The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 7

7. You’ll Know After the First Night

“I don’t understand why everyone says His Majesty is cold? On the contrary, His Majesty is… Ah!”

I took one step away from the bed, then clutched my lower abdomen with both hands, staggering before collapsing back onto the edge of the bed.

“Your Majesty!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Are you alright?”

Everyone was startled and flinched, trying to approach me. I quickly raised a hand to stop them. At my command, they hesitated, unable to come closer.

“Are you… feeling unwell?”

Only Melanie Young Lady disobeyed my order and stepped forward, asking the question.

“Haa, my body… it seems last night, His Majesty’s passion… was too much for me to handle. I’m fine now, so don’t worry.”

“…Yes? Is, is that really true?”

Melanie Young Lady raised her voice, her eyes conveying disbelief. The other young ladies were equally astonished.

“Ah, how should I put it? I’m frustrated that I can’t explain this feeling.”

The young ladies’ eyes widened as they scanned me up and down.

“Everyone will understand my condition once they experience their first night.”

I adjusted the slip strap that had fallen off my shoulder, flashing an excessively shy smile.

“Could you all leave now? I want to prepare this morning with my own maids.”

“But we are now Your Majesty’s exclusive maids…”

“That’s an issue I haven’t approved yet. It seems I need to discuss it with His Majesty.”

Whether or not I will accept you as my maids.

“So, from the bedroom…”

I trailed off, gesturing elegantly towards the bedroom door. *Get out, all of you!* I swallowed the words I really wanted to say and softened my tone.

“Please leave now.”

Melanie Young Lady remained rooted to the spot despite my words. The other young ladies glanced back and forth between me and Melanie Young Lady, looking anxious. They seemed unsure of whose orders to follow. I slightly furrowed my brow and gestured again towards the bedroom door. Only then did the young ladies simultaneously lift the hems of their dresses, curtsy, and retreat. Melanie Young Lady followed them out with a disgruntled expression. As soon as the young ladies left, their murmuring voices could be heard from outside the bedroom. They must have thought that I, a queen from a vassal state, would be intimidated and shrink in their presence.

“Why would I?”

I had avoided turning my head towards people because I didn’t want to show the burn scar on my face, but I had never bowed my head to anyone without reason. The bewildered expressions of the young ladies, who had completely misjudged me, lingered in my mind. I put on a gown and threw open the terrace door. The beautifully landscaped garden of the Empress Palace was visible at a glance. *Knock, knock-.* A maid entered with a knock. It was one of the maids who had helped with the wedding preparations yesterday.

“Greetings. My name is Sharon, and I will be serving Her Majesty from now on.”

Sharon bowed politely and explained why she had come into the bedroom.

“I apologize, but I saw the young ladies leaving while I was waiting outside.”

“I told them all to leave.”

“Your Majesty, may I ask why?”

“Because I don’t need them.”

“Yes? Ah, yes…”

“Are the young ladies returning to their respective residences now?”

“Ah, no. It is customary for all maids to stay in the Empress Palace for one day on their first day serving Her Majesty.”

“I see… By the way, I was very nervous and unfamiliar with the wedding preparations yesterday, but you were a great help.”

“You honor me, Your Majesty! I was simply doing what was expected of me.”

Sharon’s face lit up with a bright smile as I expressed my gratitude and spoke kindly.

“Sharon, I have a question.”

“Please, ask away.”

“Do you know who selected the maids?”

“I don’t know the exact procedure, but I believe a list of young ladies recommended by the ministers was submitted to His Majesty.”

“So, the maids were chosen by imperial decree?”

“That’s my understanding.”

In the Kingdom of Shateunil, selecting maids to assist the queen is entirely at the queen’s discretion, unless there is a special recommendation. Is the Rafion Imperial Family different? In any case, it meant that I needed His Majesty’s permission to select new maids.

“Um… Your Majesty, His Majesty asked me to tell you something when you woke up.”

I turned my head at Sharon’s words, having been admiring the Empress Palace garden again.

“What is it?”

“He asked me to convey whether you would like to have luncheon together at the main palace today.”

Sharon conveyed the message with a bright smile. Suddenly, Emperor Linell’s gaze as he looked down at me last night and his rough breathing flashed through my mind, and I took a deep breath.

