Under the oak tree 1 (sooji kim)

Under The Oak Tree Maximilian Calypse nervously paced around the drawing room She was so tense that she didn’t even recognize that she was biting her nails until the Duke of Cross came inside When she.

Under The Oak Tree

Maximilian Calypse nervously paced around the drawing room

She was so tense that she didn’t even recognize that she was biting her nails until the Duke of Cross came inside When she heard his cane hitting the floor, Max hurriedly hid her hands behind her back

“Didn’t I warn you a thousand times about that nasty habit?”

trouble to our family with your dirty behavior.”

Cold sweat dripped behind her back She stiffened

in fear and opened her mouth with difficulty

“I will do everything that you say father I will… he,

“Father, I’ll try, I’ll try This, this marriage, this….”

“I-I…”

“Riftan Calypse is no longer a low-ranking knight!

He has become one of the sword masters on the continent, and the ‘bold warrior’ who has defeated the Red Dragon! If he wants to, the temple will

consent to a divorce permit.”

Just imagining it was horrible, and he breathed loudly, his forehead creasing

“For the spirit of the Cross family you should not

be divorced by a knight from the heavens! You can’t let the family become a laughingstock

because of their stupid daughter.”

She bit her lips The objection that it wasn’t her fault soared to her throat She had never wanted

to marry Riftan Calypse and she knew he felt the same way Wasn’t it the duke himself who pushed ahead with the marriage that no one asked for?

Whether he had read her rebellious thoughts or not, her father remained icy

“If you were half as beautiful as Rosetta…No, at the very least as normal I wouldn’t have taken this road to please him!”

When she remembered her half-sister, whose

beauty was comparable to a rose, her arguments faded away like sand Looking down at her pale, weary face, the duke of Cross added ruthlessly

“Even if King Ruben wants to welcome him as his son-in-law, he’ll be fine even if the other party

refuses! It’s all because you couldn’t win his

as if to pour more poison, withdrew at the sound

of a knock on the door The quiet voice of the maid could be heard

“Lord, the Knights of Remdragon have arrived.”

“Guide him to the drawing room!”

Max looked up at his father in terror He

threatened furiously with his gnashed teeth

“Make it clear to Calypse that you can’t annul your marriage! Once again, if you insult the family,

you’ll pay heavily!”

Then he went out of the drawing room leaving

behind Max She stood up with difficulty and

leaned back against the window, waiting

breathlessly for the pain to pass

The pouring autumn sunlight pierced her eyes in her painful state Still, she managed to swallow her tears Her situation never improves even if she cried Instead, it will only make her look more

miserable than she already is

Max clasped her trembling hand tightly She had

to keep her head straight For a woman in this

society, divorce was tantamount to a death

sentence It was not just a matter of being

ridiculed, but it was an irrevocable disgrace to the family

To clean up the taint, a man from her family would have to challenge Riftan Calypse to a duel But her father had no son, and none of his relatives or

knights in service could ever hope to match him

After all, who can fight against the swordsman

who has defeated a dragon? Eventually, it could only lead to the family’s honor being tarnished and her father never, ever forgiving her Perhaps she would suddenly face death even before the process

of the formal divorce would take place This was her father she was talking about…

‘So somehow…’

‘But will he listen to me?’

She bit her lips, her mood as if she was standing

at the tip of a cliff Their marriage was made solely

for the convenience of the Duke of Cross and his knights

Three years ago, when news spread across the continent that Red Dragon, hibernating in

Aranthal, had opened its eyes, Elnuma Ruben III ordered his vassals to arms with stringent action

Naturally, the Duke of Cross also had to lead his knights on the expedition But his father passed

on the duty by marrying Riftan Calypse to her

She shivered at the thought of the insulting

remarks that the guests had mumbled on the day

of the wedding day The low-ranking knight,

Riftan, had to be dragged out of the ceremony as

he could not disobey the order of the Duke The anger and humiliation he would have felt was

unthinkable His expression of restraint was just

as fearful

‘If only I were half as beautiful as Rosetta…Maybe

he will feel much better and would not think of divorcing me.’

Ideas drifted in her head in self derision Despite his low status, Riftan Calypse was a man with

breathtaking features Even Rosetta, who was

mocking him for his origin, blushed at the sight of the knight

Riftan could have enjoyed a lot of romantic

relationships with beautiful ladies Such a man could have escaped having a stutter as his wife Furthermore, his status was no longer a

hindrance

‘In the event he marries the king’s daughter…I

won’t be able to change his mind even if I begged him.’

