Maxi felt tired at the prospect of spending the night in that dark place.
Absorbed in thought, she wondered if she would be able to return to the castle that night, when a wooden bowl was suddenly placed in front of her.
“Please taste some, my lady.”
Surprised, Maxi looked up.
It was the young knight who had tried to send her back to the castle earlier that day.
He held a bowl of steaming soup in his hands.
"It's rabbit stew.
It doesn't compare to the castle food, but it's edible."
Maxi blinked in surprise and reluctantly accepted the bowl.
I was hungry, as I hadn't eaten since morning.
She eagerly took a spoonful of the hot stew into her mouth.
“T-Thank you.”
"It's a pleasure.
And about earlier..."
Maxi felt his body stiffen, fearing his next words.
To his surprise, however, the knight lowered his head.
"Please forgive me, my lady.
It was not my place to say such things."
Maxi looked at his bowed head, the spoon still in his mouth.
She hadn't expected such a show of deference.
Quickly, she set her bowl down and waved her hands.
"O-It's okay.
I n-shouldn't have t-been so impatient...
I-I'm sorry."
"No, my lady.
It was I who offended you.
There is no need for you to apologize."
“T-Thank you…” Blushing, Maxi relaxed her shoulders.
The knight didn't seem to know what to say next, and they remained in an uncomfortable silence until Ruth entered the tent.
He raised an eyebrow when he noticed the knight.
“Is something wrong, Sir Elliot?”
“No, I was… apologizing to you for offending you.”
Ruth looked surprised, but didn't press the knight any further.
Instead, he sighed loudly and began to warm his hands by the brazier.
"The knights who went to patrol the walls have returned.
It seems that there are no more monsters hiding.
I think it is time for you to return to the castle, my lady."
“W-What about you, R-Ruth?”
"I'm afraid I must spend the night here.
Some of these men may have a fever at night.
And once I get my magic back, I'll be able to heal a few more people."
Maxi hesitated briefly.
Totally exhausted, she longed to lie in her bed, but it didn't feel right to return to the comfort of the castle alone.
“M-Maybe I should f-stay and“”
“You’ve done enough, I promise.”
Maxi's face hardened.
She wondered if Ruth found her presence a nuisance.
Sensing his uneasiness, Ruth gave him a soft smile.
"If Sir Riftan finds out that you spent the night in a hut, he will be furious.
I have asked the knights to escort you back, so please go and rest.
You need not worry about us.
We will sleep better knowing that you are safe in the castle."
“Allow me to accompany you, my lady,” the young knight cut in suddenly.
Maxi nodded, unable to protest further.
The truth is that she was relieved not to spend the night in this isolated place, surrounded by the smell of burning carcasses.
Feigning reluctance, she climbed into the carriage with two servants.
When Sir Elliot stopped next to the carriage on his horse, the carriage began to move.
Maxi sat huddled inside the carriage, which creaked.
Taking a deep breath, she fell asleep like a cat in front of the fireplace.
It had been the most exhausting day in his twenty-two years of existence.
As soon as he arrived at the castle, Maxi threw away his blood-stained clothes, took a shower and soon fell asleep in bed.
When she woke up the next morning, her whole body hurt as if she had been beaten with a club.
She rolled from side to side, groaning in pain.
Ludis came in with firewood.
“Is everything okay, my lady?” Ludis's voice was full of concern.
Maxi forced a smile and got out of bed.
Ludis quickly summoned the other maids to prepare a hot bath.
Maxi dove into the steaming water until the knots in her muscles loosened, then changed into a soft cotton nightgown and a thick wool dress.
Ludis dried her hair completely with a towel before gently combing out the knots.
"Why don't you rest in your room today, my lady?
It's a cold winter day outside."
"I-I plan to p-spend some t-time in the library.
There's a book I'd like to read..."
"Then I'll see to it that the fire is lit immediately.
The wizard hasn't been there since yesterday morning, so it's quite cold in there."Ludis left the room.
Maxi ate his portion of creamy barley porridge brought by a maid.
Then, with a thick robe over her shoulders, she went to the library.
The room was already heated when he arrived.
Maxi opened the curtains to let the light in and began searching the shelves.
But finding the book she wanted proved more difficult than she had anticipated.
She pulled out book after book to check their contents before returning them to their place.
Should I wait and ask Ruth when he comes back?
After spending hours looking through the books, Maxi sat on the floor disappointed.
He was about to give up when the title of the book he was looking for caught his attention.
It was in a messy pile of books stacked at the edge of the table.
His face lit up with a smile.
Maxi took the book, which contained ancient medicines and illustrations of medicinal herbs.
With a large number of monsters inhabiting the land around Anatol, it was likely that the events of the previous day would occur again.
For this reason, Maxi had decided to study the art of healing.
She sat by the window to read in the dim winter light.
The book was not easy to understand.
The illustrations were faded, and remedies like sprinkling ashes on bruises or soaking your hair in raw eggs for fevers seemed dubious at best.
Finally, Maxi sighed and closed the book, discouraged.
I would feel better if we had just one more person capable of healing magic besides Ruth…
She could ask Riftan to hire another wizard or request that the central church send clerics to Anatol.
However, neither option was easily viable.
Nobles were always in fierce competition for the best mages, and Ruth had already said that the central church in Osiriya would never send a cleric to a hinterland like Anatol.
After a moment of deliberation, Maxi decided to look for more books.
But even after searching the library all afternoon, she couldn't find anything useful and left disappointed.
When he returned to his room, Ludis served him grilled goose, crepe with candied apple and pumpkin soup with a goat's milk base.
But Maxi barely touched his food as he leafed through the book he had checked out from the library.
Part of her doubted her efforts would bear fruit, but she couldn't bear to do nothing.
Maxi stared into the fire, his eyes fluttering.
Riftan liked her now, but there was no guarantee that he would continue to like her forever.
The moment he realized she wasn't the charming noblewoman he believed her to be, his affections could disappear like a mirage.
Maxi couldn't shake his anxiety.
She wondered how she could become someone needed by others; if she could be useful to Riftan in some way, it was possible that he would allow her to remain by his side even after he grew tired of her.
Sighing at his servility, she stopped frantically flipping through her book.
After staring at the cover for a moment, Maxi pressed her face into her knees.
In these moments of self-consciousness, she could see her thoughts distorted as in a mirror, and her mind would enter a state of turbulence.
She wished Riftan was there to hold her, but the thought only deepened her feeling of loneliness.
The next day, Maxi discovered a book about ancient medicines in the corner of the library.
She spent the rest of the day reading the yellowed, faded pages.
Although the book was written in the ancient language, Maxi was able to read it with ease, having spent most of his life hiding in a library.
But as she read further, words she had never encountered before began to appear more frequently, and it soon became difficult to understand the passages.
As she slowly turned the pages, she carefully wrote the words on a piece of parchment.
They appeared to be names of body parts or tools used for treatment.
Maxi looked for titles on the subjects, and soon had a huge pile of books on the table.With the quill in her hand, Maxi wrinkled her nose.
She had frantically read everything that seemed useful, but understood no more than half of the material.
She took a deep breath and doubted that she would ever be able to learn anything like that.
She was impatiently running her hand through her hair when she heard the door open.
His face lit up when he saw Ruth striding in.
"R-Ruth!
W-When did you g-come back?
C-Were you able to treat all the injured?", Maxi asked excitedly.
"I came back last night.
And yes, everyone was taken care of," Ruth replied, in a flat tone.
He went to his usual chair.
When he saw the books open on the table, he seemed surprised.
“Are you trying to learn medicine, my lady?”