The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 81

81. It Must Be Love

October 13, 2021

“No fever? Is she drunk?” I wondered, pulling my hand from Rosie’s forehead.

“But, couldn’t you come up with a better excuse?”

It might sound a bit flimsy from Rinell’s perspective.

“If my lie about being sick gets exposed… blame it on the cat.”

“Ah, that white kitten I saw back then?”

“Yes. So, if my pretense is revealed, say I brought her because I wanted to show you the cat I was secretly raising. I’ll say I wanted to get permission from Her Majesty the Empress to raise a cat first.”

Judging by Rosie’s words, she hadn’t submitted the report about raising a cat to the administrator yet. Hmm, that excuse isn’t bad either.

“But, I’m worried my actions might negatively affect your image.”

After all, Rosie is also one of Rinell’s concubines. Rosie had always said she had no interest in His Majesty’s favor, but I still couldn’t help but worry about her image.

“Don’t worry! If I get caught, my image will be utterly ruined, but His Majesty will probably just think, ‘That orange-haired girl has always been a bit immature.’”

“…What did you say?”

Rosie cheerfully smiled, referring to herself as “orange-haired girl.”

“Ahaha, even if things go wrong, Rosie’s image will be fine.”

And she even refers to herself by her own name. Isn’t that something only Melanie does?

“Rosie… are you really not sick anywhere?”

“Not at all! Rosie is practically dead without her healthy body and book-reading eyes!”

She answered energetically, widening her eyes with her index finger and thumb.

“O-okay. Anyway, thanks for helping me. And as I said before, we’ll part ways in front of the temple building. Go straight back to your residence from there.”

“Your Majesty the Empress, I want to go with you too…”

“I told you before, that’s not possible. Please understand.”

“Yes… I understand.”

Rosie, who had been persistently asking to come along, suddenly changed her mind and nodded obediently. I was a little puzzled by her sudden change of attitude, but I brushed it off. After coordinating with Rosie, I went with her to Rinell to ask for permission.

“Does the Empress really need to visit Rosie’s residence at this hour? Is she very sick?”

Rinell glanced at Rosie standing behind me and asked. He still seemed reluctant. But he knew that I was the only one among the concubines who was close to Rosie, so he finally gave his permission. Before leaving the main palace, I had Sharon and Rosie’s other attendants take unnecessary luggage to the main palace’s bedding chamber and move it to her residence. When I ordered Commander Macrome, who was guarding me, to help the attendants, the commander readily headed to the West Palace with them first. After ditching Commander Macrome and the attendants, I quickly left the main palace alone with Rosie. It wouldn’t have been easy to get out without her. I parted ways with Rosie, whom I had to ditch last, in front of the garden path leading from the temple building to the West Palace. I waved to Rosie, who kept looking back, and only after watching her disappear into the distance did I turn the corner of the temple building.

***

“Not here yet?”

I looked around the temple’s rear garden, the agreed-upon meeting place, but Prince Tessler was nowhere to be seen. I paced anxiously near the temple’s back door, waiting for the prince. For now, all I need to do today is meet Prince Tessler and confirm Bonis’s safety. I wouldn’t regret shooting the pink diamond earrings that the prince prepared as a gift with a slingshot. If he’s done something else to Bonis, I might even kill Prince Tessler on the spot. Although the location is a bit unsettling… Originally, all killings within the temple are forbidden. But this is outside the temple, and it’s retribution in the rear garden, so maybe the gods will turn a blind eye?

“What… are you doing here?”

I was looking up at the temple building when I heard a familiar voice. I had sensed someone’s presence and was about to turn around. But it wasn’t Prince Tessler’s voice. Unexpectedly, the person who appeared at the meeting place was Prince Norton.

“What… are you doing here?”

The same words popped out of my mouth as soon as I recognized Prince Norton’s face. Was he just passing by? …Just as I was thinking that, two champagne glasses in Prince Norton’s hand caught my eye.

“Why are you here, Your Highness… Are you perhaps on your way back to the detached palace?”

This path, which starts from the rear garden of the Opera Palace, is also a shortcut to the detached palace. But the two champagne glasses the prince is holding kept bothering me.

“That’s also true, but I had some business to take care of in between.”

“In the temple’s rear garden?”

“Not here, but at the back gate of the Opera Palace… I’m coming from there.”

Prince Norton looked back at the path he had walked and pointed to the Opera Palace with his finger.

“You were supposed to… meet someone there?”

I gestured at the champagne glasses in Prince Norton’s hand and asked.

“I was just about to ask you the same question. What is Her Majesty the Empress doing in the temple’s rear garden without any attendants?”

“I was… praying.”

Hoping that Bonis is safe. I answered, clasping my hands together. Prince Norton stared at me with suspicious eyes.

“Is Her Majesty also waiting for someone?”

That means, he was too?

“Yes, that’s right.”

I released my clasped hands and nodded.

“I don’t think it’s His Majesty… May I ask who you are waiting for?”

I hesitated for a moment at that question. I couldn’t rashly say that I had come to meet Prince Tessler. Moreover, I had recently witnessed Prince Norton and Sir Ken, Prince Tessler’s bodyguard, murdering an attendant in the rear garden of the Empress’s Palace. If I said that I had come to meet Prince Tessler alone in such a secluded place, he would naturally think I was strange. I had to be careful because it could easily lead to misunderstandings.

“I’m not waiting for a god.”

