I watch Korean historical drama a lot, slavery is a common thing, and it's not like western slavery. When someone commit a crime. whether noble or royal, even worse commoner, as the punishment they would became a slave. Depend on the degree of the crime, the entire household could be sentenced to slavery including their servant (example : treason), they could be freed after working for certain times or pay a fine. In Rasta case, she becomes slave because her father commit a crime, but he only pay for his share to freed himself while Rasta remain as slave. Korean Rofan may use western setting, but most of the times, they used Korean culture instead. I don't know about Western culture, but marriage at a young age, a certain date for the 'union' night, that's something you would see in Korean historical dramas.
Yeah, I watch a lot of Chinese and Korean sageuk drama shows as well. I actually think both emperors in this story are much kinder than the majority of emperors in those shows I have watched. Most emperors in those shows inspire “genuine” fear. They can send a person a cup of poison to drink, they can order the slaughter of a person’s entire family for a crime or offense committed by one person of that family. They can also sentence the women and children to slavery. Well, they can do a whole lot of harsh things. The amazing thing is that the empress, who is usually in charge of the harem, can also punish concubines as well and order a person to drink poison if proven guilty. I see what you mean with the Western setting but Korean mindset. Like the concubine thing and in some stories, there are multiple wives for an emperor. I don’t think that’s a western practice historically. However, the author for this story seem to do a blend of West and East here because if concubines were a common practice, I don’t think Navier would have reacted as though her husband is having an affair.
Do really think it's all about unicorns and rainbows? No one is innocent in the novel not even naiver so i don't really get it why you're so pent up on hainley's actions. Idk whether you really understand how politics work or you're just expecting everyone besides rashta and sovieshu to be all angel-ish and stuff.
Never got the impression either. I think modern projection leaks out a bit in this kind of convo. Like today, nobody wants slavery because directly or indirectly effects and our shared knowledge of the implication of such act. But if you put in a setting before the 20th century, I don’t understand how a woman, who was groomed to support the Establishment as well as the primary support of the person upholding the system (whether slavery or whatnot), is supposed to help. I think they are trying to make her some kind of ‘messiah’ because she was in a position of power but if you really dig into it, not all women were trained nor given access to power and authority. They are given the sidelines and even objectified to useful as long as they provide heirs. To me, that’s their brand of slavery – being only second citizens in their own society and while their primary needs such as food, shelter and others, they are also not exactly ‘free’ based on our current definition of women empowerment. BTW, how do you change fonts? Can you DM me? Same goes for some Chinese and Japanese manga as well. Sometimes the Western setting is just window dressing. They are some common grounds, of course. But scratch it enough and it will show that the dresses are just like that….dresses. Like most conservative Western traditions are in the same par as eastern values that are still prevalent in Asia today (speaking as an Asian here).
Spoiler: Heinley’s actions This thread is so long that I never even saw the post you quoted. Hmmm. Yesterday I posted above that the two emperors in this story are nothing like emperors in Korean and Chinese stories. Emperors in those stories inspire “true” fear. But let’s tackle Heinley. Was the person he killed the Duke who is Christa’s father? If so, the outcome was expected. His son almost killed Navier and the imperial babies so in a case like this, the entire family would usually be put to death by an emperor. Even Stupidshu wanted to execute Viscount Landre for almost killing his baby although the man didn’t know Rashta was pregnant. The viscount only got off because Navier came to his aid. Then let’s talk about torture. Stupidshu threatened to have Kosair brought in to be tortured but of course he didn’t dare do it because of Navier. Nevertheless, the mindset is there. Sovieshu also basically told the viscount who is Allen’s father that he and his son had to die so that the viscount’s wife and daughter can live. Note, this was before they were put on trial to testify. Admittedly though, Heinry seems to be the kind of emperor that if you cross him or threaten him, he pay the person back tenfold. I was very surprised when I learned he basically imprisoned Christa in the dowager mansion. He provided food and entertainment but Christa couldn’t go outside. It looks like he also blocked the windows. I wish the author gave insight into why he went so far but in a way I grasp why he did it. After all, Christa tried to entrap him (the emperor) so that she could become his concubine. Honestly, if she tried that stuff with an emperor in an Asian drama, and he was offended, she’d be imprisoned, dead or tortured. I get why people think these actions are harsh though especially since the story has a Western setting and not an Eastern setting. As to the accusation that the author is romanticizing Heinley’s actions, I don’t think that’s the case. The author is probably just showing that both Heinley and Stupidshu, as emperors, had the authority or power to do those things. Like, I don’t agree with Heinley’s plan to attack the East empire unprovoked. However, the reality is there are world leaders in history and in our current time who do exactly these kinds of things. So perhaps the author wrote this plot from observing history and current times. I’d honestly like to know why Heinley wanted war though. He even read his kids war time stories while Navier was pregnant. Is this how he was brought up? I’m really curious why he seems so bellicose in foreign policy.
