Chapter 2 #3
“Were you with another man while I was off fighting for my life?”
“N-N…N-No!” Her voice faltered.
His grip loosened, but his face remained contorted with suspicion. “Then why did you mention divorce?”
“E-Everyone s-said that w-w-when you c-came back, you would d-d-divorce me and m-marry the p-p-p…marry the p-princess, s-so…”
“Princess?” he asked sharply, understanding finally dawning on his face.
Maxi nodded, holding back tears.
A stream of curses poured out from Riftan’s lips, and he ran a hand through his hair. “Blighted fools, wagging their useless tongues…”
He scooped her into his arms, blanket and all, and sat down on the bed.
Ignoring Maxi’s flailing legs, he placed her on his knees and cupped her face with his hands.
Before she knew it, his tongue was lapping up the tears from the corners of her eyes.
His warm breath tickled her cheeks and lips, distracting her enough to stop weeping.
Riftan wrapped an arm around her waist and let out a deep sigh. “I don’t know what silly rumors you’ve heard, but I turned down that proposal a long time ago.”
“You t-turned it d-down?” Maxi’s eyes widened with disbelief.
“Of course I did! Why would I accept such a deranged offer?”
Deranged? Why did he think it was madness to offer a princess’s hand to the hero who had saved the world?
“I thought the king had finally lost his mind! How could he make such an offer to a married man?!”
“B-But…”
“But what? We swore a sacred vow before God. I’ll castrate any bastard who dares to break the holy vows of matrimony with my own two hands. Did you think me a disloyal scoundrel?”
Maxi gave him an incredulous look. Was he being sincere?
She was well aware that knights prized honor and loyalty, but Riftan seemed to have an almost religious devotion to his ideals.
He was perhaps chivalrous to a fault. But how could he choose a forced marriage over an opportunity to marry into royalty?
Glory, titles of nobility, and an unimaginably large dowry could have all been his.
Furthermore, his child would have the right to succeed the royal throne.
He had dismissed all of that as madness, for the sake of a wife he had never wanted.
Perhaps he’s the mad one.
But it finally dawned on Maxi that Riftan regarded their marriage with the utmost sincerity. He was taking her with him, not because of some ulterior motive, but simply because she was his wife. It was exactly as he had told her.
She was overcome with surprise. “B-But…”
Did he truly have no regrets? Perhaps he did not comprehend the opportunity he had turned down. Forgetting that her current predicament obliged her to cling to him, she blurted out another question.
“Are you r-really all right with that? P-Princess A-Agnes is very b-beautiful…”
“Have you met Agnes?”
She winced. Riftan claimed he rejected the princess, but they were close enough for him to use her first name.
“N-Not in p-person…”
“Then how do you know she’s beautiful? I can’t stand women who romp about like wild unbridled stallions.”
Taken aback by how candidly he spoke about the royal family, Maxi gaped at him. With a thumb, he wiped off what remained of her earlier tears.
“Forget that ridiculous rumor. Palace life suffocates me, and I don’t intend to live out my days in the shadow of a haughty princess.”
“B-But…”
“Enough with the buts! Did you bring up that rumor as an excuse to escape this marriage you so despise?” A threatening glint flashed across his eyes. He relaxed only after Maxi vigorously shook her head. “Good. Don’t you ever mention such nonsense again. I won’t be so patient next time.”
Maxi nearly rolled her eyes. Patient? He had been shouting all this time! If this was patient, then—
Riftan placed his hands on the small of her back, and her thoughts came to a screeching halt. She froze as his hands inched downward, making their way beneath the blanket that covered her.
“W-Wait…!” Maxi kicked her legs in alarm. She was wearing nothing but a thin tunic.
Unperturbed, Riftan slid a hand under her buttocks and lifted her slightly. He pulled the blanket out from under her and tossed it to the floor.
Maxi frantically pulled the tunic over her legs, but Riftan simply rolled up the tunic’s lower half and reached underneath to cup her high-perched breasts.
She let out an unceremonious cry as the roughness of his warm hands brushed across her tender skin, sending strange and intense sensations coursing through her body.
“W-W-Wait…”
Riftan, who had been burying his nose in the nape of her neck, raised his head. He wore a disgruntled look. “Is that your favorite word? Or have you forgotten your own husband’s name?”
