The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 206

206. Who Are You Again?

2022.12.24.

“Don’t ever tell Rosie I ran away from home!”

Moiya summoned an eagle and instructed Ao.

“Miyaaong! (I wasn’t even going to ask! But you can’t just leave like this!)”

Despite Ao’s dissuasion, Moiya transformed into an eagle.

She picked up the silk pouch containing the wyvern egg with her eagle claws and headed straight to Zelda’s main palace without looking back.

“This is where our Mistress is. Oong? Looks like she’s stepped out for a bit.”

Moiya entered Zelda’s bedroom through the window and immediately went under the bed to drop off the silk pouch.

Then, she looked around the room, picked up a cushion, and went back under the bed.

Moiya placed the wyvern egg on the cushion, lay down next to it, and fell asleep.

***

“Haa, haa……!”

I woke up feeling like I was sticking my face in front of a furnace.

I was suffocating from an unknown heat.

All I did was have dinner with Joseph, talk in his room until he fell asleep, and then come back to bed.

I didn’t do anything strenuous today, so why is my body like this?

It’s not time to take a magic potion either…….

In my sleep, it felt like the room was engulfed in flames, but when I opened my eyes, it was just quiet.

Could there be a fire somewhere in the main palace?

I got out of bed, went to the window, opened each one, and looked outside.

There were no flames visible anywhere in the main palace building.

Just then, Sharon ran in from the next room.

“Your Majesty!”

“Sharon……?”

“Are you alright? I kept hearing the sound of windows opening.”

“Yeah, I suddenly had a surge of heat while I was sleeping. Oh?”

Flames flickered from my fingertips.

“A-Aren’t you hot?”

“I’m fine. I was just a little surprised.”

I was as bewildered as Sharon.

It was the first time flames had appeared for no reason.

The flames disappeared as soon as I clenched my fists, but the heat in my palms remained.

I went back to bed.

“Is this what I am……?”

The spot where I lay was soaked with sweat.

But that wasn’t what surprised me.

The part of the bed sheet that I had squeezed with both hands, unable to bear the heat, was burned.

“Oh my goodness, what is going on? Your body is like a ball of fire.”

Sharon stared blankly at the charred bed sheet before touching my forehead and exclaiming in surprise.

I looked closely at the palms of my hands.

“Why is the power of fire suddenly manifesting……?”

‘Look under the bed.’

My inner deity said.

“What?”

‘I think Moiya messed something up.’

“Moiya is here?”

I quickly knelt down, lifted the bed skirt, and looked under the bed.

As the deity said, Moiya was sleeping under the bed.

And Moiya had her legs propped up on something.

What is that?

Something white and round was wriggling under Moiya’s legs.

“Moiya, what is that?”

I tried to wake Moiya up, but she seemed to be in a deep sleep.

“Sharon, the lamp, please.”

“Yes.”

Sharon brought the lamp from the bedside table.

I bent down again to shine the light under the bed, but,

Trollop-.

Something rolled in front of me.

‘This is the cause. Where did that troublemaker get this?’

The deity said, bursting into laughter.

I stared wide-eyed at the wriggling white egg.

“Could it be…… another wyvern egg?”

I remembered when I first met Moiya, who was a wyvern egg, at Rosie’s residence.

Judging by the similar size and appearance, it seemed like this was indeed a wyvern egg.

“Goodness, it looks like it!”

Sharon covered her mouth and quickly got up to lock the door.

My heart was beating fast.

When I touched the wyvern egg, I could feel movement inside.

‘Zelda, close your eyes and cover the wyvern egg with both hands, imagining you are infusing it with the power of fire.’

I closed my eyes and covered the wyvern egg with both hands, as the deity instructed.

The heat scattered throughout my body began to gather in my palms.

After a few minutes,

The wyvern egg cracked with a snap- sound, even though I hadn’t put any force on it.

“Heok!”

I was so surprised that I took my hands off and fell on my bottom.

“That was a surprise!”

Sharon, who was next to me, also fell backward.

“……Aang?”

A small, round, pink head popped out of the cracked wyvern egg.

