The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 35

35. Are We Going to Tumble Too?

I forgot. I was only focused on Rinell’s top. Ah, so that’s why he said Raphael would be surprised a moment ago. Rinell was confident and composed, in contrast to Raphael, who seemed quite shocked. I’m even starting to blush for no reason. Rinell’s playful expression only made me more embarrassed. It seemed that to become the emperor of a country, one had to possess that level of boldness and, dare I say, shamelessness. Raphael, still reeling from the surprise, began to protest vehemently to Rinell.

“Your Majesty, I know you’re trying to intimidate me, but this is too much.”

Ah, Raphael seemed to have witnessed Rinell behaving like this before.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why, do you have something to confess when you see me?”

Rinell, now fully dressed, shrugged as he approached his complaining secretary.

“Your Majesty, please restrain yourself.”

“I’ll try.”

“Don’t you think about my eyes?”

“Do I have to restrain myself while considering your eyes?”

“That’s… not true.”

Raphael immediately backed down. I pretended not to hear their conversation and looked away. Rinell put his hands on his hips and said,

“Report.”

“I already saw it.”

“…No, report on what happened to Melanie.”

“Ah, yes!”

Raphael scratched his head and laughed, then quickly composed himself, his expression turning serious as he began to speak.

“Melanie was waiting for Your Majesty to arrive…”

“Wait, I never told her I was going to Melanie’s residence, so why is she waiting for me?”

“Well, who knows? But she’s free to wait, isn’t she?”

“That’s true. Continue.”

“Yes, Melanie was waiting in her bedroom and, growing tired, decided to venture outside the palace to meet you. As she was descending the stairs, oh my, oh my…!”

“Oh my what?”

Rinell asked nonchalantly. Despite Raphael’s efforts to report with vivid detail, Rinell’s reaction was very indifferent. I don’t think he’d be this apathetic even if he heard that a distant cousin’s concubine had fallen down the stairs. Raphael, who had been vividly describing the situation, seemed deflated and adopted the same nonchalant tone as Rinell in the most dramatic part of his report.

“She tumbled.”

“How many times?”

“Who knows? Would anyone have counted?”

“Is her condition serious?”

“Melanie’s maid said she’s hovering between life and death.”

“If she’s hovering between life and death, she must have tumbled really badly!”

I couldn’t help but raise my voice as I listened to the story.

“Yes, Your Majesty. A maid from Melanie’s palace reported that Her Highness’s condition is quite serious.”

“Your Majesty, you must go quickly.”

“Right now?”

I wanted to add, ‘It’ll be too late if you go after Melanie dies!’ but I maintained my composure because his secretary was there.

“I have no choice. Raphael, prepare to go to Melanie’s residence now.”

“What is there for me to prepare? Your Majesty only needs to move immediately.”

“Yes, first I need to go and check her condition. See how she’s hovering between life and death.”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’ll be waiting outside.”

Raphael left the bedroom first.

“I have to go.”

“Yes, it seems a bit windy, so it would be good to wear a thicker robe.”

I bowed to Rinell, who was about to leave the bedroom.

“Okay. Raphael will have it ready.”

“Have a good trip, I’ll go back to my palace.”

“We should go together. What are you talking about?”

I tilted my head at his words and blinked.

“Why would I go to Consort Melanie’s residence…?”

“How can a queen be so heartless?”

“Pardon?”

“A person fell, fell down the stairs, shouldn’t you go and comfort her together?”

“Do I really need to…?”

If I appear with Rinell, Melanie will probably hover between life and death even more! I was worried about whether she was really badly hurt, but I would bet my sword that Melanie would want Rinell to come alone.

“If Melanie knows that the queen was with me but didn’t come to see her, how disappointed would she be?”

Rinell said, grabbing my hand. *Your Majesty!* Melanie would think the opposite, wouldn’t she? I was confused whether he knew this or not.

“Melanie would be more disappointed if I visited her bedroom with Your Majesty, wouldn’t she?”

I said as I was dragged away by him. He didn’t respond to my words, as if he couldn’t hear anything.

“Wait, before we go out.”

Rinell turned me around in front of the bedroom door.

“Let’s hug once.”

He opened his arms.

“Later, we don’t have time for this now.”

“Why don’t we have time to hug for a moment?”

“Still, right now…”

“Haa, should I tell Melanie that I fell down the stairs too, and we’ll just tumble to the bed like this? What do you think, Queen?”

“Aren’t you worried?”

“I’m worried. I’m going crazy with worry. I’m worried she might be lying. I think I’d be really angry if it was a lie.”

“Rinell… calm down.”

“So just hug me.”

At Rinell’s affectionate expression, I finally went into his arms. He hugged me tightly once, then tilted his head and reached for my lips. At that moment—thud! I moved my head back without realizing it and hit the back of my head on the bedroom door. There were many flat surfaces, but why did I have to be standing in a place with a protruding angel statue?

“Ugh.”

“Zelda, are you okay?”

“It hurts, but I can’t curse because I hit the angel statue.”

I was really in pain, but Rinell burst out laughing.

“Hahaha, should I break those angel wings off?”

He moved his hand as if he was about to tear off the angel statue right away. I quickly grabbed his hand.

“You’re cruel.”

“I hear that often.”

“No, you’ll go to hell.”

“What if your pain is more hellish to me?”

