The Stand-In Empress’S Wedding Night [EN]: Chapter 93

93. My Husband is the Emperor

November 24, 2021

“Your Majesty, I’ll bring you a dress to change into while you wait for Lady Bonis,” Sharon said as she entered the bedroom.

“Okay. Oh, and Sharon, a glass of cold water, please.”

My mouth felt parched at the thought of seeing Bonis soon. I stood in front of the mirror, looking at the tea stain on my dress. At first, I hadn’t realized Linelle had deliberately spilled tea on my dress. Moreover, he had used his hypothermia curse to cool the teacup so I wouldn’t get burned. My eyes welled up at Linelle’s consideration. Suddenly, I felt grateful to Prince Tesler. I wanted to grab his hands and sincerely thank him for choosing me as the surrogate empress and sending me to this man. But my desire to kill Prince Tesler over the Bonis issue was a separate matter.

***

Bonis boarded the carriage with him and stared at Commander Marcrom, who was sitting across from her, as if observing him. She had learned that Commander Marcrom was blind in the room where Princess Resilia was staying. However, even when walking down the annex hallway, descending the stairs, or escorting her to the carriage, the commander’s steps and direction were flawless.

Feeling Bonis’s gaze, Commander Marcrom spoke first with a faint smile.

“I lost my sight due to a wizard’s curse during the battle of Death Canyon, in the habitat of wyverns [dragon-like creatures],”

“Ah…”

Bonis sighed softly. Commander Marcrom continued in a calm tone.

“Although I have lost my sight, my sense of direction and ability to sense people have become more sensitive, so there are almost no inconveniences in daily life.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Still, it’s a shame that I can’t see the faces of new people I meet.”

Commander Marcrom scratched his head and said. Bonis smiled slightly. Commander Marcrom’s expression, which she caught a glimpse of, seemed quite innocent, unlike his sturdy appearance. She turned her head to look out the carriage window. The carriage was already approaching the main palace building. After a moment of silence, Commander Marcrom spoke first.

“You seem to have a close relationship with Her Majesty.”

“We were like sisters. I always followed her around.”

Commander Marcrom nodded at Bonis’s affectionate voice.

“I see. In the Lapion Imperial Palace, I am always following Her Majesty.”

“Yes?”

“Until recently, I served His Majesty, but now I am a guard knight serving Her Majesty.”

“Ah, really?”

Bonis’s expression brightened at Commander Marcrom’s words that he was Zelda’s guard knight. Perhaps that’s why she thought she should tell Commander Marcrom that she was not Prince Tesler’s mistress before arriving at the main palace. There might not be an opportunity to talk to Zelda alone. So, she hoped that if she told Zelda’s guard knight, he might tell Zelda in advance. Looking at the approaching main palace building, she finally opened her mouth.

“Um… Commander Marcrom.”

“Yes, please speak.”

“I was just a bath maid in the Shattonil royal family. But why did the prince suddenly…!”

Bonis stopped talking about her situation to Commander Marcrom. The thought that she might harm Zelda crossed her mind. After all, this man was originally the Emperor’s man, so he might not be completely on Zelda’s side.

“Suddenly called you his mistress, you mean. Prince Tesler did.”

However, Commander Marcrom spoke in a friendly voice, anticipating what Bonis was about to say. Bonis hesitated for a moment before answering in a barely audible voice.

“Yes…”

Prince Tesler had said that all this was Zelda’s fault.

‘I sent you to the Lapion Empire as a surrogate empress because you were easy to manipulate and I trusted you, but now you don’t even know your place and are trying to act like a real empress?’

Those were the words Prince Tesler spat out nervously before striking Bonis’s little finger with his sword. Bonis didn’t even scream and fainted the moment the sharp sword came down on her little finger. When she regained consciousness, her left little finger was already gone. Prince Tesler put Bonis’s little finger, with a pink diamond ring on it, into a jewelry box made of cold and warm magic stones.

‘Zelda gave you this ring as a gift before leaving for Lapion, right? But now this ring will be a warning to our Empress.’

Prince Tesler said, closing the jewelry box with a crazed expression. Bonis knew how much Zelda would suffer when she saw her little finger. So, she was more worried about her than sad about losing her little finger. She was very afraid that she would accept Prince Tesler’s unfair demands because of her, or that she would be used and eventually become a deposed empress. She wanted to tell her that she was really okay, but there was no way. The reason she willingly followed Prince Tesler’s words that he was going to the Lapion Imperial Palace to hold the Continental Hunting Competition was also to meet Zelda. It wouldn’t be easy, but if she looked for it, there would be a way. Fortunately, her wish came true sooner than she thought. However, she never dreamed that she would meet Zelda disguised as Prince Tesler’s mistress.

“Could you please tell this to my sister—no, Her Majesty—in advance?”

“I don’t know if I can tell her right away, but I will look for an opportunity.”

He didn’t ask Bonis any more about how she became Prince Tesler’s mistress. She didn’t seem to know anything either. The whole story was up to His Majesty and the Empress to judge.

“Thank you! Thank you so much…”

The carriage slowly stopped.

“We have arrived. Let’s get off.”

Commander Marcrom got out of the carriage first and then held out his hand to Bonis. Bonis got out of the carriage, suppressing her rising tension.

“Commander Marcrom!”

At that moment, Chief Steward Stian hurriedly came down the main palace stairs from the main palace entrance.

“What’s wrong, Stian?”

Commander Marcrom noticed the chief steward’s urgent demeanor and asked. Stian tiptoed and conveyed Linelle’s order to Commander Marcrom’s ear. Commander Marcrom nodded to Stian and lowered his voice to Bonis.

“Bonis, you will have to tell Her Majesty what you told me directly.”

