The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 244

244. Mo Ni’s Cries

2023.05.06.

At Linelle’s command, the knights once again seized Princess Resilia by the arms, one on each side.

They didn’t match their pace to Princess Resilia’s slow steps but dragged her along at their own speed.

After shoving her into the carriage prepared by the Imperial Palace, several knights stood guard around it.

“Your Majesty, you’ve arrived.”

Commander Marcrom grabbed the guild member, whom Princess Resilia had hired, by the scruff of the neck and dragged him over.

“What about the others?”

He asked, looking down with indifferent eyes at the guild member, whose body was almost tattered from Commander Marcrom’s beating.

“They must have been… swept away by the current.”

Commander Marcrom lowered his voice as he replied.

Being swept away by the current meant that after killing the guild members, they were thrown down into the valley.

However, Commander Marcrom refrained from directly saying they were thrown down into the valley.

It seemed he was carefully phrasing it, given the miserable situation of Rams falling from the bridge.

Linelle also understood Commander Marcrom’s intention and simply nodded.

I lowered my gaze to Prince Norton.

Prince Norton held the unconscious Rosie in his arms, patting her back with his hand.

It was like the gesture he would give to Rams, which made me feel choked up.

I couldn’t bear to watch that scene any longer and turned my head away.

Linelle, as if comforting me, silently wrapped his arm around my shoulder.

We couldn’t bring ourselves to speak to Prince Norton and simply looked down at him.

“It would be best to take the two of them into the carriage.”

I had the same thought as Linelle.

“Yes, that would be good. Prince Norton is a prince, but Rosie can’t be left like that.”

“Indeed.”

Linelle nodded and approached Prince Norton.

As he carefully placed his hand on Prince Norton’s shoulder, Rosie suddenly regained consciousness and woke up.

“Rosie! Are you alright?”

I asked, lowering myself, and she looked around before asking me.

“Where’s Rams?!”

“…They’re searching.”

“If they’re searching, does that mean they haven’t found him yet?”

Rosie asked me, wearing a look of disbelief.

I glanced at Prince Norton beside her and nodded to her.

Then Rosie stood up abruptly and looked down over the railing of the bridge.

“Be careful, Rosie!”

Because the valley below was not clearly visible due to the falling rain, Rosie leaned her stomach against the railing and lowered her upper body further down.

“He wouldn’t have died, there’s no way!”

“Calm down….”

I supported Rosie and pulled her away from the railing.

“Rams waved at me just a moment ago.”

She stamped her feet and continued to get agitated.

I was worried that Rosie might faint again.

If Rams were in the flames, I would have jumped in right away…

I was angry at the fact that there was nothing I could do in this situation.

All I could do was hug Rosie.

“Yes, we don’t know anything yet. So, brace yourself. That’s how we’ll find Rams.”

“Of course. I’ll keep my wits about me for Rams’ sake.”

Rosie took deep breaths, calming herself down, and then finally noticed Prince Norton.

“Hngh….”

Seeing Prince Norton sitting there, lost in despair with a look of having lost the world, Rosie stifled a moan and shed tears again.

‘Zelda, we should give Moiya a lot of sausages from now on.’

My inner spirit spoke out of the blue.

‘Read the atmosphere. Why are you talking about Moiya now.’

I scolded the spirit inwardly.

‘You’re the one who can’t read the atmosphere, Zelda.’

‘What do you mean? Why would I… huh?’

I was about to argue with the spirit but quickly looked down below the bridge.

-‘Ugh, you insignificant human brat without teeth!’

“!”

It sounded like I heard Moiya’s voice.

-‘Can’t even chew the sausage, Moiya~?’

-‘Ugh! I went into Rams’ body because of the sausage, so it’s understandable to be angry, Mo Ni~.’

There was nothing visible under the bridge.

But I definitely heard Moiya and Mo Ni talking?

I refocused my mind.

Ah, the two of their voices can only be heard by me.

