The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 160

160. Dancing (160/347)

July 16, 2022

Rinel entered the bathroom.

He immediately went to Zelda, who was lying on the floor with her eyes wide open, and knelt beside her.

“What happened? How did you fall?”

“Your Majesty… could you please hand me the robe over there?”

She had slipped while getting out of the tub to put on her robe after her bath, leaving her naked.

“Is that what’s important right now? I need to see if you’re hurt!”

Rinel carefully examined her smooth, damp body with worried eyes.

Zelda pleaded, feeling exposed under his intense gaze.

“I’m not bleeding. Save the admiration for the bedroom, please get me the robe, okay?”

“Do you think I’m some kind of pervert who admires an injured person’s body? Did you hit your head when you fell?”

Zelda groaned at Rinel’s scolding, then chuckled.

She laughed, then cried out, “Aigo, aigo [Korean exclamation of distress],” bringing her hand to her waist.

Then, noticing Rinel’s eyes re-examining her body, she said, “…Just hand me the robe.”

“Why are you so insistent on that robe while groaning like that?”

“Because I can groan comfortably once I put it on.”

Rinel glared at Zelda but still took the robe hanging on the wall and carefully draped it over her shoulders.

“Can you lift your arms?”

“Of course, I can even put them in.”

Zelda slipped her arms into the sleeves as he gently supported her back with his hand.

“Your Majesty, are you alright? Is there anything I can help with…?”

Zelda was startled by the unfamiliar voice.

However, she quickly smiled when she saw Roxana standing in front of the bathroom door with her eyes lowered.

“Ah, Nancy. You must have been surprised. I’m sorry you had to see me like this.”

“Not at all, Your Majesty.”

Rinel looked back at Roxana, who hadn’t left the room yet, then gave Zelda a questioning look.

“She’s a kitchen maid. I asked her for lemon tea earlier.”

“I see. I’m sorry to ask, but could you come here and help support the Empress? She’s a bit unsteady, so we need to move her carefully.”

Rinel gazed at Zelda’s face and asked Roxana for help.

“Oh, Your Majesty. Even if the hunt was tiring, you should have saved some strength to carry me,” Zelda said with a laugh, and Rinel replied sternly again.

“It’s because it could be dangerous for me to carry you alone if your waist is severely injured, Empress. It’s not because I’m weak.”

Roxana stared blankly at their conversation.

The injured person was smiling, while the healthy person’s face was full of worry.

Strangely, their conversation seemed lighthearted despite the situation.

‘This is absurd.’

Roxana approached them, careful not to frown.

“But Empress, how did you fall anyway?”

Rinel asked again why she had fallen, as he hadn’t heard it earlier because Zelda had been so insistent on getting the robe first.

Zelda’s plump lips hesitated before finally confessing.

“While dancing.”

“…What?”

Rinel looked down at her, dumbfounded.

“After taking a bath, I felt a heat… ah, my body felt refreshed.”

Zelda explained why she danced, but after saying ‘heat,’ she changed her words, conscious of Roxana.

“…So you danced? How passionately did you dance…?”

Rinel also trailed off, conscious of Roxana, as he was about to ask if it was even possible to fall in that state.

“I just danced excitedly. Ugh, I think I twisted my waist a bit when I fell.”

Roxana was dumbfounded by Empress Zelda’s words.

She had suspected it before, but Zelda really seemed a bit eccentric.

Goodness. What empress, no, what noble lady would dance during a bath and fall so awkwardly on the bathroom floor?

“Empress!”

Rinel called her sternly.

Roxana thought that he would scold Empress Zelda, and that he was normal after all.

But.

“You should have danced excitedly *after* getting out of the tub.”

However, he was only concerned that she was hurt.

Rinel’s attitude toward Empress Zelda, who had done something so foolish, was certainly unique.

One thing was certain: Emperor Rinel was remarkably understanding.

Otherwise, there was no way he would accept an empress who had done such a foolish thing with that smile.

“Did you say your name was Nancy?”

Suddenly, Rinel asked Roxana her name.

Even though Rinel hadn’t called her by her real name, Roxana’s heart fluttered.

“…Yes, it’s Nancy, Your Majesty.”

