The Emperor and the Knightess

At first, Poliana thought that he was smart and lucky, but she soon realized that she was falling into his trap. Donau had less military experience than Poliana did, but he knew the Acreian army much better than she did. Donau knew the paths and schedules of everyone very well, and he used it to his advantage to taunt her.

The only time he couldn’t escape her was when he’s cooking. He was still on the kitchen duty, which meant that for at least an hour before lunch and dinner, he had to be in the kitchen. Poliana used this to her advantage.

While cooking, Donau couldn’t pick a fight with her. If they ended up in a physical spat and something happened to the food, he was going to get in trouble. So it was Poliana, who tried to pick a fight with him during those times.

She made a point of roaming around the kitchen while he worked. She knew that he hated her presence and that was why she did it. She also tried his food while he’s cooking or ate a few pieces of vegetables after he chopped them. Others assumed that she was just hungry, and Donau couldn’t openly complain about what she was doing since she wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Donau quickly became extremely irritated, particularly whenever Poliana criticized his cooking.

“Little boy, your soup is too salty.”

“Go drown, you b*tch.”

Poliana smiled and Donau smiled as well. From afar, they looked like they were having a nice conversation.

“If it wasn’t for you, b*tch, I would’ve been knighted by now.”

“I see that you are a coward who likes to blame others for your own incompetence.”

“This isn’t my fault! All of my friends became knights already!”

The biggest reason Donau hated Poliana wasn’t that she was a woman. There was a limited number of knighthoods given every year. Donau was still waiting for his time. Most of his friends were already knighted, and Donau believed that he was the best of them all, so he was angry that he still remained to be a mere personal help.

He was so sure he was going to make it this year. It had to be, all the other helps his age was already knighted. It was just him and the younger boys left.

It was going to be this year, but Poliana took his spot. After knighting her, the emperor announced that he was no longer going to knight anyone for the next three months.

It was all Poliana’s fault.

“That is ridiculous. His Highness didn’t knight you because he knew what a brat you are,” Poliana replied.

“You ruined everything, b*tch!”

Donau smacked the pot with the ladle he was holding, and some small bits of the stew had been splattered everywhere. Poliana frowned and took the ladle away from him. She wanted to hit him with it, but she stopped herself from doing so.

Then suddenly, a dog sniffed his way in. When Poliana offered the dog her bowl, which contained the stew she made herself earlier, it sniffed it and licked it a few times before running away.

“…”

“Hahaha! Even the dog doesn’t want your soup, you b*tch! Even the dog won’t eat it!” Donau laughed at her evilly, but she ignored him. She got another bowl and ate it herself. Her philosophy was that food could not be blamed for its taste.

They weren’t in an active war, but there were still some reports for her to complete. After a long day, when Poliana finally could take a break, she left the tent and took a walk in the night. When she was younger in the Aehasian army, there were times when men would try to rape her whenever she took these nightly walks. And every time it happened, she would fight back and escape. She wasn’t a talented fighter, but she was persistent. She wasn’t the strongest, but her experience as a knight made her tougher. Anyone who thought they could take her because she was a woman got a painful lesson from her.

In the Acreian army where the military law was enforced more strictly, things like this never happened. Men took care of their needs however they had to without raping anyone. In the Aehasian army, the superiors always told the men and herself not to complain about anything, whether it was rape done by Sir Batre or any other unfair treatment. Poliana didn’t need this warning, she didn’t even think of complaining, to begin with. Even when she was having her period, she didn’t even dream of taking it easy. Thankfully at least, her period was infrequent.

But when she did have it, it felt awful. She wasn’t in so much pain, but she felt angry and annoyed. She became crueler and rougher, and during battles, she killed her enemies better.

The reason for her walks in the night was to relieve her stress. She walked to a nearby tree and began to hit it with her bare hands. The patrol nearby saw her and walked away while shaking his head. He clearly thought that she had lost her mind.

Suddenly, Poliana felt a presence coming towards her. She stopped assaulting the poor tree and turned around to find a few men staring at her in shock. One of them was Sir Ainno.

Sir Ainno never left the emperor’s side. Wherever Sir Ainno was, it meant that most likely, Lucius the First was nearby.

“Greeting to your highness from Sir Poliana Winter.” Poliana began to sweat nervously as she addressed him.

“Oh, hello. I’m not sure about what you are doing right now, but good luck to you.”

Lucius the First glanced at her without interest and continued to walk past her. Poliana gritted her teeth. It was obvious that he was uninterested in her and it most likely was because she was unimportant. She had no one to blame but herself.

Sir Ainno looked at her in disgust and followed the emperor. Behind them were men carrying a wild boar.

Acreian men were excellent hunters so even though they didn’t lack food or supplies, they often went hunting for fun. Sir Baufallo didn’t approve of these hunting expeditions. Technically, it wasn’t an illegal practice to do so in the military base, but since the First sergeant frowned upon it, the soldiers refrained from hunting.

So here he was, caught hunting. But then again, he was the emperor.

Poliana felt awkward, and the knights seemed awkward as well for being caught by an aide who belonged to Sir Baufallo’s unit.

Lucius the First tried to leave quickly, but he stopped as if he remembered something. He turned to Poliana again and asked, “I hear that you, Sir Poliana, was involved in poisoning the soldiers recently. Is that right?”

“It wasn’t poisoned!”

She was happy that the emperor showed his interest in her, but this was not the kind of thing she wanted her emperor to know. Poliana kneeled in front of him.

She didn’t put any poison in that stew. All of its ingredients were edible. She didn’t burn the pot, nor did she put any soil into it. In fact, she has been eating that stew three times a day for three days now.

The other men saw her eating it and they couldn’t believe it. They called her a crazy btch. A btch without taste buds. A b*tch who could probably survive being poisoned.

Only

‘Whatever.’

Poliana didn’t care. All she wanted was to eat her food as quickly as possible so she could start eating Donau’s food. He was going to be cooking for just a week, so she had to finish her stew as soon as possible.

Lucius the First then said, “I would like to try your stew too to see what it tastes like.”

“No, your highness. You mustn’t.”

One of the knights in his group shook his head seriously. He stated that he was one of the few who tried it. When the knight looked so upset, Lucius the First burst into laughter.

“It was that bad? Well, I guess I shouldn’t then. I will grant you this wild boar, Sir Poliana, so make sure that the men would get their fair shares.”

Apparently, Lucius the First caught two wild boars that day. He gave one to Poliana and it was clear that he was asking her to put in the good words to Sir Baufallo about his hunting trip.

Poliana bowed her thanks and the men dropped one of the animals in front of her.