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Riftan’S POV - Under The Oak Tree - Chapter 24
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He heard the sounds in his ear loudly as he passed saliva, causing him embarrassment. He rubbed his damp palms over the hem of his robe and tried not to look at her too intently. But he couldn’t stop his gaze from being drawn to her as if a magnet were sticking to iron.
Slowly he looked at the curly braided hair, the narrow shoulders, the long slender neck, her waist that seemed to be narrower than her fist and the silk dress that flowed like ripples underneath.
The girl in his memory always had messy hair. Her braided hair, caught in branches or bushes and tousled, always ended up as a fluffy cloud and her clothes were always covered in dirt as she wandered through the garden.
Is the girl dragging a cloth bag and picking up stones the same person as this glamorous girl?
As he stood confused with a half-frozen face, he heard Triden’s soft voice.
“Who is the lady behind you?”
“The presentation was late. My daughter, Maximilian.”
The Duke of Croix introduced her. Only then did the girl staring at the floor raise her head. Riftan felt a strange pang pierce his trembling back.
She had a different face, resembling the girl he had seen in his fantasies.
The round forehead, cheeks and small chin still bore traces of childhood, but brown freckles he had never seen before lay faintly around the top of her nose and cheekbones, like sprinkles of gold dust. Somehow, he had a look of melancholy.
She frowned, wondering why he had such a dark look. Then, when she looked at him with an exultant expression, he read a sense of fear in her eyes. Riftan tensed in shock.
It didn’t even sound like she was afraid of him. Wasn’t this the girl who had run into a monster her size?
But she looked at him with a frightened expression, shrugging her shoulders visibly, as if she had witnessed an ugly monster. Her gaze pierced his heart like a dagger.
“It is an honour to meet you, my lady. I am Evan Triden.”
As if to reassure her, the commander extended his hand with a friendly smile. As she hesitated and placed her hand on his, their leader even his head, kissed it politely and introduced him. He at once found himself tense.
“This young man is my lieutenant, Riftan Calypse.”
“…Pleasure to meet you.”
“Ni-ni, nice to meet you.”
He murmured in a shaky voice with his eyes closed. It was such a small voice that it was hard to understand if you weren’t paying attention.
Riftan was engulfed in an indescribable sense of collapse. The happy fantasy he had been embracing for more than 10 years had collapsed like a sand castle in front of his eyes.
He has lived on the memory of having saved her for ten years and she hates to look at him. He felt like the world’s biggest fool.
“… It would have been better not to find her.”
Fantasies should have remained as illusions and memories as memories. While his heart was wrapped in loneliness, the voice of the Duke of Croix was heard.
“My child, your tea is not good. Are you still not feeling well?”
She shuddered at his side and then nodded slowly. A soft sigh came from the nobleman’s mouth.
“Now that you’ve finished greeting all the guests, go to the room and rest.”
She looked at him and Triden, nodded once and slowly turned away. The nobleman, watching with an anxious look as she retreated, looked at the leader with a dry smile.
“Forgive the rudeness. She is a quiet young woman, so she seems uncomfortable in noisy places.”
“Is she old enough to visit the palace yet?”
“She doesn’t like it.” The nobleman leaned back and shook his head as a generous father would. “I’ve always wanted to introduce her to the nobles at the palace, but she’s too reluctant to appear in front of people. I think because I spoiled her too much, since she lost her mother when she was so young I can’t help but worry about her.” He patted his beard and clicked his tongue slightly. “I know I need to be stricter, but I keep spoiling her without realising it.”
“You care so much about your daughter.”
“Aren’t children the ones you count on the most? If possible, I want them to live in a free way.”
Riftan poured into a conversation that went back and forth, heedless. Repeatedly in the past he told himself that what he was holding was just an illusion, but after verifying it with both eyes, he felt he had lost the treasure he had long held. He turned his head in pain, trying to resolve his bitter feelings.
The Duke of Croix soon began chatting with other nobles. Riftan mechanically greeted some of them, then moved to a corner and drank wine. Instead of getting drunk, however, his mind became increasingly clear.
He hated the fact that he was disappointed. Did this mean he had expectations? What did he expect? Did he want her to look at him and smile kindly? Or did he expect her face to flush as if she were nervous?
His thoughts kept flowing, it was time to forget about childish fantasies. Even if he received a title, he was still an illegitimate son of mixed and humble race, and she the eldest daughter of one of the most honourable families long established.
After drinking wine, Riftan returned to the room and fell asleep as if fainting. The next morning, he was seized by a terrible, throbbing headache.
He clutched his head and uttered bad words. He had not had a hangover because he was not a regular drinker.
