Chapter 8 A Royal Knight

• After a while, the knights started stating their orders and when it was Castor’s turn, he stared at Emery for a few seconds. He stood from his seat, held her hand, and kissed the back of it while looking right into her dark eyes that seemed to pull him into oblivion.
• “I still do not have the privilege to gaze upon the beauty you hide but may I have the honor to know your name, young miss?” he asked.
• The other knights teased the two but Emery simply bowed apologetically while looking at him with hesitation. She did not want to embarrass him in front of his colleagues and, not to mention, she was receiving a deadly glare from Basil so she had to come up with something quick.
• “I… I am still on duty so if you wish to know my name, speak to me during my break,” she said, which earned her a dazzling smile from the knight.
• “As you wish. And when will that be?”
• “30 minutes from now.”
• After their brief conversation, Emery let out a heavy sigh as she passed the orders to Basil.
• “Don’t you give me that look after such a fine knight just showed his interest in you.” His gaze was piercing.
• Emery chose not to say anything else and she just hoped that after that day, Castor would stay away from her. It would be a pain in the ass if some knight would constantly keep their eyes on her since it would limit her movements.
• During her break, she was just laying her head on the counter out of exhaustion and she was also thinking about what she just heard minutes ago. A few moment later, Castor appeared right before her. She immediately sat up straight and noticed how the other knights were looking at them from their table while wearing such teasing grins.
• “Don’t pay much attention to them. They’re not worth the trouble.” He, then, extended his hand and added, “I’m Castor.”
• Out of courtesy, Emery shook his hand and replied, “My name’s Sapphire and it is important for you to know that I am married, Sir Castor.”
• He looked at her with a surprised look, which slowly turned into confusion.
• “You do not have a ring, young miss.”
• “I take it off when I am working.”
• “Miss Sapphire, you weren’t wearing a ring during our trip either.”
• That moment, it became clear to Emery that the man in front of her was keen on details, giving her the hint that she must be more careful around him. Who knows? He might be the first one to find her actions suspicious.
• She, then, pointed at her mask.
• “This mask alone tells everyone that I am married, Sir Castor. It may not be in your tradition, however, back where I grew up, married women are not allowed to show their faces to anyone but to their husbands alone. I do hope you’d understand.”
• Castor did hear about people like those in the east so he smiled.
• “Then, you must have not said it back then in order not to embarrass me? Is that it, Missus?”
• Emery nodded.
• “Thank you for considering my feelings.” He slightly bowed to her before returning to his seat.
• Emery watched them leave the restaurant and when there were no longer customers, she sighed with relief.
• “You actually rejected an emperor’s knight on your second day here in the empire. I’m quite impressed,” Basil commented as he handed Emery a cup of water and bowl of food. “Eat it while I am being nice.”
• Just when Emery thought that she managed to get rid of the unnecessary attention, she was plummeted with the truth that what she did was the exact opposite. The very next day when she was told to go and buy some ingredients for the restaurant at the market, she started receiving harsh treatment from the people.
• She was not only glared at but the female vendors refused to let her buy from them. She had no idea what was going on so she could only wear a confused look and pretend like she was not affected by it. She checked herself and was more than sure that she was not dressed weirdly and there was no crime she committed… yet to be in that kind of situation.
• “You should probably head back home as fast as you can before those girls would stick their fangs on you,” the vendor told her while handing her all the things she needed.
• “I wonder what I did wrong,” she commented.
• The vendor looked at her with disbelief as if she had just grown another pair of eyes.
• “Are you serious? You just rejected a knight, young lady. That’s what you did wrong.”
• What the vendor said made no sense at all so after buying everything, Emery hurried back to the restaurant and saw Basil getting ready to open it for business.
• “Good to see you still in one piece,” he commented dryly.
• “It seems like you know something. Care to explain?” Emery demanded but was simply ignored.
• But then, their cook, Afina, approached her and dragged her to the corner.
• “You’re really ignorant about something this important,” she hissed at her. “Did you not really know that rejecting a knight… a knight of an emperor at that, is like committing a crime? And the consequence of doing that is earning the anger and hatred of other women.”
• Emery froze for a moment with disbelief clearly plastered on her face. She did not say a word and waited for Afina to say that she was just joking but even after three minutes of silence, she heard no such thing from her.
• “What’s with that insane rule? Don’t women here have the right to reject a man they do not love?”
• “It’s not a rule and women are, of course, free to choose a man they want to marry. It’s just that no single lady in her right mind would dare reject a knight of the emperor. They may not come from wealthy families but they are considered as noble as the ruler of the empire.” Afina, then, rolled her eyes. “Besides, you just rejected Sir Castor because you are playing hard-to–get and you want him running after you, aren’t you?”
• Emery wanted to scream at that moment due to how things had ridiculously turned out just because of a mere rejection. But then again, her reputation as Sapphire being a person with a mild temperament would be at risk of being stained, she calmed herself by taking a few deep breaths.
• “Playing hard to get? Afina, I rejected him because I am married.”
• This time, she was prepared and showed her a silver ring, which she secretly bought the other day to avoid being hit on and to make her lie more convincing. It was now Afina’s turn to be rendered speechless as she looked at the ring carefully.
• “You’re really married?” she asked to make sure she heard her right.
• Emery nodded. “If I am not married, then I won’t be wearing this mask.”
• “S-So what they said about you being a real flirt is just a rumor?”
• And the very next second, Afina was laughing. On the other hand, Emery could not explain or say that to everyone every time she received slanders from the customers so she just chose to ignore it the whole day. It was tiring though.
• When the restaurant finally closed, Emery was about to head to the second floor to have her rest but then, she was called out by a group of girls. There were about seven of them and it seemed like the lady right at the middle was a person from a rich family, given that her dress and accessories were of better quality than the others.
• “Are you Sapphire, the lady who just rejected Sir Castor?” the woman in the middle asked with a poker face but Emery could see hatred in her eyes.
• Yet she still replied, “Yes, I am Sapphire-”
• The next thing that happened was rather too fast that only after five seconds after she was slapped right across the face did she realize what just occurred. Another one stepped forward and slapped her on the other cheek before she could recover from shock.
• When the third lady was about to land another slap on her, they all stopped when they heard a familiar voice behind them.
• “Ganging up on someone is not really a good thing to do, Lady Daphne,” Castor said as he approached them. He stood before Emery to separate her from the others.
• He smiled at Lady Daphne, the leader of the group, and added, “No one would be pleased if they heard about this lowly action of yours so you should apologize to her.”
• “Why would a noble lady apologize to a mere worker who dared reject a knight like you, Sir Castor?”
• “Would you mind telling her your reason for rejecting me, Sapphire?”
• Castor glanced at Emery. Thus, she showed them her hand and said, “I am already committed to man.”
• The ladies, especially Lady Daphne, were more than surprised and embarrassed of their actions that they could only look down. What was even worse than that was their actions were witnessed by Castor, making themselves even more undeserving of such a fine man like him.
• “We’re sorry!” The six girls apologized but Lady Daphne was still adamant of just staying quiet. She’d just get slapped rather than to apologize for someone who was on a lower level than her.
• “Lady Daphne?” Castor called her out and this time, even though he was flashing a smile, anyone could tell that something sinister was lurking around him.
• “I… I am sorry,” she finally said with a low tone of voice, which was inadequate for Castor since her impulsive action had brought Emery in such a bad position.
• “It’s okay. I guess it is partly my fault for not wearing my wedding ring,” Emery stated with a smile just to end things and for them to just leave her alone.
• After saying that, the girls scampered away, leaving the two on their own.