The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 267

267. I Remembered

2023.07.26.

Linelle’s fury echoed through the shattered doorway and out into the hallway.

Bellos flinched at the murderous aura, but he intended to lay Zelda on the bed and then have a calm conversation with him.

However, the moment he set her down, Linelle’s fist, packed with power, flew towards Bellos’s face.

Thwack! Bellos crashed to the floor.

Raphael and Sharon, who had been peering into the room through the hole in the door, rushed in.

But they hesitated, frozen, and only watched the enraged Emperor cautiously.

‘Is he dead? He’s the Master of the Magic Tower, he can’t be dead, right?’

Raphael looked down at Bellos, who was struggling to get up from the floor, with worried eyes.

A fist that had just pierced through a door had struck a person.

It would be a miracle if his facial bones weren’t shattered.

Raphael was even afraid to ask Bellos if he was okay.

Linelle’s face looked as if he would throw the Master of the Magic Tower out the window any second.

In fact, a chilling aura seemed to be rising from behind him.

“What have you done to my wife?”

The already low voice, combined with a calm tone, made it even more terrifying.

If he had at least raised his voice and gotten agitated, they could have actively tried to stop him, but they couldn’t.

A coldness was felt even in his breathing.

“She’s just temporarily unconscious. She’s not hurt, so calm down,” Bellos replied, forcing himself up.

He could understand his excessive reaction to some extent.

But the strength of the punch he had thrown was far too strong, and it hurt far too much.

If Bellos hadn’t cast a protective spell on himself, his cheekbones would have been crushed.

As soon as Bellos returned to the room from the Valley of Death using teleportation and saw the Emperor, he immediately cast a protective spell on himself.

Just because his bones wouldn’t break didn’t mean the shock and pain were lessened.

In fact, Bellos had briefly lost consciousness for a few seconds before waking up.

“I think you just used teleportation, where did you go? What did you do that made Zelda faint!”

The more he asked, the angrier he became.

Linelle grabbed Bellos by the collar with one hand, steadying his staggering body, and snarled.

“…I went to the Valley of Death,” Bellos replied, glancing at Zelda, who was still unconscious.

He would find out eventually.

Zelda had said she would tell him about her trip to the Valley of Death herself, but the situation wasn’t favorable.

“…What? Where?!”

He gasped in surprise.

“Are you out of your mind? What made you take Zelda there!”

A place where dozens of adult wyverns fly around.

The waves between the canyons are quite strong, and fierce wyverns come and go from several caves in the middle of the canyons that are split on both sides.

He went there using teleportation?

Leading a pregnant woman?

What happened there that she returned unconscious?

He tried to regain his reason, but he couldn’t be rational any longer.

Linelle threw Bellos towards the sofa as if discarding his uniform jacket.

“Ugh!”

Bellos, who had been thrown onto the sofa, hit his side and fell to the floor, hitting his side against the table once more.

“Y-Your Majesty! Please calm down!”

At this rate, someone would get killed.

No, he already did.

Raphael looked at Bellos writhing on the floor, wrapped his arms tightly around Linelle from behind, and desperately tried to stop him.

“Get out of the way, you’re in the way.”

He grabbed Raphael’s wrist with one hand and brushed him off like a mosquito.

“Oh my, Secretary!”

As Raphael rolled on the floor, Sharon quickly extended her foot to prevent his body from rolling any further.

Meanwhile, Linelle climbed on top of Bellos, who was lying under the sofa.

He grabbed Bellos by the collar again and glared at him as if to kill him.

“If anything happens to Zelda’s health, Master of the Magic Tower… you won’t be safe either!”

“Please calm down. If you continue to use violence, I won’t stand still either.”

“What did you say?”

“I have already given you much, but I don’t want to give you my body as you please.”

“Ha, is what you gave me… referring to Zelda?”

Linelle looked down at Bellos’s face up close, grabbed his chin, and applied force.

“Ugh!”

For the first time in hundreds of years, Bellos thought that his face might become a mess and age rapidly from being beaten by Emperor Linelle today.

“What… are you two doing?”

It was Zelda’s voice.

***

Ever since returning from the Valley of Death, Ao-ssi often had nightmares.

A dream of being surrounded by wyverns, having all her fur plucked out, and being eaten.

