A flawless love story of the flawed.
Under the Oak Tree is an ongoing Korean Web Serial Novel by Kim Soo-ji. It Is also being adapted into a Korean Webtoon.
Maximillian is a young noblewoman with a stutter who has had about the most traumatizing childhood possible. Raised by her abusive father, she has grown up being constantly beaten and told she is worthless and unworthy of love or happiness. Confined to her room for most of her life, she has little will and zero self-confidence.
When her father is ordered by the king to deal with a rampaging dragon, he marries her off to the commoner knight Riftan Calypse in return for an oath to deal with the dragon in his stead. Riftan spends a single night with Max before heading off on his mission.
Three years later, Sir Riftan has slain the dragon and become the kingdom's most celebrated hero, but Max has given up hope, believing the rumors that he has found another woman... until he shows up with his knights to collect her. Turns out he took his marriage vows very seriously, and he promptly whisks her off to his fortress.
Now in a loving marriage and surrounded by people showing her care and concern for the first time in her life, perhaps Max can begin her journey to healing and self-confidence.
But the journey won't necessarily be smooth. Max is plagued by crippling doubt and self-loathing, and as the lord's wife, she must rapidly adjust to a position of authority she has never been prepared for. Politics are afoot, monsters infest the land, and war is brewing.
The comic's official English translation can be read here
. The novel's official English translation is available here.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Duke Croix, hoo-boy. He regards his daughters as tools for strategic arranged marriages and believed Max's stutter meant nobody worth allying with would want her. He blamed her for this, and constantly beat and insult her over being useless to him. It's given her issues she may never fully get over.
- Averted with Riftan's alcoholic stepfather. While they weren't particularly close, he honestly tried to give Riftan the best upbringing he could.
- All of the Other Reindeer: Ruth, Riftan's court mage, is universally despised by other wizards for abandoning his oaths and obligations to the Wizard's Tower, to the point that they refuse to serve at Riftan's court so long as he has a position there.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Riftan is almost constantly horny for Max. He frequently holds himself back when he thinks she's not up for it but doesn't realize that she is far too shy to speak up when she is in the mood, leading to occasional needless frustration.
- Arbitrarily Large Bank Account: After plundering the dragon's hoard, Riftan became one of the richest men in the kingdoms. When he brings Max to his castle, he gives her leave to spend all she likes decorating the place (to her consternation, since she'd never been allowed to so much handle a coin before,) and can pay staggering sums of wealth for things when he needs to.
- Played with in universe, as Ruth constantly notes that Riftan's funds are still finite and gets exasperated that the latter's only solution for when the money eventually runs out is just to go pillage another monster's hoard.
- Court Mage: Ruth is Riftan's official wizard, performing healing magic and providing magical support in combat, as well as various services to the castle.
- Crystal Dragon Jesus: Averted. The dominant religions are called Catholicism and Protestantism, and they worship God with a capital G.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- Max was regularly abused by her father as well as ostracized by the members of his court.
- Riftan lost all of his parental guardians by the time he was 12, the same age he also joined training to be a knight. He has been in countless battles and seen many horrors.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: Wives are legally property of their husbands. Riftan does treat her relatively respectfully, but has the right to beat her if he wants, and when Duke Croix kidnaps and beats Maxi, it's officially treated as theft and damage of property, with his near-killing of Croix judged as too harsh a response.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Due to her father's reputation and personal dealings with them, Riftan's knights have a low opinion of Maxi. They eventually warm to her and accept her as their Lady after she proves to be nothing like Duke Croix.
- Extreme Doormat: Max at first. Under her father's beatings, she quickly learned to be silent and accept her lot. She gradually learns to (sort of) stand up for herself in her new life, but it's a very slow process.
- Forgotten First Meeting: Max met Riftan once before, when he was a child working for the blacksmith in her father's estate, and even made him a flower crown though she was too shy to speak to him but has no idea that boy and her husband are the same person.
- Gilded Cage: Riftan tries to prevent Max from doing any kind of labor and stay confined to her quarters. It comes from good intentions, because he wants to give her the life of a leisurely noble, he feels she deserves, but it drives her crazy. After they get into their first major fight over it, he finally realizes his error and relents.
- Happily Married: Riftan and Max have some tension due to lack of communication and his smothering overprotectiveness, but they nonetheless are intensely in love with each other.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Riftan is about a foot and a half taller than Maxi, and easily three to four times her body mass. It's not so much that she's tiny as it is that he's absolutely massive.
- Idealized Sex: Zig-zagged. Max's wedding night with Riftan is bloody and painful, but after he returns, he is much more attentive about things like foreplay, and she comes to love sex with him. They both often seem to have more stamina than is physically possible, though.
- Insatiable Newlyweds: Once Riftan returns from his campaign against the dragon, he thoroughly and repeatedly makes up for all the sex he hadn't been having with Max.
- Insufferable Genius: Ruth, full stop. Not only is he a powerful wizard, but he has also been single handedly managing Riftan's estate for years. He's also a rude, snarky, physically lazy little shit that drives everyone, even Max, up the wall.
- In Vino Veritas: Maxi gets absolutely wasted during a feast, and starts complaining about how intimidating all the knights are and how frustrating it is to be so short next to them all, to the amusement of everyone present.
