Under The Oak Tree - Part

 

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Marrying the Callous Villain Knight  Under the Oak Tree • [연재 상수리나무 아래  The dau daught ghter er of a duke, duk e, stu stutte tterin ring g you young ng Maximi Max imilia lian, n, mar marrie ried da knight of humble birth at the insistence of her father. Her husband left for expedition after the first night.  Three years later, he comes co mes back ba ck as a famous fam ous k knight night of the whole continent. How would Maximillian face him?

Author(s): Miwangyeol Artist(s):  Hermes  Year: 2017 Country: Korea Genres: Adult Adult,, Drama Drama,, Ecchi, Ecchi, Fantasy Fantasy,, Mature, Mature, Romance, Romance, Smut Tags: Character Growth Growth,, Cold Love Interests, Interests, Jealousy  Jealousy,, Mature Protagonist,, Yandere Protagonist Source: wordexcerpt ASIANOVEL VERSION: 3.11 PDF VERSION: 1.4 UUID: 28629bc0-f7cf-11ea-8f94-7b9fa7d1ad0d USER: Snooze100 DATE CREATED: 2020-09-16 LANGUAGE: English More info and chapters: https://www.asianovel. https://www.asianovel.com/series/marrying com/series/marrying-the-callous-vi -the-callous-villain-knight llain-knight

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Chapter 51 Source: wordexcerpt

“Madam.” She tore herself away from her thoughts and turned her head to see Rudis standing quietly in front of the door.

“The lord is back. “The back. He is going going to have dinner dinner with the knights at the dining hall. Would you like to go down, too?” She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. She was uncomfortable around the knights, but she still wanted to dine with him. At the very least, she should maintain a modicum of amiableness with them as madam Calypse.

“Then, I’ll style your hair again.”  The maid brought brou ght a comb and a hair hairpin pin and neat neatly ly curled curle d up her hair. ha ir. She She sat in front front of the the vanit vanity, y, sc scrut rutin inizi izing ng he herr dress dress an and d hairstyle, and then left the room. In th the e hall hallwa way, y, se serv rvan ants ts fli flitt tted ed abou about, t, li ligh ghti ting ng up the the lamp lamps. s. She She was passing them all as she moved down the stairs when Max heard the sound of a heated argument drift into her ears. She paused and began to slowly move towards the clamor. Taking a look between the partially opened door of the dining hall, she saw Riftan and three other knight knightss following him while arguing with one another.

“We must leave leave for the royal road by tomorrow, tomorrow, at the least!” “Don’t “Do n’t make make me repeat repeat mysel myself. f. We’ We’re re leavin leaving g in three three www.asianovel.com

 

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days.” “You have to attend the ceremony! ceremony! How far do you intend  to ignore the Majesty’s sincerity!” “I have to agre agree e with Ricardo this time. The rain has died  down, so there won’t be any trouble leaving soon.” Max, who didn’t know if she should intrude and was waiting behind the door, stiffened up. Come to think of it, he had mentioned it during their trip. He was the top contributor in the war and should have headed to the royal road as soon as the battle ended. Max then estimated the distance between the royal highway and Anatol. It should take around 15 days if they traveled fast; if not, it would usually take about a month.

“I’ I’ve ve alre alread ady y se sent nt a pigeon geon to the the cap capital tal. I final finallly came came home ho me afte afterr thre three e ye year ars s ;  Ki  King ng Ruben Ruben will will unders understan tand.” d.” “I know you want to distance yourself from King Ruben. But  if you go too far, your influence might disappear. disappear.” ” At the words words of the knight, knight, stand standing ing at the very end, Ricardo Ricardo quickly turned his head towards him.

“Distance himself?” “Elnuma Ruben III is getting impatient because he can’t  summon you to the royal road. You are wary that you might  get tied to the royal family family due to your contribu contribution tion to the battle, right?” “ …” “ …” “It’s not just a case between between you and Agnes ;  it seems like www.asianovel.com

 

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t he h e k in i n g w an a n ts t s t o k ee e e p y ou o u o n a t ig i g ht h t l ea ea s sh h . I a ls ls o understand that you are wary. But you must avoid going too far as you might end up antagonizing them. He’s already very  cautious of his vassals.” “Eliot’s “Eliot ’s right. If the Remdragon Knights are absent during the celebration, he will surely think he is being humiliated in front of his people. We never know what kind of retribution he will come back with later. You know he’s someone who holds a long grudge.” “Hebaron Nirta! Your words go too far!” At hearin hearing g the rais raised ed voices voices,, Max began to tu turn rn back. back. The atmosphere between them wasn’t conducive to her appetite.

“Ju-just bri-bring my me-meal to my ro-room,” she told Rudis as soon as she clim climbed bed back up the stairs stairs and went back to her room. Max couldn’t get rid of the heaviness she was feeling as she was returnin retu rning g to her room, and even when she pitifull pitifully y ate her dinn dinner er alone. Will sh Will she e tr trul uly y be fine fine alon alone e whil while e Rift Riftan an is away away fr from om the the cast castle le?? Everyone was genial towards Max now, but she worried that maybe it was because the lord of the castle was around. She felt uneasy as if  she was a child who had lost sight of her guardian.

“Madam …  is the meal not to your tast taste?” e?”  Rudi  Rudis, s, who had been patiently waiting on the side, asked a sked carefully. A grimace must have been visible on her face. Max quickly quickly shook her head. …

no. It-it’s Well, I just   it’s just I don’t have an“Oh, appetite,”  she delicious. weakly excused. www.asianovel.com

 

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“Are you perhaps uncomfortable anywhere?” “I think, I think it’s because I’m tired … I’d like to rest.” “Should I take your plate away?” When she nodded, the maid retrieved the platter from her, a sizeable portion of the food still left uneaten on the porcelain. Max sat at the table and absentmindedly gazed into the figure that Aderon left behind. Just a moment ago, the small sculptures that looked lovely like toys now looked insignificant. Why am I acting like a child? Nothing is wrong with being alone.  She had always always lived lived in isolat isolated, ed, what differe difference nce would it make make if  Riftan left? For twenty years, she suffered under a cruel father, shunned shun ned by her cold cold-hear -hearted ted half-sist half-sister, er, and even disresp disrespected ected by the rude servants. There was no reason to feel hopeless hopeless by Riftan’s Riftan’s month-long absence.

“Why in the blazed “Why blazed are you starin staring g at it intent intently? ly?” ”  A confused, familiar voice brought her out from her own musings. She loo She looke ked d bac back k at the hand that sudde suddenly nly came int into o view, view, surprised. surpri sed. Without her noticing him coming in, Riftan was holding a marble sculpture in his hand and looking at it with an expression that showed he thought it was random and strange.

“It-it’s a model … I-I was picking out the de-decorations for  the banquet ha-hall.” “The banquet hall?” Max’s heart plummeted plummeted when she saw a frown appear on Riftan’s face upon the mention of it.

“You, you asked m-me to decorat decorate e the ca-castle, so…”  her voice trailed off. www.asianovel.com

 

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“No, I’m not saying no to it.” He hurriedly corrected himself, “I  justt forgo  jus fo rgott that tha t there the re was such suc h a place. pla ce. I see. see . The banque ban quet  t  hall … I guess we’ll have to plan a party or a ball soon, right?” She gulped. gulped. Her throat throat went dry as she saw Riftan’ Riftan’ss eyes eyes of  anticip anti cipatio ation n directed directed at her. her. Just the thou thought ght of hosting hosting a ball or banquet made her dizzy with apprehension.

“If-if you don’t want to…” “It’s not like I don “It’s don’t ’t want to. I’m just just not used to loud  spaces with strangers.” He then bent over, leaning towards her, and pulled the pin out of  her hair. Max’s braided hair fell, tumbling slowly on the back of her neck. A smile languidly spread across Riftan’s face as he tenderly untangled her locks with his hands.

“But, I do want to see you beautifully dressed and dancing at the ball.” Max felt the word ‘beautifu ‘beautiful’ l’ never suited her, and it was so that she had never stepped a foot at a banqu banquet et before. Whenever Whenever she saw the gap between Riftan’s expectations and her true nature stray far, she felt as if an invisible claw suffocate her heart from the inside. It was too cruel. Oh Maxi… I just wish you all the happiness in this world. :((( double chapter update! If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  Have a browse of our . www.asianovel.com

 

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 Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht)

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Chapter 52 Source: wordexcerpt

“W-well, “W-wel l, come to think of it, I-I didn’t didn’t even even have have a chchance to thank you.” She began, “Th-thank you for hi-hiring a tailor f-for m-me.” “You don’t have to thank me for anything.”  The man replied dryly, putting the piece of marble he was holding back on the table. “I know it’s it’s severe severely ly lackin lacking g compare compared d to your your previo previous us lifestyl life style. e. Eve Even n if it takes takes time, time, I’ll I’ll get you everyth everything ing you want, so just hang in there for a bit,”  he murmured. He then put his arm around her shoulder and lowered his head, pressing a chaste kiss on her earlobes. She shrank back as his arms wrapped around her, encasi encasing ng her petite peti te frame. He was far from being lacki lacking, ng, instead he was giving giving her more than she could ever ask for. She wanted to say that he didn’t have to overwork himself for her so badly, but she just couldn’t do it. Even if it was an erron erroneous eous expectati expe ctation, on, she felt strang strangely ely relieved relieved that he thought thought of her as someone… precious.

“I’m going to the royal road in a few days. I’ll come back  with a wagon full of presents.” Her eyes widened at this. “Ye-yes…”

“I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’m just going to attend the “I’ll ceremony and soon…” He mumbled his last words under his breath, making them almost undecipherable. And then a soft, moist, warmth gently prodded into www.asianovel.com

 

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her mouth. Her eyes widened lightly. lightly. The tip of his tongue tongue tasted faintly of  strong wine. His slightly coarse stubble gently rubbed against her own chin, his tall straight nose over her nose, and a warm, soothing palm gently caressed her cheek.  There was something something unique about the the way he enveloped her. He was frighteningly frighteningly persisten persistentt and aggressive, aggressive, yet there beyond this animalistic animalistic side, he was also so cautious, cautious, holding her as if she wass some wa someth thin ing g sa sacr cred ed.. Wh When en his his care caress sses es felt felt mi minu nute te,, al almo most st fluttering on her skin, she felt as if she were a wildflower. A de deli lica cate te flowe flowerr fero feroci ciou ousl sly y yank yanked ed away away an and d dear dearly ly held held in his his grasp…

“Damn…  I really don’t want to go.” He mumbled harshly, his warm breath warming her lips.  There was a slight trace of saliva when their their lips parted. Max looked up at him with trembling trembling eyes. He cupped cupped his hand over one of her breasts breasts over her clothes as he pulled pulled her close closerr by the waist.

“I want to do nothin noth ing g and an d just ju st stay lock locked ed up in my  bedroom for months — pe  perh rhap aps s ye year ars, s, an and d just ju st rest re st.” .”  S  She he sensed a lot of fatigue in his heated voice. He was exhausted. Max could only imagine how hard it must have been for the past three years. Guilt and compassion sprang up inside her. She hesitated slightly, before she gently moved her hand to stroke str oke his head. The man who had been pouring pouring kisses kisses on her décolletage looked up at her in surprise. She managed to say in a trembling voice,

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“Che-cheer up.” A strange expression crossed his onyx eyes. She had glimpsed a solemn look of heartbreak. heartbreak. He was staring down at her blankly with glisteni glis tening ng eyes, eyes, when suddenly, suddenly, he surged surged towar towards ds her, violentl violently y locking his lips against hers. She felt goosebumps dance towards the back of her neck at the feel of their moist breaths locked locked in a battle together.

“To be so willing to fire me up—don’t complain to me when you regret it.”  He roughly murmured as he gathered gathered her up in his arms from the chair she was sitting on. A sharp shudder roughly scraped scraped the inside inside of her stomach. stomach. She wasn’t scared. Even when he said somethin something g like that…  Even when he was doing doing somethin something g like like this…  she wasn’t wasn’t scared scared at all. She could see vaguely what kind of person he was becomin becoming g to her and that was the only thing she was really afraid of. *

“Sto-stop … ”  Max’  Max’ss voi voice ce came out in a soft soft whi whimpe mperr as her stomach laid on the bed. From the windows, windows, bright light poured out from the striking striking blue sky covered only with sparse clouds. It was quite a sunny day. She crawled towards the blanket to escape, but her arms and legs, which had undergone too much of a rigorous exercise throughout the night, lacked the strength to even tear apart a flower, much less break free from a man’s insistent grip.

“Ri-riftan… please, please.” please.” “Just a little more…” theinto breath breat that came between legs, she hid face deAt deep eply ly into the theh shee sh eets ts. . Th The e in li ligh ght t from from the thher e dyin dy ing g firep fir epla lace ce her fli flick cker ered ed over ov er th their eir wet sk skin in soake soaked d wi with th sw sweat eat an and d wetne wetness ss fr from om thei theirr www.asianovel.com

 

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lovemaking. Even the feel of the faint heat was like torture to Max.

“It’s incredible. That you have something that can accept  me…  and I have something that can connect with you…”  He muttered like a drunken man as he touched her between her legs. Her hips raised in the air shook with his every caress, her already fatigued fatigu ed thighs were shaking shaking.. Her soaked petals had long throbbed from his stimulation, blooming a pinkish red. She choked back a sob from the ecstasy and the erotic quality of it all.  T he fa  The fac c t t hat ha t sh she e was wa s bar ba r in ing g hi him m her he r mos mo s t p ri riv v a t e p a rt w a s agonizingly strange to Max. Her heart felt as if it could burst out from her ribcage any moment.

“Do you know how beautiful beautiful you are?”  She felt his warm, husky voice over her moist womanhood. And his fingers gently prodded in, parting her secret doors to stroke stro ke it within. within. Max imme immediate diately ly found herself herself biting the pill pillow ow to restrain her lewd mewls. She was going mad. It felt as if her whole body had melted and only the part under his hold was alive. As tears ran down her face from the intense climax that broke like a dam inside, he gently ran his hand across her back and whispered,

“Reall “Rea lly, y, madd madden enin ingl gly y beau beauti tifu ful. l.” ”  H  Hiis deep, muffled voice clawed at her ears like a siren’s bewitching bewitching call. Her body, no longer her own, succumbed succumbed to the wild sensation. sensation. Max unconsc unconsciously iously pulled on Riftan’s hair. His breath heated up her soft skin and his teeth softly bit her parts that had long gone sensitive from his never-endi never-ending ng touches. She felt like all the nerves in her body were splitting into tiny pieces, tearing her apart from the inside to a delicious heap.

“N-no… ah!” www.asianovel.com

 

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Her words not corre correspon sponding ding with her actions, actions, her back arched highe hi gher, r, her folds folds stret stretch ching ing as they they ant antici icipat pated ed for hi him. m. Riftan Riftan clasped clasp ed her hips tightly tightly so that she wouldn’t be able to escape, and after he persisten persistently tly tasted her juices, he posit positioned ioned his throbbing throbbing member against her tunnel and slowly pushed inside, making her feel him to the tip. Max no lon longer ger had enoug enough h str streng ength th to lif liftt eve even n a sin single gle finger. finger. As his thick, massive massive body crashed crashed into her, she shook like a leaf. His manh ma nhoo ood d pres presse sed d insi inside de her, her, de dema mand ndin ing g as he fille filled d her her deep deeply ly to her core and with every thrust, his member growing with his ragged breaths. As his movements picked up, she could hear their slick skin against another ;  her bod body y that that had be becom come e almos almostt un unbe beara arabl bly y sensitive and heated, was roughly swept by a strong current. At the heigh ight of her sen ense ses, s, Max Max final finally ly felt elt he herr vis vision ion fade ade, th the e soun so unds ds arou around nd her her sl slow owly ly va vani nish shin ing g wi with th her her cons consci ciou ousn snes ess. s. I forgot this was an 19 rated chappie. Well hope this has been a surprising treat! xD

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Chapter 53 Source: wordexcerpt

Max was seized by the feeling as if she were plummeting into a cliff  in her slumbe slumber. r. Slo Slowly wly stirri stirring ng into into consci conscious ousnes ness, s, she hears hears the sound of rain, pounding hard against the windows as if to wake her up from her reverie. The man laid calmly behind her back, their slick bodi bo dies es pl plas aste tere red d to one one anot anothe her. r. He Herr ey eyel elid idss flutt flutter ered ed op open en as sh she e lay in his arms.  Just how long have they they been losing their minds with one another?  Th  T he che st on her back gently shook with the man’s s teady breathing. “Even if I’m almost crushing you by being so close like this… I don’t want to part our bodies at all.” He gathered her closer —as if it were any pos possib sible le—insi inside de his arms, arm s, fac facing ing him. him. Ski Skin n cre create ated d fri fricti ction on as they they rubbed rubbed aga agains instt anoth an other er,, the tips of her her pe peaks aks having having lon long g gon gone e sore sore fr from om his his constant teases. The man released a satisfied groan, tilting the woman’s head underneath him to meet his lips. He sucked on them, devouring and rolling her soft flesh between his teeth. Max looked up at him with swollen eyes. He looked as messy as she was; his usually cold, stern face like a polished blade was flushed with wit h sweat, sweat, his eyes eyes clouded clouded with a heated heated gaze. His hair hair was disheveled as if it had gone through a storm, and his skin was laced with half-moon crescents… Riftan faintly Riftan faintly smiled smiled,, seei seeing ng the light light wounds wounds on his body. “I didn’t even have a scratch on my body when I was fighting a basilisk …”

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A terrible sound came out from her throat like a strangled cry. And his head dipped down again to capt capture ure her lips, lips, sealing sealing the voice inside. Max was quite frightened of his onyx eyes, looking at her with an indecipherable expression.

“You’re a frightening enchantress.” She had wanted to implore him what he meant, but her voice could no long longer er come come ou outt as he ki kiss ssed ed her her flu flush sh ag agai ains nstt him him ag agai ain. n. Th Thei eirr slick tongues slowly intertwined with another in a slow, lazy dance.

“I th thin ink k I’ I’ve ve known nown sinc since e th the e firs rstt day. ay. That hat you woul ould … scar sc ar me.” me.” His last words were so faint against her lips that she could hardly understan unde rstand d them. She soon sank into a deep sleep as if she were melting into warm water. * It was raini raining ng harder outside as if nature nature was devi deviously ously trying trying to make up for yesterday’s harmless drizzle. This prompted Riftan and his soldiers to delay their travel to the capital. And as he wasn’t even able to trudge across the village for inspe inspection ction under the blanket of  heavy rain, he spent his whole day lounging around their room for the first time ever since he moved into the castle.  The two laid in bed b ed stark st ark naked, merely listening listeni ng to the rhythm r hythm of  the rain against the window. Most of the time, they were engaged in a passionate embrace between each other, leaving no inch of skin as they shared their warmth. They made love intensely, making Max worry if such a level of intimacy was even allowed. allowed. When they were not locked with one another, they gulped down the food and wine the servants delivered to them. He placed her on his lap as he fed her himself. himself. Feeling sluggis sluggish, h, Max wasn’t able to feel the familiar familiar embarrassm embarrassment ent creep in, and www.asianovel.com

 

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instead, rested her head on his chest as she nibbled on the pieces of  sweet fruit and bread with cream he brought to her mouth. At the heart-warming sight, a smile blossomed across Riftan’s mouth.

“You’re like a little bird.” He gave her a sip of wine and pre presse ssed d his lips lips gently on her bulgi lging chee eeks ks,, feeli eeling ng her fles flesh sof oftt ag agai ain nst his mus uscl cles es.. Ri Rifftan tan wouldn’t woul dn’t let her go even for a spli splitt second;  he was like an animal animal devotedly taking care of its own baby. He washed her and showered her with kisses. And Max was utterly captivated by his passionate and persistent love, never having experienced anything like it before. She suddenly had the outlandish urge to hug him tightly with her soft arms and to rub her face against his broad and muscular chest like lik e a child. child. If she wasn’t so exhausted, exhausted, she knew she would have indulged in that fleeting impulse. Not even her mother had held her this close before.

“These grapes are delicious,”  he mumbled as he pushed pushed the fruit through her lips. Max took the grape in her mouth and popped it between betwe en her teeth, teeth, savoring savoring the sweet juice. juice. As some of the liquid liquid trickled down the sides of her mouth, Riftan tasted ta sted it with his lips. His hand brushing brushing against her cheek was gentle, but his caresses were stir stirring ring kisses her. Soon, the thought of mind. his damp delicately delicat ely trailing golden on her skin came to Theirlips barely parted bodies heated in tandem with the warm current inside the room.

“Crush me with your teeth and take me in.”  He stuck his tongue out long as if it wanted to fall into a pit that was her throat.  The re was some  There som e kind kin d of lan langua guage ge clear cle arer er tha than n words wo rds tha thatt cam came e and went through their interlocked lips. M ax a x c ou o u ld l d f ee e e l h er e r t hr hr o oa at ch ho o ck c k in i n g u p, p, b u utt s h he e w as as n n’’ t complaining—didn’t want to. Now engulfed engulfed with a craze that ate all www.asianovel.com

 

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her reason, she lifted her trembling arms and wrapped them around his neck. At the next moment, her body fell back towards the familiar soft sheet again. As they stumbled on one another, the plate placed on the bed was knocked over to the side, the pieces of fruit spilling careles carelessly sly over the bed. Riftan continued to lick all traces of the sweet juice staining her skin as his thick chest chest compress compressed ed her smooth mounds. Their sweat-laced skin had long tangled with the damp bed sheets. Hello! A note to our dear readers : since we have been preoccupied with wit h RL and it’s been been quite quite a chore chore to keep keep reader readerss consta constantl ntly y waiting wait ing and giving giving reas reasons ons for late latenes nesss  we will have a new new sched sc hedule ule for eve every ry nov novel el:  ins  inste tead ad of sp spec ecifi ific c da days ys we wi will ll be op opti ting ng posting post ing anytim anytime e around around the week of which which we will have a chap chapter ter counter after every chapter like the one o ne below: Update Schedule :   3x a week week  [ ✔ ]   [  [ ✔ ]   [  [   chapters have been updated for OAK.

 ]   –  it means 2/3

If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read these chapters in advance:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage www.asianovel.com

 

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Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 54 Source: wordexcerpt

 The sound of her moaning and his grunting filled the room. Their lips were interwoven interwoven as their bodies rolled about about in the bed in an intima int imate te dance. dance. To her, her, his bre breath ath smelle smelled d like like nectar nectar—as they shared their bodies, their breathing also mingled, one breathing the other’s exhalation. Max could feel someth something ing warm and overwhelming overwhelming slowly grow from the center of her heart. As he made eye contact with her, he demanded in a desperate whisper, “Say my name.”

“R-Riftan…” she breathed. “Again…” “R-Riftan…” “Again. Say it again…” She called his name until she lost her voice. At that moment, she felt as if she were existing to quench the heat within, to satisfy both his and her body’s demands …  In that desperateness, there was no space for lectures on the manners of a virtuous woman. She was clinging onto him like an animal, digging her nails on his skin as hard as they could. He slaughters slaughters her, and she rises back to the living. The cycle and his extreme need for her were driving Max insane.

“R-Riftan…”

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Max looked up at him through hooded eyes. Mystified, she called his name, as if she were in a dream, and his name was the only one existing in the world. * Unfortunately, the rain dwindled away late in the afternoon and wholly halted around dawn. Max opened her bleary eyes at the mild mornin mor ning g sun she hadn’t hadn’t seen for a long long time. time. She wante wanted d to lift lift herself up, but her limbs were too weak. As she faintly moaned at the dull pain, a hand stroked her naked back to soothe her.

“Go back to sleep.” She gaped at his face shading her from the bright morning sun. He had woken up far before her, alre already ady wearing crisp clothi clothing ng and armor. Her heart sank at the sight of this.

“Y-you’re l-leaving today …” “I’ll be leaving later later at noon. We have to get the weapons and food ready first.” He reached for her chin and kissed her swollen lips and then slipped his hands into a white iron glove.

“I’ll come back to see you before I leave, so don’t worry  and go back to sleep,” he said as he pulled another piece of armor up to his elbows and took his sword before leaving the room. Max stared sta red at the door from where where he had depar departed ted and bli blinke nked. d. An empty feeling swept through her heart, unconsciously. She final She finally ly stoo stood d up and and walk walked ed on her her trem trembl blin ing g le legs gs an and d as aske ked d the maids for a bath. Although he had told her to get more sleep, she found herself no longer requiring rest.

“Madam, your bath is here.”

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Rudis and and three other servants fetched a tub filled with warm water. wat er. She weakly weakly stepped stepped into the water with the hel help p of her servants.. Rudis quickly washed her hair and cleaned her body with a servants soft sponge, and even if she were extremely embarrassed, she didn’t have any ener energy gy left to clean herself. herself. Max kindly kindly took Rudi Rudis’s s’s help and sat still in the water.

“Will you excuse “Will excuse me for a moment, moment, madam? I’ll go and   prepare a dress dress with a high high neck.” A servant wiping off the moisture from her body after she stepped outt of th ou the e bath bath aske asked d her her ca care refu full lly. y. Max Max im imme medi diat atel ely y flu flush shed ed wh when en she noticed the blotchy red patches on her body.

“Y-yes, please.” When the servants left, Max cautiously stood in front of the mirror and spread open the towel around her body. Her collar bones had marks mar ks on the them, m, and her bre breast astss were were larger larger than usual…  also covered cove red in pink pink bloo blooms. ms. She touc touched hed her bre breasts asts with her shaky hands, finding Riftan’s touch was clearly different from hers. His touch felt as if he were a sculptor’s hand, and she was the clay being molded. She wondered wondered if the woman with littered with love marks on her skin and bright eyes in the mirror was wa s the same person to the woman she sh e was used to see seeing ing;  a pale and depresse depressed d girl with droopy shoulders shoulde rs and a hunched back. Max slowly slid her hands down her slende sle nderr waist, waist, her flat stomac stomach, h, and lastly lastly,, bet betwee ween n her thighs thighs.. Her skin felt warm to the touch, smooth and soft. It didn’t feel as if it were her own.

“Madam, your dress is here.” Max took her her han hand d off her body with with surpri surprise. se. Althoug Although h they they wer were e stil st illl behin behind d th the e door, door, wai waitin ting g for their their permi permissi ssion on to enter enter,, sh she e www.asianovel.com

 

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flushed as if she was caught red-handed. She stuttered in embarrassment.

“C-c-come in.”  The servants entered the room and proficiently dressed her. She wore a fancy dress with waves of green and gold with a golden belt looped around her waist. Then, she hurried out the door with her hair roughly tied with a ribbon, still wet.  Thro ugh the open windows  Through wind ows,, the fresh fres h sunshine suns hine gently gent ly kissed kiss ed her face. She breathed in the scent of the air still moist from the rain and hurr hu rrie ied d down down the the stai stairs rs.. He pr prom omis ised ed to co come me to fin find d he herr befo before re he left, but she was still anxious he had forgotten and had gone already.

“Good morning, madam.” She walked into a large hall where the servants were sweeping the floors with the windows open wide to let the fresh air in. Supervising them with a sharp eye, Rodrigo respectfully respectfully lowered his head when he spotted Max.

“Breakfast is ready. Would you like to have it in the dining hall?” “N-no, b-before that, I-I need to see R-Riftan, I mean L-lord  Calypse…” “Lord Calypse is in the field with the knights, ma’am.” She was about to leave through the door when she paused. What was she going to do? She wondered if she would only disturb him. As she was hesitating in front of the door, Rodrigo carefully opened his lips.

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Chapter 55 Source: wordexcerpt

“Uhm… madam, if you don’t mind me asking…”  Th e serv  The se rvan antt le lett out ou t a coup co uple le of dry dr y coug co ughs hs befo be fore re cont co ntin inui uing ng awkwardly.

“Would you please “Would please tell the lord that the meal is ready? I thought he should eat before he leaves leaves for the trip, so I’ve been preparing in the kitchen since early morning.” “I-I’ll t-tell him!” She replied in a loud, exhilarated voice. The old man’s face, which was full of anxiety for asking a possibl possibly y presumptuous question, question, now showed relief. He swiftly expressed his gratitude.

“Tha-thank you madam, so…uhm, I’ll leave it to you.” She was just glad to have an excuse to go to him and rushed out the door without a proper response. The dainty autumn breeze gently sweptt down on her drea swep dreary ry body. She took a moment to look up towards the sky, the pale autumn sun was gradually brightening the day and reflecting over the shiny puddles of water formed throughout throug hout the garden. With tiny skips and hops, she waded across the puddles and made it towards the stairs. As sh she e crosse crossed d the vast garde garden, n, she neared neared the in inner ner gate. Carefully holding up her skirt to avoid getting it wet, she nimbly went down eight steps of stairs. She passed a guard who bowed his head in haste at their madam’s unexpected arrival. She drew closer and closer to the doors to the hall. Surrounded by a high, thick outer wall and held by the sturdy pillar, this full hall www.asianovel.com

 

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presented a lofty image amidst the faint glimmer of the morning sun. And the knights donning silver armor lined up in an orderly fashion before the ever imposing Riftan, made for a breathtaking view. As she entered the hall, Max halted in her steps. Without a sound, she slowly took in her surroundi surroundings. ngs. He seemed to be talking about something serious, so Max felt it was not appropriate to approach him right now. She decided to wait for the opportune moment while the voices in the hall steadily rose.

“Leader, if you are worried about Anatol that much, I’ll  stay.” Gabel, a you Gabel, young ng kni knight ght who’d shown shown off his brillian brilliantt rhe rhetor toric ic at the dinner party, took a step forward and said, “You wouldn’t have to worry if just a single Remdragon Knight stays put, right?”

“That’s not possible. “That’s possible. Every single knight who participate participated  d  in the battle battle must must attend attend the celebr celebrati ation. on. Recogn Recogniti ition on for  service should be divided fairly among us all.” “I’m not interested in the titles or rewards from the king. My reputation reputation as a knight is good enough, and I’ve already  received more than enough praise. It’s better to stay in the castle and train with my sword than waste my time attending a boring celebration.” “Are you serious?” With his arms crossed across his chest, Hebaron shook his head in disbelief. He seemed to think his companion, Gabel, didn’t mean what he said and decided to call him out.

“It’s not like you’re a monk. If all the ladies in the Imperial  City piled up at your feet, are you going to refuse? With your  flamboyant flair for words, you could swoon around any lady  no matter how haughty!” www.asianovel.com

 

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“You sup “You super erfici ficial al man! Is that all you can think think of with with that  that  big head of yours?” “What did you say?!” Looking at Hebaron and Gabel glaring daggers at each other, Ruth, who was standing by Riftan’s side, let out a deep sigh.

“You two must be under a curse where if you don’t growl at  each other for a day, you will catch a deadly infection.” He clicked his tongue as if he was tired of all the arguing, and went on with his words.

“As Sir Calypse said, all the knights who participated in the battle batt le must go to the royal castle. Sir Ovaron, Sir Sebrick, Sebrick, and the guards guards are enough enough to protect protect Anatol. Anatol. Besides, Besides, I’m also thinking of staying back.” “What are you talking about? You have to go! You played a huge role in the battle.” “ I a m n ot ot s o om m eo e o ne n e w ho h o c ar a r es e s f or o r f am a m e o r h on on o orr . Furthermor Furth ermore, e, if I go, there there is bound to be friction friction with the  palace wizards. I’m basically being treated as a traitor by the wizards because I left the World Tower without permission.” permission.” As the wizard shrugged as if it were no big deal, the knights rolled their eyes. Riftan, who had been silent for a long time, decided to open his mouth.

“ … I will also feel relieved if you were to stay.” “I was planning on doing that from the beginning.”  Ruth shrugged as if it were no big deal. With that, Riftan took a step forward, pushing the hall into pin-drop silence. He ran an authoritative gaze along the line-up before him www.asianovel.com

 

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and spoke solemnly.

“Then it’s decided. decided. We leave leave as soon as we’re we’re ready. The route will be the same one I explained before.”  The knights clenched their fists on their chests and briskly put them hem down own. It se seem emed ed to be thei theirr ow own n way way of cou ourrtes tesy. Max, who had been hanging around around for a long time in the back, sneaked snea ked up on Riftan Riftan as the briefin briefing g drew to a close. He turn turned ed back and looked puzzled at her visit.

“I told you, you could could take a lit little tle more rest. rest. Is there a  problem?” “Oh, no… Well, I fe-felt like I had to get u-up, t-too.” She ignored the gazes of the knights as she was approaching him. Rifta Ri ftan n looked looked down down at her her wit with h worrie worried d eyes. eyes. Fee Feelin ling g her her heart heart tightening at his gaze, she continued shyly.

“They to-told m-me that the me-meals are re-ready, so… II’m here to te-tell you…” He looked up at the sky, measured the slope of the sun, and said to the knights.

“Let’s fill our stomachs first.”  The knights knigh ts quickly quick ly dispersed. dispe rsed. Riftan Rift an walk walked ed with an arm around aro und Max’s shoulders, holding it as if he were protecting her. Max peeked at his dashing figure under the bright sunlight. Dressed in silver armor atop a thick blue tunic, he was as resplendent as if he had just walked out of a temple mural. She could feel why the commoners would look at him and shout, ‘The wise man of Uigru!’ … the legendary knight who ascended to the heavens. www.asianovel.com

 

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Chapter 56 Source: wordexcerpt

“ … Are you feeling any better?” At the abrupt question, she looked down in a hurry, trying to mask her earlier thoughts.

“I-I’m all right.” “You were in pain the last time we did it.” Her face flushed carmine, feeling as if it was on fire.

“T-truly, I-I’m fine…” “I wish you would say that when we’re in bed.” He grimaced and asked perversely, “So that if I ask you ‘Can I do it more?’ you would tell me ‘It’s fine’.” “Tha-that, that kind of talk …” She looked around in panic. Seeing Seeing that the knights were already far ahead, she looked at him with a timid look and stiffly continued.

“Tha-that “Tha-t hat kind kind of talk, talk, you you,, you can’t can’t talk talk about about those those things, if someone hears….” “So, what if they hear?”  They may find fault with them for being lewd and unprincipled–the sordid sord id almost rose from her throat. So she kept her mouth mouth tightly tightly shut like a honey-fed mute. Over the past few days, only their erotic night ni ghtss finding finding their their way to mor mornin nings gs fill filled ed her memori memories. es. Whe When n she couldn’t speak and started tearing up, Riftan, who was looking down at her with an impassive face, suddenly burst into laughter. www.asianovel.com

 

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“My innocent, naive lady!”  Then he hugged her h er by her waist w aist a and nd gently gentl y interlocked inte rlocked their lips. Max slightly shuddered at the cold touch of hard armor she felt over her clothes. Her pulse beat erratically against her chest that she could almost hear it in her ears.

