Chapter Fourteen #2
“Forgive the intrusion,” Agnes announced as she swung the door open without hesitation.
Maxi poked her head out from behind the princess to peer into the room.
It was a dim space lined with wooden chairs, tables, lances, and armor stands.
Riftan and five other knights were in the middle of a discussion, and they looked up in unison as the two women entered.
“Your Highness. What brings you here? Didn’t you say you wished to rest today?” Riftan asked with a frown, clearly unhappy about the interruption.
The princess shrugged, unfazed by the cold reception, and strode over. She said confidently, “I had something to ask you. I would like to enjoy the Spring Festival with Maximilian. You don’t mind, do you?”
Riftan’s impassive expression grew icy. He looked back and forth between Agnes and Maxi, who still hovered behind the princess.
“My wife has only recently regained her health. I’ll have the knights escort you, but you will have to enjoy the festival on your own.”
His tone left no room for argument, but that did not deter Agnes.
“But your wife looks perfectly fine,” the princess said, narrowing her eyes and turning to Maxi. The gazes of the other men sitting around the council room turned to her at the same time, and she felt a knot in her stomach as everyone’s attention landed on her.
—
It was a day of firsts for Maxi. She played a dice game, drank ale while watching street performers, and sampled a thin-crusted pie with an unfamiliar filling. When she could eat no more, the princess cajoled her into joining a pole-throwing competition.
“Holding it at the end will make it fly farther. Imagine that you’re throwing it in a high arc,” explained Agnes. The princess had already effortlessly thrown her own pole, earning a high score.
Maxi awkwardly climbed onto the podium and gulped. A few feet away, Riftan watched her with his arms crossed. If she did well, maybe he would relax a little.
With a look of determination, Maxi threw the long pole with all her might.
Not only did the pole fail to reach any of the flags, it barely flew five kevettes before clattering to the ground. Maxi’s face burned with embarrassment. The twelve-year-old who had gone before her had done better.
“Miss! You have to throw the pole so it goes up!”
A man with a bushy beard roared with laughter and handed her another pole.
Although she wanted nothing more than to step down from the podium, Maxi had a feeling that she would become a laughingstock if she fled, so she shut her eyes and hurled the pole again.
This time, it flew quite high into the air before sinking into the ground at the second flag.
Her face flushed with pride, Maxi turned to look at Riftan. Her joy evaporated as she spotted two lavishly dressed women hovering flirtatiously around Riftan and Sir Elliot.
One of the women reached out to hold on to Riftan’s arm, and Maxi felt white-hot anger shoot through her. She stepped down from the podium and marched over.
“R-Riftan!”
His head snapped toward Maxi as she called out, and three other pairs of eyes simultaneously swung toward her. Her courage briefly wavered, but she steeled herself, squeezing between the pair.
She gave the woman nearest to Riftan a stern look. “Do you have business with my husband?”
“Oh, my. So, you were here to enjoy the festival with your wife.”
The women giggled, not embarrassed at all, and clapped their hands. The stench of liquor assaulted Maxi’s nose, and she frowned and took a step back. Like cats circling a mouse, the women grinned and continued toying with her.
“What a fine husband you have. I’m so jealous.”
“I agree! Why don’t you let us borrow him for a bit? There aren’t enough good men, you know. We should share!”
The brazen request drained the color from Maxi’s face. Having been taught that decorum was a virtue of a lady, this behavior—making a move on a married man while being drunk in public—was incomprehensible to her. It was as if they were temptresses from hell itself.
Maxi felt a chill run down her spine, and she clung to Riftan’s arm.
“N-No, you cannot borrow him!”
“Aww, you mean to keep him all to yourself?”
“We only want him for a short while.”
“Absolutely not!” said Maxi, close to tears. She looked up at Riftan, begging him to say something. He had been standing as stiffly as a rock the entire time. At Maxi’s silent plea, he blinked as if snapping out of a trance and ran a hand over his face. A flush crept up his beautifully tanned neck.
“Uh…So…” Riftan stammered, averting his eyes. “You heard her…. She’s not lending me to you.”
Maxi stared at him. She could not believe what she was hearing. Was this really his best effort?
Just then, she heard a peal of laughter.
“Oh, this is incredible. Who would believe it? To think the Mago himself is lost for words….”
Agnes, who had followed Maxi, was doubled over. Her laughter was so loud that it seemed to startle some sense into the drunk women.