- Ironic Echo: When Riftan finds Croix beating Max and prepares to go to town on him, Croix protests that a priest can just heal her. Riftan then proceeds with his beating, quipping that a priest can just heal Croix.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Ruth is snide, manipulative, and blunt. He's also the first person to show consideration to Maxi and call out Riftan for being too overbearing with his clearly overwhelmed bride. He later becomes her confidant and teaches her about Anatol's culture, magic, and how to finance, while keeping her secret that her upbringing and education wasn't exactly as good at Riftan assumes.
- Klingon Promotion: A downplayed version. The tenets of Riftan's knightly order dictate that the knights are to be commanded by the best warrior, regardless of class or lineage.
- Love at First Sight: Riftan first saw Max when they were children and has been madly in love with her for the almost two decades since.
- Marital Rape License: At first, Max expects Riftan to exercise it, as under the law, she is considered to be his property. Thankfully, he makes it very clear that he would never touch her without her permission.
- The Medic: One of Ruth's major duties is providing magical healing. When Max turns out to have a particular talent for it, he begins tutoring her in the art.
- Monsters Everywhere: Travel outside the settled areas can be very dangerous, since the wilderness is crawling with monsters. Riftan and his knights have to perform regular sweeps around the lands near the castle to root them out.
- No Holds Barred Beat Down: When Riftan bursts in on Croix beating Max, he almost literally breaks every bone in Croix's body. Riftan only stops short of killing him because Max intervenes.
- One-Man Army: Riftan, pretty much literally, to the point that he is considered a vitally important strategic asset all by himself.
- Perfectly Arranged Marriage: Well, not always completely harmonious, since they have communication issues, but they are both very devoted and happy in their union.
- Poor Communication Kills: Thanks to her abusive upbringing, Max has terrible, terrible issues speaking up for herself or voicing her desires. This causes a lot of misunderstandings with Riftan. He often takes her silence or terseness for dissatisfaction with her life or marriage, when she's actually stunned by his kindness to her or afraid to tell him how she feels.
- Porn with Plot: The novel has very detailed, explicit descriptions of Max and Riftan's lovemaking. The webtoon dials this back, opting for Sexy Discretion Shots when things get hot and heavy.
- Rags to Riches: Riftan was raised by a poor farmer who spent most of his life's savings to give his stepson an education as a blacksmith's apprentice. He ran away, became a mercenary, was later inducted into a knightly order, and eventually given lands and titles by the King in exchange for fealty.
- Redheads Are Ravishing: As seen in the page image, Maxi has a very vibrant shade of red hair, and Riftan is smitten with her to the point of having zero sexual attraction to any other woman.
- Shrinking Violet: Max, thanks to the abuse she suffered. She has trouble speaking up or socializing, and often apologizes when she shouldn't.
- Single-Target Sexuality: Riftan was utterly focused on getting back to her during the campaign against the dragon, to the dismay of the ladies he attracted the attention of.
- Single Woman Seeks Good Man: Max is initially terrified of Riftan but later comes to know and fall in love with his many positive qualities: Gentleness, bravery, and kindness.
- Speech Impediment: Max has had a severe stutter since childhood. Her father regarded it as rendering her much less valuable for a strategic Arranged Marriage, and tried to beat it out of her. Eventually he just abused her for being "damaged." Ironically, this most likely made it worse.
- Stay in the Kitchen: Riftan often tries to keep Max confined to their room or a small section of the fortress. While it's kind of justified since the surrounding lands are a monster-infested wilderness, he can become too smothering about it, trying to prevent her from going even into relatively safe public areas of the castle town.
- This view is a normal part of the world they live in, and compared to some, Riftan is downright progressive. When Duke Croix beats Max after her marriage, it's not legally recognized as assault, but as damaging Riftan's property.
- Training the Gift of Magic: Ruth senses that Max has unrealized magic potential and begins training her to use and control it. Riftan is not happy with this at first and tries to forbid it, but eventually relents when Max is persistent about it.
- Unexpected Virgin: Riftan knows how to pleasure Max from the get-go, and she assumes he's bedded other women. When he mentions that she's his first, she is surprised, and he explains that he learned what to do by listening to other mercenaries boast of their... ahem... "conquests."
- Vitriolic Best Buds:
- Riftan and his knights constantly argue, curse and insult each other, but they have each other's backs when it counts.
- Downplayed with Ruth and Max. He can be very sarcastic and loves to tease her, but he's the first true friend she makes at the castle and is sweetly supportive of her in his way.
- Riftan and Ruth have known each other since before Riftan became a knight. Ruth is always calling him out in front of people and lamenting that he serves such a boorish lord, but he is one of Riftan's staunchest supporters. Riftan acts like he can't even stand the sight of Ruth but lets him get away with his blatant disrespect and damn near everything else and knows well that Ruth is the one keeping his lands in order. Notably, he refuses to kick Ruth out despite pressure from the Crown and the fact that other wizards refuse to serve at his court because of Ruth's presence.
- Princess Agnes thinks she and Riftan are this, but in actuality, he hates her and can't stand being around her. She eventually realizes this, but only after she's pushed him too far.