“!”

“!”

We just stared blankly at the pink baby wyvern that had just hatched.

“Haaahm, Moiya slept well~.”

Moiya woke up and walked out from under the bed.

“Mistress is here? Oong? When did it come out?”

Moiya was about to hug me, but she discovered the pink wyvern and her red eyes sparkled.

“Moiya, what on earth is that……?”

I pointed to the pink wyvern, who was hiding back inside the egg.

“I brought it from the Empress’s bedroom. I took it out from the bottom drawer of the vanity, Moiya~?”

“……Roxana had a wyvern egg?!

“What should we do, Your Majesty? She’ll find out soon that the wyvern egg is gone!”

Sharon hit her forehead with her palm, looking troubled.

“She won’t know, will she? I really stashed it in the bottom drawer of the vanity, you know?”

“That’s right, Roxana checks on Moni every two or three days.”

The pink wyvern said, fluttering its adorable wings.

“Moni……?”

“Aang? Mistress said to me, ‘Is that Moni?'”

The pink wyvern, claiming that its name was Moni, shyly twisted its body.

“My goodness, this wyvern seems to think of Your Majesty as its Mistress too!”

Sharon looked at the pink wyvern and smiled as if it were cute.

“Really? Why?”

‘That’s because you awakened it with the power of fire.’

My inner deity chuckled.

“Okay, from now on, your name is ‘Moni.'”

Moiya said in a dignified voice, patting the pink wyvern’s back.

“Well…… let’s do that. Anyway, Moni, when was the last time Roxana saw you?”

“This morning.”

“Hmph, then there’s a high possibility that she won’t know the wyvern is gone until tomorrow.”

As Sharon said with a sigh of relief, the pink wyvern suddenly shouted at her.

“My name is Moni! I said Moni! Kwaaaak-!”

It seemed quite upset, as it even breathed fire from its mouth.

It was quite a strong flame for a newborn wyvern.

“Oong? Moni, you’re amazing! Even this great wyvern couldn’t breathe fire right after being born.”

Moiya watched the fire that Moni was breathing with an interested look.

One of the bedposts was turning black.

I gestured to Sharon, and Sharon reluctantly tried to appease Moni.

“……I’m sorry, Moni.”

As her name was called, Moni soon smiled brightly.

“Your Majesty, what should we do now? Even if we get through today and tomorrow, Roxana will soon realize that the wyvern egg, no, Moni, is gone.”

“That’s what I’m saying. We need to find out where the Avatar Sword is before that…….”

If she finds out that Moni is gone, the security will be tighter, so now was the time to retrieve the Avatar Sword.

“It’s there.”

Moni said to me with a bright face.

“Not in the bedroom, but nearby.”

“What?”

“Avatar Sword. Moni can feel it.”

“Your Majesty, could Moni be talking about the dressing room?”

Sharon asked in a low voice.

“Yes, it would be the safest place in the Empress’s Palace. Even though Sharon, you were caught sneaking in, there’s still a high possibility that she’s keeping it there.”

The dressing room was a windowless place, making it the most secluded space in the Empress’s Palace.

“We need to retrieve the Avatar Sword before Roxana realizes Moni is gone, but everything is blocked. What should we do…….”

The key to the door leading to the dressing room through the laundry room stairs had been taken away, so now the only way to get there was through the Empress’s bedroom door.

As I muttered to myself, Sharon hesitated and carefully opened her mouth.

“Um…… Your Majesty, the key to the laundry room stairs and the key to the dressing room. I made an extra copy…….”

“……What?! Is that true?”

I grabbed Sharon’s hand and asked again.

“Yes, I was worried before sneaking into the dressing room, just in case.”

Sharon smiled sheepishly.

How admirable!

I hugged Sharon tightly.

Then Moiya and Moni, not knowing why, just followed my actions and clung to Sharon.

“The Consort Ceremony is coming up soon, so wouldn’t it be better to move after that?”

Sharon scratched the back of her neck awkwardly before whispering again with a serious expression.

“No, it’ll be too late then. She’ll notice Moni is gone. We have to find the Avatar Sword before that.”

