The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 143

Sir Ainno found Poliana fascinating. What a strange woman!

Lucius the First was the sole ruler of this continent. He was also the most beautiful young man, and he showed special favor towards her all the time. So how could it be that she didn’t feel anything personal towards him?

He supposed it was possible that she didn’t see him as a man all the time, but shouldn’t she at least feel something sometimes? Shouldn’t her heart beat fast when he smiles at her?

Sir Ainno remembered a young girl, who was the emperor’s first love, or at least close to it. When Lucius the First treated her slightly differently than the others, this girl acted like she was already the empress of Acreia. It wasn’t even that Lucius the First was overtly obvious about his feelings. He was just slightly nicer to her than the other girls, but not by much. In fact, the emperor was nicer to Sir Ainno than that girl at the time. But even then, this lady knew very quickly that Lucius the First was interested in her. Many others realized it as well and they began to treat her better too.

The way Lucius the First treated Poliana Winter, however, was unprecedented. His special interest and affection towards her were obvious, at least to Sir Ainno, but Poliana herself seemed oblivious. Was the emperor’s love not enough to capture this cold woman’s heart?

Poliana stretched her neck as Sir Ainno glared at her. She knew she had to say something to him, but she wasn’t sure what. Poliana turned away and looked at Lucius the First, who was dancing with his new bride. The emperor looked like he should as a new groom; not too happy but very determined.

During the night, Stra ended up bursting into tears and the emperor took a great effort to calm her down. Suddenly, Poliana imagined herself crying and Lucius the First trying to console her.

It was a ridiculous image, it made Poliana laugh.

Because Poliana wasn’t blind, she did sometimes feel her heartbeat go wild when she was with him. She could also feel how much the emperor trusted her. At some odd times, she considered that perhaps he was affectionate towards her, but she didn’t think too much about it. She was sure that she was mistaken, and she didn’t want to become preoccupied with those silly feelings. Lucius the First and Poliana had a simple yet great relationship.

He was her master and she was his knight, there could be no love between them. It was ridiculous even to think about such a thing. Lucius the First would never like Poliana as a woman and Poliana could never dare to fall in love with him. Besides, during the last 10 years, the emperor saw the worst of her many times, there was no way any man could love her after seeing her at her worst.

This was a good thing. This meant that their relationship could remain pure and safe.

Lucius the First danced with his bride on the dance floor. Poliana stood nearby, leaning against the wall and eating a sandwich. This was her place, and she didn’t want anything more than that. She knew where she belonged.

After contemplating, Poliana finally answered Sir Ainno, “I guess I feel… thankful?”

This was true. His highness was finally married, and she was happy for him. When Poliana smiled brightly at Sir Ainno to show him she meant what she said, Sir Ainno grabbed his forehead and shook his head in frustration.

What a strange woman?

Meanwhile, Lucius the First did his best to treat all of his three wives fairly and equally. The three brides were satisfied with the emperor’s kindness, but the representatives from the different regions were unhappy.

The Acreians believed that Tory should’ve been favored by the emperor since she came from his homeland.

The people from the mid-continent believed that Princess Stra should be favored because their region paid the most taxes and therefore provided the greatest financial benefit to the emperor.

Those from the southern region insisted that since most of the colonies here voluntarily surrendered, Princess Rebecca should be favored the most by the emperor.

To all these people, Lucius the First only had one thing to say.

“It’s none of your business.”

Of course, the emperor wasn’t comfortable with his current situation. Having so many people complaining to him and asking for the impossible things were frustrating.

***

Things were becoming tense in the lady’s quarters. Currently, in Acreia, there wasn’t an empress or any other female figure that could rule the castle. There could be only one head of the lady’s quarters, and this meant the beginning of a power struggle between the emperor’s new wives.

The guards became nervous and asked Poliana, “Sir Poliana, you should do something about it before it gets too ugly.”

“Why me?”

“Because you are the highest-ranking woman in the kingdom.”

“… Are you joking?”

It was true that Marquess Winter was the most powerful woman in Acreia, but her authority could not compare to that of any member of the royal family. There was no doubt that she was ranked much lower than any of the emperor’s wives.

Like her guards, Poliana became nervous but also excited at the prospect of this power struggle. What kind of tactics would the ladies use? Who will win? The tension between the wives was not too different from that between the knights before a duel. Thankfully, no one used any dirty tactics and nothing serious happened. Unlike everyone’s expectation, the struggle also didn’t last very long. Each lady had different advantages because of their backgrounds, but in the end, Tory ended up being the winner.

In a way, it was an obvious conclusion. Most of the maids, who were from Acreia themselves, took Tory’s side. Tory was also the only one who was most familiar with the Acreian culture and royal etiquette. Rebecca, who had fragile health, showed early on that she wanted to stay out of the fight for power so naturally, Stra became the second in command.

This whole process took about 2 months.

Lucius the First did his best not to favor any of his wives. Because he was so busy with his newly united kingdom, he didn’t get to visit his wives often, but even then, he made sure he that spent an equal amount of time with each of the ladies.

In the beginning, Lucius the First planned to visit each one of his wives twice a week and have one day for himself, but very quickly, he learned that he was stupid to think that this was going to work. He was so busy that it was rare for him to even visit his wives once a week.

Realizing how busy he was, the three wives soon gave up fighting to be favored by the emperor. In the end, they decided that it was better to become good friends with each other. Only

Poliana became very popular among the ladies and she felt very pleased. Because they had different ages and they were from different places, everyone felt awkward around each other at first, but after some time, they all became close friends.

The four women usually spent their time in Rebecca’s reception room. Being from the southern region, Rebecca always had the best and sweetest fruits and snacks from her homeland, and this was why the ladies always ended up at her place.

They were gossiping again as usual when Stra said to Poliana, “So one of my lady friends decided to have her daughter marry Sir Gary.”

Poliana replied, “That idiot is addicted to gambling, he isn’t that bright either.”

“Oh, is that right? Thank you so much, Marquess, for such a piece of important information. I will let the lady know right away.”

Poliana was able to successfully enter the aristocratic society. This meant that she knew a lot about different noblemen, and many ladies with grown daughters often asked her advice for potential son-in-law materials. Poliana often said to the ladies that their husbands should be able to give the same information as herself, but the women believed that because Poliana was a woman herself, she would have more accurate and relevant opinions on different young men.

And of course, whenever the noble ladies visited her for advice, they never forgot to bring her nice expensive gifts. Poliana’s office soon became filled with luxurious bribes.