The Emperor And The Knightess

After leaving Lady Tory, Poliana went to visit Lady Stra to console her. The emperor spent all morning with Stra to comfort her, so the lady was feeling much calmer. Stra seemed very happy to see Poliana, making Poliana feel guilty. Stra said to her, "His highness is very kind, but you are really caring too, Marquess." Poliana knew Stra was implying that Poliana cared because she was a woman too and understood what Stra was going through.

"Gos.h.!.+ I feel so bad…"

Until her awkward conversation with Rebecca, Poliana actually thought Stra was being weak and seeking attention. Poliana couldn"t help feeling horrible. It felt even worse because Poliana realized how awful she had been. Until now, she had been acting kindly to the ladies as if she was doing a favor for them. Deep inside, she thought she was better than them and she thought they should feel thankful for her attention.

"I am such a terrible person, I"m a hypocrite."

She was acting like the people she hated the most in the world. Poliana felt ashamed of herself. She murmured, "I will leave you so you can rest, Lady Stra."

"You"re leaving already?"

"You must be tired, so you shouldn"t push yourself."

Poliana pretended to be worried about Stra"s health and left the room quickly. She remembered what Rebecca told her. Lady Rebecca said that Stra liked Poliana the most, and this made her feel even worse. Stra"s eyes looked red like she had been crying all day yesterday. Guilt and shame filled Poliana"s heavy heart.

"Maybe I should go home early."

Her guards would"ve loved this. The best boss in the world was the one that left their workers alone. When Poliana returned to her office and got ready to leave early, his men seemed very thrilled.

Just then, Rebecca visited her. The lady came alone without any of her entourage, so Poliana quickly walked up to her to support her frail body.

"Oh why?! Why did she come here? Why doesn"t she just rest in her room?"

Poliana didn"t feel ready to see Rebecca yet. She had the courage to die and courage to apologize, but not to talk to her. Poliana looked away, unsure of what to do.

"Dammit! I don"t even know what kind of expression I should have on my face… Dammit! Okay, let"s just look professional."

Poliana straightened her shoulder to look dependable and said to the lady, "Lady Rebecca, you should be resting. You are going to hurt yourself."

"I wanted to come to apologize to you, Marquess."

"You couldn"t just send your maid with a message."

"It is a good manner to apologize to someone in person."

This wasn"t something they should discuss in public. It wasn"t going to help anyone to know about their conversation before. Poliana helped Rebecca so they could move to another place. Rebecca said she was fine talking to her in her office, but Poliana insisted that they should go to Rebecca"s quarters.

Poliana held Rebecca"s arm to help, and she could feel that the lady still had a fever.

"So she is still not feeling well… So why did she come to see me?"

In fact, Lady Rebecca felt warmer than yesterday. When they walked into Rebecca"s quarters, the maids ran out with shocked faces. Poliana looked at her guards, who were supposed to make sure Lady Rebecca never left her quarter alone. Poliana said to the guards, "I will talk to you tomorrow."

The guards looked terrified.

"S-sir Pol! Please!"

"Please, just punish us now."

"Boss, please! We are so sorry! It won"t happen again!"

The guards cried out fearfully, and the people gathered around out of curiosity. Her guards were afraid of what kind of punishment they might get tomorrow, so they begged to be punished immediately. When Poliana ignored them and left, some of the higher-ranking knights came by and laughed at the scared guards.

"Hahaha! Oh, man… You guys are going to die tomorrow! You should"ve done your job!"

"Hahaha!"

"It"s so funny!"

***

When they entered the lady"s reception room, Rebecca dismissed everyone. She prepared the snacks herself slowly, and as Poliana watched, she became nervous. Poliana still didn"t know what she should say or how she should react. She certainly didn"t feel like having tea with the lady right now. She would"ve rather been with her guards laughing and joking around.

"Maybe I should tell her that I don"t want the tea."

But Poliana knew better than to refuse the lady"s tea. It would be considered incredibly rude.

However… Poliana was powerful enough that she could get away with such vulgarity. Power was such a frightening thing because it blurred the boundaries of what was allowed and what wasn"t. It also made a person forget the fact that she was becoming someone she never wanted to become.

"I hope she doesn"t overdo it…"

Rebecca was still not fully recovered. She was fragile, to begin with, and she often suffered from mild fever and dizziness. Even the smallest change in the weather affected her considerably. Lady Rebecca was from the southern kingdom, which meant she was used to warm and humid weather. Ever since she moved to Yapa where the weather was colder, Lady Rebecca often suffered from a cold.

Rebecca placed various sweets and snacks in front of Poliana. They were from her own homeland and most of them had lovely sweet flavors. Fried fruits sprinkled with sugar, dried fruit pieces, mola.s.ses cookies, and other delicious snacks… The ladies often gathered in Rebecca"s reception room because they loved her snacks. Usually, there would"ve been three or four snacks coming from different places, but today, Rebecca brought out everything she had. It was clear that she was just as nervous as Poliana about what was to be said between them.

After she was done setting the table, Rebecca bowed deeply and apologized, "Marquess, I am very sorry."

"There is no need for you to apologize…"

"No, I must. I am truly sorry. I remember everything I said to you yesterday… The crazy rant and complaints… It was unforgivable and ridiculous. I am surprised that you didn"t just walk out of the room, Marquess Winter. So I must apologize to you… Yesterday… I…"

It sounded like another long awkward conversation was about to start. Poliana couldn"t take it, so she interrupted Rebecca coldly.

"Lady Rebecca, there is no need for you to apologize because there is nothing to forgive. To be honest, I wasn"t really paying attention to what you were saying yesterday. Please don"t be so stressed about it. It is a waste of your time and effort. What you need to do now is to have some rest and get better. Please, don"t even think about yesterday. I will be leaving now."