Chapter Text
Riftan felt like a creep, hunching behind the bushes trying not to breathe too hard for the fear she could hear him. To be fair, it wasn’t like he was purposely trying to prey on her that way. He was actually trying to build the courage to walk forward and face her, even talk to her.
It was ridiculous. He was known for having no regard for his own safety. He had fought and killed hundreds, if not thousands, of monsters, and not felt a single drop of fear running through his system. He had used his sword to slice trolls, dragons, basilisks, gnomes, and other monsters with the same sentiment of using a dull knife to cut through butter. There were only a very small handful of things in the mortal world that could make him doubt himself and his skills, and one of them was an 18 year old girl that looked like the wind could fly her away.
The Remdragon Knights had been invited to the Croix Castle by the Duke Croix. That man could never pass up an opportunity to show off, and the recent engagement of his younger daughter to the Royal Prince was not an exception. He had invited almost half of Wedon to his castle for a celebration that would have a duration of approximately 3 weeks. The celebrations included a plethora of events, all in the name of the beautiful Rosetta Croix and what seemed to be what would be her biggest achievement: being well married off.
Riftan was surprised when the invitation to such celebrations arrived to Anatol. Although being a Lord, he would have never thought the Duke Croix would have considered him worthy of “such an honor”. However, rumors had spread that this had not been of his own thinking, but the King’s himself. It wasn’t a secret that the King was trying to gain his favor and keep him close for his own purposes, but Riftan just felt amused at the fact that the King thought that such an invitation would do it.
He was very close to rejecting the invitation, not interested in being a participant of such frivolous events, but he had been quickly influenced by his men, who wanted to attend the celebrations due to the promise of food, drink, and women to their liking. Riftan could not bring himself to deny their requests, seeing how worked up they had been in the last few months. Even though he would not enjoy it, the rest of the Remdragon Knights had the right to do so. Plus, reconsidering, he could also enjoy the celebrations, just not in the same way…
Which brought him to his current situation, hiding like a coward.
He had not laid his eyes on Maximilian Croix for what it felt like an eternity. She had been just a small girl, with tiny arms and big eyes that tried too hard not to look at him. Her pale pink dress washed her out and was too small for her, the hem of it dancing around her ankles with every movement showing her delicate white shoes. He had been disappointed back then by her indifference, but he made himself wake up from the fantasy of her remembering the incident that had happened during their childhood. She was the daughter of a very protective Duke, of course she would pay no mind to him, a 16 year old nobody half breed that happened to be good with the sword.
But he was not 16 years old anymore. He was the Lord of Anatol and the Commander of the Remdragon Knights. He wasn’t a nobody, not anymore.
Or at least that’s what he tried to tell himself. He had been successful in convincing himself until the night before, where he saw her during the welcome banquet. He did not know why he was expecting to see the little girl with the small dress, but just like him, she had grown.
She was taller, of course, but still kept that frail structure that made him afraid for her health. Her hair had grown longer, beautiful curls falling over her shoulder covered by a light blue gown. Some unruly strands of hair framed her forehead, clearly escaping the rest of the hairstyle. Every now and then she would use her fingers to pull them aside in a nervous state. Her face was the same, but completely different at the same time. Riftan couldn’t put a finger on what exactly made it different, but it seemed more… tired. Where there was the plumpness and shine characteristic of childhood, now there were hollow cheeks and dark circles. But her big doe eyes and tiny nose were the same, giving her the look of a porcelain doll that could break if you breathe too close to her.
She was eating sitting next to her father, across the room from Riftan, her eyes nailed to the plate of food in front of her (a very empty plate, in Riftan’s opinion). On the rare occasion someone would talk to her to greet her, she would give them a weak smile and say what he supposed was a short, polite greeting before going back to minding her business. He did not have the balls to go to her and greet her, even when they had been introduced already years ago. But he highly doubted that she remembered such a trivial encounter, him being so unremarkable back then.
However, when they exchanged looks on one occasion, he realized how wrong he was. She looked startled, and looked away immediately, like just looking at him was dangerous. This gesture made Riftan’s chest ache.
Of course she remembered. How could she forget such a scary monster? She had probably been praying not to cross his way for the rest of her life.
The exchange soured his mood enough to make him retire to the guest room early, not staying for the ball that was being held after the banquet.
The morning after, he left the table before finishing his breakfast, not being in the mood to tolerate Hebaron’s ramblings about all that had happened the night before and “how much fun he had missed”. He heard him calling his name loud, clearly wanting to keep talking. Riftan ignored him and kept walking, running his face so hard it looked like he was going to rip it off.
He could not wait until this nightmare was over and he could go back to the quiet and dark rooms of the Anatol Castle.
In his urge of being in a quiet place, he ventured to the woods that were within the walls of the castle, vaguely remembering the path he used to take when he was merely a blacksmith apprentice. He hated being back in the Croix Castle, every corner being a reminder of the past he wanted to forget so much.
He kept spirling in self hatred and sour thought while walking, barely paying attention to where he was going. That was, until he heard something.
A laugh.
He tried to ignore it. There were docens (maybe hundreds) of guests in the Croix Castle, so it was not surprising that he wasn’t the only one with the idea of a walk in the woods. However, there was something about that laugh that pulled his body, his legs moving almost without his consent, walking towards the area where the sound came from.
Once there, he understood why his whole body had betrayed him that way. Right there, sitting under the shade of a big oak tree, was Maximilian. She was wearing her hair down, with a much simpler dress that she was wearing the day before. She seemed to be a completely different person than she looked like the night before. This Maximilian had pink cheeks and shiny eyes, more of a reflection of the girl that gave a flower crown to a blacksmith apprentice.
She wasn’t alone, eiter. A small black cat made her company, dancing around her bare feet playing with a long leaf she kept wiggling for him. Every time the cat would attempt to catch the leaf with its paws and failed, a sweet and genuine smile would escape from Maximilian’s mouth.
Riftan stayed there for a few minutes, just looking at her play with the cat. He knew that he wasn’t looking at anything indecent, but he could not help but feel like he was invading a private moment. He pondered if he sould just turn around and walk away, pretending he had not seen anything. But the other side of his brain, the one who kept fantasizing about one day being worthy of her attention, told him to stay. \That he would never have this chance anymore, of talking only to her without listening ears around them. It might be improper to talk with a lady without the companion of a chaperone, and they would probably get in trouble if they get caught by themselves so far away from the castle. But… What if he could make her opinion about him change? What if he could prove himself as not some monster that would hurt her? What if… maybe he could earn her favor? That would be a more difficult task surrounded by all the nobles and knights that were in the castle.
He kept thinking about his options, trying to make the right decision, when he felt something brushing his neck. By reflex he catched the leaf that had fallen from the tree, not even thinking about it. However, the movement was so abrupt that it definitely called the attention of Maximilian, guiding her eyes right to his. He felt a shiver going down his spine when he saw her eyes grow bigger, clearly scared. He wondered what she had seen in him that could fright her like that.
Oh, yeah. He forgot. He was being a creep.