The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 182

Husband’s Woman

2022.10.01.

The way he looked at me was so cold, I felt the warmth draining from my body.

Wait, am I actually feeling a chill?

Nah, no way.

In any case, the man’s piercing blue eyes were fixed on my face.

And I couldn’t look away either.

I had just haughtily declared, ‘You’re not my type,’ so I should have been the first to break eye contact, but it felt like his gaze had a hold on me, refusing to let go.

To break the awkwardness, I raised the glass of whiskey in my left hand to my lips.

But what do you know? What a surprise.

The man suddenly grabbed my left hand.

Oh my, who does this guy think he is?

I snorted haughtily, but I couldn’t bring myself to shake off his hand.

Not because I liked it… but because his hand was as cold as ice, and I felt like I shouldn’t reject him so coldly… a nonsensical thought like that crossed my mind.

Still, I wanted to enjoy this free whiskey that someone had so kindly left, so I smoothly transferred the glass from my left hand to my right and took a long sip.

The whiskey glass was gone from my left hand, but the man’s hand remained wrapped around the back of it.

The man tilted his head closer, looking at me with an even more blatant stare than before.

The pupils of those blue eyes looked sharp, almost like vertical slits.

Why is he glaring at me like that?

Did he dare grab my hand, and now he’s upset that I nonchalantly drank the whiskey?

Yeah, should I have at least toasted with him?

No, what am I even thinking right now?

Get a grip.

I warned the man, who was still holding my left hand, with a fierce expression.

“Listen, if you don’t let go of this hand in five seconds, your fingers will instantly turn into six segments. One…”

Huh?

I had only said ‘one,’ but the man released my hand in 0.1 seconds.

He gave up faster than I expected.

Was the threat to turn his fingers into six segments a bit too much?

“Ahem, barkeep, another one of the same.”

I was about to get flustered, but I lifted my chin slightly again with a haughty air and ordered another drink, holding up the empty whiskey glass.

“I think you need to order another one?”

The man sitting next to me finally spoke.

He had a deep, resonant voice, like it was coming from a subterranean cave.

By the way, was he talking to me just now?

And why is he suddenly using informal language?

The politeness I had shown by continuing to use honorifics became meaningless in that moment.

How amusing.

“You’re very brazenly asking me to buy you a drink?”

Is it because your face is so brazen?

I also dropped the honorifics and asked with a sarcastic tone.

“Hah.”

Perhaps I hit the nail on the head, as the man couldn’t continue speaking and only scoffed.

“What, I’ll buy you a drink.”

Despite my sarcastic tone, I ordered another of the same from the bartender.

Even though he’s handsome, he’s really not my type… is it because he looks so cold? An unexpected act of generosity slipped out.

Sorry, Moi… I ended up using the money for your sausage like this.

“Haha.”

The man suddenly burst into laughter.

But it was a very unpleasant laugh for some reason.

“Do you think I’m asking you to buy me another drink because I don’t have any money right now?”

What’s with him? This sudden change of attitude after I ordered the drink?

I pondered for a moment and then told him honestly what I felt.

“I know. You’re trying to pick me up by asking me to buy you a drink.”

“…Wow.”

A pure exclamation escaped the man’s mouth, and in the meantime, two glasses filled with whiskey were placed in front of me.

“Here, drink up. Should I even give you a toast?”

I slid one of the whiskey glasses in front of the man and asked.

Then, the man brought the glass back in front of me and finished the remaining whiskey in his own glass.

What’s with this again?

I stared blankly at the returned whiskey glass.

Is he telling me to drink it all?

How absurd. Then why did he tell me to order another drink?

“The liquor I was drinking… Bring me the whole bottle.”

The man ordered the bartender with an arrogant tone.

He doesn’t seem to be broke.

Is he the young master of a noble family?

No. This is a tavern mainly frequented by commoners, so rather than a noble, is he a wealthy merchant?

But his appearance is too obviously aristocratic for that?

I don’t know what kind of clothes he’s wearing under his robe, but the aura emanating from his face was quite refined.

The way he lowered his eyes and blinked leisurely also looked elegant.

Judging from his tone and expression, he’s a person who has been arrogant for a long time?

He must be a noble, right?

…By the way, this whiskey has quite a high alcohol content.

I need to be careful from now on so that my habit of turning into a dog when I’m drunk doesn’t show.

“Are you here alone?”

“?”

That’s what came out of my mouth just a few seconds after I resolved to be careful.

