The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 60

60. Sorry I Couldn’t Wait

That one big thing I can give him… Aha. I realized it looking at his desire-filled eyes. But I pretended not to know and drew out my words.

“I don’t think there is one?”

“Huh? Are you really clueless, or are you just pretending?”

“I’m pretending, of course…”

I smiled softly, ran to him, and wrapped my arms around him.

“Even if I can’t hit the arrow properly, I’m good at hitting other marks.”

“So, what’s the answer? Tell me. The one thing you can give me.”

His cheek twitched slightly.

“Aegyo [acting cute]?”

“Are you crazy? Not aegyo!”

His disappointed expression was so funny that I didn’t want to give him the answer right away.

“Then, humor?”

“Haha, I’m not laughing right now, am I? I’m laughing because I’m dumbfounded. Not humor!”

He lightly bumped his forehead against mine, expressing his dissatisfaction.

“Hmm, then… what is there?”

I rolled my eyes towards the ceiling of the training ground, trailing off.

“I’m going crazy.”

He grabbed my face with both hands and started nagging relentlessly.

“You don’t have many talents, how can you not find even one? Do you even know how many times those big eyes of yours are rolling right now…”

“Love!”

I couldn’t help but shout out the answer as his low, dissatisfied voice poured out like a string of candy.

“Hoo, that’s hard to hear. Like our Empress’s archery skills.”

Linelle hugged me and swayed from side to side. The moment he mentioned my archery skills, his serious and gloomy expression made me burst into laughter. He laughed along with me without even knowing why I was laughing. And I became happy again at that sight….

“Love me.”

Linelle suddenly turned serious and whispered. My resolve was already crumbling at his earnest voice. It was like a cute puppy lying on its back, looking up at its owner, asking to be loved. He wasn’t physically on the floor, but his expression already seemed to be prostrate.

“Linelle…”

“It’s true that you don’t have many things you can give me.”

“That’s right. It’s an unfair relationship.”

“That’s right. I have no doubt.”

“……”

His head reacted very strongly to my jokingly thrown words. Well, the truth is the truth. I was about to feel sorry, but

“Just give me love. It’s unfair, but it seems like it will be a great comfort.”

He added. It sounded like an order at first glance, but his eyes were a confession in themselves. No, should I say it was a plea? I couldn’t hide my moved expression.

“Aren’t you losing too much?”

But I joked back because I felt like I would cry if I said thank you right then.

“I guess so… tsk, I’ll let it slide.”

“?”

“Yeah, I’ll just close my eyes and only take that one thing.”

“……You’re really a wise ruler.”

“So, please take care of me, Zelda.”

My heart fluttered wildly, beyond the overwhelming emotions, at his unwavering eyes and heavy, low voice.

“Let’s go, quickly.”

“Where to?”

“To the Empress’s Palace.”

I grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the entrance of the training ground.

“I want to receive it now.”

“Receive what?”

“That thing.”

“……Yes?”

“Love.”

“H-Here?”

Although the servants were waiting outside, it was a place where the sound of swords clashing echoed loudly. But here, what?

“No, we can’t do that.”

I looked around the training ground and said firmly.

“We can.”

“?”

It was clear that Linelle had lost his mind. He grabbed my hand and headed towards a secluded corner of the training ground. I had to almost run to keep up with Linelle’s pace because he was walking too fast.

“No matter how secluded it is, it’s not okay, what’s not okay is not okay!”

I strongly protested.

“Not the corner, is this inside okay?”

When we reached the corner of the training ground, he took me into a narrow passage and reached out somewhere. I was only looking at his face, and I was startled by the sound of a door opening in the darkness.

“Where is this?”

“Weapon warehouse.”

Click, the door closed again. The light of the full moon filled the warehouse. Thanks to that, I began to see the state of the warehouse little by little. I could see various weapons piled up on the floor and walls.

“……It’s a dangerous place.”

“Shall we share a dangerous love to match the place? How about it, isn’t it romantic?”

“Isn’t it a disaster?”

“It’s romantic, why a disaster?”

“What if someone comes in?”

That was the disaster I was worried about.

“Dare they? I told Stian not to come into the training ground, who would come here.”

Linelle took off his uniform jacket and spread it out on the straw pile.

“What… are you doing?”

“It’s just a straw pile, but you might get hurt.”

“Ah.”

I surrendered completely. I felt like I would regret it forever if I refused his love here.

“I don’t think I’ll look pretty at all here…”

As I hesitated, I said,

“That’s my judgment.”

Linelle picked me up and sat me on the uniform he had spread out on the straw pile. It felt like his warmth was still on the uniform.

“Then, how do I look now?”

“My judgment is like this…”

He took my hand and placed it on his heart. Thump, thump, thump, his rapidly beating heart permeated my palm and spread throughout my body through my blood vessels. I gave up on my hairstyle and fell back with him behind the straw pile. I repeatedly opened and closed my eyes, gazing at his face lit by the moonlight as if possessed. I shared the emotions that I couldn’t fully convey in words with each other’s eyes and gestures.

Linelle’s blue eyes scanned my reaction. I enjoyed all of his gazes that seemed to covet me. When I gave him a slight smile, he smiled along with me. Light shone from his shy face. The shabby warehouse felt fancy because of that light that didn’t disappear.

“Sorry I couldn’t wait until the Empress’s Palace.”

His expression as he apologized to me was unbelievably lovely.

“It’s okay.”

“But I don’t think I’ll be able to wait again even if we go to the Empress’s Palace.”

“Yes?”

“So, I should apologize in advance for that too. Sorry.”

“……”

“I guess that’s not okay?”

