The next moment his lips were on hers as his hands snaked around her waist to pull her flush against his chest. Something tingled inside her as he gently caressed her soft mounds in ardor. At the unexpected way her body reacted to his touch, Max began to slip from his grasp in embarrassment.
“Oh, you, you already…” she tried to fumble for words and ultimately ended up gesturing to his damp hair as if trying to say she didn’t want to mess it up.
“What are you talking about?” His gaze intensely bored into her, leaving her no room for escape from his clutches. “You seduced me first.”
The latter only widened her eyes at this. “No-not se-seduce…no…”
Indeed, she had kissed him boldly – a first of hers – yet she had done it out from the sweetness that sprung from inside her… though it necessarily didn’t mean she wanted to pull him back under the covers! Yet it seemed her futile reasoning was only drowned by his intense affection for her. One that she felt lost in the more she dwelled on it.
His top was suddenly off, and his naked, beautifully sculpted torso decadently shined in the light, bringing a thrill to her blood. He rushed at her without another second, encasing her lips in a hard kiss, rough and desperate.
“You’ve earned it yourself, Maxi.” He whispered like a drunken man as he pushed her under him with little strength.
Only his voice, like a sickeningly sweet bass, rang out through her ears as the hours burned. Like a succubus, he drained the strength out from her body in fervor – she was only his and he was only hers. The satisfaction of their joint bodies was much greater than the initial pain and she eventually succumbed to his persuasion and needs, her arms locked against his neck as the night gently cradled them to a world only theirs.
***
The next day, Max woke up only after midday. As per routine, she washed and dressed with the help of a maid. Despite having stayed up all night, Riftan was already gone as soon as dawn broke, having went out to deal with the intruders. Having remembered he had traveled a long way, she felt sorry he wasn’t able to rest properly.
“Madam, are you uncomfortable anywhere… ?” Rudis, who was diligently brushing her tangled locks, asked in a worried tone, a hint of anger on the maid’s usually cool face. Max immediately shook her head.
“Oh, no… I’m-I’m all right.”
“The wizard said he’d take care of the wound…” The maid persisted, concern becoming more evident on her face, “Should I bring him in right now?”
“Oh, it’s ju-just a slight injury… it’s no-nothing.”
The older woman was currently fussing over a wound she had gained from the battlefield – yet to Max, it was merely a little scratch on her leg when she fell. Max shifted her eyes down, touching the fresh wound from yesterday that stretched on her shin. Compared to this meager wound, the guards must have suffered more severe injuries from the enemies’ sword. She shook her head fervently, not wanting to fuss with such a little scratch.
“It’s o-okay, you do- don’t have to do….”
“Oh, no. It could become a scar later on….” Rudis, who rarely spoke strongly, soon clamped her mouth shut, thinking her attitude was becoming presumptuous. After some time, she finally said, “Then, I’ll get some ointment.”
“Wi-will you?”
Max answered back, feeling apprehensive at the thought of a scar forming. Rudis hurriedly went out from the room and came back bringing a round bottle of medicine and some clean bandages. While it wasn’t a wound that required bandages, Max obediently applied the medicine under Rudis’ insistence and wrapped it with the clean cloth to prevent it from being contaminated.
“Tha-thank you,” she softly said after the ordeal was done.
The maid straightened up, brushing her skirt straight. “I’ll bring the meal to your room.”
“Oh, no. I’ll e-eat at the ha-hall and do the re-rest of things I didn’t do ye-yesterday…”
“The Lord told me to let you stay in the room and rest today.”
An awkward looked crossed Max face at Rudis’ words. While it was true she was quite weary from the several rounds of love-making they did throughout the night… it wasn’t to the point where she wanted to just curl up and let the day pass. Besides, didn’t she only wake up at noon? She didn’t want to be stuck around doing nothing in the room, and alone, while he was already out and working without proper rest.
“I-I’m a little surprised from ye-yesterdays’ fuss but… I’m not sick,” she began.
“But the lord told me….”
“I-I will tell hi-him.”
With her stubborn firmness, Rudis no longer refuted and answered with a quiet nod. Max then left the room with a thick shawl draped around her shoulders to shield herself from the chilly afternoon breeze that was even pouring in from her open shutters. She walked down the hallway, sweeping her sights down the clean, newly washed window frames and laid out carpets.
“B-By the way… Di-did Riftan say so-something about.. the ca-castle?”
At the question, Rudis became embarrassed. She hesitantly replied, “He couldn’t afford to look around because of the commotion yesterday.”
“Ah… ye-yes.”
“However, the knights were stunned.” Rudis added hurriedly as soon as Max looked dejected. There was an unusually bright smile on the face of the taciturn maid.
“They arrived at the Great Hall for dinner late into the night yesterday, and the first time they arrived at the castle, they praised it for the astounding changes.”
Max perked up hearing this. “Re-really?”
Rudis nodded again at her query. They then stepped down the stairs though the hallway, Max footsteps bouncing with every footfall. As soon as she appeared, the maids cleaning the hall’s windows would straighten up and bow politely towards her.
When she finally entered the hall after exchanging greetings with the other servants, Ruth and three of the Remdragon knights, who were eating, raised their heads towards her. Fixed with their gazes, Max suddenly halted where she stood.
Unless it was a special day, the knights usually ate their breakfast and lunch at the hall as accommodated by the castle. It was the first time she had encountered them without Riftan by her side, therefore her eyes flitted to and fro, uncertain with her next action.
“Are you all right? You fell pretty bad yesterday.”
Ruth broke the awkward silence that lingered in the hall. His hair was disheveled, as if he had just woken up from sleep as usual. He yawned, ignorant of the tension in the room and looked Max up and down. “I thought you’d broken bones since Lord Calypse was acting so desperate towards me. But it looks like you’re all intact.”
“… It-it’s only a li-little scra-scratch,” she muttered softly in return.
“I thought so.” He flatly replied and pulled out the chair next to him. “Sit down first. Bring the madam her lunch too,” he then gestured to the servants, the latter bowing without another second thought.
Max cast a quick glance at the face of other knights, which didn’t betray a trace of their emotions, and resignedly sat herself down in front of the table. It seemed too awkward and improper to just leave. Yet even when she was already seated, uncomfortable silence still prevailed. Max waited impatiently for the meal to come, and when she couldn’t stand the silence, she finally opened her mouth.
“Whe-where is Riftan…?”
“Lord Calypse is outside repairing the gate. He called in blacksmiths and engineers to hang steel doors this time.” Ruth grumbled, ripping the bread in half and placed it grumpily inside his mouth.
“It seems that he wants a defensive barrier to be set up. He’s already a maniac with defenses and now that darn nobleman just had to turn the gate into ashes and make him more jittery that he already is.”
“It-it’s good to be sa-safe.”
Max deliberately replied in a lively voice, relieved to have something to talk about. Ruth, however, merely frowned and exclaimed as if such request would drain the life out of him.
“From now on, I’ll probably break my bones just to deliver his request.”
Just in time, the maid came in bringing soup with chicken, salad and freshly baked bread and placed them on the table. Max’s eyes bulged at the appetizing scent of the warm soup that wafted into her nose. She didn’t know exactly how magic tools were created, but from the wizard’s grumbles, she surmised it must be daunting and troublesome.
Ruth grabbed his head and continued to moan throughout their meal. Then, as if a brilliant light bulb hit him, he raised his head and asked Max, “Come to think of it, you can do basic math, Madam, can’t you?”
