The Dangerous Honeymoon Diary of the Fake Empress

After successfully completing the report to the crown prince, I was on my way back to the prince’s palace feeling quite excited. Now I could just relax and go to sleep.

‘But all the windows of the prince’s palace… are locked.’

I never expected such a setback waiting for me.

‘Did I accidentally lock the windows when I left?’

It was a rule that all the windows of the palace would be locked simultaneously at 9 o’clock. The palace staff, who had to quickly close thousands of windows, devised self-locking windows that would lock automatically when closed, and these were those windows.

‘Ugh… I deliberately left a pebble in case I needed to escape. When did it disappear? I never made such a mistake in my previous life…’

Just in case, I tried shaking the other windows, but I only heard the rattling sound without any results.

‘At this rate I’m going to wake the prince.’

Anxiously, I peeked inside the window.

The sleeping incense was almost gone, but it was still at a decent level. Sleep incense lasts for about two hours after the candle burns out.

It varies from person to person, so I was a little nervous, but thankfully, Jeremy’s face looked like he was sound asleep.

‘Oh, now it’s raining.’

To make matters worse, it started drizzling. I shielded my eyes with my hand and looked up at the sky.

‘Should I go through the chimney?’

At this point, going through the chimney was the only method that came to mind to enter the room.

‘Is this really the only option?’

Haa… Not only would my whole body get dirty, but how would I endure all that dust?

Lost in various thoughts, I suddenly felt the rain pouring down on me. It was as if it was urging me to hurry and jump into the chimney.

‘Fine, I’ll do it.’

Taking a deep breath, as I was about to slowly shift my body from the window frame, it happened.

“Who’s there?”

Suddenly, a man’s voice echoed from the direction of the garden.

“…….!”

Damn it. Did I get caught? When I looked down, I saw a knight who was patrolling the palace.

‘Wait… That knight’s armor.’

White armor with a red belt. Moreover, that bulging chest even had a badge!

‘The Second Commander of the Knights!’

Only the Commander could wear such splendid armor. And if he had flaming red hair… Lysander Daleman. Yes, there was no one else but him.

‘He’s not a supporter of the crown prince.’

Lysander was a person in a neutral position. In other words, if caught, it meant immediate imprisonment.

Damn it. If it were someone from the crown prince’s faction, I could at least create a commotion with the Shadow Knights and escape easily. Why did I have to get caught by Lysander? Moreover, he was a highly skilled knight who excelled in swordsmanship, martial arts, strength, tactics, and more, and was highly regarded.

Especially, he possessed exceptional skills in torture. According to rumors, anyone caught by Lysander could reveal every detail of their life, including how they cried on the day they were born.

‘If he catches me, I’ll be on my way to my fourth wedding!’

The thought of losing my new life in just a week made my vision blur. The idea of dying for the third time, not for protecting the prince, but for accidentally leaving a window unlocked? It’s just not worth it!

‘For now, I have to avoid getting caught by him. Let’s see… How does Lysander plan to surround me?’

To read his plan, I first looked down carefully. He was splitting up his men.

Some people will probably be sent inside, while others will choose to stay below and watch.

“In that case, it’s better to go up.”

I moved towards the chimney as planned. The only difference from before was that I had no time to spare.

I have to arrive before the knights reach the prince’s room. Otherwise, they will be the first to suspect the missing princess!

“Ugh!”

But the more I hurried, the more I slipped back. The hand that had gripped the wall couldn’t withstand the rainwater and slid down.

What perfect timing for rain! It felt as if the sky was cursing me, pouring down relentlessly. If not for that, how could I be so unlucky?

I cursed under my breath and tightened my grip on the wall once more. But even with all my strength, my body began to slide downward.

‘Aah…… I’m going to fall. What am I going to do? What am I going to do……!’

No matter how much I thought about it, no solution came to mind.

Should I rush into Lysander’s embrace in the end…? It seemed impossible to hold on any longer.

Bam!

Suddenly, the window of the prince’s palace opened wide. And from within it emerged a long, white hand.