What was even more absurd was that the nightmare always ended with Moiya and Moni dancing and enjoying themselves beyond the wyverns breathing fire at her.

“M-Miyaong…! (G-Get away…!)”

Today, Ao-ssi woke up from a nap, waving her cotton paws in the air.

“Why are you acting up like this?”

Ao-ssi opened her eyes to Melanie’s voice, not Rosie’s.

She was holding her on her lap and stroking her as she pleased.

“Miyaong? (When did you get here?)”

“Ao-ssi has been waking up like that, thrashing around whenever she takes a nap these days?”

Rosie said to Melanie while feeding Rams with a baby bottle.

“She must have had a fighting dream, does she want to become a beast?”

Melanie grabbed Ao-ssi’s front paws, shook them, and laughed.

“Miyaaong~! (Want to be, a beast~!)”

Ao-ssi unknowingly revealed her adorable teeth and thought of Moiya and Moni.

She wanted to become a beast and crush those wicked wyvern bastards under her feet. But because she was so sleepy, her revenge became hazy, and Ao-ssi’s eyes slowly closed at the loyal touch of a human.

She yawned again, stretched her short four legs, and fell asleep again.

“Rosie, actually, I came to ask you something.”

Melanie, who had been stroking Ao-ssi’s back, opened her mouth meaningfully.

“What is it?”

“When you kissed Prince Norton, how did you hold back?”

“…Excuse me? What are you talking about?”

Rosie, who was patting Rams’s back after feeding him milk, was flustered by the question that could be interpreted in various ways.

“How did you resist wanting to go further? The kiss was so soul-stirring, wasn’t it?”

Like someone who had discovered a new continent, Melanie’s eyes and expression were filled with adventurous spirit and curiosity.

“How does Rosie know that it’s soul-stirring?”

Rosie narrowed her eyes and questioned.

“I, I read it in a book.”

Melanie stuttered, uncharacteristically.

And even made an unlike excuse.

She wouldn’t have been suspicious if she had said she heard it from someone, but the word ‘book’ was quite unsettling.

“Rosie read a book…? You want me to believe that now?”

Rosie immediately noticed that Melanie was lying.

In response, Melanie self-destructed and told the truth.

But that, in turn, surprised Rosie.

“I’m sorry. The joke was too much. Actually… it’s an experience.”

“Oh my gosh. Rosie!”

If it was an experience, the other person would be Hector, without a doubt.

Rosie stared at Melanie with her mouth wide open.

Melanie’s lips were already wiggling, wanting to brag about something.

“When on earth…”

She was about to ask when such an unfortunate event had occurred, but she closed her mouth because Melanie’s expression was too happy.

“Last night. He suddenly said he would teach me how to swim. When I said I didn’t want to because it was cold, he took me to a hot spring, you know?”

“Why swimming all of a sudden?”

“The way to the Partsha Empire is by sea.”

“Why learn to swim when you’re not going by swimming?”

“To prepare for any possible danger. But now that I think about it, heehee. Teaching me how to swim is just an excuse, heehee. I think Hector wanted to kiss me too, so he took me to a secluded place, heehee.”

Melanie giggled at the end of every sentence and briefly made a thrilling expression.

Rosie’s curiosity was piqued by the sight.

“Was it… very good?”

“It was good~ but Hector was so passionate that it was a bit overwhelming.”

Her expression, as if she didn’t know what to do because she was embarrassed after saying it herself, was quite a sight.

“How passionate was he?”

Rosie asked with envious eyes.

It wasn’t that she was dissatisfied with the gentle and gentlemanly kiss with Prince Norton, but after kissing Prince Norton, she felt like someone had taken away the book while she was reading the most interesting part.

After that, her mouth always tingled.

So Melanie’s statement that the kiss was too passionate to handle caused a great ripple in Rosie’s calm kissing life.

“I thought, is this man trying to pull out my back while kissing me?”

Melanie’s whispering voice contained shyness, and Rosie’s eyes listening to the story contained envy.

“You kissed that… intensely?”

“Yep.”

“Your first kiss?”

“Yeep.”

Melanie replied playfully, but it didn’t seem like a lie.

“You said you kissed so passionately, but didn’t you go further, Rosie?”

Rosie asked, imagining Melanie’s passionate first kiss that seemed like her back would be pulled out.

