Chapter Twenty-Five #4
Glaring at her, the duke muttered menacingly, “That filthy lowborn has undone twenty years of efforts in educating you.” Clutching his cane with both hands, the duke gritted his teeth.
“I suppose it is to be expected. The company of an ignorant commoner who knows nothing of the social order is bound to be a corrupt influence.”
Maxi had been staring at the floor up until then, her face ashen. She jerked her head up in anger at her father’s words. How could he speak so negatively of Riftan?
“Riftan…f-fought in a dangerous campaign in your stead, a-and suffered all the hardships that entailed,” she said through gritted teeth. “Y-You of all people…shouldn’t s-speak of him so—”
The cane struck her before she could finish. Maxi saw stars as she collapsed onto the floor. The sharp blow was so painful that she could not even scream. Her head pulsed as though her skull had been cracked open, and her temples burned as if on fire.
The room was spinning. Clutching her head, Maxi peered up at the duke in terror.
The duke’s chest heaved as he spat, “You dare speak to me in such a manner?”
As if the first blow had not been enough to appease him, the duke swung his cane again and struck her shoulder. The bone-splitting pain made Maxi twist away, struggling for breath. In just two blows, the Duke of Croyso had managed to crush all her defiance.
Her whole body shook as she tried to steady herself with both palms on the floor. The duke grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head up.
“State your complaints clearly. Stop stammering like a fool. Speak so I can understand!”
Maxi’s lips trembled. Clutching her chin, he savagely urged her on.
“Come now, speak. You have my permission to say whatever you want. What I would give for you to complete a single sentence without stuttering like an imbecile!”
“P-P-Please—”
Maxi desperately tried to loosen her rigid tongue through her chattering teeth.
She unwittingly bit it in the process, and blood trickled down the side of her mouth.
Pure contempt flashed in her father’s eyes as he glared down at her.
He shoved her away and strode over to the wall to select a riding crop.
Maxi watched helplessly as he took one down. Although there was nothing restraining her, Maxi found that she could not move.
“Turn around and undress,” the duke commanded coldly.
Quaking in fear, Maxi did not respond.
“The lashing you’ll receive will only worsen the longer you delay,” the duke snapped.
Maxi took off her robe with trembling hands and pulled her bodice down. The duke took his place behind her, facing her bare back. Maxi bit down on the front of her dress as she clutched it over her chest.
The cruel lashing soon began. The leather crop sliced into her skin like a knife. Every blow made her feel like a wretched beast, and every time the pain of a hacking ax landed on her back, she wanted to abandon all her pride and beg for forgiveness.
Although she tried to endure it on her knees, she soon curled into a ball on the cold stone floor and instinctively tried to crawl away.
Her father’s furious bellows reverberated around her, but Maxi could not comprehend any of it, overcome by agony.
Cowering with her arms over her head, she burst into sobs.
The lashings abruptly stopped. It did not occur to Maxi to look up as she whimpered in pain while struggling to breathe.
An icy voice pierced the room. “What in the devil are you doing?”
Maxi’s neck stiffened before she slowly looked up. Riftan had one hand clamped around the duke’s wrist, his face full of incomprehension as he took in the sight before him.
It was impossible to tell who was more stunned. Growing as rigid as a statue, Maxi waited for Riftan to dissolve like a mirage. She would have preferred to crumble to dust than allow him to see her in such a wretched state.
As always, fate cruelly turned its back on her. Riftan remained standing, wearing a stupefied expression she had never seen on him before.
The Duke of Croyso came to his senses first. He wrenched his hand away and looked back and forth between the wide-open door and the unexpected intruder. His face slowly twisted in outrage.
“How did you get in here? You dare break into my castle?!” he shrieked. “Do not think I will overlook this transgression! If you do not leave this instant—”
“I asked…”
Riftan’s voice was toneless and calm, yet somehow chilling enough to make the imperious duke pause. Finally pulling his gaze away from Maxi, Riftan menacingly turned to the duke.
“…what in the devil are you doing?”
Maxi had never seen her father look so flustered. He flinched and backed away from whatever it was that he glimpsed in Riftan’s eyes. His face flushed as though humiliated.
“Enough with the self-righteous act! This is hardly scandalous,” he snarled. “As her father, I was merely correcting her vile manners. It is a parent’s duty to discipline their children.”
“Discipline?” Riftan cocked his head as though unable to comprehend the duke’s words. “You call this…discipline?”
