The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 176

Things went totally wrong for Frau. If Poliana didn’t assume that he was looking for a position, he would have carried on his original plan and try to slowly woo Poliana. Unfortunately, Poliana was very dense when it concerns a relationship between a man and a woman. She honestly had no idea what Frau’s intention was. What Frau did to get her attention and make her see him as a viable husband material… Poliana instead saw his actions a doctor did to get a job.

The whole event was ruined from the beginning. Poliana arrived earlier than he did and while they were eating, Poliana was interested in only her food and barely looked up at Frau.

When they were done eating, Frau was planning to ask her out on a second date, but Poliana began the conversation with a salary negotiation. Frau was so shocked and confused that he ended up blurting out his true intentions.

It was game over for him.

Frau said to him, “Marquess, since I was disowned by my family, I don’t care if I have to change my last name to yours. I am a semi-noble now, and if you marry me, my nobility will finally be established and acknowledged. Oh, and I don’t care if I don’t have any children! I will continue working as a doctor, so you, of course, can continue to lead the Second Division… So I…”

As he talked, his voice became quieter and quieter. He was telling Poliana that he would love to be used by her because she was rich.

Ha! Dream on!

Poliana glanced at the paperwork Frau placed on the table. It looked like some kind of a prenup. Based on what she saw, it didn’t seem like he included any words like “love” or “affection,” which confirmed that he was definitely from a proper noble family.

Poliana pushed herself away from the paperwork and replied, “Even considering all you told me right now, it would still not be worth it for me. Marrying you… I gain nothing from it. Instead, I will actually become an enemy of the Sneke family. They will hate me for marrying their disowned son.”

Frau must’ve expected such questions because he answered her without a shred of hesitation.”The thing is, someone like you who is a high-ranking noble… Being single will work against you more and more as time passes.”

Poliana agreed secretly, ‘That’s true.’ For now, she didn’t hear about it often, but Poliana was well aware of reality. There were and will be many aspects of her life that were going to be negatively affected if she remained unmarried.

It was extremely rare for someone like Poliana, who was a very high-ranking aristocrat, to not marry. A powerful noble could be missing all of his or her limbs and still have plenty of marriage offers because wealth and power would make up for their missing body parts. This was especially the case for a woman. In the north, there was even a myth that if an unmarried woman died, her disappointment and anger could curse the entire kingdom.

A woman, all women, needed to marry.

Period.

No matter what the reasons Poliana had for why she didn’t feel the need for marriage, nothing changed. People’s perceptions and beliefs would never change.

Everyone needed to marry.

Period.

Everyone needed to form a family to become accepted as a normal person, and this rule was especially true for those in power.

No matter how powerful Poliana becomes, whenever people see her, they would only see the fact that she was a spinster. There will always be those who would want to bring her down, and these people would use her single status against her. This wasn’t just the case in Acreia. It was the same everywhere on the continent.

Poliana then replied, “You are right about that, but it doesn’t mean that I have to marry you.”

Even if she needed to get married, it didn’t mean that she was obligated to marry Frau. There have been many marriage offers sent to her, and most of them were from men who were better looking and younger than Frau. Of course, some were from worse families than Frau’s while others were divorced or widowed men. There were also some who were just plain too young.

What Frau was telling her, no matter how he worded it, was simple. He wanted to share her power and wealth. The problem was, Frau wasn’t stupid. He knew what a fair deal was, and what he was offering her certainly wasn’t. It would benefit him much more; he was being too greedy.

If she had to make a deal with anyone, why not find a fair one? If she had to get married, why not marry a man much more handsome than Frau? Poliana liked a good looking man, just like any other woman. She served the most beautiful man in this world, so her standard became very high during the last 10 years.

Frau replied, “You are right, but…”

This deal was going to only benefit Frau; he wanted to use Poliana!

Her friends told her often that she should get married when she found someone great. They didn’t tell her to be used by a man.

The only thing she liked about Frau as her husband was the fact that he was at her age. The most recent marriage offer she received was from a boy of 13 years old, and Poliana couldn’t hide her shock. Yes, a man of her age was definitely something positive.

Hmm… Poliana also realized that the fact that Frau being a doctor was also a good thing. He could take care of her or anyone she wanted.

And… His soft face and chubby body… Other women might not like this, but Poliana actually didn’t mind. She was surrounded by so many men who were muscular and sweaty, so she was sick of them. Poliana found Frau’s softness refreshing.

‘Hmm… Maybe it’s not so bad…’

On top of that, Frau seemed to be a surprisingly ambitious man. It was also no secret that Poliana liked Frau as a person. His type was very rare around her. Poliana didn’t believe that he was a bad man. She didn’t think Frau had a bad intention against her.

She said to him, “There are plenty of men with similar backgrounds as you that have proposed to me. Why do you think you are better suited to me than all these other men?”

“Marquess Winter, I don’t have a good reason to give you…”

Frau looked down at the ground weakly. It wasn’t uncommon for a noble to marry beneath his or her station. Frau knew that he was not worthy of her, so he was trying to make up for this by earning her affection. What he overlooked was the fact that although Poliana was the sharpest person when it involved battles, she was actually very slow when it came to this kind of situation. There have been men who were interested in her in the past, namely Sir Donau and the emperor, but Poliana never noticed their feelings; she was that slow.

Fortunately for Frau, his plan actually wasn’t a complete failure. He had been trying to spend as much time with her as possible lately, and this helped her to see him in a positive light. Of course, she liked him as a person, not as a man, but it was still an impressive progress for Frau.

There was a clear pattern in her life…

Poliana liked Lucius the First so much that she was forever going to see him as the perfect emperor and nothing more.

Poliana loved Sir Donau like her own brother that she was going to always see him as a little brother and nothing more.

Only

The depth of her feelings for these men was great, but she certainly didn’t feel a sense of romantic love for them.

In a way, Frau actually was in a slightly better situation than the emperor and Sir Donau. Frau actually had a chance unlike the other two.

Poliana looked at him quietly and said to him, “I thought you were a good guy.”

“I’m so sorry, Marquess. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

“So is this why you were hanging around me so much lately? I know most people have similar intentions towards me, but you… I thought you were a good man. I guess I was wrong. This is why I should never trust anyone. I am so disappointed in you, Dr. Frau.”

To his surprise, Poliana wasn’t truly angry. This was the type of person Poliana was. She thought highly of Frau’s ambition, and so she decided to forgive Frau for his rudeness and forwardness. If Lucius the First knew this, he would’ve fainted.

Poliana continued indifferently, “Well, I guess that’s that. Now that we are done eating, why don’t we go for a drink? The night is still very young, and I have nothing else to do.”