She was in such a deep shock that she fell into a stupor and wasn’t even able to think of escaping on the spot. A buzzing sound rang in her ears, making her head spin a little. Max staggered, losing her balance for a moment, she didn’t know whether it was from fear or yearning. She barely managed to steady herself by leaning against a large rock, when his cold voice echoed from the spot a short distance away.
“I instructed everyone not to disturb me.”
Max lowered her head and swallowed dryly. She knew that she had to respond, but she was worried that as soon as she opened her mouth, her identity would be revealed. For a long time, Max stood there, drenched in her own sweat under the intimidating pressure he exuded. Finally, she managed to croak out a few words, sounding like a frog’s stutter.
“Pa… pardon… me.”
A heavy silence fell around them. She felt his sharp gaze pierce her forehead like a needle. He then ordered her in a skeptical voice.
“Lift your head.”
Max grabbed her hood like it was her only lifeline and anxiously took a step back. Then, she heard the sound of water sloshing: he was coming out of the water. It was followed by the rustling sound of putting on clothes. She didn’t dare to lift her head, looking sideways for a way to desperately retreat through the trees. However, before she could find an escape, big, wet feet came forward and came into sight. He was now wearing his trousers and was now standing directly in front of her.
“Didn’t you hear me? I said, lift your head.”
Max felt her frantic pulse in her head. She looked around desperately, her heart pounding violently and cold sweat dripping from all the pores in her body. She trembled like a trapped prey, then suddenly she heard Idcilla’s urgent voice emerging from a distance.
“F-forgive us, Sir!” She ran like the wind through the trees and placed herself as a barrier between Max and Riftan. “We have been treating the wounded until late… we haven’t been informed not to approach this place. We deeply apologize for disturbing you.”
Idcilla must have discovered Riftan was there the moment she had reached the soldiers who were supposed to stand on guard, so she rushed on her way back to Max, quickly grasping the situation and shielding her from his sight.
“If you would please accept our apology Sir… we shall head back now.”
Idcilla shoved Max, who was behind her, towards the bushes before Riftan even had the chance to respond, but he had no intention of letting either of them go.
“I still haven’t given you the permission to leave.”
His high, authoritative voice was like a whip, and Idcilla immediately stiffened as if she had been beaten. Max cowered behind the girl as much as she could, trying with all her might to stay out of his sight, but his low bass voice resounded.
“That woman in the back, how many times do I have to tell you to lift your head and show your face?”
“Sir… as priestesses, we shouldn’t be recklessly showing our faces to men.”
“I wasn’t talking to you.”
“We are priestesses under the protection of the Great Temple. Any rank of knight from whichever order has no right to go against the church doctrines. Please, you must understand.”
Despite the intimidating and dominating pressure he put on them, Idcilla managed to respond with a surprisingly calm and firm tone. If it weren’t for Max being scared to the bone, she would have admired the girl’s courage, but right now, all her nerves were focused on Riftan.
After a suffocating silence, he finally spoke. “… Fine, leave.”
Max had almost collapsed on the ground in relief if it weren’t for Idcilla, who immediately leaned over to support her. The two hurriedly turned back the way they came from, when a strong hand reached out and grabbed the back of her hood. There was no time to respond to the sudden action: her hood fluttered off her head helplessly and she fell back, due to the force he put tugging at her clothes.
Max was forced to face Riftan. Her eyes froze in shock as they met Riftan’s eyes. His gaze trailed from the top of her head to the tip of her toes as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Drops of water from his wet hair dripped onto her cheeks and rolled down her face. Max’s face burned red like she was set on fire. She looked like a tramp, while her husband in front of her appeared like an ethereal nature spirit who emerged out of the springs. His soaked hair shimmered with a dark blue tint like satin and his bare, muscular torso had a copper-like glow from the light that shed from the setting sun.
Despite the icy, thick tension that ran between them, Max drank it down with her eyes. She was now seeing the face of her husband whom she hadn’t seen in months. Although amidst the terrifying moment, his eyes also never strayed away from her. Riftan took her in as well, his gaze just as passionately longing as hers, then a restrained groan came from his throat.
