Chapter 49Poliana"s mother died right after giving birth to her. She had seen her mother"s face only on a portrait. Painters were often very kind to their paintings by making sure whoever they were painting looked their best, so the fact that Poliana"s mother wasn"t a beauty even on a painting suggested that she was most likely an unattractive woman. Poliana could see a clear resemblance between her and her mother.
Mysteriously, Poliana"s father became unable to sire any more children. Her stepmother wasn"t related to her, so she didn"t count. Her stepsister Liana was a beauty, but they weren"t alike at all. They didn"t share any habits or patterns as most siblings have.
Because she didn"t spend much time with them, Poliana didn"t see them as her family. It was especially truer now since she was no longer an Aehasian.
The old knight was more like her family. They, in fact, shared more similarities, but the old knight was dead. Poliana had no family now.
But the important thing now was this; the emperor"s wife, the future empress, had to be an amazing beauty. Poliana felt certain of it. It had to be a woman who wouldn"t be outs.h.i.+ned when she stood next to Lucius the First.
Lucius the First would have been considered the most eligible bachelor even if he was an ugly man. After all, he untied the northern kingdoms. He was an emperor like no other and therefore, he needed a woman who was kind, generous, beautiful, and who was healthy enough to bear many magnificent children.
Perhaps it would be a princess from a good kingdom.
This was how all Lucius the First"s knights felt, but the emperor felt it little differently. It would be nice to marry a pretty woman, but her appearance wasn"t a priority for him. As long as she didn"t look like a monster, he would be fine with it.
What he considered more important was a woman"s wisdom, personality, and of course, her ability to bear children.
He was going to be the ruler of the entire continent. This meant that he could have all the beautiful mistresses he wanted, so what he wanted from his empress wasn"t how attractive she was.
Because Lucius the First didn"t share his view with the knights, none of them knew what their emperor truly wanted. They weren"t close enough to the emperor for him to share his personal thoughts at them. The only knight close enough to him was Sir Ainno, and he didn"t have to be told about it because he knew his emperor very well.
Poliana imagined what kind of empress she would want to serve. She wanted someone that could be compared to Lucius the First"s beauty, but no matter how hard she tried, the only beautiful face Poliana could think of was her emperor"s. She had never seen a woman who was more or even as beautiful as him.
Poliana tried to imagine the more beautiful versions of the ladies she had seen in her life, and finally, she came up with a decent face. She felt so happy just imagining the beautiful wedding and the future princesses and princes as she smiled widely.
"It"s going to be so nice."
Poliana knew it was silly to imagine these things, but she couldn"t help it. She wondered how beautiful Lucius the First"s daughter would be. He would be the most beautiful prince on the continent with the greatest emperor as her father and a kind beauty as her mother.
This princess would be the most loved lady in the continent. She could have a beautiful face, a fragile and feminine body, a songbird of a voice, and kind eyes. Someone who all the knights would pledge their loyalty to.
A perfect lady.
Lucius the First suddenly noticed that his guard Poliana was smiling creepily, making him flinch in shock. She looked like she was having an inappropriate and dirty thought, which was very unlike her.
"Sir Poliana, what are you thinking about?" The emperor asked.
"I was imagining how beautiful your highness"s princess would be."
It was a common occurrence for Lucius the First to hear his subjects ramble about his future children when he wasn"t even married yet. He nodded calmly and seriously.
His future daughter…. If she resembled him, then…
"Yes. If she resembled me, my future daughter would be the most beautiful girl on the continent. It makes sense since I am the most handsome man in the world and I can tell you, Sir Poliana, that it is very nice to be beautiful. It makes many people happy," Lucius the First jokingly replied to her.
"Indeed, your highness, you are so very beautiful!"
Poliana replied emphatically, surprising the emperor. He was only joking, but it seemed that this knight took it very seriously. It was an unfortunately common occurrence for him. Because he was the emperor, his subjects often took his jokes very seriously.
Sir Ainno once told Lucius the First that it wasn"t because he was the emperor, but it was because his jokes were no good. The emperor didn"t believe his friend, thinking that Inno was just jealous of his sense of humor.
Lucius the First then explained to Poliana, "I was just kidding."
"But your highness, it can"t be a joke because you are truly very beautiful!"
"… you can be so strange, Sir Poliana."
"Your jokes too, your highness."
Since she was temporarily appointed as a guard, Poliana has been spending a third of her day with the emperor every day. Slowly, she was getting used to the emperor"s odd jokes. She learned that Lucius the First had a strange sense of humor, which sometimes made his subjects very uncomfortable. The emperor didn"t mean to make anyone feel awkward; he was only trying to be friendly, but those who didn"t understand him found it difficult to deal with his odd jokes.
Because Poliana didn"t want to look weak, she decided to joke back brazenly, and curiously, Lucius the First seemed to like this very much.
"I can"t understand him at all… But it must be because he is a genius."
She knew it. She has known it from the beginning. Lucius the First was brilliant.
A mastermind in every sense.