As expected, the man didn’t say anything.

“Do you live alone?”

“!”

Am I crazy….

Even if I’m drunk, I shouldn’t keep talking to someone if they’re not saying anything!

Why am I curious about whether he came to the bar alone? What am I going to do if he lives alone?

I wanted to sew my mouth shut right away.

The fact that I asked such a question was already showing signs of turning into a dog [acting shamelessly or inappropriately due to drunkenness].

The evil energy that I was infected with about a month ago was completely cured as soon as I arrived in the Thebel Empire, thanks to the Master of the Magic Tower.

However, for some unknown reason, the habit of speaking without thinking, which I had when I was infected with the evil energy, remained the same.

Well, even when I was fine, I wasn’t someone who used my brain much.

Although I escaped from the evil energy, a Fallen Demon often visits me, ridiculously enough.

According to him, it’s just a greeting, a visit out of friendship, but has all our friendship burned to death?

Anyway, it’s certain that he’s a demon with a lot of affection.

“Why are you asking such things?”

The man asked with a genuinely curious face.

“Pretend you didn’t hear it.”

I belatedly tried to take back the words I had spat out.

The man stared at me intently, and just as he was about to open his mouth, the bartender politely handed him the bottle of whiskey with both hands.

The man, with a consistently indifferent expression, poured whiskey into his glass and downed it twice in a row.

At that sight, I also downed the whiskey that I had ordered for him in one gulp.

Then, the man looked at me with an even more astonished expression than before.

I drank only three glasses in a row, so why is he making that face?

He’s ordering and drinking the whole bottle himself.

Ah, is it because I drank the liquor he bought for me? But he pushed the whiskey glass back in front of me himself!

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I finally demanded to know.

“That liquor. No, the liquor you drank first.”

“Oh, it was sweet. What about that liquor?”

“…It had an owner.”

“What? Don’t lie.”

I was startled, but I responded calmly.

The man spoke very seriously, without a hint of teasing.

“It was my companion’s liquor.”

“!”

Ah, so that’s why he grabbed my hand to stop me from drinking it?

Damn it.

No, then he should have said something! Why is he grabbing someone else’s hand and making a fuss?

What should I do? I don’t have any more money to order more liquor….

First, let’s pretend I don’t know.

“I’ve been here for quite a while, but the owner of this seat hasn’t shown up yet, right?”

“He went out on a brief errand.”

The man glanced at the clock hanging in the bar and replied.

“What errand? If he’s not coming back after this long, didn’t he just leave?”

“He just has a chronic illness that flared up, so it’s taking a bit longer.”

“…What chronic illness?”

***

Raphael suffered from diarrhea immediately after returning to the Imperial Palace from the Elange Forest.

The diarrhea, which flares up when he’s stressed, recurred after a very long time.

There were many stressful things happening one after another, and the number of people he had to take care of increased twofold compared to the number of people he had to be mindful of.

Currently, many things inside the Imperial Palace had changed compared to before leaving for the Continental Hunting Competition.

He was relieved to finally come out to the Imperial City after living a precarious Imperial life every day, but his sphincter also loosened, and diarrhea began.

“If I had known this would happen, I would have bought the diarrhea medicine together earlier…”

Raphael frowned as he came out of the bathroom in the building next to the tavern.

Two hours ago, he had purchased a potion from the magician Big’s clinic with Linell that would raise his body temperature.

Raphael was excited at the thought of stopping by the tavern with him for a drink on the way back to the Imperial Palace.

However, the condition of his intestines was not easy.

“That’s enough. There’s nothing more to come out now, so please stop.”

He went in and out of the bathroom and the building entrance several times.

Before moving to the tavern, he stood at the entrance of the building with the bathroom again this time, rubbing his stomach and waiting for the signal to stop.

“Wait… could it be?!”

Raphael, who had been staring straight ahead, turned his head from side to side and discovered familiar people diagonally across the square.

It was the Master of the Magic Tower and Commander Macrom.

Both of them were wearing robes and hoods and had their heads down, but when the Master of the Magic Tower slightly raised his head and looked around as if searching for someone, Raphael recognized his face.

“Oh? Here…!”

Raphael raised his hand to call them, but quickly hid himself in the corner of the building.

The fact that the two had returned to the Lapion Empire meant that the Empress was likely with them as well.

Raphael’s heart was pounding.

He was confused about what to do about this.

One thing was certain: if they, as well as the Empress, were here, it would become dangerous.

