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For Poliana, it made perfect sense to visit the parents of her former superior. Sir Rabi helped her a lot almost as much as Sir Baufallo, during the war. He also allowed her to stay in his home in Nanaba when she had nowhere else to go.

On top of that, Sir Donau was Poliana’s adopted brother, and since he married Sir Rabi’s daughter, Poliana felt that she and the Bika family were practically a family. Poliana felt that it was her duty to visit Sir Rabi’s parents while she was in Nanaba.

“Aren’t you lonely here? Without your son and your grandchildren?” Poliana asked.

“We’re alright, we have plenty of relatives nearby who visit us often. We aren’t short of guests.”

“I should’ve visited you before. After all, I live closer to you than Sir Rabi. I apologize for my rudeness.”

“Not at all; you have a very important job, so I understand you can’t leave your place easily.”

Suddenly, Lady Bika asked Poliana, “So have you given up getting married completely?”

Poliana thought in resignation, ‘Here we go again.’ She knew she was going to be nagged to no end. Poliana knew all she had to do was keep nodding, but just thinking about it made her feel annoyed.

Thankfully, Sir Bika stopped his wife, “Stop your nagging; if things work out, and Sir Poliana never gets married, our grandson might become the next Marquess Winter.”

All Poliana could do was laugh.

“Hahaha…”

Technically, what Sir Bika said was true. If Sir Donau’s or Sir Howe’s child looks promising, Poliana was perfectly willing to assign him as her heir. Lady Bika shook her head in disagreement, “She could still get married and take our grandson as her heir. Since Marquess is barren, she will never bear her own child anyway.”

“Don’t be so naïve! What if her husband sires a child outside of their marriage? It will get so tricky!”

“So Marquess will just have to find a man who won’t cheat on her!”

“Are you kidding? Do you really believe there is such a man? All men are the same!”

Poliana uncomfortably watched the elderly couple fighting before looking down at the floor. This topic was something Poliana was very familiar with. In Acreia, men were favored over women in every way. For example, a woman could not inherit anything, which meant that any couple without a male heir needed to adopt a boy. A bastard son of the husband outside the marriage could inherit the title and the wealth while the legitimate daughter could not; it was truly an unfair situation.

To stop the couple’s fight, Poliana interrupted them, “Even if I get married and my husband brings in a bastard, I won’t accept him as my heir unless he is worthy. My rank is my own; it belongs to me, which means I will be the one deciding what to do with it.”

Poliana looked at the couple and added, “My greatest treasure is the last name I received from his highness. I care more about my name than my rank and my wealth. The one who will inherit this name Winter… I won’t make that decision lightly.”

Poliana felt proud just thinking about her name. She was successful in expressing her feelings, but she failed in stopping the couple’s fight.

Lady Bika yelled at her husband, “All men are like that?! So does that mean you have many bastards out there too?! Is that what you are saying?”

“No, I never did such a thing!”

Sir Bika yelled back; he was contradicting himself, but he didn’t care. Poliana looked down on the floor again awkwardly. If the fight was happening between the two strangers, she would’ve watched with interest, but this case involved her. The fight was happening between the two parents of her former superior, so Poliana didn’t know how to react.

In the end, Lady Bika won the argument. She triumphantly left the reception area and Sir Bika looked at Poliana uneasily. Poliana clenched her fists and said to him gallantly, “I won’t tell anyone, my lips are sealed, Sir.”

“…”

“I really mean it.”

“My wife used to be so quiet… she never used to scream like that before…”

“When you get older, you lose your hearing and ends up raising your voice a lot. It’s a natural thing.”

“…”

Sir Bika’s dog came to him to make him feel better, and when Poliana learned that this dog was the great-grandson of the old dog that surprised her before, Poliana was shocked once again. Apparently, Sir Rabi did not take all of his dogs. He left a few to protect the house and his parents.

Sir Bika smiled and patted his dog affectionately. Every time he touched the dog, the dog’s eyes narrowed slightly as if it was smiling.

Sir Bika offered, “Would you like to raise a dog, Marquess Winter?”

Acreia used to be called the kingdom of hunters. There was an old joke that said an Acreian hunter never lends his hunting dog even to his best friend. In Acreia, the hunting dogs were bred with utmost care. The dogs’ bloodlines were considered extremely important. So, to offer someone a puppy from his own hunting dog litter was considered quite a gesture. It was the greatest way to offer friendship.

Poliana rarely refused gifts, but not when it was something alive. There have been many times when people offered her their puppies, including the emperor. She refused them every time, and this was no exception.

She refused respectfully and Sir Bika gave her a nod.

***

It was an early evening when Poliana arrived at the Emperor’s Room.

‘It looks bigger than I remember… Am I not seeing it right?’

She actually was. The room was expanded and now included many more portraits of previous royal members. It used to be a single room, but now, the Emperor’s Room consisted of many small rooms connected together.

Only

The room represented the history of the Acreian royal family. Because Poliana was not originally from Acreia, she didn’t know the history very well. She did study briefly, but it wasn’t enough for her to recognize the portraits. All she knew about was her current emperor and his parents, the former emperor, and the empress.

‘She was such a beauty.’

Poliana stared at the former empress with admiration.

‘I am a woman and I am already falling in love with her.’

The former empress was the female version of Lucius the First. She was certainly much more feminine, and she had a very fragile quality to her. Her ring finger was the size of Poliana’s pinky.

There were two rings displayed on the table underneath the portraits. The rings obviously belonged to the former emperor and the empress. Poliana wasn’t interested in the empress’s ring. Her eyes were mesmerized by the former emperor’s ring. It was huge even for a man’s ring. This was because it was made to be worn on top of his gauntlet. The first time Poliana saw this, she planned on making something similar for herself as well. She forgot about it until now, but she thought to herself, ‘If I get married, I should make my wedding ring like that.’

Poliana was trying it on her finger when suddenly, she felt someone entering the room. When she turned around, she found Lucius the First standing behind her.