Riftan relaxed his shoulders as though his nerves had been soothed a little and pressed his lips to her forehead. It seemed that he had been mulling over her hastily thrown-out words the whole time they had been riding and finally he was allowed to talk about it with her.
“But I’ve never hated myself so much that it was my first answer when someone asked me about my dislikes.” Riftan told her simply and Max sighed.
“Well, that… That’s be-because there’s no-nothing a-about you that you could hate that much, is there?”
He looked amused at her mumbled words.
“Does it appear so?” He asked her in a teasing manner and Max eyed him with slightly furrowed brows.
“You your-yourself…know it well, do you not?”
“I don’t. You’ll have to let me know.” She peered up at him as though asking if he was serious about what he said. Nonetheless Max decided to humor him and began listing out his attributes.
“You…you’re strong. You’re the best knight in the world, and you’re tall and clever…” Max wasn’t able to continue when Riftan gave her a light chuckle.
“It’s my first time hearing someone call me clever. Although I’ve heard that I’m slow-witted many times…” Riftan teased her and Max gave him a frown.
Although his way of speaking was unrefined and he wasn’t exactly a master of decorum, Riftan was a far cry from being slow-witted. He had a sharp gaze and his observational skills were occasionally very insightful. Sometimes she even felt like he saw all the way through to her soul.
“A slow wi-witted per-person…could ne-never be s-so well re-respected.” She told him.
Riftan smiled cynically, as though he was unable to peacefully agree with her. Resting his head back against the tree trunk, he asked her disinterestedly, “What else?”
“You’re lo-loyal, you have le-leadership…and…you’re hand-handsome.” Max answered shyly. She could feel her cheeks warming up.
“You think I’m handsome?” Riftan once again teased her and she gave him a shrug.
“…You al-already knew that.”
“How would I know what you think about my appearance?” He told her and Max was taken aback and blinked at him in confusion.
“I have eyes too, Rif-riftan… My sense of be-beauty is the same as o-other pe-people’s.”
“Every time I visited Castle Croix, you quivered like you were facing a hideous ogre,” Riftan said teasingly.
“Those weren’t the eyes of someone looking at a charming young man at all. You would probably have looked at even a goblin’s wrinkly face more adoringly.” He added and Max gave him a look of disbelief.
“I…I’ve ne-never seen a gob-goblin be-before.” She answered.
“That’s not the point here.” Riftan drew her chin up towards him to make her look at him. “I’m saying that if I even came close to you, you acted like you were going to faint.”
Max was flustered by his interrogating tone. Never in her wildest dreams had she thought he might care about her attitude towards him or what she thought of him. Truth be told, up until their wedding, she had thought he was unaware of her existence altogether.
“I… You were sca-scary. Since your phy-physique is so huge and your ex-expression was so i-icy… You looked like some-someone whose tem-temper might flare at a-anything, at a-anytime.” Max admitted.
Riftan didn’t say anything for a long time. Max squirmed uncomfortably against his chest. Finally he opened his mouth.
“Am I still scary?”
Max shook her head slowly.
Riftan, who had been staring at her face vacantly, suddenly tilted his head and pressed his lips against hers. Different to the surprise kisses he teased her with, this kiss was passionate. She felt his soft tongue pushing into her mouth and she moaned softly at his touch.
He cupped the back of her neck and stroked her wind-ruffled hair gently with his fingers and his lips suckling on her delicate mouth.
A delicious shiver shot down her spine and Max felt her nipples stiffened. When he cupped her breasts with his fingers and gently massaged them, Max felt fireworks explode in her lower stomach.
“Rif-riftan… w-we can’t do this out-outside.” Max told her as she broke free from his kiss.
“It’s fine. There’s only us here. Even if someone does come, I’ll notice it right away.” He told her.
Feeling the heat radiating from his body, she shuddered. Because Riftan’s face was so calm and composed, she hadn’t noticed yet how hard he already was as they kissed. He pulled her closer towards him and settled her lap against his lower body and pushed up the skirt of her dress. Max looked up at him embarrassedly. Riftan’s eyes were smouldering like pitch-black coals towards her.
“Don’t be afraid. I’ll never hurt you.” He whispered to her.
His words resonated deep in her heart. Max gazed up at his intense expression without breathing. He touched his forehead to hers, brushing the tips of their noses together and drew her lips into his mouth again. He slipped his long fingers under her skirt and started to caress the insides of her legs softly. Max clutched at his silky hair and moaned.
This person won’t hurt me. She clung desperately to those words.
“You smell like winter.” Riftan told her and he groaned weakly and buried his face in her shoulder. Max gulped down a deep breath. The smell of the dry and pleasantly biting winter breeze was coming from him, too.
Max’s lungs were filled with the mingled smells of musky tree bark, of horses and the subtle scent of sweat.
“D*mmit, I want to kiss every inch of you. But if I strip off your clothes here, you could get sick.” Riftan complained as he stroked her over her clothes, exciting her.
Max could not even feel the cold for the fire spreading throughout her entire body was now enveloping her, but she did not point it out to him. She wasn’t bold enough to lay down out in the open on top of a hill without a strip of clothing on. In truth, doing something like this at all was beyond her. But she found herself utterly unable to pull away from him.
Riftan sucked and nipped at the base of her throat as he urgently undid his trousers. Still wrapped up in his coat, she pulled her skirt up to bunch around her waist. He pushed aside her underwear.
And then she felt him ease into her slowly. At the tight feeling of him reaching the deepest part of her and their joined bodies, Max let out a rough moan.
Riftan comfortingly patted her behind and showered kisses over her neck and ears.
“It’s okay, Max. I won’t hurt you. Never again.” Riftan whispered to her ear.
Max couldn’t even remember when he might have hurt her. She couldn’t even remember being afraid of him and avoiding him. She felt as though Riftan Calypse had always been a part of her. She threw her arms around his neck desperately as though she were drowning and he was the only thing keeping her afloat.
He grasped her hips to deepen their union.
Their closely intertwined bodies slapped against each other and the sound of the wind passing by got further and further away. She moved her body like she was riding a horse, just as he had taught her earlier.
She eagerly tightened around his manhood as he penetrated her all the way to the base before reluctantly letting him go, only to tighten up again as though trying to pull him deeper. Her heart pounded with desperate passion. As she melted into his hot kisses, Max let herself sink into a world of bliss.