They spent only one night together The very next day, Riftan left with the army without saying a

word of farewell Even after that, he did not send her a single telegram She felt doubtful whether he had even regarded her as his wife

As she clasped her face in a dismal mood, a

gloomy voice penetrated her ears

“What a sight worth seeing.”

Max looked up in surprise Since when had a giant man been standing by the door staring at her?

“My wife trembling, waiting for her husband to

come back from the dead.”

The man walked up slowly, his sarcasm dripping She looked at him, forgetting even to breathe

Riftan Calypse, wearing a dark blue tunic and

silver armor, reminiscent of a monk, looked much larger and overbearing than she had remembered

“I didn’t expect a warm welcome, but there’s no reason to shiver like you’ve seen the plague.”

The cold words finally brought Max to her senses The blood drained from her face at the thought

that she had offended him in less than a minute after their reunion

“Y-you’ve come, safely, back safely….”

‘What should I say? I don’t know what to call him.’

Riftan? It seemed too much of an endearment

Lord Calypse? She thought she’d be laughed at As she mumbled back her words, she suddenly felt an intense gaze looking at her and took a step back

She couldn’t figure out why he was looking at her like that As if it couldn’t get worse, the man’s face became colder for some reason He snatched her arm and uttered harshly

“At least pretend to be happy in welcoming me.”

She froze as their bodies met within a hair’s

breadth, the smell of leather, horse, and of faint sweat piercing the tip of her nose His masculine odor flashed across her mind, and a memory that had been buried for three years

Mysterious heat blossomed from his hard,

penetrating gaze He looked down at her like one

looking at a raw meat, like a hound on the brink of biting its meal

She dropped her eyes in a hurry, her face burning

as if she was under the unforgiving heat of the

sun

With her heart beating faster with every second, memories of their marriage slowly flooded her

thoughts Her husband was finally back home

How would she deal with him now?

“Take off your clothes.”

By the end of the wedding reception, she was led into the bridal chamber by a nanny With the help

of the maids, she washed herself clean and sat on the bed, and after a while her husband followed her into the room Then he, who was hardened by tension, said so to her

Max didn’t know his intentions, but her eyes were wide open She couldn’t understand why the man, who had completely ignored her presence

throughout the wedding, had made such a

demand out of the blue She had no specific

knowledge, though vaguely aware, that something secret happened between couples

The nanny said, “You have to obey your husband unconditionally and accept whatever he asks in silence.”

How can such unconditional obedience involve taking off her clothes? She was at a loss on what

to do, but the man who threw his top over his

head gave her a hard look

‘Do I have to take it off?’

She took a breath of surprise Riftan Calypse was like a giant made of twisted steel His shoulders were twice as wide as hers, his neck was long and thick, and his waist was lean and straight, akin to

an elegant hound She was ridiculous in

comparison

She knew at first that he was a man of unique

physique among the knights, but it was

overwhelming to see him face to face She

swallowed hard

It hurts when his father hit her, what more if he is the one to hit her?

“You look terrible.” His cold voice made Max

tremble The man strode up to the bed and openly stared at her His huge body, purring golden at the fireplace light, blocked her vision

“You don’t like me very much, do you?”

“Ah… I, I…”

He bent over her On the face of near perfection, his black eyes held an eerie glow The man’s tight lips twisted with cynicism

“Of course, a duke’s daughter would never place in her heart a low-ranking knight.”

There has been an uncontrollable tremor in her body when she heard his voice is full of hostility A wife belongs to her husband If he desired, she

could be beaten and a harsher corporal

punishment was tolerated in her society Max

sweated with fear in the situation where she was forced to cling to his husband’s generosity and

that at this moment, she might have angered him

“Come here You know what you have to do.”

Max couldn’t urge to ask what she had to do and instead, looked down at her toes A dark shade fell over her head The man raised her chin with his long, rough fingers, sending an indecipherable

“…”

“Once we start, there’s no stopping in the middle.”

Max’s throat constricted and she swallowed hard a second time If she went away like this, her father would surely not forgive her She had no choice in the first place Max closed her eyes and loosened her belt with trembling hands

The fear of being beaten by her father was much greater than the fear of being humiliated by a

stranger No She would not end up being beaten Perhaps, a more severe punishment would be, her father would even be back with another knight in a few days She was nothing more than a tool for her father’s convenience

In the punctuating silence, Max took off her

ornaments one by one and placed them down

beside the bed Only the sound of the fire cackling could be heard through the room She could feel the man’s stinging gaze as she pulled down the

strap of her linen dress and pulled her arm out of the sky-high sleeve

The cold night air swept across her naked back and shoulders harshly, making her flesh erupt to goosebumps She clutched her clothes to her

chest, unable to lift them further down Then the man put one knee on the bed and pulled the hem

of her skirt in one motion

“N-now, wait a second…!”

