The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 184

184. A Place to Lie Down

2022.10.08.

Linell, having paid for the woman’s drinks, hurried out of the tavern.

‘Did she flash such a beautiful smile just for the money, pretending she’d wait outside?’

‘Surely she didn’t just disappear?’

He could pay for her drinks anytime.

In the short time it took him to reach the tavern’s entrance, he entertained all sorts of possibilities, desperately hoping she would be standing there boldly as he opened the door.

“…Gone.”

Stepping out of the tavern, Linell’s mood sank as he surveyed the deserted street.

He was taken aback by the unexpectedly strong wave of disappointment.

He took off his robe and ruffled his hair wildly, trying to erase the last smile the woman had given him.

‘Should he search around the square?’

She hadn’t left long ago, so he might find her.

‘But what would I say if I found her?’

‘Why did you leave? Let’s spend time together now?’

He didn’t know how to deal with the emptiness, so he just stood there.

Going back into the tavern was unappealing, and returning to the Imperial Palace was even less so.

Just because the woman he was drinking with disappeared, he felt like he’d lost something important.

‘It’s just because I wasted money on her drinks.’

But Linell immediately shook his head, scoffing at himself.

He was the Emperor, with too much money to care about wasted drinks.

In the place where bewilderment and regret lingered, a sense of spite took hold.

Just then, a breeze blew. It was a refreshing breeze for ordinary people, but quite a chilling one for him, cursed with hypothermia [a medical condition where the body loses heat faster than it can produce it, causing a dangerously low body temperature].

Thus, he realized for sure that the reason his body temperature had risen was not the alcohol, but the woman.

“Should I scour the Imperial City and drag her in? And charge her about 100 times the price of the drinks?”

For the crime of eating and running on the Emperor.

He was seriously contemplating the absurd charge.

“What are you dawdling about?”

“!”

Linell whipped his head toward the direction of the woman’s voice.

The woman was walking sideways like a crab, slowly moving away from the tavern.

He had been so focused on the square, which was fully visible as soon as he left the tavern, that he hadn’t looked to the side.

Besides, he couldn’t have imagined that someone would be walking like a crab while drunk.

Even if she was walking that way, why would she spread her arms out to the sides?

Ah, she must be imitating pincers.

He doubted his eyes.

‘No matter how I look at it, that woman I wanted to be with… it’s her.’

Seeing the woman’s clear pink eyes, he nodded and accepted the situation.

He strode toward the woman.

Not wanting to show the face he had when he thought she had disappeared, looking forlorn like a man who had suffered a great loss, he chuckled lightly.

“Ugh… dizzy. You walk sideways too.”

“…Shouldn’t you just walk straight?”

He turned the woman’s body back to normal and forcibly lowered her arms, which were stretched out at different heights.

“Ah, I can do that.”

The woman smiled brightly, even thanking him like someone who had gained a great realization.

“But why did you come out so late? I thought you had just disappeared!”

‘Ha, who should be saying that?’

The woman asked, shooting back the words Linell wanted to ask her.

“The person who shamelessly passed the bill onto me and left… is asking why I came out so late?”

He didn’t want to reveal his relief that the woman hadn’t disappeared, so his tone was unnecessarily curt.

“Sorry, I had some circumstances. And I thought you would gladly pay for my drinks.”

“Why did you think I would gladly pay?”

“Because you’re pretty.”

The woman said with a bright smile.

‘This woman is drunk.’

Linell deliberately averted his gaze from the woman’s face.

He didn’t want to admit it, but she was really pretty just now.

The way she spoke shamelessly seemed prettier than her pretty eyes, prettier than her pretty smile.

That he really thought so probably meant…

‘I must be drunk too. Or crazy.’

“You’re pretty, you are.”

The woman turned Linell’s face, which was half-turned away from her, back to her with both hands.

“What are you doing… now…!”

He looked down at the woman, who was mercilessly squeezing the Emperor’s cheeks with a scowl on her face.

“Replacing the drink price with compliments.”

“Let go.”

…As soon as he said those words, he regretted them.

The woman’s hands were warm, and he wanted to keep the warmth he felt on his cheeks.

But she listened very well to unnecessary words.

The woman took her hands off his cheeks and started walking like a crab again.

He decided to respect her appearance as it was and just left her alone.

Still, he couldn’t completely ignore the gazes of the people around him.

So, he walked a little distance away from the woman, who was heading somewhere with a crab walk, and asked.

“What did you mean by saying you had circumstances earlier?”