“Don’t make it too hard to stay apart from you.” Max looked up at him with trembling trembling eyes. She wanted to ask if it was truly difficult to be separated from her. The words, “Can I come with you?”  soar  soared ed from her heart to the tip of her tong tongue, ue, but couldn’t make past her lips. She might have hung from his neck and begged, had it not been for the fear that his sweet moment would be ruined, and he would be irked. She suppressed the first reckless emot em otio ions ns she she had had ever ever felt felt an and d trie tried d to soun sound d calm calm..

“We, we n-need t-to go… we have a meal, we have to…” “We should.” He put her down as if his excitement waned as her words brought him to reality. Max restrained her urge to stick to his side, and calmly walked on. *** After the meal, all the knight knightss mounted their chargers. chargers. Max came out to the courtyard courtyard with a train of servants servants to see him off. Elegantly Elegantly balanced atop of a giant black steed, Riftan slowly turned his head and looked down at her.

“I’ll be back soon.” “Be, be careful … come back soon.” He some somehow how managed to understa understand nd her small murmurin murmuring g and slight sli ghtly ly smiled smiled.. He leaned leaned down almost almost to the poin pointt of fal fallin ling g off his www.asianovel.com

 

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horse and clasped her face. She couldn’t rejec rejectt him even though all the servants were watching. She tiptoed and reciprocated his kiss. Their lips that had been just slightly overlapping were now clasped together wholly. The man, who w as a s g en e n ttll y p us us h hii ng n g h is is t o on ng gu ue do ow wn he err m ou o u th t h , a br br u up p tl tl y straightened straighten ed up and calmly led the horse to the front as if nothing nothing had happened. The knights, mouths wide open and awe-filled faces, followed with a sigh. Max saw them off with a bright red face. As the knights passed the gate and in a long straight line crossed the moat, the guards on the wall blew their copels with full might.  The sound of the the dull noise in intermingled termingled with the trotting hooves. hooves. For a long time, time, Max stood rooted to the spot, even after their figures had long disappeared from her sight. *** After he left, she fell sick for two whole days. The accumulated After accumulated fatigue from the myriad of happenings the past few days inundated. It had hit her body as if an embankment had collapsed. She was suffe She sufferi ring ng from from a seve severe re cold cold,, so th the e ma maid idss boil boiled ed he herb rbal al soups and tried to cool her fever down with some wet towels.  Th anks  Than ks to thei th eirr ca care refu full tend te ndin ing, g, she was wa s ab able le to op open en her he r eyes ey es feeling better than the previous day. She asked Rudis to prepare a bath,, thinkin bath thinking g she would feel much better better after after she’ she’d d wash washed ed her sweat-soaked body.

“Is it real “Is really ly oka okay y if I do don’t n’t call the he heale aler? r?” ”  Rudis, who brought a hot bathtub with the maids, said. As she took took off her paj pajama amas, s, Max sho shook ok her head in neg negati ation on and pushed herself into the bathtub. “Now, now I am… f-feeling better.” www.asianovel.com

 

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“I don’t know if the medicinal medicinal herbs from the wizard are enough. It’s not too late to call a therapist …”  Ruth continued continued worriedly, trying to dissuade her. “I’m, I’m “I’m, I’m really really fine. It-It’ It-It’s s just just a bad cold.” cold.”  She deliberately smiled.  Tho ugh she had not fully  Though ful ly recove rec overed red,, the fever fev er had, had , for fortun tunat ately ely,, come down. If she ate well today and didn’t move around too much, she would regain her stren strength gth and perhaps perhaps would feel a tad better tomorrow. She came out into the garden with a thick shawl and in a dress newl ne wly y made ma de by the the seam seamst stre ress ss.. Temp Te mper eratu ature ress ha had d dr drop oppe ped d noti no tice ceab ably ly in ju just st th the e past past fe few w days days..

“After the fall rains pass, they say the temperature drops like lik e this,” this,”  Rud  Rudis is ex expl plain ained ed,, sm smil ilin ing g ge gent ntly ly at th the e wom woman an sh she e accompanied, who was astonished by the cold wind. “I thin th ink, k, so soon on – I t h hii nk nk w in in tte e r i s c omi o min n g s oon o on … ”   M a x mumbled. “The winter winter in Anatol Anatol is not that cold compared compared to other  regions. It rarely snows even in the middle of winter, maybe because becaus e we are close to the South Sea. Even when it snows, it stops at the point of sleet.” Max was a little disappointed. She had never seen snow piled up as her father’s estate was located in the warm southeast region. She heard that it snowed so much in the capital city of Drakium that they could blanket the whole world and still have snow left over… Will it start snowing by the time he arrives there? Ahhh Riftan finally departed which means more Maxi … will be posting more chapters this week.   screen time for our www.asianovel.com

 

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Chapter 57 Source: wordexcerpt

“You’ve only just recovered, recovered, so don’t stay outdoors for too long.” “I-it’ll just be a short walk.”   She smiled at Rudis Rudis and walked away.  The quiet quie t and calm maid, who rarely r arely talked unless necessary, one day slowly began to fuss over her like a sister would. All she did was say a word or two out of concern without crossin crossing g the line, but that was enough to warm Max’s heart. Is this really… my house… home? Her eyes glazed around castle Calypse, the notion bringing to mind her life back in castle Croix. She had spent her whole life there, yet she sh e had not nothi hing ng sh she e was emoti emotiona onall about. about. No people people,, pla place ce or anythi any thing ng for that matter, matter, that could could rem remotel otely y mak make e her miss the place. A cold castle that had once sheltered her for so long but she couldn’t bring herself to call ‘home’ –  for it never felt like one. She hoped that she just might be able to fill her life with new thing hingss compl omplet etel ely y diff iffer eren entt from from that that of her her pa passt. Sh She e hop ope ed sh she e would grow fond of this castle and its people, and hoped she would find love here and make this place her home. The pitiful, smidgen of  hope that had erupted within made her heart tighten. Is it really possible? Leaving Croix didn’t mean she had become a completely different person per son.. She was still still that that stu stutte tterer rer they they had lab labell elled ed dumb dumb and inconsequ incon sequential ential.. Someday Someday he’d also realize realize that I’m usel useless. ess. Then everything might change. She felt her blood chill with the thoughts of  www.asianovel.com

 

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losing losi ng his his amor amorou ous, s, affec affecti tion onat ate e touc touch h or burn burnin ing g gaze gaze.. Wh What at if he suddenly turns into my father and…?!

“Madam? I think you are still sick ….” She must have looked anxious as Rudis gave her a look. Max shook her head, as if the action action was enough enough to dismis dismisss the negative negative thoughts plaguing her. “I’m oh-okay. I would li-like a war-warm cup of t-tea.”

“I’ll prepare one right away.” Max took this moment moment to gather gather herself. herself. She had a dec decisi ision on to make. If she wanted her fears to never see the light of the day, she had to trudge trudge far across the gre great at unkn unknown, own, beyond the haunting haunting pastt of the halls pas halls of cas castle tle Croix, Croix, the reproac reproached hed Max Maximi imilia lian n and unfamilia unfami liarr future future.. A resolv resolve, e, a patien patient, t, but rather steel steely y one was burning inside her heart. I can ca n ch chan ange ge.. I mu must st star st artt ac acti ting ng li like ke a la lady dy.. I’l I’lll beco become me a dependable landlady for him.  *** By the next day, Max had fully recovered. Although Although she was yet to regain her full strength, she felt enervated.  This day, she had a visitor –Merchant Aderon. Had it been the usual timid Max, she would have avoided the meeting, but today she had an intent to fulfill. Without hesitation, Without hesitation, she met with the merchant and discus discussed sed the plans for the Great Hall. She carefully listened to his explanations without with out interru interruptin pting, g, bef before ore launchin launching g int into o a few que questio stions ns of her own. After much consideration, she decided to lay faintly jade-toned, white marbles on the theexquis banquet in Before the Great have all windows windows furnishe furnfloor ished dofinto exquisite ite hall glass. he Hall tookand his leave, the merchant assured he would bring in workers from the guild www.asianovel.com

 

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and commence the work the very next day. With that settled, With settled, she made a bee beelin line e for the lib library rary with the transaction statement she’d just received from Aderon. She skimmed throug thr ough h severa several, l, heavy heavy tomes, tomes, and worked on record recording ing it in the acco ac coun untt book bookss as ho how w Rodr Rodrig igo o did did it it.. By the the time time sh she e had had finis finishe hed d writing the items with her clumsy, almost non-descript, handwriting, the sun had sunk low into the horizon.  Thi s hectic  This hec tic and busy bus y sch schedu edule le contin con tinued ued for day dayss as the there re were wer e many man y plac places es in need of rep repair air and there seemed seemed to be no end to things she had to purchase. Each day she met with Aderon early in the morning to be guided on areas that needed fixture and flair. After buying more auxiliary landscaping, she would check to see if the workers were working properly. In the afternoon, she met with the landscaper Aderon had arranged to garnish the dreary garden, and then the engineers engineers to confer on the patterns to be engraved on the railings and window frames. Her day exhauste exhausted d by a flur flurry ry of wor work, k, Max would then wrestle wrestle late late int into o the night with a mishmash mishmash of item statemen statements. ts. Her anxiet anxiety y piled up with the lack of guidance and uncertainty for her endeavors. A worried Rudis would cajole her, “Madam, you look very tired. You should take some rest ….”

“I-I’m all right,” she would say immediately. Max chec checked ked the banqu banquet et hal halll where where th the e cr crew ew was duti dutifu fully lly remo re movi ving ng the the ston stone e plat plates es an and d then then went went stra straig ight ht down down to th the e first first floorr to rein in items floo items coming coming in from the upper upper branc branch. h. As if on cue, cue, Aderon and his workers pulled in a large carriage into the castle. The servants of the castle unloaded the luggages inside the carriage and carefully carried it into the castle.

“They’re some marb “They’re marble le plates plates and tools required required for the  process.” www.asianovel.com

 

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“Wh-what about the wi-windows…?” “The upper branch in Anatol doesn’t have that much glass. We have to order it from the capital or from Libadon Libadon to get  decentt quality glass. For now, I’ll send a telegram decen telegram to see if  we can purchase in bulk quantities of glass from a nearby  branch.” She almost replied with her thanks at the words that seemed like they were out of kindness.  The n, Max took  Then, too k him to the living liv ing room, roo m, swallo swa llowin wing g a sig sigh h on her own. She was acting like a deep-rooted servile person as the zealous merchant merc hant began to explain explain the time and cost of the refurnish refurnishings ings before the maid could even bring him a cup of tea. Max tried to be attentive to every detail, grasping every inch of  what he was saying without missin missing g anything. However, as soon as Aderon Ade ron began to use a mixture mixture of unfa unfamili miliar ar cur currenc rency y name names, s, her head became became more and more of a convo convolute luted d mess mess.. She sweated sweated hard as she tried to catch up with all the calculations. One Soldem is 20 Lilams, Lilams, 20 Lilams Lilams equals 240 Derh Derhams, ams, 240 Derh Derhams ams equal 12 Denars, and 30 Denars equal….

“Oh my, I was too excited just now. Please forgive me!”  The merchant mer chant ceased c eased h his is rambles ram bles just when she felt her he r head was about to explode. She flashed him a narrow smile.

“N-No, it’s all right.” “I guess I can’t help but feel enthused enthused at the thought of  contributing contrib uting to the redecoration redecoration of the great Lord Calypse’s Calypse’s castle.” …

“Th-thank you, For think-thinking like that  .”

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Chapter 58 Source: wordexcerpt

Aderon rose from his seat with an awkward face, leaving behind Aderon behind the parchment paper with several explanations written down. As soon as he left, Max bolted for the library in haste. It took her several hours just to record the cost of the marbles and the wages for the workers. worke rs. She heaved heaved a weary sigh at her pathetic accomplish accomplishment ment when she suddenly heard something behind her back. She looked back in surprise and was greeted by the sight of a man looming from behind in the far corner of the library, enclosed in a pile of books.

“Ru-Ruth…”  The man looked look ed back at her with his sullen eyes while scratchin scra tching g his light gray hair. Max didn’t know how to react, so she replied with a blank stare in turn. He was now sittin sitting g on top of the precious precious ledgers. How long has he been lying there?

“Why are you so noisy these days?”  The wizard wiza rd suddenly sudde nly frowned frow ned and complain comp lained, ed, seemi seemingly ngly feeling feeli ng no embarra embarrass ssmen mentt enco encoun unter terin ing g th the e lad lady y of the estate estate whil while e sleeping on the library floor. Max stuttered back, bewildered by his imposing manner.

“Ca-Castle–I’m re-redecorating the castle….” “The castle “The castle is the castle, castle, but what I’m asking asking about is madam Calypse’s business.” “M-me…?” “Who else? You’ve been whining in the library for the last  few days. Did you know you have been greatly disturbing disturbing my  www.asianovel.com

 

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sleep?” Her mouth hung agape, ashamed over the fact that someone had been watching her piteous acts of groaning, sighing and tearing at her hair. She instantly felt furious with him for not telling her his pres pr esen ence ce ha had d been been near nearby by in he herr ti time mess of an angu guis ish h…  and stup stupefied efied that she was being reproached instead of getting an apology. She didn’t know which of the three emotions she should react to. While she stood there astonished and unable to respon respond, d, the man rose from his makeshift comfort and went right before her.

“Are you… a bookkeeper?” bookkeeper?” She hurriedly snatched up the sheets of paper on her desk, bleakly hiding them from his sight. However, the man just ignored her effort to conceal the papers and nimbly picked them up from her evasive hands to scrutinize the incorrigible handwriting. The next moment, the wizard’s eyebrows quivered.

“ … just how many miscalculations do you even have?” “Gi-Give it …!” He turned around to keep the paper away from her outstretched outstretched arm and kept looking over the contents in sheer horror. He blurted out a low groan.

“Why is one marble plate plate twenty twenty Liam? I’m sure you just  wrote wr ote the wrong units, units, right? right? Please Please tell me you merely  merely  mixed up units.” “Ju-just right now… I-I was in the m-middle of fixing it …!” Max desperately desperately explained herself herself to Ruth, who was on the verge of foaming at the mouth in anger. He, who was glaring at her with squinted squin ted eyes, instantly went for the books she was hiding behind her back. www.asianovel.com

 

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She was flabbergasted at his straightforward behavior. A gentleman gentlem an should never touch a lady’s things without permission, or so she had always been told. The act of forceful forcefully ly snatching away a lady la dy’s ’s belo belong ngin ings gs wi with thou outt perm permis issi sion on was so some meth thin ing g on only ly a ruffia ruffian n woul wo uld d do. do. Max pulled on the hem of her dress with a red face. “Gi-give it  back! Ho-how, back! Ho-how, how could you, dd-do, dd-do, do something something so, so, rude…!”

“ … Just how much have you spent in the last few days?” She flinched flinched and careful carefully ly looked up at him. The wizard’s face was horr ho rrib ibly ly dist di stor orte ted d an and d he herr hear heartt sa sank nk at th the e si sigh ghtt of it. it. Wa Wass something wrong?  Ruth clenched his teeth and slowly gathered the strength to ask.

“How much?” “We-well, that’s….” Cold sweat Cold sweat trickled trickled down her body as she tried tried to thi think nk of an answer.

“Ri-Riftan… said not to worry about money.” “But you should at least know how much you spent, no?”  The reproach made her face burn with discomfiture. She shrank away and couldn’t look straight, akin to when her private tutor had admonished her for her pronunciations.

“I-I-I don’t know the exact, exact number..” “Do you know the approximate amount?” As soon soon as she slowly slowly sh shook ook her head, head, the wizar wizard d rubbe rubbed d his temples violently, attempting to regulate his annoyance. For a www.asianovel.com

 

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moment, she wondered why she was being scolded by him, but then the fear of having done something terribly wrong gnawed at her. So, Max confessed after a long hesitation.

“A-a-actually … I-I-I’m not familiar w-with this kind of work, so….” “If you aren’t familiar you should at least ask for help!” His words uttered in frustration were too right that she couldn’t say a word in response. Max trembled in horror, feeling like the biggest fool in the world.

“Is-is it really that … wro-wro-wrong?” “ Fi F i rs r s t o f a ll l l , t he h e l ed ed g ge e r i s a m es e s s. s . S om o m e i te te m ms s a re re ridicu ridi culo lous usly ly chea cheap, p, some some ridi ridicu culo lous usly ly expe expens nsiv ive e…  the c a lc l c u la l a t io i o n s d o n’ n ’ t m a tc t c h a t a l l . A l s o , t h e s e i t em em  purchases–there are too many unnecessary purchases! While it it’s ’s tr true ue that that Lord Lord Calyp Calypse se made made a ri ridi dicu culou lous s amoun amountt of  money from the battle against the dragon, you can’t just  spend it without thought! There are numerous knights and  guards in Anatol and we are responsible for their upkeep. Most importantly, we are planning on building a big road that  will connect the port to the village next year. To add, winter  is our tax revenues will take a hit. We have to tryapproaching and cut backsoon any kind of possible waste!” Max shrank her neck in like a turtle at the relent relentless less onslaught onslaught of  censure.

“I-I didn’t, know…  I-I didn’t hear anything about that. Hehe just said to do whatever I want.” Ruth let out a deep sigh after he heard her mumblings. As if he had lost all his energy, he drooped his shoulders and continued.

“I’m not saying redecorating the castle itself is wrong. It’s www.asianovel.com

 

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true we have become like a military factory that doesn’t care about anything but defense. But it’s too much. If you keep spending money like this, it will be just a couple years before Lord Calypse has to go rob another Dragon Lair.” “Th-that …” Max reel Max reeled ed back back ab abou outt to coll collap apse se and and gr grip ippe ped d the the chai chairr fir firml mly. y. She was trying to give the castle a massi massive ve facelift to make Riftan glad… after all, it was the responsibility responsibility of the mistress of the house to keep things beautiful beautiful too. She felt all the blood in her body leave as she she th thoug ought ht of how her husb husband and might might go ber berser serk k for for her her misguided actions actions like the man in front of her. Max looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“If-if you te-teach me what I did wrong, I-I will fix it ….” Update Schedule: 4x a week [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ] [   [   expect these chapters for this week! 3

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If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read these chapters in advance:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage www.asianovel.com

 

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Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 59 Source: wordexcerpt

In the quiet study, the air stood still. Except for the ruffling of  pages, there there was nary a sound. There were only two people in the study, yet it was more suffocating than a crowded room full of  clamour. As he flicked through the pages of the ledger, every now and then, Ruth pressed the middle of his forehead with his forefinger as if  trying to pin down his emotions. As he went through line after line, word after word, his thoughts dared not reflect on his face. Nearb Ne arby, y, a sul sulle len n Max stood stil still, l, lik like e a ch child ild who had been reprim repr iman ande ded d for for wr wron ongd gdoi oing ngs. s. Her Her ga gaze ze wa wass fixed fixed on the the ledg ledger er as well as if it held authoritarian power over her future. Every time a page pag e turned turned,, her heart heart pau paused sed.. Eve Every ry flee fleetin ting g sec second ond,, she’d she’d ste steal al a glimpse of the vacant visage before her, trying to gauge the other’s mood. She could, could, however however,, glean glean not nothin hing g and could only go back to feeling more sullen. After what felt like forever, his wordless audit had finally drawn to a close. The party in charge of the rising tension in the room, let out a deep sigh and roughly rubbed his face out of habit. Then, he turned to the only other person in the room, and without preamble, looked her straight in the eyes.

“I don’t know what to talk about first,” he said impassively. Max, who was by now a bundle of nerves, felt like crawling into a hole. She had little courage to face what was to come.

“Are you sure you have all the purchase purchase bills in here?” His www.asianovel.com

 

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face did not betray his thoughts even now.

“Y-yes! The b-bundle of p-papers there…” He narrow narrowed ed his eye eyess at the pile of par parchm chment ent paper she was referring to, then closed the ledger with a smack that reverberated in the silent room. Max quivered ever so slightly.

“We can start start tomorr tomorrow ow as it’s it’s quite quite late late alread already.” y.”  H  He e solemnly suggested. “Yo-you ca-can t-tell me no-now…” She had been on the edge for far too long, the sooner she was done with the better it would be. If she had to go through this for a minute longer, she was afraid of an imminent nervous breakdown. However… “This “Th is ledger ledger isn’t somethi something ng that we can fix in a couple couple of  days.” Max immediately pursed her lips, silenced by the sharp words. What did she have to say? Ultimately, Ultimately, all she could do was quietly nod, burning in silent shame.

 “You’re early!”  The next nex t mornin mor ning g saw Max rushin rus hing g to the lib librar rary y as soon soo n as she woke wok e up. She didn’t didn’t want want to delay even a moment moment more than necessary to set right the ledger. Her entire night had been spent in  jitters, the bags bags under the eyes eyes serving as proof. When he saw the dainty figure scurrying into the room, Ruth greeted gree ted her with a lazy, unimpress unimpressive ive yawn. He was sleepin sleeping g in a corner, dressed in his usual, tattered apparel from before. It seemed like it took him great effort to straighten himself up, and the look he shot her all along was of someone someone who had been dist disturbe urbed d in the midst of something very important. www.asianovel.com

 

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Max narrowed narrowed her eyes, clearly clearly aware of what the gaze on her meant. She had snuck out of her room shortly after sunrise. Before leaving, she’d wiped her face with a wet towel, not wanting to bump into any servants looking unkempt. By the time she made it here, she was panting panting and a thin layer layer of swea sweatt had made its way on her flushed face. And was this man, living free and easy, silently silently accu accusing sing her of  invad in vading ing his pri privac vacy y while while she she had spent spent the night night on pins pins and needles? If anyone knew that he was the one Max feared, they would scoff it off calling it absurd.

“Let’s look at the purchase records first. We should cancel  any unnecessary orders before it’s too late.” Withoutt wasting a moment, Withou moment, he pulled pulled out a chair from the desk, made himself comfortable, and got straight to the point. Surprised by the sudden change in demeanor, Max tucked her uncombed, messy hair behind her ear in a bid to hide her unease and quietly took the seat opposite him. She attempted to break the terse silence. “The me-merchant wiwi-will be co-coming th-this af-af-afternoon. I can can-cancel  a-any orders to-today.”

“Very well.” He simply answered. He deftly organized the parchment parchment papers by date and started to go through each of them in detail. As he looked through the records records,, she gripped onto her skirt nervously and waited with bated breath, not daring to utter a peep lest he is irked. “Firstly,”  he final finallly sai said, “2 “20 0 lira lirams ms for for a marb marble le ti tile le…  you wrote it down incorrectly. A marble tile 1 cubet by 1 cubet for  20 derham derhams s is not a rid ridicu iculou lously sly expen expensiv sive e pr price ice.. No, it’s it’s actually quite cheap.”

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 Just when Max sighed in relief, re lief, she d discovered iscovered she had h ad celebrated c elebrated too soon. Ruth tapped the desk with his fingers and continued continued in the same detached tone.

“But I’m not certai “But certain n if sw switc itchin hing g the floors of both both the hall  and banquet room into marble tiles is necessary. It’s not long since they’v since they’ve e bee been n changed changed into stone stone tiles,” tiles,”  he said said and sighed. “I reckon there’s nothing we can do since construction has already begun. Nevertheless, Lord Calypse deserves this kind of luxury so it should be fine.” “B-but they ha-haven’t sta-started wi-with the ha-hall so wwe can can-cancel …” “That would be great, thank you.”  He replied dryly and went onto the other sections. “Everything else looks fine. Stair handrails, balcony  banisters, windowsill, curtains and carpets, wall decorations, furniture, chandeliers and statues, fount … fountains?!” His flat voice voice screec screeched hed when he reach reached ed the end of the list list.. Max flinch flin ched ed like like som someon eone e had slapp slapped ed her on the back. back. He whi whippe pped d his head around and glared at her with narrow eyes, tacitly demanding an explanation. Unable to dare to look straight at him, she looked away and started spurting excuses. “The me-merchant sa-said it’ll lo-look goo-good in th-the ga-garden…”

“Do you know how much money goes into maintaini maintaining ng a fountain? Drawing water is a huge construction in itself! And  what’s more, it’s made of marbles and crystals? This bastard  is trying to rip you off!” At his angry cry, Max dropped her head. It looked like she’d shrank in size. No matt matter er how pitiful pitiful she appe appeared ared,, his causti caustic c rema remarks rks www.asianovel.com

 

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didn’t meet their end.

“And where did the idea of changing every single window in the castle with high-quality glass come from? This is a kind  of luxury luxury the emperor emperor during during the Roem Dynasty Dynasty woul would’v d’ve e had! Do you know how expensive glass is?” “Cro-croix Castle has gla-glass win-windows…” “That’s because it’s owned by the Croix family! Madam, y ou o u r f at a t he h e r i s o ne n e o f t he h e r ic ic h he e st s t p eo e o pl p l e i n a llll S ev e v en en Kingdoms!”  He couldn’t believe she was comparing such polar opposites! opposi tes! If Lord Calypse Calypse was rich, then the Duke of Croix’s wealth could only be described as exorbitant. Even the commoners commoners were aware of this fact, how could his own daughter be oblivious?!

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Chapter 60 Source: wordexcerpt

Ruth thumped his chest with frustration. He was trying in vain to quell his agitation, knowing knowing well he was speaking to the lady of the house. hou se. But his emotio emotions ns cou couldn ldn’t ’t be pacifie pacified d wit with h her prepos preposter terous ous plans. Even so, he explained as calmly as he could.

“ Gl G l as a s s i s n ot o t p rra a ct c t iic ca all a t a ll l l . I ns n s ul u l at a t ion i on of g la la s ss s is extr ex trem emel ely y poor poor that that it will will be no diffe differe rent nt to livi living ng with with the the windows window s open. Moreover, Moreover, knights often train in the backyard  and it will will be only a matt matter er of time when when such such expens expensive ive windows shatter to pieces from swinging swords. Another  thing, it scratches thing, scratches easily so it’ll it’ll be challenging challenging to manage manage them. Servants will be spending most of their time polishing them and soon, you’ll be short-handed.” When he pick When pi cked ed the the po poin ints ts Max Ma x ha had d ne neve verr thou though ghtt of of,, she she quietene quie tened d even furth further. er. He looked looked throu through gh to the very last bill and only then did his face softened a little. It was unknown if it was the realization of his brusqueness up until now or the mere content of the bill, even so, the ensuing words had a hint of softness.

“Fortunately, not everything has been ordered. Why don’t  we agree to change the windows of the main hall, banquet  room, ro om, and some some of the the gues guestt room rooms s into into glas glass, s, and and the the remaining rooms can either be converted to balt glass or  have double covering for insulation? It’ll be very useful in the winterr if you add an outer door and have them partially winte partially ajar  to let fresh air in. That will be enough to show off your wealth to the guests without burning a hole in your pocket.” He pu pull lled ed ou outt a new new piec piece e of parc parchm hmen entt pa pape perr and and dr drew ew a bluepri blu eprint nt of the castle castle as he explained. explained. Max blan blankly kly looked at the www.asianovel.com

 

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drawing and nodded.

“A-all r-right. I-I’ll t-tell him th-that.” “The crystal fountain is not worth anything.” He to toss ssed ed the th e pa parc rchm hmen entt pape pa perr in his his othe ot herr hand ha nd over ov er hi hiss shoulders and dipped the quill into the inkwell as he set a new piece of paper in front of her.

“Let’s get rid of the garish ones and one by one note down those absolutely necessary,” he said, seemingly taking the reins in his hand. A nonplu nonplusse ssed d Max simply simply stared stared at the quill in horror. horror. She was expecting him to rewrite the ledger for her, but here he was just enlis en listi ting ng thin things gs and and ha hand nding ing over over th the e vit vital al aspec aspectt to he her. r. She She certainly didn’t want a rerun of the rebuking session!

“W-what if I-I make a mi-mistake “W-what mi-mistake ag-again ag-again…”  She tried to hint that he must draft it. “You’ll be taking care of this in the future. I’ll guide you in the right directi direction, on, so don’ don’tt worry.” worry.”  He had made his sta stand nd crystal clear. She looked down at the ledger, feeling lost. Her head was as blank as the paper in front of her. Panickin Panicking, g, Max sift sifted ed through the bills and searched searched for something something to write write.. She tried to calm hersel herselff and looked look ed for the oldest oldest pur purchas chase e record record and wrote down the items items purchased and the details with it. She followed it with the number of  people hired, their wages and contract period, and then …  things began to get complicated with only her meager knowledge in work. Max scrunched numbers, scribbling scribbling down numbers as sweat laced her temples. much each worth? How should calc ca lcul ulat ate? e? She ShHow e turn turned ed bemu bewas muse sed d by currency the the seco second nd. . He Herr finge fin gers rs tigh tightl tly yI clenched the quill as if to squeeze out the answers. www.asianovel.com

 

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Upon notic Upon oticin ing g ho how w flust fluste ered red a mer ere e led ledge gerr had had mad ade e her, er, Ru Ruth th furrowed his brows. He seemed to have an inclination as to what was going on in her mind, but he still opene opened d his mouth in order not to assume.

“Just to be sure, you do know the currency c urrency units, right?” “I-I k-know them!” She anxiously anxiously deni denied, ed, horror creeping creeping within at the possibi possibility lity of  herr secret he secret being being dis discov covere ered. d. How Howeve ever, r, the wizard wizard loo looked ked at her narrowly narrow ly with suspicion. suspicion. Under the intense scrutiny scrutiny she was being subjected to, Max held her breath and managed to add…

“I-I’m just … I ne-never u-used mo-money before, I…” Without another beat, Ruth launched a question. “How much is 60 lirams in soldems?”

“I-I, um, fo-four?” She folded folded and straight straightene ened d all of her ten fingers fingers and blurte blurted d out an answer she fervently fervently hoped was right. But at his resulting resulting glare, she quickly took her answer back.

“Thr-three!” “ Ho H o w m uc u c h s ol o l de d e ms m s d o y ou ou g e ett f ro r o m 2 4 d en en a arr s i n soldems?” “I-I…” “What about 10 lirams in derhams?” Almost Almo st in te tear ars, s, Max’ Max’ss face face flush flushed ed wi with th sham shame e and and hu humi mili liat atio ion. n.  Yet the shar sharp p pair of eyes were still intently inten tly stari staring ng at her, unfazed unfaz ed by her crumbling emotions. It’ss all over! It’ over! He must have have figu figured red out I’m a hal halfwi fwit. t. He’ He’ss going going to www.asianovel.com

 

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think that I’m a stutterer, a mere idiot. Will he tell Riftan? She dropped her head in trepidation, any lower and it would have touche tou ched d the floor. Aft After er a sil silenc ence e tha thatt see seemed med to stretc stretch h on foreve forever, r, she heard a weary sigh.

“Even Princess Agnes wasn’t this ignorant of the world! How sheltered did you grow up?” Unable to give any excuse, she bit her lip. Her mortification was for everyone to see. Ruth was silent for a long moment and exhaled loudly lou dly as he went throug through h the inne innerr poc pocket ket of his robe robe,, fishing fishing out a small pouch.

“Listen closely,”  he said as he picked two silver silver coins. One was thick and wide as his middle finger, and the other was thin and wide…  two-thirds of a pinky. Ruth tapped on the large coin bearing the insignia of a bird with its wings spread.

“This is a liram. It’s a silver coin the Roem Empire created  created  and spread all across the continent. It is worth twelve twelve times this smaller coin, the derham,”  he said pointing at the smaller smaller coin. “Derhams are from Rakasim in the Southern continent. “Derhams continent. It  has been used widely since the trade with this continent has grown gr own these few yea years rs ago. ago. It’s It’s small small but carries carries a high high credit.” She looked at the small silver he’s placed on his palm, concealing her fascination fascination.. It was her first time seein seeing g a coin this close close.. Ruth let her observe for a bit and continued explaining.

“Lirams are exactly twelve times heavier than derhams. That’s why twelve derhams are exchanged for one liram.” He then pulled out two gold coins. One was big as a liram and the other as a derham. www.asianovel.com

 

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“This big one is a soldem, created by the Roem Empire, just like li liram rams. s. Thi Thiss sm small all one one is a denar denar,, also also fr from om Rakasi Rakasim. m. Lik Likewi ewise se,, soldems are twelve times heavier than denars.

“Wh-why does th-the So-southern co-continent make ssuch s-small coins?” “Business in the Southern continent is far more developed  than tha n where where we are. are. If a coi coin n is too large, large, trade trade betwee between n individuals cannot be possible.”  He answered as if her questi question on was bothersome. She couldn’t fully understand understand him, but Max didn’t ask more questions. Ruth put the coins down and continued talking more about money. “Gold coins are worth 20 times more than silver “Gold silver coins. A single soldem soldem is exchanged exchanged for 20 lirams and a single denar  is exchanged for 20 derhams.” Weekly Releases:  [   [ ✔ ]  [   [ ✔ ]  [   [ ✔ ]  [   [ ✔ ]  [   [   chapters for this week! 3

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If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read these chapters in advance:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister

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Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 61 Source: wordexcerpt

“Th-then this small go-gold coin…  How much is o-one de“Th-then denar worth in li-lirams?” Max asked about the part she was most confused about. “It doesn’t come to an exact number. Five lirams are worth three denars.”  Ruth answered as he pushed the gold coins from the South and the large silver coin from Roem forward. She quickly wrote his words down on the paper. Five lirams equal three denars. denars. Watching her, Ruth sighed softly. “I assume you are confused when using lirams and denars together. Soldems are a large unit hence infrequently together. infrequently used  ; the same goes goes with with derha derhams ms becau because se they they are too small. small. Silver Sil ver lirams lirams from Roem and golden denar from Rakasim Rakasim serve as the regular medium of exchange between nobles and merchants. For that reason, it’s a real pain as they’re not  conver con verted ted as easily easily as we would like like.. It’ It’s s not like we can crush the coins into smaller pieces…  In the end, we convert  all of them into derhams and it becomes easier after that.” Max nodded gloomily.

“I-I didn’t k-know t-there were…  s-so ma-many different kikinds of mo-money …” “This is nothing. “This nothing. There are coins from Balto in the North and Suikan in the East. The purity of the silver and its weight  are the same as soldem soldem and lirams, lirams, so they’r they’re e not used  separately like the denar and derhams… but it will be useful  to keep in mind the different shapes at least.” Ruth rummaged through the pouch and frowned. www.asianovel.com

 

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“I don’t have any gold coins from Balto and Suikan. Suikan. I’ll try  to get them later.” Max was only terrified at the names of more coins and regions. It was only going to confuse her more if he brought them to her.

