The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 250

250. Eyes Down, You Guys

May 27, 2023

“Myaong-! (Too fast-!)”

This was the fastest speed in my entire cat life.

Even in the sky, not on the ground.

I couldn’t open my eyes because of how fast the wind was cutting through.

Aoshi’s cries became more urgent as we approached the sea.

Even flying in a straight line, the speed was so great that all the fur on my body stood on end, but the young wyverns, with their overflowing energy, flew freely in the sky, drawing curves up and down.

“Aoshi! You’re having so much fun, aren’t you?”

“…….”

“You must be having unbelievably fun!”

Moiya and Moni finally arrived near the Canyon of Death, not caring that Aoshi had fainted from dizziness.

“Cute things. They’re all playing over there, aren’t they?”

Moiya watched with satisfaction as the wyverns hovered and flew around the Canyon of Death.

“Miyaaong? (But guys, aren’t you two the only babies, and everyone else looks like adults?)”

Aoshi, who had regained consciousness after fainting, looked down at the Canyon of Death.

“We were born 300 years before them. Even though we were only in eggs.”

“Miyaaong? (Do you think they’ll accept that?)”

“What if they don’t?”

“Miong? (Won’t they kill you?)”

“Why?”

“Miyaaong! (Because you’re in the way. And you’re not part of that group!)”

“I told you, we were in the eggs for over 300 years, so we’re already…….”

Moni’s voice gradually faded as she continued to speak, and she looked at Moiya.

“But Moiya, I think Aoshi is right, Moni~?”

“What are you talking about? I think they’ll welcome us so much?”

Moiya shrugged once and went straight down to the Canyon of Death.

The wyverns, who were going back and forth between the canyons, discovered the unfamiliar baby wyverns and snatched them up in an instant.

Moiya and Moni, who had their heads grabbed by the large adults, were dragged into a cave in the middle of the canyon.

“Whose offspring are these?”

The wyvern who appeared to be the leader of the group looked around at the wyverns gathered in the cave and asked.

From here and there, the wyverns made curious noises, “Kkeeng-!”

“Looks like the old man is the boss here? Nice to meet you, Moiya~.”

Moiya reached out to the wyvern leader.

“Such impudence! Eyes down, you guys!”

A large wyvern guarding the leader roughly slapped Moiya’s small hand away.

“Just big, but no manners, Moni~.”

Moni hid behind Moiya and mumbled in a small voice.

Moni looked around at the wyverns staring intently at them.

The wary eyes were quite fierce.

Moni, who had only used human language since coming out of the egg, felt the wyvern’s language was more like noise.

Except for a few wyverns who could speak human language, most of them seemed to only understand human language but couldn’t speak it.

“Keck, keck, ke-eck.”

Aoshi gasped and choked in the brutal atmosphere.

“Who made that cough? Who is it?”

At the wyvern leader’s stern voice, Aoshi covered his mouth with both paws and curled up.

“It’s him, Moiya~.”

Aoshi glared resentfully at Moiya, who had pointed him out.

Since Moni was the only one he could trust here, he slowly moved next to Moni.

Then Moni stroked Aoshi’s back as if to comfort him, and then suddenly turned to look at the wyverns with their red eyes flashing fiercely and said.

“Aoshi is a cat. He looks chubby, but it’s all fur.”

She added that there was nothing to eat.

Aoshi glared at Moni too.

He thought there was no need to say such a thing, but he had no choice but to endure it because Moni was more trustworthy than Moiya.

“Do you have any intention of joining the group?”

The leader of the wyverns asked Moiya and Moni.

“I’ll think about it if you have sausage.”

Moiya, who seemed to be contemplating, rolled her eyes and answered seriously.

“Does… what is that?”

“Why don’t these youngsters know what sausage is?”

Or are you pretending not to know because you don’t want to give it to me?

Yeah, I guess so.

Moiya tilted her head and glared at the leader with suspicious eyes.

“Hey, watch your mouth!”

The large wyvern guarding the leader threatened Moiya.

“That’s enough. They’re just young and immature.”

“Still, the way that young one speaks is too rude.”

“It’s because they didn’t live in a group and were born among humans.”

“Indeed, such rudeness would never be allowed in our group.”

Moiya and Moni snorted as they listened to the conversation between the two wyverns.

“Wow, what are they saying, not even recognizing adults?”

“I know. They’re the ones with no manners, Moiya~.”

“Miyaaong……. (Guys, let’s just get out of here quickly…….)”

After all, the momentum of the dozens of red eyes was unusual.

“Hey, old man. Don’t you feel anything when you look at us?”

Moiya, unable to bear it any longer, asked the leader of the wyverns.

