ITMWG 84

Chapter 84…

The crazy dog ​​and its tamer.

This bloodshed was shocking to the nobles who had only been living in peace. Altair didn’t say anything and just looked at his bleeding hand with annoyance, but there was no greater threat to the person who had provoked him. In fact, it made no sense for someone as skilled as Altair to break a glass and injure his own hands. If they were protected with his aura, they could not be easily damaged by steel, let alone glass. However, the fact that blood was flowing like this meant that Altair had deliberately induced this situation.

‘People like this need to see blood to come to their senses.’

He could not crush the other person’s nose with his fist, so this was a warning. Fortunately, it seemed to have worked.

“I-, I’ve made a mistake…”

The person who had used the weaknesses of his wife and in-laws to drag his opponent down the hierarchy was already shaking. The arrogant look on his face that was mocking Altair and Nadia was nowhere to be seen. Altair knew that people’s eyes were on his bloody hands, but he did not stop the bleeding.

“What are you saying? It was me who made a mistake. To make you see blood on such a beautiful day…”

His voice was calm, but the meaning was clearly conveyed, ‘I am not a shabby noble from the outskirts, so behave yourself.’ As the man swallowed his saliva with agitation, Altair asked him.

“Could I borrow a handkerchief? I think I need to stop the bleeding.”

“O-o-of-of course.”

The man hurriedly took out a handkerchief from his chest pocket. Altair skillfully stopped the bleeding by pressing down on the wound with the handkerchief, and the luxurious handkerchief was instantly stained with red blood.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, it was resolved.”

When the bleeding stopped to some extent, Altair returned the blood-soaked handkerchief to the man. When Altair forcefully squeezed the handkerchief into the trembling man’s hand with the corners of his mouth raised, the strange feel of the blood-soaked handkerchief scared him and he quickly left the room without saying goodbye. Now, the remaining nobles could only gulp nervously while looking at Altair. It was clear that the same thought was going through everyone’s minds.

This is a crazy dog is pretending to be all noble!

And that crazy dog…

“What’s-, what’s going on!”

At the sight of the Baroness approaching from afar, the fierceness from just a moment ago disappeared from the Baron’s face and he immediately hid his injured hand behind his back. At this sight, people realised all at once. This crazy dog’s tamer is the Baroness! So, who held Aylesford’s real power in the end? … It was the Baroness! The nobles’ eyes glistened as they quickly grasped the dynamic.

❈❈❈

As soon as Nadia saw the blood on the floor, she felt dizzy. As she stumbled, losing all strength in her body due to her phobia, Altair hurriedly stretched out his hand and grabbed her. One of his hands was still hidden behind his back. With that, she was quick to grasp the situation.

“Are you hurt?”

“It’s not a severe wound.”

“But-, but there is this much blood…”

She looked down at the floor painted red here and there to assess the situation once more, but couldn’t bear it and shut her eyes in fear. As the blood disappeared from her sight, the feeling of being suffocated faded a bit.

I-, I can’t faint right here and now. That would make an ugly scene.

Moreover, she was Altair’s guardian. If the guardian fainted just because she was scared of blood, what should the injured person do? She desperately pulled herself together and gently grabbed Altair’s arm.

“You need to get treatment.”

“I’ve already stopped the bleeding, so it’s okay.”

“Hemostasis is not a cure.”

She ignored Altair’s excuse and politely greeted the gentlemen he was talking to.

“Sorry, gentlemen. I need to treat my husband’s hand, so I apologise, but we will take our leave first.”

Although it was more of a notice that they would leave than a request for opinions, the gentlemen were not offended and quickly nodded.

“You-, you should! Treatment is important!”

“We’re fine, so don’t worry about it, just go tend to him!”

Nadia glanced at Altair, who seemed rather pleased to see her. How frightened people must have been by this scary face to react like this? She sighed inwardly and walked towards the terrace of the grand banquet hall. Fortunately, Altair was not stubborn and was obediently dragged away by her hand.

The banquet hall had several small terrace spaces so that tired guests could rest during long banquets. When the huge curtains were drawn, it was a sign that there were people beyond and not to be disturbed. It was still early in the banquet, so most of the terraces were empty. They sat down on the terrace in the innermost corner and closed the curtains. Before they went in, Nadia told a passing servant to call a doctor, so a specialist would be there soon, but as she recalled the white-faced onlookers, she was too concerned about his condition to just wait.

“Give me your hand.”

Altair still kept his hand behind his back despite her request. Since Altair was too stubborn to show his injury, Nadia took quick steps and ran behind Altair’s back, but he was faster and turned around to avoid her. Dumbfounded, she looked at Altair with her mouth wide agape, but he just acted all innocent. She got angry and ran behind Altair once again. But this time as well he turned around and faced her head-on. Nadia attempted to aim at Altair’s back several times, but it was a fight she could never win.

“Is this how it’s going to be?”

“It doesn’t look good, why would you want to see it? You would faint from shock again.”

“Did-, did you get hurt so badly that I would faint at the sight of it?!”