“Then, since there’s time before luncheon, I think it would be good to look around the Empress Palace. I want to take a bath first.”

“Yes, I will tell them to prepare immediately. What about the dress and accessories you will wear today?”

She was asking because I had sent all the young ladies away, so there was no one to choose a dress for me.

“Can you pick something that you think would suit me, Sharon?”

I said with a smile. Sharon, greatly flustered, moved her lips.

“Why? Is there something you want to say?”

“It is customary for noble young ladies who are maids to choose the dress, but I am not sure if I am allowed to choose Her Majesty’s dress…”

At Sharon’s words, I scanned her neat attire up and down.

“I trust your taste, Sharon. Please.”

Sometimes, a superior’s simple, warm words can ignite loyalty in the hearts of servants, right? And if sincerity is felt, the effect is doubled.

“R-really, Your Majesty?”

Sharon’s voice rang out cheerfully.

“Yes, I have a feeling you know what kind of dress would suit me well.”

Sharon nodded her head vigorously at my trusting gaze.

“I will do my best to choose the most beautiful dress!”

“No. Not the most beautiful dress, but the dress that suits me best. That’s all I need.”

I calmly told the somewhat excited Sharon with a smile.

“And tell the bath attendants that there’s no need to heat the water.”

“Yes? But, even though it’s summer, you’ll catch a cold if you soak in cold water!”

Sharon said in surprise.

“It’s okay. I’ve had the habit of bathing in cold water since I was young, so it doesn’t matter. Rather, I don’t feel refreshed if I wash with warm water.”

At my kind but firm tone, Sharon did not remove her worried expression but could not argue any further. When I soak in cold water, the water temperature slowly rises. And it stays warm until I finish bathing. On the contrary, if I use warm water from the beginning, the water gradually becomes hotter, and later my skin turns red. Sometimes, the water temperature slowly rises until steam rises like hot spring water. This phenomenon has occurred since I was burned on the right side of my face. I was curious as to why this happened, but I kept it a secret because I thought I shouldn’t tell anyone. It was a fact that not only my family, who had no interest in me, but also Bonnie, my only friend and fellow bath maid during my palace life, did not know. I don’t even know why such a reaction occurs when I touch water, even though I don’t know when someone touches my skin when I feel hot.

“Ah, and I don’t need bath attendants either. Tell them to wait outside and I’ll call them when I’m done bathing.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

After Sharon left, I headed straight to the bathroom attached to the bedroom. ***

The water temperature in the Rafion Empire was much colder than the water in my home country, the Kingdom of Shateunil. I felt refreshed as I soaked in the bathtub filled with cold water by the servants. As expected, the water gradually warmed up over time. As I stroked my whole body with both hands, the memories of last night rose like steam. The first night I spent with Emperor Linell. The moment that unfamiliar feeling spread through me, the expression I faced on his face. The low voice he whispered between his slightly trembling lips. The feeling of his firm muscles touching me. Those eyes that looked down at me with an unknown meaning. A shiver ran down my spine as I recalled his rough breaths that he struggled to exhale. My heart was pounding. After a while, bubbles began to rise from the bathtub. I felt like all my skin would be cooked if I sat there any longer, so I quickly got up from the bathtub. I stood in front of the full-length mirror in my naked state to cool off for a while.

“Can I face him and have a meal?”

The thought of facing Emperor Linell already made me uncomfortable. I wiped the steamy mirror with my palm and looked at my reddened face. I touched the spot where the right burn scar, which had disappeared after drinking the magic potion, had been. I still couldn’t believe that the burn scar had disappeared. The first time I felt the pain, as if the hot summer sun was falling on my right face, was in the summer when I was seven years old. That day, I did not tell anyone what had happened. It was because of Prince Tesler’s earnest request. The incident became a secret known only to me, Prince Tesler, Princess Resilia, and Logan, the royal wizard.

‘Zelda, listen carefully. You have to endure that burning pain. If you don’t overcome it, you will die. But if you overcome it, you may be able to have this entire continent in the future! You must never tell anyone this. Do you understand?’