“What in the-, why are you here…”
His hand trembled as he cupped her face. Seeing his initial reaction, Max had this absurd expectation that he might actually welcome her with open arms. However, her fantasy was short-lived; his unfocused eyes immediately hardened, and realizing she was actually there, burning, blind anger replaced his shock.
“What in the world are you doing here?” Riftan grabbed both her shoulders and growled violently. “Who brought you here?! What were you thinking coming to a place like this…?!”
“D-don’t lash out at your wife!”
Idcilla hastily tried to stop him, who was yelling like a madman. Riftan’s furious gaze flew towards her and she trembled in fear as she still desperately tried to defend Max.
“Your wife came here because of me. I told her that I was going to join the support unit…!”
“T-that’s not the case! I-I have… made the decision myself. I could no longer… w-wait around restlessly, I couldn’t take it…”
“So, are you telling me that you came here on your own?”
His furious eyes fell back on Max and she immediately shut her mouth. Raw, taut anger emanated throughout his body, and she could feel that he was about to explode with wrath. Her handsome husband, whom she was so anxious to see even just once, now looked like an evil terrifying lion that walked out of the deepest pit of hell.
“Is the Archduke aware of any of this? What kind of imbecile let you join the support unit?”
“No-no one else… knows.” Max licked her dry lips and replied in a choked voice. “I have been hiding my identity… secretly… among the priestesses.”
With her confession, his anger seemed to have reached a new level that might not be expressed through human emotions. Riftan opened his mouth again, as if he was about to scream, but nothing came out. His jaw clenched, and his teeth crushed, as if he were using all his strength and mental faculties to regain control. Then his face became expressionless, as if he had put on a mask. It wasn’t a good sign. Max knew very well that when he appeared calm and didn’t speak, his anger and patience had reached their limits.
Riftan looked at her pale face with chilling eyes, then turned to Idcilla. “Were you involved in this?”
“I-Idcilla… she didn’t do anything wrong. It’s all my…”
“You, keep your mouth shut.”
Max lowered her head helplessly like a criminal in front of a jury. Riftan took a long, deep breath and swept his face with one hand. His gaze then shifted to the spot behind them. The two soldiers, who seemed to have chased after Idcilla, stood behind the bushes and Riftan beckoned for them to come.
“Take this priestess back to her tent.”
They quickly approached Idcilla and gestured for her to follow them. Max tried to sneak away with them, but Riftan’s creepy, creepy voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Do not even think about it”.
Max’s shoulders slumped in defeat. Picking up his clothes and his sword, he started to walk away in the opposite direction. Max had no choice but to follow him like a tethered foal. She was completely trapped; there was no way out of this. Like the quiet eve after a destructive storm, they came out of the forest in silence. As they reached the barracks, the soldiers who were dining around the campfires casted curious glances at them.
“Where did you come from looking like you had a good time?” One of the mercenaries whistled loudly at them. “Must be nice to be branded as the reincarnation of Uigru. They get to find women to play with in this barren place!”
The man blatantly said, seeing how Riftan was not properly wearing his clothes. Fits of laughter echoed from all over the place and Max grew tired of how he was being ridiculed because of her. However, Riftan didn’t even blink an eye when he gave them a daunting look and continued to stride forward. His pace was so fast that Max almost had to run to catch up to him.
Upon reaching his tent, which had a flag bearing the emblem of the Remdragon Knights, he roughly pushed her inside and shut the entrance behind them. Instinctively, Max took steps back, pulling away from him. Riftan glared at her with furious eyes and groaned.
“Now! Explain yourself.” He threw his sword and clothes violently to the ground. “Tell me your excuse!”
Max couldn’t find the words to explain and her lips trembled. Riftan paced back and forth inside the tent like a wild beast in a cage and spoke in a furious manner.
“I begged you to wait patiently for me to come back, was it that difficult of a request for you to fulfill!? What the hell were you thinking, coming all the way here! Don’t you have any idea how dangerous this place is? How could you, when you came here without even having a proper escort…!” Riftan screamed like a madman and clasped his forehead like he was suffering from a terrible headache. “My God, what were you going to do if a massive attack happened while you were travelling on your way here? F*cking hell! Do I have to hold you upside down and shake you for you to come to your senses?”