His voice was uncannily low and flat. When his gaze returned to her, Maxi shrank into herself and clutched at her dress until her knuckles turned white.
His eyes swept over her disheveled hair, bruised face, and her back full of twisted lacerations like swollen worms. Maxi had never felt so pitiful in her life.
She squeezed her eyes shut, unable to meet his gaze.
“There is a hierarch waiting downstairs,” she heard her father say tersely. “She won’t have a scratch on her once she is treated with divine magic! Such efforts are required for instilling obedience in daughters.”
The duke haughtily raised his pointed chin as if displeased by the fact that he had been made to justify himself.
“Now it is your turn to explain yourself. How in God’s name did you get in here?
Did I not tell you to go back? I am sure you are well aware that infiltrating a lord’s castle is a crime…
. Are you prepared to face the consequences? ”
Riftan merely stared at the duke in silence. Unsettled by Riftan’s calm gaze, the duke nervously clicked his tongue and flicked his wrist.
“First, I want you out of here. We will continue this conversation in the drawing room,” he said arrogantly. “I pray for your sake that you have a proper excuse.”
There was a long silence. “I see,” Riftan finally said.
He stood like a statue, his face as inexpressive as plaster. Then, he slowly turned and walked toward the door.
Maxi watched his retreating back in disbelief. A numb coldness settled over her, as though all her blood had been drained away. The shock prevented her from calling out to him. Her mouth dumbly flapped open and closed when Riftan stopped just before the door.
He grabbed a chair by the entrance and walked back to Maxi and the duke. His face was so placid that neither of them understood what was happening until he raised the chair by its leg.
The wooden chair came crashing down upon the duke’s bony figure.
Maxi’s eyes widened. Everything seemed to move in slow motion.
The chair splintered, sending chunks of wood flying in every direction.
The duke sailed through the air like a rag doll before crashing onto the floor.
A bizarre scream filled with pain and outrage burst out of his throat.
“Y-You scum…! Y-You dare…!”
Trembling violently, the duke raised his torso and stared up at Riftan in utter disbelief.
His white hair, which was always meticulously swept back with not a single hair out of place, was now a disheveled mess.
Blood dripped from his mouth as he gaped with shock.
His contorted face was more hideous than the devil as he shook a finger at Riftan.
“Y-You dare? You dare to strike me?!” The duke’s shrieks grated like a screeching iron gate. He shakily got to his feet and bellowed, “Guards! Guards! Take this—Ugh!”
Riftan strode over and kicked the duke square in the stomach. The duke collapsed back onto the floor, his face turning blue as he choked on the blood and vomit that gushed out of his mouth.
Maxi watched in stunned silence. It was unimaginable that the tyrant who had dominated her entire life could be so weak and helpless.
Riftan lifted the writhing duke by the neck and slammed him against the wall with a sickening thud. The impact made the old man’s body flail like a broken doll.
Crushing the duke’s head against the wall, Riftan muttered darkly, “Why are you causing such a scene? Surely you could have a hierarch heal you as well, no?”
“Uhhhh…”
The duke thrashed his long legs, whimpering as he frantically tried to free himself. His bloodied face was stricken with shock and fear; he had clearly never suffered such pain in his life. He clawed in vain at Riftan’s armored forearm.
Riftan did not budge. Gazing at the duke as though he were nothing but a squirming insect, Riftan raised his fist.
At that moment, someone burst into the room.
“Commander!”
Elliot and Ursuline, both dressed in black robes, rushed to Riftan’s side. When they tried to pull him away, Riftan’s previously emotionless face contorted viciously.
“Get your hands off me!” he roared.
“Think, Commander! Even you won’t be pardoned—”
Riftan shoved the knights away without much effort. He then hoisted the crawling duke back up and swung his fist. The blow crushed the duke’s jaw like brittle clay, and his eyes rolled back into his head. Riftan raised his fist once more, not caring that the duke’s head now slumped back.
Elliot flung himself at Riftan and barely managed to stop him from landing another blow.
“Commander! You’ll kill him! A serious strike from you will kill him instantly!”
Riftan thrashed against the knight like a chained beast and screamed. The sound filled Maxi with despair as it seared into her brain. Her father lay sprawled on the floor, his face bloody and his eyes rolled up into his head.
Someone else came running into the room, and Maxi flinched away in recognition.