Under the Oak Tree

Chapter 86 – Trying Her Best (1)

“Thank you so much.” Max repeated, and as soon as those words escaped her lips, Riftan who had been looking down on her, dipped his head and kissed her.

Riftan’s sudden action took Max by surprise and she instinctively took a step back. Riftan on his part acted as if nothing had happened and begun to casually address the merchants around them, as if he had not just kissed his wife in front of the party.

“My wife seems happy. I’ll give you an additional 50 percent as a token of gratitude. I thought it would take you a day or two more for you to deliver it, but it arrived earlier than expected. Therefore, I also thank you for hurrying up.” Riftan told the merchants, and the latter seemed to be in disbelief at his generosity.

“Oh, dear God! It’s not a big deal sir. It’s what you asked us to do sir, of course we had to cater to your request as soon as possible, it is only natural for us to satisfy our clients!” One of the merchants told Riftan.

Max listened to their small exchange while hiding her red face behind the horse’s neck.

She felt embarrassed because of the way Riftan nonchalantly expressed affection towards her in front of so many people. Max looked around anxiously to see if anyone might have seen their sudden display of affection and felt scandalized by seeing it, thankfully it seemed that no one seemed to have minded the gesture as the servants continued on their tasks.

After some time, Riftan finally ended his conversation with the merchants and the latter turned to leave. Just as they had begun to pack up and leave, Riftan approached Max and draped one of his arms over her, and hugged her to his side.

“Let’s go to the room, so you can look more clearly at the things I bought for you. You might find something you would like.” Riftan told her with a gentle smile.

“I-is there more…?” Max asked in surprise and Riftan nodded before replying.

“All the boxes the servants are carrying now are your gifts.” Riftan then pointed to the pile of boxes still in the cart.

Upon seeing it Max’ mouth fell wide open. She estimated that there were roughly enough boxes to fill one of the castle’s guest rooms.

“I told them to move it to the room. So let us go in now.” Riftan whispered to Max’s ear as he handed the halter to a nearby servant and then led Max towards the Great Hall of the castle.

Max allowed him to lead her inside. As they walked Max could not help but feel as if she was walking on clouds. She couldn’t believe she felt so depressed and anxious a while ago, it was as if those worries vanished because of Riftan’s arrival.

“So, be-because of the gate re-repair… aren’t you bu-busy?” Max asked shyly and Riftan shook his head.

“I’ve already delegated the task to several people and have left them instructions on everything that needs to be done. The knights have decided to take turns in guarding the gate until it’s completed, so there won’t be any intruders coming into the compound and making a disturbance even if I don’t stand guard.” Riftan told her and Max bit her tongue to prevent herself from responding.

The truth was that Max did not ask Riftan because she was worried about the castle’s security, rather she wanted to voice out her concern that since Riftan had only a bit of free time, she might be disturbing him in the midst of his busy schedule. Max however decided not to correct his understanding of her question. The two of them continued to climb in comfortable silence until they arrived at the newly structured hallway she had been working on.

The sunlight came pouring in from the windows and was sprinkling beautiful golden rays on the red carpet. Riftan, suddenly turned his head to look at her.

“Come to think of it, I haven’t properly complimented you on the fact that the castle has become very nice since you redecorated it. The butler said you went through a lot to make it this beautiful.”

Because of Riftan’s sudden praise, Max found herself blushing at him.

“Do you like it…?” She asked him meekly.

“I like it. I was surprised when I came down the stairs in the morning. For a moment I thought I had moved to another castle overnight.” Riftan answered her in a slightly teasing manner and Max breathed a sigh of relief.

“Ye-yesterday you di-didn’t say a-anything.. I was wo-worried.” Max confessed as she recalled how worried she was the day before. Suddenly, Riftan’s eyes narrowed at her.

“Yesterday I could not exactly say to you <i>‘By the way, the castle has gotten so nice, you’ve done a great job’ </i>in the midst of my anger. In the first place, the one that caught my attention was seeing my wife in that mess. Do you think I would have seen the state of the castle at that time? Even if you had plated gold all over the castle, I wouldn’t have noticed any of it, not at that moment.” Riftan explained with his brows deeply furrowed and Max dropped her gaze, wondering what to do now that he looked at her with his cold eyes as if he was incensed just thinking about it.

As if sensing that she had grown depressed by his answer Riftan let out a small sigh and patted Max’ head reassuringly.

“I don’t want to be angry anymore, so don’t bring it up. Let’s go see your presents now.” Riftan told her gently with a smile and Max nodded her head in understanding as they set off again.

Once the two of them entered the room, Max saw the servants cleaning up the mountain of boxes and arranging them neatly at the corner of the room.

Rudis was standing guard at the corner and was supervising the servants carefully. She kept her eyes locked on them and was making sure they did not drop the boxes, while throwing constant reminders to be careful with them.

Finally, one of the maids saw Max and Rfitan and hurriedly bowed her head when she saw them. The rest of the servants followed suit and greeted them. After exchanging pleasantries, Rfitan approached Rudis.

“Did you finish moving all the luggage in the room?”

“Yes, it’s all thirty-two boxes sir. Would you like to check their contents?” Rudis asked and when Riftan nodded, the servants began to open the boxes one by one with the wooden poker.

Max stayed at the sideline and stared blankly at the endless pouring of gifts that was happening in front of her.

From the Southern Continent, Riftan bought her high quality silk and glamorous pattern fabrics. There was also glossy fox fur, a waistband made of snake skin, a gold threaded shawl, silver hand mirror, and a hairpin decorated with pearls..

The piles of gifts reminded Max of those that Rosetta had received.

She recalled seeing Rosetta buried in a luxurious gift countless times, but it was the first time she found herself experiencing it. Max reminded herself to remain calm.

“Is this all my pre-presents?” Max asked Rfitan, her mouth slightly trembled as she did so.

“Why? Do you not like it?” Riftan asked her in a worried tone.