The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 340

340. Side Story 12: Linelle’s Spirit of Sacrifice

“You’re asking me… to take you in?”

“Yes!”

“I’ve never thought of you as a woman, but I’ve never thought of you as laundry either.”

“?”

She revealed her long-hidden feelings, but the response was utterly brutal.

To parry the request to be taken in like that.

They say couples resemble each other…

The two did feel strangely similar.

In truth, Ash didn’t intend to confess to the Great King in this way.

She planned to systematically extend her influence within the royal court and then gradually reveal her feelings.

Meanwhile, tarnishing Queen Melanie’s reputation was also considered one of her tasks.

She just had to do as she did in the royal court of Tanya Island, and there would be no problem.

The only difference was dealing with one more ‘stupid queen,’ but things went awry from day one.

“Have I ever given you reason to think you could be by my side?”

The Great King seemed to be muttering to himself, so Ash couldn’t easily add anything.

“Ash, I don’t keep a woman I like standing for so long. I would have laid her down already.”

“!”

“You, who have seen my temper up close, know it better than anyone, don’t you?”

“I, I’m not asking for anything.”

“What about your eyes?”

“Yes?”

“I’m talking about your eyes that keep craving something from me.”

“……Ah.”

So the Great King knew all along.

Ash was shocked.

And he pretended not to know all this time? Why?

“The Queen might be concerned, so I didn’t show it in the dining hall, but be careful with your words and actions from now on.”

“Y-Your Majesty……”

“I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t value you. But……”

Just then, Melanie’s humming was heard from outside the bathroom.

Hector was startled and tried to turn his head to look at the bathroom door when,

“Oh my-!!”

Ash’s upper body plunged into the tub and then popped back up.

“Ash!”

Hector’s panicked voice echoed loudly in the bathroom.

Ash had dropped the soap she was holding and was flailing her hands in the air to catch it, then slipped and half of her upper body fell into the bathwater.

That’s how it appeared.

Of course, it wasn’t certain whether her acting of pretending to drop the soap she was holding onto was natural.

The moment Melanie opened the bathroom door, Ash happened to be lifting her head from inside the tub.

“Lalala, lalala…… Ji-lalalala……”

A situation that looked strange to anyone.

It was perfect timing.

Melanie tilted her head. Then her body stood with a leg propped to one side, as if it were a set with her head.

“Oh, Ash? I said to soak the wine, not to soak your body?”

“I-It was a mistake, Your Majesty! I dropped something and then……!”

Ash had the expression of a woman caught committing adultery, crying out, ‘We couldn’t help it!’

“Of course, it must have been a mistake. There’s no reason to deliberately soak your chest in there and come out, is there?”

Melanie didn’t throw a fit or grab her by the hair; instead, she giggled as if something was funny.

“It would have been fine if you hadn’t opened your eyes in the tub.”

For a fleeting moment, Melanie’s eyes turned fierce and then relaxed.

“Here, take this. If you go out like that, they’ll think we’re waterboarding you.”

Melanie handed her a towel from the shelf. Then, she picked up a new towel and personally gathered her hair, pressing down to squeeze out the water.

“Ugh, thank you……”

In the process of squeezing out the water, Melanie seemed to deliberately tug at her hair once in a while, but Ash gritted her teeth and didn’t show it.

“But what did you drop?”

“The soap.”

Hector groped the bottom of the tub and answered instead of Ash.

“Just leave it. I’ll go in and find it. Ash, go out now. You need to change quickly.”

Melanie said, staring at her chest area, where the wet fabric clung to her skin, revealing it explicitly.

“Yes…… Then I’ll be on my way. I’m sorry for causing concern.”

Ash fled out of the bathroom.

“If you’re thinking anything strange, it’s all a misunderstanding.”

Hector, who rubbed his face roughly with one hand, said to Melanie.

“Be nice to Ash.”

“Melanie, are you serious?”

