The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 279

279. Melanie’s Birthday Gift

2023.09.06.

But Melanie instinctively clamped her mouth shut.

Her cheeks were still puffed out, so the antidote was definitely still in her mouth.

“Melanie! Don’t you dare swallow what you just drank!”

You’ll be killed by Hector if you swallow that!

“?”

Melanie’s eyes darted to me at my scream, which was close to a shriek.

“Give it to Hector. Give it to him now! Hurry!”

“Yes, Melanie! Hand it over if you don’t want to have a funeral on your birthday!”

Linelle also offered Melanie advice that would be good for her.

“?”

At our continued advice, Melanie’s already large eyes grew even bigger, almost popping out.

Hector was still trying to pry open Melanie’s mouth, who had downed his antidote in one gulp.

“Open it up!”

I was so anxious that I even mimed opening my mouth wide with both hands.

It was utter chaos.

I was on pins and needles, afraid Hector would tear her mouth apart. But thankfully, that didn’t happen.

Finally, Melanie opened her tightly shut mouth, and Hector desperately began to consume the antidote in her mouth.

“Ugh, what is this, ugh… !”

Melanie was confused by the situation, but,

“Is this how ugh… passionate it is?!”

She seemed to be enjoying it.

She’s so positive.

I applauded Melanie’s mental state, which allowed her to use the word ‘passionate’ in this situation.

After a while, Hector took his hands off Melanie’s face and let her go.

When did she ever keep her mouth shut? Melanie kept pushing her face towards Hector with a look of regret.

Hector, who had inhaled the antidote from Melanie, frowned deeply as if he had a headache and lowered his head.

At the same time, he slapped Melanie’s forehead with his palm, who was sticking her lips out at him.

Hmm… it didn’t seem intentional.

With a sharp smack, Melanie fell backward from the impact.

Linelle grabbed her as she fell back with his quick reflexes.

“Are you okay?”

“No, my forehead is tingling. Your Majesty.”

“No. Not you, Hector.”

“Huh? I’m the one who almost cracked my head open from falling over?!”

“Zelda. Keep Melanie’s mouth shut for a moment.”

Linelle pushed Melanie towards me.

Even though he pushed her gently, Melanie staggered like a scarecrow and fell into my arms.

“Oh my, even though I like Zelda, I don’t want to kiss her!”

What nonsense is she talking about again?

“Please, just shut that mouth.”

I covered Melanie’s mouth with my hand.

Meanwhile, Linelle grabbed Hector’s shoulder and asked again.

“Is the headache very bad?”

“Y-yes… Why does my head hurt so much, as if it’s about to break… !”

Linelle barely managed to catch Hector, who was about to fall to the floor, and sat him down on a chair.

“Hector… Why, why is he like this?”

Melanie approached Hector with a very worried face.

“Melanie, leave him alone for a moment.”

I stopped her.

After a few minutes, Hector raised his head as if the headache had disappeared.

“How do you feel?”

Linelle asked.

“They said it was an antidote, but isn’t it a complete sham? My head just hurts like it’s splitting, and nothing has changed…”

Hector tapped the side of his head with the back of his hand and asked as if he were demanding an explanation.

“According to the Master of the Magic Tower, the headache is a sign that the antidote is working. And once the headache stops, you’ll be back to your usual self.”

Linelle sat across from Hector and explained.

“Then how do I check if ‘that…’ is resolved?”

Hector continued to ask questions, but refrained from using the term ‘obedience potion’ because he was conscious of Melanie, and expressed it vaguely as ‘that’.

Melanie quietly closed her mouth, sensing that it wasn’t her time to interfere.

“‘That’ will take effect after you see ‘that face’.”

Linelle also replied to Hector, conscious of Melanie.

Melanie looked at me as she listened to the two men’s meaningful conversation.

Her eyes seemed to be asking me to explain what was going on.

“Listen to Hector later…”

It seemed better to hear it directly from the person involved than from me.

“I can only get out of it after seeing that face.”

“That’s what they say. Are you planning to go right away?”

At Linelle’s question, Hector massaged his face and struggled.

If it were me, I would go to Roxana right away to check if the antidote was working properly, but Hector’s choice was different.

“I’ll go after lunch.”

“Why?”

Instead of answering, Hector raised his head and looked at Melanie.

“Because it’s Melanie’s birthday?”

When he asked with a smile, Hector calmly admitted it.

“Yes, I was also invited to lunch.”

“Of course!”

Melanie was delighted at Hector’s words.

“I thought you were leaving for the Partsha Empire today, so I couldn’t prepare a birthday party, but we should all have lunch together! No one can leave my palace until they’ve eaten all the desserts, you all know that.”

Melanie said, looking at the clock in Hector’s room with an excited face.

At her words, Linelle and Hector got up from their chairs.

“I was already hungry anyway. You probably aren’t as hungry because you ate something a little while ago… Hahaha.”

Linelle teased Hector, touching his lips.

Hector’s earlobes turned red in an instant.

But Melanie didn’t understand Linelle’s joke and clung to Hector, narrowing her eyes and pressing him.

“Did you secretly eat something alone and get caught by His Majesty?”

“…….”

***

As we approached the door of the dining hall, Rosie and Prince Norton were walking affectionately from afar.

“Zelda! Oh, Your Majesty the Emperor.”

Rosie greeted me happily, but was surprised to find him next to me.

“I didn’t know Your Majesty would be coming.”

Prince Norton was also surprised, but he seemed to welcome his appearance.

After entering the dining hall, we divided the seats.

Melanie, whose birthday it was, sat at the head of the table, with Linelle and I on the right, and Rosie and Prince Norton on the left.

“The seating arrangement has become ambiguous because Your Majesty came.”

