The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 174

174. I’ll Be a Good Husband

2022.09.03.

“Why, why are you doing this, Zelda…?”

Rinel seemed quite taken aback by my provocation.

“Hold on, I’m also very flustered, so…”

But unlike my words, my body was not flustered at all and was quite bold.

Before I knew it, I had him lying on the bed and was looking down at him.

“The energy of evil… it seems it’s not all that bad.”

Rinel willingly surrendered, raising both hands above his head on the pillow.

“Judging by your expression, you’ve been wanting me a lot?”

For someone surrendering, his voice was quite suggestive.

His generous gaze, as if allowing me to devour him at any moment, made me impatient.

I hurriedly grabbed his shirt and tore it open in one swift motion.

After tearing it, I belatedly gasped, ‘Ah.’

Clearly, my initial intention was to gently unbutton it, but my reason and instinct clashed, causing another accident.

Rinel stared at me with wide eyes.

He laughed only when the last button, barely clinging to the shirt, fell to the floor. He laughed even louder when he heard the button rolling somewhere on the floor.

“So, you were hiding this nature? I like it.”

Again, that expression.

Even while smiling, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.

“I’ve been wondering since earlier.”

“What is it?”

“Is something… wrong?”

Rinel retorted, looking me up and down as I sat firmly on his thigh.

I ignored his words and asked again.

“Am I, perhaps, going to die soon?”

Otherwise, his eyes wouldn’t be so sorrowful.

The Fallen Angel didn’t say I was going to die, did he? Then what is it?

It seemed Rinel was hiding something from me.

“Not at all. My wife will live a long, long time. You don’t have to worry about that.”

He brushed my hair behind my ear as he spoke.

“Then why that expression? Are you worried that I’m infected by the demon and might pass it on to you? I don’t think it’s contagious, though?”

“I’d welcome anything you give, even if it’s a demon.”

“Then why do you keep looking like you’re chewing on something? It makes me feel weird, no, strange.”

“Not at all? I’ve been looking at you with affection this whole time?”

“No, there’s something. I can feel it instinctively.”

I said it even more profoundly on purpose.

“There’s nothing. And if you feel something strange about me, it’s probably the demon’s trickery.”

Rinel replied seriously, changing the subject.

“So, what do you want to do to me?”

He tilted his head slightly and asked, checking his bare upper body.

My body continued to tremble on top of Rinel’s. The vibration seemed to be transmitted to him as well.

I leaned down and tried to penetrate his lips.

No, I tried to penetrate them in one go, but my trembling lips stuck to his chin.

Damn it. How embarrassing.

Then Rinel cupped my face with both hands, helping my lips find their place.

His familiar softness engulfed me as if it had been waiting.

It was more desperate and proactive than ever.

His movements seemed to contain a different emotion than usual.

His gestures of loving me and his increasingly rough breathing seemed subtly different, but the person who had undergone a change was not him, but me.

I worried that the energy of evil that had permeated me might have some impact on the love I shared with him.

Even while making love with him, an inexplicable fear and dread continued to wash over me.

Even though I mentally resolved to shake it off, I felt like my body was completely dominated by bad emotions.

But even in the midst of this, human desire was just as strong.

Fear and dread could not overcome my desire to run towards him.

“When we make love… surely the energy of evil isn’t being transferred to Rinel, is it?”

“I wish it were. That’s what I desire.”

Rinel’s voice permeated my skin.

“Don’t say such things. I’m already shivering from the cold, don’t add shivering from fear on top of that.”

He chuckled softly. His laughter was sad.

Why?

Ah, is it because I met that damn Fallen Angel that everything feels negative?

That might be the case.

Today, I hardly saw his face while making love.

He always made eye contact with me and checked my expression… it was strange.

Only when I grabbed his face with my trembling hands did he finally show me his face.

“Am I still warm to you?”

I hesitated several times before asking.

It was the only thing I could give him, and if even that disappeared, I would be too depressed.

“Yes, you seem warmer than usual…”

Rinel said, holding my trembling body tightly.

I felt better and snuggled even closer to his cold embrace, wrapping my arms around his waist.

I hoped that only my warmth would be conveyed, and not my fear.

“Zelda.”

“Yes.”

“I love you.”

“I know.”

“Heh, do you know how much I love you?”

“More than life itself?”

“Yes, more.”

“How can you be so sure?”

My tone contained quite a bit of doubt.

“I’m sure. I just know.”

He said with a gentle expression, but his voice was full of conviction.

“Still, don’t risk your life for me.”

“Then what can I risk?”

“Wouldn’t anything be okay as long as it’s not your life?”

I answered with a laugh, and he nodded with a serious expression.

“I will. That’s what I’m thinking…”

For a moment, we were silent.

Why did the words disappear? Just as I was wondering, he spoke again.

“If we hadn’t met each other, how would we be living now?”

I almost said that if it weren’t for someone, I wouldn’t have blocked the will-o’-the-wisp [a ghostly light often seen by travelers at night and said to foretell misfortune or death] with my hand and been infected by the energy of evil, but I barely managed to stop myself.