“You’re not the king of barbarians anymore. Not even a pirate king. Even if you’re not a benevolent king, you shouldn’t be called a torture king. Right?”

“……What are you talking about? Torture king?”

“Earlier, what were you unhappy about that you put the child in the water? Just say it.”

“Surely…… you don’t think I deliberately dropped Ash in?”

“No, I’m sure of it.”

“!”

He was well aware that his wife was eccentric.

She was a bit out of the ordinary, but to take this situation in that way was beyond imagination.

“No matter how terrible my image was, I’ve never tortured a woman.”

Hector pleaded with a more aggrieved face than before.

Melanie sat on the edge of the tub, lifted his face with both hands, and kissed him gently.

“So, keep talking from now on.”

“Haa.”

Hector gave up trying to explain.

Perhaps such a misunderstanding was better.

“I’ll soap you up.”

Melanie picked up the brush Ash had dropped from the floor.

“But did you ask Ash to help you bathe?”

“No.”

“I didn’t ask either, but she offered to help me first? Does Ash like bathing people more than anything else?”

“I don’t know.”

Hector was indifferent. His only interest was Melanie, so he wrapped his arms around her waist and sat her in the tub.

Melanie was already changed into a gown and slip.

“Now I’ll do it for you. Should I massage your shoulders?”

He asked as he took off her gown.

“Yes. Please massage me first.”

“I don’t know, but I’m probably the best at scrubbing the Queen’s back. I even give massages like this.”

“That’s right. Does Ash know? That the person bathing me is her Great King.”

“She probably doesn’t even know that I pour more passion into bathing our Queen than I do into state affairs.”

Hector, who was massaging Melanie’s shoulders with care, suddenly remembered his sick daughter.

“How’s Mao?”

“Her cough seems to have gotten worse. Theo is thankfully okay.”

“But why did you come up here? I thought you were going to sleep with the kids tonight.”

“Mao kicked me out. She’s used to sleeping alone, so she seems bothered by someone being next to her.”

Melanie suddenly started coughing.

“Did you catch it from Mao already?”

Even so, Hector tried to kiss her, but Melanie gently pushed him away.

“Don’t. I might have a cold.”

“I’ll just catch it too. What’s the problem if we both get it?”

Hector plunged between her lips without hesitation.

***

That afternoon, Zelda sent a letter to Melanie via Moiyah and Moni before boarding the ship to the Aclato Kingdom.

She had already informed her of her visit by letter a month ago and ten days ago, but she contacted her again before leaving, remembering Melanie’s words that her memory had deteriorated a lot since giving birth to the twins.

The purpose of this visit to the Aclato Kingdom was because the harvesting season for the ‘Kelbarn’ herb, a cure for burn scars, was approaching.

Since the Incarnation Sword was engraved on her heart, the burn scars that appeared periodically had not been revealed.

Of course, she had been steadily taking magic potions, but before that, the scars would appear briefly when the date for taking the potion approached. However, after the Incarnation Sword and the engraving were made, even that phenomenon disappeared.

However, the problem was that when she felt a fever in her body, the right burn scar area still had a severe, sizzling pain.

Each time, Linelle stayed by Zelda’s side and lowered her fever.

According to Bellos, if she took the cure, the pain caused by the fever would disappear as before.

However, he added that because Zelda possessed both the Incarnation and the Incarnation Sword, her body temperature would still be higher than normal, and for that reason, there would be no problem in raising Linelle’s low body temperature.

Zelda was more delighted by that statement than by the fact that the time to harvest the cure had come.

After boarding the ship, after finishing a late dinner and as night fell, the Emperor and Empress called Bellos to their cabin and shared a glass of wine together.

“Moiya and Moni wouldn’t have strayed somewhere else, would they?”

“Even if they stray somewhere else, they’ll deliver the letter to Melanie. Don’t worry.”

Zelda took a sip of wine and replied to Linelle.

“After harvesting the Kelbarn herb, do we go to the Magic Tower to manufacture it?”

