The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 193

193. What I’ve Been Waiting For

November 09, 2022

Moiya decided to calmly observe the situation further.

“Miyaong. (Again, you and I can’t be.)”

Fortunately, Ao was pushing Nana away.

However, Moiya didn’t like Ao’s attitude.

“Woof woof? (I like you?)”

“Miyaaong. (If time passes and we happen to meet while taking a walk, then we can dig in the dirt together and talk comfortably.)”

Ao was wagging his tail but still pushing Nana away.

“Woof woof woof! (Is it because I’m the pet of the new Empress? Is that why you’re pushing me away!)”

Nana started digging the ground with her front paws, getting agitated.

Ao watched Nana’s desperate struggle and coldly retorted.

“Miyaong. (That’s part of it, but you’re not my type. Sorry.)”

Squeak, squeak-.

Nana sobbed and eventually lay down on the floor, rolling around.

“My heart, my heart is breaking, Moiya…….”

Moiya felt sorry for Nana, bringing one wing to her chest.

“Miyaoong. (I’ll go back now. Until we meet again, sleep well, eat well, and poop well.)”

Ao tapped Nana’s sturdy front leg with his soft paw.

“Woof woof……. (Don’t do this to me, please…….)”

“Miyaong. (You’re really kind. Many dogs will love your inner self.)”

Ao’s words had a barb in them.

It was a farewell message implying that no matter how beautiful your inner self is, I can’t overcome the outer appearance.

“As expected, lowly cats have terrible taste, Moiya~.”

Moiya felt relieved seeing Ao not recognizing Nana’s charm.

At that moment, the back door leading to the Empress Palace laundry room opened.

“Huh? It’s Sharon?”

Moiya, who was about to go to Rosie’s residence and come back, spotted Sharon and changed direction again.

Sharon came out holding a small plate.

“Ao, you shouldn’t keep coming here secretly without Rosie Mama’s knowledge. But since you’re here, eat this and go.”

The plate contained fish meat brought from the kitchen.

“Miyaong. (I didn’t come to see you today; I came to get rid of a nuisance—no, to take her back.)”

Ao wagged his tail at Sharon and rubbed his body against her.

Sharon, who was stroking Ao who was acting cute, frowned after discovering Nana cowering in the corner.

“……You’re the dog Roxana is raising, right? Was your name Nana?”

“Woof. (Yes.)”

Nana timidly wagged her tail at Sharon, who was looking at her with cold eyes.

However, Nana, who was hungry, immediately drooled and turned her gaze to the plate of fish.

Sharon sighed deeply and gently moved the plate that Ao was burying his face in to the side.

“Do you want to eat some too? Oh, well…… it’s not the animal’s fault.”

Nana wagged her tail and slowly approached, then began to gobble up the fish.

Nana got so excited at the sight of food that she even pushed Ao aside.

“Miyaong……! (Is this why I……!)”

How can I like you?

Ao shook his head, looking at Nana drooling while eating.

He felt pathetic for having his heart waver even for a moment when Nana was rolling on the floor, whimpering and sad.

At that moment, a pigeon flew from a branch across the street and pecked Ao’s head.

Surprised, Ao raised his claws and swiped his front paws in the air, glaring at the pigeon.

“Miyaong? (What are you doing here at this hour?)”

Ao immediately recognized the pigeon as Moiya and asked.

“I just came back to see what the atmosphere in the palace is like today.”

Moiya replied nonchalantly.

Then, she blinked at Nana, who was ignoring her existence and focused only on eating.

Sharon was also surprised to see Moiya suddenly appear.

“Did something happen to Her Majesty the Empress that you came here?”

Sharon craned her neck and looked around, then lowered her voice and asked Moiya.

She was worried that something might have happened to Zelda, who had visited Rosie’s residence last night.

“My master is fine.”

“Then why did you come?”

Sharon tilted her head and asked.

“I came because I missed you, Moiya~.”

Lying wasn’t in her nature.

But she couldn’t say that she came to steal a glimpse of the sleeping face of the shameless princess who was raising a dog in the Empress Palace.