“D-do I ne-ne “D-do ne-need ed to kn-kno kn-know w them them if the si-size si-sizes s are sisimila sim ilarr to so-sold so-soldems ems and li-lir li-lirams ams? ? I’ll I’ll ju-j ju-just ust need need to chcheck the si-size…” “Recen “Rec entl tly, y, ther there e is a grow growin ing g numb number er of feud fe udal al lord lords s  producing their coins to show off their wealth and power. But  most of them are mixed with lead and copper, so you must  filter them out. On the other hand, the coins from Balto and  Suikan have high purity, so it’ll be extremely useful to know how to distinguish them. Soon, there will be merchants from the North and East coming into Anatol.” “O-okay …” “The coins “The coins with with high high credi creditt are solde soldem, m, liram, liram, denar, denar, derham and copper segals used by the commoners and dants used by a few prominent people… That should be enough for  you to know.” “Ho-how m-much “Ho-how m-much is da-dan da-dants ts worth?” worth?”  Max asked, asked, having having never heard of it before. “Dants are the most valuable “Dants valuable coins in this world. world. It was manufa man ufactu cture red d during during the wealth wealthie iest st perio periods ds of the Roem Roem Dynasty. It’s made of Orihalcon and is the size of a palm, and  only 600 exist in the whole continent. I believe Lord Calypse has 160 of them.” Ruth replied with a flat voice. Max was surprised that he owned 160 of those precious coins. He then switched switched to a bragging bragging tone as if they were his. “They  were found in the den of the devils devils in the Osiria Canyon, six  www.asianovel.com

 

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years ago. At that time, Lord Calypse frantically hunted after  evil ev il spir spirit its s and an d coll co llec ecte ted d th thei eirr trea tr easu sure res s as if he was was  poss  po sses esse sed d by some so meth thin ing. g. Dant Da nts s were we re one on e of the th e prec pr ecio ious us things he collected. collected. Initially, he found 200 of them but used  40 dants for building a rampart, rampart, getting maintenance maintenance work  done on the castle and installing a road in the village.” “Y-you can d-do all that wi-with o-only fo-forty fo- forty co-coins?” “He used twice as much as the estimated cost. He paid the workers work ers several several times times more to speed speed up the construction construction  process.” Ruth explicitl explicitly y put on a dis displea pleased sed look on his face. This wizard wizard seemed to be strict about money.

“Y-you must have kn-know Ri-Riftan fo-for a lo-long time.” “I’ve known Lord Calypse since he was a soldier. soldier. That was about twelve years ago.” Her curiosity soared when she heard this. He would’ve been fifteen then. Was he a soldier since? She’d heard that he was eighteen when he became a knight. Normally, it took three years of training and a year of serving as a chamberlain to officially receive a sword to beco be come me a knig knight ht..

“Now, now. Let’s stop the small talk and continue with the ledger. er. We shoul hould d fini finish this this before fore the the mer merchan chantt arr arrive ives, shouldn’t shoul dn’t we?” Max swallowed her questions and returned to the ledger at his reminder.

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Chapter 62 Source: wordexcerpt

Upon hearin Upon hearing g that that Max wante wanted d to cancel cancel most of the orde orders, rs, Aderon Adero n wore a worried look and tried to persuade her with his glib tongue. She almost fell for it but remembering Ruth’s glare and how he treated her like an extravagant woman, Max was able to keep her opinion. Realizing Realizing there was nothing he could do, Aderon sighed and handed over a new written statement. Max tried to estimate how much the price Aderon wrote was worth in her head. Imagining the gold and silver coins Ruth showed her in a pile… she was able to grasp that the price she was paying was never a small amount of money. She devoutly signed the paper and left the room. When she told him that things When things have gone well, Ruth relaxed his brows a little.

“Can you show me the statement?” She handed it over.

“Well, this man isn’t completely unscrupulous,”  the wizard finally said after reading the paper top to bottom. “H-he ca-can t-try to fo-force you in-into bu-buyin bu-buying g but he i-isn’t a ba-bad person…” “No one is bad in front of their sacrificial victim.”  He spat a cold comment which contrasted his rather gentle mien and pulled out a chair in front of him to sit down. Max also sat acros acrosss him and rolled her eyes. She had known this before, but this man was extremely ill-tempered and liked to make www.asianovel.com

 

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blistering remarks, unlike his soft and kind looking face. His crooked way of seeing things was somewhat similar to Riftan, apart from his talkative and nosey side.

“I’ll take a look at it. Try writing it in the ledger.” “O-okay …” She didn’t didn’t pos pose e a questi question on on how he’d nat natura urally lly become become her supervisor and merely toed the line.

“Here, the calculation is wrong again.” “Oh, I-I’m so-sorry.” He looked at her numbers and tapped the corner of the parchment paper again, massaging the middle of his brows. She hurriedly corrected her mistake. He then pointed at the section below.

“Here, the unit is wrong.” “I-I’m s-“

“And it will help to have your statements written in detail. Thatt way, Tha way, you can avoid avoid any confusi confusion on when when you tally the accounts in the future.” “O-okay …” “Here, you have misspelt. This will be a document left for  generations, so please restrain from scribbling the words.”  The tutor tuto r her fathe fatherr had assigned assig ned hadn’t hadn’ t been this strict. stric t. Neithe Neitherr was he patient. The result was what it was now. She wrote the letters clearly, fearing that he was going to point them out again. After she wass done wa do ne,, Ruth Ruth chec ch ecke ked d th the e le ledg dger er as if goin go ing g th thro roug ugh h her he r homework.

“This is good enough,”  he said said arroga arrogantl ntly y as he closed closed the www.asianovel.com

 

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ledger. His face looked easy and lax.

“With this, every problem has been solved. Now, I would  a pp p p rre ec cii at at e i t i f y o ou u s to t o p c om o m in i n g t o t he h e l ib i b ra r a rry y a nd nd   inter int errup ruptin ting g my sle sleep ep.” .” Max rolled her eyes. Was he thinking of continuing to sleep here? Riftan clearly said this man was using the tower in the backyard… No, it was not something for her to interfere. After thinking for a while, she slowly opened her lips.

“W-we de-decided to la-landscape the ga-garden next spspring…” “ ….” Ruth horr Ruth horren endo dous usly ly cont contor orte ted d his his f a ace ce.. Ma Max x pu pull lled ed out out the the shamelessness shamelessn ess she didn’t know she had and pleaded. The hours she spent spe nt trying trying to work out things things she had never done before alone flashed before her eyes. She didn’t want to go back pulling her hair, unabl un able e to make make out heads heads or tails tails.. Since Since she had alr alread eady y be been en embarrassed, she thought there won’t be any more harm asking for more help.

“A-and the mai-maintenance in the annex …” “ …… ……” Ruth grabbed his head with regret.

 Afterr that Afte that day, day, Ru Ruth th offici official ally ly be beca came me Max’ Max’ss help helper er in orga organi nizi zing ng the ledger. When she quietly approached him sleeping on the floor of  the library, he woke up mumbli mumbling ng how he regretted regretted helping her in the first place, but thoroughly went through the book, nevertheless. www.asianovel.com

 

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Furthermore, he advised her on purchases for the castle. It was more of a nag than advice, but they were valuable words. Since then, Max started to ask for advice on even little things.

“I think the servants will be thrown off if you order them to  pulll out  pul ou t the th e tree tre e next nex t to the th e gazebo gaz ebo,” ,”  Ruth said after quietl quietly y listening listenin g to her plan on redecorating the garden. She tilted her head to the side.

“I-It’s dead a-and do-doesn’t sprout le-leaves an-anymore.” “People of Anatol believe that spirits lie in trees. For that reason, people here do not uproot trees simply because they’re dead and regard logging as sacred work. The servants will be shocked at your order to remove the tree just because it looks bad.

“Bu-but …”  Max was befuddle befuddled. d. She had never know known n of such a custom back in Croix. “I-if we te-tel “I-if te-telll them i-it i-it will b-be b-be used for fi-fire fi-fire,, then wowould i-it be ac-ac-acceptable? I-I mean, i-it’s hi-hideous…” “They might accept it.” He frowned and stroked his chin. “But I’m worried that the tree by the gazebo is an oak.” “Wha-what about oa-oaks?” “Peopl “Peo ple e here here deep deeply ly beli believ eve e in the the lege legend nd abou aboutt the the first  first  knight who rode a dragon and flew into the sky. The hill  where Uigru hopped onto the dragon is the hill right there.” week we are going to learn about the legend of the oak tree finally finally :)) Weekly Releases: [   [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ]  If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its www.asianovel.com

 

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Novelupdatess page. Also join our discord Novelupdate discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read these chapters in advance:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 65 Source: wordexcerpt

 The sudd sudden en voice voi ce pull pulled ed Max out fro from m her unplea unp leasan santt tho though ughts. ts. She turned back and saw two boys dressed head to toe in black tuni tu nics cs look lookin ing g at her her cu curi riou ousl sly. y. At thei theirr gaze gaze,, sh she e in inst stan antl tly y straightened herself up, realizing that they were apprentices she had seen several times with Riftan before. The two boys politely bowed their heads as a greeting, hands on their chests in reverence as one would expect from a knight-in-training.

“We’re sorry to have “We’re have taken taken you by surpr surprise ise.. We were were worried about the Madam being alone, so we had to come and talk to you,” the boy explained, looking apologetic. “I-it’s okay. Tha-thank you for … worrying about me, I…” Her eyes Her yes wan wander ere ed to th the e side, ide, her to ton ngue gue in ine expl xplic icab ably ly fin find ding ing difficu ifficult lty y with with word wordss to add address ress th the e youn oung boy oyss be befo forre her. er. A bo boy y with stunning silver hair was quick to notice this, and he introduced himself in haste.

“We apologize for the late introduction. I’m Yurixion Lobar. We are knights in training waiting for our knighthood next  year.”  Th e tall  The ta ller er boy bo y next ne xt to hi him m al also so op open ened ed hi hiss mout mo uth h to say, sa y, “I’m Garow Livacon. I’m going to be knighted on the same day as my friend here,” he gestured to the silver-haired boy. Max fu Max fumb mble led d wi with th he herr hand hands, s, “I “I,, I am Max, Max, Maxi Maximi mili lian an… Calypse,”  her introduction coming out in an embarrassing stutter. Desp De spit ite e havi ha ving ng as al alre read know known n her he r iden identi tity ty,, Yu Yuri rixi xion on flash flashed ed he herr an amicable smile, ifady toyreassure her. www.asianovel.com

 

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“You must have been been taking taking a walk alone,” alone,”  he continued after the exchange of names had come to close. “N, no… . I, I wa “N, was s tourin touring g the in-inn in-inner er facili facilitie ties, s,” ”  she answered answ ered with some hesitancy, hesitancy, fearing fearing the latt latter er would reprima reprimand nd her/  The boy’s face turned turned grave after hearing hearing her answer.

“It is dangerous for the Madam to travel alone even if it’s  jus  ju s t i n side si de t h e c a stl st l e.Th e. The e re h a s bee be e n f requ re quen entt o u t s ide id e visitors these days and if somehow a mishap occurs–” “Mi-mishap…?”  S  She he aske asked d ba back ck in shoc shock, k, fin findi ding ng th the e si situ tuat atio ion n quite quit e nerve-wrac nerve-wracking. king. Sensing their Madam’s apprehension, the boy hurriedly added in panic, “I wasn’t trying to scare you. I was just worried for the Madam of the estate…” then he added in an afterthought, “Ah! If  you don’t mind, may we accompany you, Madam?” Max hurriedly declined with a fervent shake of her head, “N, No. II can’t just take your, pre-precious time…”

“Please don’t say something like that! It is an honor for a knight kni ght to serve serve the Madam. Madam. We, we may not have been officially knighted …  ye  yett we woul would d ri risk sk our our live lives s only only to save save you from any danger,” the boy heatedly expressed. At the the st star artl tlin ing g am amou ount nt of ferv fervor or in his his words words,, Max took an unconscious step back. Seeing their madam recoil, the boy next to him stabbed him in the ribs as a warning.

“Yuri, Stop exaggerating your words!” “Exaggerating?! “Exaggerati ng?! I am deadly serious, I truly would …” Perhap Per hapss realiz realizing ing his bra brashn shness ess,, the boy quickl quickly y clamme clammed d his www.asianovel.com

 

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mouth shut with some embarrassment. The next time he faced Max, he was a tad calmer.

“Anyways, you can’t go around alone. I can call a guard if  it’ t’s s speci pecific fical ally ly my servic rvice e you you find find not not to your our likin iking, g,” ”  he gently gen tly said. said. As much as Max appreciated their efforts, she found it to be over the top to be guarded inside the castle’s safe premises. “It-it’s just  in-inside the castle… to-to go that far ….”

“Madam, there is no guarante “Madam, guarantee e that the castle is safe! safe! If  anything happened to you, Madam, I would be too ashamed  to face Lord Calypse on his return.”  The boy’s boy ’s face turned turn ed shades shad es of blue with his rapt rap t repl reply y with the idea of their beloved leader scorning them. As soon as Max was greeted gree ted with the sight of the young boy’s crumb crumbing ing face as if the world was ending, she immediately felt sweat ooze from her pores.

“ We We -w -w el e l l i f, f, i f i t w o orr ri ri es e s y ou ou t h ha a -t - t ha h a t muc mu c h …  then,  please…” she finally acquiesced. Given her consent, the boy’s face instantly lit up. She felt an onset of dizziness at the quick change of expression.

“Where should I escort you to, madam?” Resigned to her two new companions, she quietly said, “ …I-I was on my way to-to the blacksmith….”

“What a coinci “What coincide dence nce!! We were also on our way to the blacksmith. I’ll accompany you there.” With that, Yurixion took the lead with energetic steps, a more placid Garow following after him with a shrug of his shoulders. It was only after a moment’s hesitation that Max began to trail after them, feeling very awkward. The boy’s passionate attitude was something www.asianovel.com

 

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refreshing refreshin g to Max, and was a contrast contrast against the callo callous, us, taciturn countenan coun tenance ce of her husband, husband, Ruth’ Ruth’ss bluntness, bluntness, and the rest of the knight’s indifference to her.

‘He’s probably 16… maybe around 17 years old?’ “Do you have any special business business with the blacksmith?” blacksmith?”  The boy prompted her away from her thoug thoughts. hts. “My-my business is… when winter comes… merchants said, the-the the -they y woul would d come less often often so…I-I’ I-I’m m checking checking if they  they  need a-anything.”  Th e boy’  The bo y’ss ey eyes es br brig ight hten ened ed,, “I see! see! I was on my way to the blacksmith because I broke my sword while sparring,”  h  he e cheerfully pointed to the pointed blade hanging on his waist.

“It’s a bit “It’s bit embarr embarrass assing ing,, but this is the second second tim time e it  b r ok o k e t hi h i s m on o n th t h a llo on ne e . I b re re a ak k i t s o o ft f t en e n t ha h a t t he he blacksmith starts nagging as soon as he sees me.” A sli slight ght smil smile e tugged tugged at the corner corner of her her lip lips. s. She She could could tel telll  Yurixion was embarrassed embarrassed by the faint tin tinge ge of red on his cheeks, cheeks, and while his outpouring friendliness friendliness was quite overwhelming, overwhelming, Max could see he was a kind and easygoing person.

“I don’t know when I can reach the tip of Lord Calypse’s feett with fee with my labors. labors. No, rather rather,, if I could could amount amount to the furthe fur thest st tip ti p of th the e Lord’ Lord’s s fe feet et,, it would would alrea already dy be an immense relief.”  The boy beside him h im who had remained rem ained silent si lent throughout thr oughout suddenly quipped, “We would be conscripted to the Remdragon Knights next year. Isn’t your goal too low?”

“ Ga Ga ro r o w, w ,  He y ou o ureplied s ti ti ll l l with d on on ’mild t u nd nshake d er e r st sof t an ahis n d head. L or o r d“It’s C al a lalready  yp yp s se e ’s ’s greatness.” a ’t a tremendous tremendous achieveme achievement nt to reach just the tip of the tip of  www.asianovel.com

 

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the tip of his feet. Forget even reaching the tip of the tip of  his feet!” “Oh, really.”  The latter latte r replied r eplied with a resigned r esigned tone and slightl slightly y fed f ed u up p llook ook on his face. Meanwhile, Max felt enthused enthused at the boy’s blind reverence reverence for Riftan and she couldn’t help but join their conversation.

“Ri-riftan… Is-Is he that outstanding of a kn-knight?”

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Chapter 66 Source: wordexcerpt

“Madam, he not just outstanding!” The boy looked back at her as if she were describing Riftan with the most austere terms. He then launchess to a tirade of Riftan’s outstanding achievements launche achievements that led to his reputation, “Lord “Lor d Calyp Calypse se is the grea greate test st knig knight ht in the the conti contine nent. nt. There’ The re’s s a rea reason son why he is called called the wise man of Uigru! Uigru!  Across the continent, there are only five knights that are reve re vere red d as Ross Rossem em Uigr Uigru! u! Two Two out out of the the five five knig knight hts s were were bested by Sir Calypse. It was only six years ago that he beat  Libadon’s top knight, Sejour Aren, but he also beat the holy  Libadon’s s w o r d o f O s i ri r i a , K u a hl h l L eo e o n a t t he h e W e s t er e r n U n io io n swordsmanship swordsm anship competition!” competition !” Max only smiled smiled vaguely vaguely in return return.. She had hea heard rd abou aboutt the commander comman der of the Paladin Division many times, a man commended for his excellent swordsmanship—yet, it never dawned on her that her husband could far surpass a man considered to be an elite knight in the continent.

“ I d ec e c iid d ed ed t o b e a k n nii gh g h t a ft f t er e r s ee e e i ng n g S ir i r C al a l yp yp s se e  performance  perfor mance during that sword competition compet ition.. I have admired  admire d  him ever since,” the boy finally ended his impassioned speech with his devotion to Riftan. “I, I see….” Max replied at a loss for words. This, in turn, prompted a stern look on the boy’s cheery face.

“Madam,”  he so somb mber erly ly star starte ted, d, “Y “You ou have have no idea idea how how incredible Lord Calpyse is, do you?” www.asianovel.com

 

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She hurriedly countered with her little knowledge on Riftan, “I, I know…. a-about the d-dragon….”

“Even if he did “Even did not parti particip cipate ate in the expedi expeditio tion, n, Sir  Sir  Calyps Cal ypse e is still still a great great knight knight.. Have Have you never seen him swing a sword before?” “I, I have!”  She interjected immediately, feeling quite defensive. “I saw him fi-fighting a mo-monster ….” Her words trailed trailed to a quiet quiet whisper. whisper. She was not sure if her disclosure of the fiasco on their travel had counted as seeing. It was the first time time Riftan had wielded his blade in ffront ront of her, yet she had passed out, unable to see the spectacle. And on the second time it happened, the fight was over before she even knew it. But Max couldn’t coul dn’t stomach the boys finding finding out her lack of familiarity familiarity with her husband’s feats.  Therefore, she began to spin an ex exaggerated aggerated tale…

“I-I also know,”  she started, straightening up her spine, and her nervo ne rvousn usness ess,, as she recounte recounted d a pro proflig fligate ate ver versio sion n of the fight. “I-I saw Riftan cu-cut a gi-giant a-as bi-big as this fo-fort in hahalf! The-there The-there was a to-total to-total of te-ten te-ten gi-giants, gi-giants, bu-but he de-defeated de-defeate d them a-all i-in the b-blink of an e-eye.” She was describing the event shamelessly, even though, in reality, she could not rem rememb ember er how many of the fearsome fearsome beasts had appeared. She presumed, at the very least, there would have been ten. Her bluff proved successful, as the boy looked at her with rene re newe wed d enth enthus usia iasm sm on his his na ï ve ve face face..

“For real? Ten giant ogres…!? What a story! Can you tell us more?” Max flinched at his enthusiasm. The boy’s incredible excitement for the story caught Max off guar guard. d. However, at this poin point, t, she could could not www.asianovel.com

 

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tell him the mortifying mortifying truth that she could not remember remember becaus because e she had fainted. She quickly remembered a tale she heard from a minstrel and made up an outrageous story, her stutters increasingly increasingly becoming evident with the deepening lie.

“Whi “W hi-w -whi hile le we we-w we-wer ere e on a ca-c ca -car arri riag age, e, we-w we-we e sususuddenly he-heard a loud s-screech! suddenly s-screech! I-it was s-so lo-loud thathat I thought th-the s-sky wa-was te-tearing a-apart. M-my  entire bo-body froze be-because I wa-was s-so scared  ;  I-I dididn’tt even re-realize didn’ re-realize th-that Ri-riftan Ri-riftan to-took out hi-his swsword. And b-by the ti-time I no-noticed, Ri-riftan had already  go-gone o-out t-to fi-fight.” “Sir Calypse’s Calypse’s sword swordsmans smanship hip is the fastest in the world! His enemies always end up with their head decapitated and  their bodies bodies split in half bleeding bleeding all over the ground before they even notice him taking out his sword!”  The boy yel yelled led with wit h delight del ight.. Althou Alt hough gh she fou found nd it discon dis concer certing ting how the boys enjoyed hearing such a morbid tale, she continued on regardless.

“O-outside, th-there we-were ten gi-giants as bi-big as a fofort …! A-all the knights d-drew their s-swords! s-swords! Ri-riftan wewent ahead of th-them and s-swang hi-his s-swor s-sword d at the bibiggest gi-giant! Th-then the gi-giant …” Max looked up, trying to recal recalll what the boy said had said earlier.  Trying to intertwine intertwine some semblanc semblance e of reality in he herr story.

“Th-the gi-giant’s he-head was decapitated, and its totorso cut in half a-and b-blood sprouted li-like a fo-fountain! Th-then it d-dropped to the g-ground.” “Sir Calypse’s Calypse’s sword had even split through the dragon’s dragon’s breath!” He nodded, convince convinced, d, “Hmph! An ogre is only a piece of cake for him!” www.asianovel.com

 

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Max evoked exhilaration exhilaration on the boys with her tale. Despite her bothersom both ersome e stutteri stuttering, ng, the boys showed no sign of annoyance annoyance at patiently waited, eyes sparkling, as she went on with the story. Their reactionss that of pure astonishment served to fuel Max further, her reaction tale increasing increasingly ly becoming becoming animated animated as she started to mimi mimic c the giant.

“A-ano “A-a noth ther er gi-g gi-gia iant nt sa-s sa-saw aw what what ha-h ha-hap appe pene ned d a-an a-and  d  shouted s-so loud th-that m-my e-ears popped a-and it sswang swan g a huge ba-bat with a sw-swoos sw-swoosh! h! Ri-riftan Ri-riftan ju-jumped  ju-jumped  up hi-h hi-hig igh h like like a fly flyin ing g swal swallo low w…  an  and d do-d do-dod odge ged d like like it wawawas ch-child’s play.” She smiled, quite liking her description of him as a sprightly ‘flying swallow.’

“T-the gi-giant was so du-dull that … it co-couldn’t keep up wi-with Ri-riftan’s mo-movement mo-movement and ke-kept slamming t-the g-ground with its ba-bat! Boom! Bam! So s-strong th-that it  fe-felt li-like the e-earth wa-was sh-shaking…!” She imitated imitated the giant giant slamm slamming ing the ground ground with its weapon of  destruction. The boys’ shoulders also shook as if they were dying to know kno w what happened happened next. next. Max, too, began began to fee feell unc uncontr ontroll ollably ably excited exci ted as it was the first time someone someone had been so engaged engaged in her story.

“Th-then! Ri-riftan “Th-then! Ri-riftan swang swang his s-sword. Th-there Th-there was a susudden f-flash and then I sa-saw th-the giant’s bi-big arm cucutt off li-l cu li-liike a sa-sa a-sau usag sage! Th-t Th-the hen n it d-dr -droppe opped d to th-t th-the he grou gr ound nd wi-w wi-wit ith h a lo loud ud th-t th-thu hud d and and bloo blood  d ….” She noticed noticed that whenever whenever somethin something g gory was ment mentione ioned, d, the twinkle in the boys’ eyes became even more dazzling. She raised her arms and yelled.

“B-blood “B-b lood rained li-like li-like a show shower! er! Every Every ti-time ti-time the giant  giant  www.asianovel.com

 

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sho-shook sho-shoo k its half cu-cut cu-cut a-arm, a-arm, black black b-blood b-blood poured dodown dow n ev-eve ev-everyw rywhere here like like he-h he-heav eavy y r, rain rain … ! I had had to bababathe for half a-a day just to wa-wash out the blood o-on me.” Max, who was swinging her arm, trying to mimic the giant with a decapitated limb, suddenly froze.

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Chapter 67 Source: wordexcerpt

As she turn turned ed her stiff head, she saw Ruth squatt squatting ing unde underr a tre tree e carefully scraping the moss between its roots. Soon after, he grabbed his sack and stood up.

“My clothes and armor are stained so black, I wonder if I should change the name to Knights of Hume (Black) Dragon instead of Rem (White) Dragon,” he said with a sour face. “Mr. Ruth!”  Yurixion, visibly glad to see him, ran towards him.

“What are you doing here?” “I am making reagents at Lady Calypse’s request, to revive the trees in the garden,” garden,” said he as he lifted up a sack. Fixing his gaze upon her, he continued. “It seems you were recounting the fierce battle you went through during your journey.” Max literally flushed from head to toe. She had been caught bluffing blu ffing,, red-ha red-hande nded, d, and out of all the peop people, le, by the very one who saw her vomit and pass out. All she wished was to turn into dust and disappear. However, the mood of her audience wasn’t affected at the slig slight htes est. t. Th The e bo boys ys sh shoo ook k wi with th exci excite teme ment nt,, no nott noti notici cing ng her her embarr emb arrass assmen mentt at all. all.

“Yes! She was telling us how Lord Calypse slayed ten giant  ogres in a blink of an eye.” “Ten giant ogres you say ….” www.asianovel.com

 

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As each word drawle drawled, d, Max’s heart pounded pounded tenfold with anxiety. She wondered if she should cut her losses and just get out of here on the pretext of having having somethin something g urgent urgent at hand hand.. Her eyes darted darted eyes around like a prey looking to escape. Like Ruth didn’t know what she was thinking! He cast her a sly smile and while sounding completely natural, he said, “You only got  that far? There was also a battle in the mountains.”

“A battle in the mountains?!” Yurixion exclaimed. “We were crossing the Anatorium Mountain when we ran into a pack of werewolve werewolves. s. How…  how many were there in total? Mrs. Calypse? My memory is a bit blurry off late…” “I- I also don’t ….” “Understandable, I mean there were so many that it was tough to count. The whole mountain was covered with their  dark da rk fur, fur, so it pr prob obabl ably y se seeme emed d like like someo someone ne had put a carpet over the mountain.” “There “Ther e were were tha thatt many many were werewol wolve ves s on the Anator Anatorium ium Mountain…?” Yurixion cried in astonishment. Max was sweating profusely, as she was unable to agree or deny what Ruth said. With a gentle smile, the wizard continued. continued. “How about you tell  them the story of what happe happened ned that day in detail Mrs. Calypse?”  The boys’ gazes, suffused with anticipation, flew towards her. Max’s face was red-hot, she didn’t have nerves thick enough to make up a story in front of someone who was actually actually there when it all happened. Perhaps her a helping hand. taking pity at her current state, Ruth extended www.asianovel.com

 

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“We can’t just take up our lady lady’s ’s time like that as she is very busy.” “Y-yeah… I-I’m a bi-bit busy..” She didn’t even blink before grabbing on to the helping hand. However, did she thin However, think k she’d be let off so easily? Ruth stopped stopped her again… “Oh, come to think of it, I have news for you, Mada Madam. m. I was so focused on your story that I almost forgot to tell you.

“Ne-news…?” She carefully looked back at him, suspicious, suspicious, wondering if this was anothe ano therr one of the wizard’s wizard’s pra pranks nks.. But when she noticed noticed him holding a small unfolded sheet of parchment for her to see, she relaxed just a tad.

“This is a tel “This telegr egram am that Lord Calypse Calypse sent to my tower  through the palace’s sorcery device. He said he is going to leave for Anatol as soon as the ceremony ends. It would take arou ar ound nd fifte fifteen en days days at most  most …. No, No, co cons nsid ider erin ing g the the knig knight hts’ s’ mobility, they should arrive in ten.” Upon the Upon the un unex expe pect cted ed news news,, Max Max in inst stan antl tly y fo forg rgot ot ab abou outt her her embarrassment and beamed. She skipped to him and promptly took a look at the parchment, parchment, saw the date of departure and a summary of the route. Ruth shook his head and let out a deep sigh as if he was helpless.

“Seems like he’s really just going to swing by and then return.” “Wha-what’s wro-wrong with tha-that?”

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“There’s “There’ s nothing nothing wrong wrong with it, but …  he might might as well  well  reclaim the king’s graces while he’s there, you know?” “Sir Ruth, I am sure Sir Calypse is worried about our town’s safety.. A colossal safety colossal amount of werewolves werewolves had appeared near  our land  ;  how could he not be worried?”  Yurixion passionately passionately defended Riftan. As the conver conversat sation ion str stream eamed ed in a direct direction ion she she dislik disliked, ed, Max became noticeably nervous and hastily wrapped up the conversation.

“An-anyways …  tha tha-than thanks ks for te-telli te-telling ng m-me. m-me. We-well We-well I sho-should sta-start he-heading to th- the sm-smithy, I hahave some bu-business the-there…” “Oh, I know very well that you are a busy lady, Madam.” Max walked away, leaving Ruth and his sarcastic tone behind. Her footsteps footst eps were so light that it surprised surprised herself. herself. She wanted to hum but held it back as she was aware of the boys following her.

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Chapter 68 Source: wordexcerpt

Having completed her rounds of the inner castle, Max returned to her room to sort out the items she had to order. Thus, the rest of the day was spent peacefully in the company of papers and food.  Th e next  The ne xt day, da y, ri righ ghtt at sunr su nris ise, e, sh she e ran ra n to the th e li libr brar ary y wi with th the th e pape pa pers rs,, hand handin ing g th them em over over Ruth Ruth to ma make ke su sure re th ther ere e we were re no probl pr oblems ems.. The wizar wizard, d, who was lying lying on a wornworn-out out carpet carpet and sleeping using books as a blanket, frowned at being disturbed. Even so, he quickly quickly straightened straightened himself himself and started checking checking the order sheet sans complaints. Reviewing the list from the top, he dipped a pen in ink and crossed out some spots.

“The butler has already prepared enough oil and candles. I’ I’m m sure su re we have ha ve si silv lver erwa ware re and an d dish di shes es stor st ored ed in the th e warehouse. Also, where on earth are you going to use all  these soaps and fragrance oils?” “I tho-thou tho-thought ght the kn-knig kn-knights hts enjoye enjoyed d ta-taki ta-taking ng bath anand sau-sauna so….” “What the… Do you really think those men would use such luxurious soaps and fragrances? They would all frown if they  even get near something with floral scent. It’s enough to just  order the amount you need.” Ruth relentlessly relentlessly crossed crossed out items from the list. Then, giving it a once over, he spoke as if he was doing her a favor.

“The rest seems about right.”

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“S-so sho-should I… ju-just order them no-now?” “Let’s just add in a few more items.” Max’s eyes opene Max’s opened d wid wide e as it was the first time time he had wan wanted ted to buy something. She curiously looked at what Ruth was writing down and saw a list of names. Max was taken aback as she thought he was planning on purchasing some slaves.

“Wha-what ex-exactly are you wr-writing do-down?” “Names of scholars. Please ask the servants to purchase writings under these names as it is.” Max looked at him blankly.

“ A-a A-arr e y -y - y ou ou t rry y in in g t -t - t o b uy uy s ome o mett h-t h -th h in i n g y ou o u p er er  personally wa-want right no-now? no- now? Mo-moreover, Mo- moreover, it-it’s it-it ’s an exexpensive expensiv e lu-luxury item li-like a boo-book ….” “Madam, knowledge is an incomparable asset.” He spoke with absolute seriousness and solemnity.

“These writings are not for meeting my desires. “These desires. They are what this library needs, what I’m trying to say is that anyone can come in and read them freely.” Max’ss jaw drop Max’ dropped ped at his brazen words. This wiza wizard rd absolu absolutel tely y hated it it when anyone, anyone, other other than himself, himself, was was in the library. library. He even hinted to her, the lady of the castle, that he was annoyed when she came to the library. Frankly speaking, occupying the castle tower was not enough enough for Ruth Ruth,, without without author authorizat ization ion he had also taken taken over the library. “I-I’ve never seen… an-anyone ex-except for y-you and me use the li-library be-before.”

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“There will be more people using it from now on.” He talk talked ed big. big. Max squinted squinted her eye eyes, s, doubtin doubting g his words words.. The knights knigh ts were busy training all day and rarely walked around except to dine at the Gre Great at Hal Hall, l, so wha whatt mor more e peopl people. e. Max was very annoyed by Ruth, who was extremely picky and nosy with items that she planned to buy but was so thick-skinned when it came to things that he wanted. Max snatched the pen from Ruth and crossed out his list. Ruth flipped out and took away the parchment from her hands.

“I am the wizard of this castle! Improving Improving my skills skills is not  only beneficial for me but Anatol, too!” “A-as ex-expected! Yo-you’re ju-just trying to order ththem the m be-becau be-because se y-yo y-you u nee-nee nee-need d them! them! A-and A-and these these boobooks…. Th-they’re not e-even wi-wizarding books!” “Ho-how did you know?” “Fo-for tw-twenty-two ye-years… I ba-basically lived in a lil ib ib ra r a ry r y l ik i k e y ou o u . I -I - I c an a n a t l e-l e -le e as as t r ee - r ec e c og o g ni n i ze z e p hi hi  philosophers  philosopher s like Ge-ge Ge-gerad rad and Ka-kazaham!” Ruth’s blue-grey orbs shook violently, he was agitated. There was clearly a mix of books that had nothing to do with magic. Max smiled knowingly.

“Ha-hand “Ha-han d it ov-over ov-over.. I he-hea he-heard rd the-the the-there re will will b-be b-be a roroad co-construction co-construction ne-next year! W-we ca-can’ ca-can’tt manage tto b- buy thi-this ma-many …” “Then…  th  then en are are you you fin fine e with with your your chil child d gr grow owin ing g up as a fool who knows no better than how to swing a sword?!”  He exclaimed urgently. Max, was stretching her boiling arms towater take the paper away, turned red as ifwho someone had poured on her head. It felt like steam was coming off the top of her head. www.asianovel.com

 

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“Ch-ch-child …  Wha-wha-wh  Wha-wha-what at are you…  wha-what are you say-saying!”  To the extremely agitated agitated Max, Ruth said n nonchalantly, onchalantly,

“What are you so embarr “What embarrass assed ed about? about? It is natura naturall for  coup co uple les s to have have child childre ren. n. Unle Unless ss Lord Lord Calyp Calypse se goes goes on another anot her expediti expedition, on, in the next year or two, the castle castle will   probably be be filled with tthe he cries of a child. child.” ” “Ch-ch-child, child ….” She was burning up so much the whole area around her eyes was scorching hot. She wrapped her hands around her face and after much effort cooled off. Her heart started thumping when she’d just thought thou ght of hugging hugging her baby with black hair hair.. Ruth grabb grabbed ed the squirming lady’s hand.

