Under the Oak Tree



Chapter 102: Chapter 102

Although Maxi wanted to start practicing right away, Ruth still had matters to take care of. They decided to begin their lessons the following morning.

Ruth selected a few suitable books for her before leaving the library with a stack of parchment. Now all alone, Maxi dived into the yellowed pages of the thick tomes.

The books were on advanced geometry. The concepts were complicated, and soon Maxi’s head began to ache and her eyes felt dry. After a bout of intense study, she tossed her head back in exhaustion.

The sky had begun to fade from brilliant orange to violet. Rubbing her stiff shoulder, Maxi gazed at the burnt amber sun before closing the book and rising to her feet. Her stomach growled as if on cue, and she realized she felt famished. She had not had a proper meal since this afternoon’s meager bread and soup.

Maxi rubbed her rumbling stomach as she stepped out of the library. She greeted the servants that were illuminating the corridor before making her way down the stairs.

She had descended a few floors when four servants hauling something beneath the stairwell caught her attention. Maxi observed them without much thought, but she stilled when she realized that the thing they carried was blood-soaked armor.

“W-What happened? Has… someone been i-injured again?”

Maxi hurriedly leaped down the remaining steps. The servants, groaning under the weight of the hefty armor, stopped in their tracks.

Maxi pressed them before they could even answer. “I-Is it his lordship w-who is…”

“N-No, my lady! This blood is from a monster. His lordship is unharmed.”

The breastplate, tassets, and vambraces were coated in dark blood. The armor was definitely Riftan’s. What on earth could have happened? It was not his blood, but there was no doubt that there had been another gory battle.

“W-Where is… his lordship now? Has he returned to his chambers?”

“No, my lady. His lordship went to wash by the well after instructing us to clean his armor. He should be there now.”

Maxi gave them a baffled look. “Why… would he wash himself outside?”

“I’m afraid we also do not know…” the servants trailed off, embarrassed.

Maxi gave up questioning them and hurried to the yard.

As she scanned the spacious grounds, she saw laborers chopping firewood, stable hands pushing carts loaded with fodder, and maidservants drawing water from the well.

Riftan stood beside the well, shirtless and dousing himself with water.

Maxi narrowed her eyes at the scene. Two maidservants each drew pails of water and handed them to Riftan, who upended them over his head before roughly rubbing his hair to wash away the blood. Water trickled down his long, muscular neck and rock-hard shoulders, over his smooth back, and along his slim waist.

When Maxi saw the young maidservants stealing glances and exchanging gleeful looks with each other, she rushed over with an angry flush in her cheeks. Riftan, who had been scrubbing the back of his neck, looked surprised when he saw Maxi approaching.

“Maxi?”

“Why a-are you… cleaning up out here?”

She had wanted to chastise him for indecently exposing himself in public, but the moment she stood in front of him, her voice caught as though she were being choked. She gazed dumbly at his muscled body which gleamed like a golden statue of a god.

His exquisite bone structure, carved muscles, and golden-brown skin glowed in the reddish light of the setting sun.

Maxi wet her dry lips. Despite having seen his naked body many times, she suddenly felt parched.

“I tracked down the monsters that attacked my scouts and killed every last one of them.”

Maxi jerked her gaze away from the lines of his chest and looked up at him.

Riftan ran his fingers through his black hair, which glistened darkly with water, and said somewhat self-consciously, “I got their blood all over me in the process. I was trying to get it off.”

“Y-You could do that in our chambers. I will h-have the servants prepare a bath-”

“I know I’m ghastly to look at right now. I was practically a specter,” Riftan murmured almost inaudibly.

He snatched a pail from one of the maidservants who held it out awkwardly and doused himself once more.

Maxi took a step back to avoid the splashing water. Riftan shook his head like a hound and sniffed his forearm.

“Damn it. I still reek of blood…”

“W-Why don’t we… return to our chambers instead? I’m sure a good soap… will wash away the smell.”

When Maxi gently dabbed his dripping face with the loose sleeves of her dress, Riftan drew back as if he had been burned. Maxi’s eyes widened at his reaction.

With a look of dismay, Riftan said cautiously, “Don’t soil your dress. Werewolf blood has a terrible stench.”

“I-I can just… change if I have to.”