He wore a disgruntled look and Maxi blinked like a confused owl. As if to chastise her, Riftan pressed his mouth roughly against hers. His lips were surprisingly soft and warm, and for a moment, Maxi wondered how they could be the same lips that uttered such cold, harsh words to her before.
“Don’t look so startled,” Riftan said. “We weren’t married under ordinary circumstances, you said so yourself. But there is little we can do. You must learn to accept me.”
He combed her hair back with his firm, reassuring fingers, and the tenderness of the gesture surprised her.
His lips incessantly explored her cheeks, her temples, her ears, his warm breath tickling her skin.
When his muscular thighs twitched beneath her, Maxi instinctively clutched at Riftan’s clothes and clenched her eyes shut.
She knew what this overture meant—she had experienced it once before—and she remembered the pain that followed. Her body stiffened, and Riftan sighed.
“Try to relax. It’ll hurt if you’re so tense.”
“B-But…”
“This isn’t our first time.” Riftan stopped nibbling on the soft flesh of her throat. His voice grew hesitant. “Do you want me to stop?”
She opened her mouth to reply, but the words failed to take form. She did not have the heart to refuse. He turned down the chance to marry Princess Agnes to honor his vows to Maxi. It would not be right to deny him her bed.
After a long pause, she shook her head.
Emboldened once more, Riftan wasted no time in kissing her and pushing his tongue deep into her mouth, eager to taste her. Maxi placed a hand on his chest, only to pull it back, startled by how fast his heart was beating.
Riftan peppered her chin and jaw with kisses, before sliding his lips down her neck to her collarbone. Hot breath, and the wetness of his tongue prickled gooseflesh along her skin.
“Raise your arms.”
Maxi rigidly obeyed. His calloused palms stroked her from waist to armpits, pulling the tunic over her head. She hugged herself to hide her breasts as Riftan embraced her from behind and planted a kiss on her shoulder.
“I’ll be as gentle as I can.”
Maxi’s vision blurred. She could feel his eyes greedily devouring the sight of her exposed flesh. Round breasts and a flat midriff. A pale pair of thighs, and that tender region between them. She shut her eyes in shame at the sight of her nakedness.
But closing her eyes only amplified the sensation of his fingers stroking her nipples. When Riftan’s mouth left her collarbone and moved down to her breasts with a heated, hungry need, Maxi gasped as he began to suck.
His lips delicately grazed her skin as the tip of his tongue roved around her hardened nipples. Teeth nibbled her flesh, stopping just short of causing pain but sending a pleasant tingle from her neck to her ears.
“H-Hey…W-Wait…”
“Riftan.” He sucked hard, as if to punish her.
Maxi uttered a small, weak cry. Not knowing what to do with her hands, she tore at his clothes. Riftan gently loosened her hands and draped her arms over his shoulders. Her insides quivered at the touch of his warm skin, at the tickle of his sleek hair brushing against her neck.
“Say my name…”
“U-Um…”
“Say it.” His command was firm, but gentle.
“R-R…R-Riftan…” She called his name, her voice shaky.
A shiver passed through his shoulders. He muttered something unintelligible, almost guttural, before overwhelming her with a wild flurry of kisses.
His powerful arms tightened around her waist with such strength that Maxi feared she might snap in half.
A passion she had never experienced before overcame her and she clung to his neck, panting.
With his lips on hers, Riftan chuckled. “That’s it. Hold on to me, as tightly as you need.”
For the first time, he smiled at her. He rained kisses on her, one hand on the back of her head while his other hand drew a few slow circles around her navel before sliding down and pushing between her legs.
Maxi clamped her thighs together, but it was too late—his hand had already settled into her tender flesh.
The slow movement of his fingers bloomed an aching heat deep within her and Maxi jolted, startled by the sensation.
“You’re beautiful,” Riftan whispered as he admired the flush in her cheeks. His face had changed markedly from before. His piercing eyes had softened, and the hard corners of his lips were curved into a boyish smile.
As his ravenous mouth covered hers, his fingers touched her delicately, like a bard playing a lute.
Maxi’s ears turned red at the wet sounds emerging from her body.
Odd sensations simmered inside her and she quivered uncontrollably, her toes curling.
She instinctively tried to escape Riftan’s touch, but he only pursued her more insistently.
“Ah…!” Maxi cried out as a flash of sweet lightning shot from her lower belly to the top of her head. She held on tightly to Riftan’s shoulders. His thick chest rumbled with laughter.
“Does this feel good?”
“N-No…It d-doesn’t…”