Linelle chuckled and asked Bellos this time.

“Yes, Your Majesty. The Empress can’t eat the herb roots raw on the spot. I’ve already contacted Logan in advance. So, if we can safely harvest the herb, manufacturing it for easy consumption can proceed smoothly.”

“I see. Actually, the reason I called you at this time is because I have another matter to ask you about.”

“Do you have any special instructions for me?”

Bellos asked, examining the expressions of the two.

“I called you about Selani.”

Selani is a young lady who Melanie’s younger sister, whom Linelle met at a group blind date a while ago.

Among the many young ladies, Bellos liked Selani the most, whom he met on the first blind date.

Unlike Melanie, who is emotional and temperamental, Selani is a very realistic and systematic woman.

Perhaps because he cannot live a realistic life, Bellos highly valued that aspect.

Ten days before leaving for the Aclato Kingdom, Zelda called Selani and suggested that she accompany her.

Selani was happy to meet her sister Melanie, so she readily agreed.

Moreover, it was an opportunity to learn more about Bellos, with whom she had an ambiguous relationship as a lover or friend these days.

Selani wanted to surprise her sister and asked Zelda, who was writing a letter to Melanie, not to mention her.

So, Selani was a surprise gift for Melanie.

In this way, Selani also joined this visit to Aclato.

Bellos’s expression changed noticeably when he heard Selani’s name just now.

Linelle continued, with an expectant look.

“How are things going with Selani? Is there any progress?”

“I had tea with her at the deck table after dinner earlier.”

“Just tea? Is that all?”

Linelle asked, pressing him.

“……That’s it for now.”

“It seems like you’ve known each other for quite some time, but you only clinked teacups when you met? At least your lips should be clinking……”

“Your Majesty, maintain your dignity.”

Zelda interrupted, gently nudging Linelle’s side with her elbow.

However, Bellos guessed that she might have stopped the Emperor’s mouth because she wanted to tease him, and that guess was accurate.

“Maybe Bellos couldn’t even clink the teacups properly and just barely lifted them.”

“……I’m sorry, but I’ll take care of my own love life.”

So please, you two, mind your own business.

Bellos said, putting strength into his voice.

“What are you going to do on your own? Even if we set the stage like this, it’s still like this. Look at you now. Wasting time here with us.”

Linelle scolded Bellos in a pathetic tone.

After a moment of silence, Zelda quietly whispered next to him, ‘We called you now,’ and only then did Linelle calm down.

“Anyway, don’t miss this opportunity.”

“That’s right. It seems like it’s ruined on the ship anyway, so try to approach her more actively when you arrive in the kingdom.”

Bellos reflected inwardly on the sincere advice of the Emperor and Empress and renewed his determination.

“By the way, Magic Tower Master. There’s something I’ve been curious about for a long time.”

“Please speak.”

“Do you really not age? Is there no way to age normally at all?”

“There is… one way.”

Bellos answered with a lonely smile.

“Oh, what is it!”

“What is it?”

Linelle and Zelda leaned their upper bodies towards Bellos at the same time and asked with curious faces.

“It’s a story you can’t hear without tears.”

For a moment, loneliness flashed across Bellos’s face, and the curiosity of the two people swelled even more.

“Really? Empress, poke my eyes.”

Linelle said, tapping the back of her hand sitting next to her, and Zelda quickly raised two fingers.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will follow your command.”

She thought she would only pretend to poke,

“Ack!”

Zelda really poked Linelle’s eyes, and Linelle really shed tears.

“Y-Your Majesty! Are you okay?!”

Bellos, surprised, lifted his butt from the chair and reached out to him.

“Now that there are tears, is it a story you can hear?”

Zelda asked Bellos, pointing to the tears welling up in Linelle’s eyes.

“Okay, tell me now.”

Linelle also urged with a painful expression.

Bellos, who witnessed the Emperor’s sacrifice before his eyes, had no choice but to reveal his hidden secret.