The Emperor and the Knightess

Story 19. Destroy the Gold Digger

Chapter 250

Sir Howe repeated his brother’s words, “That’s right! That bastard was married, your highness!”

“Married?”

This was the first time the emperor heard about this. But the reality was, without the emperor’s permission, Frau, as a nobleman, could’ve never been officially married. This meant that at most, he lived with a woman for a while, but nothing more. As a man himself, Lucius the First did not think too much of Frau’s past experience with women. This was within the norm of any young nobleman. Besides, the maid was dead. If she was still alive, it would’ve been a problem.

Lucius the First said to the brothers, “But the servant died, didn’t she? So just calm down.”

Ironically, it was the emperor who was trying to convince Sir Howe and Sir Donau to let Poliana marry Frau. What a strange and ridiculous situation. The woman he loved was about to marry another man, and he was trying to convince the opposers otherwise.

“How can we calm down, your highness?!”

Sir Howe protested angrily as if he forgot he was in the presence of the emperor. Sir Donau seemed to agree with his older brother. These two young men were beginning to be rude, so Lucius the First was about to say something when Sir Donau said, “He even has a child!”

Oh, that changed everything.

Lucius the First did not know about this. Slowly, he began to feel his burning fury engulfing his entire body. He has never been this angry before. If the brothers were telling the truth, Lucius the First swore to destroy Frau in the most painful way possible.

“Tell me everything.”

The emperor’s instinct told him that the snake hunt was not over yet. There was still the most dangerous and disgusting snake to be destroyed.

Frau Sneke.

***

Poliana’s three closest male friends left Poliana’s home. Lucius the First ordered Sir Howe and Sir Donau to calm down. This was a critical situation and at a time like this, one needed to remain calm and collected in order to fix it.

The brothers, who just arrived from the south, were confused at the current political situation in Yapa. They needed to rest and learn what happened during their absence.

Meanwhile, Lucius the First called for a meeting of the knights. Most, if not all, knights that gathered before to discuss Poliana’s marriage came together once more. These were the men who truly cared about Poliana. Sir Mahogal, unfortunately, was away on business in Acreia so he could not attend.

The atmosphere in the room was tense. This was mainly because Lucius the First, who called for this meeting, was looking furious. It was obvious that he was ready to kill someone. The amount of hostility in the room was similar to when they were in the middle of a war.

Sir Deke, who went his separate way from Sir Howe and Sir Donau as soon as they arrived at Yapa, joined in as well. This was a good thing since Sir Howe and Sir Donau were too upset to explain what they knew calmly.

Apparently, Frau Sneke, who was the fifth son of the former Duke Sneke, fell in love with a servant in his own house. The couple wanted a life together and dreamt of getting married. Of course, Frau’s family refused to allow this. In the end, Frau and the servant got married secretly by themselves and eloped.

Their escape was a complete failure. No matter where they went, it was obvious that they were from very different classes. The couple hid in the servant’s hometown. The entire town, including the servant’s family, did not welcome them. Just as the nobles were against marrying a commoner, the commoners were also against marrying up.

In her own hometown, the servant became known as the wh*re who seduced a naïve nobleman. Frau became known as an idiot young master who would soon realize his mistake and abandon the servant. The fact that Duke Sneke was the landowner of the servant’s hometown didn’t help either.

Everyone was thinking the same thing. Why didn’t Frau just take in the servant as his mistress or concubine? There were plenty of noblemen who did this. Frau could make her his concubine and allow her to live a comfortable life. Why was he being so stubborn and stupid?

The Sneke family gave Frau an ultimatum. Either he abandoned the servant and returned home or he would be disowned. Frau chose the servant and the couple left to live in Nanaba.

Frau had no money and no skills. He needed a job and thankfully, not many people in Nanaba knew about what happened to Frau since the Sneke family did its best to hide this embarrassing event.

Baron Redikal, who didn’t know what happened to Frau, accepted him as his student. Baron Redikal assumed that Frau was just an unlucky young man who got kicked out from his family for a minor disagreement. This was how Frau learned to become a doctor. The career as a doctor was considered lowly compared to being a knight or a government official, but it could still be a profitable job.

Only

Besides, Frau and the servant believed that as long as they were together, it would be okay. That is all they wanted.

Then, the maid became pregnant. Frau wanted to learn to become a doctor as quickly as possible and live with his wife happily ever after. But… The servant died during childbirth. She bled to death.

Frau learned to treat people, but he didn’t learn much about treating women. Just like many of the doctors, he believed that treating women was a job for the gynecologists and the midwives. Unfortunately, the midwife in the town they lived in refused to help the pregnant servant because she did not want to anger Duke Sneke and his family.

In the end, Frau was left with a newborn baby. He could not endure the sadness and hardship, so he decided to return to his family. When he walked back to his house, his parents demanded that he abandon his baby or at least declare the baby a bastard.

Frau refused. His new baby, his son, was his heir. His son was born between himself and his legal wife. Duke Sneke screamed at Frau, “Then don’t even bother coming to my funeral when I die! You are no longer my son!”

Frau asked his wife’s parents to raise the baby temporarily. To raise his son properly, Frau realized that he better learns to be an excellent doctor. Although the career as a doctor was considered lowly in the noble society, it was a rich position to the commoners. During his studies, Frau also diligently researched the difference between the medical knowledge of the commoner doctors and the doctors that only treated the noblemen. Frau learned that there were situations when the simple home remedies used among the commoners worked much better.

Frau, of course, suffered from depression after he lost his wife. He knew he needed to do more to raise his son well, but it was difficult. Everyone, both the noblemen and the commoners, treated his son like an unwanted bastard.