“I wanted to see the end!”

Melanie said with an expression full of regret and slammed the table.

“And then?”

“While kissing, my wrist almost went to the back of my head, you know?”

“Why?”

“Something kept getting in the way while we were kissing and interfering with us.”

“Inside the hot spring?”

“Yes, so I thought a branch was floating around and tried to push it aside with my hand, but Hector suddenly got angry and pushed me away, you know?”

It was a moment that made her feel sad the more she thought about it.

Rosie comforted her as Melanie made a gloomy expression.

“Oh my, why did he suddenly get angry after kissing so passionately? He has a strange personality.”

“I don’t know. He keeps avoiding my eyes after that.”

“What was interfering with you two? Was it really a branch that you touched with your hand?”

“I don’t know either. It definitely seemed like a branch, but when I opened my eyes, there was nothing there.”

Melanie gestured as if she was breaking a branch with both hands and huffed.

“I think I prefer skinship that is regrettable and frustrating rather than passionate.”

Rosie thought of Prince Norton as she drank the lukewarm black tea.

“Ah, does Prince Norton do that? He seems to make progress as gently as he looks.”

“……”

Rosie unknowingly nodded at Melanie’s words and frowned.

She didn’t know why she felt so bitter.

“But, Rosie, I’m so glad that we don’t fight or get jealous over one man.”

Melanie said while eating a strawberry cake. Rosie fully agreed with her words.

While Rosie was laying the sleeping Rams on the bed, Melanie also stood up from her chair and put Ao-ssi down.

“I’ll be going now.”

“Already? Have dinner and go.”

Rosie checked the time and grabbed Melanie.

“I can’t.”

“Why?”

“I have to go quickly and look for a chance to kiss.”

“!”

Rosie’s gaze, looking at Melanie who was revealing her desires without any hesitation, went beyond surprise and astonishment to a bit of respect.

For the first time, Rosie felt that she had something to learn from Melanie.

So she desperately grabbed her.

“Stay longer. Tell me more about last night.”

“Let go, if you’re bored, you can call Prince Norton too. I have things to do?”

Melanie laughed and left Rosie’s bedroom with a determined expression as if she was going into battle.

***

Linelle’s face, which was getting closer and closer as if to devour Bellos, paused at Zelda’s voice.

“Are you awake?!”

He raised his head and looked at her.

Zelda was sitting up in bed.

“You two look like you’re about to kiss?”

It was a position that could be easily misunderstood at first glance.

It seemed like they were having a fierce fight?

‘No, one side was being unilaterally beaten.’

She thought, checking the faces of the two men.

First, she had to stop the fight.

“To witness my husband and friend rolling around! Get away from each other, now!!”

At Zelda’s shout, the two men made eye contact and shuddered before falling away from each other.

“Are you really okay? Why did you faint! Are you hurt anywhere?”

He asked, rushing to the bed where Zelda was at the speed of light, trying to calm her down, and then he found blood flowing from the back of her hand.

“Why is your hand like that?!”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“You’re bleeding!”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a scratch.”

Sharon looked at Zelda and pointed to the door with a hole in the middle.

Seeing this, she grabbed Linelle’s hand.

“What do you mean it’s nothing! Blood is flowing like this!”

Bellos became depressed watching Zelda worry about Linelle.

‘Should I have not cast the protective magic? That Emperor is bleeding a little on the back of his hand and is getting so much concern from Zelda.’

If we’re talking about injuries, I’m the one who got more hurt, getting beaten by Linelle until my facial bones were about to be crushed.

Zelda wiped the blood flowing from the back of Linelle’s hand with her palm without any hesitation.

Then, at that moment.

“Ah, ah… Ah…!”

A headache struck.

Zelda lowered her head and closed her eyes.

Then, her head ached as if it would break, and suddenly, as if she was having a vivid dream, she saw herself and Linelle in front of her eyes.

Unfortunately, the memory that came to mind was not long.

After a few seconds, Zelda slowly opened her mouth with a confused look.

“I think… my memories have returned….”

But the look in her eyes as she stared at him was unusual.

Linelle suddenly felt uneasy.

“Zelda, what memories came back that you’re staring at me with those big eyes so wide open? Huh?”

“Your Majesty. Did we… meet before we got married?”

Zelda asked, narrowing her eyes.