“Ah!”

The large hand grabbed my wrist and pulled me into the window. Even though it must have been heavy, the owner of the hand effortlessly lifted me up.

“…Your Highness!”

The next moment, silver hair reflected in the moonlight came into view. I forgot how to breathe for a moment, dazedly letting him pull me up.

He scooped me up in his arms and, with a dignified gesture, closed the window.

“Did you have a good walk, my bride?”

“A walk…”

He asked if I had a good walk… But now, no matter where I look, I must appear as nothing more than a spy caught in the act of doing something bad. 

It was a situation I had never experienced before, so my words were stuck in my throat.

I blamed myself for my inexperience and quickly racked my brain. The only good thing was that the prince was sticking to his act.

‘Since you’re playing the fool, you won’t question me, like you did last time.’

He hadn’t questioned me when I was caught in a torn dress, so I didn’t know if I should take advantage of his acting like an idiot.

“I went for a walk……, yes.”

I tried to maintain a brazen response, but suddenly, I realized that his clothes were wet.

Oh… He got wet because of me? It must be cold. Seeing the dampness on his nightgown, I was startled and squirmed.

“Um… Since your clothes will get wet, please let me down for now.”

“Hmm? Jeremy is fine.”

Jeremy’s firm arm still held me tightly. Despite being damp, he showed no concern.

“Bride, are you okay? Your palms are red.”

He lightly turned my hand and carefully examined it. Due to climbing the wall, my palms were scraped in several places. Jeremy exhaled a small breath and gently wiped them with his hand.

“……!”

When his touch was gentle and soothing, my shoulders trembled, and worry appeared in his eyes.

“Does it hurt a lot?”

No. Honestly, it wasn’t because of pain that I flinched, but because his touch was too kind… That’s why I was surprised.

“Uh…… mmm.”

I stumbled through my words with flushed cheeks. When I didn’t answer quickly, Jeremy tilted his head slightly. His eyes held a deep light, shimmering like moonlight on a lake.

‘I’m going to be a complete fangirl at this rate.’

I deliberately avoided making eye contact with Jeremy to resist being enchanted. Deep down, I wanted to continue cuddling in his arms, pretending to be in pain, but now wasn’t the time for that.

‘The knights will be here soon.’

My goal was to quickly get to bed and pretend to be asleep.

“Your Highness…”

But before I could finish speaking, urgent shouts came from outside the door.

“Your Highness, are you inside?”

The knights had already arrived at the prince’s door.

Oh no, this is bad! I haven’t even gotten into bed yet! I quickly untangled myself from Jeremy’s embrace and hurriedly led him towards the bed.

“Your Highness, let’s go to bed together!”

At my words, Jeremy’s mouth slightly opened in surprise.

Yes, it must be awkward. Hanging on the windowsill just now and now begging him to go to bed together… Huh?

‘W-what?’

Jeremy suddenly pulled off the nightgown he was wearing. As he did, his well-built chest muscles and defined waist were revealed.

‘So sexy……’

Without realizing it, I stared at him as if entranced. But I quickly regained my composure and averted my gaze.

“Y-Your Highness, what are you…? I mean, it doesn’t mean what you think; it means to literally go to bed together!”

I stuttered and waved my hands anxiously. But I was left speechless by Jeremy’s next action.

Jeremy draped his discarded nightgown over me. Then he carefully wrapped it around me, making sure the shadow knight’s attire wasn’t visible, and led me to the bed.

“Come.”

“Huh……?”

“Your Highness! I apologize, but I will enter to confirm your safety!”

While I was lost in thought, chaos was unfolding outside the door.

“Your Highness…”

“Shhh. Come here.”

The only calm in the room was Jeremy, who let me into the bed, then followed suit.

“This won’t do. We should check on them.”

The sound of the door opening echoed. Soon, the footsteps of several people followed.

‘Is Sir Lysander among them?’

Instinctively, I focused on confirming Lysander ‘s presence. Unfortunately, I couldn’t directly see if he was there.