It felt like they were wandering around nearby, conversing in the Wyvern language.

I suddenly remembered the image of Rams holding a sausage tightly in his hand a moment ago.

Oh my.

“…It was Moiya!”

***

A moment ago.

Moiya, who was inside Rams’ body, was dumbfounded as he fell from the bridge.

“Damn it, the pink-haired idiot abandoned me!”

To be exact, it was the situation of losing Rams, not himself.

Several screams were heard from above the bridge.

“…Why are they screaming like that? I’m the one who’s falling right now.”

Anyway, where’s Mo Ni?

At this rate, I’ll end up in the valley water and play with the fish before coming out?

But can Rams stay in the water for long?

He’s still too insignificant, he probably can’t even breathe and will just die?

Just before Moiya fell into the valley, he looked around, searching for Mo Ni.

If Mo Ni didn’t show up, even he would have to come out of Rams’ body and lift Rams up before he fell into the valley water.

“It’s so heavy, Mo Ni~!”

Just as Rams’ small feet were about to fall into the valley water, Mo Ni put his hands under Rams’ armpits and lifted him up.

With Rams’ body, whose clothes were wet from the rain and heavier than his original weight, Mo Ni had to flap his wings diligently.

“Is it heavy because of the diaper?”

Moiya directly threw away the wet diaper.

“It’s manageable now.”

With the lower body feeling lighter, Mo Ni’s wing flapping also became lighter.

“But, Mo Ni. Where did you go and come back now?”

“I was hungry, so I grilled and ate some fish. I couldn’t bring the sausage, Mo Ni~.”

“I was going to share this, but you’ve already filled your stomach?”

Moiya said, shaking the sausage in his hand, and Mo Ni snorted.

“Hmph, you’re just saying that without meaning it.”

“Oh right, Marcrom threw all those guys wearing black clothes who kidnapped Rams into the valley earlier. Except for one. He should have thrown that guy!”

The guy Moiya was talking about was one of the guild members who directly held Rams and kidnapped him from Raphael Nua’s house.

The very guy who had a small scuffle with Moiya trying to take the sausage from Rams’ hand.

‘What kind of baby has such a strong grip? Why is he holding a sausage that he can’t even eat yet?’

‘Coo~ Moiya~.’

Let go of this, you bastard. Before I breathe fire!

Moiya even made a crying face, frowning to the extreme to avoid having the sausage taken away.

‘……What. Did he just say something? Did you hear it too?’

The man holding Rams opened his eyes wide and asked another guild member.

‘It’s probably just babbling. Hey, we don’t have time, so don’t take the sausage and just leave it. It’ll be a headache if he starts crying loudly.’

……There were such kind guild members too. But.

“The most generous guild guy died first, Moiya~.”

Commander Marcrom dropped the guild member who allowed the sausage under the bridge first.

“Only the guy who tried to take my sausage survived.”

“I saw it all earlier, Mo Ni~.”

Mo Ni was catching fish in the valley water right under the bridge and breathing fire to grill the fish, and he witnessed the scene of people falling into the valley water one by one, splash-.

“Ah, that’s right. Mo Ni, we shouldn’t be seen by people. Let’s hide behind the bridge pillar and go up.”

Moiya said, looking at the knights who had gathered below the valley.

“We probably won’t be seen well because of the rain anyway?”

“There are humans with good eyes, so we have to be careful. If we get caught, we’ll both get scolded by Master!”

“I don’t want that, Mo Ni~!”

As Moiya said, Mo Ni hid behind the bridge pillar and started flapping his wings towards the top of the bridge.

“But Moiya, what are those knights doing there?”

“They probably came to catch fish. Oh? Are they here to swim?”

“You’re right! Look, one person went into the water. Oh? That looks fun. That person is drifting away alone, Mo Ni~.”

“But the knights are too mean. They’re jealous that that knight is swimming alone, so several people went into the water and are pulling him out!”

