The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 270

Their way back home to Yapa was filled with awkwardness. The first uncomfortable moment was when Poliana got onto her horse expertly. When she got on top, she remembered another piece of memory from last night.

‘Gyaaa! I need to kill myself!’

It was a shocking memory; Poliana remembered being on top of Lucius the First. This definitely proved that she took advantage of him. She couldn’t bring up this new information to the emperor, however. If she did, it would be like bringing up the painful discussion again when they both agreed to forget about it. It didn’t feel right to go through the same debate over again.

‘Gyaaa!’

Poliana screamed silently as her face became pale. Thankfully, the emperor did not notice anything since other than a subtle flinch, Poliana looked perfectly normal. The truth was that the lower half of her body was feeling especially tender, most likely due to last night. But even when she suffered from the worst hemorrhoid of her life, Poliana silently rode her horse to the war. Compared to that time, the discomfort she felt right now was minimal. It wasn’t like she was bleeding. It wasn’t like she was injured. There was no reason why she shouldn’t be able to ride her horse. Of course, she couldn’t help the extreme embarrassment she felt.

Poliana found it difficult to face the emperor, so she purposely rode slightly in front of him and looked straight ahead. They were close enough that silence shouldn’t have been uncomfortable between them, yet Lucius the First felt a distinct unease in the air. He tried to focus on the beautiful scenery around him. The sky, the birds, the ground, the wind, and… the beautiful backside of Poliana who was riding ahead of him. She was part of the scenery, right? So why couldn’t he enjoy the view of her?

‘I can’t remember anything from last night!’

No matter how hard he tried, it was useless.

‘What a waste!’

He tried and tried, but his brain remained blank. The only thing he could remember was the vague feeling of pleasure.

‘Yes, it was good. It had to be great! I am certain it was amazing!’

The emperor had three wives and even before he got married, he had plenty of bedmates in the past. But compared to all of those experiences, Lucius the First firmly believed that last night must’ve been the best night of his life.

It had to be because he was with the woman he loved.

To every other man in the world, Poliana might have been an unmarriageable woman, but to Lucius the First, she was the most precious person in his life. She was the woman who made the emperor of this entire kingdom lovesick.

He liked it. It had to be good. His body felt thoroughly pleasured. To have had her and fall asleep next to her… Just thinking about it made the emperor feel relaxed and satisfied.

‘I think I might even remember how her breasts felt like…?’

Lucius the First reached out to the air and squeezed. Poliana was very thin. Even in the mid-continent region, where men preferred slim and fragile women, Poliana was considered too thin. Considering the fact that she had not a single extra ounce of fat in her body, Poliana wasn’t completely flat-chested. However, when she had her loose clothes on, it was impossible to tell.

‘Hmm… I think they were actually quite…’

Lucius the First kept squeezing the air when suddenly, he realized what he was doing. He sighed, thinking how idiotic he was acting. In a typical romance story, the main character, usually a knight, would “take responsibility” for the lady if something like this happened. He would either marry her immediately or at least give her a token of his affection as a proof of their engagement.

Lucius the First supposed Poliana, his knightess, did something similar. She did offer to take responsibility, but instead of offering to marry him, she offered to be punished by either dying or losing her knighthood and her wealth.

The awkwardness continued all the way to Yapa. They stayed in different inns on the way in different villages, and until they reached the capital city, neither of them drank a single sip of alcohol.

***

When Poliana reported for her duty after returning home, it was her colleagues that greeted her. Her closest knights were at the castle entrance, waiting for her early in the morning. When Poliana saw them, she didn’t know what to think.

“Could it be…Do you people all know about…”

“Umm… Well, Sir Pol, your marriage is something that is very important to all of us, right?”

Dammit! Everyone knew about the gold digger Frau and how he fooled her! Poliana felt dizzy and weak. She was a strong and sturdy woman who has never felt this helpless before. This was a new experience.

Her friends surrounded her and greeted encouragingly, “Sir Pol! Welcome back!”

“You went through a lot!”

“Marquess, we have fixed this problem. We prepared something for you.”

Prepare what? Why were all the men looking expectant and pleased?

Poliana clenched her teeth, realizing that what happened between herself and Frau was not a secret. How will she ever overcome such an embarrassing incident? While she contemplated furiously, the other knights murmured among themselves. Suddenly, a young boy was presented to her.

“Hello, Marquess Winter!”

The boy saluted her nervously and Poliana nodded. She assumed that he was someone’s new help. The young boys who were hired as a knight’s help often were naïve and stupid. Oftentimes, they thought they knew best and even acted rudely towards Poliana, who was a female knight. It didn’t take long, however, to properly train these young idiots. All that was needed was how Poliana trained Donau in his younger days.

One of the knights suddenly announced to Poliana, “This is my nephew.”

“So?”

This should’ve been the end of their conversation, but the knight explained that he was offering his nephew as her new groom. Poliana smiled kindly and punched the knight hard.

“Hey! Why did you just punch me?!”

“You are trying to sell your nephew? What kind of a man are you?!”

“Well, don’t you think it’s better to marry my nephew than a crazy gold digger?”

Poliana flinched. When she was about to punch him again, the knight said to her loudly, “Hey! We are in the presence of his highness! How dare you act this way, Sir Pol!” Only

Lucius the First shook his head and said to Poliana, “No, it’s fine. Keep going, Pol.”

This was all the encouragement she needed. Poliana showed no mercy to the knight.

The knights ushered Poliana and the emperor inside where a drinking party was prepared. The knights declared loudly, “Let’s get drunk!”

“I took today and tomorrow off, so we can get totally drunk and forget about everything!”

“Me too!”

“I did too!”

It seemed that every high-ranking knight who was acquainted with Poliana took some time off to “console” her. Lucius the First frowned, knowing that these men were only using Poliana’s situation as an excuse to drink. Poliana went through such a difficult last few days after the incident with Frau. She cried, for god’s sake! The emperor watched her suffer, so he knew how upset Poliana was, yet here the men were, pretending to console her when in fact, they just needed an excuse to drink.