The Emperor and the Knightess

Poliana yelled, “If I was just ‘sitting’ on top of you, do you think I would be saying this?!”

Poliana dared to raise her voice to the emperor. Her face frowning in frustration, she left the room without asking for his permission. Lucius the First could not stop her. He was so surprised that he wasn’t thinking clearly. His heart was beating so fast like he ran hundreds of miles nonstop.

‘Calm down, Lucius… Calm down… Calm down… I need to calm down…’

The emperor rested his chin on his hand and thought carefully. So he was laying on the bed and Poliana was on top of him… And she wasn’t just “sitting” on top of him… And Poliana was certain, based on this piece of memory, that she took advantage of his drunk body…

So…

‘She was on top of me!’

There was no need for further explanation.

“…!”

The emperor collapsed onto his desk while clutching his chest. His heart, pride, and desire were all damaged from this piece of information. Something so great and incredible happened yet he couldn’t remember any of it… He hated himself. He hated his brain for being so stupid.

Lucius the First felt foolish for secretly being happy about vaguely remembering the feel of her breasts. Something even greater happened, and all he could remember was the hazy shape of her breasts… The emperor wanted to cry. It was the first time since his parents died that he felt like crying like this.

Lucius the First tried and tried to remember that night, but nothing came up to his mind. He even hit his head a few times with his hand, but it was no use.

***

Poliana was furious, and as the woman in power, she did not relieve her anger alone. After all, Poliana had plenty of men in her control to help her feel better.

When she walked into the Second Division’s breakroom, the guards saluted her loudly. Poliana was disappointed to see that the room was sparse. She hoped that if one of her men who weren’t supposed to be taking a break was playing hooky so she would have an excuse to punish him. But to her annoyance, it seemed that all of her men in the Second Division were honest and diligent.

Normally, any boss would’ve been proud to have such good men, but today was not a normal day. Poliana asked, “Is there anyone here who wants to spar me?”

The young handsome men in the room all looked away, unable to meet her eyes. As the head of the Second Division, Poliana was a powerful and influential figure both politically and in terms of military authority. If a young guard wanted to make it in this world and get promoted, this would’ve been a good chance to volunteer and get on her good side. This would be the chance to be noticed by the boss. However, it seemed that no one wanted to be successful because no one volunteered.

The guards had a good reason to remain quiet. Poliana sparred a few times recently with the guards of the First Division recently, and the way she fought was considered legendary.

When Poliana sparred, she attacked like she was in a real battle. It wasn’t just her that fought so hard; many spars were fought seriously, and most young knights were excited at the chance of sparring with a veteran soldier. Many of the young guards never had the chance to fight in real battles so sparring those who were in the war was the only way to learn the realness of a battlefield.

However, Poliana, who obviously had less stamina and strength, was known to fight viciously. To be her most effective self, Poliana attacked only the most vulnerable body parts. If a man got a lighter version of her attack, he would be in severe pain. If a man got the full force of her attack, the man could be permanently crippled. Her savagery worsened recently after she trained with the First Division. All the soldiers of the royal guards were well-trained men, yet those who had the opportunity to fight Poliana, declared that it was like fighting a hungry tiger.

‘Our boss Sir Pol… I don’t think she became physically stronger, but she became scarier, right?’

‘Totally. We better never get on her bad side.’

The superstitious guards of the Second Division believed that if their boss died, she would become the guardian ghost of Yapa that protected the capital forever.

Poliana walked around the room leisurely as her men stood straight and in fear. She looked at them as if they were pieces of meat to be bought and eaten at the butcher’s shop. Who will be called to face this tiger?

Suddenly, Poliana’s face turned ugly as she gagged.

“Blargh.”

Poliana gagged a few times, and the men felt hurt as they said to her, “B,Boss… You are too mean. We get that we smell rotten, but to gag in front of us like that…”

“N-no, that’s not it… Blargh… I… Blargh…”

Poliana couldn’t stop gagging so she ran out of the room. The smell in the guard’s breakroom was a familiar smell to her. Men’s sweat, blood, urine, mold, alcohol, juice, stale bread and meat, and mouse poop… There was nothing new there; Poliana was used to the smell. In fact, she has smelled much worse during the war.

So why did the familiar smell suddenly make her sick? For some reason, Poliana could not stop gagging. Her head kept telling her the smell was fine, but her body was reacting violently against it.

It was painful to keep gagging, so Poliana ran to the washroom, thinking that if she vomited, she would feel better. But unfortunately, nothing came out when she tried to throw up. Poliana put a finger inside her throat, but even then, she barely threw up anything.

Poliana tried to think of what might be happening to her body.

‘Hmm… have I been training too hard lately?’

But she used to train even harder in the olden days, right? Sure, she was younger then, but…

Poliana supposed that there was a huge difference between being in one’s teen years to being in one’s twenties. This meant that being over thirty was going to feel very different, and when she turned over forty, her body would deteriorate further.

It was true that the knights who went through harsh training and battles ended up suffering later. It was common for the soldiers to have pain even after their broken bones mended. It didn’t mean that these soldiers could not continue to fight, but…

Only

‘I was feeling fine until this morning. Well, I guess I have been overly tired lately.”

Poliana decided to take the rest of the day off today. She felt guilty, knowing that she should take better care of herself. If she continued to abuse her body this way, Poliana knew she might end up suffering greatly later. She had a hard life for the first twenty years of her life, so Poliana strongly believed that she deserves her next forty years to be amazing.

In fact, her current situation was the best scenario she could ever hope for. She had a great power and her life was finally good. Such a wonderful life should’ve been only the beginning for her.

“Dammit…”

Poliana gritted her teeth and began to pant in panic. Inside of her mouth felt gross from throwing up.

“…”

Poliana desperately wanted to deny the cruel reality, but it was very hard. For a while now, it was becoming harder to ignore the distinct possibility. The changes in her body… She could imagine what these may mean, and now, it was time to find out rather than keep ignoring them.