The Emperor and the Knightess

In addition, there really was no noble that was powerful enough to fight against Poliana. The only one who might be able to use this new development against her was Sir Ainno Seki, but he had no interest in her. In the end, no one really cared about Poliana breaking up with Frau Sneke. Those who were closely acquainted with Poliana knew what happened, so they refused to mention this incident.

Poliana tried her best to forget about the situation and Lucius the First did his best to stop any unsavory rumors starting. The result was that it didn’t take long for the kingdom to forget about Frau Sneke and Poliana’s relationship with him.

Lucius the First let Poliana know that it was Lady Bika who helped in revealing the truth about Frau, so Poliana sent a thank you letter and a gift to her. If it wasn’t for Lady Bika’s amazing memory, Poliana might have married the jerk. Poliana remembered Frau saying he was going to make sure he didn’t die before her.

‘Hmm… Make sure how…?’

Poliana sincerely hoped that he didn’t mean to become a murderer because if he did, then it meant that her ability to judge a character was severely impaired.

Poliana also thanked Cekel. “I wish I listened to you when I had the chance.” She sighed deeply. Lately, Poliana noticed that only two things she gained were the habit of sighing and weight. Her diet or the amount of training she had haven’t changed much, yet she noticed herself gaining weight around her waist. A long time ago, Sir Baufallo used to be upset about this exact same problem. At the time, Poliana didn’t understand him, but now, the same thing was happening to her.

Oh, the joy of getting old…

Cekel shook her head and replied, “Please, you shouldn’t feel so bad about all this.” She felt guilty because she didn’t stop Poliana harder. Cekel thought she should’ve made more effort and be more insistent. If she only had more information at the time… It was such a regrettable situation. She should’ve insisted that her brother, Sir Deke, research further about Frau Sneke.

Currently, Poliana was the head of the Second Division and therefore, she was responsible for the safety of the royal family. Cekel, a royal maid, was one of many who served the royal family. At this moment, the head of the lady’s quarters was the emperor’s first-born daughter Princess Luminae. Because she was still an infant, her nannies and wet nurses took care of her. There was no need for Poliana to be by her side for protection and Cekel, who was an unmarried maid, was not needed either.

Many of the maids had to leave the castle because their families, most of them being Acreian nobles, were imprisoned. But even though there were significantly fewer maids present, there were still more than enough in the castle especially since the emperor now didn’t have any wives. Cekel wasn’t having busy days, but she was frustrated by another matter. Everyone kept asking her about how her wedding plan was going, and she was beginning to feel overwhelmed. Cekel preferred to talk to Poliana about other things, but Poliana ended up asking the same question as everyone else.

“So Cekel, how is your wedding plan going? Have you made significant progress?”

“… I didn’t expect you to ask me that question.”

“Oh, I just meant that if you need, I can give you some of the items I prepared for my own wedding. I hope you aren’t offended by my offer. Everything I have is of the best quality. Many of them were things I prepared with Lady Tory.”

“Pardon?”

“I mean, I understand that you might not feel comfortable using my stuff because of what happened to my wedding. I get that you might think they are tainted or unlucky, but I think you will be fine because your groom is Sir Ainno. That jer… I mean, Sir Ainno is such a strong-willed man that I don’t think any bad luck would dare to come after you and him.”

“I… I would appreciate anything you can spare me, Marquess Winter.”

Having the Seki family as the in-laws were going to help the Ingreter family greatly in many ways but preparing for the wedding was becoming a huge burden for Cekel’s parents. Although the Seki family did not ask for an unreasonable dowry, the Ingreter family still had the responsibility of trying its best to match the gifts offered by the Seki family. If Cekel accepted the items Poliana prepared for her own wedding, it was going to unburden her family greatly. Sir Ainno told Cekel that she didn’t have to bring anything to the marriage, but Cekel wasn’t thick-skinned enough to do such a thing.

Cekel felt a little embarrassed that she had to do this, but she had no choice. She accepted Poliana’s offer and she was thankful for it. Poliana nodded and said to her, “And if you ever feel like you can’t live with him, let me know. I will help you with the divorce.”

“… you’re funny, Marquess.”

Cekel smiled bitterly because no one knew what the future may hold.

***

In Yapa, the civil servants were the busiest men because any evidence the royal guards found were dumped on them to be processed. It was the job of the royal guards to arrest the criminals while the civil servants were responsible for examining and determining the official crimes and their appropriate punishments. All the guilty noblemen were arrested, which meant that the knights were now free to enjoy their time off. The civil servants, however, were burdened with a never-ending amount of work.

The head of all of the civil servants, the chancellor, was officially still imprisoned. Unofficially, he was still working for the emperor, but because there was a limit to what he could do in the prison, Duke Luzo was ordered to remain in Yapa. Duke Luzo sobbed and screamed, “But you promised to leave me alone after I get married! You promised I wouldn’t have to work like a slave anymore!”

Lucius the First feigned ignorance, telling his cousin that he promised no such thing. The emperor stated, “I told you I would let you go after things settle down.”

Only

In the end, Duke Luzo was saddled with all the responsibilities of the chancellor as well as those of the emperor while he was gone with Poliana. When Lucius the First finally returned, Duke Luzo couldn’t control his anger.

“How could you do this to me?! You went away just to hunt a gold digger? How could you?”

“I told you, it wasn’t just any gold digger.”

“What do you mean? Not just any gold digger? So you mean an ugly one?”

“Listen here, Luzo. Marquess Winter is very special to me.”

“And I am not?!”

The emperor replied in a serious tone, “Listen to me carefully.”