If Henri wasn't trying to start the war on the Eastern Empire then he wouldn't of gotten Navier most likely. As well as Sovieshu bringing in Rashta really gave him an opening.
"leave those shitty justifications, he killed people and you can't change that, that's a crime so if he existed in real life you would be simply supporting him for being a good husband and being handsome and being king take care of the things you read and support. You should never justify yourself by a murderer for very good justifications and the character development where it is left we have to be critical of the things we read and be conformists. the novel leaves you some teaching, what you are consuming is not teaching you anything?, the autor is justifying his actions with romanticized acts, Do you think that living with a murderer next to you is romantic?." That's the post. That's why i replied. Same as you I'm extremely curious on how heinley was brought up considering that he planned a war against navier's empire before falling in love with her and the fact that he even read a book that is not suitable for an infant to read nor to hear, I'm a bit buzzed right now to even remember if the spoilers had said anything about heinley's past. But to my understanding, the quote was indicating what i meant since they think that heinley was this saint like figure whom never had the guts to even hurt a fly disregarding the fact that heinley is a king and is friends with ergy. I'm not saying that killing or imprisoning someone is perfectly normal rather what I'm implying is that he's a king who knows how politics work and politics is a dirty place, i would agree with them if heinley is a commoner but he's not.
Spoiler: Authority of Emperors I agree with you. Pages ago when I discussed who I thought were villains in the story, I exonerated the emperors’ behaviors that were solely based on their authority. I will say it again, both Stupidshu and Heinley don’t compare to emperors in Asian drama shows. I honestly associate “emperors” with “fear” because of the numerous drama shows I have watched where emperors order the deaths of people (and their families) for an offense/crime and sometimes the people were framed or simply political enemies. They might not be in the right but it’s in their spear of absolute authority. The funny thing is that even if they are overthrown, the next person who comes normally end up doing the same thing unless they’re a puppet emperor and some powerful official is holding the power instead. It’s simply the dynamics of that type of politics and era. The emperor is basically like the law and could sentence people to death. Meanwhile, living in the palace itself is deadly. The empress and consorts plot against each other, kill each other babies whether through abortion pills ,etc. I always conclude that it’s much safer to live outside the palace than inside the palace. Maids and Eunuchs can be beaten to death at any time for offending concubines or the empress. Still, I confess I like to watch historical drama especially the Chinese ones. The Korean sageuk s are far too brutal. Lots of blood and death. At least in this story, as I pointed out before, those things that are so normal in Asian palace drama don’t happen here. Rashta would have probably been dead already in an Asian drama. She has no manners and she would have had manners and etiquette beaten into her in a palace drama because palace rules are paramount to the discipline of the harem. There’s also no way she would get away with insulting the empress who normally runs the harem in a strict manner.
I am annoyed that the previous emperor's concubine had a good ending despite being a villian. She basically ruined duke ergi's life but shouldn't he get his revenge from her? She would be happy about Sovieshu's downfall since he is the reason she was kicked out. Ergi should just kill her.
