The Emperor And The Knightess

Sir Donau and Sir Howe used the rooms next to Poliana, so they met each other often. Like their father Sir Baufallo, the boys liked to keep themselves cleaner than most men on the base. They also never visited the prost.i.tutes like everyone else for the same reason.

The brothers were curious about Poliana"s new duty. When she first complained about how she was treated by Sir Ainno, the brothers nodded and replied, "That"s normal for those rude guards. They think they are better than everyone else."

"That"s right. And the guards spend too much time on their appearances."

Donau looked at his older brother and said to him, "But you do too, bro."

"I"m different. Not like them at all, and what angers me the most is the fact that all of the guards are very strong. It"s not fair."

"And they all come from good families."

"That"s right. Their families are all wealthy n.o.bles. It must be so nice to be rich. How about their uniform? It"s blue so if they get any blood on it, it looks noticeable. It"s not practical at all, but they refuse to change it. I heard that if it gets dirty, they would just buy themselves a new one."

Both of them chattered excitedly and Poliana joined in, saying, "I washed a week ago, so doesn"t that mean I"m still clean? I can"t believe Sir Ainno called me "filthy!" He ordered the maids to "wash me," like I"m a dirty piece of cloth that needs to be laundered."

"That"s awful."

"Totally!"

Even if the men belonged to the same army, there was a subtle tension between the regular knights and the emperor"s guards. They considered each other colleagues and they, of course, respected each other, but the knights were secretly jealous of the guards.

The emperor"s personal guards consisted of good-looking young men from good families. Because they protected the emperor, these guards had huge pride in their positions and sometimes looked down on the other knights. During a war, the guards and the knights were treated equally but during peaceful times, the guards had higher ranks.

And most of all, their blue uniforms looked amazing.

"I want to wear that uniform too," Sir Donau muttered.

He was clearly envious. Sir Howe, feeling the same way, shook his head and said to his brother, "Forget it."

"Why don"t you try out to become a guard?" Poliana asked.

"We are from a family of knights."

It wasn"t impossible, but it was very unlikely that these brothers would be accepted. Poliana became a bit nervous. The position given to her was temporary, but it still obviously meant a great deal. Lucius the First was giving her great honor, and she knew she had to do her best not to disappoint her emperor.

***

How a guard was expected to behave was vastly different than that of a knight.

Poliana never considered herself to be ignorant of good manners and etiquette. She was known to be cold and stiff but as a soldier or a knight, her manners were accepted as decent.

But as the emperor"s personal guard, much more was expected from her. There were separate protocols to follow when it came to being a royal guard.

Poliana found it especially difficult since she was used to being on the front, but it had to be done.

When Sir Ainno saw her in clean clothes and looking cleaner, he nodded.

Now, the next step was training.

Sir Ainno ordered one of the royal guards, "Before I come back, make sure you teach her how to behave like a human."

"You are being rude to me, Sir Ainno," Poliana protested.

"I will treat you better once you learn your manners, woman."

"I doubt that."

Sir Rabi often called his men "b.a.s.t.a.r.ds." He would yell, "You b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are too lazy! Run, idiots, run! Run until you can hear your b.a.l.l.s sing!" He addressed her as "Sir Poliana" in a formal setting, but he also called her the same names during work.

When Poliana retorted that she didn"t have any b.a.l.l.s, Sir Rabi answered her, "Then run until your nonexistent b.a.l.l.s sing." She didn"t know how to respond to him.

The royal guards worked with 8-hour s.h.i.+fts. The guard that was ordered to teach Poliana was taking his break time to help her, so Poliana did her best to learn as quickly as possible.

The first lesson was as followed.

A royal guard represents the emperor, therefore, one must always be clean, look acceptable, and have faultless manners.

"This means you need to speak like a gentleman," the guard explained to her.

Indeed, the guard spoke softly and never swore, but what about Sir Ainno?

"What about Sir Ainno?" Poliana asked.

"Our leader doesn"t speak much."

Poliana had no choice but to agree. Sir Ainno firmly believed that action spoke louder than words. He would punch or kick someone before swearing at them.

Although she did not learn these new etiquettes, Poliana knew why it was necessary. A royal guard, who remained by the emperor"s side all the time, could and should not act like a callous soldier. At least, Poliana knew that this was only a temporary position. She wasn"t someone who would be allowed to remain by her emperor"s side this closely.

Poliana never learned these royal etiquettes because it wasn"t necessary. The old knight never taught her about this. So speaking softly with pretty words made her feel uncomfortable. Thankfully, the guard explained to her that the Acreian etiquettes were least strict in the entire continent.

It was a good thing that the Acreian emperor was conquering and uniting their lands.

When it was time for the next s.h.i.+ft, the guard handed her an outfit. It wasn"t the blue uniform because she didn"t officially belong to the royal guards. The cloth she was wearing currently was the same one from yesterday, the one she got after her bath. It was still clean, and it wasn"t crumpled either. So why was the guard getting her to change?

When Poliana studied the clothes, the guard explained, "As I said before, a royal guard must always look clean and neat."

"Alright."

"I will root for you, Sir Poliana. I am sure Sir Ainno will someday call you by your proper rank and name."

The guard smiled kindly. Just like all the other royal guards, he was tall and handsome. Even his voice was a nice baritone, and Poliana had no doubt that he was much stronger than her. She blushed at his smile. It wasn"t that she wanted him, she just felt a little shy.

When she entered the emperor"s room, she immediately began to use what she just learned. She bowed properly and her posture was straight. She was a natural.

Lucius the First watched her quietly and grinned. Poliana a.s.sumed that she had done a decent job.

"I heard that Inno treated you like a dirty piece of laundry yesterday," the emperor said.

"I apologize, your highness, for being so dirty yesterday."

"No worries. Besides, Sir Poliana, you weren"t that dirty. I thought you were one of the cleaner knights in the base."

"I knew it!"

Her suspicion was confirmed. It wasn"t that she was unusually dirty; Sir Ainno just had an unusually high standard. He was being too clean.

Lucius the First shrugged his shoulders and continued, "The royal guards work a little differently than the regular knights. Inno… I hope you don"t take Inno"s words and behaviors personally. Inno thinks that because he is better than everyone, everyone else needs to work harder to satisfy his standards. Inno works very hard, just like you and I, Sir Poliana, but he is a bit different than us. Inno is full of talents and whatever he doesn"t have, he will do everything he can to achieve it…"

The emperor narrowed his eyes and watched the window. Sir Ainno was in the middle of his practice again. Unlike the other knights, who could barely wield their lances, Sir Ainno never missed his target. The speed at which he rode his horse was much faster.

As Sir Ainno won the practice games over and over again, the audience cheered loudly.

The perfect Sir Ainno…

After quietly watching for a while, Lucius the First pointed at him and muttered, "He is so annoying."

Poliana nodded in agreement.