at all.

If he didn’t consume blood, the symptoms would worsen.

The only way to get rid of this intermittent pain was to drink human blood.

Drinking the blood of living animals was also effective, but he had refrained from doing so because it had the side effect of making him more violent.

“It’s going to be harder to endure tomorrow.”

To temporarily reduce the pain, he had to take a strong painkiller.

Emperor Adrian took out the painkiller container he always carried in his uniform pocket. He only meant to pour three pills into his palm, but his hand trembled and he dropped them all on the floor.

“Damn it!”

He knelt on the floor and quickly picked up the three painkillers he had dropped and swallowed them.

Emperor Adrian, who had swallowed three painkillers, lay down on the floor.

After a while, the trembling in his hand began to subside.

Emperor Adrian sighed in relief and sat up.

“I have to find a sacrifice tonight.”

Consuming the blood of a living person as much as possible has a long-lasting effect.

The face that came to mind first whenever this kind of pain suddenly came was.

“Linelle, that bastard…… I’ll have the Wyvern tear off your arms.”

Emperor Adrian gnashed his teeth and stood up again.

***

Linelle’s aggressive kisses were hard to endure for long.

It was because I was too hungry.

If I kissed him any longer, I might end up gnawing on his plump lips.

When I sucked in my stomach and complained that I was hungry, he made the ridiculous suggestion that I endure it by eating his love.

When I lowered my gaze and scolded a brat like Moiya, saying, ‘Enough!’, Linelle obediently opened the door, saying, ‘Yes, Master.’

I laughed at that, which made me even hungrier.

“To the right. The first-floor dining hall is at the right end of the building.”

We left the room and walked towards the stairs on the right.

Before going down the stairs, we ran into Prince Norton, who was coming out of his room.

“Do you like the room?”

Linelle spoke from behind Prince Norton, and the Prince turned to us and greeted us.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I think I know why this place is a summer villa. It’s cool and pleasant.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“Pardon?”

“I told Raphael to deliberately place you in a nearby location……”

Linelle pointed with his finger alternately at Prince Norton’s door and another door not far from it.

“What do you mean……?”

Prince Norton’s gaze followed his finger, then asked with a puzzled expression.

“Perhaps, is that Rosie’s room?”

When I noticed his intention and asked, he nodded and looked at Prince Norton.

“You didn’t know? I told Raphael to casually tell you.”

Could it be that he went out with Raphael earlier because of this?

“I didn’t know. I haven’t seen Raphael either. You’re being mischievous, Your Majesty.”

Prince Norton coughed dryly and replied.

“Me? Did you hear that, Empress? He says I’m being mischievous? To think that the favor I bestowed would come back like this.”

Linelle narrowed his eyes with a disappointed expression.

“That’s not what I meant, I’m just sharing friendship with Rosie, Your Majesty……”

“Go mate.”

“Go mate…… Excuse me?!”

Prince Norton, who had been speaking quietly and politely with his head slightly bowed, suddenly lifted his head and looked at Linelle with surprised eyes.

“It wasn’t His Majesty who said that, it was her.”

I said, pointing to the white butterfly sitting on Linelle’s shoulder.

Prince Norton just stared blankly at the white butterfly.

“It’s me, me. The Wyvern who played with your baby [Aoshi, Rosie’s pet].”

Moiya revealed her presence in a small voice.

“Moiya, why are you suddenly talking about mating?”

I asked Moiya on behalf of Prince Norton, who was speechless.

“Master, Master. Please listen to my unfair story first.”

“……Tell me.”