“D on’tt you want to rais “Don’ ra ise e your yo ur child child to be smart smar t and  intelligent?” “Th-the ch-child is-isn’t ev-even born yet ….” “It’s too late after he’s born! A child “It’s child feeds on wis wisdom dom to grow! We need to establish the environment in advance!” She di She didn dn’t ’t know know wh what at was late late,, but but th the e wiz wizar ard’s d’s mom momen entu tum m prevented her from making any counterargument. Ruth quickly wrote down a list of orders on the parchment while she was distracted.

“Okay, finished.” He handed her the parchmen parchmentt with a face full of satisfaction satisfaction after he had filled out nearly five lines. Max took it with a sullen look.

“I-i “I -iff we buy bu y so many ma ny book bo oks s and an d when wh en Ri-r Ri -rif ifta tan n gets ge ts angry ….”

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“Lord Calypse doesn’t care about paltry pennies like this.” Max gazed at him dumbfound dumbfounded. ed. Even though though she wasn’t wasn’t that world wor ldly, ly, she knew knew how expen expensiv sive e boo books ks wer were. e. If it wer weren’ en’tt so expensive, expen sive, why would her father father keep certai certain n books in the display display closett so nobody could touch them? Glass couldn’t close couldn’t even compare. compare. Not only did it take a lot of effort and time just to carefully write line by line on the expensive paper, but it also cost a lot to carefully sew it all together, not to mention covering it with leather and gilding it. On top of that, it was not easy to get books that weren’t heroic epic ep icss abou aboutt knig knight hts, s, su such ch as poem poemss or roma romant ntic ic no nove vels ls fille filled d wi with th minstrel mins trel songs songs,, as they were written written by a small numb number er of authors authors and even when you did somehow get it the seller could set a any ny price. She protested with a loud voice.

“You’re the one who said sa-save.” “Madam “Mad am,, you you know know what what is mor more e prec preciou ious s than than gold gold? ? Knowledge.”

  Tha nk you for bei  Thank being ng patien pat ient, t, here her e are 4 upd update atess for eve everyo ryone ne to binge! Weekly Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ] [   [ ✔ ][    ][    ] If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) www.asianovel.com

 

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Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 71 Source: wordexcerpt

Days went by and the construction had finally come to an end. Max a nd n d h er e r r ow ow o f s e err va va n ntt s t o oo ok a to ou u r a ro ro u un n d t he h e g rre ea att h a all ll,, transformed into an unrecognizably beautiful room. A gold-plated chandelier hung from the ceiling, shimmering shimmering with a subtle sub tle but impres impressive sive glow. glow. It lit up the former former room basked basked in a perpetual perpe tual darkness, darkness, and underneat underneath h it was a carpet embroid embroidered ered in red and gold gold thr thread eads. s. A lon long, g, soft soft drape drape was sprea spread d ove overr the staircase, which led to the large, fancy banquet hall. Max Ma x admi admire red d the ha halll in al alll dir directi ection ons. s. Th The e col old d st ston one e flo floor or was was replaced replac ed with with smo smooth oth mar marble ble tiles, tiles, and thr three ee gor gorgeo geous, us, silver silver chandelier chand elierss decorated decorated the arched ceiling ceiling of the room. On one wall hung a carpet embroidered with Uigru soaring to the sky on the back of a dragon, and wine-colored curtains covered the windows. On the podium were chairs dressed in silk and fur and a unicorn statue made from marble stood on the terrace outside the window.

“How do you like it, ma’am?” Aderon carefully asked to make sure the lady of the Calypse castle was please pleased. d. Max slowly slowly mov moved ed he herr he head ad up and down as sh she e touche tou ched d the clear, shiny glass window. window. The warm ray of sunlig sunlight ht poured through the glass and brightened up the area.

“I-it’s amazing.” Satisfaction spread on Aderon’s face and Max smiled along with his genuinely genui nely happy grin. Althoug Although h he might be a tout at times, he was nott a no tr icks kste ter, r, th that atprice was fo for as r su sure re.. He offer offered ed hard hi high gh-q -qua uali lity ty ma mate rial alss and at tric an adequate well as faithful, workers. Toteri show — her appreciation, Max invited Aderon for a feast at the castle. With www.asianovel.com

 

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his st his stoma omach ch full full of expen expensiv sive e wine wine and the ch chef’ ef’ss sp speci ecial al di dish, sh, roasted deer meat, Aderon left the castle for the final time as a satisfi sat isfied ed man. man.

“Oh, wow. I can’t recognize this place at all. Sir Calypse sure will be surprised when he returns.” Standing Standi ng by the the fro front nt doo door, r, watch watching ing th the e mer mercha chant nt’s ’s couch couch disappear in the distance, Max turned her head at the voice. It was Ruth,, scratchin Ruth scratching g his messy gray hair, coming down the stair stairs. s. Max asked with a hint of uncertainty.

“Wi-will he like it?” “Well, he did ask for a renovation, so there’s no doubt he will be happy at the sight.” His apathetic response did not help Max feel confident at all. She glared at the sloppy man, lazily yawning, and replied with frustration.

“Do-does it hu-hurt if you give a co-compliment?” “Ah, it’s beautiful beautiful.. It’s so spick and span I can’t seem to open ope n my eyes. My mind is complet completely ely blown away by the glittering spectacle,”  he soulle soullessl ssly y rec recite ited d as he stretc stretched hed his back. Max once again stared at him with disdain, disdain, but Ruth ignored ignored her walked towards the door. As he was about to leave, he remembered something and stopped to turn and looked at Max and her entourage of servants.

“Hmm…  is this the right time?”  he mumbled to himself himself and pulled out a small bottle, swirling with unknown liqud from his inner chest pocket. “The… potion to bring the tree back to life is ready. Do you want to test it now?” www.asianovel.com

 

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“A-already?”  Her eye eyess widened widened discreetl discreetly, y, awar aware e of the eyes eyes around them. “I sacrificed my sleep to get this ready,”  Ruth said although it was obvious he just woke up from a good long nap. Having seen him sl slee eepi ping ng on the the li libr brar ary y floor floor a coup couple le time times, s, Max Max want wanted ed to give give a snarky reply, but in the end, she couldn’t resist nodding. It was true that he had gone through extra lengths to help her with the ledger and make the potion… He turned his steps and walked out to the garden and stood by the li lifel feles esss oak tree next to the the gazeb gazebo. o. Max stood stood by hi him m as sh she e watched him uncork the bottle and pour the mysterious liquid over the roots of the tree.

“Oh, the mighty spirit spirit of nature. nature. Take this poor one into your arms and grant your breath of life!” he chanted. Max rolled her eyes at his loud voice. She herself was frequently treated with spells after being hit by her father often at a young age and was familiar enough with the procedures to know witchcraft can be used us ed with wi th si simp mple le comm comman ands ds.. Sh She e was su sure re his his elab elabor orat ate e monologue was for showing off.  Just  Ju st a s she sh e was wa s wond wo nder erin ing g wh why y Ruth Ru th wa wass exa ex a gg gger erat atin ing, g, Ma Max x glim glimpsed psed It atwas theto servants servant s behind behihe ndwas her,doing full of reali realized zedtree his intention. show them hisawe, best and to bring the back to life. Ruth opened his arms and looked up to the sky as if receiving vigor from the gods above, then brought his hands together by his heart and solemnly closed his eyes. Max bit her lips to swallow her laughter but soon was wide-eyed when she saw faint waves of light coming coming out from the outer line of his body.  The lig light ht began beg an to acc accumu umula late te aroun ar ound d him him,, and Max Ma x exc exclai laimed med with astonishment. Besides being the subject of witchcraft, she had www.asianovel.com

 

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never witnessed witnessed a spell in action upfront. The soft light oozing from his hands spun around his body once and slowly surrounded the tree and the ugly, dead oak gently took in the light, as if it were drinking it.

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Chapter 72 Source: wordexcerpt

Watching this charming Watching charming spect spectacle, acle, Max stealthily stealthily poked the light, shining shin ing with a warm glow. Then, the glob of light light soaked into her hands han ds lik like e honey. honey. Startled, Startled, Max pulled pulled her hands hands away and Rut Ruth h bulged his eyes at the sight.

“How odd,”  he said, lowering his hands by his side. After all the light had seeped into the tree, Ruth stroked the rough branches as if  to check something and turned to face Max. “Madam, it seems you have an affinity, although only a litt little le,, to mana mana.” .” “A-affinity to m-mana?” “It is the most basic talent required to practice magic.” Max stared in wonder. wonder. She had what it takes to beco become me a witch? witch? Lost in deep thought, she stared down at her own hands when Ruth shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s only the most basic skill. It’s just like having a bit of  agility which can help you become a swordsman. You can’t  become a witch or a wizard for only having that.” “ A h …  I-I see see … ”  Max dr droop ooped ed her her shou should lder erss at hi hiss words words,, unexpectedly dampened by his words waking her up to reality. Of  course, there was no way she had any special skills. Ruth smiled gently at her disappointed face. “Still, it’s a very  valuable skill. There are many surprising sides to you.” She Sh e co cock cked ed her her he head ad at hi him m quiz quizzi zica call lly, y, “Su-s “Su-surpr urprisin ising g siwww.asianovel.com

 

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sides?” “You can be surprisingly ful full of rage, you can bluff, you don’ on’t want want to los ose e, and you hav have an affin affinit ity y to mana mana…” Her face flushed at the unexpected descriptions. It didn’t feel like it was her at ll. Yet, the man continued his impression of her, despite the embarrassment that was present on her face.

“The first “The first time time I sa saw w you, you, I th thou ough ghtt you you we were re a quie quiett and  and  weak lady. But the more time we spend time together, the furt fu rthe herr I get ge t to lear le arn n abou ab outt the th e timi ti mid d mada ma dam m –  ful  fulll of  something new and interesting every time.” Seeing his straight face uttering her compliments, Maxx could only reply, “I-it doesn’t sound l-like a c-compliment.”

“But it is a compliment,” Ruth said with a cheeky face. But the man was ever as sardonic. Even complime compliments nts were given with a shrug and an impassive tone. Max pouted her lips and lightly kicked the dark roots of the tree sticking out of the soil.

“Anyways…  so i-is it a-alive?” she tried changi changing ng the subje subject, ct, feeling conscious of herself. “There’s no way of knowing.” “W-what do you m-mean?” What could he ever mean there was no way of knowing just after he casted the long and fancy mantra of a spell? When she looked at him through narrowed eyes, he nonchalantly shrugged.

“What I have done is inject nature’s mana into the tree. We can see see the result results s when when spring spring arrive arrives. s. If green green leaves leaves sprout, then it has recovered, sprout, recovered, but if not, then it’s probably  dead. I guess you can pluck it out then if it’s the latter.” www.asianovel.com

 

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She looked up to the bare, dense branches and nodded. Garden landscaping was scheduled in spring anyways. Her eyes then glanced around the garden, picturing the intricate plan she had already made with the gardener beforehand. Max made up her mind to remove the tree if it didn’t didn’t sprout young leaves leaves in spring and replace it with colorful flowers and young saplings.

 Completin Comple ting g its renovat renovation ion,, the Calyps Calypse e castle castle was now gettin getting g ready for winter. The servants placed thick boards around the well to preven pre ventt the wat water er fro from m freezi freezing, ng, repair repaired ed the hor horse se shed, shed, and rest re stoc ocke ked d th the e st stor orag age e wi with th ampl ample e am amou ount nt of fora forage ge and and fir firew ewoo ood. d. Everyo Eve ryone ne was worki working ng har hard d to do their their share share for the upcomi upcoming ng freezing months.  The maids maid s were busy as well. well . They crouc crouched hed in the laund laundry ry room and an d was washed hed clo lotthes hes with with th the eir red red and and swol wollen len fing finger erss, dil iliigent gently ly swept the floor, and spurned threads of fabric to practical clothes in the weaving room. They had no time to spare as they had to get the winter clothes ready for the guards before the weather got too chilly. Rudis, losing his patience at the amount of tasks being delegated, carefully suggested to Max. “Madam, I’m afraid we simply lack  the workforce and time to prepare everything everything for winter. How

about we buy the fabric from a merchant?” Max willingly accepted the idea as she had also seen enough of her maids overworking.

“H-how many do w-we need?” “We have prepared prepared half of what we need. If we can order  the other half …” Max scanned scanned a pile of fabric folded folded neatly in the corner of the weaving room. She could already hear the nosy wizard lecturing her www.asianovel.com

 

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for placing a care careless less order. Her fingers fingers carefull carefully y brush brushed ed across the parchm par chmen entt as she she wro wrote te th the e amo amount unt they they nee neede ded d and clo close sely ly examined the amount of fabric prepared by the maids.

“I-is this e-enough?” “Yes,, that “Yes that wi will ll be perf perfect ect,, Mada Madam.” m.”  Rud  Rudis is nodd nodded, ed, the then n continued conti nued to list everything everything else that needed attention. attention. “We also need some leather leather straps and thread to hold the clothes in shape. Oh, and more needles for …” “ Ma M a da d a m, m , I ’m ’m s o orr ry r y t o i nt n t er e r ru r u pt p t , b ut u t w e n ee e e d y ou ou imme im medi diat atel ely. y. Th Ther ere e ha has s been been an inci incide dent nt.” .” Apologiess for the long wait. In accordan Apologie accordance ce with COVID-1 COVID-19, 9, I had been running around getting documents so I would be able to move places and I consumed most of my time for this errand.. However all is well now (minus the terrible internet connection) and will be back to posting chapters. Thank you readers! Weekly Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][    ][    ][    ][    ] If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister www.asianovel.com

 

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Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 73 Source: wordexcerpt

Max, whose head was bur buried ied in her piece of parc parchme hment nt paper, writing down the list of materials from Rudis, popped her head up and looked at the door. There stood Rodrigo, looking very worried and urgent.

“W-whats w-wrong?” “A man man clai claimi ming ng to be Rob Rob Mida Midaha has, s, lord lord of sout southe hern rn Libado Lib adon, n, has marche marched d to the villag village e entran entrance ce with with thirty  thirty  other oth er knight knights. s. But he doesn’ doesn’tt have have anythi anything ng to prove prove his identity, which has caused a problem.” “R-Rob …  Midahas?”  Max frown frowned ed at th the e un unfa fami mili liar ar nam name. e. Libadon was part of the allied countries of the west and happene happened d to be the country that Anatol exchanged most frequently out of others. However, Howe ver, that didn’t mean she knew all the name namess to the lords in Libadon. Libad on. Furthermore, Furthermore, there was no way Maximillian Maximillian,, who had been isolated from the noble since a young age, was able to identify a person only from a name. “W-what is the l-lord of Li-Libadon do-doing in A-anatol?” “He says he has made the long journey for a friendly meet  up.” “B-but w-we can’t just l-let them i-in…” “We cannot cannot allow allow an armed armed group of men to enter enter our  territory without a clear identity,”  Rod  Rodrig rigo o agreed agreed wit with h her sentime sen timents nts in a determ determine ined d tone, tone, which which was rare for his gentle gentle personality.

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“While it’s frequent for outside merchants merchants and soldiers soldiers to request an entrance since many malignant spirits reside near   Anatol, some sort of identification identification to prove prove their status needs needs to be present presented, ed, no matter matter what. This is to preven preventt any  thieves or forces from plundering the village during Lord  Calypse’s absence.” All the blood drained from Max’s face. She could feel the maids maids behind behi nd her hold their breath amidst the nervous nervous silence. Her head went blank at the situation that was entirely new to her, but Max soon regained her composure and spoke.

“W-who would d-dare to l-loot a land g-guarded by t-the Rremdragon Knights?” “We can’t be sure.” Max turned her head at the sound at the new voice. It was Ruth, who ran inside the room all from the other end of the corridor after hearing the news.

“Everyone knows the Remdragon Knights are attending the King’s banquet. I’m suspicious about how they claim to have come to socialize while the lord is absent.” Max turned pale. “R-Ruth, d-do you also t-think they have ccome to i-invade Anatol?”

“There is a possibil “There possibility. ity. Lord Calyspe is the main knight knight to have successfully suppressed the sect. In recognition of his contribution, he was handed the majority of the treasures of  Dragon Lear. It’s not entirely odd for someone to covet this treasure and decide to attack the Remdragons.” “T-then d-do we f-f-fight?” “If they act tough, tough, it is appropria appropriate te for us to forceful forcefully  ly  erad er adic icat ate e them th em.. But Bu t as Ro Rodr drig igo o said sa id,, th ther ere e are ar e thir th irty  ty  www.asianovel.com

 

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knights…” he said and frowned with annoyance. “If this man, Rob, really has thirty knights behind his back, it’s going to be a difficult battle. A low-class knight can easily  take over ten guards. And if there is a high-class knight, then it’s needless to say.” Hearing Hearin g Rut Ruth h ass assume umess a ful full-o l-on n bat battle tle,, Max swa swallo llowed wed har hard, d, anxious. “And if this man really is what he says he is, then it’s a bigg bigger er problem. prob lem. They might hold the fact that we forc forcefu efully lly turned them away against us and politically retaliate. Although we are part of the seven allied countries of the west, conflict between lords have always been present.

“T-then what d-do we d-do?” “What do you think we should do, ma’am?” Ruth asked back. Max flinched and hunched her back. Now with no Riftan around to guide her, Max, the Lady of the territory, had the responsibility to keep her village safe.

“I, I…”  Max stuttered and clattered her teeth. She frantically frantically bit her lip and tried to keep hersel herselff calm. “I-I’l “I-I’lll g-go to the g-g-gate g-g-gate and t-talk. I-I need to k-know w-what k-kind of p-people they  a-are.” “Fair point. You have to look at them to know who they  “Fair are,” Ruth willingly agreed with Max. “Allow me to prepare you, ma’am. You should be guarded  in the case of sudden physical conflict. Rodrigo, let Sir  Ovar Ov aron on and and Sir Sir Se Sebr bric ick k kn know ow,, imme immedi diat atel ely. y.” ” “Y-yes, sir!” said Rodrigo as he ran out of the room.

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“And ma’am, follow me if you will,”  Ruth said as he quickly spun his body around. Max handed the paper she was holding to a maid and walked after him. When they arrived at the garden, old man Kunel was leading two horses across the field. Ruth instantly took them by the reins.

“Do you know how to ride a horse?” “Y-yes…”  To be honest, it was her first time riding a large horse like this, but she nodded, nonetheless. Max stepped in front of the slim mare and Kunel let out his hand to help her on the horse. When she got on the saddle, sadd le, she tight tightly ly gripped gripped the reins reins and squeezed squeezed her thighs to find her balance. After examining examining Max and seeing she did actuall actually y know how to ride a horse, Ruth hopped on to his.

“The soldiers soldiers will be lined lined up in the gymnasium. gymnasium. Follow me.” And with that, he raced across the garden in a breeze. When Max followed follow ed him through through a gate, she saw about thirty soldiers soldiers standing in an array array.. An old knight with white white hair, who seem seemed ed to be the leader of the group, raised his voice at the sight of Ruth.

“So, there “So, there’s ’s a guy guy in the front front ga gate te deman demandi ding ng to be granted entrance, huh?”  he said while riding a horse and lightly tapping on his sword at the promise of bloodthirst. “Well, the poor  guy should be ready to taste some blood.”

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Chapter 74 Source: wordexcerpt

Ruth then clarified, “Your job, sir, is not to go to battle, but to  protect the Lady.” Lady.”

“What?” the old knight said and whipped his head around to see Max. She straightened her back and spurred the horse towards him. “N-nice to m-meet you.”  The old man scratched his cheek with his fingers at her careful greeti gre eting ng and replie replied. d.

“There “Ther e is nothin nothing g to worry worry about, about, ma’ ma’am, am, as long long as I, Ovaron, have your back.” He then then led led the the army army of me men n thro throug ugh h the the gate gate wi with th confi confide denc nce. e. Ruth went with them and sent a nod to Max. She also tagged along and crossed the drawbridge, her heartbeat racing with the clatter of  hoofs hitting against the stone floor. As she continued to walk along the path she once took with Riftan on a diff iffe ere ren nt occa occassion ion, she bec ecam ame e more more and and mor ore e un unea eassy. She pressed presse d her lips together, together, anxious not to bite her tongue, and went down a steep hill and through the busy village. She was frightened to death as she had never ridden a horse at such a fast speed. It was some time since Max maintained her tight grip gri p on the rein rein and chased chased the soldiers soldiers in front front of her when when she final fin ally ly saw saw the the ramp rampar art. t. A youn young g guar guard d by th the e en entr tran ance ce hu hurr rrie ied d hi hiss steps towards the men on horses as soon as he saw them.

“You’re here!”

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Reaching the gate, Ruth and the old knight jumped off their horses, and minutes later when she finally caught up with the crowd, Max got off as well with some assistance.

“Where is this so-called lord from Libadon?” “He is just outside the gate. If you follow me here…” “Madam, this way.” Max moved her stiff legs and followed them up the stairs to the top of the rampart. There, she saw thirty-one men on horses on the other side sid e of the wall. wall. They all had fearsome fearsome,, tanned tanned faces and a long sword on each of their waists waists.. Ruth leaned over and spoke to them, his voice loud and resonant.

“Who is the Lord from Libadon?” “It is I, Rob Midahas Midahas,” ,”  sai  said d a man on a ging ginger er horse. horse. Max carefully examined him. He was a man in his mid-thirties, sturdy and strong, with light titian hair. The man looked up to the top of the wall in turn, squinting his eyes to get a better view of the young man asking for him. “Are you the lord of Anatol?” “I am merely an employee here at Anatol. The Lady here is my lord’s deputy,” Ruth said as he pointed at Max standing next to him. Feeling the man’s glance land on her, Max unconsciously unconsciously drew back. At the sight of this, the man smiled with a sneer. “Very “Ver y nice nice to me meet et you. you. As you’ you’ve ve hear he ard, d, my name name is Midahas, the ruler of Kaisa, located on the west of Libadon. I have heard impressive impressive words about the dragon slayer in my  hometown home town and have made a long journey journey to meet him, so I request you to open your gates and allow me with warmth.” Max took a glimpse at Ruth. His arms were crossed, observing the www.asianovel.com

 

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situation.. He didn’t look like he was about to help her. She then situation cleared her throat and opened her heavy lips and raised her voice.

“ II - I h ea e a rd r d y --y yo ou u d o n ot o t p --p p os o s se se ss s s a ny n y s -s - s or o r t o f i -i -i identification. I-it is our g-guideline to n-not a-allow, anyone u-unidentified.” “I lost ost my identification plate during my journey. If you allow me in, I will immediately bring myself to the parish of   Anatol and prove my identity.” identity.” “A-Ana “A-A nato toll d-dd-d-do does es no nott allo allow w u-un u-unid iden enti tifie fied d ii-in indi divi vidu dual als s through throu gh t-the g-gates. g-gates. T-this is an o-order by t-the lord, tthus c-cannot be d-disobeyed. d-disobeyed. P-please go to a p-parish in a d-different t-t-territory to get y-your i-identification plate and  v-visit us a-again.” At her stuttering, yet determined speech, the man grimaced and replied in an irritated tone.

“I can’t understand a word you’re saying. Is there anyone else I can talk to that knows how to speak?” With the insult thrown straight straight at her face, Max turne turned d pale as a sheet.

“She is the Lady of the Anatol. Anatol. I advise advise you to treat treat her  with respect,” Ruth interrupted to defend her. “I’m just saying I can’t understand her!” Max hid her embarrassment and cried back.

“I-I m-made myself c-clear that I-I cannot o-open the gates. Come b-back with an i-identity p-plate! p-plate!” ” “We have travelled travelled over and through through the den of demons. demons.  Are you insisting on o n my exhausted men to return back ba ck to the www.asianovel.com

 

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dangerous road?”  The man was now spea speaking king in a thre threaten atening ing tone. tone . Max shrun shrunk k at his coercive attitude and could only say nothing through her shaky lips. Sensing Sensing his victory, victory, the man shouted louder towards the top of  the wall.

“Does the Lady of Anatol not have any mercy!” “I-I…” “I f you “If yo u say so, the next ne xt ti time me I retur re turn, n, you will wi ll face hundreds hundre ds of knights from Libadon! I cannot accept this kind  of rudeness!” “Y-you “Y-yo u don’ don’tt h-have h-have any i-identit i-identity  y …  I-I don’t don’t h-have h-have a cchoice…” “I told you I can give it to you once I get to your parish!” His voice became became more louder and more intimidating intimidating with every word. At his triumphant behaviour she was unable to refute, Max felt completely compl etely defeated. defeated. She was engulfed in fear –  one that was so familiar and that reminded her of her past horrors, as sweat started to trickle down her forehead.

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Chapter 75 Source: wordexcerpt

Faced with a paralyzing fear, her body unconsciously froze. And soon,, Max broke out into faint shudders. soon shudders. His mocking glare was a haunting, familiar sight for her – enough to crumble her defenses and render her mind blank. Seeing their mistr Seeing mistress ess shell shell-sh -shock ocked, ed, at a loss loss of what what to do, someth som ething ing impatie impatient nt and fuming fuming surged inside Ruth for the man below bel ow them. them. Simply put, he wasn’t wasn’t able to stand it anym anymore ore and came up to support her.

“Stop crossing the line! Why the hell are you blaming her  when you’ when you’re re the the on one e wh who o lo lost st yo your ur own own id iden enti tific ficat atio ion n card card? ? How can we trust thirty armed men to come in and not cause any problems?! Are you daft?!”  Yet his outburst was only taken with a pinch of salt, “Pff!”  Rob Midahas glanced around his men in jest, “So you’re locking the gates because Anatol’s security isn’t strong enough to deal  with thirty men? I guess this place is full of cowards without  their lord!” he then spat viciously.

“What did you say?!” All this time, the knight, Ovaron had been trying to contain his temper behind the flanks when he heard this ridicule. He immediately moved forward, his blades almost singing for bloodlust in their sheath after the brazen words from the incorrigible man.

“Ruth! “Rut h! Open Open the gates gates immediat immediately ely!” !”  He gestured for the wizard in bloody anger, his the extentthroats of his fury, “I’m going to slitwords thesemagnifying arrogant bastards’ myself!” www.asianovel.com

 

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“Sir Ovaron!” Despite their difference in rank and age, Ruth fiercely glared at the older knight, who had already had his sword out, as a signal for him to be carefu carefull of his brash actions. Seein Seeing g the other party halt with some grievances, he then quickly whipped his head around and raised his hand high up in the air. However, before he was able to do anything, a flame, along with a powe po werf rful ul gr grow owl, l, flew flew towa toward rdss him him with withou outt prea preamb mble le.. Th The e scor scorch chin ing g flames licked licked the walls without mercy, causin causing g the stones to tremb tremble le violently at the heavy impact. And a scream tore out from Max as the world swayed before her eyes, and her hands frantically clung for life on to the battlement. At this open display of aggression, the guards stood back in confusion.

“Let’s see you try!” Rob Midahas instantly instantly let out a resonating resonating roar as he took out his sword. swor d. Thi Thiss was enough to plummet plummet the situ situatio ation n into chaos. chaos. Max was only able to crumble crumble down to her knees, astonished astonished at the turn of events events.. Meanwhi Meanwhile, le, Rut Ruth h quickl quickly y snappe snapped d out fro from m his shock seeing see ing the bedlam bedlam unf unfurl url before before him. him. He swiftl swiftly y made made his way towards the defenseless Max and grabbed her up by the arm. numbly followed after … him asterror they ran down fromnerves the confines of Max the wall to safer grounds  the freezing freezi ng her being the th e onl only y thi thing ng stopp stopping ing her from from screa screamin ming. g. Fro From m the ear earli lier er rancor ran corous ous attack attack of the flames, flames, the tall gates gates had been sha shatte ttered red to cinders cind ers and the knights openly openly march marched ed in with sounds of guttu guttural ral victory.

“Shield!” Ruth yelled with his hand up. And upon his order, it was as if nature nature bent to his will as a bluish bluish barrier barrier of wind appeared appeared,, halting the knights’ advance. But this resistance was only momentary as an opposing knight swung his sword down and ripped the wind barrier apart with ease. www.asianovel.com

 

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Ruth looked Ruth looked back in alarm. alarm. “He “He’s ’s a high-ra high-ranke nked d knight. knight. Sir  Ovaron!” he yelled to the older knight.

“Leave it to me!” Despite a towering Despite towering display of a wall, Sir Ovaron scaled down the stone sto ne walls, landi landing ng with an audibl audible e sound sound on the earth. earth. On his descent, he cried and swung his heavy sword towards the battlefield. At the deafening noise of two blades clashing together with immense powe po wer, r, th the e wind wind ripp ripped ed and and spli splitt into into ha half lf.. Ma Max x trie tried d to qu quic ickl kly y fle flee e the incoming man, but she felt so terrorized by fear that she tripped on a rock and fell to the ground.

“Madam!” Ruth, whose hands were tied with making barriers and unable to support her, could only look back and yell. support yell. Only a few step stepss from Max, was Sir Ovaron Ovaron and the intrude intruderr in the middle middle of a fero ferociou ciouss battle.  Th e w izar  The iz ard d an and d th the e gu gua a rd rdss w er ere e oc occu cup p ie ied d w ith it h blo bl o ckin ck ing g t he intrusion of the black-clothed knights while simultaneously protecting the civilians. civilians. The curious onlookers who had only come to see what was going on, all screamed and ran away at the unexpected battle that came before them. Unable to muster Unable muster any strength strength in her legs, legs, Max barely stood up with the help from a nearby guard. Ruth then yelled, “Mada “Madam! m! Please take refuge and go to a safe place!”

“Bu-but –” She started. Despite her dread, she knew she had to do something, someth ing, anything! anything! She was the mistress mistress of this home –  a home home now being ruthlessly invaded by strangers! Ruth seemed to see the determination determination in her eyes, but he could only root her back to reality, “Go, right now! You’re no help even www.asianovel.com

 

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if you stay …”  his words suddenly faded at the end. The wizard’s eyess then eye then shifte shifted d back back tow toward ardss the battle battlefiel field d;  his vigo vigorr seem seemed ed to fuel more energy into his spells. Max trembled trembled all over, over, fee feelin ling g out her wits. wits. But then she felt felt a weird, tingling sensation –  a gut feeling –  beckoni  beckoning ng her to glance into the blue skies. It was right then, a guard shot an arrow into the sky and yelled,

“Re-remdragon Knights! They’re here! The Lord, the Lord  has returned!”

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Chapter 76 Source: wordexcerpt

 The sol soldie dierr man mannin ning g the tower tow er cried cri ed out in def defere erence nce,, palpab pal pable le relief on his features at the arrival of these men capable of turning the th e batt battle lefie field ld arou around nd.. An And d it wa wass as if th thei eirr entr entran ance ce si sign gnifi ified ed an ominou omi nouss presen presence, ce, as it all sudde suddenl nly y became became eeril eerily y si silen lent. t. The soun so unds ds of fight fightin ing g and and ears earspl plit itti ting ng cl clan angs gs of swor swords ds ha halt lted ed,, as if it was never there at all.  Th e prot  The pr otec ecto tors rs of Anat An atol ol al alll rais ra ised ed thei th eirr head he ads, s, expe ex pect ctan antt an and d  joyous, like a sunflower towards the bright sun as the intruders look lo oked ed back back in al alar arm m an and d shoc shock. k.  Th ere,  Ther e, fr fro o m up th the e gree gr een n hi hill lls, s, on only ly th the e soun so und d of the th e hoov ho oves es against again st earth rumbled against thei theirr ears as silv silver-ar er-armored mored knights stormed towards the castle. And when the face leading the knights came into closer view, all tension in Max’s body bundling her nerves tight immediately disappeared. He was was bac ack k. Ye Yett this this retu return rn was was far fro rom m the heir ir fir first st me meet etin ing g;  it mark ma rked ed a diffe differe rent nt feel feelin ing g insi inside de her her… It seemed like months when it had been only short of three weeks that Max had last seen his figure figure,, now dashi dashing ng down from the slop slopes es as if he was able to overcome any challenge. And she rightly believes it so. While While she was observing observing him close the distanc distance e between the gates and his horse, she felt something stir inside her heart. One that of his presence giving her safety, and the second that of  shame at having failed to protect their estate.

“ … I guess some guests came over while we were gone.” Riftan Rif tan looked looked over the blackblack-clot clothed hed kni knight ghtss from his maje majesti stic c www.asianovel.com

 

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steed as he arrived near the battle that had ceased. The wind blew at his hair, wisps of dark locks dancing around his eyes that had thinned like a beast… and an inflamed one, about to devour those who stand in his way. As an uncomfor uncomfortable table silence commenc commenced, ed, he suddenly suddenly drawled out, “Wha “Whatt are guests that aren’t aren’t invited invited called again?”  he then held up his hand, and the Remdragon Knights behind him slowly surrounded the enemies in a circle. One said, “Gatecrashers, leader.”

“More like burglars,” another spat.  The knights steadil steadily y gathered gather ed around the dumbfou dumbfounded nded intrude intruders rs while exchanging exchanging words, only then did they stop their horses from stepping forward when they had taken their place. Max silently watched the confrontation from where she was. It was only a few moments ago that these same trespassers were going at them th em at a fr fren enzy zy,, at th the e heig height ht of th thei eirr confi confide denc nce. e. No Now, w, as if they they were overwhelmed by a pressuring sense of oppression from the newly-arrived Remdragon knights, they didn’t even move an inch.

“You dare come into into my lands and make a mess mess …  then allow me to write, ‘Praise to the ignorant and the valiant who didn’t treasure their lives’ on your tombstones for you.” His words were only softly spoken, yet the wind that brought them to its intended recipients blew chills down their spine. The sound of a sword swo rd being slowl slowly y drawn, drawn, as if he was takin taking g his time time,, fro from m its sheath, suddenly made the trespassers’ face turn pale. The man who had announced himself as ‘Rob Midahas’ then hurriedly laid down his sword in an effort to diffuse the confrontation and yelled.

