Chapter Twenty-Two #7
“What in the devil are you doing here?” he growled savagely, grabbing her by the shoulders. “Who brought you here?! What were you thinking coming to such—”
“D-Do not be angry with her, sir!” Idsilla interjected, stopping Riftan from bellowing like a madman.
His fiery gaze flew to Idsilla, and the girl desperately tried to defend Maxi despite visibly trembling with fear.
“Lady Calypse is here because of me,” Idsilla said, her voice quivering. “I told her of my intentions to join the support unit, and—”
“Th-That is not true!” Maxi cried. “I-It was…my choice to come. I just…could not sit by and w-wait any longer….”
“You chose to come here?”
Riftan’s livid eyes returned to her, his whole body tense with barely contained fury. Maxi snapped her mouth shut. Her handsome husband, whom she had been dying to catch a mere glimpse of all this time, looked as vicious as a lion from hell.
“Does the duke know you’re here?” he barked. “What fool allowed you to join the support unit?”
“N-No one knows…that I am here,” Maxi answered weakly, running her tongue in vain across her dry lips. “I-I hid my identity…and…secretly joined the p-party as a female cleric.”
Riftan’s rage seemed to surpass the limit that could be expressed in words. More than once, he opened his mouth as if to yell, only to clench his jaw like a man dredging up the last of his restraint.
Before long, his face smoothed to a cold, blank mask. It was not a good sign. Maxi knew that this calm and silence meant that he was at the peak of his anger.
After icily staring at Maxi’s ashen face, Riftan turned to Idsilla once again. “You were the one who helped her?”
“I-Idsilla…did nothing wrong,” Maxi choked out. “I chose to—”
“Keep your mouth shut.”
Maxi helplessly hung her head like a criminal standing trial. After rubbing his face and taking a deep breath, Riftan glanced behind him. The soldiers who had come after Idsilla stood awkwardly among the trees.
Riftan motioned to them. “Take her back to the women’s tent.”
The men promptly walked over to Idsilla and ushered her away. Maxi discreetly tried to slink away with them, but Riftan cut in.
“Don’t even think about it,” he said in a low voice that sent a ghastly shiver down her spine.
Maxi’s shoulders sagged with defeat. After picking up his sword and the rest of his clothes, Riftan began to walk rapidly in the opposite direction. Maxi had no choice but to follow him like a calf being dragged on a rope. There was no way out of this utter disaster.
They made their way out of the forest in a terse silence, an eerie calm before the storm. When they entered the army barracks, the soldiers who had been eating around fires lit all over the campsite turned to look at them with interest.
One of the mercenaries whistled loudly. “Enjoyed a round somewhere, did you?” He eyed Riftan’s half-dressed state and sneered, “Behold, the skills of Wigrew’s reincarnation! Even in this godforsaken place, he’s found a woman to entertain him!”
Men snickered all around them, but Riftan remained unfazed.
He shot the mercenary a menacing glare without breaking his brisk pace.
Maxi almost had to run to keep up with him.
When they reached a tent bearing the banner of the Remdragon Knights, Riftan shoved her inside and closed the flap behind them.
Maxi instinctively retreated as far away from him as possible.
Riftan’s eyes blazed. After an agonizing silence, he spat, “Now talk! Let’s see what excuses you’ll spout.”
When there was no answer, he threw his sword and clothes onto the floor. “I said, talk!”
Maxi opened and closed her mouth, unable to think of anything to say. Riftan paced around the tent like a caged beast before he began to rebuke her.
“Was I making an unreasonable demand when I asked you to wait for me in Levan? What in the devil were you thinking coming to such a place?! Do you have any idea how dangerous it is here? How could you even think to come here without a single—”
Riftan abruptly stopped his outburst and clutched his forehead as if rocked by a pulsing headache. “Good God, what were you going to do if your party had been attacked by an army on your way here? Goddammit! Must I shake you upside down for you to come to your senses?!”
“N-Nothing serious happened!” Maxi protested feebly. “The basilica’s soldiers and the knights…protected the female clerics…so I was never harmed d-during the journey.”
“You were just lucky, damn it!” Riftan seized her shoulders and shook her as his anger spiraled out of control.
“If there had been a big skirmish, there’s no knowing how many of them would have been killed!
Tell me, who among them would have properly protected you?
Do you think those men would have risked their lives to protect a single female cleric?
You could have died if you’d been the slightest bit unluckier.
Do you even realize how serious this is? ”
Maxi finally managed to collect herself from the onslaught of his anger.
