The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 204

204. The Price of Melting

December 17, 2022

Was it really not a dream?

The person standing before me was truly Linelle.

I immediately wrapped my arms around him; he was trembling violently.

After a few minutes, his trembling seemed to subside.

“When did you sneak into my room like a thief?”

“This palace is all mine, so I’m not a thief.”

“…I suppose. Are you feeling any better now?”

I asked, stroking his back, which felt like an icy road.

“I’m getting better. Your embrace is better than any potion that raises body temperature.”

His cold breath tickled my collarbone.

“Did I hug you like this often?”

“Huh?”

“During our married life, I mean.”

“I wonder…”

He chuckled and replied weakly.

‘I wonder’ was probably the correct answer.

Since neither of us had any memories of each other, there was no way to know what happened when we were alone.

About an hour passed while I held him.

He, who had been resting his face on my neck, slowly raised his head.

“Do you feel a little better now?”

Linelle nodded and smiled.

“But, was my tone always a bit aggressive? Or is it because you still think I abandoned you for another woman?”

“They say your words became harsher after being infected with the energy of evil.”

“Ah, the energy of evil…”

“Do you remember that?”

“I heard it from Raphael. So that’s it.”

I was slightly annoyed by his voice, which didn’t express any gratitude.

“Yes, I also heard from the Master of the Magic Tower… that I blocked the goblin fire with my hand instead of Your Majesty and was infected with the energy of evil.”

I got hurt trying to save you!

Linelle tilted his head slightly to the side.

“Really? That’s the first time I’ve heard that.”

“Raphael’s information delivery is very sloppy.”

He knew that I had left for the Thebel Empire to heal the energy of evil, but he didn’t know the reason why I was infected with it.

But he seemed to believe my words.

“If you were infected with the energy of evil on top of the hypothermia curse, it must have been quite a sight.”

He let out a self-deprecating laugh.

Then he looked into my eyes again and asked.

“How are you now? Judging by your tone, it doesn’t seem like you’re completely cured.”

“I’m completely cured, but I have some aftereffects.”

“Like what?”

“My inner thoughts pop out suddenly, and sometimes my hands move before my words. I’m controlling it well because I’m such a rational person.”

“…Seeing you come to the Empress’s Palace today, I don’t think you’re that rational?”

He looked at me with distrustful eyes.

I avoided his gaze and quickly changed the subject.

“By the way, what about the first night?”

“What do you think happened?”

He asked me back in a low voice.

“Really… did nothing happen?”

“It couldn’t have happened.”

“Because the function isn’t working properly?”

“Do you really have to point that out?”

Linelle asked in an unpleasant tone.

“It really only works for me… right?”

I asked, slightly lifting the blanket.

“What are you doing?”

He asked in a playful voice.

“I was worried that it might be frozen solid down there too.”

Instead of answering, he raised his upper body and loomed over me.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Weren’t you asking because you wanted to check?”

“It seems like you’ve really come back to life.”

I raised my hand and placed it on his cheek.

His body temperature was definitely much higher than before.

“I guess so.”

He whispered, putting his weight on my body.

“The sun is already rising.”

I turned my head to the side and said, looking out the window.

“My desire is rising too.”

“Ah, wait a minute. Doesn’t this palace have Roxana’s lackeys?”

“What?”

“Even if they’re not Roxana’s lackeys, if other palace people see Your Majesty coming out of this room on the first night of the remarriage, I’ll be in a lot of trouble, right?”

“So?”

“Let’s go through the formal procedures and do it with dignity.”

“Hmm…”

He groaned and slowly fell off my body.

“Are you talking about after the concubine ceremony?”

I nodded.

“Are you deliberately teasing me?”

I’m about to burn to death first, what do you mean deliberately.

I was just trying to be careful.

“Anyway, thanks to you, my body temperature has definitely risen.”

Linelle said in a slightly sulky tone.

“Is it because you’re angry?”

“In many ways. Then I’ll go back now. Good night…”

He stroked my cheek with his large hand and got out of bed.

A feeling of regret trailed after his toes.

In an instant, my body almost jumped off the bed.

And I overtook him, who was reaching for the doorknob, and stood against the door with my back.

“Wait!”

“What… could this mean?”

Linelle placed one hand next to my head, leaned in, and asked quietly.

“Kiss me before you go.”

