The Emperor and the Knightess

‘Let’s do this!’

Poliana widened her eyes and glared at the baby. She needed to know…

‘Baby! I need to look at my baby! I need to check and see…!’

“Mistress, what a handsome baby son!”

Poliana finally saw her newborn.

Golden hair and red wrinkly face.

She didn’t have to look further; Poliana wanted to faint as she felt weaker. The midwife and the doctor exclaimed in surprise, “I have worked as a midwife for 35 years, but I have never seen such a handsome baby.”

“Me too.”

“Arghh…”

Poliana’s eyes began to fill with tears. The midwife and the doctor mistook her cry as a new mother’s relief and happiness. Poliana didn’t care what they thought, however. She knew she shouldn’t cry in front of others, but Poliana couldn’t control her emotions.

‘Dammit!’

The baby resembled his father. Her new son still could not open his eyes, but Poliana didn’t have to see to know what color they would be. Even though the baby had the usual red wrinkly face of a newborn, there was no mistake that she could see Lucius the First in him. All the features of the emperor were right there on her son’s face. It looked like a famous artist drew a portrait of the younger version of Lucius the First.

Poliana knew this was a likely result, but there were odd times when the children did not resemble their parents at all, so she has been feeling hopeful.

Until now.

‘Dammit! I’m doomed.’

There was no point in forging a birth certificate for her son. Everyone who saw her son would suspect that Lucius the First was the father. Lying was going to be useless.

Poliana weakly covered the baby’s ears gently and swore, “F*ck.”

She used to be nicknamed the “witch of military strategy” during the war. Everyone knew how much the emperor trusted and relied on her to win many battles. In every battle, Poliana always made sure to have an escape plan. Running away was not something to be ashamed of. This was the same in life, which Poliana believed was a battle as well. However, when running away, one needed to be well prepared. One needed to have a solid plan for the escape to work.

And in this case, Poliana made a huge mistake. She ran away without a plan; She failed herself.

***

Poliana began to feed her high-born son. Her entire body was swollen as if someone beat her recently. Her breastmilk wasn’t very free-flowing, but thankfully, her baby was a strong eater.

Poliana already had a wet nurse and a nanny ready to get to work. High-born ladies never raised their own children. A wet nurse was there to feed the baby and the nanny was there to do the rest to take care of the baby. Before giving birth, Poliana thought being a mother would be a simple job.

But she was very wrong. The wet nurse told her that the birth mother needed to feed her baby for at least a month. Poliana was confused, asking, “Why?”

“That way, the baby will be healthy.”

“But this baby is already very healthy. He will be just fine without my breast milk. I mean, he survived that crazy training.”

Poliana wasn’t making sense. In the end, she began to feed her son as the nanny consoled her, “Mistress, you just need to endure this for a month. I will also get you the herb that helps dry up breast milk production, so it happens gradually.”

“And after a month, I will feel better?”

“Yes, yes. I guarantee it.”

Poliana had to feed her newborn every half an hour to an hour for a month. The rest of the work was done by others, but since she had to be awake every half an hour, Poliana was constantly tired.

‘I’m so sleepy.’

Poliana watched her baby eat with bleary eyes. Thinking about her situation and her bleak future made her shiver.

‘What should I do now?’

Poliana still hasn’t named her baby yet. She planned on naming it after birth and when she was certain no one would suspect who the father was. But now, it was too late. She had no idea that her son would resemble his son this much. The similarity was uncanny.

Just why did he have to be born looking like this? Did her son want to let everyone in the kingdom know of his precious royal blood? During the pregnancy, Poliana nicknamed the baby the Dog Stew since she craved it so much. There was a myth that a baby named with something common and unimportant will live a long healthy life. Believing this, Poliana still continued to call her son the Dog Stew. In addition, she did not think she had the right to name her son at this point.

Poliana glared at Dog Stew, who still could not open his eyes. The baby had no idea what was happening. All he did was just continue to eat.

‘Dammit.’

Poliana regretted not coming up with a good plan before running to Sitrin. She was now trapped, and she had no idea what her next move should be. It was too late to tell the truth. In hindsight, she shouldn’t have run away like that.

‘But I had no idea he would resemble his father this much. Where did my blood go? Why doesn’t he look like me at all?!’

Poliana continued to examine the baby closely. Even though she still could not see the baby’s eyes, and even though the baby’s nose was still smooshed from the birth, there was no denying that Dog Stew was Lucius the First’s son.

Only

The wet nurse and the nanny, who didn’t know what their emperor looked like, were excited at how handsome the baby was.

“The master must resemble the father, my Lady.”

They didn’t say it outright, but it was clear that everyone was relieved that the new baby did not look like Poliana. The mother, however, disagreed. Poliana would’ve preferred her baby to be ugly. It would’ve been fine for her son to be even uglier than herself. She didn’t care if her son grew up to resent her because of his looks. All Poliana wanted was for her baby to either resemble herself or no one.

‘Hmm… Maybe the hair color is similar to mine?’

Her son’s hair was not the clear golden color as the emperor’s. It was a little duller like her own. But of course, a baby’s hair color could change as he grew up.

Poliana slowly patted her son’s hair. Dog Stew finally opened his eyes and she saw that they were the clear green color just like the emperors’. The baby clearly had no idea what he was seeing, but he still looked at her intensely. He looked adorable.

‘What should I do?’