The Emperor and the Knightess

Her eyes widened to their maximum size. Her entire body trembled. Poliana left the bed quickly. When she was sitting down, she didn’t realize it, but now that she was standing, she realized that her entire body felt heavy like she was a piece of soaked cotton. Her limbs also refused to work, and she ended up falling on the floor as they got tangled on the blanket. Her fall wasn’t too bad; it didn’t make a loud noise. She landed awkwardly, but it wasn’t bad enough to cause her pain.

Poliana grabbed her scabbard and without hesitation, she hit her head with it.

Bam!

First was assaulting the plants, then the buildings, and now her strange habit progressed into hitting herself. She was already suffering from a headache, so the hit made her head spin even more. The pain was intense, making her roll on the floor in agony. Her body became tangled in the blanket. Her mouth opened and she screamed silently.

Unfortunately, this was not a dream. No matter how hard she wished, this was real. All the evidence pointed to one conclusion, and there was no other explanation; she didn’t want to accept it, but her denial wasn’t going to change that fact.

A man and a woman drunk in the same room… Spending the night on one bed… The muscles of her legs, back, and waist aching… The feeling of dried semen between her legs…

‘We slept together!’

They did. Not just sleeping in the same bed but “sleeping” together.

“Arrgghhh!”

Poliana pulled at her hair, trying to remember what happened last night. Pulling her hair worsened her already-painful headache, but she had to try. Just what happened? How did this happen? Why? She had to remember. She must!

But just as she knew very well, there were things in the world that could not be accomplished no matter how hard you tried. Unfortunately, this was one of them. Poliana could remember small useless bits and pieces, but not the whole picture.

Yesterday… She wanted to forget about Frau and what happened to him. This was why she purchased the large barrel of alcohol and visited the emperor. She planned to get drunk and forget about everything.

But it seemed that she had made a huge mistake. The result of her actions last night was a nightmare. In addition, she meant to forget what happened yesterday, but she ended up forgetting what happened last night.

Bam! Bam!

Poliana hit herself again a few times, and miraculously, she was able to remember a little bit more.

Poliana remembered giggling as she buried her face on Lucius the First’s bare chest. She remembered touching him everywhere. His bare skin on her hands… She kept giggling and touching him. Poliana remembered feeling happy and excited for some reason.

The feeling of another person’s warmth was pleasant. Lucius the First smelled nice and his skin was smooth. The feeling of his hard muscle underneath was enough to melt her heart. She especially liked his chest because they were so smooth yet so hard…

“No! Not this! This isn’t what I need to remember! I need to remember how it happened!”

Her face became pale. Just what was she supposed to do now? Would she be able to remember more of what happened last night? Poliana pulled at her hair again, and again, she remembered a little bit more. Lucius the First was pulling back and Poliana remembered wrapping his body with both of her legs and pulling him closer as she giggled…

No! She didn’t want to remember anymore. Poliana shook her head vigorously and the dizziness was enough to make the memories disappear for a moment. This was a big problem. If she heard that something like this happened to someone else, she would’ve giggled and gossiped about it for days. She would’ve wondered if the man and the woman would end up getting married. If one of them was married, would the cheater get divorced? She would’ve imagined the worst possibilities and gossip about this with Lucius the First.

But now that it happened to her… She could not laugh about it. This was not fun at all.

This was a huge accident.

“Y-y-your highness! You need to wake up!”

Her mouth was so dry that she could barely speak. Her voice sounded unusually lower than usual. Poliana crawled towards the jug of water. Thankfully, it was full.

“Your highness! Please wake up!”

Poliana desperately asked the emperor to rise. It was very rude of her to do this, but this was an emergency.

“Your highness!”

“Hmmm…. Chail… Just five more minutes…”

Lucius the First kept grumbling with his eyes closed. He must’ve thought that Master Chail was trying to wake him up.

“Your highness! It’s an emergency!”

“Chail… My entire body aches… I am tired… I think I might be coming down with something, so I’m going to sleep for a little while longer…”

“Your highness!”

Cough! Poliana’s mouth was so dry that she kept coughing. She took a sip of water and tried to wake up Lucius the First again.

“Your highness! We aren’t at the castle! It’s me, Poliana!”

“Wha…”

“Please wake up, your highness!”

Finally, the emperor’s eyes opened. He blinked a few times and his face crumpled in pain. He still looked very sleepy so Poliana wet her hand and wiped his face for him. She focused on his eyes.

“Your highness! This is an emergency! Your highness, please wake up!”

“Huh…? Pol? What’s happening? I want to sleep a bit more…”

“Your highness, I think I committed a crime.”

“Sir Pol, did you go rip the limbs off that snake last night?”

Lucius the First was still half asleep and confused, but despite it, his trust in his knightess was still strong. He knew that Poliana would never do something unreasonable and unethical, which meant that he couldn’t think of anything she could’ve done that would be considered a “crime.”

Only

“Arrgghh!”

Suddenly, he frowned as his handover headache overwhelmed him.

‘Just how much did I drink last night…?’

He rubbed his eyes and looked around. Just as Poliana did, the emperor could also see that the barrel was half empty. The problem was, he couldn’t’ remember much from last night.

Lucius the First felt weak and tired even though he slept till the morning. He could understand why he was tired; it was a typical symptom after drinking too much. Lucius the First, however, was not concerned. Even though he was tired, he felt great. The reason why he grumbled about wanting to sleep more was because he was sleeping so well. In fact, it was the best sleep he has ever had. He almost felt like he didn’t want to wake up at all…

Then suddenly, his blank face changed into that of a realization. His eyes widened slowly as he saw the marks on Poliana’s naked body. He looked around to see the room and the bed.

“…”