The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 157

157. Come Out Here

July 6, 2022

Vellos had been in turmoil ever since arriving at the second villa.

Shortly after being assigned a room, a raven arrived from Aclato Island with news.

Seeing the bloodstains on the envelope, he knew something had happened to Logan even before untying the letter from the raven’s foot.

The letter was from Roxana, not Logan.

It began with a request for the ‘Red Elixir’ and ended with a condition: he must help her if he wanted Empress Zelda as his partner.

Audaciously, the letter contained a proposition Vellos found hard to refuse.

From his perspective, it was essentially a win-win.

Using Roxana would create an easier, more natural opportunity to take Zelda as his partner.

Though somewhat underhanded, it was undoubtedly the most effective method.

Vellos eventually wrote a letter permitting the use of the Red Elixir.

He included a warning about potential side effects from artificially ingesting the Red Elixir, but Logan would have already conveyed such cautions.

After sending the raven, Vellos instructed the wizard Big to summon Misha to his room.

Soon after, Misha arrived.

“Misha, I’m sorry to ask this of you.”

He felt embarrassed.

Vellos carefully spoke while tending to Misha’s wound himself.

“It’s no problem, but… why do you need a maid’s dress?”

“I need it for tonight.”

“…Tonight?”

Misha asked, looking curious.

The Master of the Magic Tower, realizing his words might be misunderstood, quickly said, “Don’t think strange things.”

“No, Master of the Magic Tower. I understand.”

“Understand? Understand what?”

“Ah, I meant I respect it.”

*Respect what*, again?

Misha seemed to be seriously misunderstanding him.

“What is it that you respect?”

“Your taste, Master of the Magic Tower.”

“It’s not like that… Haa, never mind. Forget it.”

The Master of the Magic Tower gave up explaining.

He didn’t have time to tell Misha the truth, and even if he did, it was something he couldn’t easily say.

“Anyway, I’ll bring the dress right away.”

“Yes, please. I’m a bit in a hurry.”

“Ah, yes…”

Misha blinked in surprise, then smiled slightly and left.

Vellos belatedly realized he had made another statement that could be misunderstood and grabbed his hair, speaking irritably.

“That damn princess!”

***

Roxana revisited the witch’s house.

The witch greeted her with a cackle, as if expecting her return.

“Did you receive the gold bars I sent?”

“Yes, you sent more than the promised amount, so I was waiting for you to return. What can this old woman help you with today?”

“I need to go to the continent again.”

The witch nodded and began preparing the necessities for spatial teleportation.

Like yesterday, she cut off her long fingernails and Roxana’s hair, put them together in a pot, burned them, and poured melted gold into it.

As the pot began to boil, Roxana quietly took off her clothes and jewelry, and Nancy stood beside her, gathering them up.

“Is it the Linel Emperor again this time?”

The witch asked as she placed an amethyst necklace around Roxana’s neck, allowing her to return here.

“No, send me to the Master of the Magic Tower’s room.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

The witch glanced at her naked body and asked.

“It’s okay. He’s someone I have to go through anyway before meeting the person I want to see.”

“Understood. Then close your eyes now.”

The witch dipped a wooden stick into the pot of melted gold, drew a magic circle, and chanted a spell.

When the hot sensation that started at her toes reached her ankles, Roxana’s eyes, which had been closed, opened on their own.

‘I’ve arrived.’

The space had changed.

As Roxana was about to look around, she heard an unpleasant voice from behind her.

“Put your clothes on first.”

It was Vellos’s voice.

“Thank you for greeting me with your eyes closed.”

Roxana said, turning to face Vellos, who was sitting on a chair with his arms crossed and his eyes tightly shut.

“I didn’t realize the haughty princess would resort to spatial teleportation that requires her to be naked. The clothes are on the bed.”

“You must have asked Misha.”

Roxana picked up the neatly folded maid’s dress on the bed.

“Since you brought it while being misunderstood for having strange tastes, please return it neatly when you leave.”