Good to know someone agrees with my opinion some are just straight up dense and too delusional when it comes to things like politics, like yeah killing someone is wrong but you can't do anything about it whether to protect yourself, your position, or all of the things that you've worked hard for especially if you're selfish enough to not give it up, and keep in mind the setting of the "remarried empress" might be somewhere in the 13th century i don't fucking know (or at least somewhere near that era) where killings are let's just say normal (?). For me heinley is just another twisted male character just like all of the main male characters in manhwas (except him being mischievous and being open with his feelings and not playing the "tsundere" game). Plus even if they get a saint like king or even worse emperor the kingdom/empire would fall, that position isn't for someone who's too kind, dense, naive, and doesn't have the guts to even injure a fly, that position deals with wars, what if another kingdom or empire decides to attact it? What'll he do if he's too kind to kill? A king needs to protect it's people even if it costs a knight's life to protect it. And the thing about rashta, yes it would've been dead by now, in real life navier could just order anyone to kill it, an extremely rude and mannerless thing disrespecting someone who is extremely respected by everyone have you seen all of navier's servants and guards bow down to her before she got divorced? even heinley has huge respect towards her, i wouldn't be surprised if some aristocrat or noble would kill it. Like I'm sorry to be rude but a mere concubine disrespecting and telling spreading towards an respected empress? (fr tho if in an asian drama setting, if navier knew the thing was spreading lies about her she can just order a servant to kill it and the emperor can't do anything about it, or atleast that's what i see in asian dramas, tho I'm asian myself my country doesn't really have the history of having monarchs as leaders so i don't know shit, but yeah based on some chinese and korean historical dramas i've seen the emperor can't really do anything if the empress kills one of his concubine idk) Nah bro it gotta go, even if it's protected by an emperor rules are rules in the palace, even an emperor has to learn etiquette before it becomes one, and the emperor knows that. -Idk if what i've said about the empress killing one of the emperor's concubines is true lol )
When you try to see a character view Point through the lens of a 15th century person but you universally morph into one and start thinking like them I swear these books are mad weird the sole purpose to influence people to love royalty , slavery and praise rich monarchs forvdoung anything. So when our brew overlords ther will be bo resistance A few years ago wit books such a sthe hunger games the theme was overthrow the oppressive govemtnet. Not its "praise them cuase lol different times and stop looking at stuff through modern lens" and calling a slave "it" cuase how dare she disrespect our prefect empress chosen by god to bless us more peasant with her presence in this world Imagine for every revolution that happens peole just went "idk washington san this is the 18th century please stop trying to fight against the British we have to respect there rules" Or even "Lincoln please stop trying to free the slaves. The historical setting makes sense. What are you some kind of SJW? Also no a empress cant kill a concubine nilly willy even in a cn setting. They were mostly from good families too. There would be chaos And I dont get it. Its euther Navier doesn't actually have any real power since shes just a women so she cant change anything or its she can kill a concubine without the emperor even saying anything to her. Which is it. Does she have alot of power or no power? That's exactly how I feel about ergishit. Lets compromise and hope they have a battle on a cliff and fall to there deaths
Spoiler: Emperors Those people are probably judging the characters by our modern time rather than the historical time. History is not something that can be changed because it’s history. Authors are probably trying to portray the era and rulers according to the time and the truth is, emperors represented fear. One of the most intriguing emperors I know is from world renown Chinese drama, Nirvana in Fire. The emperor can look gentle as a lamb at times but cross him and he becomes strikingly dangerous in an instant. Sovieshu and Heinry are saints compared to these emperors. That emperor even had his own outstanding son, the crown prince, executed because he was jealous of him and willingly believed that he was plotting rebellion. I confess if Heinry is twisted, maybe I am too because just last night I watched an episode of Chinese historical drama My Heroic Husband and a handsome merchant was trying to rape the hero’s wife and he arrived just before anything could be consummated(and after she was beaten up) and proceeded to kill the rapist by shooting (he was transmigrated to the past) him in his leg, then another leg, then one arm, then another arm and then finally in the head. I was very satisfied with that payback. Heinry is the kind of person that does this kind of thing. If a person mess with him, he pay them back tenfold. Sometimes it’s better to let sleeping lions alone.
