The Emperor And The Knightess

Being Lucius the First"s guard was an easy job physically, however, it was mentally exhausting. Feeling her neck and shoulders turning stiff, Poliana stretched them. She was on her short break, and soon, it was going to be time for her lesson again.

Today"s topic was how to act when an enemy approached the emperor. The first thing to learn was how to tell if someone had harmful intentions towards them. Poliana then asked, "And how do I learn how to read people?"

"It"s mostly based on experiences. There are some rare people who are born with the sense as well."

"It sounds very hard."

"Yes. It"s the hardest thing to learn. You just never know who might attack his highness. It could be anyone, even those favored by the emperor."

Poliana wasn"t afraid of hard physical work, but to learn how to observe and read people… That was a whole different skill, and she knew that she didn"t have it. She never learned it or practiced it because she didn"t need to in the past.

She knew that trying to learn it right now would be impossible. The guard knew it as well, so he said to her, "If in doubt, you just have to act like our boss."

Sir Ainno! Of course!

"Action before words!"

Poliana nodded, her fists clenched in agreement, and the guard praised her, "That"s exactly it! All you have to do is beat the person up first! Even if it turns out that you were wrong about that person, all you have to say is that you did it to protect the emperor! No one will be able to blame you."

All the royal guards were rather violent, most likely because they were led by Sir Ainno. After all, it was he who caused Poliana to lose a molar. He also broke her nose, which healed crookedly. Sometimes when she drank a gla.s.s of cold water, all her teeth felt sensitive. She would still miss it every time she would chew on a piece of meat.

The guard was an excellent teacher. Sir Ainno, who was on his break, was watching nearby. He nodded in satisfaction and added, "You can also beat up lazy and rude people."

"Huh?"

"Anyone you don"t like, you can just beat them up. It doesn"t matter what their ages or ranks are. Well, I guess you shouldn"t hit children and elderlies since they might die. And once you do this a few times, people will learn not to do anything stupid in front of you."

Sir Ainno also added that she already had the moves down.

"You just have to do what you do best."

Poliana"s specialty was muscle and joint a.s.sault. She didn"t have enough strength to break bones, but she was trained to do maximum damages on men much bigger than her. She couldn"t kill anyone with her bare hands, but she could cause enough pain that felt worse than death.

Sir Ainno pointed at her crotch with a knowing look and Poliana understood immediately what he meant. The "lesson" she taught Donau was respected by everyone on the base. Anyone who showed even the slightest disrespect to the emperor deserved the same treatment.

On this subject, Sir Ainno and Poliana agreed completely. According to Sir Aiino, the only person who was allowed to be cheeky around the emperor was Duke Luzo. Poliana had the permission to beat anyone and everyone else she thought that had an unacceptable behavior.

Poliana liked that a lot.

***

When she was with Lucius the First in his room with her sword still in her scabbard, Poliana felt an overwhelming pride. Sometimes, when she thought that the emperor wasn"t watching her, she would place her hand over the hilt of her sword and glare at the door as if she was getting ready for an intruder.

Lucius the First found Poliana, who acted like a little girl receiving a gift, adorable. The reason why he a.s.signed the royal guard duty to her was to unburden his friend Sir Ainno, so when Poliana seemed extremely happy and honored, Lucius felt happy and a little apologetic at the same time.

But overall, he liked to see how happy she was about this position.

As she spent more time with the emperor, Poliana learned a lot about Lucius the First. The biggest surprise was his personality. She always thought he was a serious and thoughtful king, but now, she realized that there were different sides to him she never saw before.

He was a young man who had a huge ambition of uniting the continent. He was a hard worker and an extremely handsome man.

The emperor was well aware of how beautiful he was, and he also knew how to use it to his advantage. He was very sensitive about his looks, much more so than Poliana ever was about hers. Every morning, Lucius the First asked Poliana which outfit looked best on him. To her, all of them looked great on her emperor, so she found it very difficult to answer his question.

"Of these two outfits, which one do you think works best for me, Sir Poliana?"

"You would look beautiful even if you wear a dirty towel, your highness."

"That"s not the answer I was looking for."

Just like the other young men his age, the emperor would get annoyed easily.

Lucius the First was gorgeous and he knew that his men were proud of his beauty. Oddly, his soldiers were delighted with his look, and the emperor was only too happy to oblige his men by making sure that he always looked presentable.

And it wasn"t just for his soldiers. Lucius the First personally believed in staying on top of the latest fas.h.i.+on. He considered it an embarra.s.sment to wear unfas.h.i.+onable clothes.

When Lucius the First realized Poliana was going to be no help when it came to style, he began to ask other guards instead. When they answered skillfully and to the emperor"s satisfaction, Poliana made sure to listen carefully so she could learn about it.

As Lucius the First"s guard, she was able to meet many different people. She became acquainted with not just other guards and knights, but the emperor"s scribes and servants too.

Technically, the emperor"s personal servants had higher ranks than Poliana. They all seemed so sophisticated and well-learned that Poliana found it hard to interact with them. So instead, she became closer to the scribes.

During their breaks, Poliana and the Scribe Momo chatted together. Momo complained loudly, "No matter how diligently we, the scribes, record his highness"s beauty, it won"t be enough. No one will believe it, not to the true extent anyway! The people of the future who would read our work would think that we"re just exaggerating! It makes me feel so sad that our future generations won"t know how gorgeous our emperor is!"

Now that she thought about it, Poliana felt the same way. Her emperor was the most stunning man in the world, but his beauty would most likely be forgotten in the future.

When she mentioned her fear to the other knights, they all agreed to with her. Sir Rabi, who had children, finally said to her, "This is why having children is very important. The people in the future will be able to tell by our descendants" looks, right? Do you have any idea how adorable my daughters are?"

Apparently, Sir Rabi had two cute daughters and a handsome son. He claimed that they were all amazing loud-voiced kids.

Poliana studied Sirs Aeke, Beke, and Deke. Because they were brothers, there was a clear resemblance between them. Sirs Howe and Donau must"ve resembled their mother because they didn"t look like Sir Baufallo, but they still had distinct similarities with their father.

Suddenly, Poliana thought of her own family.

The family she hasn"t thought about for a long time.