The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 261

261. Moiran, Over Moni

“Raphael, I’m… okay.”

He said, tossing his soaking wet uniform jacket to Raphael.

The eyes of all the concubines, including Roxana, were fixed on Linelle’s body.

The lewd energy was thicker than the mist blanketing the hot spring.

The water-soaked shirt was as good as useless; it was practically see-through.

Rather, the wet shirt clinging to his body made him look even more alluring.

He swept his hair back with both hands and spoke to the concubines.

“Now that things have turned out this way, we should all soak in the warm water, Moni~.”

!

…You, you’re Moni?

Good heavens, what is going on?

I stared at Linelle with my eyes as wide as they could go.

His charismatic blue eyes were slightly unfocused.

And seeing the playful smile, it was definitely Moni.

I could accept Moiya entering Raphael’s body, but why did Moni enter Linelle’s body?!

He had fallen in a deep part of the spring.

The hot spring water lapped just below his chin.

Linelle, no, Moni, started walking towards us.

So far, so good.

“Feeling warm makes me want to dance.”

His broad shoulders moved slowly from side to side.

Surely, he wasn’t about to do a shoulder dance, was he?

As the hot spring water gradually became shallower, his wide shoulders, creaking from side to side, were also being revealed above the surface.

Oh, no…!

Out of the frying pan, into the fire; beyond Moiya, there’s Moni.

‘Try to stop him.’

I summoned the Incarnation and asked for help.

‘What’s wrong with it? If the concubines are disappointed by that tasteless dance, wouldn’t that be good for you?’

The Incarnation cackled and turned my insides out.

It didn’t seem like it had any intention of helping.

I glared at Raphael.

Raphael, who had been swaying his shoulders just like Linelle, subtly avoided my gaze.

Seeing him doing the shoulder dance without any embarrassment, it was clear that Moiya was still inside Raphael’s body.

This was like some kind of couple’s dance….

But something was strange.

Does a handsome person still look handsome even when doing a ridiculous dance?

As Linelle moved his broad shoulders and kept the rhythm, it didn’t look ugly at all; instead, it looked languid and sexy, like a gesture that truly seduced reason.

In contrast, Raphael’s shoulder dance was nothing but frivolous.

Watching the concubines admiring Linelle’s dance with glazed eyes, I started to get heated.

His body, which only I used to see, was now being revealed in this way, even keeping the rhythm.

And in a wet state, no less.

As he waded through the hot spring water towards us, he suddenly disappeared into the water.

A moment later, his head popped up in the middle of where I and the concubines were standing.

Then, he uttered words befitting an emperor.

“Peek-a-boo!”

It was Moni who had said it, not Linelle, but the concubines, unaware of that fact, were startled and then burst into laughter.

Even Roxana smiled brightly and enjoyed it.

The concubines splashed water at him, repeatedly saying, ‘Oh, you’re so mischievous!’

I couldn’t watch these wyvern [a mythical dragon-like creature] bastards’ antics any longer!

If they weren’t planning on leaving the hot spring, I had to make them leave.

I focused my mind.

The temperature of the water in the hot spring rose rapidly.

“Ah, it’s hot!”

Melanie was the first to jump out, followed by everyone else streaming out of the hot spring.

“Why did the water suddenly get so hot?”

Roxana, with steam rising from her entire body, asked him.

“I wonder….”

Linelle shrugged his shoulders with a blank face and answered Roxana, then looked at me.

Seeing his face as if asking me what had happened, I felt relieved.

He was finally back to my Linelle.

***

At the same time, in the detached palace.

The sound of clinking glasses rang out cheerfully in the room where Prince Norton was staying.

The gathering had been moved up by three or four hours from the originally scheduled time.

“I called you both early since you’re both lonely people.”

Prince Norton said teasingly as he poured wine into Grand Duke Martins and Commander Makrom’s glasses in turn.

“Yes, thank you for your deep consideration. Your Highness will be marrying Lady Rosie soon, so you won’t be lonely.”

Grand Duke Martins asked indifferently, and Commander Makrom chimed in from the side.

“I’m glad I can’t see Your Highness’s happy face.”

“I’ll take that as envy.”

Prince Norton shrugged and smiled, then glanced at Grand Duke Martins and cautiously opened his mouth.

“What are you planning to do from now on? Now that Prince Tesler has been stripped of his position, it seems like a good opportunity for you, a member of the royal family.”

“Yes, it seems like the time for the Shatoanil Kingdom to be reborn is approaching.”

Grand Duke Martins spoke indirectly, but Prince Norton and Commander Makrom immediately understood the meaning behind his words.

The Grand Duke didn’t mention the plans and conversations he had secretly shared with Linelle before Prince Tesler’s trial, but he had hinted at his future actions.

Prince Norton nodded as if he had expected it.