He groaned in unfamiliar pain and poured himself a glass of cold water. However, the dull ache from his eyelids to his temples did not go away.
“Shit… What the hell is this?”
Riftan clicked his tongue sharply, washed his face with cold water and changed his clothes in an attempt to clear his mind. Despite his bad mood, the weather was sunny. He gazed at the clear sky with unpleasant eyes and then stepped out into the maze-like garden.
As he left the castle and crossed the huge hill, a hut appeared before his eyes that he thought would be collapsed. He stopped walking in front of it, he felt a great discomfort as if he had a thorn in his throat.
He thought the hut would have been abandoned for a long time and on the contrary the house stood well before his eyes.
He peered into it through an open window. There was a small pen at the back where three or four chickens roamed.
Did he still live here? No, maybe someone else started staying after his stepfather left.
Either way, it seemed hard to check right away. He looked around hesitantly. At that moment, something flew into his face. Riftan grabbed it. A skinny boy was staring at him as he held the plough hoe with which he tried to attack him.
“Are you sniffing around to steal?”
Riftan looked at the boy who appeared out of nowhere. The boy shook his face red with anger and pretending not to be scared.
“You wanted to steal all my father’s chickens, didn’t you? I saw everything!”
“… Do you live in this house?”
The boy groaned, lifted his chin and tried to snatch the hoe from him.
“Hey! This is my house! So you can’t take anything without my permission!”
“I’m not here to steal.”
Riftan muttered in a low, muffled voice, he looked at the boy’s frizzy face. His angry, dark brown eyes reminded him of someone.
“What is your father’s name?”
“Why do you want to know?” The boy shouted vigorously.
Riftan frowned and bowed, the boy took a step back as if he felt threatened by the sudden approaching face. Riftan said as calmly as possible.
“I was cared for by a person when I lived here. Today I am here to repay that debt.”
“This is my home. It was ours even before I was born.”
“What is your father’s name?”
The boy hesitated and answered. “Novan…” That was his stepfather’s name.
Riftan asked quietly. “How old are you?”
“…Eight years old.”
The boy answered in a softer tone sensing the strange atmosphere. Riftan slowly sat up and looked back at the hut he had left.
This house was full of bitter and terrible memories, what kind of feeling did his stepfather have to form a new family here? It was hard to guess, since he ran away because he couldn’t stand even one night.
“…Is your father healthy?”
“Every day he complains because his back hurts, but he’s healthy. It’s mum who is sick.”
His stepfather’s son quickly relieved his alertness and began to chatter. Riftan frowned.
“… Your mother is sick?”
“After giving birth to my younger sister, she always feels unwell. Yet every day she goes to work in the fields and takes my younger sister with her.”
The boy put down his farming tool and looked at him curiously.
“Are you a friend of my father’s?”
He didn’t know what to answer, so he shut his mouth. While he was relieved that his stepfather was not living miserably, on the one hand, his mouth was bitter. That was his selfish side.
His stepfather, who wasted 12 years with his mother and him, finally got a real family. Shouldn’t he be happy for him? He pulled out a pocket from his waistband containing at least forty gold coins and held it out to the boy.
“As I told you before, I owe your father a lot. Give this to him.”
“How much do you owe my father? How much is…”
The boy took the purse and looked inside with curious eyes. He reached out to take out a gold coin and bit it carefully.
“In the purse is a lot of money so that your parents, you and your younger sister can live your whole life without suffering. If other people see it, they may be robbed.”
The boy hugged the heavy leather bag tightly against his chest with a frightened face.
“You have to keep it well in the house and after your parents come back you give it to them. Okay?”
“Uh, huh…” the boy nodded vigorously and ran towards the cabin. He looked at it and then slowly turned around. He was about to leave, but the boy stuck his head out the door and asked.
“What’s your name? How will I tell him that someone just came and gave me this?”
“…He’ll know when you tell him it’s from Riftan.”
“You’re going to leave without seeing my father?”
He nodded and took one step forward. He tried to return to the castle immediately, but he was too anxious to leave too much money to a child. He hid in the forest and watched the hut.
After a while, he saw a slightly crooked man walking up the hill carrying farm machinery. Riftan silently watched the figure of his stepfather whose face was blackened and sweaty from hard work.
The boy was looking out of the window waiting for his father’s return, so when he saw him he jumped like an arrow and ran towards him.
Riftan turned and walked quickly towards the castle. His heart was strangely desolate. It was he who had left without warning, but in a corner of his heart he thought it was the place he might return to someday.
So what if there was nothing left? He let out a cynical laugh.