“N-Nothing serious happened! The Knights of the Archduke and the Holy Knights… escorted the priestesses… nothing happened to me on the way here.”
“damned sh*t! You were just lucky, that’s all!” Riftan let go of the restraints in his anger and yelled at her. “If a large-scale battle happened, no matter how many soldiers or knights there were, people would have died! Who in the world would have been there to properly protect you? Who would risk their life to protect a priestess? Just one slip and you could have died. Do you even realize how serious this situation is?!”
“Th-that… could happen to anyone!” Max, who was carried away by the intense momentum, exclaimed in agitation. “Everyone here… e-everyone is risking their life. The same goes for you Ri-riftan. If you met a ba-bad luck… you could have been injured or even l-lose your life. Yet… Riftan you’re still here. I, I also…”
“You’re comparing yourself to me now?” Riftan was stunned, he smirked and shed one sardonic laugh. “I’ve been rolling around the battlefield my whole life. I’ve been doing this for over ten years! How could you compare yourself to me?!”
“I… I don’t intend to fight this battle with a sword! There are young men here… and other women who are also weak, like me. Everyone… is working hard, there are wounded men to be cared for.”
Riftan’s blood seemed to have climbed to his forehead at her retort, it appeared like he was about to explode. “Who cares if everyone in the world came here to die, work, or not! You shouldn’t be here!”
“Wh-why? What makes you say that!”
“You are the daughter of a duke! A lady! Why on earth should you come to a place like this to suffer like everyone else?”
Max heard something break inside her at his ridiculous and absurd statement. She was so sick of it. She was not the noble lady he always thought she was to be, she was just an ordinary person, no different from any other person. It was so frustrating that he didn’t seem to notice.
“I-I am not the daughter of a duke! I am the wife of a kn-knight! I-I am not a Croix… I’m a Calypse!”
Riftan stared down at her, speechless. As Max glared at him, she suddenly caught her breathing. She saw pain clearly emerge on his dark eyes.
“Is that the reason why you came here?” He murmured in a very low tone. “Because you are Maximillian Calypse… that you are in a place like this?”
“T-That’s not what I meant! I-I just wanted to be by Riftan’s side…”
“Forgive me for interrupting while you’re in the heat of your argument.” Suddenly a voice entered the barrack and Max turned to see Uslin Rikaido standing tall in the doorway. “There’s a crowd of spectators gathering outside. Unless you want to put on a full show for those northern barbarians, it might be better to stop now.”
Max’s face turned blue when she finally came to her senses again. Riftan glared at Uslin with chilling eyes, then went to pick up the sword that he had tossed to the ground and draped his robe over his head. He then turned to Uslin and gave orders.
“Protect her. I need to go and cool down my head for a while.”
Max ran quickly and grabbed his arm just as he was about to leave the barracks. “Ri-Riftan… please don’t be mad and listen to me. I was so worried about you… I couldn’t help but co-come here. I couldn’t take it… to wait i-idly…””
“We’ll talk later.”
He gently pulled his arm away from her. Max couldn’t hide the shock in her eyes as he drew away from her. Riftan merely looked at her with a subdued expression, then turned around and walked away.
“Right now, I might end up saying things that I will later regret. I’ll come back when I’ve cooled off, wait for the time being.”
Max gazed hollow-eyed at the entrance as the night breeze blew and floated through her listless body. Tears spilled over her cheeks in sorrow and Max quickly wiped it off with her sleeves. Uslin, who had been watching wordlessly from the side, spoke awkwardly.
“… I’ll call for Ruth and Elliot.” He ordered the soldiers to stay on guard outside, then turned to her again. “Those guys might help make you feel a little better.”
He seemed to not know what to do, looking at her with an unfamiliar expression. It felt like they were meeting each other for the first time in their lives.
Note – LF: Am I the only one who is thrilled whenever they fight? They become really expressive when they fight, I like this flavor of tea. lol
Nymeria: This kinda is my favourite chapter so far. I was laughing a lot in the beginning, the way Max tried to sneak away with Idcilla was very comical. And their argument… I like this flavor of tea too! The way she stated she’s a Calypse made my heart swell with pride, but the way Riftan perceived her words broke it the following second. Poor baby, we know exactly what he’s thinking ?
