The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 289

Lucius the First, the father of Poliana’s unborn baby, was disappointed to see the royal guards return without his knightess. Apparently, Poliana asked for a long vacation, and by doing this, she was testing his patience. When Poliana first asked for some time off, Lucius the First was expecting her to take a month off at most. But it seemed that her absence in Yapa could be much longer.

Sir Ainno said to the emperor, “Just fire her already.” He sounded annoyed at the fact that Poliana dared to take a long time off from her duty. When Lucius the First glared at him, Sir Ainno looked right back at him and said, “If you tell her she is fired, she will come right back your highness. You know this.”

“I will not fire her!”

“Well, you have to though, don’t you?”

If Lucius the First proposed to her and married her, Poliana would become the next empress. To become an empress, however, Poliana had to give up on being the head of the Second Division.

And there was no way Poliana could give up her position easily.

This meant that her decision to accept becoming the next empress would depend on how sweetly Lucius the First seduces her. Luckily, this task was something Lucius the First felt confident he could accomplish. The only reason why things were not going according to his plan was that he was purposely keeping his distance from her.

There was no one more handsome than him in this world. Poliana has revered Lucius the First’s beauty many times before. She was proud of his looks. She considered it the national treasure. If Lucius the First really put his effort in courting her, he felt certain that Poliana would fall for him.

While the emperor burned with confidence, Sir Ainno had his own problem to worry about. Sir Ainno asked him, “Your highness, what do you prefer, a bear hide, or an alligator hide?”

“Bear.”

It was an expected answer from the emperor and Lucius the First looked at his friend in annoyance. The emperor was envious of Sir Ainno. He didn’t even get to propose, but his friend was contemplating what would be the best wedding gift for the woman he loved. Lucius the First was jealous.

“Your highness, I had no idea but apparently, an alligator hide is very expensive. In some cases, it is much more expensive than the hide of a white bear.”

“But think about it, Ainno. Don’t you agree that bears are much cuter? So furry and cuddly.”

“I think it would be a good idea to actually catch a large alligator and hang its hide at home.”

‘I am going to never visit his home.’

The emperor felt very strongly about this. Unless his friend hangs the hide of a furry beast, Lucius the First was never going to visit his home.

Sir Ainno began to insist that the emperor should give him a wedding gift. Lucius the First nodded and asked, “And what will you give me when it is my time?”

“You should ask me that after you are successful with your proposal, your highness.”

“Come on, listen to me carefully.”

Lucius the First began to lay out his big plan and Sir Ainno listened just like he did when the young emperor told him about his plan to unite the continent. Sir Ainno’s eyes looked blank, but he was definitely listening.

“Ok, Ainno. So the first thing I will do when Pol returns is to seduce her.”

Sir Ainno nodded and the emperor continued, “And when Pol falls in love with me, I will propose to her.”

It seemed that this was not a very detailed plan, but Sir Ainno decided to let it go.

“Since Pol treasures her status as Marquess Winter, I am going to get an appropriate boy to be adopted as her brother and get him to inherit the name.”

Lucius the First continued, believing that this really was the perfect plan. Sir Ainno knew right away that it was not going to work.

‘He’s going to fail.’

In the past, Sir Ainno believed that if Lucius the First put his mind to it, he could seduce any woman in this world. But now, he knew that this was not the case. In fact, in some cases, a man’s effort could cause the woman to run away in disgust.

Sir Ainno learned that being good looking, rich, and talented, did not guarantee a woman’s love. Cekel taught this lesson to him during his courtship.

Sir Ainno said to the emperor, “I heard that the duke will be opposed to you marrying the marquess.”

“That is why I came up with two strategies.” Only

Lucius the First thought that what Duke Luzo said when he first told him about his feelings for Poliana made sense. It was one thing to want to propose to her because he loved her, it was quite another when it comes to how to convince the others of his plan. Lucius the First wished he could just tell the world that he was marrying her because he loved her, but he knew that Poliana could feel differently about it.

Ugly and strange rumors followed Poliana everywhere, so it was necessary to come up with a logical reason for their marriage. He needed to give her a good reason to give to the world for marrying him. The feelings they have for each other… This was not going to be enough to make the world understand.

The best backstory was going to be a political one. By having Poliana as the empress, the emperor would be able to strengthen his power over his united kingdom. This was the reason he was going to give to the world while he tells Poliana the truth. He would tell her that everything he tells the world was a lie and he wanted to marry her because he loved her.

Sir Ainno, listening carefully to the emperor, knew that Lucius the First’s best bet was to actually lie to Poliana too. Tell her that he wanted her as his empress for a political reason, and most likely, Poliana would agree to his proposal.

But Sir Ainno did not say a word. The emperor looked happy just thinking about his plan, and Sir Ainno didn’t want to dampen his excitement. As well, Sir Ainno was busy with his own wedding plan and he felt too busy to give proper advice to the emperor.

A month passed, then two. Lucius the First waited for Poliana’s return eagerly. He ordered the gardeners to make sure the flowers bloomed at all times in the castle. His mother’s ring was always ready in his pocket.

Time passed by cruelly, and half a year later, Lucius the First finally made his move. He did not want to be one of those men who nags when it was him who told her to take as much time off as possible. He was ok to wait longer, but he at least wanted to know that she was doing ok. So instead of sending a knight or one from the Intelligence Unit, the emperor sent an auditor to Sitrin.