“Hmm, what a shame. Finally find a good man, and he’s taken by not one, but two others….”
The other woman studied the princess with dazed eyes before losing interest. “Can’t be helped, I suppose.
Why don’t we go grab a drink somewhere else?
” Heaving an overdramatic sigh of disappointment, the woman fluttered her fingers at Riftan and said, “It was nice meeting you. If you ever want to have some fun, come look for us at Rhedyn Inn.”
The women sauntered away like cats swaying their tails. Maxi narrowed her eyes and stared after their retreating figures. How could they so brazenly attempt to seduce a married man? She was scowling when Agnes, who was still shaking with laughter, teetered over.
“You have to give it to them, not many are bold enough to approach this man.” The princess wiped her tears, then stood on her toes to pull the hood of Riftan’s cloak over his head, saying, “You, sir, are the one who needs to hide his face, not us. Though I must say I’m surprised, Riftan.
I didn’t think you’d be one to flirt with other women while your wife was watching. ”
“Who are you accusing of flirting?” Riftan barked indignantly. In a softer tone, he said to Maxi, “I was trying to get rid of them, but they were more persistent than I thought….”
Maxi scowled at him with suspicion. “It did not…s-seem like you were trying very hard.”
At her brusque reply, Riftan’s expression became indiscernible. He looked both sheepish and smug at the same time. Maxi glared daggers at him, infuriated to see a teasing smile tug at his lips.
She spun away from him and grabbed Agnes by the arm. “The princess and I have yet to finish enjoying the festivities…so you should go enjoy yourself as well, Riftan.”
With that, she hurried away before he could say anything. Agnes chuckled as she allowed herself to be led away.
“Excellent idea, Maximilian. We should have our fun without them,” she said, swiftly darting ahead and brushing past Maxi like a playful breeze.
They left the flustered men behind and ran straight to the nearby green hills, where music was ringing out over the slopes. Young women wearing floral wreaths on their heads danced, their long girdles swaying as they moved. Without hesitation, Agnes pulled at Maxi’s hand.
“Come! Let us dance!”
Before she knew it, Maxi was swept into the crowd.
Hand in hand, she spun and twirled with the princess.
Their movements were closer to hopping than dancing, but in the field full of people frolicking in time with the music, their joyful leaps did not feel out of place.
Soon, Maxi found herself trailing the women around the field.
The lively music that filled the air was unpolished but full of passion, different from the stuffier, more sedate music that played during the balls held in Croyso Castle.
The women’s movements began to pick up speed as the lovely melody of the vielle and the delicate plucking of the lute mingled in the wind to create a fast-paced rhythm, intertwined with the cheerful beat of the drum and the harmonies of flutes and pipes.
Maxi felt as though she had become a reed swaying in the wind. As the symphony washed over her, for the first time in her life, she danced with complete abandon.
The women laughed as they struck their tambourines, and spectators tapped their feet to the beat. Soon, the clear falsetto of the lute player rang out above the music.
The knight gathers the pieces
Of his body broken asunder
And rises to the heavens
His beloved oak tree
Alone on a hill
Waves slender branches in the wind
Oh, dearest beloved,
When the snow melts
I shall rend my body
And with my new leaves
Sing a song for thee
How I wish the wind
Would carry my voice to thee
Maxi knew this song. It was about the legendary knight, Wigrew, and the nymph who had loved him.
The maidens, wearing beautiful wreath crowns, began to move faster and faster around the field as they joined in.
They sang the words, full of yearning and melancholy, at odds with its cheerful melody, though no one seemed to mind.
Basking in a pleasant dizziness, Maxi laughed until her body shook.
She could not recall the last time she felt joy like this.
Her heart pounded in time with the beat of the drum, and her blood coursed through her veins with such fervor that she felt her pulse throbbing in the tips of her fingers.
It was liberating.
Who would have thought that unfurling her perpetually hunched body under the sunlight and dancing unabashedly could be this enjoyable?
“Maxi.”
A large hand grabbed her arm and Maxi glanced up, her face flushed. Riftan, who still had his hood over his head, looked down at her with smoldering eyes.
She shivered when she saw the intense desire etched across his face. Pulling her by the arm, Riftan led her out of the crowd. Agnes was too busy enjoying the festivities with the other women to notice the pair leaving.