Melanie said with a sulky face.

“What would the original arrangement be if I hadn’t come?”

“Zelda and Rosie would sit on the right, and Hector and Prince Norton would sit on the left.”

“Ah, in other words, Hector’s seat has become ambiguous because I’m in the way.”

Linelle looked at me with a wounded face and deliberately made a sad face.

The Emperor of the Lapion Empire is being treated like this.

By a concubine.

“There’s an empty seat over there? Hector can go sit there.”

I pointed to the distant head seat on the opposite side of Melanie with my finger.

It was my own revenge.

Rosie followed my finger with her eyes and burst out laughing.

“That’s too far! If Your Majesty allows it, I would like him to sit next to me.”

As expected, Melanie jumped up and spoke to Linelle in a very polite tone.

“Why do you need my permission?”

“Because legally, she is Your Majesty’s concubine. Still.”

Melanie put a lot of emphasis on the words ‘still’.

“Okay. It’s my birthday present.”

Linelle replied, raising one corner of his mouth.

He looked at Hector, who was standing alone like a lost sheep, and said.

“Congratulations on winning the penalty. Bring a chair and sit next to Melanie.”

“Heeing-! Your Majesty, a penalty?”

Melanie whined, making a sound like a horse crying.

Hector quietly went to Prince Norton and just sat there instead of moving the chair.

“What, why are you sitting there? I told you to come and sit next to me?”

Melanie looked at Hector and tapped the table next to her.

“No. I will have my meal here.”

Hector gave Melanie a troubled look and gave her a look that said, ‘Don’t do that.’

“Your Majesty! The gift is refusing Your Majesty’s order! Heeing-.”

Melanie shouted as if she were telling on him.

“Yes. What are you going to do if you openly refuse the Emperor’s order? And you didn’t even bring Macrome [a type of decorative knotting].”

Linelle also took Melanie’s side and threatened Hector.

“…I’m sorry. I will follow Your Majesty’s order.”

Then Hector quietly got up, picked up a chair, and approached Melanie.

Linelle whispered to Melanie with a smug look.

“I hope you are satisfied with my gift.”

“Yes. It’s a very satisfactory birthday present, Your Majesty!”

That’s how the roughly amicable meal time ended, and the cake that Rosie brought from the palace came out for dessert.

“Your Majesty, may I get up first?”

Hector asked Linelle politely.

He seemed to be heading to the Empress’s Palace to meet Roxana.

Yes, he had endured for Melanie for this long.

“Why are you asking me? You should ask the birthday person.”

When he passed the decision on to Melanie, she stared at Hector intently.

“Is it because you’re not feeling well because of the headache?”

“…Yes, I think I’ll feel better if I get some fresh air.”

“Then go. But you have to come back quickly.”

I thought she would hold him back?

Melanie surprisingly let Hector go coolly.

“Thank you. When I come back, I will bring you a gift.”

“It’s okay. Just get rid of the headache and come back.”

Those words sounded as if she was telling him to completely break away from Roxana, who had been given the obedience potion.

Melanie, who still didn’t know anything about the antidote, said it without much thought, but Hector was quite moved.

Does Melanie know?

How important the words she just said were to Hector.

***

Hector, who left Melanie’s palace after lunch, headed straight to the Empress’s Palace.

Before going to the Empress’s Palace, he thought about visiting Bellos at the main palace, but even if he met him, he wouldn’t have any other advice other than what he had heard from Emperor Linelle.

‘I’ll know as soon as I meet Roxana.’

The emotions after the antidote is released.

And what memories come to mind before taking the antidote.

However, he was worried that he would feel so angry that he would be out of control.

If that happened, he would likely be excluded from the work that Roxana and Adrian were planning.

Not only that, but his life could also be in danger.

So, after seeing Roxana’s face, he vowed not to show it even if the memories and emotions before taking the obedience potion came to mind.

Since he had never seen or heard of any cases where people who had taken the obedience potion were detoxified, he didn’t think much of it.

‘Endure for the great cause.’

Before leaving the dining hall, he remembered the words that Emperor Linelle had quietly whispered to him.

He said yes to the question of whether he could do it, but in fact, he wasn’t sure.

The word ‘endurance’ was not a word that suited him.

Hector climbed the stairs of the Empress’s Palace and came up to the bedroom floor.

Nancy, who was in front of the bedroom door, greeted him first.

“Welcome.”

“Is she inside?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Nancy knocked on the bedroom door instead, and a voice came from inside telling her to come in.

He still couldn’t feel any change just from Roxana’s voice.

Hector opened the door and entered the bedroom.

She was sitting at a table outside on the terrace, leisurely drinking tea alone.

Nanna, the bulldog who was sitting at her feet, wagged her short tail and approached Hector when she saw him.

Hector bent down and stroked Nanna’s wrinkled chin with his hand, then saw Roxana’s profile sitting in the sunlight.

“You’re here?”

Roxana didn’t look at Hector, but drank tea and looked at the garden.

Hector slowly approached and stopped in front of her.

“What are you doing? Not sitting down. Sit down.”

Roxana gestured to the seat in front of her and ordered Hector.

Then Nanna, who was wagging her tail next to her, sat down on the floor.

Nanna was carrying out Roxana’s orders instead of Hector.

Was it because it looked like his own appearance, who had been acting like a loyal dog?

Hector chuckled as he looked down at Nanna.

“You came just in time. I was going to call you anyway. Soon…”

Roxana stopped talking, feeling something was wrong, and put down her teacup and looked up at Hector.

“But, why are you looking at me like that?”

Their eyes met.

Hector’s pupils shook violently.

The memories and emotions before taking the obedience potion began to surface.

“You, you…”

Hector unknowingly reached out his hand towards Roxana’s slender neck.