“I, I am Lord Rob Midahas, the ruler of Kai’Sa in Libadon!” “ …Lord?”  Riftan stopped and cockked one of his dark eyebrows www.asianovel.com

 

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up. Seeing Riftan’s Seeing Riftan’s reaction reaction,, Rob was able able to regain regain some some of his confid fide ence back and lifted his chin up, defiantly stat atiing, “These men,”  he st start arted ed to ge gest stur ure e to Ru Ruth th an and d th the e kn knig ight hts, s, “have comm co mmit itte ted d disr disres espe pect ct by ques questi tion onin ing g my iden identi tity ty and  an d 

refusing admittance! A small fight happened during the  process. That’s all there is to it!” “A small fight you say ….” Riftan’s answer came in a gloomy Riftan’s gloomy slur as his gaze unhurrie unhurriedly dly passed over the injured guards on the ground to the gates that had once stood protecting protecting his estate now on the ground ground in ruins. ruins. Rob’s face became noticeably hard.

“I-I’l “I-I ’lll apol apolog ogiz ize e for fo r not not cont co ntro roll llin ing g my ange angerr and and my  overreaction. So… let’s, let’s let this one go. Yo-you wouldn’t  want to… make the situation worse, as well. Therefore–” “I guess this means war.” His calm voice coldly swept across them. Riftan smiled, barring his teeth like a ferocious wolf as he slowly stirred his steed towards Rob Midahas. The knights steadily steadily moved aside to open the way for their leader and even though he was entering the enemies’ domain, there was not a hint of hesitation nor wariness on Riftan’s face. He continu continued ed his words words ever so lei leisure surely ly and seren serenely ely that it seemed monotonous to their ears.

“You brought soldiers and attacked the castle gate… this is an obvious declaration of war. In return – and after I cut your  throat –  I’ll run to your land, bre break ak down the city walls and  turn everything I see into shambles.” R ob o b M id i d ah ah a ass f e ell t h iiss h e ea a rrtt i n h is is t h hrr o oa a t. t . “ Ar Ar e e,, a re r e y ou ou insi in sinua nuati ting ng you’ you’re re go goin ing g to brea break k the the peace peace agre agreem emen ent  t  www.asianovel.com

 

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between the seven countries!? between countries!? If-if you do that, the king of  Libadon won’t grant you forgiveness!” forgiveness!” “As soon as you broke the gates of my castle, you were no longer protected by the agreement.” At the casual declaration declaration of reven revenge, ge, even Max felt goose goosebump bumpss erup er uptt on he herr body body and she she un uncon consc scio ious usly ly gri gripp pped ed th the e gu guard ards’ s’ forearm forea rm tighter. Riftan’s face was strang strangely ely calm. Yet the seren serenity ity before her felt eerie, like the quiet before a brewing storm. A lot might think Maxi’s development was stunted once more, but if there’s one thing to know about growth, it’s that: it will not always be linear. linear. Som Some e past past trauma traumass may still still find their their way to the surface surface and that is human. Nevertheless Nevertheless,, change is inevitable inevitable and our Maxi will grow  Last Week’s Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ]  This Week’s Releases Releases: [   [    ][    ][    ][    ]  If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.   Then again, if you want wa nt to support your tra translators, nslators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule:  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister

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Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 77 Source: wordexcerpt

 The man named Rob, apparently feeling the same distress to befall on him, him, hurrie hurriedly dly backed backed away with with his face com comple pletel tely y tur turned ned aghast. agha st. However, before he could could retr retreat eat furt further, her, Sir Ovaron Ovaron stood right behind him, his sword menacingly pointed at him, cutting off his only escape route. Being forced Being forced into into a corn corner, er, Rob’s face twisted, twisted, and he suddenl suddenly y shouted, “The-there are hundreds of knights in Kai’Sa who have sworn sworn allegiance allegiance to me! If you kill me, then it will be war!”

“I look forward to that.” “Lord Calypse!” In the growing tempest, Ruth immediately made his way towards Riftan’s side, who had his sword already out into the air. Seeing the wizard approach him, Riftan’s dry gaze tilted towards him in question. “If he really is a nobleman of Libadon, you can’t kill him here. Once we take him into custody, we can negotiate negotiate with Libadon and sell him…” “Are you arguing with my decision?” decision?” Riftan replied, boring his steely eyes into Ruth’s smaller frame. Ruth stood his ground, looking at him determinedly, “War brings nothing but loss. It’s better to just follow the procedures and  get some compensation in return.”

“I refuse.” Riftan spat coldly, the venom dripping from his words, “We can just barge into his land and take everyth everything, ing, who cares about lengthy procedures?” www.asianovel.com

 

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It was a ruthless tone that conveyed he thought nothing of both the thirty-arm thirty-armed ed kni knight ghtss before before the them m now and the hun hundred dredss of  knights stationed in Kai’Sa. Ruth let out a small sigh, “If you do that then it will cause cause fric fr icti tion on with with Liba Libado don n and  and …”  h  he e tr trai aile led d off and and sudd sudden enly ly look looked ed back at Max, who was hiding in the back with the help of a guard.

“Mus Must you defile file the the eyes of the lady ady eve even more more? ? Ple Please ase show sho w some some chival chivalry. ry.” ” A frown rippled across Riftan’s calm face that had been promising war a moment ago. When he glanced towards the back, trying to figure figu re out what the wizard wizard had meant meant,, his eyes opene opened d wid wide e se seein eing g Max unsightly sitting on the floor. Right away, a look screaming bloody murder, incomparable incomparable with his fury from before, appeared on his still face. He fier fiercel cely stare tared d at Rut uth h an and d snarl narled ed,, “Why on earth is my  wife wi fe in a plac place e like like this this?! ?!” ”

“Isn’t it natural that when a problem arises in the territory, it it’s ’s the madam’s madam’s respons responsib ibil ilit ity y to take take care care of it at the absence of the lord?” Ruth stayed perfectly calm despite the ferocious aura that made even the knights around him freeze. Riftan gritted his teeth at the former’s form er’s calm façade, then suddenly suddenly pushed his sword right under Rob’s neck with lighting speed.

“Drop your weapon and get down from the horse…  If you don’t disobey, I’ll let your neck stay connected to your head.” “Just, just let me go! I’ll leave this land right away …” “You “Yo u want wan t me tocut just jus t let le t you go violently. after after you attack atteither acked ed you my  estate?”  Riftan then his horse down “It’s die here or surrender. Your choice.” www.asianovel.com

 

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Rob’s eyes quickly glanced around to grasp the situation. His men were we re compl complet etel ely y surro surroun unde ded d by Remdr Remdrago agon’ n’ss kn knigh ights ts.. May Maybe be realizing there was no chance of winning, he threw his sword away and came down from the horse. His knights knights,, following his lead, also gave up their swords on the ground. Riftan then signaled his knights with his eyes. “Tie everyone up and throw them into the dungeon.” Max could finally finally let out a lon long g sig sigh h of relief relief,, her shoulde shoulders rs visibl visibly y relaxing. She couldn’t believe that after he came, the whole situation had been cleared up in a matter of minutes.

“Ma-madam, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere—” “What were you thinking?!” Max, who was trying to stand up with the help of a guard, felt her back ba ck st stiff iffen en.. Wh When en she she rais raised ed her her he head ad,, sh she e saw saw him him si sitt ttin ing g ta tall ll on his horse with his back to the sun. Despite the bright backligh backlight, t, she could clearly see the anger perceptible on his face. She stuttered in reply, “I-I heard there was a problem so….”

“What the hell are you saying you could have done?”  h  he e snarled sna rled,, gri grippin pping g the reins of his horse until until his knuckles knuckles turn turned ed white. At that moment, Max felt the blood from her face drain. She hastily bentt her head down to hide ben hide her face white white from from shock. shock. It fel feltt excruciat excr uciatingl ingly y suffo suffocatin cating, g, as if all the air from her lungs had fled, to see the person who treated her with such kindness up till he left, give her such a chilly look.

“I, I…” She desperately scrambled for words to defend herself, but nothing came to mind. Because Because it was as he said –  there was nothing she www.asianovel.com

 

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could have could have done done…  Max couldn’t finish her sentence and could only bite her lips tight she was sure they would bleed. She suddenly heard a harsh curse ring out from above her, and she felt fe lt her her body body ri rise se in into to th the e ai air. r. Ma Max x st stifl ifled ed a ye yelp lp as Rift Riftan an snat snatch ched ed her up from the waist and sat her in front front of him. When that was done, he then shouted back to the men behind him.

“I’m going to the castle first. Clean everything up.” He didn’t even stop to listen for a reply and just drove his horse away like lightning towards the castle. The youths, who had gathered far away to watch, hurriedly opened up the way for them. Max clung onto his bosom, which was wrapped in hard armor, and closed her eyes tight. His forearm, surrounded by a cold bracer, was fastened around her waist so tight it hurt.

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Chapter 78 Source: wordexcerpt

Frightene Fright ened d she had ste steppe pped d out of line, line, Max had imm immedi ediate ately ly cowered cower ed in fright, fright, fearing she had made him angry with her. She’d been around angry men, her experiences experiences far too many to keep track of.. It was almo of almost st secon second d na natu ture re fo forr her her to be begi gin n fe feel elin ing g fa fain intt whenever a bigger man would step towards her, threaten her. But it wasn’t just the violence that frightened frightened her right now. It was the fact that someone who treated her so well, cared for her greatly, had now begun to bear his fangs at her. She felt like a dog punished by their owner for their insolence. She wanted to beg him not to hurt her, hate her. She knew she messed up, but her voice refused to come out, so instead, she only clung tightly onto his cloak in her desperation.

“Come on down,” “Come down,”  Rif  Rifta tan n to told ld her, her, shak shakin ing g he herr out ou t of he herr treach tre achero erous us though thoughts, ts, and she she realiz realized ed the they y fina finally lly made made it into into the castle. He reached out to her, offering her his hand to help her dism di smou ount nt the the hors horse, e, and and Max Max hesi hesita tant ntly ly gr grab abbe bed d it. it. She slid down gently, until Riftan pulled her close, her body flush to his, hefting her up in his arms and carrying her through the garden. A rush of servants came, bowing in greeting, but Riftan paid them no mind, preoccupied with only one thing.

“Put Talon in the stable stables,” s,”  he quickly quickly orde ordered red them as he finally entered the Great Hall. Max meekly looked up, watching his expression expression and studyin studying g the detai details ls ofhad his gone face. through He barel barely y even spared spare d a to glanc glance e aroundinthe hall that she extreme lengths redecorate weeks’ time. Max feels her body tremble more, the fear growing inside her… www.asianovel.com

 

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‘He’s angry, really angry,’ she cried silently in her mind, before she gulped gulpe d down the fear and spoke up, “Ri-Riftan,”  she began softly, “I-I’ll walk by my-myself.”

“Don’t talk,”  he quickly told her, as he sprints up the stairs, the carpet cushioning his steps as Max flinches at his harsh tone. Despite the added weight of his armor, and her in his arms, along with running up two flights of stairs, Riftan barely broke a sweat. He quic qu ickl kly y ente entere red d thei theirr room room,, le lett ttin ing g her her down down final finally ly,, an and d clos closed ed th the e door behind them. Max was left in the middle of the room, standing idly awkwardly as she waited for her punishment, when Riftan gave her an intense gaze after locking the door.

‘Is this where it starts?’ she fretted, fretted, ‘What if, what if he hurt hu rts s me phys physic ical ally ly? ? Why Why is he so angr angry? y? I only only trie tried d to fix  things like a lord’s wife would do!’ Her knuckles turn white as her grip on o n her skirt tightened up. When she sh e final finally ly foun found d her her vo voic ice e agai again, n, an and d open opened ed he herr mout mouth h to sp spea eak, k, something was already covering her mouth.

“Mmph!” she muffled, her eyes widening in surprise. His ha His hand nd,, st stil illl in iron iron glov gloves es,, ca came me up to he herr face face,, fir firml mly y clas claspi ping ng her head in place as he held her at the back of her head. His chapped lips move against hers, tongue prodding prodding her lips open to enter her mouth. Max hands came up, resting at his firm hands, gripping it to steady herself. Her body was painfully painfully pressing pressing up against his armor, armor, her pulled flush towards toward s his,from as his stubble stub rubbed smoothaschin. let out surprised gasps time toble time, eyesher wavering she She glanced at him. Whe hen n he fin final allly pull pullss away away,, his gaze aze har arde dene ned d as he lo look oke ed www.asianovel.com

 

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down on her in his arms…

“What would you have “What have done had I not gotten there there on time?”  he asked her, his frustration leaking out of his voice, as he cradled her cheeks carefully. Max flinched when the cold metal came into contact, but she eventually relaxed against it. “I wa-w wa-was asn’ n’tt ex-e ex-exp xpec ecti ting ng they th ey’d ’d be a-ab a- able le to brea break  k  through the ga-gates,” she answered him truthfully. “You shouldn’t have been there in the first place!” he hissed at her, “No matter what happens, you never. Ever. Go out  there! Especially when it’s dangerous for you!” he exclaimed in frustration before lowering his tone of voice, “Al “Alrigh right? t? Do you understand?”  he asked her, his concern shini shining ng out as he stared into her eyes. So taken with him, she quickly nodded in assent and relief quickly fills him, the tension rolling rolling off his should shoulders ers and he gave out a deep sigh as he finally calmed down. Afterr a mome Afte moment nt’s ’s hesi hesita tati tion on,, Ma Max x final finally ly reac reache hed d out out to him, him, her her hand resting resting against against his chin, chin, rubb rubbing ing soothing soothing circ circles. les. Worn out, Riftan leaned into her touch, dipping his head as he pulls her face closer, resting their foreheads against each other. At this proximity, the grassy scent of his hair tickled Max’s nose. She wondered wondered if he had slept slept on the verdant fields last night instead of a cot or bed.

“When I saw you,”  he began, his voice quaking as he spoke, “On the ground, I felt like I was about to lose it, darn it!” he cursed, his arms tightening around her, as if to keep her close to him, “I came as fast as I could, not even to rest, and when I saw you like that-” “I-I’m so-sorry.”  Max whispeeds whispeeds to him, but Riftan’s eyes turn www.asianovel.com

 

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grave as he gets lost in his thoughts…

“Had I not been qui “Had quicke cker, r, had arriv arrived ed a second second longer  longer … things would’ve been so much worse, f*ck it …” “I’m so-sor “I’m so-sorry ry I sca scare red d you. you. I’m re-re re-reall ally y so-sor so-sorry ry.” .”  S  She he winced win ced a lit little tle bit, pulling pulling at his arm, softly softly telling telling him he was beginning to get rough as he rubbed her chin. Remembering he still had his armor on, Riftan finally released her, and proceeded to remo re move ve the the meta metall co cons nstr trai aini ning ng him. him. When his gauntlets were gone, and vambraces off, he neared Max and pulled her flush to him once more in an embrace.

“Are you hurt anywhere?” “No.” “Let me check.”  he tolf her, quickly pulling away. Max felt like a moth mo th to flame flame,, her her eyes eyes me mesm smer eriz ized ed by hi hiss blac black k or orbs bs as he look lookss over her with concern, “Let me see for myself you aren’t hurt,” he added as Max could feel her heart throbbing painfully against her chest, her breathing echoing in her ears. She remembered the lonely nights, the endless worry of when he’d return ret urn.. The cold ni night ghtss of when when she she curls curls around around in on hersel herself, f, hugging herself to sleep in a wide bed all alone, waiting desperately for him to come home. His calloused hands flitted everywhere on her body. From her tousled tousle d hair, to her face, resting on her shoulders, and grabbed her robe,, pulling robe pulling it down abruptly. abruptly. Max choked choked back her surp surprise rise,, her body jolting jolting as the air hit her skin. She could feel the sweat trickle down her neck as he proceeded to examine her body. As ng, his replacing hands continued roaming, she a rush of before. heatre. begin pooli pooling, replacin g the ice-cold sensation sensat ionfelt of fear from befo Her eyes followed his hands, watching the way his skin touched hers… www.asianovel.com

 

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His hands soon went up once more, clasping the pin in her hair, pull lliing it off an and d throw hrowiing it to the grou round in has haste. te. He gra rabs bs the back ack of her her hair air on onc ce mor ore e and and pull pullss her clo lose se to him. him.

“One scratch, one head,” Riftan suddenly whispered in her ear. Long awaited reunion of our yandere Riftan and Maxi… Last Week’s Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ]  This Week’s Releases Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][    ][    ]  If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  If you want to support support your translators translators,, you can be our patron NEXT MONTH and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 79 Source: wordexcerpt

Max blinked in confusion. “What?” she could only utter in reply.

“Each “Eac h sc scra ratc tch h I fin find d on you, you, on one e of thei theirr head heads s roll rolls s down down their shoulders,”  he clarified for her in another warm whisper, and Max felt goosebumps all over her arms with his words. There was a diffe di ffere rent nt ki kind nd of in inte tens nsit ity y when when he said said it in a hush hushed ed vo voic ice, e, mu much ch like a silent prayer. She was so used to hearing him shout in anger, like a raging forest fire. Max trembled beneath his touch like a dragonfly caught in a spide sp ider’s r’s web. web. His de His deft ft fin finge gers rs ma made de quic quick k wo work rk of th the e st stra raps ps ho hold ldin ing g he herr dres dresss together, togethe r, as she felt them begin loosening up, and pulled down her chest. His dark eyes swept over her figure. From her pale shoulder shoulder blades, to her clavicle, down her breasts, still st ill covered covered with with a thi thin n cl cloth oth.. She felt her breat breath h tight tighten en in anticipation…

“One head,” “One head,”  h  he e fin final ally ly said said,, ey eyes es quic quickl kly y spot spotti ting ng on one e sc scra ratc tch h before dragging dragging the dress further down to expose more of her skin. When he reached her forearm, he saw the angry discolored skin, and his lips curled into a snarl. Flustered, Max poorly attempted to cover up her bruise.

“I got this from the li-library.” she excused, “When I bumped  in-into some-something.” “Don’t lie.” he snapped at her…

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“I-I’m not ly-lyi “I-I’m ly-lying! ng! Nhngh! Nhngh!” ”  sh  she e mu murm rmur ured ed as he gent gently ly press pr essed ed a kiss kiss onto onto he herr br bruis uise, e, the the words words dying dying in her her throat throat,, watching watchi ng as he slowly made his way down. After nipping gently at her pulsepoint by the wrist, Riftan straightened up, hooked one of his arms ar ms benea eneath th her knees nees,, an and d hef efte ted d her up eff effor orttle less ssly ly,, wi witth his his othe ot herr arm arm supp suppor orti ting ng her her back back.. In reflex, Max brought her arm arms to circle around his nape, her clavicle cradled beneath beneath the crook of his neck. He dipped his head, planting a series of gentle pecks as he slowly made his way towards their bed.

“Ri-Riftan,, re-really “Ri-Riftan re-really,, I-I’m not hurt,” hurt,”  she insisted, insisted, but Rift Riftan an was stubborn, gently gently laying her down on the bed as he towers over her… “I said I’d check for myself,”  he told her, finally discarding her dres dr ess, s, pull pullin ing g it off from from th the e wais waistt down down and and ha haph phaz azar ardl dly y thre threw w it onto the floor. Feeling utterly exposed with just the quaint cloth cove co veri ring ng her her ches chest, t, Ma Max x aver averte ted d her her eyes eyes ne nerv rvou ousl sly. y. His hands travelled down her legs, stopping by her ankles as he took too k off her shoe, shoe, and then the other, other, rollin rolling g up her undersk underskirt irt.. She couldn’t hold back her grimace when he brushed upon the scrape she had gotten when she fell to the ground. Immediately, Max clammed up, shutting her legs closed.

“This is no-nothing! “This no-nothing!” ”  she continues, “I o-only fell by mymyself!” “They’ve sealed their fate with this.” he growls lowly, his eyes glaring deeply at the wound, a dark glint in his eyes. Max reflexively squeezed his arm gently, gaining his attention. “Re-really, it does-doesn’t hurt. Don’t do that be-because of me.” she begs, and he frowns at her. www.asianovel.com

 

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“They not only attempted an invasion on my lands, but also hurt my wife. It’s my right to kill them and their blood to make them pay for their crimes.”  he tells her, “That won’t  even be enough to satisfy my bloodlust. I need to make an example examp le now, to prevent anything of similar similar nature to occur  in the future.” he explains, and Max’s lips tremble… “But you-you you-you’ve ’ve o-only o-only just a-arriv a-arrived  ed …”  he  herr choke choked d sob spilling out as he quickly looked up at her in shock. With a roll of her eyes, Max refused to avert her gaze as she continued on despite the tremor in her voice, “If we go to war, you have to go far a-away  a-again. And I will have to be a-alone.” “Fuck,”  he curses softly, a hand immediately coming up behind the nape of her neck and pulle pulled d her down, smashing their lips in a searing kiss. She could feel his desire for her, his want to devour her, pull her closer than was physically possible. And despite despite her best wishes wishes to do so too, her neck was ach aching ing along with her body with the awkward way it was currently bending. Sens Se nsin ing g her her disc discom omfo fort rt,, Ri Rift ftan an pull pullss aw away ay an and d ad adju just stss th them em accordingly, his hand pulling her Schumi down to her waist, and cups her butt as he lifts her. She felt her head spin when he lifted her, gasping at the cold metal of his breastplate as she came into contact with it, in contrast with his warm palm. She moaned as his tongue swooped in, tasting every corner of her mouth, tangling around hers before he pulled away with a string of saliva connecting their mouth. His eyes bore into her intently. “You… what are you doing with me?” he muttered in an anguished tone. He licked his lips, removing removing the rest of her clothes clothes and thre threw w it amongst the others on the floor. Max was now curled up comfortable, bare as a newborn babe for him to see. His warm hands immediately came up to her chest, cupping her soft mounds, kneading it before www.asianovel.com

 

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diving in and wrapping her taut nubs into his warm mouth. Her han hands ds imm immedi ediate ately ly buried buried the their ir fing fingers ers,, car cardin ding g itself itself around around his hair, lightly pulling at it as she elicited a breathy moan.  The feel of her armor against her naked nak ed skin was st strange. range. She felt weak, helpless, and vulnerable. Her eyes caught sight of his neck, its sweat glinting glinting as the armor reflected its light, giving his glossy glossy blac black k hair a mesmerizing shine. Riftan felt his vision blur in front of him as his hunger for her grew intense, his ministrations beginning to get rougher by the second. He felt like he was losing control of his faculties, pulling her flush against him so hard, she feared he would crush her to bits. She gasped at the increasing increasing sensation of her tips rubbing against the cold iron roughly as an electric sensation sensation ran up her body and she twitched in pleasure…

“You were always in my mind, f*ck …” he breathed out in that husky tone, planting fierce kisses in every inch of her mounds, “Every “Eve ry day ever ever since since we’ve we’ve part parted ed these past few weeks. weeks. It’s been so hard.” A gasp escaped escaped from her lips as he kneade kneaded d her chest, chest, “It was almost like it’s been years since I’ve last seen you,”  he tells her as his mouth swallows her other peak.

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Chapter 80 Source: wordexcerpt

Riftan slid Riftan slid his hands hands down, down, callou calloused sed palms palms rubbin rubbing g aga agains instt sensit sen sitive ive skin as he trails down to the insi inside de of her thig thighs. hs. He mutter mut tered ed feveri feverishl shly y against against her skin, skin, his warm breath breath spread spreading ing  jitter  jit terss as she spr spread eadss her legs leg s to acc accomm ommoda odate te him betwee bet ween n her. her . She let out choked sobs as she also wrestled with the urge to clamp her legs closed due to the pain. However, the decision was made for her as Riftan gently grips her thighs, spreading them further apart, his head dipped down as he buried his face between her legs. Shocked by his movements, Max squeaked and squirmed her body, twisting it to break away as she squeaked flipped her body on its stomach and pulled on the sheets. Despit Desp ite e her val valian iant effo fforrts, ts, she she coul ould not escap scape e hi hiss hand ands an and d their grip on her. He pulled her back down, rubbing the pads of his thumbs in circular motions against her skin as he buried his face between once more as he kept her still.

“Ri-Ri “RiRift ft.. .. ngh! ngh!” ”  sh  she e moaned, her thighs reflexively clamp amping around his head as she felt him delve into her. Riftan grunted at the sudden sudd en interruption, interruption, and grabbed grabbed her ankles, ankles, prying prying them open to prevent any more interruptions. Her breaths turned ragged as she lied down, pulling at the pillow and biting at it to muffle her sounds. Her body shook as he continued with his tongue circling gentle strokes on her petals. She still couldn’t believe he would do such an obscene thing. It wasn’t wasn’t the first first time time she experien experienced ced somethin something g lik like e thi this, s, but it didn’t mean she was used to it. Her body felt so warm –  she could feel it betray her as it welcomed Riftan with no hesitation. Max threw www.asianovel.com

 

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her head back, her mouth agape as his stubble tickled her thighs. She shivered at the sensual feeling she got at hearing his breaths against her skin. It was erotic.

“Wait a little little more,”  he breathed out to her in a husky tone, “Then I’ll put it in.” Her hi Her hips ps thru thrust sted ed upwar upwards ds,, as if te tell llin ing g hi him m to hu hurr rry y up. up. In response, his fingers began caressing her, trying to calm her erratic movements move ments as he quickly quickly removed his pants, pants, free freeing ing his hardened hardened member. It sprang up in full attention, eager and stiff to enter her. She could hardly find the time to be embarrassed now. Max moaned at the growing sensation building up inside her, the warmth pooling at her gut. Her hands flew to the back of his head, gripping his hair and pulling at it lightly as she pulled him deeper into her. She cou could ld fee feell his war warmth mth make make contac contact, t, the their ir nether nether reg region ionss rubbing rubb ing against each other as they rutted rutted toget together. her. She could feel herself lose control as she incessantly rubbed her already moist flesh against his hardened member.

“F*ck.”  Rif  Riftan tan hi hiss ssed ed as she she grind grinded ed aga again inst st him him.. His hands hands gripped grippe d her wais waist, t, ste steadyi adying ng her bef before ore he ali aligne gned d himsel himselff and rammed ramm ed deep into her already wet walls in one swift swift moti motion. on. He groaned groane d at the sensation, sensation, of her insides sucki sucking ng him in greedily. greedily. He began to thrust, hips pulling and pushing as he hit her in her sweet spot. Max sobbed as she clung onto him. She could feel the slight sting as he moved inside her. It’s been a wh whil ile ee sinc si e they th ey’v ’ve done donemoved it it,, but bu it st stil illl left lehips ft he her un tisfi sfied ed, wa want ntin ing g, more mor ofnce his body. bod y.e She move d ther own hip s rinunsa asati cir circul cular ar, motion mot ion, meeting with his lunges as he crushed her body into his. www.asianovel.com

 

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He was still in his armor. His eyes raked over her body;  his lips shivered shivered as he took the pretty way her skin flushed. Dark, beautiful eyes stared at her as if to devour her. Unfortunately, he was the one to be eaten tonight. She wrapped her legs around his waist tightly, urging him to move. She couldn’t believe she’d done such a thing.

“Ugh, what you do to me …”  he mumbled softly as Max pulled him closer to her. “Ri-Riftan … ”  she looked looked up at him, her eye eyess ple pleadi ading ng as he desperately tried to control his urges. Harder, just like last time, please, lose control…  she begged with her eyes. With one more pull from her legs, harder than before, Riftan felt a dam broke as his desires desires grabbed grabbed hold of him full full force. force. He fel feltt himself lose consciousness for a moment before he eyed her with deep seated desire. He picked up his pace, ramming deeper into her… Harder… He wanted to break her, turn her into a sobbing mess. He could feel her growing desperation for him as her body writhed with every thrust, her toes curling deliciously as she spread her legs further. He felt his breath hitch at the sight of her, as he suddenly felt faint.  The sou sound nd of the creaki cre aking ng bed had num numbed bed her ears. ea rs. His arm armor or clan clangi ging ng loud loudly ly as so soun unds ds of flesh flesh hitt hittin ing g flesh flesh join joined ed the the fr fray ay.. He whis wh ispe pere red d he herr name name over over and and over over…

“Max … Max …” www.asianovel.com

 

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He let out a long and drawn out moan. It made Max feel many different things as she heard it. She found it beautiful, beauti ful, just like how everything about him was for her. Be it his face, the way his eyes were lidded with desire. She insatiably drank in the sight of him as she lightly pawed at his face. Riftan drew her in by the waist as he dived in for a kiss as he Riftan pressed pre ssed in dee deeper. per. But no, it wasn wasn’t ’t enou enough. gh. Deeper, Deeper, Max wanted him hi m to go de deepe eper, r, imp impale ale her to the dept depths hs she she hadn’t hadn’t known existed.

“Ah, damn “Ah, damn it. it.” ”  Rift  Riftan an cu curse rsed d as he pul pulled led away, away, fina finally lly breaki breaking ng fr free ee of his his lu lust st,, “I didn didn’t ’t even even take take my armo armorr off.” off.”  Instinctively, Max clung on to him tigh tightly tly as he untangled untangled their limbs. She could hardly believe the audacity of her body asking for more. At th the e feel feel of her gri grip, Rif Riftan tan lo look oked ed down down on her flus flushed hed fac face, chest heaving heaving heavily and out of breath. He chuckled, resume resumed d to untangle untangl e their limbs, rubbing soothing circles circles along the way on her thighs.

“Just a moment.” “Just moment.”  He told told her, her, “W “We’ e’ll ll be at it again again in a second.” He finished, as he finally managed to stand up.

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Chapter 81 Source: wordexcerpt

“No, I…”  Max began protesting as she closed her legs once he was gone almost immediately in embarrassm embarrassment. ent. Riftan’s deep gaze refused to move away from her as he made quick work of his armor, throwing the breastplate, shoulder pads, greaves, boots boo ts and his tunic haphazardly to the floor. On his back glistened glistened the thin sheen of sweat, sweat, as the sunl sunlight ight pour po ured ed in fr from om th the e wind window ow.. His His musc muscle less fle flexe xed d as he move moved, d, mu much ch like a skintight golden armor. Max found herself enamored with the sight of his naked torso. It used to be the sight of a man would cause her so much terror. However,, with Riftan, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside, so However unlike with their enemies who would tremble at the sight of him. She could feel her heart thundering against her chest… She wanted to touch him.

“Come here.” He whispered whispered as he tossed his pants off and sat on the th e edge edge of th the e be bed, d, fin finge gers rs movi moving ng in come come hi hith ther er mo moti tion on.. “Come sit on top of me.” “Ri-Riftan, I-” “You’re “You’r e not satisfi satisfied ed yet, yet, aren’t aren’t you?” you?”  he asked asked he her, r, qu quirk irked ed up a brow in her direction, “I’ll make you full again.” He said, his hands han ds moving moving to grab his member. member. She hesitat hesitated ed for a moment, moment, before doing as he told, watched in a sensual thrill as he pumped his hands on his length, making it go hard as she moved to straddle his hips. His free hand gripped her soft thigh,s guiding her as he steadied www.asianovel.com

 

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her on his lap. She tried tried to stand stand up again, her embarra embarrassm ssment ent getting the best of her, but his grip on her waist prevented her from escaping. He drew her in, slowly, mouth quickly wrapping itself around her chest as he scraped his teeth around her perked nubs. She moaned as she felt him rubbing his now hardened member against her petals, the touch teasingly teasingly light. Her arms snaked around his head to pull him closer. It wa wass as if she she was was poss posses esse sed d –  her fing finger er wounde wounded d the themse mselve lvess around aroun d his hair, pulli pulling ng at him, huggin hugging g him closer closer to her peaks. It was as if her body was demanding for him to be closer. She buried her face, inhaling the scent of his hair as she rubbed her smooth cheek against it. He gave one upward thrust, thrust, and entered entered her until he was fully sh e ea a tth h ed ed i n nss i de de . M a ax x sh hu u dd dd e err ed e d i n p ai ai n a n nd d sa att is i s ffa ac ctt io io n simultaneously. Their limbs entwined around each other’s o ther’s like snakes coiling around during mating season.

“You, you…  you were about to go crazy crazy without without me too, right?”  Riftan breathed out, his desperation leaking out of his voice as he stared at her. Max stare stared d at him with hooded hooded eyes, her body warm as it was wrapped around his, heart pounding hard against her chest. It felt like it would burst.

“Hey, tell me.” He prodded prodded once more, “I’m not the only one going insane, right?” he repeated in a low growl and Max moaned. “Yes, I was a-about “Yes, a-about to go cra-crazy.” cra-crazy.”  She admitted admitted as she mumbled her words, her mind muddled with pleasure. He gritted his teeth as he continued to pound against her, his hips thrusting in deeper strokes as her body shuddered with the force and www.asianovel.com

 

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intense pleasure. Her nails dug into his skin as her hands found purchase on his neck. And eith every deep thrust, her wetness clung to his skin, driving him mad. Her inner walls scraped against his ho, throbbing length, wrackin wracking g her nerves with endless desire as she rolled her hips in tandem with his. Despite Despite thei theirr skin already rubbing rubbing again against st each other other,, she still wanted to pull him closer, bury him deeper into her. Max cried out, the slick of their sweat made it harder for her to hold on. More, just a little more, she chanted inside her mind. The heat coiling around her gut… She wanted to swallow him whole, devour every last inch of him. Mine, take me …  her voice echoed inside Mine, inside her thoug thoughts hts as she hugged him tighter, clinging onto him for dear life…

“Max …  M  Max  ax …  n  ngh gh … ”  he moaned moaned against against her ear, his warm breath hitting her earlobes. Max pulled away as she opened up her eyes to look at him. So beautiful, she thought.  To think such a specimen would look at her with such desire, filling every crevice of her body with want and satisfaction… Staring at her as if she was the only one for him.  The floodgates opened as he filled her as promised and Max felt like crying. ***  The cackle of the fire as it danced on the wood, and the rattling sound woke Max up from her slumb slumber. er. Before she knew it, the day www.asianovel.com

 

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had ended, and now it was dark outside. She blinked blinked a few times, her eyes adjus adjusting ting,, before before she pulled pulled herself up as quick as she could when she spotted him. Riftan stood in front front of the firepl fireplace ace,, his gaze traine trained d int intens ensely ely ont onto o the burning burning logs. Despite her efforts, her legs were stubborn, unmoved as the strength from her body left her. She let out a soft groan in protest, when Riftan quickly spun around to see her trying to get up. He must’ve heard her. He was already dressed dressed comfortabl comfortably, y, a black tunic with wet spots all over, indicating he had taken a bath shortly before.

“You’re quite the light sleeper, aren’t you?”  he told her, his eyes glinted with amusement amusement as he let out a low chuckle. Max shook the sleep away from her mind. “I di-didn’t e-even know you washed up.” She told him, and he hummed at her, suddenly walking towards her. “ I w a n te t e d t o w ai a i t u n t il i l y ou o u w ok o k e u p t o t ak a k e a b at at h together, toget her, but I needed needed to ask some questions.” questions.”  He informed informed her, planting planting a soft kiss on her bare shoulder shoulder blades. She felt her cheeks flush, as she looked up at him with nervousness.

