The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 153

153. The Grilled Beltfish

“What’s going on between you and the Master of the Magic Tower?”

Misha was startled by Moiya’s secretive question.

Rosie snorted sharply and scolded Moiya.

“Ha! Are you trying to play matchmaker again? Is that all you ever think about?”

“It’s not that… I’m saying this with the senses of a great wyvern…”

“If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll gag you!”

Rosie yelled, grabbing a towel and lunging at Moiya, though it wasn’t a real gag.

Moiya shut her mouth and stepped back.

“It’s not nonsense, but I’ll shut my trap.”

Misha, unable to watch any longer, calmed Rosie down, who reluctantly sat back down and snapped at Moiya.

“Why were you making such a fuss about eating sausage in the middle of the night?”

“I didn’t know there was a human mosquito running around here.”

Moiya grumbled, tapping the tip of her index finger.

Rosie glared at Moiya and took Misha’s hand.

“Anyway, Misha, it’s a great relief that it ended here. You shouldn’t be out late at night from now on.”

“I agree.”

“I don’t know how His Majesty and the Empress will handle this, but since you didn’t see his face, it will be difficult to find the culprit.”

Misha nodded at Rosie’s words.

“Besides, they’ll have to approach this very carefully to avoid any misunderstandings that they’re suspecting foreign dignitaries. Do you understand?”

If Misha had been a member of the Imperial Family or nobility, the situation would have been different, but since she was a maid of the harem, there was a high probability that today’s incident would be quietly passed over.

“Yes, I understand perfectly.”

“Okay, don’t be too upset. Those kinds of guys always get punished somehow.”

“Yes, Your Grace. But what about Moiya, who’s starving?”

Misha asked, looking at Moiya, who was holding her stomach with both hands and looking dejected.

“Leave her alone. Will she die if she doesn’t eat sausage for a day?”

Rosie raised her voice as if for Moiya to hear.

“Guys, I know this isn’t the time to say this, but…”

Moiya, who had been watching their reactions, slipped under the bed and came out with two sausages in her hands.

“I picked up these sausages because I thought you guys would worry about me being hungry.”

“Is she really crazy about sausages! How did you get those?”

Moiya wouldn’t have been able to move the sausages in her white butterfly form.

“Did you go to the stairs in that form because you were blinded by sausages?”

You wouldn’t be that crazy, would you?

Rosie asked, scolding Moiya in an excited voice.

If that were the case, Rosie was determined to wring Moiya’s neck right away.

“What do you take me for? Ao-ssi brought them.”

“Miyaong… (Moiya was so annoying…) ”

Ao-ssi pretended not to notice Rosie’s fierce gaze directed at him.

“Always causing trouble!”

“So… as a sign of repentance, I’ll eat the sausage raw today.”

Moiya said with a look of great determination.

“Really? You don’t want to grill it?”

Misha asked with a smile, and Moiya replied, conscious of Rosie.

“They say prisoners in jail eat tasteless food, right? I’m going to eat it raw with the heart of a prisoner.”

“Ha, at least you have a little conscience.”

Rosie said with a snort.

“Yeah, I even have sauce.”

Moiya said, slyly taking out the sausage sauce she had brought from the Imperial Palace.

Rosie’s lips pursed sharply.

Moiya quickly turned her gaze to Misha, thinking that fiery curses would pour out of those sharp lips again.

“Misha. I’ll definitely avenge the guy who attacked you!”

“Me too!”

Rosie, who had been glaring, clenched her fists and joined Moiya’s words.

Misha wiped her moist eyes again and could only say, “Thank you.”

Because she couldn’t bring herself to say that the culprit was Emperor Adrian.

“We should stomp on that kind of guy’s feet! And pull out all his hair!”

Rosie stomped her right foot on the floor in excitement, putting a lot of strength into her ten fingers.

“Why waste energy? We can just burn his hair off.”

Kwaaaak-!

Moiya breathed fire from her mouth.

As a result, the sausage she was holding was grilled in an instant.

“Oong? Did I accidentally cook the sausage, Moiya~?”