Roxana almost revealed her real name.

“Alright, Nancy. Pretend you didn’t hear anything the Empress said here.”

Empress Zelda’s smiling face contrasted with Emperor Rinel’s serious expression.

Roxana looked back and forth between their faces and replied quietly, “Yes.”

“Good. Then come here and help me support the Empress.”

“…Yes.”

With Zelda in the middle, Rinel and Roxana each took one of her arms.

In sync with Rinel’s count of one, two, three, Roxana helped him lift Zelda up.

“Can you take a step?”

Rinel asked Zelda kindly.

“Now that I’m standing, I think I can walk without support.”

Zelda, who was supporting herself by placing her arms on their shoulders, wiggled her toes and carefully moved her waist from side to side, then said with a smile.

The pain seemed to have lessened a few minutes after the fall.

“Then will you walk alone?”

“Since you’re already supporting me like this, please take me to the bed. I’m asking you a favor, Nancy.”

Zelda looked at Rinel and Roxana in turn and smiled.

“Just in case, take your steps slowly.”

Zelda nodded at Rinel’s words and took a step forward.

‘What am I doing with these people right now?’

‘Still, it was an opportunity to confirm Emperor Rinel’s kindness and Empress Zelda’s… unusualness.’

Roxana organized her thoughts, feeling a sense of self-disgust.

But she couldn’t delay any longer. She had to leave this room quickly and return to the witch Kelly’s house before Zelda discovered the missing magic potion.

“You’ve done well. You may leave now.”

Rinel said to Roxana as he covered Zelda with a blanket, just in time.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Roxana glanced at Rinel’s back, who wasn’t looking at her, for a moment before turning around.

“Nancy.”

Zelda called out to her as she walked out.

Roxana tensed up.

Did she notice that the magic potion was gone?

But the dressing table was not visible from the bed.

What is it? Why is she calling me?

“Yes… Your Majesty.”

Roxana turned to Zelda and bowed slightly.

“Thank you for your help. I’ll enjoy the lemon tea. It was nice meeting you.”

Zelda said with a bright smile.

Thank you, I’ll enjoy it, it was nice meeting you…

She said three things to the maid unnecessarily, when she could have just said one.

‘Annoying.’

Roxana bowed lightly to Zelda again and left the room.

She felt an unknown sense of defeat.

Zelda’s kind voice felt like it was mocking Roxana.

Her bright smile, lovely eyes, and hearty laughter were all annoying.

‘Didn’t you say you had a hard life since you were young?’

You must have endured people’s neglect because of your burned right face, and you must have been treated coldly by your family, so why are you so bright?

Besides, I heard that you have been living with the pain of your whole body burning due to the influence of the Avatar [a spiritual embodiment].

But how can you smile so happily?

‘It must be because of Emperor Rinel…’

Roxana concluded that the source of all of Zelda’s happiness came from Rinel.

‘He’s the one who made you that way. So I have to take him too.’

Roxana reaffirmed her resolve.

She took out the stolen magic potion bottle from her pocket after leaving the room.

‘You’re going to be unhappy anyway.’

Roxana placed the magic potion bottle next to the door.

‘This… I’ll let it slide. This is for zipping up my zipper today.’

It would be fortunate if someone found the magic potion bottle and gave it to Empress Zelda, and if not, that was also her fate.

Roxana grabbed the amethyst in her hand to return to the witch Kelly’s house, then let go again.

There was a place she had to stop by before going back.

She walked quickly towards her destination.

Roxana, who had been walking down the hallway for a while, looked back once before opening Velos’s door and entering without knocking.

Velos was standing by the window as if he knew she would come again, then slowly turned around.

“Are you coming from meeting Emperor Rinel?”

Roxana ignored Velos’s question and strode towards him.

“I must have him!”

Roxana said with glaring eyes in a threatening tone, and Velos narrowed his eyes and stared at her face.

It was an unexpected remark, but Velos understood the meaning behind it, so he didn’t ask again.

Her words, which started with a threat, ended with a desperate request.

“So, Tower Master, you must never give up on her either.”

***

Bonis tried to ignore the drunken Prince Tesler and pass by, but the prince stubbornly blocked her way.