“So, you in-interrogated in-interrogated them?” “Yes.”  H  He e sighed as he stared back to the fire, “I even summ su mmon oned ed the the cler clergy gy to veri verify fy on of thei theirr stat status us.” .” “So there’s, he was re-really an a-aristocrat..?” she asked, as Riftan grew silent.  The frown he gave her for her question question made her tens tense e up.

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Why was she asking so carefully?

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Chapter 82 Source: wordexcerpt

Riftan answered in a slightly disconcerted tone, “That’s right. He was a nobleman from Libadon.” Max suddenly felt faint with Riftan’s confirmation. Did I do something somethin g wrong again? There was a nagging suspicion alight in her mind min d tha thatt perhap perhapss things things wouldn’t wouldn’t hav have e gon gone e ast astray ray had she acquie acq uiesce sced d to the man’s man’s dem demand andss and offe offered red him a pea peacef ceful ul entry entry to Anatol… Seem Se emin ingl gly y se sens nsin ing g th the e wor worrie riess fr from om her her scru scrunc nche hed d fac face, e, he replac repl aced ed his his hand handss towa toward rdss her her dish dishev evel eled ed hair hair,, curl curlin ing g his his finge fingers rs around her locks carefully before pushing her to him so he could place a chaste kiss on her cheeks. It was a gesture meant to comfort her anxiety. He then proceeded to vanquish any sort of overthinking overthinking in her,

“But he wasn’t a feudal lord as he claimed. He was only the son. He wasn’t too favorable favorable of his father choosing choosing his half  brother brot her as the successor successor to the family. family. Lo and behold, behold, he stole his family treasure and escaped with it to Whedon.” Riftan softly unbundled the knots in her fiery mane as he continued, “He’s been wandering around the country with the knights who followed him, and then caught a whiff of a rumor  that I seized rare treasures from the dragon expedition.” Max’s eyes widened at this informatio information. n. “Then… di-did he came here to hu-hurt Riftan?” she replied in a worried tone. When Wh en this thismomentarily. qu quest estion ion reache reaFor ched da his ears, ear s, the fing fingers ersonly playin playing g wit with her locks froze moment arily. while, while , his gaze was trailed traile d hupon her in scrutiny –  but very much out of fascination. Max found his www.asianovel.com

 

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steady gaze bewildering and almost retreated from his touch when he suddenly burst into laughter.

“He’s not that insane.”  He said, a small smile on his lips, “He  just never thought t hought I’d cross c ross the land l and from f rom Drakium to Anatol  in eight mere days. He got his timing wrong, it was far off.” Come to think of it, Max did remember Ruth telling her that Riftan would be able to shorten the travel travel from 15 to 10 days should he hurry. For him to be able to curtail that to two more days – he must have been traveling in great haste.

“Or … was it I who got the timing well? Had I been a day or  two late…  it would have been terrible …”  His words suddenly tr trai aile led d off as he went went deep deep in th thou ough ght. t. “H “He e ha had d thre three e men men with with him that were were hig high-ra h-rankin nking g knights knights.. Rob Midahas Midahas himsel himself  f  wielded a powerful magic device. It would have been difficult  –  mayb  maybe e even even imposs impossibl ible e –  to stop stop his hi s troo tr oops ps with with the th e remaining soldiers in Anatol.” “Ma-magic…  tools?”  Max asked asked wit with h some some uncert uncertain ainly. ly. The realm of magic and their nuances still came as a strange existence and knowledge to her. “It was the family family heirlo heirloom om that he stole. stole. A magic magic tool  capable a high level flame turned  the gateof toconjuring cinders.” At the memory of thespell. blownIt’s off what gate, his face suddenly hardened. “With “Wit h Remd Remdra rago gon n out out of the the terr te rrit itor ory, y, he migh mightt have have thought he probably had the chance of winning. In fact, it  would have been a struggle to locate him had he robbed our  vaults vaul ts and fled to Libadon Libadon by the time I got here.” He growl growled ed in anger at the thought, like an awakened beast ready to fight. Seeing him become more heated, Max anxiously grasped his arm. While she knew his fury was with reason, there still lies the fact that www.asianovel.com

 

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he wouldn wouldn’t ’t be abl able e to avo avoid id damagi damaging ng conflic conflictt sho should uld he reckle recklessl ssly y harm someone someone of nobility nobility.. Even if that said noble did someth something ing senseless. When Riftan looked down and caught sight of her anxious eyes, he only smiled bitterly, apparently aware of this fact as well.

“I was meant to cut his head off and hang it on the wall. An exampl exa mple e for those who want want to invade invade our walls. walls. But …  i  it  t  truly would be devastating to engage in a war.” Max knew Riftan Riftan was stubborn stubborn to his roots, therefore therefore when she heard the man speak of a compromising tone, she was quite taken aback. “The-then…?”

“At the break of dawn tomorrow, tomorrow, I will be contacting contacting his father. And then I’m going to yell at him to discipline his child  after I tell him to compensate for the damage.” Faced with an answer that spoke of little violence, saved, possibly, for some minor minor cus cussin sing, g, Max sighed sighed in relief relief.. Rif Riftan tan was qui quite te satisfied with the idea, even more so seeing that his wife was conten con tented ted with with it. Fin Finall ally, y, finding finding a conclu conclusio sion n to the dre dreary ary mat matter ter,, he began to move his lips to her shoulders, placing soft kisses on her skin ski n as a small small smile smile for formed med on his lips. His kisses kisses tantaliz tantalizing ingly ly moved towards her decolletage and then to aher warming cheeks, as he moved closer to her Max could smell fragrant scent fromand his damp hair. Suddenly, Ruth’s words came to mind, that of him telling her Riftan would probably pout if he urged him to use scented soap to be more satisfacto satis factory ry in the Madam’s eyes. She could couldn’t n’t help the laugh that bubbled bubbl ed out from her chest. This, in turn, prompted a curiou curiouss look from the oblivious watcher.

“Why are you laughing?”

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“Well, the, the scent of ro-roses… from yo-your hair …” she frankly began causing a faint blush to cross his cheeks. “I only thought.. you’d like it more if it smells good …” Watching him smoot Watching smooth h his wet locks hurriedly hurriedly in embarrassm embarrassment, ent, Max felt heart tighten. It was only some time ago when she first met him. Back then, then, with his menacing menacing words and tower towering ing figure, she had surmised surmised he would be as fierce as her father –  i  iff not, even worse…  Y  Ye et she never thought it actually would be the polar opposite. A man that was unlike his external appearance could be so kind to a fault… And she never thought she would now find him so lovely, this husban sband d of hers hers wh whom om she had had been een so afra afraid id of once once..

“U m …  am I not manl “Um manly y en enoug ough?” h?”  he suddenly murmured, breaking her off from her trail of thoughts. As he sniffed the lingering scent of soap on his body, something compell compelled ed Max to slowly rose despite her drowsy body and softly press her lips over his cheeks. At the soft touch, his reaction was instantaneous: body hardening like a stone. Realizing her brazen actions, her head felt faint as a searing blush crept to her face. Yet she was resilient on placing one more kiss at the tip of his chin – she might as well go all the way.

“Oh, no. It-it “Oh, It-it smells smells go-goo go-good. d. And Riftan Riftan,, yo-you yo-you are… always manly.” Riftan Rift an,, who who ha had d be been en st stru ruc ck sil ilen entt al alll alon along g fin final ally ly utte ttered, red, “ … Then hen I’ I’ll ll use use thi this soap oap for for the the res rest of my life ife.” Apologies Apologi es for the late updates. updates. My health hasn’t been good these days so I had take brea k. Will post theers rema remainin chapters chapter s some so meti time me th this istowe week ek a Ibreak. ho hope pe thes these e ch chapt apter s were weining re g en enoug ough h to satisfy you all from the drought… www.asianovel.com

 

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 This Week’s Releases Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][    ][    ] Last Week’s Releases: [   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ] If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  If you want to support your translators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 83 Source: wordexcerpt

 The next moment his lips were on hers as his his hands snaked around her waist to pull her flush against his chest. Something tingled inside herr as he gent he ge ntly ly care ca ress ssed ed her he r sof so f t mo moun unds ds in ar ardo dor. r. At the th e unexpec une xpected ted way her body reacted to his touch, touch, Max bega began n to slip from his grasp in embarrassment.

“Oh, you, you already …”  she tried to fumble for words and ultimately ended up gesturing to his damp hair as if trying to say she didn’t want to mess it up. “What are you talking talking about?”  His gaze inten intensely sely bored into her, leavi her, leaving ng her her no roo room m for escape escape fr from om his his cl clut utch ches es.. “You seduced me first.”  T h e l a t t e r o n l y w i d e n e d h e r e y e s a t t h i s . “ No  Th N o - no n o t s eeseduce…no…” Indeed Inde ed,, sh she e had had ki kiss ssed ed him him bo bold ldly ly –  a fir firsst of her hers –  ye  yett sh she e ha had d done it out from the sweetness that sprung from inside her… though it necessarily necessarily didn’t mean she wanted wanted to pull him back under the covers! Yet it seemed her futile reasoning was only drowned by his intense affection for her. One that she felt lost in the more she dwel dw elle led d on it it.. His top was suddenly suddenly off, and his naked, beautifully beautifully sculpted sculpted torso decade dec adentl ntly y shined shined in the light, light, bri bringi nging ng a thr thrill ill to her blood. blood. He rushed at her without  another second, encasing her lips in a hard kiss, rough and desperate.

“You’ve earnedher it yourself,  Hestrength. whispered like a drunken man as he pushed under him Maxi.” with little www.asianovel.com

 

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Only his voice, like a sickeningly sweet bass, rang out through her ears as the hours burned. Like a succubus, he drained the strength out from her body in fervor – she was only his and he was only hers.  The satisfaction of their joint bodies bodies was much greater than the initial initial pain and she eventually succumbed to his persuasion and needs, her arms locked against his neck as the night gently cradled them to a world only theirs. ***  The next n ext day, d ay, Max woke up only on ly a after fter midday. As pe perr rou routine, tine, she washed and dressed with the help of a maid. Despite having stayed up all night, Riftan was already gone as soon as dawn broke, having went out to deal with the intr intruder uders. s. Having remembered remembered he had traveled a long way, she felt sorry he wasn’t able to rest properly.

“Madam, are you uncomfortable anywhere …  ?”  Rudis, who was diligently brushing her tangled locks, asked in a worried tone, a hint of anger on the maid’s usually cool face. Max immediately shook her head. “Oh, no… I’m-I’m all right.” “The wizard wizard said he’d take care of the wound …”  The maid persisted pers isted,, concern concern becoming more evid evident ent on her face, “Shou “Should ld I bring him in right now?” “Oh, it’s ju-just a slight injury … it’s no-nothing.”  Th e olde  The ol derr woma wo man n was wa s curr cu rren entl tly y fuss fu ssin ing g ov over er a wo woun und d she sh e ha had d gained from the battlefield – yet to Max, it was merely a little scratch on her leg when she fell. Max shifted her eyes down, touching the fresh wound from yesterday that stretched on her shin. Compared to this meager wound, the guard ards must have suffered more severe injuries from the enemies’ sword. She shook her head fervently, not wanting to fuss with such a little scratch.

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“It’s o-okay, you do- don’t have to do ….” “Oh, no. It could become a scar later on….” Rudis, who rarely spoke strongly, strongly, soon clamped her mouth shut, thinking her attitude was becoming presumptuous ous. After some ome time, she finally said, “The “T hen, n, I’ I’ll ll get get some some oint ointme ment nt.” .” “Wi-will you?” Max answered back, feeling apprehensive at the thought of a scar formin for ming. g. Rudis Rudis hurr hurried iedly ly went out from the room and came back bringing a round bottle of medicine and some clean bandages. While it wasn’t a wound that required bandage bandages, s, Max obedi obediently ently applied the medicine under Rudis’ insistence insistence and wrapped it with the clean cloth to prevent it from being contaminated.

“Tha-thank you,” she softly said after the ordeal was done.  The maid straightene strai ghtened d up, brushing brushi ng her skirt straight. strai ght. “I’ll bring the meal to your room.”

“Oh, no. I’ll e-eat at the ha-hall and do the re-rest of things I didn’t do ye-yesterday …” “The Lor “The Lord d told told me to let you stay stay in the room and rest  rest  today.” An awkward looked crossed Max face at Rudis’ words. While it was true she was quit quite e weary from the seve several ral rounds of love-makin love-making g they did throughout the night …  it wasn’t to the point where she wanted to just curl up and let the day pass. Besides, didn’t she only wake up at noon? She didn’t want to be stuck around doing nothing in the room, and alone, while he was already out and working without proper rest. …

“I-I’m a she little surprised surprised from ye-yesterday ye-yesterdays’ s’ fuss but   I’m not sick,” began. www.asianovel.com

 

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“But the lord told me….” “I-I will tell hi-him.” With her stubborn stubborn firmness, firmness, Rudis no longer longer refut refuted ed and answered with a quiet nod. Max then left the room with a thick thick shawl draped around aro und her sho should ulders ers to shiel shield d hersel herselff from from the chi chilly lly aftern afternoon oon breeze that was even pouring in from her open shutters. She walked down do wn th the e ha hall llway way,, swee sweepi ping ng her her si sigh ghts ts down down the the clea clean, n, newl newly y washed window frames and laid out carpets.

“B-By the way … Di-did Riftan say so-something about.. the ca-castle?” At the questi question, on, Rud Rudis is bec became ame emb embarr arrass assed. ed. She hesita hesitantl ntly y repl re plie ied, d, “He couldn’t afford to look around because of the

commotion commot ion yesterda yesterday.” y.” “Ah… ye-yes.” “However, the knights were stunned.”  Rudis added hurriedly as soon as Max looked dejected. There was an unusually bright smile on the face of the taciturn maid. “They arrived “They arrived at the Great Great Hall Hall for dinner dinner late into the nightt yesterd nigh yesterday, ay, and the first time they arrived at the castle, they praised it for the astounding changes.” Max perked up hearing this. “Re-really?” Rudis nodded again at her query. Rudis query. The They y the then n steppe stepped d down the stairs though the hallway, Max footsteps bouncing with every footfall. As soon as she appear appeared, ed, the maids maids cleanin cleaning g the hall’s windows windows would straighten up and bow politely towards her. When she When she finally finally entere entered d the hal halll aft after er exc exchan hangin ging g gre greeti etings ngs wit with h the other servants, servants, Ruth and three of the Remdragon Remdragon knights, knights, who were eating, raised their heads towards her. Fixed with their gazes, www.asianovel.com

 

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Max suddenly halted where she stood. Unless it was a special day, the knights usually ate their breakfast and lunch at the hall as accommod accommodated ated by the castl castle. e. It was the first time she had encountered them without Riftan by her side, therefore her eyes flitted to and fro, uncertain with her next action.

“Are you all right? You fell pretty bad yesterday.” Ruth broke the awkward silence that lingered in the hall. His hair was disheveled, as if he had just woken up from sleep as usual. He yawned, ignorant of the tension in the room and looked Max up and down. “I thought you’d broken bones since Lord Calypse was acting so desperate desperate towards me. But it looks like you’re all  intact.”

“ …  It-it’s only a li-little li-little scra-scratch,” she muttered softly in return. “I thought so.”  He flatly flatly replie replied d and pull pulled ed out the chair chair next next to him. “Sit down first. Bring the madam her lunch too,”  he then gestured gestur ed to the servants, the latter bowing without another second thought. Max cast a quick glance at the face of other knight knights, s, which didn’t betray a trace of their emotion emotions, s, and resignedly sat herself down in front of the table. It seemed too awkward and improper to just leave.  Yet even when she was already alre ady seated, sea ted, uncomfor unco mfortabl table e sile silence nce stil stilll prevailed prev ailed.. Max waited impatiently impatiently for the meal to come, and when she couldn’t stand the silence, she finally opened her mouth.

“Whe-where is Riftan…?” “Lord Calypse Calypse is outside outside repairing repairing the gate. gate. He called in blacksmi blac ksmiths ths and engineer engineers s to hang steel doors this time.” Ruth grumbled, ripping the bread in half and placed it grumpily inside his mouth. www.asianovel.com

 

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“It seems that he wants a defensive barrier to be set up. He’s He’ s alread already y a man maniac iac with defens defenses es and now that darn nobleman just had to turn the gate into ashes and make him more jittery that he already is.” “It-it’s good to be sa-safe.” Max deli delibe berat ratel ely y re repl plie ied d in a li live vely ly voice voice,, reli relieve eved d to hav have e someth som ething ing to tal talk k about. about. Rut Ruth, h, how howeve ever, r, mer merely ely frowne frowned d and exclaimed as if such request would drain the life out of him.

“From now on, I’ll probably break my bones just to deliver  his request.”  Jus t in time,  Just tim e, the maid mai d cam came e in bringin brin ging g soup wit with h chicken, chic ken, salad sal ad and freshly baked bread and placed them on the table. Max’s eyes bulged at the appetizing scent of the warm soup that wafted into her nose.. She didn’t know exac nose exactly tly how magic magic tools were created created,, but from the wizard’s wizard’s grumbles, grumbles, she surmised surmised it must be daunting daunting and troublesome. Ruth grabbed grabbed his head and continu continued ed to moan throug throughout hout their meal. Then, as if a brilliant light bulb hit him, he raised his head and asked ask ed Max, “C “Come ome to thin think k of it, it, you you can can do basi basic c math math,, Madam, can’t you?”

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Chapter 84 Source: wordexcerpt

Max swallowed abruptly that the food almost went down the wrong pipe. The man before her stared at her with a peculiar gleam coming from his blue-gray eyes, which until now, have always seemed to be full of sleepiness. Cold sweat started to break out on Max’ forehead. If she says she could not do it, the then n it wil willl seem as if she was willing will ing to be consider considered ed as a fool in front of the knig knights hts who have been ignoring her as if she were a complete stranger to them and unworthy unwort hy of their time. If she says she can do it, however, she feels that her future here will be full of hardships. Max could not decide on either courses of actions as both seemed equally equ ally grim, so she inste instead ad decided to avoid his eyes and hope hoped d they would change the topic by pretendin pretending g to be distr distracted acted by the soup she was eating. However, Ruth reached out and blocked her view of the food. At that moment she was w as caught again as his slender eyes pierced hers.

“ … Is it okay to pay back like this?” “I-I’m not good enough “I-I’m enough to help you…”  Max truthfully confided to him. “I know. I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t a situation that I could handle on my own.” He responded as he looked down. Max felt a faint desire to help him, seeing the wizard look so pitiful before befo re her. As she looked at him with forlorn eyes, it was as if he sensed her stares and looked at her then too. Having been caught, Max straightened her back and feigned indifference. www.asianovel.com

 

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“You haven’t forgotten that I helped you both materially  and spiritually, have you?”  The wizard suddenly spoke and Max placed her spoon down. “N-No. But I really can’t …”  Max started to protest –  she could not help him even if she wanted to. Not only did she lack the ability to, but she also doesn’t doesn’t know what kind of hell she would have to face if she was going to do so. The wizard’s fastidiousness was truly unusual unu sual,, and quite alarming. alarming. Max avoided looking at the wizard’ wizard’ss face, while Ruth moved closer to her like a leech.

“ Al A l l y ou o u n ee e e d t o d o i s org or g an a n iz i z e s iimp mpll e r ec e c or o r ds d s a nd nd   calculations. It’s a very easy thing to do, even for you.”  The wizard told her and Max sighed. “Hey, wizard …  Don’t go too far. It’s disrespectful to the madam.”  The knight with them, who was pretending not to hear any of their conversation and was only interested in eating, finally joined in. Ma x th Max thou ough ghtt that that if she she re reff u use sed d th the e wi wiza zard rd,, sh she e wo woul uld d be condemned as an ungrateful person and would hear this snarky label whenever when ever she encountered encountered him. She was sure that was what this eccentric wizard would do to her if she refused him. Moreover, she thought that sooner or later she would have to bite the bullet and would not be able to avoid it forever. forever. Out of her wits, she finally responded with a nod and the frown on Ruth’s face turned upside upsid e down upon seeing this. He then reached out to take some of  his potatoes and deposited those on her plate as a sign of goodwill.

“I won’t forget this grace.” The wizard told her gratefully. Max answered him with a tight lipped smile. “ …  You guys must have gotten quite close to each other  other  during the times you have spent together.”  Hebaron, the bulky www.asianovel.com

 

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knight knig ht who was sti still ll lis listen tenin ing g to th their eir con conver versat sation ion,, sudd suddenl enly y remarked. remark ed. He then reached out to scratch the back of his head as if  waiting for the implication of his words to sink in. Max hesitated and answered carefully and turned to address Hebaron.

“H-He gave me advice on decorating the castle.” “Aha…”  Hebaron responded responded almost fumbli fumblingly ngly as he took a big bite bi te off the the brea bread d and and gave gave them them a thou though ghtf tful ul look look.. Max Max di dism smis isse sed d herr anxiou he anxiouss thoug thoughts hts at Heb Hebaro aron’s n’s almost almost noncha nonchalan lantt att attitu itude de towar owards ds her and and tri tried to finis finish h her meal meal in peac peace. e. Bu Butt th the e sil ilen ence ce surrounding them was once again broken when Hebaron spoke up. “The castle has become quite pleasing to look at.”  He told them, and Max laiborously swallowed her food before responding. “Ah… Th-Thank you.”  The man flitted his eyes around the room as if trying to take in the view. His deliberate acts of scrutiny looked awkward to Max, and she too was starting to feel uncomfortable with him. It’s been a long time since Max and Hebaron knew of each other, but even so, they had neverr formally neve formally exch exchanged anged introduction introductionss and only ever seen each other in passing. Max did not feel comfortab comfortable le to talk with Hebaron so casually – they were still strangers strangers after all, so Max decided decided to just follow his gaze ga ze as he st stil illl looked looked around around the the roo room. m. For some time time they they remained in an agonizing silence. Soon, the knights who had finished eating eati ng their food had begu begun n to leav leave e thei theirr seat seats, s, one by one they came before her and bowed their heads in respect, respect, then departed departed from the restaurant. Max looked down on her soup bowl, it seem seemss to her, the food looked rather sad.

“The “T he Remd Remdra rago gon n Knig Knight hts s we were re unfa unfair ir.. Even Even with with that  that  www.asianovel.com

 

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attitude, I could not help but think.” Max was startled by Ruth’s attitude, declaration and turned to look at the latter. Ruth seemed to not have notice not iced d this this and con contin tinued ued the speech speech in a sour sour manner manner,, while while dipping the bread in the thick soup. “This expedition was the opportunity to throw the weight  of the Remdragon Knights across the continent if the result  was favorable favorable,, but had it erred erred on the opposite opposite site, site, they  would have taken a devastating blow to their pride.” Ruth’s eyes then clouded, as if he were currently trapped in some place far away. “The Red Dragon was that terrifying. Three or  four knights would have been killed without Lord Calypse. In fact, there are those who were very close to death back then. One of them was Lord Calypse himself, himself, as he fought on the front lines and crossed paths with death several times.” Max bega Max began n to stiff stiffen en desp despit ite e Ruth Ruth’s ’s calm calm and and mono monoto tono nous us voic voice, e, as if he were telling only a trivial story.

“The Duke Croix has passed on such a difficult and   danger dan gerous ous expedi expeditio tion n to Lord Lord Calypse Calypse.. Even Even the daught daughter  er  didn’t do the least to defend her husband, who had been  pushed to death death on behalf of her father father.” .” “I-I was…!” Max begun to protest but Ruth spoke out. “That’s what the knights who followed Lord Calypse have been always thinking thinking.” .”  Ruth placed his spoon spoon down and talked talked with an expressionless face. Max just let her lip quiver in response. She wanted to argue that it was she who was thrown out. And it was her that had been ignored all this time by them. The man took her by force, force, and then left her without saying anything. She even thought before that he didn’t want nor cared for her at all.

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What could she have done? Why was the blame always placed on her shoulders?  Thank you for everyone’s patience. I have finally cleared my tasks for this month and DIS, OAK, RCM will now foll follow ow a schedu schedule. le. If  something somet hing comes comes up and I am not able able to post at that that particular particular time frame, I will be sure to tell you readers. Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 12 – 1 PM, GMT)  T h i s W e e k ’ s R e l e a s e s :   [[  Th Releases: [][][][]  [][][][]

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If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  If you want to support your translators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 85 Source: wordexcerpt

But soon, self consciousness sinked in and she was well aware that could be only an excuse. Max however, could not say a word and she felt her face grow white by the second.

“I-I didn’t know he was going to take me to the castle,” Max whispered as if it was an afterthought. “The knights who went to the Castle Croix to take you were treated badly.” Ruth told her in his still dull tone, as she uttered in a faint voice. “I-I haven’t h-heard.” “Didn’t you think that you would come to Anatol with the “Didn’t knights of Croix?” Ruth asked her, the intensity of his voice making her flinch. She couldn’t say that there were no one to accompany her on that  journey, nor could she deny that her father would not allow for her to travel a long way there. Max could not even argue with him that even the idea of visiting her husband was impossible for her. In the end, she couldn’t find anything to say that would seem reasonable to him, and something something he would accep accept, t, so, she shook her head instead. Ruth shrugged beside beside her as if the issue was of no consequence.

“There’s no point in looking back on what’s already gone. No matter how the knights treated you, the fact that you are the wife wife of Lord Lord Calyps Calypse e remain remains s unchang unchanged. ed. Don’t min mind  d  what they do or say unless they become too rude,” Ruth told her and Max meekly nodded. www.asianovel.com

 

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Whether it was an act meant to provid Whether provide e Max comfort or to furthe furtherr irate her, the wizard had already stood up from his seat and said his parting words.

“Then, I believe you’ll come to the library to help me soon.” He tol told d her, her, and Max res respon ponded ded by noddin nodding g fee feebly bly at his indiff indiffere erent nt attitude. With that, the wizard paid his respects and went out of the great hall while stretching his shoulders. Max remained behind, as slowly the others began to file out of the room, soon leaving her alone in the room. By now her soup had already gone cold and unappetizing but Max stilll stirred stil stirred it aimless aimlessly, ly, round and round the bowl in an unendin unending g circle. She felt like she was in a very lonely and anxious situation with no way out. Maybe oth Maybe other er pe peopl ople e were were feeli feeling ng th the e same same way as sh she e was. was. Perhaps her reputation as the wife, who had pushed promising knights to their deaths and caused faithful allies to turn away from her husband, husband, was what she will forever be known as, and now, Max thought thou ght that they might be thin thinkin king g of her only as a pampered pampered mistress now that she was showered with Riftan’s riches. Her mind thenman went back Rob to the time wherein she was blatantly ridiculed by the named Midahas in front of the gate, and in front of her own people… this memory still served to break even the slight sli ghtest est confidenc confidence e she has manage managed d to bui build ld up ove overr the past few weeks. Everything had faltered badly in one instance. Would Anat Would Anatol’s ol’s residents residents be proud proud of thei theirr host hostess ess who showed showed such a pathetic face? She couldn’t stand the melancholy melancholy feelings inside her heart any long onger an and d Max final finally ly ga gave ve up an and d stop toppe ped d ea eati ting ng her food food.. She turn tu rned ed to leav leave e and and went went out out of th the e rest restau aura rant nt in si sile lenc nce. e. www.asianovel.com

 

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“Madam!”  Max turned around to look at the source of the voice. Perhaps her precarious mood was too much that Rodrigo was able to spot her walking across the hall. His polite voice came to greet her from behind, and so she stopped walking and waited for the older man to come close to her. Rodrigo was walking through the gate with a large box in his arms.

“The Lord Lord has commande commanded d me to ask you that you go to him,” he then told her while shifting the box in his hands. Max looked at him in surprise surprise.. “I-I heard he went to the north gate.”

“H e just “He just came came back back and is now in the the gard gardee-” ”  Rodrigo responded. Max started to run out of the door before his words were over. As she passed the pavilion and stood in front of the stairs, she saw the servants servan ts busily carrying luggage in the spacious garden. Her eyes sudd su dden enly ly wi wide dene ned d at the the si sigh ghtt:  th  there was a huge cart led by five horses hor ses,, and the ser servan vants ts were were consta constantl ntly y tak takin ing g out small small box boxes es off  of it and were carrying them into the castle in delicate movements. Max passed by them and went down the stairs gingerly. In front of  the wagon, wagon, Rift Riftan an stood talking with two men who seemed seemed to be merchan mer chants ts from the Sout South h Contine Continent. nt. He turned turned his head towards towards Max when he spotted her.

“Maxi.”  He greeted her and Max tried to give him her best smile in reply. She then quickly hurried towards him, like a puppy called by its master mas ter.. Riftan Riftan smi smiled led faintly faintly and took the horse rein fro from m the merchant merc hant and slightly slightly pulled it forwa forward. rd. The mare, so breathtak breathtaking ing that it enchanted the people around, began to walk forward, slowly but gracefully. Finally, Riftan and Max met halfway. www.asianovel.com

 

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“Here.”  Riftan told Max as he gently patted the long, graceful neck of the the hor orsse an and d pr proff offe ered red its rein rein.. Max’ Max’ss eye yess we were re blan blank kly star st arin ing g at the the crea creatu ture re,, un unab able le to read read his his prop propos osal al.. “Don’t you like it?” He asked her again in a slight teasing tone. “E-Excuse me?”  Max replied as she didn’t underst understand and what he meant. He instead, grabbed her hand and forcibly let her hold the rein. “I said I’ll buy a gift for you when I come back, didn’t I?” Riftan reminded her. Max glanced glanced at his calm face and then at the meek hors horse. e. He pulled her out of her dazed look and led her to touch the horse’s face. She timidly stroked the golden mane with a trembling hand and in response response to her touch, the mare gently rubbed her nose in her palm.

“All of my horses “All horses are big and ferocious, ferocious, so I don’t don’t think  they’ll suit you. This mare is still young but well trained. So it  won’t be hard to handle her.” Riftan told her as he noticed Max warming up to the horse. “S-so pretty..…” Max breathed, and Riftan smiled contentedly at her reaction. “Now it’s yours.” Riftan declared. “I-I’ve never s-seen…. such a wo-wonderful g-gift.” Max told him.  The mare ma re rubbed ru bbed iits ts face fac e in the pa palm lm o off her hand with a charming pout. pou t. Max mildly mildly stroke stroked d its mouth and nos nose e and gazed at the wonderful gift he had given to her once again. The long slender legs and an d wa wais ist, t, mare. rich rich gold go lden en ma mane ne,,body an and d shape cl clev ever erand bl blac ack k eyes eyes we re that th the e picturesque The balanced glossy fur were show it is of an excellent breed. www.asianovel.com

 

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“C-can I take it …? Really?” Max excitedly asked. “I said it’s yours.” Riftan assured her and he replied with a slight frow frown. n. “No one but you can ride on such a fine fellow.”  He added.  The hor horse se squ squirt irted ed its breath bre ath vi vigor gorou ously sly as if it had unders und erstoo tood d their exchange. Max laughed and stroked its ears.

“Do you like it?”  Riftan asked, tilting his head and looking down at her. “I l-love it.”  Max replied. But to be honest she had more than a mere liking towards the horse and so Max decided to give her answer carefully. “I re-really re-really a-apprecia a-appreciate te it …  I-I really do.”  Max excla exclaimed imed after cleari after clearing ng her tre trembl mbling ing voice voice tha thatt was filled filled wit with h emotio emotions, ns, she had wanted to speak more confidently about how much she apprec app reciat iated ed the gift. gift.

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Chapter 86 Source: wordexcerpt

“Thank you so much “Thank much.” .”  Max repeated repeated,, and as soon soon as those words escaped escaped her lips, 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 instinctively took a step back. Riftan on his part acted as if nothing had happened and begun to casually casually address the merchants around them, as if he had not just kissed his wife in front of the party.

“My wife se seem ems s hap happy py.. I’ll I’ll give give you you an addi additio tional nal 50  percent as a token of o f gratitude. I thought it would take you a day or two more for you to delive deliverr it, but it arrived arrived earlier  earlier  than expected. expected. Therefore, Therefore, I also thank you for hurrying up.” Riftan told the merchants, 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 request as soon soo n as possib possible, le, it is only natura naturall for us to satisf satisfy y our  clients!” One of the merchants told Riftan. Max listened listened to their their sma small ll exchan exchange ge whi while le hid hiding ing her red face behind the horse’s neck. She fel feltt emb embarr arrass assed ed becaus because e of the way Riftan Riftan noncha nonchalan lantly tly exp xpre resssed sed affec affecti tion on towar owards ds her her in fro ron nt of so man any y peo eop ple le.. Ma Max x 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. Aft fte er some ome ti time me,, Ri Rift ftan an fin final allly end nded ed his co con nver versa sati tion on with with th the e www.asianovel.com

 

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merchants and the latter turned to leave. Just as they had begun to merchants pack up and leave, leave, Riftan approached 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 servan “All servants ts are carrying 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 here were were ro rou ugh ghly ly en enou oug gh bo boxe xess to fil filll one one of the the cas astl tle’ e’ss gue uest st rooms.

“I told them to move it to the room. So let us go in now.” Riftan Rifta n whispered whispered to Max’s ear as he handed 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 walking on clouds. clouds. She could couldn’t n’t believe she felt so depressed depressed and anxious anxious a whil while e ago, it was as if thos those e worries vanished because of Riftan’s arrival.

