Like I said, read his Pov and you'll understand why he's the way he is! He is controlling but far from toxic...he has lived out in the wild surrounded by only men and constantly been at war since childhood, he knows everything about that particular life and Maxi knows nothing about it, of course he is terrified that something will happen to her! After a certain chapter they will finally (sort of) start communicating with each other though :)
Haha exactly! Then of course they could have communicated better with each other to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings...Riftan thinks that Maxi grow up just sitting in a luxurious castle with lots of nobel people doing nothing. If she had only told him about her childhood from the beginning he would have behaved in a different way for sure!! :)
Oh unfortunately I don't remember where I read it in english, but you can find it here;
https://booktoki460.com/novel/1167621?stx=%EC%83%81%EC%88%98%EB%A6%AC%EB%82%98%EB%AC%B4+%EC%95%84 %EB%9E%98
You just have to translate with google translate, it's pretty bad, but it's still readable! <3
As someone else wrote before, read Riftan's Pov if you want to know why he is the way he is! He cares so much for Maxi and is so green for her (even though he doesn't show it here and the manhwa doesn't show all the emotions the novel describes)
Then there is a lack of communication between them so much that you go completely crazy!!! But believe me, Maxi is the only thing that matters in Riftan's eyes! <3