“What?”

“I have to get paid for melting your body too.”

“…Zelda.”

“Do it, passionately.”

I closed my eyes and demanded confidently.

“And very seductively.”

My toes curled up.

He faithfully carried out every request I made.

I pulled his back and waist closer to me with both hands.

His broad back was already warm.

His lips, pressed tightly against mine, made me breathless.

My suppressed desire was crumpling his shirt.

His hand began to slide down my side.

“Do we really only have to kiss?”

“Yes, it’s enough.”

“…Why?”

“Because I felt that you only react to me.”

I lowered my eyes and whispered.

Then he took a deep breath and hugged me even tighter.

“I told you…”

***

Less than an hour after Linelle left the Empress’s Palace, Roxana, who had fallen asleep, woke up again.

Looking back, it seemed like she felt Emperor Linelle’s hypothermia curse more strongly today.

It was especially worse when they were lying in bed together.

But there was something else that froze Roxana.

‘That place is broken.’

Roxana was stunned for a while by his shocking confession.

What’s the point of seduction if he can’t function?

It was worse than sleeping next to a wooden log.

“I really couldn’t have imagined it. He looks perfectly fine…”

Roxana bit her lip and thought of Linelle.

She wasn’t expecting anything passionate either.

She was just expecting a normal first night that married people have…

“A eunuch!”

The more she thought about it, the more absurd it was.

Roxana thought of Linelle again.

Perfect face and firm body.

But that’s all?

Only the appearance was perfect.

There was a useless part in his perfect body.

And it had to be…

Since the most important function was disabled, Roxana’s mind became very disturbed.

This disrupted her plan to have an heir and firmly establish her position in the Lapion Empire.

She couldn’t sleep due to anxiety about the future.

Roxana opened the bedroom door and went out to find her maid.

“Nancy, bring Hector.”

“Yes? Yes, I understand.”

Nancy was momentarily dazed, but followed her orders.

Hector appeared before Roxana sooner than expected.

Hector, who entered the bedroom without knocking, approached her, who was sitting alone on the bed.

“What’s wrong? Where’s the Emperor?”

“He went back to his palace earlier.”

“…Why? It’s the first night.”

“He was trash.”

“What?”

“The Emperor, I mean.”

Roxana said to Hector with a hollow face.

“Did the Emperor do something terrible to you? Did he hurt you?”

Hector quickly scanned Roxana’s body with a serious look.

“Something terrible? Well, not laying a finger on his wife on the first night is a terrible thing to do.”

“…Was it?”

Hector didn’t show it outwardly, but he was relieved inwardly.

“Besides, come to think of it… no, never mind. It’s nothing.”

“?”

Roxana didn’t tell Hector about the Emperor’s physical defect.

She felt somewhat humiliated.

“Come here for a moment and hug me.”

Roxana said with a pitiful face.

Startled, Hector just stared at her blankly.

“Don’t misunderstand. It’s because I feel cold due to Emperor Linelle’s freezing hypothermia curse. I thought I was going to freeze to death too. Achoo!”

Roxana sneezed and sniffled.

Only then did he sit on the bed without a word and hug her.

She closed her eyes in Hector’s arms.

It was a distinctly different temperature from Emperor Linelle.

‘Is it because Tanya Island is a tropical island?’

Hector’s embrace was especially warm.

“I want to kiss you.”

Roxana raised her head and looked at him at Hector’s heartfelt words that he blurted out unintentionally.

“No, I was just saying.”

Hector shook his head just as Roxana was about to close her eyes.

“I know I shouldn’t have these feelings, but I can’t help it when I see you. I guess I’m just an ignorant guy with barbarian blood flowing through me.”

Hector apologized, stroking Roxana’s red hair.

At that moment, Roxana kissed Hector without realizing it.

It was a way to get compensation from him for the hurt she had received from Emperor Linelle.

Hector knew that too, but he couldn’t push her away.

Roxana’s cold body was heating up.

“Lie down for a while.”

“I will follow the Empress’s orders.”

Hector took off his shirt, and Roxana closed her eyes with a languid expression.

As the two people’s breathing began to roughen, Hector said to her.

“Do you know that former Empress Zelda is still staying in this palace?”

At those words, Roxana opened her eyes wide.

“What?!”

She pushed Hector’s chest away with both hands and got up.