The hem of the dress flowed down without

resistance against Riftan’s ominous strength As she grabbed at the hem of her dress in a hurry, there was a look of irritation in his eyes

“Remove your hands.”

“Why, why, oh, my clothes…”

She looked up at him with a confused look The man’s face was enveloped in a deep shadow with his back against the fire Max felt more afraid

because she couldn’t see his expression in detail

“Do you want me to stay or not? Be sure.”

Max swallowed a sob Her shoulders shivered as

he threw her waistband on the floor without

lowering his hands The cold air swept over her exposed skin

“There’s no turning back now.”

His low voice ringing in her ear chilled her heart

He stroked her pale body stiffened with tension with his warm, calloused hands As she

instinctively tried to push, the man pulled her

against him more strongly, wounding one arm

around the back of her waist A strange tingle in the spine and a curious heat were all that came from her body

“J-just a little bit a-away…”

She asked in a trembling voice, but the man didn’t even care to hear her He bowed his head and

kissed her br*asts She instantly opened her eyes

in shock

Hot lips swirled over her soft, gentle skin His

strange touch made Max shudder It was the sight

of a grown-up man burying his face in her chest like a newborn baby

“Relieve your body.”

He caressed her stiff, hardened back with a rough palm His moist breath in contact with her skin gave her goosebumps

He rubbed his rough chin on her soft skin and

pushed one hand into the hem of her garment that had been covering her waist She jumped up The man’s hand touched an area of her that she had never imagined Her lips quivered with

astonishment

“What, what are you…”

“Stay still If you continue like this, you’ll be in

pain.”

Her legs shook in fright The man, who only

exchanged stares with her several times, was now touching her most intimate body part without

hesitation She couldn’t believe it

“This, this… d-don’t do it.”

She grasped his thick shoulders and pleaded

Under her touch, she could feel the man’s body swaying and trembling His firm skin was burning under the palms of her hands It felt as if she was holding an iron heated by fire

Riftan, whose lips were clinging to her skin, soon brushed over her own mouth with renewed vigor His unfamiliar, rough taste spreading through her mouth made Max’s shoulder shake While she was distracted, he pulled down the hem of her dress and lowered his hand Her scream was sucked into his mouth

“F*ck it…”

The mixture of her groan and his curse came out from their intertwined lips She struggled so much like a carp ferociously swimming in water The

deep waters that she dived in was an unfamiliar territory she could not recognize Her legs

thrashed instinctively

But she couldn’t get out because she was weighed down by his rock-like body She felt like a helpless deer struggling with a hound’s teeth on her neck

“D*mn it, I can’t wait…”

He pushed his hand a little deeper, muttering in a nervous voice Max stopped breathing The advice

of the nanny, who said, ‘You have to accept

everything your husband does as submissively,’ has long disappeared from her mind She fluttered like a fish on water under the ministrations of his hand And an unimaginable sensation shook her whole body

“Ha, no…! Oh!”

There was no use in struggling to escape He

kissed her furiously and touched her body firmly Max could only bite the pillow

It was hard to believe that such a bizarre act was actually happening Her eyes were burning, and her head was spinning

She was ignorant She doesn’t know anything

about this

“A little… it’s going to hurt a little.”

The movements from his fingers finally halted after some time, to which felt like eternity to Max In her limp tiredness, she took a long exhale, her rigid body couldn’t resist any longer Riftan took ahold

of her clothes and pushing one arm under her

waist, lifted it above her head

Their hot bodies made contact Only then did she realize that his skin, as well as hers, was slick with sweat

The man’s back glistened gold in the dim lighting

It suddenly occurred to thought that she was

sneaking into a blacksmith’s forge and saw a

golden statue Would this be the sight when you pour boiling liquid from the furnace over a body? her thoughts echoed unanswered as her whole

body melted, feeling as if it was drowned into a pot

of gold

“Breathe Take a long breath.”

He whispered roughly in her ears,

incomprehensible to fully understand in the

moment as her back trembled upon his touch on her skin In an unconscious effort, she spread her legs and clung for life to the man’s hard forearms Then his lower body sank heavily between her

parted legs

“Ack!”