His low voice, flowing at the end of his laughter, made my heart pound even more.

“Haven’t you heard the word ‘sexy’ more often than ‘cruel’?”

As soon as I said it, I realized I had made a mistake. But my words, already spoken, were having a big impact on his expression.

“Would there have been a woman who could say such a thing to the emperor so openly?”

“But you must have felt it enough from the gazes of women, right?”

He scoffed.

“One such gaze is enough.”

His lips, without wings, flew accurately and landed on my lips.

My eyes closed at the soft, squishy sensation. But now was not the time for this, and when I gently pushed his chest with both hands, he grabbed both of my wrists.

“It’s an imperial order, don’t touch my body. And don’t move either.”

It meant not to stop him. I kept my hands still as he ordered. Then Rinell, who kissed me again, chuckled and stepped away from me. He lowered my lower lip slightly with his index finger and said in a sulky tone.

“I only said don’t move your hands, when did I say don’t move your lips?”

I hugged his waist tightly with both arms. And I whispered in his ear.

“Just now, I disobeyed the imperial order not to touch Your Majesty’s body… what should I do now?”

“Of course, you have to pay the price.”

“?”

“I won’t let you off. Don’t worry, I’ll let you go for now.”

Knock knock! At Raphael’s second knock, we finally opened the bedroom door.

***

It was when we reached the stairs of the main palace. Rinell suddenly blocked my way with his arm and said.

“Queen, be careful. It’s the stairs.”

“Pardon?”

“I’m telling you to be careful because you can’t fall down the stairs like Consort Melanie.”

“Pfft.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at Rinell’s expression as he guarded the stairs extremely.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty! If Your Majesty falls down the stairs, I will sacrifice myself and throw myself to the end of the stairs to stop you safely!”

Raphael, who was following us, suddenly interjected.

“Who are you?”

Rinell turned to Raphael and asked bluntly.

“…A loyal subject?”

Raphael smiled and replied to him.

“Ha, you talk a lot. Queen, don’t worry, I’ll save you before Raphael does.”

But the thing that happened was that I had to save him first.

“Oh, be careful, Your Majesty!”

Rinell was looking only at my face and missed his step slightly while going down the stairs. Even if I had left him alone, he wouldn’t have fallen, but as an automatic reflex, my hand grabbed his wrist.

“Thank you. But the strength in the Queen’s hand…”

Rinell trailed off as he stared at my hand holding his wrist. I slowly released my strength from Rinell’s wrist and let go. My handprint on his wrist turned red and then disappeared.

“The momentary strength from that small hand is extraordinary?”

He turned his wrist and glanced at the hand I was hiding behind my back, then said in a surprised voice.

“I guess I had a surge of strength because I thought Your Majesty was in danger…”

I lightly shook my hand and laughed it off. Does my expression look awkward now? Rinell also shook the hand that I had grabbed and laughed along. But his eyes seemed to contain doubt.

***

The residences given to the four concubines were arranged side by side in close proximity to each other. The concubines’ palaces were about half the size of the Queen’s Palace, but the building where the first concubine resided was comparable in size to the Queen’s Palace. After passing the palace of the first concubine, Catherine, which was the closest to the main palace in terms of distance, we soon arrived at the palace of the second concubine, Melanie. Rinell and I walked up the stairs where Melanie had fallen side by side. Without realizing it, I looked for traces of blood that she might have shed on the stairs. Fortunately, there were no such terrible traces anywhere on the carpeted stairs.

“The carpet has good cushioning.”

Rinell muttered, tapping the carpet on the stairs a few times with his shoe. Melanie’s maids were out, so I gave him a look that meant not to do that. He nodded, signaling that he understood. Thinking about it, it was strange that I gave the emperor a look, but it was even stranger that he took my cue.

“Tell me.”

Raphael, who had arrived at Melanie’s bedroom one step ahead of us, said to her maid.

“Yes, she, she is waiting.”

Melanie’s maid, who saw me appearing with the emperor, opened the bedroom door with a trembling voice. I was conscious of the sick Melanie and tried to let go of Rinell’s hand, which I had been holding all along. But he gave more strength to the clasped hands and strode into the bedroom. As soon as I entered the bedroom, the expensive perfume smell floating in the air stung my nose.

“Ugh, huuueung.”

Melanie’s nasal voice, which I didn’t know whether it was a groan of pain or a groan of pleasure, was getting louder and louder. Even though she knew that the emperor had entered her bedroom, Melanie didn’t even try to get up, as if she had used all her energy to groan. Or maybe she was really so badly hurt that she couldn’t get up.

“Your Highness…? The Majesty you have been longing for and waiting for has come! It may be difficult, but please come to your senses.”

Melanie’s maid, who was guarding the front of the bed, whispered to her as if she were dealing with a seriously ill patient. When Melanie continued to groan and did not get up immediately, Rinell turned around as he was.

“That’s enough. She seems to be asleep, so we shouldn’t disturb her.”

As soon as he said that,

“Your Majesty has come… oh?”

Only then did Melanie sit up like a person who had died and been resurrected. Her instantaneous elasticity was so good that I thought she had a spring on her back.

“Your Majesty… Ah?! Oh my, what is this?”

Melanie dropped the high tone that had been rising endlessly when she made eye contact with me standing next to Rinell. I suddenly became ‘this’.