The Emperor and the Knightess

Chapter 32

As Lucius the First promised, Poliana received a map the next day.

Just looking at the map wasn’t enough for her to figure everything out. Poliana decided that she will first explore the towns nearby the river. She didn’t really need anyone, so she only took Donau with her. There weren’t many horses to spare anyway, so it made sense for just the two of them to go.

Because of Poliana’s absence, Sir Baufallo asked to borrow Sir Howe from Sir Rabi.

The soldier who was responsible for the horses claimed that he could only spare one horse. Poliana then announced, “I guess we better ride it together then.” Donau protested loudly, but she ignored him and got on the horse. They fought to be the one riding it on the front, and in the end, when Poliana threatened to have him walk, Donau gave up.

When two people rode a horse together, those who needed to be protected rode on the front. For example, the ladies and children would ride on the front while a knight would be behind them.

The reason why both Poliana and Donau fought to ride on the front wasn’t that they wanted to be protected. It was because they both thought the other didn’t deserve to be protected.

If a male knight needed to ride a horse with another man, the knight usually ended up riding the front, however. If Poliana was considered a lady, Donau would’ve offered the front seat to her without hesitation and take the reign while if Donau was younger, Poliana would’ve offered him the front seat.

But these weren’t the case. Poliana wasn’t a lady and Donau wasn’t a little boy.

They didn’t find out much in the first town. It seemed that the people have heard of the myth involving the kelpie, but no one knew when the story started and where it came from. Poliana first read about this myth in a travel diary written by a nobleman who traveled this area about 60 years ago. In the diary, it said the following.

-The fisherman who was about to ride away in his boat mentioned, “Recently, so-and-so crossed this river by riding a kelpie.”

60 years… This wasn’t an overly long time ago. There was a possibility that it really was a kelpie but to be honest, Poliana didn’t believe in spirits. It was more likely that perhaps the fisherman was referring to a boat named “Kelpie.”

Despite the unlikeliness of finding anything useful, Poliana still wanted to explore because there was nothing else she could do for her emperor. She wanted to do something, anything, for her Lucius the First. To accomplish something noteworthy and gain the emperor’s trust… That was her dream.

Poliana didn’t deny that she was acting greedy, but it came from her loyalty to her sovereign.

In the town, Poliana went to talk to the oldest living person to find out more about this myth. The old man did know of this story as well, and he explained that it was a very simple tale. There lived a fisherman in a fishing village near the Koemong River who had a son. This son was an only child and because of it, he was supposed to be exempted from being drafted. However, there was a misunderstanding and the son was forcibly taken to serve in the military.

The son was released and returned to him three years earlier than others from the army, but he came home with one of his legs amputated. Unfortunately, the injury became infected, and a doctor was needed to help him.

It was faster to get a doctor from across the river, from Bebero, than to go the Aehas. But at the time when this son needed a doctor, Aehas and Kukda were at war as usual, and Bebero stopped any boats from crossing the river in fear of spies being sent.

The father had no choice but to cross the river using the kelpie he was raising at home.

Poliana asked in confusion, “So a kelpie didn’t appear in front of this father, who was crying at the river in fear of losing his son? It was a kelpie that the father already owned?”

“Yes, that’s right. It was the kelpie he was raising at home at the time.”

“So that ‘kelpie’ must’ve been a horse?”

“Most likely, and it wasn’t actually a fisherman. It was a shipowner. He was actually a very rich man.”

The old man further added that the father tried his best to go across by boat secretly, but it was not possible. So one day, he ran out on a horse and on the next, he came back with a doctor.

The misunderstanding was partly because the horse’s name was “kelpie,” but it was also from the kindness of the villagers. Fearing that the father may get punished for crossing the river without permission, they began to spread the rumor about this mythical creature.

Basically, it was a white lie. A desperate father gets helped by a kelpie when he crossed that river to Bebero.

Poliana asked the old man, “Do you know who it was? That father?”

The old man looked away nervously. Poliana sighed and explained that she wasn’t here to punish anyone. It took a long time to convince the man, but in the end, she got what she needed. The old man told her that the family lived in a nearby village.

It was getting dark, so Poliana and Donau had to spend the night in the fishing village. Because it was so small, there wasn’t an inn in the town. There were only a few small and old houses and each house only had one room. There was no room to spare for any guests, so the villagers offered to empty a house so that Poliana and Donau could sleep. Because of her appearance, the villagers thought she was a male knight. They didn’t see any problem with Poliana and Donau sleeping in the same room.

Poliana expected Donau to protest, complaining that he doesn’t want to spend the night with her in the same room so when he remained quiet, Poliana became confused. When she asked, Donau answered, “Getting my own room means an entire house and more people will have to be inconvenienced. His highness said that we should treat everyone, including those people from the lands we conquered, with respect and fairness.”

Poliana and Donau were taken to a small house where an old couple lived. The unpleasant smell of dust, rotting food, and mold filled their noses. When they entered the house, Donau frowned.

Everyone had smells they were used to. For Donau, it was the smell of blood, rotting meat, and dirty military shoes.

There was only one bed in the room, and Poliana contemplated. No knight would give up the bed to a help, but this only applied to one’s own personal servant. If it was another knight’s help, then it would depend on his/her age. And again, in this case, it was a bit tricky because Donau was neither a little boy nor a fully-grown man.

Only

Donau also felt awkward in this situation. As someone who was going to become a knight very soon, he needed to act accordingly. In a normal case, it only made sense for him to give up the bed to a lady.

But a lady… What if it was a lady who really wasn’t a lady? Who didn’t look like a lady at all? A lady who was a knight?

Since Donau did not accept her as a knight, it would make sense if he were to take it. The reason why he couldn’t accept her knighthood is her gender, it also meant that he should give up the bed to a woman.

Finally, Poliana said to him, “You can take the bed. I will let you have it.”

“No way, you take it!”

Donau blurted out, but she ignored him and placed her cape on the floor. Relentlessly, Donau did the same and laid down on the floor as well. It was a very small house so when the two of them got down on the floor, there was no extra space around or between them.

Suddenly, without turning towards Poliana, Donau asked rudely, “You are a woman, so why the hell did you become a knight?”