“So, be-be “So, be-becau cause se of the gate gate re-re re-repai pair  r …  are  aren’t n’t you bubusy?” 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, completed, so there won’t be any intruders coming into the compound and making a disturbance disturbance even if I don’t  stand guard.”  Rifta  Riftan n told her and Max bit her tongue tongue to prev prevent ent herself from responding. www.asianovel.com

 

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 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 concer n that since Riftan had only a bit of free time, she might be distu di sturbi rbing ng hi him m in the midst of his his bu busy sy sc sched hedul ule. e. Max how howeve everr decided not to correct his understanding of her question. The two of  them continued continued to climb in comfortable comfortable silenc silence e until they arrived at the newly structured hallway she had been working on.  The sunlight came pouring in from fro m the windows and was sprinkling sprink ling beautiful beauti ful 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 complimented you on the fact that the castle has become very very nice since you redeco red ecorat rated ed it. The butler butler said you went went throug through h 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 surprised whe when n 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 woworried.”  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 ‘By the way, the “Yesterday castle has gotten so nice, you’ve done a great job’ in the midst of my anger. In the first place, the one that caught my  attentio atte ntion n was seei seeing ng my wife in that mes mess. s. Do you think I would have seen the state of the castle at that time? Even if  you yo u had had plate plated d gold gold all over the castle castle,, I would wouldn’t n’t have www.asianovel.com

 

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noticed any of it, not at that moment.”  Riftan explained with his brows deeply furrowed and Max dropped her gaze, wondering wondering what to do now that he looke looked d 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 anymo anymore, re, so don’t don’t bring bring it up. Let’s go see your presents now.”  Riftan told her gently with a smile mile and and Ma Max x nodd odded he herr head ead in unders dersttand andin ing g as th the ey 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 standing guard at the corne cornerr and was supervi supervising sing the servan ser vants ts carefu carefully lly.. She kept her eyes locked locked on them them and was making sure they did not drop the boxes, while throwing constant reminders to be careful with them. Finally, Finall y, one of the maids maids saw Max and Rfitan and hur hurrie riedly dly bowed her head when she saw them. The rest of the servants followed suit and greet greeted ed them them.. Afte Afterr exchangin exchanging g pleas pleasantri antries, es, Rfitan appro approache ached d 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 sta stayed yed at the the si sidel delin ine e and sta stared red blank blankly ly at the endl endless ess pouring of gifts that was happening in front of her. From the Southern Southern Continent, Continent, Riftan bought her high quality silk and glamorous glamorous pattern pattern fabric fabrics. s. The There re was also glossy glossy fox fur, fur, a www.asianovel.com

 

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waistband made of snake skin, a gold threaded shawl, silver hand mirror, and a hairpin decorated with pearls..  The piles of gifts gifts reminded Max of those that Rosetta had had received. She recalled recalled seeing seeing Rosetta Rosetta buried buried in a luxu luxuriou riouss gift countless countless times, but it was the first time she found herself experiencing it. Max reminded herself to remain calm.

“Is this “Is this all all my prepre-pr pres esen ents ts?” ?”  M  Max ax as aske ked d Rfi Rfittan an,, he herr mou outh th sl slig ight htly ly tr trem embl bled ed as sh she e did did so. so. “Why? Do you not like it?” Riftan asked her in a worried tone.  Tw o upda  Two up dates tes fo forr to toda day! y! Also Als o sl sligh ightl tly y ad adjus justed ted time ti me fram fr ame e sin since ce posting takes a lot of time Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 12 – 2 PM, GMT)  Th is Week  This We ek’s ’s Rele Re leas ases es :   [][] [] [][[  [][][][]

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Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 87 Source: wordexcerpt

Max shook her head hurriedly when she saw him frowning. Max’s half-sister didn’t bat an eyelash even after receiving a pile of   jewels. It would be strange stra nge from Riftan and the others o thers to see that the Duke’s Duke ’s favorite daughter daughter would shrivel shrivel at this this.. Max kept her face indifferent and recalled Rosetta’s haughty demeanor.

“N-no. I l-like.. it.”  Max answered simply. Riftan looked relieved at her answer and gestured at one of the servants to open the boxes near them. Max tried to stay reserved reserved like all those wealthy princesse princessess in stories. stori es. However, she could couldn’t n’t stop her mouth from opening opening like a fool each time a new gift was unboxed. As another box was opened, opened, Riftan approached it and took out an emerald hairpin from a jewelry box and carefully inserted it over her ear and completed her look by adorning her neck with a sparkling diamond necklace. Max looked looked down down at the extra extravag vagant ant je jewel welry ry res restin ting g on her her collarbone colla rboness and found herself be lost for words. Riftan pressed pressed his lips on her cheek with a pleased face, he seemed to be liking what he was seeing.

“It suits you well just as I thought.” He told Max proudly. “T-thank you…” Max answered. She muttered these words with a flushed face. Max then gently ran her finge her fingers rs th thro roug ugh h her her ha hair ir in orde orderr to fe feel el the the or orna name ment nt th that at was stuck between her curls. She glanced slightly at the mirror that hung www.asianovel.com

 

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on the the corn corner er wall wall and and look looked ed at he herr re refle flect ctio ion. n. Fo Forr a mo mome ment nt,, sh she e was struck with awkwa awkwardne rdness ss seeing seeing herself herself being adorned by so much jewelry. Riftan was treating her as if she were the most precious royal daughter in the world. It was both pleasant and uncomfortable. To be honest, Max felt like a clown wearing a mask that didn’t fit her.

“Why such a face? You don’t like it?”  Riftan asked her after noticing her somber expression. Max hurriedly straightened her face.

“N-no. It’s “N-no. It’s really really prett pretty. y. Y-y Y-you ou must must have have been been bus busy  y … When Wh en d-di d-did d you you find find the the time time to buy buy aa-al alll thes these e pres presen ents ts?” ?” She asked Riftan and the latter shook his head dismis dismissively sively at her worries.

“You left “You left all the jewelr jewelry y and cloth clothes es you used used in Croix  Croix  Castle because of me. Of course, I have to make time to make it up for you.”  He answered with a grin and Max hurriedly hid her blushing blushi ng face. But the inside of her chest hurt as if there was a thorn in it. “T-thank “T-tha nk you for y-your y-your conside considerat ration ion.” .”  Sh  She e tol told d Ri Rift ftan an sincerely. Riftan seemed Riftan seemed happy with her reaction reaction and told the servan servants ts to organize the presents now that she had seen them all. As he busied with the servants, Max stood behind Riftan trying to erase the strange feeling of guilt from her mind. Especially since she didn’t tell a lie, but even with these thoughts she could not erase the uncomfortable feeling inside of her. Riftan,immediately after confirwent mingout thatot check all ththe e gstate ifts wof erthe e cprisoners. omplete and secured www.asianovel.com

 

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Afterr he left Afte left,, Max Max be bega gan n to fil filll out out an un unfin finis ishe hed d te text xtil ile e or orde derr sh she e wasn’t wasn ’t able to complet complete e due to the distur disturban bance ce yest yesterd erday. ay. Aft After er careful consultation with the maids, she decided to head down to the kitchen kitche n in order to make sure that preser preservation vation of the winter meals was going well. Any castle is bound to be busiest during the times of late fall to early winter. As these were the occasions when temperatures temperatures began to drop drop rapi rapidl dly, y, and and when when it will will beco become me mo more re diffic difficul ultt to ge gett fr fres esh h vegetables.  The price of meat was bound to double or more during this season as well, therefore the kitchen servants had to work without a break in order to prepare long-lasting dried meats, pickled fruits, smoked sausages, and large amounts of flour from the mill, and other stocks in order to prepare food for livestock. Max went to search for Rudis in order to get an update on how the preparation prep arationss were going. Rudis then began discus discussing sing to her what they have been doing.

“In winter, it becomes difficult to find grass for the livestocks, livesto cks, so we slaughter most of them and only keep alive those we could feed. We take the slaughtered cows and pigs from the butcher’ butcher’s s shop shop,, drain drain the blood, trim the guts and  send it to the castle, the meat in the kitchen is smoked and  stored, stor ed, and the intestine intestines s are washed washed clean clean and used to make sausages.” sausages.” Rudis told her as they walked along the kitchens to check on the preparations. Max listened to Rudis’s explanation and looked all around her, she could smell the heavy scent of oil around them. She was used to the kitchen kitc hen being full of bustle and busy staff, but for the last few days it almost looked like a battlefield. On a large table set up on the corner wall, three or four servants were wer e making making sausage sausagess with large basins basins and plat plates es sur surroun roundin ding g www.asianovel.com

 

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them, while while on the other side a large chunk of meat was being cut into small pieces using a saw and a pool of blood was flowing from it.  The smoky smell of fire stung the tip of her nose. Max turned her head away from the direction of o f its source, and pinched the tip of her nose bridge. Outside the wide-open door, she saw four temporary fire pots made of stones. Five or six servants were putting a large wire net on it and smoking a chunk of meat over it. She felt exhausted seeing the enormous amount of meat.

“I have ne-never ne-never seen so much meat be-befor be-before.” e.”  She told Rudis. “We’ve “We’ ve pr prep epar ared ed enou enough gh food food to last la st us for a whil while. e. Howeve How ever, r, we can’t can’t keep keep the smoke smoked d mea meatt for too long, long, so mostt of the neat mos neat things things we have are going to be made made of  dried. Beef jerky is also very useful for the knights when going out on a three or four days expedition.” expedition.” Rudis informed her. “I-is this all g-going to be made into d-dried d-dried meat?”  M  Max ax asked Rudis, eyeing the large pile of freshly slaughtered meat. Max looked curiousl curiously y at the meat hanging hanging on the wall. In the record sheet given by Rudis, the weight of food stored each year and the weight of food to be stored this year were meticulously written. “As the knights return from the expedition, we need to  prepare twice t wice as a s much muc h as we did last year. Actually, A ctually, I should  sho uld  have prepared it before the temperature dropped..”

“D-does it t-take a lot of time?” “The meat should be salted and drained for several days, then the n sliced sliced thinl thinly y and drie dried d in the shade for another another few days. It takes a lot of work.” Rudis replied and Max felt suddenly embarrassed because it seemed that the preparations for winter had www.asianovel.com

 

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been delayed because of the castle decorations she had been doing. Rudis seemed to have sensed Max’ guilt expression and hurriedly added, “Bu “Butt with with more more hands hands,, we’l we’lll be ready ready before before the temperature drops further.”

“I-it is good t-then!”  Max then glanced around the kitchen staff  and noticed that they indeed needed to hire more people.  The sight of the sweaty working servants filled her with worry. It was the role of the hostess to supervise the household of the castle, and based on what she had seen, she knows that the workload of the servants has been enormous. Perhaps she should ask Riftan if he could hire more servants, for in additi add ition on to making making food, food, the servan servants ts of the castle were alr already eady working so hard all day long, working long, maki making ng winter winter clothes clothes for soldier soldiers, s, taking care of livestock, sweeping and polishing the castle that they may not complete their winter preparations.

“T-tomorrow I will a-ask Aderon i-if he can a-arrange the wworkers…”  Max began to tell Rudis, but before she could finish her sentence she heard that there was someone calling out to her. “Madam!”

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Chapter 88 Source: wordexcerpt

Beforre Ma Befo Max x cou could fini finish her her word words, s, a po powe werf rful ul voic voice e cu cutt her off  guard. Max then turned her head at the source of the bustle, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw six knights in training standing standing up next to the meat-grilling stove, their faces were shiny with sweat, but their expressions were lively. Standing at the front of the group was  Yurixion  Yurixi on Lobar. When he saw her, he came running towards towar ds her, his face fa ce wa wass full full of re reli lief ef an and d glad gladne ness ss.. Wh When en Yuri Yurixi xion on was was final finally ly near near her, he hastily asked Max his questions.

“I heard you went through a lot yesterday. Are you hurt  anywhe any where? re? Is it alr alread eady y oka okay y for you to be out like like this? this?   Whe When n we heard what those those jerks jerks have done to you… ! ”  Yurix  Yur ixion ion be began gan ramb ra mblin ling, g, and with wi th each ea ch secon sec ond d his voic vo ice e rose ro se an octave higher, and Max felt grateful for his apparent concern. “I a-am fine…”  Max told the young knight knight in train training. ing. Just as she said this, Yurixion’s best friend Garow, came to stare expectantly at her as well. Garow’s eyes Garow’s eyes spa sparkl rkled ed in ast astoni onishm shment ent at Yur Yurixi ixion’ on’ss incess incessant ant questions, and let out a small sigh at his best friend’s actions.

“Yuri, calm down, “Yuri, down, please please.. You are making making the lady feel  embarrassed.”  Garow told Yurixion. “But Garow…  when I heard what happened I’ve never felt  more sorry for not being knighted yet.”  Yurixion whispered back.  The sulking expression Yurixion wore made Max smile. It reminded www.asianovel.com

 

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her of the image of a big puppy who was dropping its tail and sulking towards his master. He looked adorable.

“Th-thank you for yo-yo “Th-thank yo-your ur conce concern rn…  bu-bu  bu-butt I was fi-fine. Tthe soldiers were hurt, but … yo-your Lord a-arrived just in titime.” Max told the boys to reassure them. “I have heard that story, too. I heard that those cowardly   jerks were terrified by Lord Calypse’s spirit and surrendered  surrendered  rightt away? They are pathetic righ pathetic cowards! Well, those mice of  Liba Li bado don n will will not not be a matc match h for for Lord Lord Caly Calyps pse e afte aftera rall ll!” !”  Yurixion excitedly exclaimed. It was obvious that the lad had thought highly of Riftan. Max casted her eyes on the ground as she felt her cheeks heating up with embarrassment. The boy could hardly stop once he had begun to sing praises to Riftan. It’s not that Riftan was unworthy of  praise, prai se, which was why she felt like rolling rolling her eyes when Yurixion Yurixion starte sta rted d reciti reciting ng abo about ut all of Riftan Riftan’s ’s merits merits and goo good d deeds deeds but becaus bec ause e Yur Yurixi ixion on alw always ays idoliz idolized ed Rif Riftan tan tha thatt eve even n Garow, Garow, who standing next to him, was already shaking his head as if he was tired of his best friend’s daily habit of talking about their lord. Max ga Max gave ve th them em a re resi sign gned ed smil smile e and and ca care refu full lly y cu cutt off the the ex exci cite ted d boy’s words by throwing them a question.

“B-by the way, what b-brings you to the kitchen…?” It was only after Max asked the question question that the boys seemed seemed to snap back to thei theirr senses. Yurixion Yurixion looked back at other knights knights in training standing behind him.

“We can not stand the smell smell of grilling grilling meat. meat. We slipped  slipped  out during training.” Yurixion replied and Max nodded.  That ’s why ever  That’s everyone yone looked look ed so troubled trou bled when they saw her. Max smiled smil ed meaningfully meaningfully to reassure reassure the boys who were afraid that the www.asianovel.com

 

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hostess might tell on their leader that they skipped on their training.

“W-we are boiling sa-sausages sa-sausages now. Chef, ca-can you give them a p-plate, p-plate, please?”  Max told the boys as she gestured for the young lads to come closer.  The chef, who was stuffing the cleanly washed pig intestines, rais ra ised ed his his face face an and d smil smiled ed broa broadl dly. y.

“We are grilling over there on the fire pot now. Hey! Fill up a plate of sausages and bring it here!”  The chef screamed at a kitche kit chen n staff staff and the hungry hungry boy boyss hurrie hurriedly dly ran toward towardss them them lik like ea swarm of bees. Max then decided to slip away when the boys began eating so that they could enjoy the snack comfortably. When she came out of the kitchen, she saw servants were lighting up the candle holders all over the hall. If they did not light the lanterns in advance, the entire castle would become dark in the instant the sun rested and so it was customary for them to do this. In the instance of emergencies, emergencies, it was vital that the central hall and stairs had to be lit from early hours.  The castle cast le was twice twic e as bright brigh t now than earl earlier ier when she passed pass ed its hallways as the newly ordered lanterns were placed everywhere, butt the bu th e se serva rvant ntss were were als also o twi twice ce as busy bu sy.. Sh She e sp spoke oke with a determined face as she walked through the hall.

“ I w i-w i-wii ll ll i mme m med d ia ia tte e ly ly g et e t mor mo r e w o-w o -wor ork k er e r s for fo r t ootomorrow.”  Ma  Max x told told Ru Rudi dis. s. “You don’t have to….”  Rudis replied to her while shaking her head. “N-no. “N-n o. ItT-there takes more se-serv ervants ants to manage manage a large largeI ca-castle. are a se-s lot of people ne-need tosuch be served. t-think t-thi nk we need at le-least le-least 30 more t-than we do now. Will  www.asianovel.com

 

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there be e-enough residences for them?” Max asked. “Yes. There are plenty of empty rooms left on the first floor  for the servants.” Rudis answered. “T-then I will talk to the L-lord sometime t-today.”  Max was resolute, they had to hire more people if they wanted to be ready for winter. For her last rounds, rounds, Max looked looked around around the barn and when that was finished, she returned to her room to write a simple journal. In order to manage a large castle like the Calypse Castle, it was necessary to grasp what was going on in every corner of the palace, in order for her not to miss what problems they had or will have and she had to fix those soon for there were a lot of people depending on them. Suddenly a knock came from her door –   it was one of the Suddenly the castl castle e maids.

“Madam, Lord Calypse Calypse is likely to be late, and he has sent  me a messag message e for you to have have dinne dinnerr first. first. Shall we set set it up at the dinning hall?” The maid asked her. Max told the maid that she will have dinner at the hall and followed the latter out. When she arrived at the place and was served the food, she decided to eat slowly, hoping that Riftan would come home soon and find her there. How long she was sitting in front of the table, Max could not tell butt she bu she mu must st have ha ve sat sa t ther there e fo forr mo more re than than an ho hour ur beca becaus use e everything felt cold. Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 12 – 2 PM, GMT)  This Week’s Releases Releases: [][][][]  [][][][] Last Week’s Releases: [][][][]  [][][][]

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If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  If you want to support your translators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 89 Source: wordexcerpt

Rudis, who had been out for a while had also now returned, and called her attention with a cautious voice.

“Madam?” Rudis began while Max still sat, and she wanted to ask how much longer she planned to stay at the dining hall. Max glanced out at the window. It was all dark outside. Was Riftan still outside until this time? No matter how tough a man he was, Max was worried. worried. She wished he could take a break for a while and come home. Finally, Max knew she could not keep the rest of the servants waiting for she, too, would worry them. Her food also had grown cold.

“Bring it to the room, pl “Bring pleas ease. e.” ”  Max finally answered a curious Rudis and got up from her seat. She look She looked ed at the the flame flamess burn burnin ing g in the the firep firepla lace ce,, flari flaring ng up th the e firewood meaninglessly one last time before starting her way up to her room. The day at Calypse Castle was both very long and short. It felt difficult when she was busy, but she was satisfied here compared to when she lived in her father’s castle as if she were a dead person. Was Riftan also satisfied living here? Max wondered. Recalling Rudis’ words during the day, Max scrun Recalling scrunched ched her face in deep thought. Through observing the attitude of the knights alone, Mac could tell how unfai unfairly rly Riftan was treated by her father. He had no choice choice but to blame blame himself. himself. But he was trying trying to do better better somehow and gain her father’s approval. Frankly speaking, she didn’t quite understand why he was acting www.asianovel.com

 

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that way. No matter how much she thought about it, she didn’t have an attractive side to entice other people. She had neither a dazzling beauty, nor any extraordinary talent, nor was she full of wit.  Th e only  The on ly best be st th thin ing g to cl clai aim m wa wass th that at sh she e wa wass de desc scen ende ded d fr from om Duke’s eldest daughter. But even that was not a big deal if she stood side by side with a princess. What part of her did he like so much for him to go through such lengths? ‘Whatever the reason is …  It must be a lot of luck for me.’ Max thought absentmindedly absentmindedly and let out a sigh. She admitted bitterly what her father had said. She thought that the sum of her father’s violence had become an unexpected luck for her because because it led her to Riftan. Riftan. Max firmly praye prayed d to make sure that this happiness would not pass away.

“Hmm…”  Max stirred as she felt a sudden chill enveloped her body. bod y. Her long and firm fingers fingers gently gently wra wrappe pped d aro around und her chest chest in an attempt to warm her skin. Max awoke from her nap and looked at the faint morning morning dawn that was leaking from the window. It seems to her that she fell asleep while reading a book after dinner. With her shoulders shoulders curled up against the chill chilly y dawn air and her stiff eyes blinking faintly, Max suddenly felt a strong forearm tighte tig htenin ning g around around her waist. waist. Max was startled by this and turned her head behind her to look. She saw Riftan sleeping next to her. When did he come back? He was lying on his side, wearing only a pair of bottom trunks. She glanced doubtfully into his face. ‘Is he pretending to be asleep..?’ Max thought www.asianovel.com

 

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She had been fooled by him several time times, s, so she squint squinted ed her eyess and looke eye looked d at him for a lon long g time time wond wonderi ering ng if he was tru truly ly asleep. But Riftan only breathed slowly, slowly, lay still and didn didn’t ’t budge. When she pushed his hand carefully carefully because she thought thought he was really asleep, he unexpectedly loosened his arm. Max turned around carefully so that her husband wouldn’t wouldn’t wake up. ‘Are you…  tired?’ Max asked Riftan in her head. He was in deep sleep and she could not help but wonder at how tiring the previous day was for him. Max gently touched his finely sculpted sculpted face face,, whic which h was covered by the bluish light of dawn that filled their room. His hair that had grown long was disheveled like a bird’s nest. She saw his forehead wrinkled when the hair poked and tickled his eyes, so she pushed the strands over. At this moment he looked so vulnerable that Max slipped a smile. She did not know what’s going on inside her head. She couldn’t fathom her love for this man, who was at least 1 kvet (about 30 centimeters) taller and twice as big as she was. However, Max crawled However, crawled impulsi impulsively vely into his arms and buried her face against his firm chest. When it seemed certain that he had fallen asleep deeply, the urge to take a more daring action soared within her. She put her face near to his neck and took a deep deep breath. A mixture of masculine body odor and fragrant soap, and the remains of intense sunlight, gave off an inexplicably sensual fragrance to her. As she inhaled the smell deep into her lungs, a mysterious heat trickled through her stomach.

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Max car caref efull ully y touche touched d his ch chin. in. Rif Riftan tan was indee indeed d a dazzli dazzling ng presence to behold. His firm, His firm, and and yet yet sm smoo ooth th skin skin seem seemed ed to gl glow ow fain faintl tly y ev even en in the the dark,, and his face, dark face, with his long eyelashes eyelashes,, look looked ed innocent innocent and lovely while he slept. ‘I think my head is getting weird…’ Max though thoughtt to hersel herselff as she stared at Riftan’s sleeping face. Only a few months Only months ago, Max had never dreame dreamed d of using the words naive or lovely to describe Riftan Calypse. But now, she was feelin feeling g the strange urge to rub her face deeper in his arms, as if he was a soft soft cot cotton ton pill pillow. ow. However, However, she was holding back the crazy impulse to do so. Not only did she have no courage to do so, but she didn’t want to wake him up from a deep slee sleep p she knew he deserved deserved after a long time of not being able to rest properly. Max slipped out of bed so he could rest well without interr interruption, uption, picked her robe and left the room.  There was a chill of dawn that greeted her in the corridor. corridor. She put on a thick thick robe over her thin woole woolen n dress dress and went went straight stra ight down to the kitche kitchen. n. When she arrived arrived at the place she though tho ughtt happil happily y that that she was right, right, indeed indeed there was as muc much h warmth in the kitchen as she thought. Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 12 – 2 PM, GMT)  This Week’s Releases Releases: [][][][]  [][][][] Last Week’s Releases: [][][][]  [][][][] If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdatess page. Also join our discord Novelupdate discord chann channel el (click link above site to be redirected) to meet a lovely, growing community for this www.asianovel.com

 

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novel where we share fanarts, discussions and some spoilers for the novel.  If you want to support your translators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 90 Source: wordexcerpt

 The head cook was kneading bread in front of a long table when he notic no ticed ed someon someone e pu push shin ing g th the e doo doorr open. open. His ey eyes es widen widened ed in surprise surpr ise when he realized it was none other than Madam Max who had entered the kitchen. Max smiled smiled awkwardly awkwardly at the head cook as she moved moved to the fireplace while rubbing her palms against her shoulders.

“madam, what could be wrong at this early hour that you “madam, are here?” The head cook asked Max, the former’s face was full of  concern and Max shook her head faintly before replying.

“W elll ther “Wel th ere e is no no-n -not othi hing ng wron wr ong. g. I just ju st woke wo ke up susu suddenly sudd enly.. I did not want to di-distu di-disturb rb the lord while he rerested, so I came out qu-quietly …Can I stay here for a momoment? Will it be o-okay?” Max asked.  The cook was caught off-guard when he heard the lady ask for his permission to stay in the kitchens. He fer ferven vently tly nodded his head in respon response. se. His actions actions were so abrupt and stront that he feared his skull would crack due to the force.

“Of …of cour course! se! I have prepare prepared d fres freshly hly baked bread and  rabbit rabb it soup just now. Would you like to have a taste?”  Th  The e cook offered Max and she smiled at him in turn. “Well, ma-maybe just a li-little bit. I will eat some. But, bebefore that …I want to wash my face…Could you bring me wawater and a to-towel?” Max asked.

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“Yes of course! Please wait one moment, madam.”  The head cook immediately grabbed a clean basin off the shelves and an d po pour ured ed hot and an d co cold ld water wate r in it in order order to ge gett th the e ri righ ghtt temper tem peratu ature re that would suit the lady of the castle. castle. Whe When n he was done don e he quickly quickly handed handed Max a crisp, crisp, clean cloth along with the lukewarm water. Max received received them them gra gratef tefull ully y and then proceed proceeded ed to sit at the table in front of the fireplace to wash her face more easily. She carefully dipped her fingers in the water and then ran her wet palmss through palm through her tangled tangled locks. After she did this, soon a maid entered the kitchen premises and began helping the cook to set the table. tabl e. It was also this same maid who brought brought and serv served ed her hot thick soup, as well as steaming fresh and white bread. Max moved the basin to one side, and then grabbed the warm loaf, and split it in half. The golden crust crackled as she pulled at it. White steam team also also rose ose from from its sof soft, cre ream amy, y, wh whit ite e fle flesh sh and and carri arried ed its its warm war m scent. scent. Max then proceeded proceeded to spread a small dollop dollop of butter, butter, on it and then took a bite. The sweetness of freshly baked bread melted in her mout mo uth, h, an and d its its heat heat al also so sl slig ight htly ly burn burned ed he herr tong tongue ue.. It we went nt deliciously with the salty rabbit soup palate was soothed by the glasswell of goat’s milk with honey thatand washer also provided for her. Max enjoyed filling her stomach with the delicious meal in front of  a roaring fire, and she felt quite satisfied. When she was finished with her meal she started to leave the kitchen feeling drowsy.

“What’s the matter this morning?” Max asked herself as she debated whether to crawl back into bed, or start her day early since she was already awake. Howeve How ever, r, before before she cou could ld decide decide on what what to do she heard heard a www.asianovel.com

 

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familiar voice behind her call her name. Max spotted Ruth walking at familiar the hallways hallways that led to the kitchen kitchen ;  his face was clouded clouded with frustration. He approached her swiftly and blocked her way.

“You must have been enjoying your early breakfast. That is a relief. Unfortunately, since I was carrying out important  work for the lord, never mind breakfast, I haven’t eaten since the day before yesterday.” Ruth complained sarcastically at Max. Max’s mouth stiffened at his speech

“Ye-yesterday, I was bu-busy …”  she began to explain to him, but she was cut off when Ruth started talking again. “Yes, “Ye s, I heard heard that that Lord Lord Calyp Calypse se bought bought a treme tremendo ndous us number of gifts for you. You must have been busy opening  presents  prese nts all day long, lon g, correct cor rect?” ?”  Ruth told her bitingly bitingly and Max furrowed her brows at his words. “N o! The “No! Th e work wo rk that I had in the th e ca-ca ca-cast stle le kept me ooccupied …it was more than I tho-thought!” Max tried to explain to him. Certainly, it was true that she did spend quite a bit of time opening gifts, but Max was obstinate of mentioning that. Ruth however kept on glaring at her with his sunke sunken n eyes full of  dismay dis may.. Max did not want want to show in fro front nt of the servant servantss how flustered and pitiful she was because of this man. With his highhanded attitude, he always made her feel like a bad child being scolded by their teacher.

“Of course, you must have much work to do. However, However, as the Lady,What you have tobe prioritize the safetythan of the houseup above all else. could more important setting the magical equipment defenses around the castle wall to keep www.asianovel.com

 

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out intruders? intruders? The only person who can help me is you Lady  Caly Ca lyps pse e sinc since e yo you u are are pr profi ofici cien entt at math math.” .”  Rut  Ruth h whis whispe pere red d to her. Max squinted her eyes at the implication of his words. She would have bet her life that the wizard did not think she was talented at math and he was only nitpicking on her.

“Of course, sa-safety is im-important. But …it is no less imimportant impo rtant to pre-pre pre-prepare pare for the wi-winter. wi-winter. As soon as I’m fifinished with my work …” Max began to reason out but Ruth spoke again. “To Lord “To Lord Calyp Calypse se,, the the safe safety ty of his his resi reside dent nts s is more more import imp ortant ant than anythi anything ng else. else. As his wife, wife, if you help me finish fini sh the task quickl quickly, y, the lord will will also also feel feel more more at ease.” ease.” Ruth snapped at her. Ruth’s words were testing Max’ patience but it also piqued her interest.

“Re-really? Do you re-really think that?” Max looked up to the wizard in curiosity. “Absolutely.” Ruth told her, his voice was full of confidence. Max was so consumed with the thought that Riftan would consider her a capable capable person if she did manage to protect his people, that she did not detect Ruth’s coercive way of speaking towards her. She secretly glanced at the servants, who were pretending to work and enjoying eavesdropping on their conversation and let out an unavoidably lengthy sigh.

“Al-alright. I will make he-helping you my full pri-priority.  Are you sa-satisfied sa-satisfied n-now?” Max told Ruth. “It would be more satisfying if you could lend me your hand  www.asianovel.com

 

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immediately.”  He replied. Max could see that his lean face was weary from exhaustion.

“There is a mountain of formulas that must be organized. Originally, Origi nally, there are supposed to be two or three assistants to take care of this, so it’s too much for me to do alone.” He told her as they began to walk towards the kitchen once more. “O-okay, I u-under “O-okay, u-understan stand. d. For now, you shou should ld eat. eat.” ”  M  Max ax answered as she led him to a table and asked a kitchen maid for food to be served. “This is enough.” Ruth said dismissively, waving his hand at the kitche kit chen n maid, maid, implyi implying ng tha thatt the latte latterr did not hav have e to do Max’ bidding. biddi ng. He instead picked up a piece of bread that was placed on the table and had just come out of the oven and took a rather large bite from it. He also walked over to a sack placed in the corner of the kitchen and took out one apple from it, and then deposited deposited it into the pocket of his robe. He turned back to face Max, as if telling her to follow him while he chewed on his bread and Max gave him a nod. When Ruth Ruth bega began n to leav leave, e, Ma Max x tol told the the mai aid d to find find her in the library if there was any urgent business for her to attend to. After doing this, she followed Ruth’s footsteps and left the kitchen area. Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 9-11 PM, GMT +8)  Th is Week  This We ek’s ’s Rele Re leas ases es :    []  [][] [][[  [][][][]

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]  Last Week’s Releases :

If you want to support this novel, please leave a review on its Novelupdate Novel updatess page. Also join our discord discord chann channel el (click link above site be redirected) meet discussions a lovely, growing community noveltowhere we share to fanarts, and some spoilers for for this the novel.  www.asianovel.com

 

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If you want to support your translators, you can be our patron and read ahead of schedule.  Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 91 Source: wordexcerpt

Ruth’s previous remark that there was a mountain of work to finish was no exaggeration. Max opened her mouth as she stared at the libra library ry that had now become a mess in barely more than two days. Precious ancient texts were strewn about carelessly carelessly on top of one another;  the desk was crow cr owde ded d with with stac stacks ks of cl clut utte terr an and d parc parchm hmen ents ts.. Ev Even en on the the floor floor,, there was a cloth large enough to seem like a blanket. It looked as if  a war had taken place there. She lowered her head to look down at the cloth.  There were wer e drawings drawi ngs of detailed, complex patterns covering every corner cor ner.. It must must hav have e taken taken at lea least st five bot bottle tless of ink to cover thos those e areas. Max stared at empty bottles of ink as it rolled by their feet and sighed.

“For what re-reason re-reason did you leave the to-tower to-tower and come to the li-library …?” She asked, looking at the mess Ruth created in the library. “My tower doesn’t doesn’t have much space to work work.. Even with that, tha t, Lord Lord Calyp Calypse se threat threatene ened d to take take it away away if I don’t  don’t  complete these magical equipment defenses defenses within a week.” Ruth reasoned out. Max squinted her eyes and recalled the enormous tower within the castle’s back garden. What in the world could cause for there to be no space left? That tower was enormous. Could Ruth also not have a place to sleep, so did it also mean he has slept on the library floors for some time now? www.asianovel.com

 

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 There is no way that’s true…right? Max told herself. She could not tell if Ruth was disple displeased ased or not with his curr current ent living arrangements arrangements as he put down the apple’s core on one side of  the desk and pulled out a chair. Max begrudging begrudgingly ly pulled out the oppos opposite ite chair and sat on it. It seemed like he did not mind living in that mess.

“The task I’m giving you, madam, is simple. I would like you to use these tools to re-dr re-draw aw the shapes that are drawn here in detail. I will let you know how to use it. It will be easy  to use once you know how to calculate.” Ruth told her. He then laid out six flat wooden boards of various shapes before her. Max cla claspe sped d those those piece piecess and loo looke ked d dow down n at the the dreadf dreadful ully ly complicated figures on the parchment. There were many similar draw dr awin ings gs of figur figures es and and thos those e were were stac stacke ked d on top top of the the desk desk..

“Why are there so ma-many of these?” Max asked Ruth. “This is the design of the magical equipment.” Ruth replied. “Ma-magical “Ma-magi cal e-equi e-equipme pment  nt … i t ’ s t h i s a -ab -ab s u r d l y h u ge ge thing?”  Max exclaimed exclaimed as she pointe pointed d at thos those e parch parchment mentss with varying symbols. “It depends on the type you need it for, but the magical  item I’m trying to produce is about the size of the pumpkin. These The se des design igns s are the magical magical blueprint blueprints s that go into into the equip eq uipmen ment. t. This This comp complex lex and extens extensive ive sorcer sorcery y involv involves es elaborate layers upon layers overlapping and being placed  inside insi de a material material with magical magical power to become become a magical  magical  tool.” Ruth explained to her. …

“So-sorcery  ?”  Max asked again as she looke looked d closely at the figure with a curious glance. www.asianovel.com

 

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Circles, triangles, squares, and spirals were intertwined intricatel intricately y over yellow parchment. She realized when Ruth requested requested her help that the task of producing producing magical tools must have require required d some intricate intri cate calculati calculations, ons, but it seeme seemed d that the forms he neede needed d were more elaborate than she thought.

“The “T he bala balanc nce e of magi magica call powe powerr flowi flowing ng with within in the the natu natura ral  l  world …in other words, mana. Now, assuming the amount of  mana is 10, shall this device amplify the mana by 100 or, mayb ma ybe, e, 10 1000 00? ? All Al l ma magi gic c cons co nsis ists ts of this th is form fo rmul ula. a. The Th e capability of the wizard is determined by how efficiently he or  she can amplify amplify mana to create create the desired desired outcome.” outcome.”  Ruth explained. Max tilted her head at his placid answer, she was still confused.