Moiya quickly put the sausage in her mouth.

And the next day, what Rosie and Moiya had said unintentionally came true.

***

Moiya was bored being alone in the room, so she transformed into a white butterfly and followed Rosie to the dining hall for breakfast.

-\’I can feel you. Reveal yourself to me.\’

Moiya heard someone’s voice in her ear.

As Moiya had never lived in a group, she didn’t know it was the language of the wyvern [a dragon-like creature].

She was just annoyed that someone kept talking to her.

‘Who is it? Who keeps talking to me?’

Moiya, in the form of a butterfly, flew around the heads of the dignitaries gathered in the dining hall.

-\’I will be the master who rules you. So don’t hide your identity and come to me.\’

The voice was heard again.

‘Ah, is it you?’

Moiya looked towards the dining hall door.

Emperor Adrian, who had entered the dining hall, looked around and walked towards his seat, guided by a servant.

‘Why are you talking to me and making a fuss when we’re not even close!’

Moiya looked down at Emperor Adrian and flew to Empress Katria, who was walking behind him, and entered her body.

“Ah!”

“Oh my, I accidentally stepped on your foot, Moiya~”.

Emperor Adrian turned around with an annoyed expression, but when he realized that the person who had stepped on his foot was Empress Katria, he laughed and said it was okay.

At that moment, an oil lamp that was perfectly attached to the wall fell on Emperor Adrian’s head, and his hair caught fire.

***

The beltfish was grilled.

The silver hair that swayed around his waist burned down to just below his shoulders before it was finally extinguished.

Grilled beltfish makes a delicious dish, but Emperor Adrian only smelled of burning.

In fact, I had been hearing the voice that spoke to Moiya from the moment Emperor Adrian entered the dining hall.

‘That beltfish is targeting Moiya.’

I was watching Moiya, who was transformed into a white butterfly, when suddenly things happened.

I could tell that it was Moiya’s doing from the way Empress Katria stepped on Emperor Adrian’s foot and apologized.

And when I saw the oil lamp suddenly fall on Emperor Adrian’s head, I realized something was wrong.

When I saw the fire on the beltfish’s head, I unconsciously focused on the flames.

Then the faint flames grew bigger.

Panicked, I tried to reduce the flames, but it didn’t work as I wanted.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the Master of the Magic Tower stepped in and extinguished the flames on Emperor Adrian’s hair in an instant.

“Whew.”

The dignitaries who had witnessed a comedy from the morning were buzzing among themselves, and some lowered their heads and laughed secretly.

Since his hair was burned like that, the dignitaries’ laughter was somewhat understandable.

I bit my lower lip and watched Emperor Adrian’s bewildered appearance, when I felt a gaze watching me from somewhere.

I moved my eyes and turned my gaze to see the Master of the Magic Tower looking at me with an ambiguous expression, not sure if he was smiling or frowning.

Feeling a little guilty, I briefly raised the corners of my mouth and moved my eyes elsewhere.

“Zelda, it seems the Master of the Magic Tower noticed what you just did.”

Linell whispered to me quietly.

Do you already know too, since you’re saying that?

I wanted to say that it wasn’t me who dropped the oil lamp, but Moiya, but it wasn’t a situation where I could say such a thing.

“How did Your Majesty know?”

I asked him with ventriloquism.

“Manage your expression better. It’s all over your face.”

I could see him trying not to laugh and deliberately frowning at the front.

While we were whispering, Emperor Adrian, smelling of burning, left the dining hall first with Empress Elan.

***

After breakfast, we packed our bags and set off.

Everyone agreed with Linell’s suggestion to enjoy a morning hunt before the weather got too hot.

Even though it was still early in the morning, the sunlight was as hot as the average daytime temperature.

Emperor Adrian, who had left the dining hall earlier, appeared with a short bob when it was time to depart.

The silver hair that swayed gracefully from the waistline like a fresh beltfish whenever Emperor Adrian walked was now swaying at ear level.

About an hour after setting out, one of the dignitaries shot an arrow at an eagle flying in the sky.