“What do you mean?”

“We’re over 300 years old, you know? We’ve been living in eggs all that time, Moiya~?”

“That’s right! Why don’t you believe us? Are you jealous because we’re too cute?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, whose children are these, whose mother didn’t raise them properly and they’ve become twisted.”

The leader looked at Moiya and Moni with pitiful eyes.

However, no matter how pitiful they were, the most important thing in group life was the hierarchy.

“Join the group. I can’t accept your nonsense, but I’ll allow you to live together. Don’t be exploited by clinging to humans.”

Some wyverns opposed the leader’s words.

“Why are you accepting those who have no respect for superiors?”

“That’s right. We don’t even know which group they were abandoned from.”

“Judging by their condition, it’s clear they were abandoned because they weren’t normal from birth!”

“Everyone be quiet! It’s better for us to embrace them than for them to be exploited by humans. Their condition isn’t very good, but they can still use human language, so they don’t seem to be very stupid…….”

“Kke-eng-!”

Even the wyverns who couldn’t speak human language protested from here and there.

“Where are you living now?”

The wyvern leader asked Moiya and Moni, who were standing in a crooked posture.

***

“You’re early?”

Melanie greeted Hector, who had come to her residence.

‘What? You’re early?’

Hector was dumbfounded by Melanie, who treated him so casually, even as if she were welcoming a very welcome guest.

Melanie acted as if they had always lived together.

‘Yeah, I’m here. What are you going to do now?’

Hector sat down in the seat she guided him to without saying a word.

Melanie also sat in front of him and looked at him with a bright face as if she were admiring him.

If you hire the Imperial Palace guard knight, even the king of Tanya Island, as your guard knight overnight, shouldn’t there be something to say?

Hector deliberately made a fierce expression at Melanie, who didn’t explain anything, but she just smiled brightly.

He had many questions he wanted to ask.

How did she win over Emperor Linell and even have Roxana directly order it?

She said it was a request, but it was obvious that Emperor Linell had been seducing Roxana with a forced smile.

Otherwise, there was no way Roxana would have listened to the Emperor’s request so willingly without complaining.

Roxana was happy that she had a chance to extract information about the former Empress through Melanie.

But that’s because Roxana had never really experienced Melanie.

“Why are you staring like that?”

Melanie asked.

“Why did you hire me as a guard knight?”

Hector also asked.

The two people’s voices intertwined at the same time.

“Because my guard knights aren’t good enough.”

“I don’t think someone living in the Imperial Palace needs a special guard.”

“Oh? After seeing the incident where that crazy bastard Tessler tried to kill Zelda Mama, you’re still saying that?”

Melanie asked, widening her eyes.

“Ah, but that was a special case, and it’s extremely rare to experience such a thing in general.”

“That means. Zelda Mama is special, and I’m not special?”

Melanie asked in a sulky voice.

When she’s like this, she doesn’t seem that stupid.

Hector paused for a moment and corrected his words with a tired face.

“That’s not what I meant, Zelda Mama is so…….”

“Yes, because she’s favored by His Majesty, she must have many enemies everywhere. I know that too. But I have many enemies too, you know?”

“Is that so?”

When Hector reacted indifferently, Melanie lowered her voice and whispered.

“Oh! I often say things without thinking. But half of it is to deliberately turn the other person inside out? Ah, what I just said is a secret.”

Who reveals secrets so casually?

From that alone, this woman was out of her mind.

“How did you work in the Empress Palace?”

“It’s not much different from Melanie Mama’s guard knights.”

“Really? Then did you also choose Roxana Empress’s dresses?”

Melanie’s eyes sparkled.

She leaned her upper body forward towards Hector and asked.

“Yes?”

He asked back, doubting what he had just heard.

“My guards did.”

“Can you explain what choosing dresses has to do with guarding?”

Hector was worried about whether he would really have to do such useless things in the future.

“It’s not just about checking safety, it’s also about taking care of the person you’re serving’s mood.”

He just stared blankly at her, who was defining the definition of guarding as she pleased.

“I receive jealousy and envy from other concubines. That’s also an attack.”

“Melanie Mama? ……Why?”

Hector asked in a puzzled tone.

Isn’t that something that only concubines like the former Empress Zelda, who are favored by the Emperor, have?

“Why else.”

Melanie retorted as if wondering why he didn’t know.

“I’m the prettiest. Among the concubines.”

“…….”

Hector lost his words and opened his mouth.

“Don’t tell me, you don’t think so? Do you think Roxana Empress is the prettiest?”

If Hector answered yes, she would have burst into tears right away.

Hector burst into a hollow laugh and fell into thought for a moment.

