Chapter 52"It would be great for you to win, and it would be equally fine for you to lose. Just consider this as a fun game, nothing more," Lucius the First encouraged the knights who went through Sir Ainno"s brutal training.
"You are being too kind and easy on us, your highness. Your Ainno, the best knight of Acreia, swear to you that I will win this tournament and bring you the champion"s wreath," Sir Ainno replied with determination.
Everyone on the spot imagined how their emperor would look like with the flower wreath on his head, they all were certain that it would suit him very well. Watching his knights smiling proudly, Lucius the First sighed. Usually, the champion"s wreath was given to a woman such as the knight"s lady, the lord"s wife or daughter, or the knight"s sister.
Poliana was smiling as well as she imagined how beautiful Lucius the First would look with the wreath when suddenly, she thought of something. She whispered to the guard standing next to her, "At this rate, a romantic scandal involving his highness and Sir Ainno is going to erupt."
"Not now, thanks to you, Sir Poliana. If it wasn"t for you taking over this duty, the scandal would"ve occurred. Of course, Sir Ainno doesn"t seem to realize this."
To her relief, Poliana"s presence wasn"t all negative to Lucius the First"s reputation. As the only knightess, she was the center of many ugly rumors and because of it, people"s focus had s.h.i.+fted towards her from her emperor. In addition, her presence so close to Lucius the First meant that the enemies no longer could joke about the Acreian emperor being gay. This was especially a popular rumor because of Lucius the First"s beauty and before Poliana became his guard, Sir Ainno was rumored to be the emperor"s bedmate.
"Hmm, I guess that makes sense."
Poliana was pleased with this news. The thought of harming her emperor has been eating her up inside. There were moments when she felt so depressed that she found it hard to get out of her bed but now that she knew that she was being useful to his highness, Poliana felt joyful.
"It"s all my fault, Inno. I thought it would be unfair to a woman to marry you when it is possible that you might not survive this war. That was why I didn"t have you get married before taking you with me here. But now, I realized that I made a mistake. I should have made you marry before coming!" Lucius the First said to Sir Ainno with a frown.
The emperor looked distressed, but Sir Ainno replied loudly, "Even if I was married, I would have given the flower wreath to you, your highness! You will always be the recipient of all of my flowers!"
Sir Ainno really meant it.
***
The tournament was decided to take place on a flatland nearby the Yapa castle. All the necessary costs were taken care of by Gali the Third. The preparation of the field was also completed by the people of Bikpa. To make sure that Gali the Third wasn"t putting any traps in the area, the Bikpa lords who were on Lucius the first"s side advised him to send his own men and monitor everything.
The Acreian emperor sent Sir Baufallo and whenever he got a chance, Sir Baufallo visited the site.
On the day before the tournament, the knights who were entering the tournament waited nervously. Because they didn"t have wives or fiancés at all or here with them, the men walked around the village begging for handkerchiefs from any woman that they could find. Sir Howe ended up with the greatest number of handkerchiefs and even Sir Donau, who didn"t need one, got a few as well.
There were even maids who handed some handkerchiefs to Sir Donau and asked him to give them to the knightess. These handkerchiefs were more beautifully embroidered than those of Sir Howe"s.
When Donau handed them to Poliana, she asked him, "I understand you got some since you were walking around with your brother, but why am I getting these?"
Poliana was confused, but she took them anyway. Soft linen cloths such as these could be useful and most importantly, they were free.
"Many of them said you should cover your bald head when you aren"t wearing your helmet," Donau replied.
It seemed that there were many women who felt concerned about Poliana"s short hair. Following the women"s advice, Poliana tried the handkerchief on her head and asked Donau, "Like this?"
"You look like a farmer." Sir Donau sneered at her.
"…then how should I wear it?"
When Poliana asked frustratingly, Sir Donau took the handkerchief and made a ribbon around her head, which was the trend nowadays. It felt odd and somehow, it made her look creepy and funny at the same time. Poliana looked at herself in the mirror and frowned sadly. "What the h.e.l.l!"
"This is the least you can do to let people know of your gender… ARRHG! Why did you just hit me?"
Poliana kicked Donau"s b.u.t.t as he suggested that if she grew her hair long, this ribbon would look so much better on her.
Because Sir Ainno didn"t go around the village like the other knights, he didn"t get any handkerchief. He was a good-looking man, but his reputation as a scary violent knight prevented the maids from approaching him. They were really afraid of him.
Sir Ainno didn"t care about superst.i.tions, but Lucius the First did. "I can see that you aren"t very popular, Inno. You need at least one handkerchief, so why don"t you go ask a servant and get him to get you one from a maid?"
"But I thought if I don"t get one myself, it won"t work."
"Hmm… By the way, Sir Poliana, why is that you got so many of them when you aren"t even partic.i.p.ating in the tournament?"
Poliana grinned and showed Lucius the First her handkerchiefs. "I know! But it still feels great to get them from the ladies."
The emperor put up his finger and asked her, "Could you spare one to Inno?"
"Unfortunately, your highness, even your order cannot compel me to give up these handkerchiefs. They are gifts from the ladies, and I am honor-bound to keep them for myself."
Poliana would have done anything for him, but this was a completely different matter. The handkerchiefs were genuine and precious gifts from the ladies of different stations. To give them away was considered to be incredibly rude, and Poliana refused to commit such a crime.
She would"ve given one if her emperor insisted, but she wondered if it would be effective. After all, the superst.i.tion that involved the knights getting the handkerchief for himself. For the handkerchief to mean something, it had to be given by a lady who prayed for his victory and safe return.
Asking the Bikpa lord"s wife or daughter was out of the question. If a wrong rumor started, Sir Ainno could end up needing to marry the daughter or get in trouble for the suspicion of coveting the lord"s wife. The best person to ask was a random maid or female servant who wouldn"t put too much meaning behind it.
But there was no time now, Lucius the First was becoming desperate.