The Emperor and the Knightess

How many pieces of land were considered many? There was no specific set number, which meant that some might argue that Poliana did not own many lands. Either way, before returning to Nanaba, Poliana was given two more towns on top of her already-existing lands.

During their ten years of conquest, there were many ownerless lands on the continent. The current situation was that Lucius the First did not have enough loyal subjects to give all of these lands.

The emperor purposely broke up the lands into even smaller pieces when he awarded them. Those who received multiple lands were given different pieces in the three regions: the north, the mid-continent, and the south. This caused most of the noblemen to be unable to visit all of their lands in their lifetimes.

This was exactly what the emperor wanted. By doing so, he was making sure the noblemen’s powers were dispersed all over the kingdom. This made it difficult for an individual or a group of noblemen to grow their force extensively.

Just as he did with the military, Lucius the First also changed the ownership law of the lands. The noblemen no longer had complete control over their lands as if they were the king of their properties. All the lands and the people living off of them belonged to the emperor now, and the landlords were essentially leasing the lands from Lucius the First. The noblemen had to pay a fee to the emperor and the royal family to use these lands.

This new law took effect only a few years ago, and unfortunately, most commoners were still unaware of the meaning of this change. They still saw their landlord as the ultimate ruler of the land. To them, their landlord was still someone to be obeyed and feared.

In the past, before this law, the landlords had the power to do anything they wanted within their lands. Even though Lucius the First took away this right, many noblemen still abused the people living on their lands. Even with the new law, a landlord still retained power as an enforcer. A landlord also had the authority to set the tax rate within his land.

This meant that in her own lands, Poliana was the most powerful person. She suspected that it would be very easy to forge official papers for herself.

Among all the lands she owned, Poliana visited two of them. One was her hometown, Cranbell, which was known for its cranberries, and the other was Sitrin, which was famous for its fertile land.

Sitrin was an extremely productive piece of land, making up the majority of Poliana’s income. Some would say that it was the best piece of land in the kingdom and it made sense that Lucius the First gifted it to his most loyal knight. It was located near Yapa, the capital of Acreia, and Sitrin even had hot springs, which made it perfect.

Poliana planned on staying in Sitrin. It bothered her that it was so close to the capital city, but she didn’t want to travel too far in case the guards she brought might notice her condition.

***

The vassals of the Sitrin castle could barely breathe. They were extremely anxious about the arrival of their mistress. Poliana was a generous landlord. In this world, the best landlord was an absent one. Since she received the land a few years ago, Poliana never once visited Sitrin.

She received the financial reports regularly and as long as the numbers looked good, she did not pay attention to whatever was happening in Sitrin. It was so close to Yapa, yet she never visited it once. This created a perfect environment for corruption to occur here.

However, the vassals of Sitrin remembered what happened in the past. When Poliana was in Sitrin last time, she examined the financial papers with the eyes of a hawk. She was able to find a single numerical mistake on the documents and questioned the vassals mercilessly.

This was why the men were about to have a heart attack. Their only hope was that Poliana was visiting to spend her vacation, which meant that she will not be interested in working.

The officials of Sitrin reviewed the documents over and over again to make sure there weren’t any mistakes. The servants, the maids, and the locals all worked together to clean the castle inside and out until it was spotless. The local guards patrolled the area, again and again, to make sure there wasn’t anything that might upset their landlord.

Because the previous owner of Sitrin was cruel, Poliana had a good reputation. For her arrival, a room and a bath were prepared. The castle chef worked tirelessly to prepare a feast for his mistress and the accompanying knights.

“Welcome, Marquess!”

As soon as they spotted the group, the patrols rode back to the castle to let everyone know. The drawbridge went down immediately, and the castle gate was opened. The vassals bowed deeply and greeted their knightess, “Welcome, Mistress!”

Their lord, Marquess Winter, got off her horse. It looked like she rode very hard because she looked exhausted. Her eyes were red, and she was covered in dirt and dust.

The butler, realizing his mistress needed a bath first before the feast, gestured to the maids to get to work. Poliana eyed everyone until she found the butler. Without a warning, she grabbed him, making everyone around become pale in shock.

Poliana yelled, “Get me some jerkies!”

There was a great extravagant feast prepared for her, yet Poliana screamed for the jerkies. No one could understand why, but what people didn’t know was that Poliana was suffering from her morning sickness. Everything she usually ate made her feel nauseous.

All the way to Sitrin, all Poliana could stomach was the jerkies. She constantly chewed on them, annoying her guards.

“Boss, why do you keep eating that cheap stuff? You are the head of the Second Division and our boss! You need to have a better taste!”

“That’s right! If you want meat, we can go hunt a deer for you!”

Only

Poliana replied coldly, “This is what I want to eat, so stop nagging me!”

At one point, the guards caught a deer for her, but Poliana refused to eat it. When they stopped by the villages from time to time during their journey, Poliana looked for the worst and the cheapest food possible rather than proper meals.

The other knights could not understand why their boss’s taste in food changed so drastically. Poliana herself could not understand this change either. She refused the delicious food offered to her. Instead, she kept chewing on the jerkies. Poliana tried different types of food on the way to Sitrin, but nothing seemed to satisfy her.

When she arrived, Poliana raided Sitrin’s pantry and found the dried meat and bags of old flour. The chef, who has been working hard to prepare for the marquess, lost his kitchen to her.

The vassals begged her to stop, but Poliana ignored them and got to work. She placed a small brass pot filled with water on the fire. Before the water began to boil, Poliana threw in all the ingredients all at once.

When the content of the pot began to boil, everyone frowned. The chef began to cry in shock.

‘The marquess has the worst taste in food!’