The dull pain came before realization of what was happening dawned in Max struggled fruitlessly with fear as the man trapped her underneath him

with their locked lips She was unable to escape; her heart was crushed against his strong chest as

he pushed deeper into her body She could only cry, raking her fingernails without mercy all over his forearm

“Oh, it hurts… it hurts…” she howled

“It’s because you’re too narrow…”

Tepid sweat trickled down from his neck and fell over her face As she unconsciously bent her body

to get out of the pain, he shivered faintly and

firmly grabbed her waist with both hands Deep wrinkles were set in his forehead as he did so

“Please… stay still…” an unexpected plea came from his lips

But Max was only swallowed by the intense agony that wracked her body “It, it hurts… it hurts…!”

“Don’t move, please… ugh!”

She could feel the man’s body shivering and for a moment, she stopped breathing He hugged her waist, his hold tight on her that she felt she was going to break and began to move as if he could no longer bear it anymore She groaned at the sharp pain that came

Every time his body shifted; her own body shook like a helpless boat on a raging river Her mind

grew more and more muddy as time ticked by

What are you doing to me? The sheets she

clenched with her hands felt as if it were on the verge of tearing

“Oh, darn…”

Max couldn’t fathom how much time had elapsed before he uttered a strangled cry and drooped over her He breathed hard under her body, billows of hot steam rising in the process The man’s

shoulders still moved erratically as with his

heaving As she noticed all this, a strange sense of loss struck Max She looked up at the ceiling

blankly, her eyelids shaking What just happened?

“Why… are you crying?”

Only after being questioned by the man did Max realized tears were falling from her lids As she tried to hide her face in a hurry, she felt his moist tongue run over her cheek She instantly tried to turn her face away But this only led him to clasp her face and grasp it so that she wouldn’t be able

to escape him

“Don’t avoid me.”

An intense, incomprehensible gaze bore to her from his dark eyes, and it made goose bumps

erupt on the skin of her back As he said this, he placed his lips over her temples and cheekbones wet with tears

“You’re my wife now Like it or not, there’s no

turning back.”

Then he pulled her hair and forced a kiss

Repeatedly, she had to accept helplessly Time

passed without her knowledge…

That fateful night, she couldn’t count how many times they repeated it After losing consciousness, she woke up past noon By then he had already left for the expedition, and the nanny told her that the priest had identified the v*rg*n blood on the bed and announced that their marriage was

successful Such was the rite of passage for

marriage

That was all that happened between them She

lost her v*rg*n*ty to him, and he left for the Lexos Mountains on behalf of Duke Cross Never had it occur to Max that they were a couple She felt the same on this moment when they finally faced each other after years…

Max mustered her courage to look towards the

man filled with eyes she could only fathom to be filled with enmity Her father’s voice echoed

persistently in her ears like a haunting melody,

“Make it clear to Calypse that you can’t annul your marriage! Once again, if you insult the family,

you’ll pay heavily!”

But her lips only clung tightly to one another as if

an invisible glue were applied on it What should I say? To her, she was just another intimidating man but her husband

“Stop trembling!”

The man suddenly raised his voice, making her step away reflexively out of fear As soon as her foot touched backward, the man came closer, his muscles visibly straining from tension

“Stop looking at me as if you’ve seen a disgusting thing! Am I some kind of despicable monster to you?” Riftan’s words unexpectedly caught her off guard

“I, I…”

Riftan cast her a fierce glance, only to sweep his hair a moment later from exasperation Max eyes dimmed; in less than five minutes of their reunion

he was already displeased And to think she still had to persuade him to reconsider a divorce

Her lips were trembling against her will Please, just say something She urged herself in silence

“I, I… it’s just… I’m s-so, so nervous… wha-I don’t know what to say…”

d-She could feel her cheeks burn and the

unmistakable burning pain in her eyes that

signaled her incoming tears But she couldn’t

make him see that, to cry like a child in front of him Desperation clawed at her immediately

“I d-don’t think y-you are a monster, a monster, not a thought… I, I, I’m nervous… yes… huh,

persuade him when she could not even speak

properly

Max bowed her head instead, the blush from her cheeks travelling all the way to the tip of her ears She might as well keep her mouth shut, she

mused dismally A mature woman wouldn’t stutter like fool In the end, she felt as if she were

standing naked in front of him

“Sh*t…”

Her shoulders flinched at the gentle voice that

contrasted with the curse word Her father was

right, no man in the continent would ever want her

as a wife How could she even dare ask this man to refuse to marry a daughter of royalty, who was

miles better than her?

The helplessness that surged afterward did little to keep the tears at bay At that moment, she felt the touch of cold skin on her cheek and was instantly frightened A hand wearing the hard iron gloves used by the knights held her face with an uncanny tenderness