However, Sharon wasn’t one to believe Moiya’s lies.

“Don’t be ridiculous; you came because you wanted sausage. But there’s no sausage today, what should we do?”

You should have eaten more sausage yesterday.

Moiya glanced at Nana at Sharon’s added remark.

‘Why is she saying such things in front of Nana of all people? It’s ruining the style of the great Wyvern!’

Moiya glared at Sharon with dissatisfied eyes and changed the subject.

Hoping that Nana might see her differently if she talked about something more constructive.

“Ahem, actually…… I was wandering around the palace to see where the Avatar Sword is.”

“What?”

“You said the Avatar Sword would be in the Imperial Palace, right? You and Orange Head told my master that yesterday.”

“We did…… but how are you going to find the Avatar Sword?”

“What else can I do, just sit and play? I’m just walking around like this! Everyone else is being cautious, so I have to move!”

Moiya got angry for no reason.

Even so, her gaze remained fixed on Nana.

“Miyaong? (Hey, wouldn’t they have kept the Avatar Sword inside the palace? I don’t think they’d leave it outside?)”

Ao raised a clever objection.

“Hmph, what does a lowly cat know? They might have buried it in the ground!”

Moiya immediately scoffed and rebuked Ao.

“Woof? Woof woof? (No? Ao is right?)”

Then Nana, who had devoured the fish, took Ao’s side.

“What? How does Wrinkled Yang [a playful nickname for Nana] know that?”

Moiya wiped the drool falling from Nana’s mouth with her pigeon wing and continued kindly.

“By any chance, did your master, who shamelessly sleeps in our master’s bed, see where she hid the Avatar Sword?”

“…….”

Nana flinched and avoided Moiya’s gaze.

“Miyaong! (Nana, if you know something, please tell me!)”

Ao also pressed Nana.

Unlike Moiya, whom she had ignored, Nana hesitated to answer Ao’s question, moving her lips this way and that.

Sharon, who was looking back and forth between the baby Wyvern, the cat, and the dog, could easily understand what the animals were talking about after hearing Moiya’s words.

Sharon watched Nana at Moiya’s words.

After a moment of hesitation, Nana barked at Ao instead of Moiya, who had asked the question.

“Woof, woof woof……. (On the first day I arrived at the Empress Palace, I saw our master taking the Avatar Sword into the dressing room…….)”

“The Avatar Sword in the dressing room?”

When Moiya asked Nana again, Nana nodded.

Sharon got up.

She looked back at the laundry room back door and muttered.

“If it’s the dressing room…….”

Inside the laundry room, there was a staircase that led directly to the Empress’s dressing room.

It was a place Zelda used to use when she was the Empress to go to and from the training grounds in the cypress forest, avoiding the eyes of other courtiers.

And Sharon, who had been demoted to the laundry department because she was the former Empress’s maid, had the key to enter the dressing room.

That was a fact that Princess Roxana and her maids didn’t know yet.

‘I might be able to find the Avatar Sword for Her Majesty the Empress!’

Sharon clenched her fists, looking up at the Empress’s room with a determined expression.

***

Arriving at the courtier’s residence building, Linelle stopped in front of the room at the far right on the 4th floor.

“I told you not to follow me…….”

He turned around and glared fiercely at Raphael and Stian, who had been chasing him.

“It is my job to assist Your Majesty.”

Raphael flinched at his sharp gaze but did not back down.

“Yesterday, you went out for a walk alone and came back with a broken head, so I’m worried.”

Stian also nodded in agreement with Raphael’s words, wearing a loyal expression.

“Okay. Then don’t even come near the 4th floor. Both of you go to another floor. Don’t even think about coming out of your room until I call you.”

“What are you going to do in that room, Your Majesty?”

Raphael asked with curious eyes.

“I told you, I want to spend time reminiscing about old memories.”

“Then we will stay in the next room. I don’t think there’s any reason to be on a different floor?”

“It won’t work because of the soundproofing.”

Linelle said firmly.