Not caring who saw, she began to wipe the water from his cheeks and neck. Riftan flinched as if he wanted to jerk away from her before meekly lowering his head.

His action reminded Maxi of an animal nudging its head on its master’s hand, and she smiled faintly as she brushed his soaked hair away from his forehead.

Perhaps it was because of the glow of the sunset, but his ears looked flushed. Worried that he might have a fever, Maxi ran her hand over his forearm and frowned when she felt how cold it was.

“Your body… is cold. I-It is still too cold… for you to be bathing outside.”

“This is nothing. I once cracked the ice of a frozen lake in the middle of winter so I could ba-”

“S-Stop speaking nonsense. What if you were to c-catch a cold?”

Riftan looked taken aback by her stern tone. Afraid that she had overstepped her bounds, Maxi was about to lower her eyes when Riftan bent over and picked up his blood-soaked tunic. He wrung it out several times before tossing it to one of the maidservants.

“Try soaking it in lye before you wash it. Just burn it if that doesn’t get rid of the stench.”

“As you wish, my lord.”

When the maidservants rushed off to the laundry room, Riftan signaled to Maxi with his eyes.

“Come, let us head back.”

They made their way to the castle. Maxi hovered close to him as dark puddles pooled with every step he took. Just how long had he been drowning himself in pails of water?

Looking down at the wet trail, Maxi said reprovingly, “Next time… don’t w-wash yourself outside. Come s-straight to our bedchamber.”

“So that I can make you faint again at the sight of me covered in blood?”

Maxi frowned at his brusque response but blushed when she realized that he was referring to the time they had been attacked by ogres on their way to Anatol.

“Th-That was… only because… I had never seen a monster before.”

“I doubt that…” he muttered skeptically.

He spoke as if it were an unequivocal truth that she had been terrified by him.

“I am… no longer frightened by blood…” Maxi said nervously. “S-So you need not worry so much.”

She spoke each word as clearly as she could to stress that it had merely been the blood that had frightened her. For some reason, Riftan’s face only grew darker.

“I have no intention of making you get used to such a sight.”

Unable to reply, Maxi pressed her lips together.

A strange tension flowed between them. Riftan regarded her for a moment as if he had something to say, but in the next moment, turned and walked into the castle. Maxi trailed behind him.

“You there,” he said, calling to a servant in the hall. “Prepare a bath in my chambers immediately, as well as a change of clothes.”

“Yes, my lord.”

“I would like to eat too. Prepare a meal to serve right after.”

After giving his military-like directions, Riftan began marching up the stairs. His strides were wide, and he made it up the two floors to their chambers in record time. Maxi had to clutch her skirt as she hurried after him.

The bedchamber was warm from the fire Ludis had prepared in advance. Riftan gingerly stepped into the room to avoid the rug.

“Goddamned wolves… Ruined my good boots.”

Maxi closed the door behind them and watched as he continued his obscenities. Indeed, a faint rotting smell wafted from his dripping leather boots. Riftan wrinkled his nose and tossed the boots into the corner.

Maxi handed him a few towels from the shelf. “Y-You should dry yourself first.”

“There’s no need for that. I’ll be getting in the bath soon anyway.”

“We can’t have you wet w-while you wait.”

He glanced down at the pool of water on the floor and accepted the towels with a sigh. Maxi began stoking the fire so that he could warm himself. She had just begun stepping on the bellows while carefully feeding more wood into the fireplace when she heard a splatter behind her.

Her breath hitched as she looked over her shoulder. Riftan was getting undressed. His carved buttocks tightened as he bent over to peel off his trousers, revealing long and muscled legs.

Maxi stood frozen as if turned to stone. The thought that she should look away flashed briefly through her mind, but all she could do was stare at him, entranced.

The husband that had been so difficult to catch a glimpse of these past few weeks now stood before her. When was the last time she had been crushed beneath that body? Her heart pounded at the thought, and a burning flush crept over her cheeks. As if sensing her lascivious gaze, Riftan turned his head.

Maxi hastily whirled around and pretended that the fireplace required urgent attention. She poked at the burning wood, mortified she had been caught so blatantly leering. Even her ears were turning red.

For heaven’s sake, stop acting like a lovesick fool. You are a daughter of a noble house. You must act the part of a virtuous and graceful noblewoman.

As Maxi berated herself, she heard a hoarse voice behind her.