Without realizing it, he began to seriously consider Melanie’s question.

Opinions may vary depending on taste, but if you judge by objective standards?

‘Well, her face might be.’

Even if someone claimed that Melanie’s face was the most beautiful in the Imperial Palace, most people would nod in agreement.

However, only for people who haven’t talked to her before.

Or, only in cases where they judge solely on her face.

“You don’t think so? Do you really think Roxana Empress is the prettiest? Aha, do people from the island have beauty standards that they praise each other for or something?”

“Mama, I didn’t say anything. And use honorifics. Her Majesty the Empress isn’t Mama’s friend.”

Hector said with a stern expression.

“I even curse at His Majesty the Emperor when he’s not around, so what? And now my master is me. You’re my guard, right? Then you should take my side even if I curse at the Empress!”

What should I do with this woman whose head is clearer and bluer than the sky of Tanya Island [a figure of speech indicating extreme clarity or emptiness]?

It was ambiguous how far I should deal with her.

“You can drop the formalities when you’re alone with me.”

“Yes?”

What is this again?

Hector raised his eyebrows.

“You got really angry last time and slightly dropped the formalities with me. You were the first man to speak informally to me other than my father and His Majesty.”

So Hector was very curious about how the logic that he could drop the formalities was created.

“Where is there a guard knight who drops the formalities?”

“There. You’re dropping them, right?”

“That was because I was so angry that I misspoke for a moment…….”

“No, not just when you spoke informally to me. You also spoke informally to Roxana Empress, right?”

“!”

When did she hear that?

Melanie grinned as Hector frowned and continued.

“I heard you two talking in front of the Great Temple building.”

“Ah.”

This was clearly his fault.

Usually, he only spoke informally to Roxana when they were alone inside the Empress Palace, but on the day of Prince Tessler’s last trial, he spoke informally before entering the Great Temple building.

But Melanie happened to be caught at that moment.

“So drop the formalities when you’re alone with me.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Then I’ll tell His Majesty?”

“!”

No, what kind of absurd threat is that.

If Melanie spread this fact to other concubines or especially Emperor Linell, there was a high probability that everyone would believe her words.

This was because even though making mistakes was a habit, Melanie had an image of someone who didn’t lie.

“Don’t you want to get close to me?”

“There’s no reason to get close.”

“I thought we got along quite well…….”

When?

Wasn’t it a conversation method where one person speaks unilaterally or the other person ignores unilaterally?

Before Hector could organize his thoughts and ask, Melanie changed the subject.

“Anyway, please take care of me in the future.”

Melanie reached out her hand.

Hector flinched but didn’t take her hand.

“Yes, please take care of me.”

“Are you shy? Well, I guess you’d be nervous to hold my hand. Oh, I’ll ask you in commemoration of becoming my guard knight.”

Hector was subtly nervous, wondering what kind of strange things she was going to say again.

He had only dealt with strong people so far, but this was the first time he had dealt with a crazy person.

“How’s this nightgown?”

So she’s asking about the condition of the nightgown right now……?

“Are you asking if it’s see-through or not?”

Hector’s eyebrows gathered together.

“Oh? Is it see-through? Can you see it?”

Melanie lowered her head and looked down at her nightgown, then smiled brightly, saying, ‘It’s really a bit see-through?’

Hector’s eyes wandered here and there before he jumped up and said.

“……I don’t know women’s clothes very well.”

“Not knowing isn’t something to be ashamed of. It’s okay, don’t get angry.”

“?”

Melanie said as if comforting him.

She really had the ability to interpret the situation in a strange way.

Hector, who was embarrassed and even more bewildered, hurriedly opened the bedroom door and came out, saying that he would leave now.

Thinking that the reason his face was turning red was because he was angry.

***

“Did you investigate what was in the book that Rosie hid under the bed?”

Linell, who had finished showering, came up onto the bed and asked in a moist voice.

I smiled meaningfully as I wiped his wet hair with a towel.

“Are you curious?”

“The title has no choice but to be like that, right? I’ll use it a little too.”

“Why does Your Majesty need a way to speed up progress?”

“There might be a secret method I don’t know.”

His low voice made my body start to tingle already.

“There might be a way to shorten it even more.”

“Shall we put the contents of the book into practice right away?”

“Yes…… I’ll trust you and follow you.”

He deliberately makes an innocent expression.

That appearance came as another charm.

I threw away half of the contents of the book that I had read thoroughly for an hour in Rosie’s room and went into the part where I would put it into practice in earnest.

“They say you have to put your hand here.”

I whispered as I gently placed my hand on his thigh.

“That’s a good start. And then?”