The Emperor and the Knightess

“I apologize, your highness, for not doing my job.”

She handed the paper back to the vassals and walked towards the emperor.

“I’m not joking, Sir Pol. You have done so much for me and you need to be rewarded. I think a piece of land is a good start.”

“You can just give me any leftover piece of land, your highness.”

“A leftover? Sir Pol, you should be getting one of the best lands I have.”

Poliana was about to refuse again but bit her lips. It was true that she did do a great deal for this war. She did deserve something great. Also, it wouldn’t look appropriate for the head of the guard division to be a landless knight. In fact, it would look ridiculous.

Poliana didn’t have a title yet either. She was a knightess and that was it. If her Aehasian background was accepted, she was still a noble. If it wasn’t, then she would be something in between a noble and a knight. After the war, she assumed that her emperor would give her a title, and land always came with a title.

Lucius the First allowed many of the foreign nobles to keep their titles and lands, but not all of them. This meant that there were plenty of lands and titles that needed to be distributed.

Poliana contemplated and she finally made her decision, she determined that she definitely deserved this city.

“Are you sure? Are you really offering me this land?”

“Of course, or if there is another piece of land you prefer, all you have to do is to let me know. The exact boundary of the land will change a bit in the future, but not by much.”

Poliana was one of the few people who knew of Lucius the First’s plan for a new capital for Acreia. Poliana quickly calculated how far Sitrin would be from all the potential capital cities and replied, “I would be honored to have this land, your highness.”

“Good. Then, Sitrin will be yours.”

Sir Ainno already received a good piece of land very close to all the potential capital cities. Other high-ranking knights received their rewards as well so Poliana said to herself, ‘I deserve this.’

The old Poliana would have refused the reward because she knew what the other men would say. If this was the Aehasian army, the other knights would’ve said she only received it because she was sleeping with the emperor. Ugly rumors would have been spread like a wildfire but now… Things were very different. She was one of the emperor’s closest knights and she was trusted and respected by everyone in the Acreian army.

Poliana was certain that everyone around her would support her no matter what. If anyone in the army said anything negative about her, she knew she could take care of him easily.

The vassals looked at the emperor and the knightess nervously. Right in front of their eyes, their new master was decided in a blink of an eye.

Lucius the First offered to Poliana, “And if you are unhappy with these vassals, then let me know. I can just replace them for you. After all, they did betray their old master.”

The vassals flinched and began to tremble. Some even closed their eyes, thinking their deaths were coming. Poliana immediately shook her head and replied, “You just gave them to me, and now you are trying to take them away from me, your highness? That’s not fair. These are my people now and they seem like they are very capable workers, so I am definitely keeping them.”

Just a moment ago, she was reprimanding them for making mistakes, but now that they belonged to her, she defended them viciously. The vassals’ eyes widened at how the knightess, their new master, stood up to the emperor on their behalf.

Respect and admiration shone in their eyes as they looked up to her. Thanks to Lucius the First, Poliana gained passionate loyalty from her vassals immediately.

Poliana took a walk that night around the castle. It still wasn’t official, but she was going to be the master of this entire place. As she walked outside the castle, she immediately fell in love with her land.

Poliana touched the stone wall and feeling a bit overwhelmed, she punched it. She bit her lips so she wouldn’t scream with joy.

‘Wow!!!!’

If she knew no one would hear her, she would run around screaming. She wanted to gather the people of Sitrin right now and announce from the rooftop that she was their new lord.

Poliana was born into a mediocre noble family, and her land was known for cranberries. Her childhood home could be called a mansion at best but now…

Her new home was a castle, an entire castle made of stones and a castle that had a drawbridge. It was all hers.

The large luxurious castle suddenly became her personal home. The castles of the mid-continent were typically oversized, and this particular one was as big as the biggest castle in the Aehasian capital where the king and his family lived.

‘And it’s all mine.’

It belonged to Poliana now. His highness Lucius the First gave it to her. She didn’t follow him to become wealthy, but this was such a huge and unexpected, yet very welcomed, bonus. She was ecstatic.

So many thoughts passed through her head. With the tax money she gathered, what could she do to improve this place? First, she needed to have a solid army and have enough to feed them for a while. She noticed that there were gold and precious stone decorations all over the castle. The previous lord was obviously a luxurious fool. She wondered how much she could get if she sold them all? How much food and supplies could she get?

Only

All she knew was war, so all she could think of was having enough supplies at all times.

Suddenly, Poliana noticed a patrolling soldier walking towards her. He obviously didn’t spot her because after looking around, he turned towards the castle wall and unbuckled his pants to urinate. Poliana quietly approached him and smacked the back of his head.

The guard screamed in shock and ignoring him, Poliana ordered sharply, “Urinating should only occur in washrooms.”

“I’m sorry! Please forgive me!”

“This castle is where the emperor is currently residing. We can’t have him smelling your urine, now can we? Make sure to tell everyone never to do something like this again.”

They were too far from the emperor’s room for Lucius the First to smell anything, but it was always a good idea to enforce strict rules. Poliana didn’t feel guilty at all.

The night darkened further, so she decided it was time to go to bed. Before she returned to her room, she needed to check on the emperor one last time. Her men were standing in front of the emperor’s door. They saluted her when she approached them. New guards were also there for the next shift as it was time to switch. The guards communicated through sign language to exchange reports. Poliana watched them and realized that there was a guest inside the emperor’s room.

‘Another woman?’