I changed the subject, feigning ignorance.

“What about you, Your Highness? What were you doing at the Opera Palace at this hour? Even carrying champagne glasses.”

“I didn’t go to see a performance either.”

Prince Norton also seemed to be deliberately changing the subject.

“Would you like some?”

The prince held out one of the champagne glasses to me.

“Thank you. I was thirsty anyway.”

I was feeling parched from the tension, so I readily accepted the champagne glass that the prince offered.

“You’re welcome. But what did you tell His Majesty before coming out?”

“Ah, that’s…”

While I was hesitating, the prince lowered his voice and changed the question.

“No, more than that, did you perhaps come out to meet someone from the Shattonil Kingdom? Like Prince Tessler, for example.”

“Why… do you think so?”

At that moment, the atmosphere in the temple’s rear garden began to change subtly. A cold wind blew from the direction of the main palace. I instinctively felt that something was wrong. It’s a trap. It felt like the passing wind was whispering to me. A scene suddenly flashed through my mind. When I was talking to Empress Elan at the banquet, Princess Resilia approached Prince Tessler and said something serious in a whisper. Before answering Prince Norton, there was something I needed to confirm first.

“Your Highness, did you perhaps agree to meet Princess Resilia at the back gate of the Opera Palace?”

“Yes… that’s right.”

Prince Norton looked slightly surprised, then readily admitted it. Did he really fall for Princess Resilia? Were they even acquainted in the first place? Or did they become close to the princess at the banquet earlier? So, they agreed to meet at the rear of the Opera Palace building and return to the detached palace together? But judging by the fact that the champagne glasses aren’t empty, it seems like he didn’t meet Princess Resilia?

“Did Princess Resilia ask Prince Norton to meet her first?”

“She did.”

“What for?”

“That’s… it’s a long story. I haven’t heard Her Majesty the Empress’s answer yet? Is it true that you agreed to meet Prince Tessler?”

“Yes. Well, my story isn’t short either.”

“Hmm, did Prince Tessler ask Her Majesty to meet him first as well?”

“Yes.”

At the same time as I replied to Prince Norton, it clicked. And it seemed like Prince Norton was thinking the same thing as me.

“Something’s wrong. Your Majesty the Empress, I think we need to get out of here.”

“Your Highness, it might be a bit late to say this, but…”

I rolled my eyes in the direction Prince Norton had come from. The unhurried footsteps that had been approaching from that direction were gradually becoming more and more intermittent. It must be Rinell. Prince Tessler must be with him. I quickly whispered to Prince Norton.

“I think we’ve already fallen for it.”

“Huh? Fallen for what?”

“A trap.”

While Prince Norton was panicking, the rustling sound in the darkness was heard again, and then,

“Empress?”

Rinell’s voice pierced my ears like an ice arrow.

The rear garden of the temple building is a rather dark place. I looked at the champagne glass in my hand and then at Prince Norton in front of me. It was a situation and place that anyone could misunderstand. Moreover, I had made the excuse that Rosie was sick to Rinell and left the main palace without any attendants. A wife who should be in Rosie’s residence is standing in a dark place with a prince from another country, each holding a champagne glass. There’s no husband in the world who would be happy to see that and ask what she’s doing here. Besides, it would look suspicious even if it were in front of the brightly lit main gate of the temple building, let alone in the dark rear garden… From this point on, all my cognitive abilities began to shut down. Tessler, you vile bastard. To try to provoke Rinell with such a childish method. Is this the appetizer of the scandal that Prince Tessler is presenting before dragging me down from the Empress’s seat?

‘Doubt starts from something very small. From the moment doubt begins to arise from trivial words and small actions, trust leaks out like an hourglass, and love also slips through the cracks… eventually, your eyes turn elsewhere.’

Those were the words Prince Tessler had said to me at the banquet. I let out a silent laugh. Now I had to turn around and face Rinell. I slowly turned my body in the direction he was standing.

“I love you!”

But then, a voice that made my body freeze even more than Rinell’s appearance suddenly popped out from somewhere.

“?”

What is it?! I widened my eyes and looked at Prince Norton, but it wasn’t him who said it. It was definitely a woman’s voice? The prince was as surprised as I was, almost to the point where his eyeballs were about to pop out, and I had to support him under his eyes.

“I’ve loved Prince Norton from the moment I first saw him…”

It was an ambiguous statement, whether it was a confession or a soliloquy. The voice confessing love to Prince Norton was coming from the corner of the temple building. I looked down at the long shadow of the confessing woman cast from there.

“If I didn’t confess like this, it felt like my stuffy chest would burst out of my dress! So, I asked Her Majesty the Empress to have him come out here!”

…Rosie? It was definitely Rosie’s voice. Why are you there? Didn’t you go back to your residence? And I couldn’t understand what she was saying at all. Prince Norton gave me a look asking me to explain the situation. Don’t look at me like that, I don’t know either! I tried to tell him with my eyes that it had nothing to do with me, but Prince Norton’s face was becoming more and more serious. When I glanced at Rinell, he also looked visibly surprised. The expression on Prince Tessler’s face standing behind him was also a sight to behold.

“The eyes that used to only read books fell in love the moment they saw Prince Norton…”

The soliloquy-like words continued again. Rosie was giving a unique love confession, going back and forth between confession and soliloquy. What on earth is going on? Everything was confusing. By the way, why is the voice of the person confessing so cheerful?