“Well, I don’t know if I’ll have the leisure to take off my clothes again when I disappear.”

“Oh dear, it seems I’ll have to pay for the dress then,” Vellos said curtly. He was extremely uncomfortable with the situation.

“Since it’s Misha’s old clothes, I might give them to Kaline as a gift. She misses her granddaughter a lot.”

Vellos waved his hand dismissively, as if to say, *do as you please*.

Watching him, Roxana, who was changing her clothes, struggled with the zipper because the dress was a bit small, and approached Vellos.

“Master of the Magic Tower, could you pull this up for me?”

“Somehow, it feels like a request that makes me want to keep my eyes closed.”

Vellos squinted and first met Roxana’s face.

“I’m not thrilled about making such a request after meeting you for the first time in six months either.”

Roxana shrugged with a somewhat awkward expression.

“Wasn’t the last time we saw each other when you rejected me?”

Roxana’s eyes turned fierce at Vellos’s sarcastic question.

However, her expression soon softened.

“Until recently, I thought all my misfortunes started from the day the Master of the Magic Tower rejected our engagement, but I’ve changed my mind. Thanks to you, my life seems like it will be quite enjoyable from now on.”

“I didn’t realize the princess was so ambitious.”

“Now that you know, please help me. You can only have Empress Zelda as your partner if I achieve my ambitions, right?”

“I’ve allowed you to take the Red Elixir, but I haven’t decided yet whether to join hands with you regarding the rest of your plans.”

“Really? I thought this was proof?”

Roxana lifted the hem of the maid’s dress, and Vellos couldn’t refute, pressing his lips tightly.

Knock, knock-.

At the sudden knock, Roxana frowned and whispered to Vellos.

“Were you expecting someone?”

“No.”

Another knock sounded, and a voice came from outside the door.

“It’s Her Majesty the Empress.”

Vellos and Roxana made eye contact, their eyes widening.

“J-Just a moment, please!”

Vellos said towards the door, then grabbed Roxana’s arm and said urgently.

“It’s best to hide for now.”

“Where? There’s nowhere to hide here!”

“This way for now.”

Zelda wouldn’t come near the bed, so that’s the safest place.

Vellos took Roxana to the bed.

“Get in.”

“Are you telling me to… crawl under the bed now?!”

Roxana glared at Vellos’s finger pointing under the bed and jumped.

“It’s better than being misunderstood. Didn’t the princess want a normal meeting with Her Majesty the Empress, not this kind of encounter?”

Since he wasn’t wrong, Roxana had no choice but to follow Vellos’s words.

She went under the bed and crouched down.

Fortunately, the bed skirt was about 5cm above the floor, so if she pressed her cheek against the floor, she could see the situation outside to some extent.

Vellos moved away from the bed, making sure that Roxana, hidden under the bed, couldn’t be seen, and then opened the door.

“Did you come because you were busy?”

Zelda asked, looking into Vellos’s room.

“Ah, no. Your Majesty the Empress.”

Not only Zelda but also Rosie was with her outside the door.

Although it was slightly disappointing, it was better than her coming with the Linel Emperor.

“Come in.”

As soon as Zelda sat down on the chair, she began to speak.

“I came to ask you something. I was going to go to the wizard Big, but it’s easier to talk to the Master of the Magic Tower.”

Vellos ignored the beginning of Zelda’s words and shyly smiled, only reminding himself of the last part, ‘It’s easier to talk to the Master of the Magic Tower.’

Then he stopped smiling at Rosie’s gaze, which seemed to be looking at him strangely.

Rosie was holding a cat in her arms today as well.

“Yes, please speak comfortably, Your Majesty the Empress.”

Vellos said, sitting across from Zelda.

“It’s not yet time to take the magic potion… but 30 minutes ago, the burn area flared up greatly. Usually, such symptoms appear when it’s close to the time to take the potion.”

After sharing love with Linel, she felt a strong heat in her right burn scar as she was about to go to bed early.