“I believe that you, Martins, will lead the kingdom well. Come to think of it, will there be few days left to call you ‘you’? Will the title be different in a few years?”

At Prince Norton’s words, Grand Duke Martins simply gave a faint smile.

Commander Makrom quickly emptied his glass and held it out to the two of them.

“Please pour me another glass. There won’t be such a precious occasion in the future, so tonight I will receive glasses from both of you until I’m sick of it.”

“You, Makrom, are always welcome as a drinking buddy.”

Prince Norton burst into laughter and poured wine for the commander.

“That goes for me too. Ah, the white wine brewed in our family is excellent. Visit the Shatoanil Kingdom around this time next year.”

“To taste the wine?”

“Yes, or who knows? You might meet a good match in the kingdom. Like His Majesty.”

Grand Duke Martins smiled slightly bitterly as he thought of Zelda.

Commander Makrom, who smiled along with the Grand Duke, also had a bitter expression on his face.

Commander Makrom recalled Bonis, who had died taking an arrow for him.

His heart still ached whenever he thought of her.

The commander thought he had taken revenge for Bonis in his position, but his thirst was not yet fully quenched.

Back then, on the way to the Tevelo Empire, he had torn apart the allied soldier who had shot Bonis with an arrow on the spot.

And Prince Tesler, who had tried to forcibly molest Bonis during the continental hunt but failed, was eventually castrated.

But he couldn’t kill him.

Taking Prince Tesler’s life was Grand Duke Martins’s responsibility.

Commander Makrom had heard about Linelle’s plan in advance, so he couldn’t cut off Prince Tesler’s head, and in fact, he shouldn’t have.

If Commander Makrom had killed Prince Tesler, unable to overcome his anger as Linelle had said, he would have had to give his life to the Shatoanil Kingdom for the crime of assassinating a member of the royal family, regardless of the reason.

“Your Highness, look there. Isn’t that a carrier pigeon?”

Grand Duke Martins, who was about to take a sip of his drink, pointed to the window in the center of the many windows in Prince Norton’s room.

“It seems so….”

Prince Norton got up from the table chair and walked to the window where the carrier pigeon was.

He opened the window, and the carrier pigeon flew into the room.

Prince Norton took out the paper that the carrier pigeon had around its neck and unfolded it.

“Is it a love letter from Lady Rosie?”

Commander Makrom, putting aside his thoughts about Bonis, asked Prince Norton.

“It must be from Lady Rosie. Who else would send a carrier pigeon to a distinguished guest if not her? Let’s just drink.”

Grand Duke Martins laughed in vain and filled his and Commander Makrom’s glasses with wine.

However, Prince Norton’s expression was unusual as he read the letter, so Grand Duke Martins asked him in a voice that had lost its laughter.

“Your Highness, what’s wrong? Isn’t it from Lady Rosie?”

Prince Norton frowned and turned to Grand Duke Martins and replied.

“It’s a carrier pigeon… sent by my brother, Prince Kalvin.”

***

Roxana, who had returned to the Empress’s Palace from the hot spring, collapsed onto the bed as soon as she entered the bedroom.

She had only been in the hot spring for less than 30 minutes, but it felt like she had been soaking in the hot spring all day.

Apart from her smooth skin, Roxana’s mood was not good in many ways.

She traced back to where her troubled feelings came from.

First of all, the reason she brought the concubines to the hot spring in the first place was to make Pesilini open her heart to Yulina and become closer.

The plan was quite successful.

She had subtly told her maid, Nancy, to push Pesilini, and had arranged in advance for Yulina to grab Pesilini and help her at the moment she was about to fall into the hot spring.

Fortunately, they worked well together.

After that, Pesilini and Yulina exchanged a lot of conversations. They even went back together when they left the hot spring and returned to their respective residences.

Emperor Linelle suddenly barged into the hot spring, but it was quite a pleasant time.

She even laughed at the Emperor’s appearance, which was very different from usual.

“But why does my mood keep getting worse?”

The answer came without needing to think deeply.

It was because of Melanie and Hetor.

The image of Hetor neatly gathering the shoes that Melanie had carelessly taken off kept coming to her mind.

“There was no need to do that much….”

But it was she who had told Hetor to cater to Melanie’s every whim as much as possible before sending him to Melanie’s residence a few days ago.

She had said that was the only way to dig up information about Zelda.

Hetor was not only following her orders well, but he was also taking care of Melanie meticulously.

Even if it was just his actions, there was no need to act with his eyes, but Hetor’s eyes as he looked at Melanie were also somehow annoying.

“It must be a misunderstanding? There’s no way he’d fall for that airhead, would he?”

Roxana snorted several times.

She’d know if she called Hetor and probed him a little.

Knock, knock, knock-.

The bedroom door opened with the sound of knocking.