“Ah, that? It was money I wasn’t supposed to use for drinks. I was on my way to buy something.”

“Buy what?”

At his question, the woman’s pink eyes wandered.

She looked like she was seriously contemplating whether to speak or not.

“I have a sick younger sibling… at home.”

“Are you saying it was for medicine?”

Linell looked at her in disbelief.

She was really an unpredictable woman.

She split the money for her sick sibling’s medicine to go to the tavern for a drink?

“It’s not like I was going to buy medicine… Ah, well, it’s like medicine to that child.”

The woman glanced at the sausage shop near the tavern, thinking it would be better to buy it on the way later than now, and replied.

“What’s wrong with your sibling?”

Linell thought of his younger brother, Joseph, and asked the woman.

Even after escaping the curse of ice, Joseph’s body was still not in perfect condition.

But he was grateful just to be able to talk to Joseph, hold his hand, and see the changes in his expression.

Perhaps because he also had a sick sibling, he began to feel sorry for the woman when he heard that she had a sick sibling.

“He… has a bit of a headache.”

“A headache?”

“He’s a friend with a mental condition. He only shows obsession with one food. It’s an addiction.”

The woman looked at the sausage shop getting farther away, thinking it would be better to buy it on the way later than now, and replied.

“…Ah. I see.”

Looking at it, it seemed like the woman wasn’t in her right mind either, so was it a family trait?

He didn’t ask any further.

“But, where are we going?”

The woman stopped her crab walk and said to him.

He hadn’t thought about the details, so he was reluctant to answer.

“Isn’t there a place to sit nearby…?”

The Imperial Palace was a room just a few steps away, but this place was quite awkward.

Linell trailed off, looking around.

“I want to lie down a bit…”

The woman suddenly blinked and staggered.

Even if he left her alone, it didn’t seem like she would fall, but Linell reflexively supported the woman.

“Would it be okay to go to a place to lie down?”

He swallowed hard without realizing it and asked.

“Yeah, if you’re confident you won’t do anything.”

“…Did you, change your words a bit?”

It should be, ‘if you’re confident you won’t do anything’.

“What did I say?”

The woman asked, regaining her composure.

She didn’t seem to realize she had made a slip of the tongue.

Linell didn’t bother to correct her.

Because if he went to a place where he could rest comfortably, he wasn’t confident he wouldn’t do anything.

He began to look for a place to rest with the eyes of a hawk.

“I know a good place.”

The woman suddenly grabbed the man’s wrist and took him to a nearby alley.

He hesitated for a moment at the woman’s quickened crab walk and the mocking gazes of the passersby.

‘Should I just go back to the Imperial Palace…?’

But even as he thought that, his normal steps were faithfully following her abnormal steps.

From some point on, the existence of Raphael, who had come out of the Imperial City with him, had completely disappeared.

***

It wasn’t because I was infatuated with the man’s appearance that I came out of the tavern with him.

Of course, his striking front view and artistic side profile had a big impact, but it wasn’t the only reason.

If I refused the man’s offer, I would definitely regret it later.

I don’t know what, why, or how I would regret it.

Just a vague feeling that I wanted to be in the same space longer moved me.

It would be nice to have more conversations or drink more alcohol.

I came out of the tavern with such simple thoughts…

Whether it was the alcohol, the night, or my own desires, my dark intentions kept blooming.

My mind was already troubled, but the man kept putting distance between us.

He had been quite proactive in asking me to go out with him at the tavern, but once we came out and felt the cold wind, did his mind change?

I felt impatient when I thought that we might just wander around the square and then part ways.

So, in the end, I took him to the inn where I was staying.

Rather than going to an unknown place, it would be better to have people I could ask for help if something happened to me.

To be honest… the place is just an excuse.

There was a bigger reason why I had no choice but to bring him here, even at the risk.

That’s because I remembered what the owner had said when I first came to this inn, as if promoting it.

‘10% discount if you bring a guest.’

If it was just a discount for the guest I brought, I wouldn’t have bothered to bring him, but they said they would give a 30% discount to the person who introduced them.

Even if it was a discount that only applied for one day, that’s still something.

Really, it was a deal I couldn’t pass up.

In the meantime, the Tower Master and Empress Elan had repeatedly told me not to worry about money, but I had been relying on their generosity for a month, so I wanted to contribute in any way I could.

Besides, the amount of food that Moiya ate was considerable, so I was becoming increasingly self-conscious.

Fortunately, the inn building was divided into a main building and an annex [an addition to a main building]. So, there was no awkward encounter with the group staying in the main building.

