Sir Kuahel had been studying her face. He abruptly said, “I’m sure I will encounter him at least once when we start our joint attack.”
Maxi’s head jerked up, her eyes wide.
The knight plucked the letter from her hands, a bland smile gracing his inscrutably calm face. “It would take some time…but I shall convey it to your husband when I see him. I have a debt I need to repay, you see.”
Maxi’s joy was fleeting. Anxiety filled her as she sensed something veiled in his words.
She looked up at him doubtfully. “Then…I shall rely on you.”
Despite her nerves, she managed to make her tone sound firm, almost as though she were instructing him.
Sir Kuahel’s eyes narrowed imperceptibly. He tucked the letter inside his cloak and said softly, “I assure you, I will make sure that he gets it.”
Duke Aren clapped his hands together. “Well, then. We should get going. I think we are all set.”
At the duke’s prompt, Sir Kuahel nodded at Maxi and turned to nimbly descend the stairs.
Maxi watched in a daze as he strode between the long files of knights and disappeared from view. Rows of soldiers held banners that fluttered violently in the wind as if heralding the start of a bloody battle.
Duke Aren turned to Maxi. “I shall have to excuse myself as well.”
“Oh…I-I apologize for taking your time.” Maxi curtsied once again.
The duke gave her a reassuring smile, then made his way down the stairs after the Temple Knights. Maxi watched them make their preparations for a while before heading back inside the basilica.
Her heart pounded unpleasantly. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes. All she could do now was pray.
—
Ten days later, news camethat the coalition army had succeeded in reclaiming Louivell. The cheers that broke out throughout the streets did not last long when wagons carrying the bodies of the fallen began rolling into the city.
The wagons formed a long, somber queue in front of the basilica’s square. People craned their necks to peer into each one and check if their loved ones were among the corpses. Maxi joined the Livadonian noblewomen in the square toverify the dead, dreading the discovery of a familiar face.
The bodies were unspeakably mangled. Although they had been cleaned as best as possible and given prosthetics for their funeral, nothing could hide their gruesome ends. It was rare to find a corpse with all its limbs intact, and some had black cloths draped over their faces to conceal horrible disfigurements.
Ashen, Maxi watched the clerics as they gingerly moved the bodies into coffins.
Some of the noblewomen fainted on the spot. Although Maxi also felt lightheaded, she remained upright by telling herself that she could not succumb before making sure Riftan and the others were not among the dead.
Suppressing the urge to vomit, she peered at the bodies from behind the clerics. Although she was desperate to confirm that none of the corpses belonged to the Remdragon Knights, she simply could not bring herself to look at their lifeless faces.
A wave of dizziness washed over her. She staggered to the edge of the square and crouched under a tree, ragged breaths heaving through her chest.
A worried noblewoman saw her and rushed over. “Are you all right?”
Maxi looked up at the woman with bleary eyes. It was Idsilla Calima, the girl she had shared introductions with a few days ago.
Idsilla’s dark brown eyes were full of concern. “Shall I call a cleric for you? You look unwell.”
Maxi slowly shook her head. “N-No. I-I was…only a little dizzy. How about you, Lady Idsilla? Are you all right?”
“Yes. I come from a family of knights. I’m used to suchthings.”
Idsilla raised her chin as she spoke, looking fearless, but her face was as pale as Maxi’s. She turned her head toward the long row of coffins as if to conceal her expression.
“Fortunately, my brother was not among them,” she said. “When I asked the soldiers who brought the bodies in, they told me that most of those trapped in Louivell Castle made it out safely.”
“I-Is that true?”
