ITMWG 63

Chapter 63…

Give me a break.

“What on earth…”

Confusion was clearly visible on Altair’s frowning face. Altair, who had been frozen, took long strides after a moment of silence, and came closer to Nadia, promptly leaning down to her. Normally, she would have been startled by the close distance and backed away, but now her body was in such an uncomfortable condition that she didn’t bother to move away from Altair. When Altair came close enough that Nadia could feel his breath, he brought his nose near her nape to take in the scent, and then took a large step back, looking as shocked and baffled as when he first entered the room.

“What is this…?”

Nadia blinked blankly, wondering why he was reacting like that, but then she remembered he had mentioned some smell as soon as he opened the door.

“Do you smell something strange from me?”

She lifted her arm, stuck her nose at her skin, and sniffed. But perhaps her nose had already become numb to her own scent, so she couldn’t find anything unusual. When she turned to look at Altair again with puzzlement, he groaned and came towards her again.

“It’s not a strange smell…did you apply any perfume to your body?”

“Yes. Marie applied it. I heard it’s popular among noble ladies these days, but I think she got tricked by a scammer.”

Altair’s eyes sparked fiercely when a scammer was mentioned, and she nodded.

“Yes. It is said to be a magical potion that improves marital relations, but where in the world can there be such a thing? It’s clear that she was scammed.”

“… If that’s what it means, then I don’t think it’s a scam.”

“Pardon?”

“… I can clearly see why this perfume improves the relationship between couples.”

Nothing happened, so how did Altair know? When Nadia’s eyes widened in surprise, Altair sighed in frustration.

“Don’t you know why your condition is like this? It’s because of the lotion that Marie put on you.”

“My condition…? My body does feel a little hot…”

“It’s not just hot…”

Altair trailed off as he spoke and ran one hand through his hair. The action messed up his hair and made the hair on the back of his head stick out. Nadia got up and extended her hand to Altair with the intention to fix his hair. But before her hand could reach him, he turned his head and avoided her touch.

“It’s better not to touch me right now.”

“Why?”

“The perfume… I think it’s mixed with some aphrodisiac ingredients. If you touch me, you’ll be in more trouble.”

“Pardon? A-aph-aphro…”

Nadia was so shocked that she couldn’t speak properly. Marie smiling strangely, her body temperature rising unusually high, and the fact that Altair covered his nose with dismay when he entered. It all started to make sense to her.

You’re crazy, Marie!

Her face heated up in embarrassment. Her body, which was already high in temperature, seemed to get even hotter.

“I didn’t do that on purpose!”

Nadia frantically shook her head and insisted on her innocence.

“I know. It’s no secret that my wife is too naive and innocent for stuff like this.”

Nadia couldn’t tell whether this response was a compliment or a complaint. The noble ladies of the capital considered it a virtue to live shrewdly. Hence, she thought it would be foolish of her to let go of the given chance. Altair was looking at her face intently, as if her subtle feelings were evident on her face. It felt like he was asking for the reason, so she pursed her lips.

In fact, she had never had ‘those thoughts’. All she wanted was to solve all the problems before her and live well. Still, she felt like this was something she should do, so she lifted her chin slightly and tried to show off. But seeing as Altair was laughing, it didn’t seem to work on him.

“Really? Such thoughts, like what?”

“Pardon?”

“You just said you always think of them. I want to hear what those amazing thoughts are.”

Altair crossed his arms and tilted his head to one side. It seemed he wasn’t going to back down until she said something. Nadia’s eyes shifted anxiously here and there as she urgently tried to think of what it could be. But no matter how much she thought about it, nothing came to mind. She was usually very terrible at this, and to add up to that, even her head seemed to have become dull due to her heated body.

“Hah…”

Nadia let out a long hot breath of frustration as her shoulders slumped. At that sight, Altair flinched and bit his lip. He seemed quite nervous as he tapped her forearm with his fingers.

“How dare a maid get involved in her master’s nightlife. I guess I’ll have to scold her when the sun rises.”

“It’s unnecessary to scold Marie. That’s what a noble lady’s maid usually does. This is also to help me. This is my business, so Altair should not get involved.”

Unable to understand, Altair raised his voice, but shortly flinched and closed his mouth again, as if he was conscious of her stare. As Nadia quietly looked at Altair and waited for his answer, he muttered a small ‘Damn it!’ and harshly hit the wall. Subsequently, he walked towards her, bringing his face up close.

“Even without this, I’m always impatient when it comes to you.”