“I would have continued to work as a bath maid in the Shato Neil royal palace, right? Then, when I saved up some money, I would have built a smithy and lived making swords.”

“A smithy?”

“Yes, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, fire for fire! Strangely, I can withstand the heat coming from the smithy? Maybe it’s because I like swords. How do you think Your Majesty would have lived?”

“I probably would have married one of the concubines now…”

“Goodness, if you had a state marriage, would you have married Princess Resilia?”

“There’s a high possibility of that. Even though she ran away with Prince Norton.”

“Ah, I really hate Princess Resilia just thinking about her. I’d rather have a state marriage with a woman from another country.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, Princess Resilia is really a no-go.”

I said, grinding my teeth.

But Rinel muttered something irrelevant, like someone thinking about something else.

“I really only need you.”

Rinel gazed at my face as if appreciating a painting.

“An emperor has too many things connected to him.”

“Most of them are things you can’t give up, right?”

He nodded at my words and smiled faintly.

“Things I want to give up but can’t.”

“Like us.”

“Huh?”

“We’re drawn to each other from our body temperature. Even if we didn’t know each other, if we had just met somewhere, we would have ended up falling in love.”

“Do you really think so?”

He raised his body slightly and asked with a serious look.

“Yes, even if we were enemies, I think we would have fallen in love later?”

My body wouldn’t be able to reject this icy coolness of his.

I hugged him again.

Rinel’s expression suddenly brightened for some reason.

I don’t know why he’s smiling, but it’s much better than him looking like he’s been chewing on something the whole time, so I felt better too.

“I’m sleepy now. I guess my desire for sleep increases when my sexual desire is satisfied.”

“Let’s go to sleep quickly. I liked falling asleep with you the most…”

His voice was heard in my sleep.

Not the best thing, but the best thing?

It was in the past tense.

Why?

***

The next day, at the Duke’s castle in the Aclato Duchy.

“I was going to leave after the wedding, but the schedule isn’t working out.”

Hector finished preparing for the expedition and briefly entered Roxana’s room.

Roxana quietly looked up at his face.

Funnily enough, Hector seemed genuinely disappointed that he couldn’t leave after having a wedding with her.

‘What affection has built up between us that he’s making that expression?’

‘Anyone would think we’re long-time lovers.’

She lowered her gaze from Hector’s face and thought.

“I wanted to see you in a wedding dress.”

Roxana looked at his face again at Hector’s casually uttered words.

Hector’s expression didn’t resemble a man who had been close to countless women on Tanya Island.

He even looked like a pure young man leaving his hometown with his first love.

“You’ll see it soon enough.”

‘You’ll see it at the wedding with Emperor Rinel, though.’

Hector, who didn’t know Roxana’s true feelings at all, nodded at her answer.

“It must be beautiful.”

Hector’s awkward compliment continued.

‘Yes, and you’ll want to kill me. But that won’t happen. You’ll be as obedient as a dog to me.’

“Have a glass of this before you go. It’s juice I made myself.”

Roxana grabbed Hector’s hand as he was about to leave the room and handed him a glass of juice.

“You… made it yourself?”

“Yes. I’ll be going to the continent soon too, but we won’t see each other before then. I can’t make you a meal with my own hands, but I can do this much…”

She made her voice sound more gentle than usual.

Hector had a surprised look, but he received the glass of juice she handed him without any suspicion.

Then he drank the juice in one gulp.

Hector was a man who never sipped his drinks, whether it was alcohol or water.

Thanks to that, she could leisurely watch him drink the potion of obedience without any anxiety.

The potion of obedience was a potion that made you follow the last person you saw before drinking it. She had received it from Bellos at the Magic Tower yesterday.

The potion of obedience could only be used on someone you spent the night with.

The moment she heard that condition, Roxana felt like the terrible nights she had spent with Hector were being compensated.

Once Hector fell asleep, his memories of Roxana would be erased, and only the desire to obey her would arise.

Everything was going according to Roxana’s plan.

Originally, her father had planned to isolate the dignitaries from each country who were participating in the hunting competition on the continent, and then eliminate Hector before presenting the final negotiation card, but her thoughts were different.

He was too good of a person to kill.

Since she would be living in the Lapion Imperial Palace anyway, she needed someone who was completely on her side.

There was no one better than Hector as a loyal dog to protect her.

It was definitely not because she had developed feelings for him.

Roxana thought so.

“See you on the continent.”

“Yeah.”

Hector opened the door and went out, then closed the door again and turned to look at her.

“Roxana.”

“Yes?”

“If things go well on the continent and we have a wedding, then… I’ll try to be a good husband.”

Were those words prepared in advance?

Roxana stared blankly at Hector.

“I don’t lie. Well, you’ll see when the time comes.”

Hector showed a genuine smile for the first time, not a sneer.

Roxana waved her hand at Hector and replied inwardly.

‘I’m sorry, but being a good husband is not your role.’