The Emperor and the Knightess

In the capital city Yapa’s royal castle, the innermost area was where the emperor’s public office is located. This was where he held official meetings with the noblemen.

Inside this place, there are many large paintings that fill the walls. They were mostly the painting of various events in history. The one on the main wall is the painting of the emperor’s wedding.

This painting was unusually big and detailed. It was so meticulously done that one could see each face of all the spectators. The number of paints, effort, time, and the number of painters it took to create this masterpiece was considered to be the greatest in the history of Acreia.

As one would expect, the emperor’s wedding was extravagant and luxurious. Lucius the First was beautiful as usual, but everyone was shocked once again to see his radiance on this day. His flawless skin, his golden hair, his bright eyes, and his perfect body… It seemed that no one could ever get used to his incredible beauty and elegance.

The bride, who was supposed to be the flower of the wedding, appeared wearing her armor. When someone mentioned how a bride should be wearing a dress, Poliana replied, “But the tradition dictates that the bride wears the most expensive outfit she owns right? I am only following this rule.”

Indeed, the bride was right. It was true that the bride was supposed to wear the most expensive outfit in her closet and it was also true that the metal armor, which was gifted to her by the emperor himself, was the most expensive outfit she owned. It was further adorned by being painted with white gold and jeweled with various precious stones. It was possibly the most expensive armor that was ever made. Because it was the bride that was wearing it, everyone seemed to be in awe and discomfort. If the emperor wore it, people would’ve openly admired it.

Just as he promised, Lucius the First put the wedding ring over his bride’s gauntlet. No expense was spared for this event. It was a luxurious and extravagant wedding, but rather than being known for how beautiful it was, this wedding was forever going to be remembered as the strangest event in Acreian history.

The painting, when completed, was the talk of the town.

“Those royal painters should be ashamed of what they did. This painting is supposed to be an accurate representation of the true event.”

“This is… wrong. This isn’t right.”

“Actually, I think I can understand why they did this… I mean, she is the very first empress of this continent, so it would be too sad if the painters painted the truth… You know what she looks like… The painters obviously had no choice.”

“Then they should’ve just drawn a helmet over her face rather than lie about it!”

“But that didn’t happen, so the painting would be inaccurate. She didn’t wear a helmet so how would they be able to draw it in?”

“…look at the empress’s face on that painting. Do you think that is accurate?”

Poliana Winter.

The enemy knightess who was caught by the emperor. The knightess who betrayed her own kingdom to serve Lucius the First. Even as the foreigner and a female, the knightess who became the marquess and eventually the first empress of Acreia. There was no doubt that Poliana Winter was going to be the most remembered female figure in Acreian history. This meant that the royal painters had the obligation to paint as accurately as possible, but… They just could not make themselves paint Poliana accurately. This was especially the case because standing next to her was the beautiful Lucius the First,

So they changed her features a little. Just a little bit.

They straightened her twisted nose a little. They made her eyes look a little larger and slimmed down her manly chiseled cheekbones. They rounded her harsh face a little and painted her cheeks pink. They also made her skin look brighter and clearer.

When Lucius the First saw the finished product, he was furious.

“It looks like I married another woman!”

But Poliana understood how tormented the painters must’ve been. To appease the emperor and make the painters feel less guilty, they decided to paint a portrait of Poliana.

Normally, when an important figure such as a royal member of a nobleman, the portrait tended to be painted subjectively based on the painter’s discretion. The more powerful the figure was, the more beautiful the portrait turned out to be.

It would’ve been normal, even expected, for the portrait of the empress to be beautified, but Poliana ordered, “You need to paint me truthfully.” Because a personal portrait was usually enhanced dramatically, the wedding painting would’ve been expected to provide a more accurate face of the empress than her portrait. So what will the future generation think when they see how Poliana looked much uglier on her personal portrait than the wedding painting?

Either they were going to say that the painter who painted the portrait must’ve hated the empress or that Empress Poliana Winter was truly an unattractive woman.

Only

Poliana, however, thought that by comparing her portrait to that of the emperor, the future generation would realize what a beautiful man Lucius the First was.

***

Poliana groaned as she stretched her arms. She ended up resigning as the head of the Second Division. The Second Division was responsible for the protection of the royal family, and now that she became part of this family, it didn’t make sense to protect herself. So instead, she was reassigned to the head of the Third Division, which was responsible for protecting the Yapa castle and the surrounding area.

It was a big job as it involved providing security for the entire capital city. Because they were so short-handed, Sir Jainno and Sir Wook, who were the heads of the Second Division, welcomed Poliana with open arms.

To replace Poliana, Sir Mahogal became the head of the Second Division. Sir Mahogal, happy to have left Sir Ainno’s grasp in the First Division, apparently cried for three days straight.

The position of the second-in-command of the First Division was given to Sir Beke. Although he wasn’t the best fighter, the guards of the First Division were notoriously unruly so it was decided that Sir Beke, who was considered a logical and sensible man, would be perfect for the job. It also helped that Sir Beke was Sir Ainno’s brother-in-law. There was no way any knight would ever dare to disobey Sir Beke knowing how Sir Ainno could come after them.

Sir Ainno, after becoming a father of a daughter, finally received his title and became Duke Seki. The story of what Sir Ainno’s face looked like when he saw his daughter for the first time was a popular one. Unfortunately, Poliana didn’t get to witness this in person, but she heard that Sir Ainno cried. Sir Jainno was laughing so hard when he told Poliana the story. Apparently, Sir Ainno’s usually grumpy face was gone, and his lips trembled for the longest time. Poliana laughed hard when she heard the story too. It was a story she knew she would never forget.