The distance was so close that it felt like their lips would touch at any moment. Her heart was racing and her eyes widened as Altair bit his lip and reached for the blanket.

“Huh…”

Blinking in confusion, Nadia found herself wrapped in a blanket and then was laid down gently on the bed. Trapped in the rolled up blanket and losing her freedom, Nadia could only gape in bafflement.

“But I won’t touch you today. I feel like if I do, that maid will use this trick every time from here onward.”

Altair sighed and lay down on the bed and hugged her, who had become one with the blanket. The distance was very close, but Nadia couldn’t feel his touch at all because of the thick blanket around her.

“If that’s what you think, Altair has already lost to Marie.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The first time we spent the night together. Even then, Marie prepared my clothes…”

Altair frowned, probably reminiscing that day.

“So it was a problem from the beginning…?”

“Why is that a problem? I wanted it, and Altair wanted it too, so there should be no problem.”

If one party didn’t want it, no matter how hard Marie tried, things would not have developed the way they did. When she told him that, Altair was silent for a moment, but then he hugged her even tighter. She could feel it even through the blanket.

“If you already know that, why do you suddenly resort to such a measure?”

“It’s because Marie is worried about me. Melissa is here.”

“Melissa? Why does that name come in here?”

“She had always coveted what I had, even the smallest things. But since Altair is so perfect, we thought Melissa would get greedy again and steal you away.”

“…”

Nadia tried to relay the situation as calmly as possible, but there was no reaction from Altair. She tried to phrase it as carefully as possible, but did she end up making him feel bad for suspecting him of being unfaithful?

“It’s not that I don’t trust Altair…”

When she was in a hurry to add an excuse, an unexpected question came back. Though confused, Nadia nodded.

“Of course?”

Not only was he a great husband who never forced his wife to do anything but he was also very good-looking.

At first people called him a beggar baron, but he’s rich now thanks to the magic stone mine.

If he were to look for a bride with the current conditions,  she would never have gotten the chance to marry Altair.

He would have found a much better wife.

Beautiful, adored by her family, sociable…Ladies with all kinds of good qualities would be lining up for him. Just when Nadia’s mood was about to turn gloomy at that thought, Altair spoke in a somewhat sullen voice.

“… You never said that to me.”

“I didn’t think you like cringy words… If you like this, I’ll say it more often!”

“Who said I like it? I just didn’t know you thought of me that way.”

Altair hurriedly denied it and turned his head. His face was slightly red as he tried to avert her gaze.

“You only had a brief encounter with Melissa but you figured it all out already?”

As expected of the insight from the main character! As her eyes sparkled with admiration, Altair cleared his throat awkwardly and turned to look at her again.

“Well… it just happens to be like that … I don’t know why you thought I might fall for her in the first place. I don’t see any charm in her.”

“Melissa is pretty.”

“Pretty?”

Altair frowned and asked back. It didn’t seem like he was trying to make Nadia feel better, but he looked genuinely puzzled.

“She just looks wild to me.”

“Uh…Usually we call it extravagantly beautiful.”

“I have no idea how that is. I prefer it to be more…”

Altair trailed off as he looked at Nadia intently.

“More?”

Curious about what he was about to say, Nadia pressed him for an answer, but instead, his warm lips touched hers and then pulled away. He said he would not touch her today though? As her eyes rounded with such a question in mind, Altair let out a deep sigh and buried his face in her collarbone.

“Did nothing happen yesterday?”

“Umm…Altair says he won’t fall for your trick. He said not to do that again.”

“Oh my goodness.”

When Nadia relayed Altair’s warning on his behalf, Marie’s eyes widened, showing no fear at all.

“It must have been very difficult. His patience is amazing.”

“He told me not to worry about Melissa either. He already knew her true colour.”

“He knows everything?”

“Um. He could tell with a glance. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Well, was it really ‘at a glance’?”

A strange smile appeared on Marie’s face as she helped Nadia change her clothes. She seemed to know a lot of things, but no matter how much Nadia stared at her, her mouth would not open. She seemed to intend to display the silent qualities of a maid to the fullest. Eventually, Nadia gave up trying to get information from Marie and sighed helplessly. Before long, Marie parted her lips, changing the subject.

“Pavel? Why?”

“I heard the magic stones are finally ready for sale. He said he wanted to show them to the madame first. I guess it’s because the capital’s nobles know about magic stones better.”

Magic stones for sale! Nadia’s eyes sparkled with excitement at the long-awaited news.