“We won’t talk to Raphael, and we’ll keep our mouths shut.”

Stian made a gesture of zipping his mouth shut and said seriously.

Who said it wouldn’t work because of the noise you guys make?

“……Still, it won’t work. It’ll disturb my meditation.”

He said again, cutting it off.

“You said you came to reminisce about memories, why are you meditating……?”

At Raphael’s question, Linelle waved his hand dismissively, cutting off the conversation.

“Anyway, don’t even come near the 4th floor. Do you understand?”

“Yes…….”

“I’ll try…….”

Raphael and Stian answered perfunctorily.

Then Linelle commanded solemnly with a cold face.

“If you need anything, I’ll have a servant do it, so the two of you go to another floor right now and don’t come out of your room until I give you instructions. If you don’t like that, go back to the main palace now.”

“No. We will go to another room and rest quietly.”

“Please enjoy meditating while reminiscing about old memories, Your Majesty.”

Raphael and Stian bowed to him and turned around.

Linelle watched the two people going down the stairs, then quickly opened the door and entered the room.

It was almost time for her to arrive.

***

As soon as I put my head in the dog hole, I felt a soft touch on my hand that touched the floor.

It was strange because small grains of sand were supposed to be embedded in my palm like yesterday.

A red carpet was laid on the floor.

Not only that, but rose petals of various colors were scattered on both sides of the carpet.

It was like a flower path unfolded after passing through the dog hole.

Nellie is alive!

At the same time as that fact, my eyes welled up at his kind consideration.

I realized that I was more worried about him than I thought.

Although I was in a position to lower myself and go through the dog hole, it was more touching than when I crossed the drawbridge of the Imperial Palace and passed through the main gate.

After taking my whole body out of the dog hole and coming in, it was written with flower petals at the end of the red carpet.

‘Welcome, I’m waiting.’

He’s waiting for me.

While being touched by the cute event, I was also worried about whether anyone had seen it. Nellie, who is in a high position, would have handled it well on his own.

Without delay, I jumped up from my seat and rolled up the red carpet.

The well-rolled red carpet was hidden in the bushes.

“I’m going to meet you now.”

I walked to the courtiers’ residence as quickly as possible with a happy heart.

Because I was wearing a servant’s uniform, I was able to enter the residence building without much difficulty.

The inside of the residence was as quiet as a mouse because it was late at night.

I went to the cafeteria on the first floor, found a tray first, and then chose things that I could put on it and take with me.

A few plates and fruits, and a bottle of wine and a glass.

At first, I took out two glasses, but I took one out just in case.

Because I don’t mind drinking from the bottle.

No one was encountered while leaving the cafeteria and going up to the 4th floor.

It was fortunate, but somehow I felt a little strange.

Even if there are no people in the building, can there be this few?

After arriving at the room at the end of the right corridor on the 4th floor where Nellie was staying, I took a deep breath.

After preparing my mind like that, I knocked politely.

Knock knock knock-.

The door opened before I could lower my hand.

“I brought the wine and fruit you wanted.”

I gestured to the tray, looking at him with a bandage on his head.

Usually, in that state, he would just look pitiful and pathetic, but strangely enough, he looked handsome even with a bandaged face.

“That’s not what I wanted?”

Nellie shrugged, looking down at the tray.

I asked again, trying to match his tone because his teasing was funny.

“Oh, is there anything I left out? If you tell me, I’ll bring it right away.”

“You already brought it.”

“……Yes?”

“I’m talking about you.”

He grabbed my arm and gently pulled me into the room.

Clang, as the door closed, he stood me against the door.

I leaned my back against the door and looked up at him.

One of his hands rested above my head and slowly narrowed the distance.

Not wanting to reveal my nervous heart, I raised the tray to his chest and said with a bright smile.

“But you have to eat all of this?”

“Yeah, I have to eat it. But…… I’m going to change the order a bit.”

“?”

“There’s something I’ve been waiting for for a long time.”

“……Hmm?!”

His secret [intimate] voice was entering my mouth at some point.