“Th-That…goes for everyone!” she retorted hotly. “Everyone in this camp…i-is risking their lives. I-It is the same for you, Riftan. You could a-also get hurt or even lose your life…if you are unlucky. And yet…you are still here, are you not? I-I also—”
“Do you even know what kind of foolish comparison you make?” He snorted in exasperation. “I’ve spent my whole life on the battlefield. I’ve been doing this for more than a decade! How could you even compare yourself to me?!”
“I-It’s not as if…I joined to fight with a sword!” Maxi objected. “There are s-soldiers here who are mere boys, and I am not…the only w-weak woman in this camp. All of the women…are doing their best t-to look after the injured men.”
The bulging vein on Riftan’s forehead looked close to bursting at her response. “Everyone in the world can come slave away here for all I care. But not you!”
Maxi clenched her fists. “Wh-Why not? How is that f-fair?”
“You are a duke’s daughter! A noblewoman!” Riftan shouted. “Why must you suffer here like everyone else?”
His illogical words caused something inside Maxi to snap. She was sick of it. She was not the lofty noblewoman he thought she was, but an ordinary person like everyone else. It frustrated her that he was incapable of seeing it.
“I-I am not a duke’s daughter! I-I am the wife of a knight!” she cried. “I-I am no longer a Croyso…but a Calypse!”
Riftan appeared to be at a loss for words as he looked down at her. Maxi, who had been fuming as she glowered at him, suddenly felt her breath hitch in her throat. Pain lurked behind his dark eyes.
“Is that why you’re here?” he murmured, his voice somber. “Are you here…because you’re Maximilian Calypse?”
Maxi swallowed hard. “Th-That’s not what I meant. I-I only wished to be near—”
“I apologize for the interruption, but you have quite the audience outside.”
Maxi’s head jerked toward the owner of the unexpected voice and saw Ursuline Ricaydo standing at the tent’s entrance.
“If you do not wish to give the northern barbarians something to talk about, I suggest you end your argument here,” he said flatly.
Maxi’s face was almost blue. After giving Ursuline a cold glare, Riftan grabbed a tunic hanging near the entrance and threw it on.
Turning back to Ursuline, he ordered, “Guard her. I need a minute.”
Maxi grabbed his arm as he went to leave without another word. “R-Riftan…please, don’t be angry. Listen to me. I was s-so worried about you…th-that I had to come. I just couldn’t…sit by and wait any—”
“We will talk later.”
He coldly pried her hands away, and Maxi stared up at him in shock. Riftan briefly regarded her with somber eyes before turning around.
“I’ll only end up saying something I’ll regret if I stay,” he muttered. “I’ll be back once I’ve cooled off, so wait for me.”
Riftan strode out. Maxi’s heart throbbed with devastation as she watched the flap of the tent flutter in the chilly evening wind. Tears of anguish trickled down her cheeks, and she hastily wiped them away with her sleeve.
Ursuline, who had been watching her in silence, awkwardly spoke. “I will have someone get Ruth and Elliot for you.” He summoned one of the soldiers standing outside and added, “I’m sure you will feel better with them here.”
The knight seemed unsure what to say after that. Maxi could not make sense of his expression as he quietly regarded her. It was as if he were looking at a stranger.
Though she sensed the slight shift in Ursuline’s manner, Maxi was too exhausted to feel baffled by it. She slumped in the corner of the tent and could do nothing but stare blankly at the entrance.
There was no way to tell how long she sat staring into space. Eventually, she heard footsteps approaching before Ruth burst through the tent flap.
“Are you all right, my lady?” He sounded anxious when he saw her haggard face.
Worried that her cheeks were still streaked with tears, Maxi hastily wiped her face again. “I-I am all right.”
Ruth regarded her for a moment before heaving a sigh. “So you got caught in the end. I actually thought we’d have a few weeks before he found out…. I certainly didn’t think you would be discovered in less than ten days.”
“I ran into him…a-at the spring….”
When Maxi sullenly hung her head, Ruth shrugged in resignation. “Well, what’s done is done. It’s not like we weren’t expecting this at some point. Where is Sir Riftan?”
“H-He left…in a rage. He said he would return…once he has calmed down,” Maxi murmured despondently.
Ruth stared glumly at the tent entrance. “Then let’s hope he’ll be as calm as a sleeping infant when he returns.”
“It seems that you were already aware of her ladyship’s presence here,” Ursuline concluded after silently listening to their exchange.
Beads of sweat formed on Ruth’s forehead as he avoided the knight’s eyes.
Ursuline opened his mouth as if to berate the sorcerer, but he stopped and shook his head. “You’ll be facing the commander’s wrath soon,” he said coldly, “so I’ll spare you my admonishment.”