I can't really tell whether I'm twisted too since people see that i sort of "condone" heinley's actions, either i am twisted or just rational enough not to judge them because modern times is far more different than it is back then. And comparing sovieshu and heinley to real life emperors and kings yeah they are indeed saints, i can't really tell if sovieshu values powers a lot since he was willing to divorce navier and replacing her with someone who is so incompetent, (and he obviously knows, that's why he was desperate to get navier back) I'm pretty no one on real life would do that especially holding that much power. - plus he was extremely DESPERATE to have a heir, he was extremely kind to the infant tho it wasn't his ( no cap i like him better as a father compared to heinley i was shocked when heinley read a book that is not suitable for kids to an infant while as sovieshu according to some spoilers I've read, he always spend his time with the baby like they were playing and stuff before he knew it wasn't his) 'that' someone can barely read and write so obviously that person has zero to no knowledge about politics (bruh it had the audacity to pout when it heard sovieshu and navier talking about politics and was like "sovieshu never talks about politics with rashta" then pouts like girlie i don't think you'll understand even a fucking sentence let alone you who has zero knowledge of it, joining a conversation that is extremely important like just imagine the 'advice' it would give and obviously you have to narrow the said situations, terms, and rules that something a toddler can comprehend, girlie barely has experience in politics and how politics work, i was not surprise when a lot of aristocrats and nobles were against sovieshu and navier's divorce they know how stupid the replacement is) and most importantly has zero to no experience in politics, doesn't know how politics works, depends on sovieshu so much and just had to cry to get anything, has no political support from anyone, and just overall ruining the emperor or even worse the empire's image when it became empress. (But please keep in mind that this all fiasco was all of sovieshu's fault, it's his fault for letting navier go, it's his fault for being extremely stupid to bring an already pregnant girl from a sidewalk -no cap i think he's lowkey a p3do he fell in love well not really in love but was sexually attracted to the girl because she was apparently "innocent and childish" which is just sus and just disgusting, i actually puked when i thought about this-, it's his fault for giving a random stranger he met on the road the "empress" title knowing that the person he just brought can't read and write, it's all his fault but I will not ignore rashta's faults. I am not satisfied on how she died, it had a lot of crimes that were against the law, disrespecting an authorative figure like the empress can lead to death ( i think? ) some type of punishment, not having any type of manners or etiquette in the palace ( which i think is against the rules, i think even kids from imperial families knows that), I've even read from some spoilers it harassed some people and a bird, the fucking feathers i read somewhere it was the one who put blue feathers on navier's food and that's the most disrespectful thing it had ever done) With heinley on the other hand, I'd say he's the same as others, extremely wise decision that he made navier the queen of his kingdom. He's really smart i don't think he'll ever think of replacing navier as his lover and queen. He's just as twisted as other kings can be, he has political priorities and as i've said before politics was never a clean nor safe environment for anyone.
If this was your typical Chinese harem story, yeah Navier could have the means, motive and opportunity to kill Rashta. In addition, if Navier was a woman consumed by class and position, she could have done that. The most extent a woman in a court can do is to flex and as I said, a woman’s power is always dependent on others, whether it is her husband, her son or her family. She can only get away with it, if the emperor/king is proven incompetent or her family is essential to the emperor (which Navier’s parents aren’t, givne how the Emepror gave them grioef towards their heir). However, what people miss is that Navier did not play the role of a petty and power hungry empress. She was a woman who taught and trained to accept her duty and responsibility from a young age and while she inherited prestige and power from her family, she is treated as a lower alternative of her husband. Her authority is only as good as Sovie wants it and she cannot complain if Sovie made decisions that affronted her (like taking a concubine). When the emperor started to dislike her, she was only good as her best function – to be a respectable empress and nothing else. Which to me, boils down to her functions and not as someone as a person. I have to correct you that emperor do discipline their main wife/empress when she gets a little out of hand. They cannot divorce her (a political marriage, you see) but they always give them harsh punishment like confinement to their rooms, removal of their Empress Seal and lost of authority/servants and supporters. In addition, their family also suffers and she is paraded as a disgrace (whether she is innocent or not). It same that happened to Navier, her brother was exiled and her parents were held as somewhat kind of hostages when she married Heinley. The worst Sovie can do is execute them as payback, but that has its own backlash. In terms of the power structure, RE looks more like a Western interpretation since there is no system of the harem and the monarch is afforded only one wife (and the official one at that.). Rashta, for me, embodies the eastern thing being the concubine and having this ideology that women sharing the same man should treat each other as sisters.
