The Emperor and the Knightess

“I’m sorry, Lady Rebecca, but unfortunately, I already have a plan for tonight.”

Lady Cekel, who was standing nearby, stepped forward politely and offered to Poliana, “Marquess Winter, it’s ok if we push our dinner plan for another day. I can invite you again in the future. Please don’t worry about me and enjoy your dinner with Lady Rebecca.”

Poliana was supposed to have dinner at Cekel’s house tonight. With a frown, Poliana replied awkwardly, “But of course I can’t, Lady Cekel. How could I cancel our dinner plan like this on such a short notice? I am sure you had the cook ready a wonderful meal for tonight…”

It was rude to cancel last-minute like this, and if Poliana didn’t go tonight, it was going to hurt Cekel’s pride. In addition, although it was Cekel who invited Poliana to dinner, it was Cekel’s father, Viscount Ingreter, who allowed it. If Poliana didn’t go, it would mean she was being disrespectful towards the viscount too. Poliana currently had a good relationship with Viscount Ingreter as well as his three sons, and she wanted to continue this friendship. If Lady Rebecca asked Poliana to join her for dinner a few days ago, Poliana would’ve been able to cancel this dinner without upsetting anyone.

Lady Rebecca, who didn’t do anything wrong but felt guilty as she watched the two woman’s conversation in horror, said to Poliana hastily, “Oh, forget what I just said. Please go ahead, Poliana. I wouldn’t want you to cancel your plan like that.”

Cekel replied, “It’s really alright, Lady Rebecca and Marquess Winter. The truth is, my brother told me this morning that he has a surprise last-minute guest for tonight’s dinner. I didn’t know how to tell you, Marquess Winter, so I have been worrying about this all day. This actually works out perfectly for me.”

“A last-minute guest? Who?”

“Yes. It’s my brother’s superior, so he couldn’t refuse the request.”

Currently, Viscount Ingreter’s firstborn son and heir, Sir Aeke, belonged to Sir Jainno’s Third Division. Sir Beke, on the other hand, ended up in Sir Ainno’s division. Poliana knew that unlike Sir Ainno, his brother Sir Jainno was a well-mannered knight. Sir Jainno would never insist on being invited to his guard’s home for dinner like this.

This surprise guest had to be Sir Ainno. Poliana grabbed her forehead in annoyance while Lady Rebecca looked confused.

Poliana could guess how this happened. Sir Ainno probably heard that Poliana was invited to dinner by Cekel, so he most likely bullied Sir Beke to invite him as well. Sir Beke would’ve had no choice but to invite Sir Ainno. Cekel’s brother didn’t know that Sir Ainno was interested in Cekel, so he probably thought Sir Ainno was just being his usual difficult self.

Sir Ainno, an unmarried man of over 30 years old, was well known for inviting himself to his guards’ homes for no good reason.

Poliana asked, “Are you going home then, Lady Cekel? Will you be attending this dinner?”

Cekel smiled sneakily and replied, “Of course not. I am a spinster and therefore an embarrassment to my family. This means that there is no reason why I should attend a dinner that will include such an important guest. I will be staying in the castle for the night, Marquess Winter.”

Sir Ainno was not going to be happy about this.

***

The emperor of Acreia, Lucius the First, was again working late tonight. In fact, it was very likely that he might have to work all night. He wasn’t allowed the luxury of spending much time with his lovely wives. He had to be satisfied with just having a glimpse of his beautiful pregnant wife sleeping.

The woman he loved was too busy nowadays to visit him. His best friend, Sir Ainno, was too busy pursuing the woman he loved. Sir Ainno was supposed to have dinner with the emperor tonight, but at the last minute, Sir Ainno said he was invited to the Ingreter family for dinner.

Lucius the First felt envious.

‘I guess it can’t be helped. He should do whatever he can to get the woman he wants.’

The emperor sighed deeply. Just because he wasn’t allowed to get the woman of his dream didn’t mean his friend should lead an unhappy life too.

‘I wonder what he did to get invited…’

To the emperor’s surprise, he saw Sir Ainno and Cekel together often nowadays ever since the cleansing ritual. Lucius the First thought he was supposed to be the lucky one, but it seemed that he was wrong about it.

Would Sir Ainno really win over Lady Cekel?

But still… How could Sir Ainno abandon his friend for a girl? Didn’t he know that a man’s friendship was supposed to come before love?

‘Bastard, he’s such a jerk.’

The emperor took a bite of his food unhappily. It was going to be a long lonely night.

***

There were two reactions when a person of power walked on the street. People either stepped aside to make a path, or they swarmed this person. For Marquess Poliana Winter, the first usually happened. There were odd times when a maid got enough courage to give her a gift, but most of the days, people moved aside for her. The only ones she chatted with on the street were either active-duty soldiers or retired soldiers.

When she was the emperor’s personal guard, she got to know many high ranking officials and scribes, but these men were rarely seen nowadays because of their busy works.

Today, Poliana was invited to dinner by one of her guards. Non-military officials hesitated to invite her, but there were plenty of knights and soldiers who were eager to get closer to her. It began with one of her men inviting her, and soon, all of her guards were inviting her for dinner. There were many men in the Second Division, so it would take her over two months to visit all of her men’s homes.

Poliana didn’t mind, however, because there was no one waiting for her at her own home.

Lady Rebecca’s morning sickness and nausea were becoming worse lately, which meant that the ladies’ late afternoon snack time no longer occurred. It would have been rude to eat delicious snacks in front of a woman who could not enjoy them. Lady Rebecca felt guilty, so sometimes, Lady Stra brought some snacks for the ladies but today, she didn’t bring any food. Poliana was used to eating lots of snacks after lunch, so when she didn’t get to eat anything after lunch, she found herself starving by dinner time.

When her stomach growled loudly, Frau, who was nearby, mustered up the courage to ask her, “Marquess, if you are hungry, perhaps we could have dinner together!”

“I have plans for tonight.”

This was the fifth time Frau asked for dinner, and Poliana had to say no every time. She wondered, ‘I am not sure if he is just a bit slow or really stupid…’

He looked upset as he murmured, “Oh, I see…”

He walked away sadly, and Poliana didn’t feel good about it. It felt like she was being a bully to a nice man. She didn’t know when, but she began to notice that Frau liked to hang around her often.

‘Doesn’t he know that I get invited to dinner all the time? I thought everyone knew…’

It was a well-known fact that Marquess Winter rarely refused a dinner invitation, which meant that she had plans almost every night.

‘If he just gives me a date that works for both of us, I would say yes. Does he not know that?’

Only

All Frau had to do was to ask her when she was available. It seemed that although Frau was a smart doctor, he didn’t have any common sense or basic social skills. Poliana saw him as a delicate man, so seeing him unhappy made her feel guilty.

Was he being like this because he found her difficult? Was it because she was a marquess?

‘Do I look that hard to talk to?’

But she wasn’t! Not at all! She was very easy to talk to!

What Poliana didn’t know was that any man who fell in love with her found it very hard to approach her. Lucius the First, Sir Donau, and now Frau… She was a very dense woman when it came to love and dating.

This was the fifth time Frau invited her for dinner. Poliana felt horrible, so she promised herself, ‘The next time he asks me, I will just pick a date for him.’

Poliana exhaled deeply; being a woman of power could be very tiring.