When Nadia asked back in surprise, Altair frowned, realising he had made a mistake.

“It’s not like that. I say this because you are so easily surprised by even small things.”

“I’m-…!”

Unable to think of anything to retort, her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh.

“How did you get hurt? It’s unseemly that anyone could hurt Altair.”

“I accidentally broke the glass.”

“… by accident?”

Was Altair the kind of person who would accidentally break a glass? Her eyes narrowed in suspicion and Altair shrugged his shoulders.

“I was nervous too. It’s my first time in the capital’s society. I also met the Emperor.”

Right. To an ordinary person, this was a very natural thing to say.

Hmm…

The problem was that Altair was absolutely not that type of  “ordinary” person. As she was unable to shake off her doubts, Altair sighed and changed the topic to something else.

“How was the conversation with the ladies?”

“Everyone was curious about Altair, and about our territory.”

The questions were generally within the expected range, so even though she was timid, she was able to answer them without panicking.

If the conversation had lasted longer, my flaws would have shown.

Because Altair was injured, the conversation was interrupted, so they ended up having a moderate conversation.

“What about Altair? I meant the conversation with the gentlemen.”

“I was similar. Everyone seemed to have a lot of questions.”

For a second, a cold look flashed through Altaur’s eyes, as he recalled the conversation with the gentlemen. Not missing the opportunity, Nadia quickly aimed at Altair’s back again.

Now!

Perhaps thanks to taking advantage of the opportunity, she was able to grab Altair’s injured hand this time. Altair flinched slightly, probably not expecting her to ambush him like this, but he didn’t shake her hand off. Thanks to this, she looked at Altair’s hand with a sense of pride. But in an instant, her face darkened.

“Oh my god…”

The bleeding had stopped, but blood was speckled around the cut wound. Sure enough, it was not a pretty sight, and it was especially difficult for her, who had a blood phobia, but she kept her eyes open and bit her lip with distress.

“Is there any debris stuck? That is the most dangerous thing when glass breaks.”

“Don’t worry. I made sure it happened in a way that no fragments would get stu-…”

Altair, who had been responding without caution to Nadia’s concerned tone, realised he had made a slip of tongue and shut his mouth. But she had already figured out the situation.

“So it wasn’t a mistake after all. You did that on purpose?”

Just as Nadia was about to interrogate Altair, the doctor arrived. She could not help but think it was bad timing.

“I heard there’s a patient here?”

Normally Altair could not have cared less about seeing a doctor, but Altair quickly held out his hand to the doctor as if he had found a savior.

“I’m here. My hand got injured.”

“Oh my goodness. How did you get hurt like this? Are you alright?”

“It hurts. It hurts tremendously.”

Even though Nadia knew he was feigning pain to avoid being questioned, she felt weak hearing that he’s in pain.

…Fine. Let’s get treatment first.

After treatment, they could talk again. However, before the treatment was even finished, the curtains on the terrace were raised again with a loud noise. Even though there was a clear sign that someone was there, someone still had the audacity to barge in. As Nadia turned her head to see who could be so rude, she saw her uncle and Melissa walked in without asking for permission with worried looks on their faces.

“Baron Aylesford! Is your wound okay? I’m here, so don’t worry!”

“Baron! It must hurt a lot, right?”

My uncle and Melissa shouted loudly as if for everyone to hear, attracting attention. It seemed like they were making a fuss on purpose to let everyone know that they were close to Aylesford. In particular, Melissa stood close to Altair, who was receiving treatment, and appeared all teary.

“Your wound is so deep, I think it would be better for you to quickly return to the mansion and rest.”

Their strategy seemed to be working, as the nobles glanced towards the terrace and whispered things like, ‘The Baron is now indebted to the Marquis of Vine’, or ‘The Baron seemed to be treating Marquis Vine with respect’. Her uncle also came next to Melissa and added to the fuss.

“That’s right. There’s no need to push yourself too hard. If you take it lightly as a small wound, it can cause a big problem later.”

But the ending of his words was a little different, or even odd one might say.

“Didn’t we plan to meet the family’s lawyer at the mansion tomorrow to process the documents? If the wound gets worse… So, it would be better to get some rest until then.”

Documents? The family’s lawyer?

It was Nadia’s first time hearing it. But that didn’t seem to be the case with Altair.

“Yes. Do not worry. No matter what, I will not forget such an important matter.”

“Ahem, no, I wasn’t saying that I was afraid you might forget that in all this commotion.”

It was obvious that the promise between them was more important to him than Altair’s wound.

There’s no way Altair wouldn’t know that.

Nadia couldn’t understand why he was accepting her uncle’s request in such a generous manner.

“By the way, Marquis. Have you prepared all the necessary materials for the procedure?”

“Of course. I only need to stamp it now.”

Her uncle nodded with a smile on his face and said to the doctor who was treating Altair.

“Do wrap it carefully. His hands are very precious.”

When Nadia turned to Altair hoping for an answer to the no-context conversation, he started whining again upon noticing her gaze.

“It hurts here. There too.”

He was absolutely unbelievable.