Chapter 124One day, Poliana saw Sir Ainno while walking. A lot had happened since he left. While he was gone, the knights of the knight"s order were having a comfortable time while annoying Sir Mahogal.
No one seemed to know where Sir Ainno had been all this time or what he had been doing. He didn"t even report to the emperor in detail, but he still looked as confident and as ent.i.tled as ever.
Even now, Sir Ainno looked at Poliana arrogantly as he said to her, "You should have better control over your division."
"What a jerk."
Sir Ainno frowned at her, and Poliana did the same. They glared at each other with their face deeply wrinkled. Poliana finally replied, "I wanted to tell you the same thing myself, Sir Ainno."
Sir Ainno chose his knights based on only their skills and nothing else. These knights followed Sir Ainno"s orders, but not Sir Mahogal"s. While Sir Ainno was gone, Sir Mahogal had a tough time controlling these men. He was so busy that he never got the chance to return home even once.
Poliana couldn"t just play defensive, so she asked Sir Ainno, "Aren"t you going to get married, Sir Ainno?"
"I can get married whenever I want and whoever I want."
Sir Ainno answered comfortably. He added, "I can even play around until I am 40 years old, then get married."
Getting married to a young girl at 40? He was such an a.s.sh*le. And when Lucius the First heard it, he had the same reaction as Poliana.
"Inno, are you serious? That is so gross, don"t be a pervert. Think about it."
This was especially a problem in Acreia. Men only tried to marry young women, which meant that there were many spinsters unable to get themselves married. Lucius the First was told that this wasn"t a huge problem among the high-ranking aristocrats, but it definitely was among the lower-ranking n.o.bles and commoners. Everyone thought the problem of unmarried women would be solved once the men returned from the war, but it seemed that every man wanted to marry only young girls.
Having too many unmarried men and women was a huge problem for the kingdom. It was considered unlucky. Of course, the emperor himself was not planning on getting married any time soon, but he was adamant it was only because he was too busy currently.
Lucius the First was asked to approve a marriage between a n.o.bleman in his 30"s and a young lady of 13. The emperor shook in anger. He announced, "We will create a law that disallows young girls from getting married. A marriage between two parties with an age gap bigger than 20 years will be denied as well. I had no idea there are so many perverts in this world."
There was no place for love when it came to a marriage between the aristocrats. The only things that mattered to them were wealth and family name. It was one thing to have two children engaged to be married when they were older, but the emperor could not allow old men to take young girls as their wives. It was just wrong.
As he created new laws, Lucius the First became frustrated. He already had so many things to do, yet every time he finished one task, he was burdened with ten more.
The emperor said to Poliana, "I am not being lazy about siring an heir. I just have so much to do for this kingdom."
"Indeed, your highness. You are working so hard, and what you have accomplished so far is very impressive."
Whenever the emperor became frustrated or upset, all she had to do was to praise him. This seemed to be enough to cheer him up and get him back to work.
Poliana added, "But not all of them are perverts, your highness."
She was correct. There were many young soldiers who married a widow with children who lost their husbands to the war. There also were many who offered to marry their fellow soldiers" spinster sisters and daughters.
Lucius the First praised them and awarded them wedding gifts.
After a nice chat with Poliana during his break, the emperor called for Duke Luzo. The duke was working while sitting outside because the healers claimed that the sun was good for hair loss. Looking tired, Duke Luzo appeared in front of the emperor, who looked at him fondly and apologetically.
"Luzo, I promise you that after we get most of the work done, I will let you go."
"Do you really mean that?"
"Of course. I am the emperor and I would never make a promise I can"t keep."
Duke Luzo yelled at the scribes, "Everyone, write everything we say down accurately! Do it! Make sure you do a perfect job!"
Poliana watched the two men working hard for a short while before leaving the room.
"How is it that there is so much to do for all of us?"
Poliana recently saw the portrait of Duke Luzo when he was younger. She was shocked to realize that he used to be a beautiful young man before the war began. She felt sympathetic towards him, and she felt ashamed that she had been complaining about the amount of work she was burdened with.
"Even the most important people like the duke and the emperor are working so hard… I shouldn"t be complaining at all."
She also felt embarra.s.sed that Sir Ainno pointed out how uncontrolled her division was. Too much work was not good enough as an excuse, she needed to get this problem fixed as soon as possible.
Poliana immediately called for an emergency meeting. Every guard, except the ones who needed to stay with the emperor, gathered around her. Her own men, who were familiar with her style of training and lecturing, looked up at the sky in fear.
"Because of Sir Jainno"s stupid men, we are all going to be punished…"
Poliana"s guards glared at Sir Jainno"s guards angrily. It was Poliana who was going to punish them, but they weren"t upset with her. Her men knew that Poliana had to be extra strict and harsh in order to control this division because she was a woman and a foreigner. This was the only way to gain a firm unwavering loyalty from her unit.
Today was going to be the day when Poliana would show them who"s boss.
It was a beautiful sunny day out in the castle training area. Anyone who defied her even the slightest was going to be dragged to the jail cell and whipped mercilessly.
Poliana announced forcefully, "I guess you all think it"s ok to relax and live a little just because the war is over, huh? Do you think you can disrespect me and get away with it? Do you know who told me how I lost my control over my own men? It"s Sir Ainno, he told me I lost my touch! Shall I get you, men, to join the training with the knight"s order? Would you like to be trained by Sir Ainno? Is that what it"s going to take for you to listen to me?"
"No, ma"am! It won"t happen again!"
"We apologize, Sir Poliana!"
Poliana nodded and continued, "If you have a complaint against me, just say it and I will consider it. If having a female superior is a problem for any of you, you can come to me. I will remove your b.a.l.l.s and make you a woman so you won"t have any more problems with me. If having a foreigner as your superior is a problem, tell me. I will fix it by having you executed for defying the emperor"s order, which was to consider everyone on this continent as an Acreian. Anything else? My t.i.tle? My strength? If you have any more issues, you can complain to the emperor himself and see what happens! DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!"