“Yes?”

“Let’s go. She is waiting.”

***

“I think it’s about time…”

I changed my dress and paced back and forth in the bedroom, biting my nails.

“Your Majesty!”

With a knock, Sharon, who had gone to check the situation, hurriedly entered the bedroom and shouted.

“Commander Marcrom is bringing Lady Bonis up the stairs!”

“Really? Is she really coming?”

I couldn’t believe that Bonis was coming here, so I asked Sharon several times. Sharon replied the same way several times and rejoiced with me. Knock, knock, knock. I gasped at the sound of a knock on the bedroom door.

“She must have arrived!”

Sharon ran to the bedroom door in one step and quickly opened it. Then Commander Marcrom entered the bedroom first and reported.

“Your Majesty, I have brought Lady Bonis.”

The sound of my heart beating echoed in my ears. I calmed down the tension by lightly shaking my sweaty hands, speaking with a trembling voice.

“Thank you for your hard work. I’m really grateful.”

“As you have heard, there is not much time. After a brief conversation, Your Majesty must move to the banquet hall first.”

“I know.”

“Then, please talk. I will be waiting outside.”

Commander Marcrom bowed and left, and Bonis carefully stepped into the bedroom. As Sharon closed the door discreetly, only Bonis and I were left in the bedroom.

“Bonis!”

“Sister! Ah, no, Your Majesty!”

Both of us checked each other’s condition at the same time and hugged each other without a word.

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…”

Sadly, those were the first words that came out to Bonis, whom I had met after so long.

“I missed you!”

Bonis’s voice had no resentment at all. I examined Bonis’s left hand, which was wrapped in bandages.

“Your little finger… because of me!”

My voice didn’t come out properly, as if a stone was blocking my throat. Then, Bonis patted my back as if comforting me.

“I’m really okay. I’m glad you’re safe. Oh my, I keep saying ‘sister’…”

“You can call me that comfortably when we’re alone.”

“I can’t do that anymore.”

Looking at Bonis’s smiling face, I wanted to kill Prince Tesler even more.

“Aren’t you resentful of me? If it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have had to go through this…”

I carefully grabbed her left hand and looked down at the area where that damn pink diamond ring had been, and now a white bandage was taking its place. Seeing it with my own eyes made me feel even more resentful.

“It’s almost healed. It doesn’t hurt at all anymore.”

“Even if the pain has subsided now, it must have hurt terribly until then. That trash bastard—I won’t let him get away with this!”

“But, you already know from Prince Tesler, right? Do you know why I suddenly became that trash’s mistress?”

“Yes… He said I wanted to bring you as my maid.”

“So, he said he would make me his mistress?”

“No, he said it’s not possible because you’re already his mistress.”

“Crazy bastard!”

Bonis bit her lower lip tightly.

“Don’t worry, I won’t let you become that trash’s mistress. Never.”

“Do you have any plans… or anything?”

“I have something more reliable than a plan.”

“What is it? Are you going to say courage, confidence, swordsmanship, or something like that… right?”

Bonis listed my strengths and threw in a joke.

“No.”

I shook my head and laughed.

“Then?”

“I have him.”

“Him?”

“Husband. The Lapion Emperor is my man.”

Bonis smiled at my last words, but her eyes still looked uneasy.

***

After a short conversation with Bonis in the bedroom, I moved to the banquet hall first. As I entered the banquet hall, Linelle, who was sitting at the head table, and Prince Tesler, who was sitting diagonally, looked at me at the same time.

“That dress suits you better.”

Linelle got up from his chair and guided me to his side.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

“Is your hand okay?”

“Yes, thanks to the immediate first aid, it subsided quickly.”

Prince Tesler looked at Linelle, who was kind to me, with a displeased look.

“What were you talking about?”

I sat down and looked back and forth between the two.

“It was a story that the Empress would find uninteresting.”

Prince Tesler’s tone contained a nuance of ignoring me.

“What is it?”

Was it a complicated political story? Or a story about finance?

“How does the prince know that? Whether the Empress is interested or not.”

Linelle took a sip of wine and rebuked Prince Tesler.

“What were you talking about?”

Instead of engaging with that trash, I asked Linelle again, who smelled good.

“It was about the hunting competition.”

“Aha.”

“How to cut off the wild boar’s breath at once, whether it’s easier to shoot a bird or easier to shoot a cheetah—things like that.”

When Linelle finished speaking, Prince Tesler glared at me with eyes that said, ‘See, these are stories you wouldn’t be interested in, right?’ I smiled softly.

“You were having an interesting conversation.”

Prince Tesler had an expression that suggested I was deliberately trying to please the Emperor with insincere words. It was not unreasonable for the prince to think so because he did not know my swordsmanship skills.

“Since the topic has come up, I’ll say this, but I’m already worried about Her Majesty. The guests from the Southern Continent are women who know martial arts, so there’s nothing to worry about even in the hunting grounds, but Her Majesty is different.”

Worry about yourself. I might mistake you for a hyena and aim my bow at you. I was quite embarrassed about what kind of expression I should show Prince Tesler, who was pretending to worry about me. Just as I was about to brush it off with an awkward smile, Linelle said as if he had been waiting.

“That’s why I assigned a new guard knight to the Empress’s side throughout the hunting competition.”

“A new guard knight? Many knights participate in the hunting competition together, so is there really a need to do that?”

Prince Tesler tilted his head and replied. Then Linelle, who had a smile on his face, picked up one of the knives in front of him and made a firm face.

“Actually… a servant was murdered in the Empress’s palace garden a while ago.”

He gestured as if stabbing something and said. Prince Tesler moved his Adam’s apple greatly and asked.

“Did such a thing… happen?”

His expression was full of tension.