“You’re very drunk.”

Bonis reluctantly said, trying to avoid Prince Tesler, but the prince blocked her way again.

“What are you doing?”

Bonis asked irritably.

“Ha! Whether it’s this or that, why do you always say that to me?”

Prince Tesler, whose eyes were completely unfocused, bared his teeth, revealing his upper lip like a growling dog.

“Are you talking about me and Her Majesty the Empress right now?”

Bonis looked around the hallway.

Perhaps because it was late at night, there was no one around.

It was a pity that no one witnessed Prince Tesler, who was spewing nonsense even though he was drunk.

“Bonis, I’m warning you, there’s no good that will come from sticking with her.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re on a sinking ship. You’ll only realize, ‘Oh no, I’m going to die now,’ when the water reaches your nose.”

Prince Tesler’s eyes were full of mockery.

“You’re both acting up now, but you’ll end up coming back to our kingdom as bath maids anyway.”

It seemed that there wasn’t a single woman who pleased Prince Tesler.

“Even the one who comforted my lonely nights is now useless…”

The one who comforted his nights?

Bonis stared intently at Prince Tesler’s mumbling mouth.

It seemed like he was talking about someone. He didn’t mention who it was, but Bonis thought he was referring to Concubine Pesillini.

“You, follow me to my room.”

Prince Tesler lifted Bonis’s chin with one finger.

“Wh-what did you say?”

Bonis immediately frowned and turned her head away.

“If you please me tonight, I’ll save you when you become a lone duck on the Nakdong River [a Korean idiom for being helpless] in the future. Come here!”

Bonis felt like spitting on Prince Tesler’s face, who was spouting nonsense.

He was a prince who couldn’t even control his own body because he was drunk, but his eyes were full of meanness.

That meanness never faded, even when he was drunk.

“Follow me quietly!”

Prince Tesler, who had been staggering, suddenly changed his expression and grabbed Bonis’s wrist.

He was about to drag her into any room.

Bonis, who was flustered by the sudden situation, was dragged a few steps before stopping as she pulled back.

“Let go!”

“If you were smart, you’d beg me for forgiveness. Then I’ll personally embrace you. Come here!”

Bonis was speechless.

What forgiveness did she have to ask for?

Who was the person who should be asking for forgiveness?

She looked down at her little finger, which Prince Tesler had cut off and disappeared with, and resisted.

But she couldn’t overcome Prince Tesler’s strength. He dragged Bonis into the reception room where he had been drinking.

There were countless wine bottles left by the guests on the large table, but there was no one to help Bonis.

Prince Tesler pushed Bonis onto the sofa as if throwing her.

Bonis, who had fallen onto the sofa, avoided the prince who was attacking her and sat down on the floor.

She wanted to run out, but her legs were shaking and she couldn’t stand up properly, so she crawled on the floor towards the door.

Click-. Prince Tesler quickly walked to the door and locked it.

“Ah!”

Bonis’s ankle was grabbed by Prince Tesler as she crawled, and her body flipped forward.

“You should have acted appropriately.”

The prince’s eyes, which had been unfocused, were now clearly looking down at Bonis lecherously.

Prince Tesler grabbed Bonis’s wrists tightly and pressed them down on the floor.

Bonis opened her mouth.

‘I have to scream. I have to scream right now!’

But she was too scared to make a sound.

Suddenly, she remembered the dagger that Commander Markrom had given her.

Bonis slightly raised her right thigh, where she was wearing the dagger, towards Prince Tesler’s waist.

Prince Tesler’s eyes sparkled with greed and he raised the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, yes. You have to come out like this.”

The prince stroked Bonis’s cheek and immediately placed his lips on hers.

At that moment, Bonis tightly closed her eyes and pulled out the dagger from her thigh.

“Heok!”

Prince Tesler raised his head and looked down at Bonis with shocked eyes.

The whites of his eyes burst with blood vessels and glared at her.

“You, how dare you! You crazy B****…!”

Prince Tesler strangled Bonis’s neck with all his might before suddenly collapsing to the side.

Bonis’s whole body trembled.

“I, I killed someone… I, I killed someone, Prince Tesler…!!”