The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 267

Lucius the First rubbed his face, realizing why he was feeling so tired. He tried his best to remember, but he couldn’t remember anything. Although, one thing was certain.

‘I slept with her.’

He wanted to die at that moment. Lucius the First loved Poliana. He had been in love with her for the past few years, and this is what he ends up doing? He slept with her in a dingy inn… This was their first time, and it wasn’t romantic at all… and the worst of it, he couldn’t even remember it.

How did it happen? Did he do well? Did she enjoy it? Was he able to satisfy her? All these important things… The emperor couldn’t remember any of it.

And what worried him the most was…

‘Did… Did I force her…?’

The last thing he could remember was him trying to console Poliana, who was crying. He was certain that at that time, she was drunker than he was. Did he sleep with an unconscious woman? If she was too drunk, it was very possible that Poliana wouldn’t have been able to fight back. Or perhaps she fell asleep and he… Lucius the First flinched in disgust.

‘I am the worst.’

To sleep with a lady who was too drunk to know any better… This was not acceptable. Even if he didn’t sleep with the unconscious or asleep Poliana, Lucius the First still felt horrible. To sleep with the woman he loved before confessing his feelings for her… He was the worst! He deserved to die!

The truth was, he did confess to her over and over again, but clearly, the emperor did not remember this. Lucius the First wanted to die.

“Sir Pol… Did I…”

The emperor couldn’t finish his question, but it didn’t matter. Poliana kneeled and lowered his face until it touched the floor hard.

Bump!

It was loud enough that the people on the first floor would’ve wondered what was happening upstairs. Poliana begged, “Your highness! You must kill me! I… I…!”

“You…?”

“I think I raped you because I was too drunk!”

“Huh?”

Lucius the First could not hide his shock and confusion at Poliana’s confession. In situations like this, wasn’t it natural for everyone to think it was the man who took advantage of the woman?

Of course, women had sexual needs too. Of course, it was possible that a woman could take advantage of a drunk man. But normally… It was the man who was considered at fault, not the woman. However, Lucius the First did not question Poliana’s explanation since he had no memory of what happened last night. If Poliana remembered… Then she must’ve been right.

“Pol… I… I cannot remember much from last night because of all the drinking… Do… Do you remember what happened?”

“I don’t remember either, your highness. Nothing at all.”

Poliana answered quickly. Her tone was a bit defensive as she remembered her groping the emperor and wrapping her legs around his naked body…

Touching him was one thing but to have her legs around him like that… Poliana put on her best blank face. She could never tell him what she remembered, so Poliana decided to pretend ignorance.

The emperor asked, “If you don’t remember either, then why would you think…”

“I am sure of it! I took advantage of you!”

‘I don’t think you should be proud of that…’

Lucius the First was still feeling shocked. He didn’t know what to say to her. Meanwhile, Poliana was certain of what happened last night. Her logic came from many different facts.

Firstly, Poliana remembered very well what Lucius the First told her the first time they met each other. That freezing winter day, he said to her, “I would never sleep with an ugly woman like you. I would rather take a dirty prostitute to my bed.”

Poliana has never forgotten his words. Not once! She remembered it clearly because it was such a shocking day that day. His beauty and his cruel words… It was an extremely memorable day.

Secondly, Poliana was certain that Lucius the First did not see her as a woman. There have been many occasions when they got drunk and fell asleep in the same bed. However, something like this never happened before. It was obvious that he only saw her as his knight and nothing more. The only time he would ever willingly sleep with her would be if every other woman in the kingdom died and she was the only chance to repopulate the world.

So the fact that something like this happened… There could be only one explanation. Only one culprit… It had to be one of the two in the room, and it had to be her. Yesterday, the emperor was perfectly fine. It was Poliana who was emotionally fragile. On top of this, she could remember herself groping him…

Her face became rigid. Poliana decided to give up on trying to remember more from last night. No matter how hard she thought, there was only one explanation.

She took advantage of the emperor last night. Her face reddened from embarrassment and guilt. She was so dehydrated that no tears showed from her eyes, but she was definitely crying on the inside. Her eyes were very red.

Yesterday had to be the worst day of her life. Her emperor witnessed how she was conned by a gold-digger and last night, she ended up raping him. This had to be a nightmare… How could this happen? All she wanted to do was to show him only the best side of her, but in the end, she ended up doing the worst thing she could possibly do to him.

Poliana wanted to die.

The two people in the room were both feeling suicidal. Lucius the First decided that he couldn’t let Poliana believe she was the one who took advantage of him.

“Pol, it would’ve been me who took advantage of you, not the other way around. It had to be me!”

“No, your highness! It was me!”

Only

“But Sir Pol! You are a woman and I am a man!”

“A woman can take advantage of a man too, your highness! It’s very possible!”

“Yes, of course… Yes, I know it’s possible, but…”

Lucius the First could not disagree with her too strongly. He was afraid that if he did, Poliana would offer to show how it could be done. Poliana kept insisting it was her and begged again, “Your highness! I deserve death!”

“No, no, Pol… Get up… No matter how hard I think about this, I think you got it wrong. It was me who took advantage of you, not me. It had to be me. I know you very well and I know that you are not that kind of person. I just know it.”

Lucius the First loved Poliana. Poliana loved him too but not as a man. She loved him as a knight would love her emperor. This was why the emperor was sure it was him who took advantage of her.

Of course, they were both wrong. What happened last night was completely consensual. The man and the woman became drunk and horny, and they ended up sleeping with each other. The problem was… Neither of them could remember what happened.