Because right now, I was lying in bed, embraced in the prince’s arms!

‘……My heart might leap out of my chest.’

The thumping sound of my heart resonated loudly in my ears. It was no wonder, with Jeremy’s chest right in front of me…… Even an ordinary person would have difficulty controlling their heart in such a situation, let alone a fangirl like me.

Thump-thump! 

I tried to calm my racing heart by taking a deep breath.

But that was a crazy idea.

Thump. Sniff. 

‘Your Highness, you smell nice. It’s a lemon and citrus scent… Ugh..’

My heart seemed to have stopped altogether at Jeremy’s scent.

“Your Highness?”

In that moment when I thought I was about to die, I could barely regain my senses. It was because I could hear the footsteps of the knights right next to me.

But at that moment, Jeremy’s arms that were holding me tightened. It felt as if he was trying to hide me within his embrace.

“Hmm.”

Jeremy blinked his eyes while tightly embracing me. Then he glanced at the knights who had come close and took a slightly surprised action.

“Lysander… Why is Jeremy being called at this hour?”

“…An intruder has been spotted. We confirmed someone entering Your Highness’s room through the window just now.”

Whether they saw Jeremy and me embracing and sleeping or not, Lysander ‘s words flowed out with a slight pause.

“Into Jeremy’s room?… I didn’t see anything.”

“You didn’t hear anything either?”

“No. Jeremy was sleeping with the bride.”

I flinched at Jeremy’s words. There was no reason for him to cover for me… Why was he making excuses on my behalf? I couldn’t understand his intentions. If he got caught trying to hide me, wouldn’t Jeremy be the one in more danger?

’Please let this pass without incident.’

But my prayers were in vain, as worries turned into reality.

“For the safety of Your Highness and the princess, we will conduct a brief search of the room.”

Searching the room was dangerous. The rainwater that fell on the floor would surely be discovered, and it wouldn’t be difficult for Lysander to notice the water that led to the bed.

‘If they find out I’m the intruder… What about my prince who hid me?’

I was currently wearing Jeremy’s nightgown and hiding tightly in his embrace. If I were to be discovered here, Lysander would undoubtedly consider Jeremy an accomplice… But wait, that would be worse than me getting caught alone, wouldn’t it?

A fool becomes an accomplice to a criminal? Who would see Jeremy as a fool to that extent? That statement was no different from revealing that he wasn’t a fool.

‘Am I going to ruin the fool act with my mistake?’

Please let it pass unnoticed. It was at that moment, with an anxious heart, that I held my breath.

“There’s water here.”

As expected. It was impossible for the capable Lysander not to notice it.

‘Ha…… What should I do now? Even if I get caught, I shouldn’t involve the prince.’

What should I do in this situation? As I considered various scenarios, fortunately, a solution came to mind.

‘Maybe I should pretend to threaten the prince.’

I decided to act as if I threatened Jeremy to lie on my behalf. Although it would brand me as a suspicious person, if I were to be caught, at least I didn’t want Jeremy to be implicated.

“The water droplets are connected.”

“Where are they connected to?”

There was no time. The knights started examining the floor with torches. They would soon discover that the water droplets led to the bed.

In preparation for that moment, I retrieved the dagger hidden on my thigh.

‘I should aim the dagger at the prince.’

As I played out the scenario in my head.

Thump!

Suddenly, I heard a noise from upstairs. The knights reacted swiftly to the dull sound.

“The intruder! Everyone, upstairs!”

I heard the knights near the bed rushing out.

‘Phew. Whoever it was, thank you.’

Internally expressing gratitude to the person who caused the commotion, I slightly extended my head beyond the covers.

‘……!’

But of all times, I locked eyes with Lysander. He alternated his gaze between my wet hair and the water droplets on the floor.

‘Shit. I’ve been caught.’

Lysander ‘s suspicious gaze turned towards me.

In a state of complete panic, he slowly reached out his hand towards me.

“Princess, my apologies.”

Lysander ‘s hand touched the covers where we were hiding.