“Your Majesty the Empress, Hetor has arrived.”

She thought he would escort Melanie to her residence and come?!

As expected, Roxana was inwardly pleased with Hetor’s actions, who had rushed to her call without delay.

“Bring him in.”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on?”

Hetor entered the bedroom with his usual blunt face and asked.

“Haven’t you found out anything about Zelda yet?”

“If I had, I would have come to you first.”

“I guess so.”

“Is that why you called me?”

“Well, that’s part of it, but I was also curious to know if you’re doing well in Melanie’s residence.”

“Not bad.”

Roxana raised one eyebrow.

Hetor’s answer was not to her liking at all.

She thought he would complain about how difficult it was to live with the foolish and absent-minded Melanie, but to Roxana’s eyes, he really seemed to be doing well.

His face also felt somehow brighter than before.

“Melanie must be treating you better than I thought?”

“I don’t know about that, but I’m trying to do well.”

“……What?”

“You told me to do that. I’m doing as you ordered, so why.”

“Ah, yes. You’re doing well. If possible, steal Melanie’s heart as well.”

Roxana deliberately egged Hetor on even more.

“Are you serious?”

“Of course. Wouldn’t it be easier to get information that way?”

“I’ll do my best.”

As Hetor readily accepted Roxana’s order, her mood began to feel strange.

An awkward gaze intertwined between the two for a moment.

She changed the subject first.

“Melanie seems to be very eager to join the congratulatory delegation?”

“That’s right.”

“Ah, you know a lot about the sea, befitting your title as the Pirate King, right?”

Roxana’s expression suddenly brightened as if she had thought of something.

“……So?”

“I heard that after boarding the ship, it takes a full day and a half to get to the Partsha Empire.”

“Yes, if you take a ship from Lapion land in the morning, you’ll pass near the Gorge of Death around sunrise the next day. And then it’s right into the Partsha Empire’s territorial waters.”

“I see. If we’re lucky, we might be able to throw all the unsightly things into the sea before the sun rises….”

“What?”

Hetor took a step closer to Roxana’s face, which seemed to have some kind of scheme, and asked.

Roxana, who had been muttering to herself, replied in a whisper.

“I wish the night sea would sweep everything away….”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Even if they fall into the sea, they can hold on and be rescued, and if they die, they just die.”

“……What are you thinking?”

“Hahaha, why the uncharacteristic nervous expression?”

“It’s best not to do anything rash. The Emperor is accompanying us.”

“I know. That’s why I’m thinking about whether to carry it out or not… The original plan was to eliminate only one person… But if you help me, I might be able to be more greedy.”

Roxana’s eyes gleamed eerily.

“…….”

“I’ll think about it a little more and tell you. After all, on the ship, you’ll be the king, Hetor. Isn’t that right?”

Roxana smiled seductively and ran her hand down Hetor’s firm and sturdy arm.

***

Hetor, who had returned to Melanie’s palace, found his feet heading towards her bedroom without him even realizing it.

He didn’t know why he was doing this even as he knocked on the bedroom door.

“Oh? What’s going on?”

She was just wondering if she should call Hetor or not.

Anyway, it was the first time he had come on his own without Melanie calling him separately.

“Can you swim?”

Hetor’s first words were somewhat absurd.

He hadn’t prepared the words either.

It was just what came out when he saw Melanie’s face welcoming him.

“……Is that what you came to ask?”

Melanie, who was holding a wooden sword in her hand, tilted her head.

She seemed to be practicing swordsmanship alone.

“Can’t swim?”

Hetor also knew how out of the blue his question was.

But he had no talent for asking questions indirectly.

“Do you know that swimming isn’t the only thing I can’t do?”

Melanie smiled brightly and shouted confidently.

“Of course you can’t!”

Why was it so natural that she couldn’t swim? Hetor sighed deeply and frowned.

“Why are you asking that?”

“Really can’t at all?”

“Yeah! You’re from an island nation where the sea surrounds everything, so you don’t know, but I was a noble lady. Usually, even touching water with my feet was not allowed, a precious~ noble.”

“Ha, I’m going crazy. Shit…….”

Hetor ran his hands over his dry face and muttered to himself.

“Why are you doing that?”

“Are you sure you have to go to the congratulatory delegation?”

“Of course? I even sleep with a wooden sword next to me these days! I practice as soon as I open my eyes!”

Melanie revealed her firm will by swinging the wooden sword she was holding.

Funnily enough, her movements had become quite disciplined, to the point where they couldn’t be compared to the beginning.

But it was just a light wooden sword anyway.

Hetor chuckled and paused for a moment.

If that was her will, there was only one way.

“Then come out with me.”

“Where are we going?”

Melanie asked with a flustered expression, and Hetor turned around while holding the doorknob and said.

“To swim.”

“……At this hour?”