Idsilla nodded stiffly. “I told my father that I didn’t mind breaking off the engagement, but he wouldn’t listen, saying it would be no different from a death sentence for a noblewoman. Elba was also adamant that he would never allow such dishonor to befall me. My father sold what land we had left, and Elba took it upon himself to fight in a war. All to secure my dowry.” She took a shaky breath. “I knew…but I acted as though I was ignorant and only pretended to dissuade him with empty words. If I had just entered the convent and became a female cleric, then Elba would not have done something so reckless…. If Elba…were to suffer a fate…similar to the soldiers we buried today, I would never be able to forgive myself.”
The girl’s face crumpled as she stifled a sob. It seemed Idsilla had been racked with guilt for her family for a long time. No wonder she had made such a reckless decision.
Maxi’s heart constricted as a perplexing wave of emotions overtook her. A father selling his land for his daughter, a brother risking his life for his sister…it did not seem real to Maxi, whose father and sister had only ever caused her pain.
Idsilla sniffled. “I’m sorry for troubling you with my sad tales.”
“It is all right,” Maxi said gently.
“I’ll be back to normal in the morning,” Idsilla declared firmly, wiping her tears with her sleeve. “The fatigue must have gotten to me.”
Maxi was unsure what to say. “You should sleep,” she said after a while. “W-We will be on the road again…at dawn.”
Idsilla bobbed her head, then pulled the blanket over herself. This time, Maxi heard no sobbing, and she surmised that the girl must have worn herself out.
Maxi gazed up at the starry sky with bleak eyes. She could not believe that one born as a woman could be so loved. Would the Duke of Croyso have treated her differently had she been smarter, more beautiful, and free of her cursed speech impediment? Her heart suddenly grew cold.
Curling into a ball, Maxi pulled her blanket up to her chin. Why was she making herself feel miserable with such unnecessary comparisons? She had Riftan, and he adored her for all her flaws. As long as he was alive, nothing else mattered. Maxi squeezed her eyes shut to drive out the wretched memories of her past.
Before daybreak the next day, the party madepreparations to set out once more. Sensing that her mana was somewhat replenished, Maxi used magic to heal some of the wounded. The men must have assumed that she was using divine magic, as none of them showed any surprise when she healed them.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Maxi went to the spring intending to help with the meal preparations. There was no one there, however, presumably because the women had already collected enough water.
She was about to make her way back when she paused to gaze at the clear, flowing spring. Her face and nape were clammy with sweat because she’d had her hood drawn over her head all day.
After a brief moment of inner conflict, she crouched down and threw back her hood. She scooped up the cool water with her hands and hurriedly washed her face and neck. Her clothes became soaked in the process, but she did not mind. She rolled up her sleeves and thoroughly washed her arms and even her underarms before getting up. It was then that she heard a crunching sound over her head.
Maxi froze and slowly looked up. Kuahel Leon was languidly perched atop a pointed rock. His inexpressive eyes bore into her as he took a bite of an apple.
Maxi quickly pulled her hood over her head. It finally occurred to her that the reason there were no other people in sight was that the area had been cleared to allow the commander of the Temple Knights to rest undisturbed. When she hastily tried to leave, his bored voice stopped her in her tracks.
“What possessed you to come here?”
Maxi’s heart plummeted in her chest.
Sir Kuahel tossed his half-eaten apple into the bushes and nimbly jumped off the rock. “I’ve tried probing Duke Aren, but he seemed completely oblivious to your presence here…. How did you manage to smuggle yourself in?”
“I-I’m afraid…I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Maxi said in a poor attempt to feign ignorance while pulling her hood down to her chin.
Sir Kuahel remained silent for a while, his eyes piercing her like daggers. Maxi could feel her mouth dryingup.
“I-If you’ll excuse me, I still have work to do,” she muttered.
“I have conveyed your letter.”
His words rooted Maxi to the spot like a snare. She bit her lip. She was aware that this could be a ploy to make her reveal herself, but she simply could not shake off the temptation to ask about Riftan.
“W-Was he unhurt?” she asked after a long while.
“As if anything is capable of wounding that man,” Sir Kuahel replied flatly.
Relief flooded her. Maxi felt her eyes well with tears. She looked up at the knight to confirm that he was not lying and found him staring down at her as though he were regarding something utterly baffling.
Cocking an eyebrow, he asked, “Did you come this far just to confirm that?”
Maxi’s face flushed at the exasperation in his voice. “P-Please keep this a secret. I-I will not trouble anyone, so—”
“You don’t have to do something so extreme for that man to be safe.”