Zelda told Linel that she would visit Rosie’s room for a while, and after discussing the symptoms with her, they came to see the Master of the Magic Tower together.

“If the fire energy starts to manifest in earnest, the symptoms of heat may be brought forward.”

“We’re still far from arriving at the Tevelo Empire, what if the potion runs out?”

Zelda’s worry was evident in her pink eyes.

“If it doesn’t work out, we’ll have to leave early or think of another way.”

In fact, obtaining the ‘Yakante’ herb in the Tevelo Empire was not difficult for Vellos.

However, he couldn’t speak properly to Zelda because he was concerned about Roxana’s ears, who would be listening to this conversation.

To be more honest, he might be holding back his words out of a desire to make her rely on him more by using her anxiety, rather than reassuring Zelda.

“So, did you take the potion?”

Zelda shook her head.

Zelda placed the magic potion bottle she had brought with her on the table, just in case.

“Not yet. I thought it would be better to decide after consulting with the Master of the Magic Tower.”

‘That’s the magic potion.’

The potion bottle on the table came into Roxana’s eyes as she was eavesdropping on the conversation between the two from under the bed.

The Empress Zelda seemed to rely on Vellos quite a bit.

Roxana felt a sense of kinship with Zelda.

Her situation of applying treatment water on her back and the Empress Zelda’s situation were quite similar.

According to Logan, before the fire energy is properly manifested, the body is hot and painful like a fireball all the time.

She thought it might be a similar pain to when she poured treatment water on the cracked wounds from being whipped.

A feeling like being burned.

Just as Zelda’s burn scars would be revealed if she didn’t drink the magic potion periodically, Roxana’s wounds were the same.

If she didn’t drink the treatment water periodically, terrible wounds would appear on her back.

Once, she was curious about the traces of the whip that had been engraved on her back, so she didn’t drink the treatment water.

After seeing the scars engraved on her back through the mirror, Roxana had fasted all day.

Just looking at the scars, they were more severe than those of most slaves.

A terrible sight that would make anyone frown.

Roxana was lost in thought, comparing Zelda’s misfortune and her own misfortune, when,

“Miyaong? (It’s not Misha?)”

Aoshi came under the bed.

Aoshi, who was in Rosie’s arms, came down to the floor and wandered around, then smelled Misha’s scent and came under the bed.

However, Aoshi, who found Roxana, looked at her with a puzzled expression.

Roxana was startled by the sudden appearance of the kitten and unknowingly raised her head, bumping it against the wooden panel of the bed with a thud.

The sound of the collision was quite loud.

“What’s that sound? Aoshi?”

At Rosie’s voice, Roxana looked at Aoshi and gestured for her to quickly get out from under the bed.

“Miyaaong? (Who are you wearing Misha’s clothes?)”

Aoshi bit the hem of the dress and came out from under the bed.

Everyone was shocked by the black hem of the skirt sticking out from under the bed.

“What… is that?”

Zelda asked, pointing under the bed with her finger.

“Ah, it’s nothing!”

Vellos said with a troubled face, quickly turning his back to the bed and blocking Zelda and Rosie’s view.

“Ah!”

Despite Vellos’s excuse, Roxana’s scream was heard from under the bed.

When Roxana pulled the hem of the skirt with her hand, Aoshi, who was annoyed, bit her hand.

“It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing?”

Zelda pushed Vellos aside.

Her strength was so great that Vellos lost his balance and fell to the floor.

As Zelda looked down at him with an apologetic expression, Vellos forgot that he had fallen and quickly got up, shouting ‘It’s really nothing!’ again.

“Aoshi, who did you bite? Come here.”

At Rosie’s command, Aoshi let go of the hem of the skirt and jumped to Rosie.

The hem of the skirt that had come out from under the bed was slowly disappearing back under the bed.

Zelda quietly watched the scene, then took a seat in front of the bed, sat on the floor, and said.

“You’re already surrounded. Come out here.”