Under the Oak Tree

Chapter 247

Seeing her eyes clouding with sadness, Riftan’s eyebrows furrowed deeply. He cupped her cheek in his palm and gently swept her puffy eyes with his thumb. Max then took his hand and placed it against her lips.

“Th-then… what can I do for you?”

Riftan’s face, half buried in the pillow, suddenly hardened with longing. His eyes were appealing for something, and Max couldn’t figure out what it was. A distant voice tickled her ears.

“Nothing… you just have to stay by my side.”

The corner of Max’s eyes drooped down as her heart broke: it was the first time she realized that having someone who doesn’t want anything from you can be painful. Perhaps displeased with her sorrowful expression, Riftan frowned and pulled her towards his body. The second time they made love started slow and soft, enough to melt all her anxieties in her heart. His mouth caressed her rosy breasts for a long time, he moved inside her vigorously until her eyes became hazy from her petals opening once again and she melted into pleasure. Finally, Max fell asleep, laying over Riftan’s tight waist.

She slept for so long that at a certain point she felt a suffocating heat and opened her eyes slowly. The furnace had so much firewood that it kept the flame alight until the dawn set, making her body sweat from the warmth emanated by it as well as the temperature that radiated from Riftan’s body. Max got out of bed, draped a robe over her shoulders, and walked to the front of the window. She opened the window a little to let in the cool breeze. Suddenly, she saw something glowing in the dark. Max then lifted her head and noticed little white snowflakes falling down from the dark sky, that was the color of gray and indigo.

Max poked her head out the window, letting the small, soft, icy snowflake fall on her face. Her sweaty body quickly cooled down in the night breeze. However, she didn’t feel like going back to bed. As she watched the snow flutter in the wind amusingly, she felt a blanket being wrapped around her back. She turned around and Riftan embraced her from behind, kissing the back of her head.

“You might catch a cold.”

“… I was feeling t-too warm.”

His hair was decadently disheveled, and his eyes were unusually languorous. Seeing him this relaxed and laid back, her displeased emotions melted away like snow. Max stared at him half-stunned and couldn’t prevent a smile from forming on her lips.

“Look at… th-this. The first snow of the year is falling.”

Riftan breathed a little sigh of relief and rubbed his hot, moist lips against her nape. “We watched the first snowfall together last year. Should we visit the lake again when the sun comes up?”

“R-really? I can go out of the castle?”

“It doesn’t matter if you go out when you’re with me. If you want, I’ll even take you to town.”

The fact that he made such a proposal in a simple way successfully cut her attention from the plan that the Duke Croix was hatching and Max turned around and embraced him tightly. The first snow fell for a while and soon stopped. The day was bright, but the temperature dropped in such a way that white frost settled all over the land. She was very happy that winter came a little early since now her father’s plan had to wait for the time being. Max stopped interrogating Riftan about it. His words made sense too, just because she knew what her father was doing didn’t mean she could do something: it was obvious that it would only cause restlessness to her heart. She consciously eliminated her worries and decided to fully enjoy the moment when Riftan clung most to her.

He took her to the winter lake as he had promised. On days when it was not too cold, they would leave the castle to see the town. Max toured the new four-story upper building and wandered through the marketplace filled with stone buildings. In the square, merchants from the south sold all kinds of rare items, and despite the cold, the streets were swarming with people. She looked at all kinds of things to her heart’s content. Belts of southern silk and snakeskin, pieces of carved ivory in the form of animals, colorful patterned furs, all kinds of spices and rare herbs… He bought her everything that interested her and promised to take her to the port soon. Max drew in her mind the scene of walking along the shore with him in the spring breeze. The imagination was so sweet that she really wanted to believe Riftan’s words that nothing grave would happen.

‘Right, what can my father do now?’

He would only hurt the family’s prestige and embarrass himself if he openly revealed that he was attacked by Riftan at Croix Castle. Her proud father was unlikely to try to retaliate when it could involve taking even the slightest disgrace on him. If the attempt to isolate Anatol failed, he would soon surrender, so Max decided to be optimistic and, as expected, a time of peace passed. Thanks to the Knights who roamed the Anatol mountain range and subdued the monsters, there was not a single minor accident within the territory, and the day when the Duke of Croix brought armies to charge against them didn’t come.

Max began living with Riftan like a bear trapped in a burrow. They lingered in their room all day, eating, sleeping, and making love day and night. During such peaceful days, she let all her worries go. However, their quiet living did not last for long. One morning, a messenger arrived at Calypse Castle and Riftan took the visitors directly to his office, but Max immediately recognized the messenger’s face. It was a knight of Count Robern, who visited Calypse Castle last spring.

‘His name is… something like Aaron Levier.’

The light in Max’s face darkened as she recalled the alliance with Count Robern last year. For him to send someone to the castle at a time like that… she wondered if monsters were going on a rampage again. That must be the reason why he might be trying to request support from the Remdragon Knights.

Max wandered around the room, biting her nails, thinking of the possibility that Riftan could go out on a mission to lead the Knights on an expedition that winter: it felt like her heart was shrinking and her chronic anxiety began again. She wanted to be tough and face anything with a strong heart, but she didn’t know how. Max sighed, fiddling with her long, braided hair with her anxious hands. Perhaps being the wife of a knight meant having to spend a lifetime with a heart constantly burning with anxieties. If she had known earlier, she would have tried very hard not to like him too much, but now, she couldn’t even imagine being indifferent to him.

