The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 202

This was indeed a chance, but Lucius the First knew better; it would’ve been wrong for him to use his wife’s death to trick the woman he loved. His wife’s funeral was only two days ago, so how could he even consider such a thing?

The emperor hated himself.

Lucius the First pushed Poliana away. He poured whatever was left over in the bottle into his mouth. The clear liquor rolled down his cheeks instead of his tears. He said to Poliana harshly, “Get out, I don’t want to see you right now.”

Poliana’s face crumpled at the emperor’s rejection. Seeing Poliana hurt made Lucius the First’s heartache too, but he couldn’t help it. The emperor needed some time for himself.

Lucius the First might have been the emperor of the greatest kingdom, but he wasn’t perfect. He couldn’t always remain calm and collected. Because he was the emperor, he couldn’t even show his true feelings to others. He wasn’t even allowed to cry in front of anyone. The sadness and desperation he felt for himself as well as his daughter, who would grow up without her mother, were immense, but he couldn’t even express these feelings freely all because he was the emperor.

Then, Poliana came to him. He was barely hanging onto his sanity, but when he saw her, he couldn’t do it anymore.

Lucius the First was a greedy man. This was why he dreamt of uniting the entire continent. The emperor was also a loving man. This was why he did not confess his love to Poliana.

If she remained in this room any longer, Lucius the First knew he would end up telling her how he felt. He would end up forcing her to become his. The emperor did not have the patience to remain sane in front of her.

So he screamed at her, “Get out, Winter!”

Lucius the First loved Acreia. He loved everything about it, even its harsh cold weather. All Acreians loved the winter, even though they suffered from it greatly. The bitter season represented them; it was the symbol of the true Acreians. They were proud to be the ones who were able to survive such a harsh weather generation after generation. They believed they were better than the rest of the continent. The harsher the winter was, the stronger the Acreians became.

Poliana Winter, whose name was given to her by Lucius the First, was the emperor’s winter. She was his love as well as his motivation; she was the only one who could move him.

Lucius the First loved Poliana Winter, and because he loved her, he felt the greatest desperation and conflict. However, Poliana Winter was also his greatest pride.

The emperor begged her. He begged her to leave him. Perhaps to her, it sounded like an order, but it didn’t matter. This was the best he could do at the moment.

“I just can’t do this right now. I need to be alone. I do not want you to see me like this, so please, leave.”

Poliana’s jaws tightened. Lucius the First wanted to punch himself for upsetting her. He knew she was missing a molar, which meant it wasn’t a good idea to clench like this. He wished he could caress her face so she would unclench it, but he knew that if he touched her, the emperor would not be able to stop himself.

He didn’t wait this long and went through such a hardship just to use her body on a night like this. If he took her now, Lucius the First knew she would never become truly happy again.

Meanwhile, Poliana became angry at herself for not realizing what the emperor needed. She also felt embarrassed that she overestimated her importance to the emperor.

Poliana turned around to grab the door. As soon as she left, she slapped herself.

‘Snap out of it!’

Lucius the First just lost his wife, and Poliana lost her friend. In truth, without the emperor, Poliana would’ve never met Rebecca at all. It was obvious that the emperor was the one who was sadder, yet Poliana was stupid enough to think they could make each other feel better.

Since when did she begin to question the emperor’s order? Since when did she believe that she knew better than her sovereign?

Against the emperor’s order, Poliana left his two wives in Nanaba and rode back to Yapa. He ordered her to protect his wives, but she disobeyed him. Master Chail told her that the emperor did not want anyone in his room tonight, but she thought she knew better, and she entered against his order.

Since when did she become so arrogant? She never wanted to become such an egotistical person, but it seemed that it was too late.

When Master Chail saw Poliana leave the emperor’s room looking pale, he was shocked. He asked, “Marquess, are you alright?”

“I made a huge mistake. I disrespected the emperor, and I need to go and think about what I did.”

Sir Ainno was standing next to Master Chail with a bottle of wine in his hand. He was waiting outside because Master Chail told him that Poliana was inside with the emperor.

Poliana couldn’t be any more embarrassed. Since when did she think she was at the same level as Sir Ainno?

Only

Sir Ainno looked at Poliana, who still looked very pale, and sighed deeply. He handed the bottle to Master Chail and put his hand on Poliana’s shoulder.

“Marquess, may I talk to you in private?”

“Don’t you have to go inside to see his highness right now?”

“It’s fine. What his highness needs right now isn’t wine; he needs some time to think.”

This situation was greatly upsetting. He understood how horrible it was that Lady Rebecca passed away, but what distressed him, even more, was the fact that because of this royal death, his marriage plan was delayed for at least a year. He didn’t even get the chance to talk to his parents about his plan.

On top of that, the emperor was making a muck of his relationship with the love of his life. Poliana looked devastated, annoying him to no end. He was having problems with his own love life, yet here he was, having to fix his emperor’s love life.

He turned towards Poliana and asked, “What happened? What’s wrong?”