He asked, pressing my right cheek with his finger when I was silent. I burst into a stifled laugh. He threatened, ‘Don’t laugh, it’s an order,’ and swallowed my laughter with his lips. It was as if my laughter that I couldn’t stop was being absorbed into his body. At the moment when everything was deepening like that, “Over the bodies of wyverns, forward, forward…!” A song hummed from outside the door, and the warehouse door burst open. Linelle and I didn’t even have time to get up and only raised our heads while lying on the straw pile to look at the warehouse door.

“Farewell, Canyon of Death! We advance… Ack! Surprise!”

The man who stepped into the warehouse while singing discovered us in the darkness and stepped back.

“Wh-Who is it!”

“Who is it!”

Linelle and the man shouted at the same time.

“Y-Your Majesty?”

“M-Macrom?”

This time, the two voices overlapped at the same time. Oh, my god. The person who came into the warehouse was Commander Macrom. I closed my eyes tightly with a resigned heart. If I look closely, there might be a mouse hole somewhere around here… Am I going to have my identity revealed to Commander Macrom like this? The situation and place are just awful!

“Why did you come in here?”

Linelle asked him in an annoyed tone.

“What brings Your Majesty here?”

“I came to touch the bow for a while. Didn’t you see the servants at the entrance?”

“I came in through the back door.”

Commander Macrom replied sullenly.

“And, of course, I can’t see anything. I was cursed to lose my eyesight while trying to save someone in the Canyon of Death.”

“Why are you suddenly talking about that? And, let’s get the facts straight. If it wasn’t for me, you would have had one arm blown off like that wizard.”

“I might have preferred that. But Your Majesty, you’re not alone?”

Commander Macrom looked at me and narrowed his eyes. The commander will notice my energy… I wanted to get out of this space first. I gave Linelle a look of embarrassment and pointed to the outside of the warehouse with my finger, with eyes that said I would wait outside. Fortunately, Linelle just nodded without saying anything. I quickly got up from the straw pile. Commander Macrom frowned deeply and moved his head, following my movements as I walked past him sideways like a crab. I left the warehouse without closing the door on purpose and stood in front of the wall in front of it, eavesdropping on the conversation between the two.

“Your Majesty, I’m disappointed.”

Commander Macrom opened his mouth first.

“Who is disappointed because of you right now, what are you talking about?”

“Even if you are Your Majesty, this is not right.”

“What’s not right.”

“The Empress, I mean.”

I’ve been caught.

I bit my lower lip as Commander Macrom mentioned me. He’s going to tell Linelle everything now, right? What I’ve been doing secretly in the training ground all this time. Why did I get caught today of all days? Until a little while ago, I even complained to him that shooting arrows was too scary. I’ve become quite a sight.

“Why the Empress.”

“I’m ashamed to face the Empress.”

“So, the Empress just….”

“Even if you are Your Majesty!”

Commander Macrom interrupted Linelle and said as if protesting.

“How can you do this in a place like this with the Empress!”

Commander Macrom’s disappointed voice filled the warehouse. Huh, does he think Linelle is having an affair with the Empress’s guard? Commander Macrom still seemed to think of me as Bonnie, not the Empress. I suddenly became my husband’s affair partner. The situation flowed strangely.

“Macrom, what nonsense are you talking about?”

He continued with a dumbfounded expression.

“Then I wouldn’t do this with the Empress, would I do this here with a concubine?”

Linelle patted the straw pile where I had been lying with his palm and laughed.

“Oh my, what should I do!”

Commander Macrom lamented, hitting his side thigh repeatedly with one hand.

“Are you drunk?”

He looked at Commander Macrom with strange eyes.

“Did Your Majesty overdrink today? So, in a place like this… Haa, I feel sorry for the Empress!”

“Well, I also feel sorry for the Empress about that. But what can I do, I can’t help it.”

The two were having a conversation with different meanings, but ridiculously, the conversation that started with a misunderstanding flowed very naturally.

“Your Majesty! Were you this kind of person? You didn’t have the self-control to secretly, secretly push yourself in a place like this!”

“I didn’t know either, but after getting married, I definitely realized it. That I’m a complete madman.”

Linelle chuckled and replied.

“Haa, how surprised would the Empress be if she knew this fact?”

“I think the Empress already knows?”

Linelle waved his hand at me, who was directly visible outside the warehouse door, and said to the commander.

“Oh my god, I didn’t hear anything!”

Commander Macrom frantically tapped his ears with both hands and looked for God. The two people’s diverging conversation was funny, but the commander’s concern for me was quite touching. But he was, after all, Linelle’s loyal subject.

“Your Majesty, I didn’t see anything today.”

“You, did your eyesight really come back? I’ve been saying it’s strange since last time, but are you saying that because you’re starting to see something?”

“……Please return to the Empress now.”

Commander Macrom stepped aside as if he didn’t want to talk to him anymore.

“I was going to do that anyway.”

Linelle said, dusting off his uniform jacket that he had taken off on the straw pile.

“Huh? You were even taking off your top?!”

Commander Macrom flared up again at the sound of him dusting off his uniform.

“I’m a good man, after all. How could I just sit my woman on a straw pile.”

He fastened his uniform buttons and said proudly.

“Oh God, did you hear that! Please bless the Empress, and our Majesty….”

The commander, who was praying earnestly with both hands together, suddenly stopped talking.

“What about me? Why did you stop praying for me?”

Linelle tapped the commander’s shoulder and asked. Then Commander Macrom grabbed both hands again and shouted solemnly.

“Oh God, our Majesty…!”

I listened to Commander Macrom’s appealing prayer.