Spoiler: Heinley as a father Heinley is an excellent father. When he read his children (while Navier’s pregnant) those war stories, the only thing Navier objected to was the bloody parts. Other than that, Heinley takes very good care of his kids. He’s a very hands on parents. He turns them into birds every night, feeds them, warms them with heat and put them to bed. Navier says he’s obsessed with them. He realizes that Lari likes jeweled nests in high places and he and Lari often sneaks off to the nest to have fun. The children are attached to him to the point where Navier took a long trip to Lund, Kafmen’s country via boat, and Heinley is the one who took care of the kids and the kids were totally fine. There’s a part where McKenna was looking for Heinley and he finds him with the babies in a room of jewels. There he was showing the kids his jewels and attending to them as he noticed Lari likes jewels like him and Kai just wants to bite jewels. lol Then, because Navier went missing on the trip, Heinley was heart broken and McKenna had to prevent him from just running off as a bird to look for Navier. Eventually he found out Navier was safe but he flew to Lund to see for himself. By the time Navier returned, the babies clung to her for four days and wouldn’t let her go. On the fifth day, when she was getting back to work, Kai began to repeatedly turn from human to bird. Navier got scared and called McKenna. McKenna told her that Kai is doing that instinctively because he’s seeking attention from his parents. Why? Navier concluded it’s because “both” her and Heinley were away for a long time in the trip back from Lund. The kids are fine with either her or Heinley because both are hands on parents and spend quality time with the kids. Spoiler: Heinley, is he a tyrant? So, I’ve seen it said that Heinley is a tyrant. Is he a tyrant or is it just that he acts cruelly in some instances? Like, I don’t get the impression that the Western people consider his rule tyrannical. Is he oppressing the Western people? Why is he considered a tyrant? I actually think what he did to Christa’s family was not without their provocation. Heinley was trying to keep his promise to his brother to take care of Christa. He didn’t ask her to leave the palace to make way for Navier but Christa should have had the good sense and dignity to retire from the palace so that Navier could begin to introduce her policies as the empress who will run the internal palace affairs. Not only that, Christa actually encouraged, and did not correct, the behavior of the workers in the palace who kept blatantly throwing shade on Navier while elevating Christa as the true queen. Perhaps this worship went to Christa’s head but that shameless woman then had the audacity to repay Heinley’s kindness by joining with Kafmen to entrap Heinley with the love potion. Then that issue gave her “solid” ground to publicly embarrass and shame Heinley by the unfounded accusation that he ruined Christa’s reputation and so he needed to take her as a concubine. This is how she repaid his patience, kindness and leniency. She and her political allies took Heinley to a state meeting where her supporters tried to entrap Heinley, who couldn’t defend himself since he had no alibi, to marry Christa. The more I think about it, the more outraged I become because it’s willfully entrapping a perfectly innocent person without any provocation on his part. Not to mention Heinley just married Navier and he promised Navier that he will never take a mistress or concubine. I was honestly shocked when I read that Heinley basically confined Christa to the empress dowager mansion. She couldn’t go outside so he sent in food and entertainers for Christa and her attendants. Nevertheless, although it’s harsh, since he didn’t send her to jail for her false accusations and slander of the imperial family, I suppose this was his way of punishing her because she almost succeeded in trying to use political power to force him to accept her as his concubine. The thing is, Heinley didn’t say a single word at the public hearing when Christa’s side was slandering him and making demands of him. He just sat there and patiently watched the show. Heinley shows restraints though because if he didn’t, he would have gotten rid of marquis Ketron as well. Marquis Ketron did plot in secret and sometimes openly with Christa and her family to do all of their dirty deeds. They were spreading rumors about how Heinley killed his brother. They were plotting against Navier, constantly. They were the ones to spread her infertility rumors in the Western empire. They were always trying to mess with Heinley and Navier. I don’t even get why because none of this is about the well being of the country. It was all about their own personal greed and power. So, I really think they had it coming and the last straw was when they tried to kill Navier and the imperial babies. I completely agree with Heinley executing them all because they went overboard. All of this could have been avoided if they hadn’t provoked Heinley again and again and again and again. I have a problem though with Heinley torturing the duke from the East. This was purely out of a grudge because the man disrespected Navier previously. The punishment far outweigh the offense. Maybe the payback was his capture by the Angel and threat to his country especially concerning his covert operation to reduce the power of mages in the East. Regarding the Whitemond confrontation, I’m glad Navier convinced him to try diplomacy instead. However, he’s not unlike several leaders in our current day. Since I recently read that part of the novel, I