“You mean she wasn’t treated and sent somewhere else, but she was kept in this palace?”

Did she insist on staying in this palace?

Or did Emperor Linelle?

Clearly, the two people who have no memories of each other, why…

This was an act of ignoring herself, who had become the Empress.

And if the two of them developed feelings for each other again, that would be a big problem.

“Originally, the Empress is supposed to decide where the concubines’ residences are, isn’t she?”

Hector asked, stroking Roxana’s arm with his fingertips.

“Yes, that’s right. That’s right…!”

Roxana raised one corner of her mouth as she thought of something.

***

“Your Majesty, have you heard?”

“You’ve already finished preparing, so you must have heard.”

Rosie and Melanie came to my room.

“I heard from Sharon a little while ago.”

I stood up from the dressing table and greeted the two.

This morning, there was a message that we would have lunch with the concubines in the Empress’s Palace.

Roxana’s first move as Empress seems to be a meal with the concubines.

“And Rosie, don’t call me Your Majesty even when we’re alone.”

“That’s true, but… I can’t get used to calling you ‘Mama’.”

“Zelda Mama. It’s easy to say, what’s so difficult about it?”

Melanie nudged Rosie with her elbow and continued.

“And if you accidentally say ‘Your Majesty’ and it gets into the ears of the Empress’s Palace people, only Zelda Mama will be in trouble.”

“Melanie is right.”

When I said to Rosie with a smile, her expression darkened rapidly.

“Did you really go to the Empress’s Palace last night? Did you meet His Majesty?”

“I met him briefly.”

“Oh my, did you ask what you wanted to ask?”

Melanie also asked with a curious voice.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you two.”

“Well, it’s enough that you came back safely. You’ll have to come back alive from the Empress’s Palace luncheon today too…”

Rosie and Sharon’s expressions darkened sharply at Melanie’s joke.

***

As I entered the Empress’s Palace dining hall, I was reminded of when I was the Empress.

At that time, I also had a luncheon with the concubines not long after becoming the Empress.

The prospective concubines from Aclato were already there in the dining hall.

I was seated according to the guidance of the Empress’s Palace maid.

The existing concubines were seated together, and I was assigned to sit with the prospective concubines.

After a while, Roxana entered the dining hall with an elegant gait, wearing the Empress’s crown.

I stared at the crown that was once mine, and my eyes met Roxana’s.

She slightly raised her chin and sat in the seat of honor with a superior expression.

And she just looked at the concubines without saying a word.

‘What is it?’

Why doesn’t she tell us to sit down?

The concubines also looked very embarrassed.

Everyone was waiting for Roxana’s order to sit down.

Roxana looked at the concubines’ faces as if she was observing them in detail, and then stared at me, who was the last to be seen, for the longest time.

It’s really a talent to make people uncomfortable.

I barely managed to hold back the crookedness of my mouth and stubbornly maintained a blank expression.

“Everyone, sit down.”

Roxana’s tone sounded similar to when training dogs.

Whether I was the only one who felt that way or not, the concubines’ faces were not very good either.

“It’s better to say it in advance before eating.”

Roxana said after taking a sip of water.

Her eyes are fierce, but she’s having a hard time pretending to be kind in her voice.

Judging by the way she’s pausing, it felt like she was going to make some kind of major announcement.

Did she find out that Linelle came to my room this morning?

Roxana looked at the prospective concubines and me and opened her mouth.

“We are planning to hold the concubine ceremony within a few days.”

“!”

It was unexpected.

I thought she would postpone the concubine ceremony as much as possible?

The faces of the three prospective concubines brightened at the same time at Roxana’s words.

“Is that true, Your Majesty?”

“Thank you!”

“We were waiting for it anyway.”

The three of them took turns thanking Roxana.

All three of them glanced at me.

I also felt an unspoken pressure to thank Roxana.

“…”

I didn’t have anything to be thankful for or dislike, so I chose silence.

“Ah, Zelda, you’re the only one who doesn’t have a residence right now, right?”

Roxana asked with a pitiful expression, so

I also made a pitiful expression following her.

But my voice was exactly like the Emperor’s mistress living in this palace, and I replied leisurely.

“Yes. It’s not like I’m a passing traveler; I’m the only one without a residence.”

“!”

Then Roxana’s brow furrowed.