The arrow didn’t even come close to the eagle and fell in a parabola.

The front row became busy amidst the laughter of the dignitaries.

It was a sign that the full-scale morning hunt was about to begin.

A space was prepared for the dignitaries who were not participating in the hunt, and a mobile kitchen for the culinary department was quickly set up a little further away.

It seemed they were planning to hunt around here and have lunch as well.

The concubines got out of the carriages and sat down on the bamboo mats spread out on the floor as they had done yesterday.

“The Empress will move with me today.”

Linell came to my side and said.

Reluctantly, I went into the inner forest with him.

“Is it two people per group?”

“Follow me like a shadow. Or I can be the shadow if you don’t like it.”

He took a few arrows from his quiver and put them in my quiver.

“I have enough. You don’t have to give me more…?”

“Just take them. I’m worried. But you ended up carrying that sword after all.”

Linell looked displeased when he saw the sword I had ordered separately from Count Ethan instead of the thin, light sword he had specially ordered for me.

“You can’t catch big animals with that sword. And it’s too weak to protect someone.”

“This isn’t a battlefield, Zelda.”

He smiled, touching my uniform as if inspecting it.

“I know, but it’s a war for the animals. Even small animals don’t know what kind of power they’ll exert when they’re cornered. So…”

Instead of finishing my sentence, I tapped the sword and gave him a look that said, ‘This sword is more useful.’

“Okay, good job. My wife is great.”

At the same time as he shook my shoulder, the low bushes 1 meter in front of us also shook.

We simultaneously held our breath and took out our bows.

“Ah, it’s a rabbit. You catch it.”

Linell lowered his bow, yielding to me.

“It’s too small and cute, so I don’t want to catch it.”

I also lowered my bow and looked at the white rabbit twitching its nose, and replied to him.

“Why, human rabbit? Can’t kill it because it’s the same species?”

At his teasing, I raised my bow again and glared at him, only pulling the bowstring.

Linell pretended to be surprised, raised both hands, and laughed.

***

About an hour had passed.

Perhaps we had chosen the wrong spot, but there were no animals to be seen that could be hunted to fill our stomachs.

Empress Katria complained that we might only be eating salad for lunch today and gave us, the attached couple, a look.

I needed to rest a bit to prepare for the increasingly intense sunlight.

So I had separated from Linell 10 minutes ago.

He let me go willingly when I said I was going to rest, not hunt.

Even though I was deliberately saving my energy, the wind was too hot and my stamina was rapidly declining.

I quickly found shade and leaned against a tree to rest.

A refreshing scent made me turn my head to the side, and I saw small, bright red berries hanging in clusters in the bushes that came up to my chest.

“They look like strawberries? Are they strawberries?”

I reached out and picked one of the berries. It was smaller than a regular strawberry, but the color was much more appetizingly pretty.

However, what was unique was that the surface of the strawberry was bumpy.

I was thinking of picking some and sharing them with Linell when I heard a familiar but unwelcome voice from beyond the bushes.

“The forest is really amazing. How can you find something to eat just by walking around a little?”

It was Princess Resilia.

“Look at the color of the strawberries. They’re so pretty. It would be nice to take these and put them in a salad.”

It seemed that Jasper, the Crown Princess, who had become best friends with Princess Resilia at some point, had come with her, and then I heard Melanie’s voice.

“We ate our fill of wild strawberries and mulberries in the forest yesterday. We also saw other things that made us full without eating. Right, Rosie, Your Grace?”

Ah, Rosie came too.

Has a new wild strawberry expedition been formed?

I listened to the conversation, then got up and slightly lifted my heels so that only my eyes were above the bushes, and peeked at them.

“No! Melanie, Your Grace, don’t eat that strawberry!”

Rosie, who had been looking at the strawberries from side to side, suddenly shouted.

It was clearly directed at Melanie, but it was me who paused.

I was about to put the strawberry in my mouth, so I couldn’t help but be surprised.

“Why? It tastes good.”

Melanie had already put the strawberry in her mouth and was chewing it.

“That! It’s a poisonous strawberry!”