***

The next day.

After finishing lunch, Sharon came into the room with a slightly excited face.

“I’ve brought the wedding dress that you’ll wear at the Consort Ceremony tomorrow!”

“Really? That’s a relief. I should try it on, right?”

“Yes. It’s ready-made, but still, some simple alterations are needed.”

“As long as the size is roughly right, it doesn’t matter much.”

“Still. If we had just a week, we could have had a new wedding dress made…….”

Sharon sighed deeply, feeling disappointed.

“Well, the wedding dress I wore on the day of the national wedding was really pretty.”

Even if I couldn’t remember Linelle’s face that day, I remembered the wedding dress I wore.

“That’s right. The dress Your Majesty wore at the ceremony was truly beautiful!”

“Come to think of it, where is the wedding dress I wore back then? I don’t remember seeing it in the Empress’s Palace dressing room since that day.”

“Ah, originally, the ceremonial robes of the past Emperors and Empresses are kept separately in the Imperial Exhibition Hall in the main palace.”

“Really? I see…….”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Just then, there was a knock and the door opened.

“Have you heard?”

Empress Elan asked with a flushed face.

“Heard what?”

“Prince Tesler and Princess Resilia of the Shatoaneil Kingdom have just arrived.”

Damn it, what?

“Why are they…… here?”

“I guess they came to attend the Consort Ceremony. The remarriage ceremony was held too suddenly for them to come, but they’re attending the Consort Ceremony, or so they say. But where did they hear about the Consort Ceremony?”

“Roxana must have leaked it. She may have deliberately invited someone who is unpleasant to me.”

I scoffed, thinking of the siblings from the Shatoaneil Kingdom.

“I saw them briefly in front of the main palace, and it seems Empress Roxana suggested a tea time in the Empress’s Palace to Princess Resilia.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, she let it slip as if to brag when she saw me.”

“She must have said it for me to hear.”

Empress Elan nodded in agreement with my words.

“It would be best if you don’t meet Princess Resilia if possible. Something doesn’t feel right.”

Empress Elan poured out her worries for a while before leaving.

I didn’t really have the energy to care about the Shatoaneil siblings.

My head was full of thoughts about how to retrieve the Avatar Sword.

Suddenly, as I thought about the scene of Princess Resilia and Roxana meeting, a good idea came to mind.

“Ah……!”

Maybe I can use Princess Resilia for this!

I quickly found paper and pen.

I wrote a few words briefly on the paper.

Then, folding the paper, I lifted the bed skirt.

“Moiya, summon a pigeon and deliver this to Grand Duke Martins.”

At my words, Moiya grabbed Moni’s hand and ran out from under the bed together.

“Mistress, can I go with Moni?”

“Can Moni transform too?”

“Aang? Of course, Moni is amazing, so.”

“Good. Great Moiya and amazing Moni, go together. But you have to deliver the letter and come back right away.”

“Yes!”

“Aang!”

Moiya immediately summoned two pigeons.

The two baby wyverns transformed into pigeons and flew affectionately to the annex where Grand Duke Martins was staying.

***

I arrived at the greenhouse at the time I had asked Grand Duke Martins to meet.

“You’ve arrived.”

As I entered, Grand Duke Martins was already there.

“You’re here early.”

“Yes, it’s been a while since we’ve met here. How is the whip wound?”

“Thanks to the Archmage’s treatment, it’s healing well. Thank you for your concern.”

I walked slowly through the greenhouse with Grand Duke Martins.

“Prince Tesler and Princess Resilia came to the Imperial Palace today, I hear?”

“Yes, I was wondering if the Empress was looking for me because of that.”

Grand Duke Martins still called me Empress, like my close aides.

“Grand Duke, I have something I need you to help me with.”

I stopped walking and said directly.

“Tell me, if there’s anything I can do to help, I’ll be happy to do so.”

“It’s not difficult. Just let a few words slip to Prince Tesler and Princess Resilia.”

I smiled slightly and moved closer to Grand Duke Martins.

Then the Grand Duke asked with a nervous expression.

“What…… words?”