The wizard Logan secretly entered my room through the window on the night I was burned and told me several times. At that time, I was suffering from a high fever, but I clearly remember Logan’s words. Logan left me with incomprehensible words and disappeared the next day. He even abandoned Bonnie, his only daughter whom he cherished so much. Anyway, I overcame that burning pain. And eventually, I survived. In addition, the burn scar, which had no special features at first, began to appear in the shape of some kind of mark over time. People looked at the shape of my burn scar and whispered that I was cursed.

“It’s not a curse.”

I muttered every time I looked in the mirror. But it wasn’t me speaking. It was another being inside me, the Incarnation, whispering. From the day I recognized that being, whose origin I didn’t know, my life was a series of unexpected events. In the year I turned 17, I was able to stay in the royal palace and work as a bath maid thanks to Prince Tesler’s recommendation. Leaving the Trova family, who had been mistreated, brought mental stability and peace. It was thanks to Prince Tesler. Perhaps it was because of what his younger sister, Princess Resilia, had done that day that he showed me kindness. But. Seeing that he sent me as the proxy empress of the Rafion Empire, it seems that Prince Tesler needed my sacrifice once again.

“I’ll endure it. I won’t get caught. So, I’m going to get a cure to completely remove the burn scar.”

I looked in the mirror and made up my mind once again. *** After finishing my bath and leaving the bathroom, the servants were waiting to help me get ready. First, I changed into the dress that Sharon had chosen. Surprisingly, Sharon’s taste was much better than I had expected. After completing all the preparations and leaving the bedroom, the guards who were guarding the front of the residence greeted me with respect. As I was walking about halfway down the long corridor, a servant came running towards me from the opposite corridor.

“Greetings to Her Majesty the Empress! An hour ago, there was a visitor who requested to meet Her Majesty the Empress. He is currently waiting in the audience chamber.”

“Who is it?”

I said that, but in fact, I thought I knew who the person who had requested the audience was. There was only one person who would come to meet me in the unfamiliar Rafion Imperial Family.

“What’s his name?”

I asked the servant again, pretending not to know anything.

“He is Grand Duke Martins Rohain of the Kingdom of Shateunil, Her Majesty’s home country.”

“Then, I should meet him.”

Grand Duke Martins was a figure Prince Tesler had assigned to me when I left for the Rafion Empire. Prince Tesler said that Grand Duke Martins would stay with me in the Rafion Imperial Family as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and act as my protector, but I didn’t believe it. *Protection my ass.* It was obvious that Grand Duke Martins was a spy who followed me to report my every move to Prince Tesler, whether I was doing my job as a proxy empress well or if I was doing anything else foolish. The Grand Duke and I were in a position where we had to faithfully fulfill each other’s roles and be mindful of each other. I wouldn’t necessarily call him an enemy, but he was an ambiguous relationship with holes in my trust to call him my ally. *** With Sharon’s guidance, I entered the audience chamber located one floor below the bedroom floor. Grand Duke Martins was standing with his hands behind his back by the arched window, and he turned to look at me as I entered. I consciously straightened my back and approached the Grand Duke. He knelt on one knee and kissed the back of my hand.

“I greet Her Majesty the Empress of the Rafion Empire.”

“Today is the day when the fate of the Kingdom of Shateunil and mine begins anew.”

I said calmly, looking down at Grand Duke Martins. At my words, the Grand Duke smiled slightly and then raised his body again to look at my face. I felt like his sharp features were piercing through me.

“Please include my fate of serving Her Majesty the Empress as well.”

*You’re being funny.*

“I have too many fates to take responsibility for. I believe that Your Excellency will be able to manage on your own.”

“…Yes.”

“Please, sit down.”

I pretended not to notice the flustered Grand Duke Martins. I sat on the upper seat of the sofa where only the empress could sit and offered the Grand Duke the seat across from me. I was a little surprised at myself for acting so naturally, as if I had been the owner of this empress palace for a long time.

“Your Majesty, would you like me to serve you some milk tea before the meal?”

At Sharon’s suggestion, I nodded my head.

“Yes. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“I will tell them to prepare it immediately.”

Sharon tactfully left the room, giving way. I immediately asked Grand Duke Martins.

“Do you have anything urgent to tell me?”

There must be a reason why he came to see me. For example, about the whereabouts of Princess Resilia….