Max sat up on the bed and wrapped herself around her knees. Why wasn’t life iridescent? Why wasn’t the world a paradise covered in soft green grass? It was disgusting to see the endless suffering above their heads. While she was drowning in such useless thoughts, she heard a knock. Max got off the bed like a shot put and thinking that perhaps Riftan sent someone to call for her, she opened the door without even asking who it was. Then, a chest wide and bulky enough to cover the entire entrance filled her field of vision. Max was startled and took a step back. When she raised her head high, Hebaron’s seriously hardened face barely caught her eyes.

“With what pu-purpose do you come…”

“I have something I’d like to discuss. Can you spare me a moment?”

He scratched the back of his ear and muttered shyly. Without hesitation, Max wore her robe and left the room. Hebaron took the lead and started walking. She didn’t think that he would lead her to Riftan, making her curious about the matter he’d like to discuss. Max looked anxiously at his stiff back. Hebaron looked over his shoulder and gave her a reassuring smile as if he felt her gaze.

“I’m sorry if I came so suddenly and startled you. I have an urgent matter to discuss with the lady… I was planning to talk with you in the infirmary but the lady doesn’t seem to visit it these days.”

Max blushed and muttered her excuse. “It’s because Ru-ruth and… Medrick… are there that I thought I wou-wouldn’t be needed there…”

“Oh, I’m not blaming the lady. We are all well-aware that the commander’s disease has gotten worse these days.”

Max gasped in shock. “D-disease?” She was shocked and saddened.

“I’m talking about his obsession with the lady.” Hebaron chuckled, making a joke. “Nowadays, he seems more obsessive. We’re becoming worried whether the commander is holding his wife like a prisoner.”

“Please don’t e-exaggerate it. Riftan is just… worried about m-me.”

“I don’t think so. I think your words are too light to describe what he does… I’m not sure whether it’s alright to tell you this, but the commander has been acting unusually recently. Whenever he is away from the lady for hours, he is visibly tense and can’t relax even for a moment. It’s been a while as well since I saw his face around the training grounds.”

Max’s face turned rigid at the worry that leaked out of Hebaron’s eyes. She was aware that Riftan was spending a lot of time with her since they returned to Calypse Castle, but she didn’t think that it would cause a serious problem.

Hebaron added, frowning. “If he finds out that I have approached the lady like this, the Lord will most likely try to kill me. But it can’t stay this way…”

“May I know just what in the world is going on… please exp-plain to me in detail.”

“First, we must head outside. We must find a quiet place to discuss.”

Hebaron stopped talking and went down the castle stairs in a hurry. Max followed him silently. Hebaron made his way to the patio through the door in the back of the kitchen. When they finally reached a secluded place, he opened his mouth that had been tightly closed.

“Did you hear about the news that the informant delivered the other day?”

Max’s eyes narrowed and she shook her head while wearing a bitter expression. “Ri-Riftan… he doesn’t explain anything to me.”

“I expected that he wouldn’t.”

He sighed deeply, kicking his shoes at the stone peak that jutted out of the winding dirt road. Silence surrounded them again. For some reason, Hebaron, who was such a frivolous knight, had an unusual anxious expression on his face as he spoke.

“The Duke of Croix is preparing for a trial. It seemed like he bribed the eastern nobles and the royal servants in the palace to side with him. We are retaliating right away but if it continues like this, a formal trial will be held in the palace.”

She felt as if ice water was poured over her head. Max looked at him with a desperate expression. It wasn’t until the aristocracy was in ruins that he would be called to the palace court. From the beginning of their reign, the laws enacted by the royal family were practically ineffective. In the current situation, where the authority of the king and the authority of the lord were in subtle conflict, the lord’s request for a trial of the royal family was virtually degrading his authority. Max couldn’t believe it, so she asked again.

“You’re saying that my fa-father… filed a complaint against Riftan?”

“That’s right. Now it seems like he has no intention of hiding any disgrace.” Hebaron clicked his tongue and sighed. “Hopefully, it will end with just compensation, but it is not likely to be resolved so easily because it seems like he made up his mind. The duke will demand for the commander to be stripped of his title. If all the nobles put pressure on the situation, even King Reuben will have no choice, he won’t be able to ignore the issue.”

“T-then, what can I do…?”

Max’s mind was lost for a moment as she desperately clung onto Hebaron’s robe. He looked down at her with grim eyes and carefully spoke.

“You have to justify the commander’s actions. M’lady… can you testify to what happened to the duke?”

Max’s face turned red. Just thinking about standing amidst a room where the king and nobles were gathered to confess every wretched detail of how the duke treated her made cold sweats to form on her back. However, to save Riftan from trouble, even if they told her to strip naked in the middle of the square, she would.

Max bit her lip and nodded. “Of c-course. Of course… I will.”

Relief passed over Hebaron’s face. “I know that it must be extremely difficult for the lady. The commander said that the day this reached his wife’s ears, he would threaten the life of the person who talked about it.”

He swept his face roughly and let out a long breath. “However, no matter how hard I tried to persuade him, he didn’t listen, so I’ve been looking for an opportunity, but it seemed like he had stayed with you all day and was monitoring you.”

Max frowned as if it were absurd. “Without making me aware of this situation… w-what in the world is he planning to do to solve this?”

“Even the lord does not intend to be stubborn without countermeasures. As soon as he got that information, he started conniving with the southern nobles, but aren’t the results seemingly obvious?”

He scratched his head in disgust and Max bit her lip. As he said, the influence of the Duke of Croix was strong. It was impossible for Riftan to defeat her father’s political power.

“That is why a messenger from the count has come today. The royal family is trying to somehow resolve this issue before a formal trial takes place. To make it more advantageous for the commander, they said they plan to hold talks to resolve disputes in the territory of Count Robern who is allied with Anatol.”

Note – LF: I just can’t wait for the author to give the duke a gruesome, painful, death.