“A coin?”
Dark clouds converged in Maxi’s heart when Selina cocked her head. The coin could have fallen out during her desperate escape from the monsters. She remembered stumbling to the ground several times, not to mention being thrown from her horse and dragged through the dirt by a goblin. Her mouth went dry at the possibility that she had lost an item Riftan had carried with him since his youth.
“C-Can I check my clothes?” she asked, trying not to sound frantic. “Th-The coin was from my husband. H-He gave it to me…. It was his talisman….”
Selina’s expression grew troubled. “They were probably burned because they were so dirtied….”
Maxi’s face fell.
Seeing her expression, Idsilla folded her arms and said optimistically, “Everyone’s been so preoccupied that they may have put your clothes aside and forgotten all about them. I’ll check for you.”
Maxi feebly waved her hands. “I-I don’t want to trouble—”
“You mustn’t say such things! It’s not even that much of a—”
Idsilla’s voice cracked. She coughed lightly to conceal her emotions and, shepherding Selina along with her, hurried out of the tent with the wet towel, basin, and empty tray, leaving behind the last of the porridge. Maxi sipped at the porridge a few more times before falling asleep again.
A short while later, Idsilla returned. Her bouncing footsteps woke Maxi from her restless sleep. She looked up at thegirl with a mixture of hope and apprehension. With a grin, Idsilla held out a copper coin rimmed with soot.
“The soldiers found this in the ashes,” she crowed. “I tried washing it with water, but the soot refuses to come off completely.”
Maxi accepted the coin, both apologetic and relieved. “I-I didn’t know…it would require so much effort. I apologize f-for troubling you…when you are already b-busy looking after the wounded.”
“Stop! It was no trouble at all. Everyone gladly searched the ashes when I told them it was important to you,” Idsilla insisted, shrugging as though she were talking about something trivial. “Everyone is so grateful. They would have scoured all of the mountains for you.”
Maxi’s face clouded over as she brushed the rough surface of the coin with her thumb. Idsilla’s words made her feel conflicted. Toppling that boulder was a feat she had accomplished while abandoning the city to save her own life. Burdened by the admiration in the girl’s eyes, Maxi looked away. Though a part of her felt guilty, she could not bring herself to tell the truth. She was afraid that everyone would spurn her forit.
“Could you…th-thank the men for me?”
Idsilla nodded vigorously. “I will. You, on the other hand, should lie down now. I’ll return with more porridge later. If you need anything, please ring this bell at any time.” After cheerfully playing the role of maidservant, Idsilla left the tent once more.
Maxi lay back on the cot and fiddled with the coin. It was more dented than she remembered, and one side was completely blackened. She rubbed the surface to wipe off whatlittle soot she could. Then, overcome with exhaustion, she closed her eyes and fell into a deep slumber.
She was floating in hazy half-consciousness when she suddenly felt something touch her face. Her eyes fluttered open to find Riftan standing beside the cot. How long had he been there?
All her sleepiness dissipated when she saw his blank face. Maxi sat up, anxiously studying him.
Riftan looked as frightening as the day of their reunion at Croyso Castle. He was dressed in a navy-blue tunic and the oddly forbidding dark gray armor of the Remdragon Knights; his sharp face was strained, and a strange tension lurked behind his icy gaze.
The cold-blooded knight who had so terrified her looked down without a word. The calmness in his eyes was petrifying.
He silently swept the tangled hair off her forehead with no indication of anger or concern. His gaze then fell on her overlapping hands beside the pillow. Maxi’s face flushed when she realized that he was looking at the coin clutched in her palm.
“I-I’m sorry for not taking better care…o-of something so important….”
For a brief second, Maxi saw anger flash behind his dark eyes. Sensing that he was trying to hold back, Maxi curled herself into a ball. Instead of yelling as she had expected, however, he merely extracted the coin from her palm with a frighteningly calm expression. He tossed it on the ground.
The coin clinked as it rolled into the corner of the tent. Watching it with vacant eyes, Riftan muttered gruffly, “As if such a thing really works…”
The blood drained from Maxi’s face.
After staring at the ground for a long while, Riftan calmly went on as though nothing had happened. “In two days, Princess Agnes will return to the capital with the royal guards. You will go with her to Drachium Palace.”
“B-But…the war isn’t—”
“The tides have turned. The monster leading the army was crushed beneath the landslide.” A small smile tugged at his lips. “A pathetic death for a creature that managed to lead an invasion of this size.”
He sounded peeved that the monster had died so easily. He was clearly trying to suppress his anger as he continued tightly, “The Royal Knights of Livadon, the Temple Knights of Osiriya, and a portion of the combined forces of Wedon and Balto should be enough to defeat the remaining monsters. After monitoring the situation for two more days, Princess Agnes will return to Drachium, and you will go with her. The princess has promised me that she will keep you safe at all costs.”