He thought about going back to the tavern and informing Linell that the Empress’s party had returned, but he didn’t know how he would react since he had no memory of the Empress.

The first fact he learned about the Empress, who had disappeared from his memory, was that she was a ‘Deputy Empress’ temporarily sent from the Shatoanil Kingdom.

That fact was revealed a month ago, inside the monastery.

Princess Roxana brought up the story first, and Prince Tessler’s testimony followed.

Since Zelda was indeed sent from the Shatoanil royal family as a ‘Deputy Empress,’ there was no other way to sugarcoat it.

After that, Raphael, who was a close aide, repeatedly told him about the affectionate feelings the two had shared, but he tilted his head each time.

It was like a fairy tale-like honeymoon story that the current Emperor’s personality could never believe.

“But… why is Macrom in such a state?”

Raphael was shocked to see Commander Macrom with his unkempt beard.

The Commander was always neat and tidy, both before and after losing his sight.

He had never seen even a hint of a beard growing on his face, but the Commander’s face looked at least 10 years older, so what on earth had happened during that time?

“Why is his expression so dark again?”

It might have been because he was next to the clean-cut Master of the Magic Tower, but Raphael sensed that some change had occurred in Commander Macrom’s circumstances.

“If the two of them have come to the Imperial City, then surely, Her Majesty the Empress must be here as well.”

First, it was necessary to follow the two of them and find out where they were staying.

Because if he rashly approached them and acted like he knew them, everyone could be in danger.

Raphael quietly began to follow the two of them, keeping a certain distance.

***

The man never told me what kind of chronic illness his companion had.

Is it a serious illness? It can’t be. If it were, he wouldn’t have ordered liquor.

Then did he just lie about having a companion for no reason?

Well, I’ll know if the man had a companion if I wait, but I plan to run away when I get the chance. As naturally as I sat down in this seat.

“Is the companion you came with by any chance a woman?”

The thought that just popped into my head came out without going through my brain.

My body needs to run, but words keep popping out carelessly, so what should I do?

“Why are you curious about the gender?”

The man asked irritably.

“Just let it go in one ear and out the other [ignore it]. I’m just saying it in case I accidentally hit on someone who’s taken.”

After saying all that, I felt like I had been caught.

“It sounds like you’re saying you’ll hit on them if they’re not taken.”

The man twisted his lips crookedly while pointing that out.

I wanted to twist my own lips.

“Don’t misunderstand. I’m a married woman!”

I raised my voice, getting unnecessarily agitated.

“…There’s no chance of misunderstanding then.”

The man muttered quietly and poured whiskey into his glass, drinking it in quick succession.

The whiskey bottle was already more than half empty.

“Does that mean you’re married too?”

I felt strangely disgusted.

“I was.”

But why is it in the past tense?

“…Did you get divorced?”

“Divorced… it seems like the marriage has become completely invalid.”

The man spoke as if he were talking about someone else’s story.

But you know, why do you keep answering my questions and then muttering to yourself like that?

What an arrogant way of conversing.

“No, how can a marriage become invalid? Was your wife a complete mess?”

I wasn’t particularly interested in other people’s affairs, but this was pure curiosity.

“She was a wife, but they say she wasn’t a wife.”

“What does that mean?”

“Well… I don’t even know. Since the person involved isn’t here, I can’t even ask what that means.”

Tsk tsk, his wife must have committed some kind of fraud and left home.

“…You seem to have a low tolerance for alcohol too, so why don’t you stop drinking now?”

I advised the man, staring at the dwindling golden waves inside the whiskey bottle.

The man pretended not to hear me and continued to fill his glass whenever it was empty.

“I don’t know the situation, but wouldn’t your wife have had a reason to leave home?”

“What do you know to say such things?”

“I can tell just by looking. I can gauge it just by your tone.”

I scanned the man up and down and replied with a confident voice.

The man glared at me, but ironically, his body was leaning towards me.

Even a building would collapse with this much tilt, right?

If he leans just a little more, I’ll have to talk to him with our lips touching.

Even if other people saw it, it would appear that the man was showing interest in me.

How can I not misunderstand with this?

I threw out a somewhat unreasonable question to get a grip on myself.

“But, when did your wife leave home?”

The man’s face instantly hardened.

“A month ago…”

This time too, the man answered my question, and his expression became very serious, as if he was reminded of what happened a month ago.

But apart from his serious expression, the man’s body was getting closer to me.