“But …wi-w wi-wizar izards ds can just use ma-magic ma-magic right a-away a-away and  don’t have to draw pi-pictures pi-pictures like this, do they? Ruth, you have ha ve also also per-p per-per erfor forme med d ma-ma ma-magi gic c by only only re-re re-recit citin ing g spells…”   Max reaso eason ned out, out, and and Ruth Ruth gav ave e her a si sigh gh.. “To some degree, degree, magic can be done as many times as we like by drawing the formula in the mind and memorizing memorizing the starte sta rter. r. But that that is limite limited d to gener general al magic magic that that is quite quite simple. High-level spells take hours of preparation.” preparation.” “Then, what you are ma-making now…must be great, highle-level ma-magic.” Max exclaimed and the wizard looked down at the pile of parchme parchment nt before before him before before giving her a smile smile and nodded. “ Th T h e N ou o u m S hi h i el e l d i s a d e fe f e ns n s e s or o r ce c e r y o f e ar a r t hl hl y    prop  pr oper erti ties es.. Like Li ke the th e pr prev evio ious us time ti me,, if an intr in trud uder er trie tr ies s an offensive spell, the shield senses the mana and creates a  p o w e r f u l b a r r i e r w i t h a r o u g h l y 2 0 K v e t s r a d i u s (approximatel (appr oximately y 6 meters). meters). If we could instill the spell within the magical magical equ equipm ipment ent and place place it in front of the castle castle www.asianovel.com

 

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gate, we would be able to withs gate, withstand tand many of the previous previous fire-based attacks.” Ruth added and Max stared at the parchments in amazement. “That’s…re-reassuring.” Max suddenly felt her interest surge. She had previously previously only seen healing magic done by priests priests and defense def ense magic used by Ruth Ruth.. But she had never encount encountered ered this type of magic before. She had heard the remarkable feats of wizards written down in stories, but had never known the methods that they used to be capable of performing such tasks.

“This…if you can com-co com-comp mplet lete e the dra-d dra-draw rawing ing of this this spell, can you do ma-magic?” Max asked Ruth earnestly. “If you do not understand the underlying principles, even if  you were to draw them one hundred times, it would be of no use. We must be able to control the mana. Magic is not about  crea cr eati ting ng some somethi thing ng from from nothin nothing. g. It is a techn te chniq ique ue for  changing form: transforming something that already exists in this th is world world into into anothe another. r. Spel Spells ls will will neve neverr work work unles unless s a certain amount of mana is injected.” Ruth told her “But …e-even or-ordinary pe-people who don’t know how to ha-hand ha-h andle le ma-mana ma-mana can use ma-magi ma-magical cal tools, tools, you know?” know?” Max pointed out. “That’s because “That’s because of this holy stone.” stone.”  Ruth exclaim exclaimed ed and showed her the stone.

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Chapter 92 Source: wordexcerpt

Ruth scaven Ruth scavenged ged throug through h the mes messy sy woo wooden den des desk, k, cas castin ting g the books and papers aside until he finally found the stone emitting a red light and showed it to Max.

“It’s a stone with a certain amount of magic. If you put this stone inside the magic tools, even people without magic can operate ope rate and harness harness the magical magical properties properties and use it as much as possible. It’s like the fuel for magic tools.”  Ruth told Max as he gave her the stone to observe it. Max held the palm-sized gemstone in her hands and looked into it closely. It was mysteriously red and glassy as if she was staring into water. It felt strange to her touch. Max’ heart pounded in a way she had never felt before. It was like she was seeing a glimpse of another mysterious world.

“Come on, if you have satisfied your curiosity, shall we start sta rt workin working g now now?” ?”  Ruth asked Max, his voice effectively pulled her out of her mild trance. “If we don’t hurry, I will be taken away from the tower by  Lord Calypse.” Ruth added sarcastically and Max gave him a nod. Ruth pushed pushed the book into one plac place e to create more space for them to work with while she laid the stone down on the table and li list sten ened ed carefu carefull lly y to his explan explanati ation on as Ruth Ruth gav gave e he herr furth further er instructions.  The wizard wiza rd explaine expl ained d step by step how to dra draw w the comp complex lex and difficult shapes to make it easier for her to do her tasks.

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Max immediately began to understand what she had to do in order to help Ruth. She studied and learned how to calculate from him, and so she was able to get used to the work at an unexpe unexpected cted quick quick pace. She added and subtracted the numbers step by step, and took the ruler rul er and trace traced d the complex complex shapes shapes and drew drew them them into into their their correct sizes and shapes, as she was instructed. Even though it was an incredibly complicated task for her, she never felt bored doing it, it surprisingly even seemed fun. Ruth, who had been silently Ruth, silently writing writing ancient words on parchment parchment for a long time, raised his eyebrows astonished at the amount of  work she had finished.

“Your hands are faster than I thought. There’s not much of  a mistake in your work.”  Ruth praised Max, and she squinted her eyes to discern whether the remark was a compliment or not. “I can do this kind of work, too.” Max said in defense and Ruth nodded at her. “I didn di dn’t ’t doubt do ubt that. that. I me meant ant you were we re better better than than I thought.” Ruth explained to her. However, despite his reassuring However, reassuring words, Max knew the wizard was making makin g fun of her, and demeaning demeaning her abilities as if it was a given that she was ignorant and incapable of the simplest task. Max didn’t feel complimented by him, she knew him too well. Regardless of what he truly thought of her, Max could not care less. She was already relieved that she wasn’t likely to suffer from his nagging of her now that she has proven herself useful to him.

“I’m re-relieved re-relieved to hear it’s he-helpful.” he-helpful.” Max told the wizard before turning to focus back on her work. With a faint smile to herself, Max continued to organize the piles of  www.asianovel.com

 

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parchment. After some time, she felt the heat from the windows. She looked look ed towards the source and saw it was alre already ady late into the afternoon. How long have they been working in the library? Max asked herself  this th is as sh she e felt felt her her finge fingers rs wh whic ich h were were hold holdin ing g the the quil quilll pen pen bega began n aching.  Just as she thought thought of this, the doors doors to the library bu burst rst open. Due to this sudden disturbance, Max stopped what she was doing and turned her head towards the doorway. Her eyes widened when she saw Riftan in a black tunic and leather dark brown pants walking deeper into the library and heading towards her. She found herself wondering of where Riftan could have been and what he was doing all throughout the day at the sight of his casual attire. The fact that he did not wear any armor on his clothes meant that he had no plans to go out of the castle. Max found herself standing instinctively to greet him. As she stood up from her seat with a welcome smile, his cold voice pierced her eardrum sharply.

“The servants have been here since early morning. What  the hell are you doing?” Max looked perplexed at the displeasure on his face ;  she did not know why he sounded so upset. Riftan began to pace the room and stopped in front of the table and glanced at the piles of parchment and books scattered around her.

“What the hell are all these things?” Riftan asked her sharply and Max slightly winced at his tone. “As you can see, we were making the magic tools as Lord  www.asianovel.com

 

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Calypse asked.” Ruth answered Riftan.  The wiz wizard ard seemed seem ed unconcer unco ncerned ned by the dom dominee ineering ring att attitud itude e of  Riftan, the latter’s eyebrows curled fiercely up at a t the reply.

“Why should my wife be where you make magic tools?” Riftan asked Ruth. It seemed he was trying hard to control his temper in front of the Wizard. “I asked Madam for help. As I have told you many times, I am pressed for time and could not do it all by myself.”  Ruth reasoned out. Ruth’s harsh tone made Riftan’s Riftan’s lips curl up in a scowl. He turned over the desk and snarled threateningly at the wizard.

“I ask you to do some cleaning, how dare you think of using my wife to help you?”  Riftan looked like he was ready to kill Ruth on the spot for disrespecting disrespecting his wife and Max felt a slight panic rise in her chest. “I didn’t didn’t ask you for help because because I though thoughtt she’d she’d be distra dis tracte cted. d. She’s She’s the only one who’s good at shapes shapes and  knows how to read and write, so I asked her for help. I can’t  get help from the knights.”  Ruth replied. The wizard did not seem to think what he did was wrong. “So, you think it’s all right right to seek seek help help from the Lord’s wife!”  Riftan raised his voice louder and his eyes grew even more murderous. Max qu quick ickly ly mad made e her her mov move e toward towardss him him and stood betwee between n them..

“Ri-riftan.. I am o-okay.” She told him gently. Riftan cast a fierce look.

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Her shoulders trembled at the threatening threatening attitude he seemed to be wearing but she couldn’t couldn’t leave Ruth who helped her in many ways, so Max tried to keep Riftan calm.

“It’s not that “It’s that di-di di-difficu fficult  lt …mo most st of all, all, it’s it’s for for the the sa-s sa-saf afet ety  y  of A-anatol. I don’t want the same thing to ha-happen…”Max began explaining explaining but before before she could could finish Riftan spoke again.

“Of course, I’ll never let that happen again.” Riftan this time spoke to her in a more softer tone. But his face still looked rigid and he seemed reluctant to let this incident pass. Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 9-11 PM, GMT +8)  This Week’s Week’ s Releas R eleases es :   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][  [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ]

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Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 93 Source: wordexcerpt

“But you shouldn’t take the risk to be in danger yourself.” Riftan told Max. “Oh, my God! Where the hell is this place full of danger? Because Becaus e you’re afraid your wife might be stabbed stabbed to death with a quill pen?”  Ruth told Riftan, his cold sarcasm was clearly apparent. “You often cause explosions and fires! Why are you doing this here when you have the tower in the first place? What if  this room will be caught in fire too!” Riftan snapped back. “What we’re making now is a defensive magic tool. There’s no chan chance ce of an explos losio ion n or a fir fire e! I coul could d swear ear it on my  ancestors. Even if there’s a problem, at best, the library will  be safe.” Ruth steadily replied. Riftan twisted his lips at distrust at Ruth’s words.  The fact that there was no more reason Riftan could give to oppose the wizard seemed to have fueled his irritation. Looking Lookin g around around them, them, Max careful carefully ly pulled pulled the hem of Riftan Riftan’s ’s clothes away from the front of the desk. She knew knew well when when to rec recogn ognize ize two huntin hunting g dogs fighting fighting,, she had to keep them apart first.

“Don’t be a-angry …  Ruth…  says it’s safe.”  Max told Rifta Riftan n aiming to ease out his irritation. “I’m “I’ m not angry angry,” ,”  Ri  Rift ftan an whis whispe pere red d back back to he herr and and final finally ly gave gave www.asianovel.com

 

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her a sigh as if admitting that he had lost. “I’m just worried.”

“Okay. If you really “Okay. really want to hel help, p, help him. But not too much. And Ruth, never think of getting her into a dangerous experi exp erimen mentt or you will answer answer to me.” me.”  Rif  Riftan tan gave Rut Ruth h a meaningful warning as he glared at the wizard. “What the hell do you think of me?”  Ruth answered back in disbelief. “Anyway, that’s enough for today. I’ll take her with me, so work hard on your own.” Riftan announced and led her toward the door.. Ruth rose urgently door urgently from his seat as if surpri surprised sed by Rift Riftan’s an’s abrupt actions. Suddenly, Sudde nly, Max felt a tug on her arm and noticed that Riftan had pulled her arm towards him. It was strange that she didn’t feel scared when such a big man was dragging her away in a state of anger. She used used to be so sca scared red when he frown frowned ed at her her.. Now she wonders how her perception of him has changed. She felt anxious of  course cours e by seeing the surge of displeasur displeasure e painted on his face, but she also felt at ease knowing that he won’t harm her.

“W-where are you going, “W-where going, and without without your armor?”  M  Max ax asked Riftan as they were retreating away from the library. “I’m taki “I’m taking ng a da day y off off.. I shou should ld have have some some time time to refr refres esh h myself.” Riftan answered back, stopping on his tracks. Max opened her eye eyess wide at the unexpect unexpected ed rem remark ark from her husband. husb and. She sensed sensed that Ruth seemed surprised, surprised, too. It was very rare for Riftan Calypse to declare that he would rest.

“W-wh “W -what at are you going going to do about about the disp disposa osall of the intruders?” Max asked again. “I’ve already already sent a messenger of Libadon. I’ll release the www.asianovel.com

 

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 pri soners  prison ers as soon soo n as the compe co mpensa nsatio tion n arr arrive ives. s. Until Unt il the then, n, don’t let them die in a dungeon.” “What if Libadon says they won’t send any compensation?” Ruth suddenly asked. “That’s when I will cut their throat ….”  Riftan answered. answered. He uttered those hideous words casually as he looked at Max’s face.  Then, he w waved aved his hand h and at R Ruth uth ssilently ilently if p prodding rodding him to t o sspeak peak some more but Ruth did not say a word.

“At that time I’ll go and fix it.”  Riftan declared. “All right. You’ve had a hard time for a while, so take your  time today or so.” Ruth finally said. Riftan snapped back. “Thank you very much.” Riftan then led Max to the entrance. entrance. Meanwhile, Max gave Ruth a nod over her shoulders and followed Riftan out of the library where bright bri ght sun sunlig light ht was alread already y blazin blazing g throug through h the win windows dows in the hallway. Riftan glanced out of the newly changed windows and then looked back at Max with his eyes shining.

“You’ll have to full “You’ll fully y dress dress to go out. It’s sunn sunny, y, but the wind is quite cold.” He told her. “W-where are we go-going?” Max asked. Riftan began to beam with excitement excitement.”You’ve .”You’ve got your own horse now. You’ll ride on it before it gets colder. I’ll show you a good place to ride.” Max open Max opened ed he herr mo mout uth h an and d st star ared ed at hi him m blan blankl kly. y. She She was surpris sur prised ed and pleased pleased that he was trying to spend spend time time with her www.asianovel.com

 

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outside their bedroom.

“A-are you not t-tired? Would you’d r-rather take a r-rest in the ro-room..” Max began to protest but was cut off. “I’m not an old man, Maxi. I’m not that frail to be always needing some bed rest. If I had to spend some time in the bedroom….” Riftan did not continue what he was going to say. Max held her breath in seeing the heat that was glimmering in Riftan’s black pupils. pupils. At a glance she sensed what the intense gaze he had given her meant. His face glowed as if it had been caught in fire in a flash. He smiled lightly as he hugged her, his head bowed down towards her fluidly.

“It’s very temp “It’s tempting ting,, but I’m going out into the fields today. I’d like to take you and stroll through through my land.” land.”  He told her instead.

  The y stopped  They sto pped by their thei r room roo m to cha change nge into some som e rid riding ing appare app arel, l, and Max then followed Riftan into the stable. With the help of the stableman, Riftan took out the beautiful white steed that had become her own since yesterday. Max’s horse was followed by Riftan’s own giant warhorse. On her way to Anatol, she at once recognized that the horse was carried by Riftan. Riftan stroked the horse’s neck with an a n affectionate touch.

“You’ve “You’v e been been on this this one, one, haven’ haven’tt you? you? It’s It’s Talon. Talon. It’s It’s  perfect except except for its nasty temp temper.” er.” He told Max. Max inquisitively asked, “Do you like that horse?”

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“I like it. My dream was to have my own horse ever since I was ten. And this is the best horse I’ve ever had.” When Riftan rubbed his face against Talon’s nose, a sudden sharp  jealousy shot up inside of Max. Max was embarrassed embarrassed by herself and turned away. Accord According ing to the teachings of the Church, nothing was as ugly as a jealous woman. But now she was envious of a mere animal, not of any other woman.

“Did you give this horse a name?” name?”  Rift  Riftan an asked her, as he came closer towards her back.  Trying to get her feelings feelin gs together. toget her. She hurriedly straightened her face and shook her head.

“N-not yet.” She answered. “Well, you have to make one. You have to call its name often for it to be able to follow you nicely,” Riftan informed her. “W-what name w-would you like?” “It’s your horse, so you have to name it.” After much thought, Max spat out a word that came to her mind.

“Re-rem….”

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Chapter 94 Source: wordexcerpt

Riftan chuckled, running a hand across his locks. “My wife lacks imagination. Just because it’s white, it’s Rem?”

“Re…  T  Th he name Rem…  Hey,”  M  Ma ax faintly flushed as she defe de fend nded ed her her choi choice ce,, “I like like it.” it.” She didn’t bother to mention that he was named after the knights he led. A moment moment later, the horseman horseman saddl saddled ed her on the steed’s steed’s back, bac k, and she sat on Rem’s Rem’s back back with Riftan’s Riftan’s help. help. She wasn’t wasn’t accust acc ustome omed d to hor horseb seback ack riding riding yet, yet, so her body body ins instin tincti ctivel vely y stiffened at her feet far from the earth. She strained her arms, clut clutch chin ing g the the rein reinss ti tigh ghtl tly. y. On the the othe otherr hand hand,, he was was a natu natura ral. l.

“You don’t ride a horse often, do you?” He spok spoke e conclusi conclusively vely,, glancing glancing at her clumsy clumsy postu posture. re. Thou Though gh embarrassed, Max nodded her head timidly.

“I di-idn’ di-idn’tt ride a ho-horse ho-horse that o-often. o-often. I didn’t didn’t ha-have much wo-work to do. Well, I’ve a-always been in-inside Croix  Ca-Castle.” “I know know that that.. It It’s ’s quit quite e a fa famo mous us stor story. y. The The fir first st daug daught hter  er  of the Duke of Croix was weak and extremely delicate, so she was reluctant to appear before the public.” Max had an anxious look at the strangeness of his voice.

“ We We ll ll , I -I - I d id id n n’’ t k now now t ha h a -t -t h ha a t r umo umorr w as as g o-g o -goi oin ng around.” “The Duke of Croix is one of the ten most influential people www.asianovel.com

 

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in the West. It’s perfectly natural for people to be interested  in his daughter. Besides, you didn’t show up on the outside at all unlike your sister, did you? No wonder you piqued the  people’s interest. int erest. There was even a knight who sneaked snea ked into the Croix Castle because he couldn’t overcome his curiosity  about you.” It was the first time she heard such a thing. Max immediately dodged his curious gaze. What did Riftan think of her after hearing the rumor? rumor? Would he have imagin imagined ed a lad lady y wit with h a weak body body,, as delicate delic ate as jewels? jewels? She was obviously short and thin, but she didn’t have any charm. It was true that she was frail and timid, but she also knew that her personality wasn’t so lovely. She snapped out of her thoughts, speaking in a bright tone to hide her feelings of inferiority.

“We-well, the knight mu-must have been di-disappointed.” “Why?” Riftan, who was dragging his horse slowly towards the rear gate, looked back at her and frowned. With a tight grip on the reins, Max replied with a blank look.

“Oh, only “Oh, only bebe-be becaus cause e he went went throug through h length lengths, s, only only to see… she-she was an ordinary wo-woman.”  The tip of her ears flushed red as she spoke. She believed her appearance was plain, but she didn’t want to be so demeaning demeaning iin n front of her her husband. husband. Even pretendi pretending ng to be an ordinary beauty felt like a shameless remark.

“I don’t think so. You’re lovely enough.” As he slowed the horse down, he approached her. Max thought he was overreaching, and only laughed awkwardly.

“Oh, do-don’t do that. Tha-thank you for telling me.” www.asianovel.com

 

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 Then he frowned as if he was diss dissatisfied. atisfied.

“ I ’m ’ m a n h on o n es e s t f el e l l ow o w . I f y o u h ad a d a d i sa s a pp p p o in i n ttii n g appear app earance ance,, I wouldn’ wouldn’tt have reacted reacted so enthusia enthusiastic stically ally in the bedroom. Have you forgotten that I let you sleep well last  night?” Max was literal literally ly crimson crimson red from head to toe. Her lips were were frozen, wondering what to answer. Riftan lifted himself off the horse and grabbed her chin, staring into her orbs intently, which made her heart thump loudly.

“I guess it was stupid stupid to ask you to do horseback horseback riding. riding. Would you like to go to the bedroom now?” She shook her head head sti stiff ff enough enough to pro produ duce ce a cre creaki aking ng sound. sound. He made a vague expressi expression, on, which was hard to tell whether he was smiling or frowning, and immediately stood up straight.

“Then hurry up. We can’t stay here any longer “Then longer if we want  to leave the castle.” Max soothed her pounding heart and managed to chase after him.

  They walked silently along the narrow forest path behind the gate. ga te.  The world was still as if it i t had ha d fa fallen llen into a deep d eep sleep. All she could hear was the sound of branch branches es swaying in the wind, the rustling of  fallen leaves, and the cries of birds from the distant sky. Max stared blankly at the image of the Riftan in a peaceful silence. He moved naturally and gracefully, gracefully, as if he was one with a horse. On the other hand, Max leaned back and held the reins like a lifeline so as no nott to fall fall off Rem’ Rem’ss ba back ck.. Ri Rift ftan an,, wh who o turn turned ed hi hiss head head to ma make ke sure she was following well, smiled bitterly at a t the sight. “I didn’t realize my wife was such a terrible rider.” www.asianovel.com

 

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 The jeers from the the front heated h her er cheeks.

“I to-told to-told you …  yo-you insisted I ride with yo-you,”  s  she he replied back a bit defensively. Ri ftan Rift an chuc chuckl kled ed,, then th en inst instru ruct cted ed her. he r. “T “Try ry to rela relax x your  your  should sho ulders ers.. When When you’r you’re e nervou nervous, s, the horse horse can feel feel you  jittery too.” Max br Max breat eathe hed d ou outt long long,, at atte temp mpti ting ng to rel relax ax he herr shou should lder ers. s. However, every time the horse moved, her hips jolted up and down, causing her to lose her posture. Riftan, who was observing the scene closely, brought his horse closer and advised her with a serious face.

“Y ou rela “You re lax x your your uppe up perr body bo dy and an d ti tigh ghte ten n your yo ur thig th ighs hs matching match ing the movement movement of the horse. Like when you sat on my lap…” I would just like to take the time to thank each and every one of  you readers for your patience patience and suppo support rt for this novel. You guys are my inspiration 3 Schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday (Around 9-11 PM, GMT +8)  This Week’s Week’ s Releas R eleases es :   [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][  [ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ][ ✔ ]

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 Ying and Livy’s current current translations (from left to rig right) ht) Living as the Villainess Queen Under the Oak Tree  The Duke’s Imposter Imposter Sister Predatory Marriage Raising the Child of the Male Lead Boss Heavenly Divine Doctor: Abandoned Concubine

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Chapter 95 Source: wordexcerpt

“Ri-riftan!” She cut him off with a surprised exclaim. “Hey, yo-you, you – the horse, you can’t be vulgar!” “What’s “What ’s the matter matter?” ?”  Rif  Rifta tan n laug laughe hed d ch chee eeki kily ly,, “There’s nobody nobod y here here.” .” “Well, still … it’s not appropriate!” appropriate!” At the sight of her blushing face, Riftan merely chuckled before bursting into unrestrained laughter.

“Oh, I don’t know what you’re so ashamed of. On the bed, that’s how you-” “Ri-Riftan!” Max raised her arm to shut his mouth. But before she could reach him, she began to lose her balance, almos almostt falli falling ng down from the horse. Riftan quickly stretched out his strong arms to help her regain her posture.

“All right, all right. Calm down,” he cajoled her, the corners of  his lips twitching at the repressed laughter. Max replied with an indignant indignant stare at his shameless actions. actions. But Riftan merely grinned and leaned down to press a chaste kiss on her forehead, making her almost stumble a second time from her horse. Riftan finally bursted into laughter as he grabb grabbed ed her back again.

“This… I might have to teach you how to properly sit on a horse again.” www.asianovel.com

 

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“Just go on a-ahead  “Just a-ahead …  I wo wo-w -wou ould ld be able to ride ri de bebetter.” His smile deepened deepened at her sullen sullen words. words. Despite Despite Max tryi trying ng to maintain a dignified attitude in front of him, she found it difficult to remain angry at a playful Riftan – a sight that was rare for her to see. And the truth was, every time she heard Riftan’s carefree laughter, laughter, her heart erraticall erratically y poun pounded ded against her chest. chest. Together Together with her flushed cheeks, she found even breathing a laborious task.

“All right. I’ll check if you’re right.” Riftan teasingl Riftan teasingly y accep accepted ted it and drove his horse horse forwa forward. rd. He had perfect control over the horse, as if the mane’s vigorous strength was akin to his long, muscular legs. All throughout the ride, Max noticed that he was keeping up a manageable pace to make it easier for her to catch up to him. On their way back to Anatol, Anatol, they grazed the meadows meadows like a gentle, passing wind. This trifling consideration warmed her heart for no one had ever cared about about her as suc such. h. The man before before her seemed genuine seeing seeing her as a lovely lady and a satisfying wife.

“You don’t “You don’t reall really y en enjoy joy ridin riding g horse horses, s, but do you like like animals?” Riftan suddenly suddenly threw a question question out of the blue. Max blinked her eyes at him owlishly.

“I-I like them. Ho-how did you know?” “There was a time I saw you sitting in the garden when I visited Croix Castle. You were petting a cat on your lap.” Max was stunned. Never had she thought anyone would have been observing her. She was pondering the time the latter continued to speak in a calm tone.when Rifan saw her when www.asianovel.com

 

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“It seemed to be having a good time rolling around. It was a gentle and peaceful sight, so I can still remember it even to this time.” “Oh, maybe… It was the stray cat tha-that had been raised  in the ki-kitchen to hunt rats. Bu-but it’s hunting skills skills were  po -poo  po-p oor, r, so he wasn wa sn’t ’t fe fe-f -fed ed much mu ch.. II-II used us ed to feed fe ed them th em secretly.” “So as thanks he would do all sorts of tricks on your lap.” A th thoug oughtf htful ul look look settle settled d on hi hiss fac face e as he gl glanc anced ed ove overr hi hiss shoulders.

“And what else do you like?” When she asked him for the barrage of questions, Riftan smiled bitterly, “As I said before, everything about you is mysterious. You rarely talk about yourself.”  Ther  There e was a pause, pause, before he spoke in a soft tone, “Why are you so reluctant to reveal things about yourself?”  The question made Max’s heart plummet down. It only occurred to her that he had been asking questions because he truly was ignorant of who she is. Was he able to ask such things because she looked like a lady who had no problems to him? M ax ax w a ass s ud u d de d e nl n l y s tr t r uc u c k w iitt h c on o n fu f u ssii on on . H e err f at at h he e rr’’ s contemptuous attitude towards her and this man’s treatment of her were we re so va vast stly ly diffe differe rent nt that that sh she e didn didn’t ’t un unde ders rsta tand nd how how to proc procee eed d with the situation.

“Re-revealing… I-I have never been reluctant.” “All right …”  He then launched launched into another series of questions, “Then “The n tell me what you like, what you hate, what you think  about.” www.asianovel.com

 

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Max suddenly felt grumpy.

“Yo-yo -you don’t even tell me fi-fir -first. E-even to everyone, you…  are not talkat talkativ ive.” e.” “At least I speak more than you do.” A frown etched across his  forehead as he tried to remember he and Max’s conversations with other people. Ultimately, he shrugged Ultimately, shrugged and said, “Well “Well,, all right. Try to show yourself more,” he acceded. “As for me, I like horses, alcohol, and greasy food …  A  Ac ctually, I like anything that fills my  stom st omac ach h and and stin stings gs my tong tongue ue.” .” He continu continued ed to lis listt as he moved the dropping dropping branches branches that blocked their way.

“What else “What else is there there…  Gold and jewels jewels,, honor, honor, powerf powerful  ul  weapons… The normal – I like what most men like.” Max shifted shifted the horse’s horse’s gait as she thought thought of a que query, ry, “Whawhat do you hate?”

“Lies,”  h e a ns ns w we e re re d b a ac c k w iitt ho ho u utt h e ess iitt at a t io io n n.. “ An An d t h he e incom in compe pete tent. nt. I’ve I’ve seen seen too many many proud proud peopl people e who are are undeserving.. And more humans cheating on other people. I’m undeserving sick of them.” Max felt her heart sink. Even though it wasn’t meant for her, her whole body froze in trepidation.

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Chapter 96 Source: wordexcerpt

“Well then, what about you?”  Riftan questioned lightly, without noticing her distress. M ax a x q ui ui c ck k lly y c on o n ce ce al al e ed d h er er e m mo o ti t i on o n s b y t rry y in i n g t o a pp pp e ea ar nonchalant. “I just  just …lik like e the sorts of things things that o-other o-other pe people al-also al-also like,” she answered simply.

“That’s not fair. I want a proper answer.” Riftan asked her. At his prodding tone Max thought some more in order to elaborate on her words to give Riftan a satisfying answer. After making up her mind on what to say, Max opened her mouth again.

“As I said “As said be-b be-befo efore re… I like like a-ani a-animal mals. s. Dogs, Dogs, cats, cats, hohorses…I like chicks and ra-rabbits too.” “And?” “I like re-reading re-reading books. When I was at Ca-castle Ca-castle Croix, Croix, I was a-always in the li-library.” li-library.”  Max announced and Riftan gave her a nod. “Indeed, the butler told me that you spend the best part of  your time in the library.” Riftan told her and Max smiled faintly faintly at him. “That’s “That’ s right. right. There There are ma-many ma-many rare rare and pre-pr pre-preci ecious ous books in the li-library li-library at Ca-castle Ca-castle Ca-calypse. Ca-calypse. Al-although, Al-although, Ruth clings on-onto most of them…” Max added the last phrase as if it was an afterthought.

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Riftan glance Riftan glanced d back back at her in an almost almost surprise surprised d manner manner,, he lowered lower ed his head towards him and asked in a rather consp conspirator iratorial ial tone, “Shall I kick him out of the library?”

“If you do that, he won’t let me for-forget it for the rest of  my life.” Max warned him in a slight panic. Riftan made an uncertain expression expression at her quick protest. He gave her a small frown and stared into her eyes before finally speaking his mind.

“It seems like the two of you are becoming becoming rather close.” Riftan said in a low voice and Max sensed that even though he tried to mask it, the former felt uneasy about her spending time with Ruth. “When we were de-decorating de-decorating the ca-castle ca-castle…he gave me lots of ad-advi ad-advice. ce. He’s fu-fuss fu-fussy y and he nags a lot …but he seems seem s like a good per-person.” per-person.”  Max explained but somehow it seemed like her words put him in a bad mood instead of comforting him. Riftan remained remained silent for a while, as if he was trying to choose his words, when he seemed calm enough to speak once again he turned to face Max, and said, “That’s the right. He’s fussy and has too much to say, but he’s an honest man.” Honest. Max realized he said it as though there was nothing more important than trust.

“And things you hate?” hate?”  Rifta  Riftan n opened opened his mouth again after riding quietly for a while, lost in thought. “You have to answer  that too, for it to be fair.” Lashings, yelling, cursing and beatings came to her mind – but she could not give him such an honest reply.  Yet , she did not wa  Yet, want nt to lie to him either eit her.. Rif Riftan tan hat hated ed lie liess more mor e than anything anything.. She hesitated hesitated and chose chose an honest honest answer answer to give www.asianovel.com

 

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him.

“My-myself.” Riftan blinked at her in confusion as though he did not understand why she said that. She said it lightly, like it was nothing much.

“I … I hat hate e my-mys my-mysel elf.” f.”  Max re repe peat ated ed th this is time time wi with th mo more re conviction.  Ju st as sh  Just she e said sa id th this is,, the th e path pa th they th ey we were re on ende en ded d an and d a wi wide de meadow appeared before them, they had finally arrived. Before he could press her further to explain explain what she had meant, she galloped off over the hill, leaving Riftan to stare at her retreating figure.

 Contrary to her expectations, she found that she was able to fully enjoy horse riding. She felt felt incred incredibl ible e at run runnin ning g fre freely ely over over the exp expans ansive ive hil hills ls without any restrictions. restrictions. There wasn’t any other place where shs felt more comfortable and enjoyable than travelling through winding mountain paths. She galloped across the grasslands, grasslands, which slightly glowed golden caused by the warm winter sunlight. She rode freely as if nothing was holding her back. Max noticed that her posture improved little by little as she rode, and by the time he suggested that they should rest a little on the top of the hill, she was already able to ride with a straight back without even thinking about it.

“I brou brough ghtt some some wine wine.” .”  Ri  Rifftan told her as he jumped off his horse and led them underneath the big tree at the top of the hill and www.asianovel.com

 

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helped her to dismount her own.

“You’ve warmed up. I can feel your heart thumping as fast  as a hummingbird’s,” hummingbird’s,” he said as he placed his hands on her sides and lifted her off easily. Max evened out her breath breathing, ing, rough from the horse riding, and wiped the beads of sweat from her forehead. Just as he had said, her heart was pounding in her ears.

“It re-really …feels like I have a drum be-beating in-inside me.” She told him as she touched her chest. She could feel the light vibration from there. “That’s a pretty analogy.” Riftan told her before swooping down to press his lips to her blushing cheek and finally set her down on the ground. Riftan then proceeded proceeded to spread his cloak out on the grass under the tree and sat on it. Max dropped down next to him.  The cold breeze bree ze quickly quic kly cooled cool ed their thei r hot bodies. bodi es. Max noti noticed ced the outline of a town at the bottom of o f the hill. She adjusted her cloak as she stared at the scenery below them.  The wind smoothed down the golden fields as it swept over them in apparent hurry.

“It’s such a be-beauti be-beautiful ful place.” Max whispered as she basked in the warm ambiance around them. “It looks better in the spring. The fields are green and  brimming with wild flowers then.” Riftan told her with a smile. She felt her chest swell with anticipation at his talks of spring. Anticipation… She could never have imagined imagined that the day in her life would come where she would feel anticipation and yearning for www.asianovel.com

 

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something. somethin g. Everythin Everything g was new, and joyful, joyful, and a littl little e frig frighten htening ing too.

“Come here. You’ll get cold quickly since you sweated.” Riftan Rif tan calle called d for her as he leaned leaned his back back agai against nst the thick tree trunk, and pulled her close to share his coat. Max sipped from the small bottle of wine while sitting slightly on his lap. Unlike when he was teasing her, she didn’t feel awkward or embarra emb arrasse ssed d to be so close to him now. Being wrapp wrapped ed up in his strong arms felt so natural.

“Give me some too.”  Riftan whispered to her as he clasped his handss around her waist and leaned his head over her shou hand shoulder lder to take a sip. Max placed the wine bottle on his lips and tilted it carefully carefully so it won’t spill. spill. He took a few gulps and removed his lips when he was done. He then stared into her eyes intently.

“Why do you hate yourself?” Riftan asked. It seemed that Riftan had no intention of lightly skipping over what she had said earlier. Max averted her eyes in embarrassment for what she told him, he did not want him to stare at her in pity. Surely it was obvious that she had only one answe answerr:  she sounded sounded like the stupidest stupidest perso person n in the world when she spoke. In some ways, the fact that he kept avoiding the subject was a little funny. Max ask asked ed non noncha chalan lantly tly,, “Have you…nene-nev never er had a time time when you ha-hated your-yourself, Ri-Riftan?”

“I’ve had plenty.” Dear readers, all chapters have been updated for this week 

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