“I’m going to rest.”

As soon as I entered the inn entrance, I walked to the table where the owner was sitting and said.

The inn owner, who was counting gold coins, looked up at me.

When I sent a slight wink, the quick-witted inn owner recognized me, looked at the man standing next to me with his head bowed like a sinner, smiled again, and discounted the money on her own.

“Go to the end room on the 3rd floor of the annex.”

The inn owner said, handing over a heart-shaped key ring.

“Thank you.”

I gave a short greeting to the inn owner and pulled on the man’s robe to head to the annex.

Even when climbing the stairs, when someone came down the stairs, and when we arrived in front of the room where we were going to rest, the man kept clearing his throat and being conscious of people.

Perhaps he was from a famous noble family; his face was always facing the floor.

I turned to look at him as I turned the key to the door of the end room on the 3rd floor.

“Are you not feeling well?”

Originally, I was going to say to him, ‘If you’re not feeling well, let’s stop here and go back.’

But the moment I turned to look at the man, my heart fluttered at the face with the chilling coldness, so I swallowed the words I was going to say, pushing his back into the room.

The man also came into the room obediently, as if he wasn’t feeling so bad that he would go back.

I closed the door, locked the latch, and followed him.

He went straight to the bed, hesitated, then changed direction again and sat on the chair in front of the bed.

I looked a bit ridiculous sitting on the bed already, but I decided to act nonchalantly.

I thought about getting up again and sitting in front of the man, but that seemed more awkward.

And when I thought about it… in the first place, the place the man wanted was ‘a place to sit’, and I was looking for ‘a place to lie down’.

So, this was a natural positioning that each of us wanted.

“What’s your hobby?”

“…Huh?”

After a moment of silence, an unbelievably stupid question was heard.

Since there was only me and that man in this room, it was definitely what the man said.

When I sent contempt with my eyes instead of answering, the man turned his gaze out the window and muttered to himself.

“I know your specialty is crab walking… is your hobby… eating and running?”

‘Good heavens.’

“I’m talking about the drink price.”

‘Ah, but that’s a bit much.’

How little could he have to say to ask such a question?

I decided to ignore the man’s words as if I hadn’t heard them.

It seemed like the man’s reddened neck wanted me to do that too.

I stared at the man and opened my mouth.

“Hey, what are you looking at out the window right now?”

“Just… watching people? Hmm, I thought I heard someone I knew, so I looked down, but it’s too dark to see.”

The man replied, touching his neck, which had slightly subsided in redness.

“Wow, do you have X-ray vision?”

“What?”

“This room doesn’t have a window. There are rooms with balconies, but the cheap rooms don’t have windows. That’s just a window made for decoration.”

That’s how our main building accommodation is, so this place must be the same structure.

The man made an unbelievable expression at my words.

“Open that window. It’s just a wall.”

When I pointed to the window with a chin gesture, the man opened the window with a doubtful look.

He opened the window and punched the wall with his fist.

“I didn’t know because my eyesight is bad…”

He threw the curtains down nervously, picked up the water pitcher right in front of him, and poured water into a cup and drank it.

“But how do you know so well? Do you come often?”

He asked in an unpleasant tone after emptying a glass of water in one gulp.

“Well, you can think of it as a concept similar to a regular customer.”

If there were no particular inconveniences, I was planning to stay here for a long time, so it wasn’t entirely wrong.

But it was an answer that had enough room for the man to misunderstand.

“!”

He opened his mouth wide as if he was dumbfounded.

Was the problem my attitude of answering too brightly?

Silence fell again.

After some time, the man’s expression was still cold, but his pale complexion was slightly pink.

The color combination of blue eyes and light pink cheeks was so pretty and beautiful that I stared blankly at the man’s face for a while.

Perhaps my gaze was awkward, he smiled slightly.

I pouted my lips and asked him teasingly.

“You’re smiling, so I guess you’re awkward too?”

“It’s my first time.”

“Don’t worry. Trust me… no, why is it your first time when you said you were married?”

“…No, I mean… this situation, I mean.”

He meant that this situation was his first time, but the man’s expression right now was like someone about to spend his first night.

The words I was unknowingly thinking inside burst out without hesitation.

“You know what? You look like I want to devour you.”

The man spent a considerable amount of time understanding the meaning of my words, and then he snorted and replied.

“Your words are rough.”

The moment he said that, playfulness was triggered.

“I’m rougher in bed. Is that okay?”

I provoked with a languid voice, crossing my legs.

Then the man jumped up from his chair.