The Emperor and the Knightess

Sir Donau suddenly stood up and left the room without a word. Poliana slumped on the table, waiting for her brother.

‘Did he go out to bring me a drink? But I don’t drink anymore…’

Poliana assumed that Sir Donau went out to get something, and she was right. It was a pair of gloves he brought, and he threw them at Poliana’s back. He threw it so hard that they made a loud slapping sound.

“Arghh! What was that?!”

Poliana stood up with a scream. When she turned around, she found Donau looking coldly at her and announced, “You have insulted those who are dear to me, Sir Pol. As the second son of Duke Ribo, I ask you, Marquess Poliana Winter, to a duel.”

“Dear to you?”

“Yes, that’s right. You have insulted my sister and my emperor. I will fight you for their honor.”

Poliana gaped at him in confusion. Those dear to Donau… His emperor and his sister were Lucius the First and Poliana herself. She could understand that calling the emperor a liar could be construed as an insult to Lucius the First, but what about her? Was it because she said there was and could be no man who likes her as a woman?

But that wasn’t fair! How could she be punished for insulting herself?

When Poliana tried to pick up the gloves, which fell to the floor, Sir Donau moved quicker and grabbed them first. Donau never forgot that Poliana just went through childbirth. She was a patient, which meant she shouldn’t be moving too vigorously. But of course, Poliana never listened to the doctors. She accepted the request willingly.

“Fine! Who will be our witness?”

Fortunately, there was someone in Sitrin who came from the greatest bloodline in the kingdom.

Gerald, the soon-to-be legitimate son of Lucius the First, the emperor of Acreia!

When Donau named the baby, Poliana’s eyes narrowed. Gerald could barely open his eyes, so how could he stand as a witness to their duel?

Sir Donau shook his head and explained, “What I meant was that we are both honest knights, which means we should not need a witness. We will know who the winner is and we both know we won’t lie about it.”

If they swore to Gerald’s life to fight a clean duel, they, Gerald’s own mother and adopted uncle, certainly were going to keep their promise.

***

The next day in the country house back garden, Sir Donau and Poliana’s duel took place.

A wet nurse was to be an honored guest while Gerald was to be the official witness. The newborn and the wet nurse, however, decided to remain inside and watch through the window to protect Gerald from stray rocks and sand.

There was no doubt that Sir Donau was the winner. In the beginning, Poliana did very well for winning a few sets, but soon enough, Sir Donau won most of them.

The adopted brother and sister knew each other’s fighting habits very well. Their favorite attack and defense move, and special tricks… In the past, they used to be each other’s sparring partner, which was even beforehand, it was obvious who was going to be the winner.

But still, Sir Donau did not assume he was going to win. Poliana also did not assume she was going to lose. This was a smart thing since Sir Donau was actually shocked by Poliana’s ferocity at the beginning sets.

‘When did my sister become such a vicious swordsman?’

High, high, low, low, right, left, right, left… Poliana moved without a break or hesitation. Her attack became stronger and less predictable than the last time they fought. It was all thanks to her training with the First Division. She was able to quickly improve her stamina and skills as well as her brutality. Sir Donau could feel that she has become much more ruthless. He was impressed at how much Poliana has improved during the last few years they have been apart. He thought he knew all of her very well, but obviously, Poliana was someone who never stopped improving herself.

Poliana was feeling the same way about her little brother. Sir Donau, who moved to the south, has been mostly on desk duty. Despite it, it was clear that he hasn’t been lazy about his training. There was an obvious improvement in his strength. It was much harder for Poliana to defend herself against his attacks. Sir Donau was also much faster now, and before Poliana could blink, his elbow struck her nose hard. Poliana took a step back to brace herself, but in the end, she ended up kneeling on the ground from the shock of it.

“Sis, I won, right?”

“Dammit! My nose…”

Poliana grabbed her nose. She could not even lift her head up because of the intense pain. A doctor, who was standing nearby just in case, ran towards her. When the wet nurse saw Poliana’s nosebleed, she almost fainted. Gerald, not understanding what was going on, just watched them with his round eyes.

Poliana asked, “My nose isn’t broken, right?”

In the past, Sir Ainno broke her nose once. Poliana knew she was lucky that her nose didn’t heal the wrong way at the time, in which case a doctor would’ve had to break it again to reset it. All the knights knew how painful it was to reset one’s bone.

The doctor shook his head, “No, it’s not broken, Marquess.”

“Good.”

Her nose ached terribly, and her ears were ringing, but Poliana was just happy to hear that her nose wasn’t broken. Sir Donau, who was watching worriedly, looked relieved. He didn’t mean to hurt her, but during a duel, one needed to focus only on winning.

Poliana was doing and thinking the same thing, so she did not blame Donau for almost breaking her nose. A knight needed to do his or her best whenever they were in a fight, even if it was an unofficial duel.

Although he didn’t do anything wrong, Sir Donau, however, could not help feeling guilty. Poliana was a woman after all, and he didn’t want to permanently scar her face. Even Sir Ainno felt apologetic after breaking her nose and making her lose her molar.

Only

“I am so glad I didn’t break your nose, Sis.”

“Totally. It broke once, so it would be awful to have it broken again.”

The bleeding stopped quickly and Poliana accepted her defeat easily. She apologized to Sir Donau properly, but he still didn’t think it was enough.

“Sis, I hear you apologizing, but I know you still aren’t accepting the truth.”

“If you were me, would you be able to do that?”

Sir Donau looked at Poliana with serious eyes and called her by her rank, “Sir Poliana.” Although they weren’t related by blood, to him, Poliana was family. She also used to be his superior, his mentor, his colleague, and his friend. She taught him many precious life lessons he will never forget. She made him into a proper man. Sir Donau always felt thankful to her, and he wished her happiness.

He hoped Poliana would lead a happy life. She didn’t have to become the happiest person in the kingdom; Sir Donau just wished she would be as happy as the other people in this world.