In Moiya’s eyes, the act of other knights rescuing the knight who fell into the valley water looked like they were pulling him out of the water so he couldn’t play.

“Right? Why are they doing that when they could just fall into the water together and be friendly?”

“Humans are originally selfish.”

“Ah, I see!”

“Let’s go now. I’ll quickly throw him to Norton and eat sausage.”

“Ugh! Going up. I didn’t even get to greet Master, Mo Ni~.”

***

“Your Majesty! Prevent the knights outside the bridge from looking here.”

I looked down at the bridge and quickly approached Linelle.

“What?”

He asked with a puzzled expression.

“Just a moment.”

I struck one of the vital points of the guild member that Commander Marcrom was holding by the neck, temporarily knocking him unconscious.

“Did you knock him unconscious?”

Commander Marcrom asked me after letting go of the man, who made a ‘ugh’ sound and lost all strength in his body.

“There was a reason for it.”

I replied to Commander Marcrom and looked at Linelle.

“Your Majesty, Rams is alive!”

“What?!”

Not only Linelle but also Commander Marcrom and Rosie’s eyes widened.

Prince Norton, who had been staring blankly into the air, also jumped up from the floor as if he had heard my words.

“What are you saying?!”

“It’s Moiya. It seems that Moiya was inside Rams’ body earlier.”

As I spoke to Prince Norton in a calm tone, the prince was speechless, his mouth wide open as he clutched his heart.

“Marcrom.”

Linelle looked at Commander Marcrom.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will immediately have all the knights turn to face the forest.”

Commander Marcrom sensed what order he was about to give, slung the unconscious guild member over his shoulder, and ran to the knights waiting outside the bridge.

“Haa, Moiya… please…! Save Rams. If you do that…” [Rosie is making a wish to Moiya to save Rams.]

Rosie muttered as if praying, clasping her hands together.

“If he does, will you give him five sausages tonight?”

“Of course! I can give him ten, a hundred sausages… Ah?!”

Then we heard Moiya’s voice from behind us.

Not only Rosie, who stopped speaking after replying in a hurry, but also me, Linelle, and Prince Norton all turned around at the same time.

“Rams!”

Mo Ni was just putting Rams down on the floor.

It was Mo Ni, not Moiya, who brought Rams.

“Ugh! Human babies are too heavy, Mo Ni~!”

As Rams, who had landed safely on the floor, made eye contact with me, he suddenly lay down straight.

There was no way Rams would lie down like that on his own, so it was certain that Moiya was still inside Rams’ body.

“Rams!!”

As Prince Norton and Rosie ran over, Moiya finally came out of Rams’ body.

The first thing Rams did when he regained consciousness was to throw away the sausage he was holding in his hand,

On the other hand, the first thing Moiya did when he returned to his original form was to pick up the sausage rolling on the stone floor.

“Moiya!”

As I shouted at Moiya, Moiya flew to me with a very subdued face, as if he thought I was scolding him, and blinked his ruby-like eyes as he said.

“I’m sorry, Master. I was going to stay still. But I really wanted to eat the sausage from the open-pants Nua’s house in the Imperial City… sniffle.”

With Moiya’s crying sound, he took a parade rest posture and lowered his head.

Because of the pouring rain, even if he only pretended to cry, it looked like he was really shedding tears.

I hugged Moiya tightly and kissed him on the cheeks repeatedly.

“You’re so, so admirable. Thanks to you, Rams lived. You did so well, Moiya!”

“Ugh? Really? Then can I eat this sausage?”

Moiya asked, tilting his head.

“Of course, eat it, eat it! No, wait, give it to me for a second.”

I grabbed the sausage in Moiya’s hand.

I’ll warm it up for him.

Then Moiya quickly hid the sausage behind his back.

Why is he doing that?

“Even if it’s Master, this is not allowed, Moiya~!”

“……”

Moiya, did you think I would take your sausage?