Under The Oak Tree Manga May 2026

"Because I am afraid," he confessed, the words tearing out of him like a dragon's roar. "I am afraid that if I touch you, you will shatter. I am afraid that the desire I feel will terrify you. I am a brute, Maxi. I have killed more things than I can count. And you… you are sunlight. I would rather freeze on the floor for a thousand nights than be the reason for a single one of your tears."

The first touch of her fingertips was like a spark to dry tinder. He closed his eyes, leaning into her palm. Her skin was soft, so impossibly soft. He felt the callouses on his own face, the roughness of a life of war, and for a moment, he wanted to pull away. But she didn't.

Now, three months into their marriage, the autumn wind was stripping the oak of its leaves, and Riftan found himself standing at his chamber window, watching the sunset bleed across the Anatolian plains. He could hear her in the adjoining library—the soft, rhythmic thump-thump of a book being closed and opened, closed and opened. A nervous habit. She was waiting for him to come to bed. Under The Oak Tree Manga

The great oak stood sentinel on the hill, its gnarled roots gripping the earth like the fingers of a sleeping giant. For Riftan Calypse, that tree was more than a landmark; it was the anchor of his world. Beneath its sprawling canopy, he had first seen her—a flash of silver hair and wide, terrified eyes. Maximilian, the stuttering, fragile daughter of the Duke of Croix, had been a vision of impossible beauty and crippling vulnerability. He, a lowly knight-for-hire with more scars than coin, had been a beast drawn to a wounded dove.

That night, beneath the shadow of the great oak tree that watched over Anatol, the beast and the dove finally met not as hunter and prey, but as two wounded souls seeking shelter in each other's warmth. The floor remained empty. The bed, for the first time, held not a lord and a lady, but a man and a woman who had chosen, at last, to be brave. "Because I am afraid," he confessed, the words

A sob escaped her, but it was a laugh, too—a wet, beautiful sound. And then, she did something that undid him completely. She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his forehead.

Her lips parted in shock. A tear spilled down her cheek. "B-but you… you sleep on the f-floor." I am a brute, Maxi

He walked to the fireplace and crouched down, pretending to stoke the flames. "Maxi," he began, his voice low. "Are you… are you happy here?"