couldn’t help relating this to a daily confrontation between Turkey and Greece that my friend from Greece told me about last year. It had to do with the same sea issue because Greece, Cypress and Israel signed an agreement to build a pipeline to supply gas to Europe. Turkey wants economic benefit from this deal but Greece contends that the maritime route they use has nothing to do with Turkey. So, on a daily basis, the Air Force from both countries confronted each other as a show of power. I would say, Heinley had this kind of mindset. Whitemond suddenly interfered with the Western empire’s trade without any explanation or prior notice. Heinley took this as a provocation and began to amass troops near the border. He doesn’t behave unlike some of the stronger leaders of our day. Thankfully diplomacy won the day but it doesn’t always resolve everything. Spoiler: Blend of East and West Yes, I also believe the political structure is a blend of East (concubine) and West. I honestly think the Trovi family behaved far too submissive with Sovieshu but I also think that’s also the blend of East and West. Sovieshu basically walked all over them so I couldn’t think of them as a powerful family even though apparently they possess military power. It also kind of shows that Sovieshu really wields ultimate power because he put both Koshar and then Navier (with Heinley) under house arrest and their family couldn’t do anything about it. He also enters their house without notice and does whatever he wants. On a side note, no one could be more brazen than he, who after humiliating their children, still boldly shows his face and make demands. When I think of how he abused these people, who remained loyal to him, despite the humiliation, it’s no wonder he ended up the way he did. Another matter I noticed that even though Rashta is supposedly a concubine, she’s treated like a mistress in actuality by everyone else, including the church and nobles and her children would be considered illegitimate rather than princes or princesses. At least the children of concubines were still considered princes and princesses in the East. Sovieshu is also considered to be cheating unlike the Eastern harem. Still, somehow it often seems like a blend of East and West by small hints here and there. Yep, empresses in the East can lose favor and a concubine given charge of the harem. There’s a famous story in Korea like this. I think at least Korean Sageuk adapted this story. In that story as well, the concubine has a child while the empress either lost her child or couldn’t bare children. The concubine eventually met her downfall and the banished empress was reinstated. The adoption thing was done in Dong Yi, Korean drama where Dong Yi was a maid turned concubine and her son was very intelligent. She asked the empress to adopt her son in order to protect him from the powerful families and officials of other concubines. So Sovieshu’s scheme also stems from this Eastern practice. I’ve seen this in other Asian historical drama shows.
I was wondering who took care of the kids when Heinly flew off to Lund with McKenna. Because the Navier, Heinly and McKenna seemed to be the ones personally taking care of them in turns. I don't think it was a day trip since Lund is so far away, Heinly spend smexy times with Navier in her room (lol, Laura thought Navier was having an affair!) and Heinly+ McKenna went on a shopping binge in Lund. Regarding Christa and her family, I don't blame Heinly for behaving the way he did. They really went overboard in their various actions. The only thing that made Heinly stay his hand was his promise to his late brother. Cannot help noticing from Ergi's backstory that Heinly's bad relationship with the old Duke was since he was a kid. The old Duke despises Heinly and wasn't hiding it either. Blend of East and West- just try to remember that the writer is Korean and is writing the novel in a fictional+ historical Western setting. I think we shouldn't overthink too much on the historical/cultural accuracy. But it does give rise to some interesting discussions which I do enjoy reading:-D
Spoiler: Christa and her family Yes, Christa’s family went overboard. I don’t understand their motives because Heinley’s brother is dead. Why should Christa retain her power in the palace? I am aware she might have a thing for Heinley but she’s a fool to try to force him to take her as a concubine. The whole thing, imho, was a concerted effort to try to strong arm him into a concubine contract. Moreover, they constantly sought out ways to undermine Heinley and sully Navier. They even made the trip to the East to get a letter from Rashta alleging that Navier is infertile. Then when they suspected that she was pregnant, they prepared harmful food for a pregnant woman. Over and over and over and over again, they kept testing Heinley’s patience. In fact, all of their actions showed their complete disrespect for him as emperor. The incredible thing about all this is that absolutely none of this had to do with direct state affairs like policies and such. Some people just don’t know when to quit. Regarding the writer, we are indeed aware the author is Korean.
Whatever happens doesn't matter.. I feel most bad for rashtas daughter Gloreum.. She got the most awful ending.. I want to know more what happens to her.. Nothing was her fault.. Either she is a Royal or not is unclear.. I want to know her story.... Anyway everyone gets a deserving ending.. But I don't think she gets one.. I m sad for her..
From what I heard, she grew up with a couple who took good care of her. She has her freedom and her dream is to become a knight.