ITMWG 95

Chapter 95…

Can’t disturb her sleep.

Eventually, Nadia’s tears stopped and she calmed down, but now she felt embarrassed.

They were having a normal conversation, but then she suddenly started crying and suddenly put her lips to his…

What would Altair think at such strange actions?

She sniffled as she sneakily checked Altair’s expression, and when their eyes met, he let out a small sigh.

“Have you calmed down now?”

“…Yes.”

As Nadia nodded hesitantly, a snicker escaped Altair’s mouth.

He laughed?

She blinked blankly, wondering if her ears were malfunctioning, and Altair’s laughter began to grow louder.

He was covering his mouth with his hand as if she was aware of her and tried his best to suppress the laughter, but he couldn’t hide the sound that was leaking out.

This was the first time she saw Altair laughing like this, so she was even more confused.

“It’s just-, this situation is funny.”

Her mouth dropped open as she looked at Altair in disbelief.

Altair usually had an incredibly scary face when he smiled, so it felt less scary when he had a blank expression.

But when he laughed so loudly and refreshingly, she felt only warmth, without any fear at all.

It must have been rare for Altair to laugh this loudly, so she could say that it was a truly precious moment.

As Nadia quietly watched Altair with that though, she felt the corners of her mouth slightly go up.

The smile grew bigger and bigger, and before she knew it, Altair and her were laughing happily, looking at each other.

The surroundings were noisy, but the space where they faced each other was comfortable, with no worries to disturb them.

Altair moved Nadia, who had fallen asleep to the bed, and sat down next to her on a small chair without a backrest.

In fact, the word small chair was somewhat ambiguous.

However, it was definitely a small chair for Altair to sit on.

The stories Nadia told him today were all surprising.

Even Altair, who was always calm, was greatly surprised, so it was needless to say how staggering it was.

However, surprise was not the only emotion Altair felt while listening to Nadia’s story.

In fact, watching Nadia continue her story while trembling, a strange sense of pride and tickling filled him more than surprise.

Altair was a person who did not reveal himself easily.

This was because showing himself to someone meant revealing his weakness to them.

In Altair’s view, humans were very cunning, using the parts that others had kindly opened up about for their own benefit.

That’s why Altair hid himself from others, and didn’t expect others to open up to him.

A relationship where there was no giving or receiving, just that level.

Altair thought that was just fine.

That way, when he had to turn his back on someone for his own benefit, he wouldn’t feel too bad.

She showed Altair her innermost thought and the most important thing to her.

How courageous that was.

Altair felt his heart swell whenever he found such courage in his wife, whom he had thought to be small and weak. Just like right now.

“Is your heart not feeling well?”

Blan suddenly appeared, and carefully glanced at Altair’s chest upon him unconsciously clutching at his heart.

Altair frowned and warned,

“Shhh! My wife is asleep. Keep quiet.”

“I wasn’t that loud.”

“I was telling you to shut up. Don’t you understand?”

“…”

Blan’s jaws slightly dropped, dumbfounded.

“Why are you treating me like this when I’ve been searching for information so diligently?”

“What information? That the ‘higher-up’ is Prince Orca?”

“Huh?”

Blan’s eyes widened at the words that came out so casually.

“Prince Orca? What…I knew that it was related to someone in the royal family…but Prince Orca? Huh?”

As Blan scratched his head with confused gibberish, Altair clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“You haven’t even figured that out yet. It seems you haven’t been trained enough yet.”

“I can’t even sleep properly and kept wandering around. How unfair.”

“That’s why it’s even worse. Even though you worked so hard, you couldn’t get to the bottom of it, so it’s a lack of ability. If you were just lazy, you would have had a chance to improve.”

“What kind of nonsense is this…”

When Blan scoffed dumbfoundedly, Altair hushed him again.

“Shh!”

“Um…”

Blan was really dissatisfied, but Nadia frowned and tossed and turned, so he had no choice but to keep his mouth shut.

I don’t care about the lord, but I can’t disturb the madame’s sleep.

His lord was a strong monster who didn’t sleep much anyway, so there’s no need to worry, but the delicate madame’s sleep must be protected.

Blan kept silent, thinking that if his fellow knights heard it, they would all agree with him.

As the surroundings became quiet, Nadia quickly regained her relaxed expression.

Then, Altair spoke to Blan in a voice that only trained men could hear.

“We must meet the Emperor. Secretly.”

“You’re not telling us to kidnap the Emperor, are you?”

“I would, if I could. But it’s not good to go against the Emperor’s will.”

Altair and Blan remained indifferent even while making the outrageous statement that they could kidnap him if the Emperor’s will wasn’t important.

“If we meet the Emperor publicly during the time leading up to the trial, people will think we’re scheming. So, contact the Emperor as secretly as possible and arrange a meeting.”

“The Emperor doesn’t plan on going out for a while. We need to go inside the palace.”

“Cain would be better at infiltrating than you.”

“Yes. Cain is better at stealthy things than me.”

“Then tell Cain that the mission has been given to him.”

“Yes.”

The two men calmly concluded their conversation after giving an assessment that would have made Cain jump.

Even at the unexpected news that ‘the high-ranked’ he had been searching for was Prince Orca, Blan had no doubts.

How did Altair get that information, or was it certain?

Those things were not important at all.

Blan had strong trust in his master, whose judgment was never wrong.

❈❈❈

As the trial date approached, Duke Viosques came to see Nadia, perhaps a little anxious.

“Are you preparing well? I actually have no idea what to prepare. Haha!”

Duke Viosques was a stiff man who had lived his entire life as a soldier.

People said that the emperor chose him as his father-in-law because he liked that aspect of him, so he was far from politics.

The reason he decided to join hands with Altair was probably because he couldn’t escape the situation where he had to hand over the succession to the wrong person on his own.

Even as his father-in-law, the Emperor would never have helped Duke Viosques.

That’s why Duke Viosques was a very rare type of person among the capital’s nobles who always had political motives.

It was hard to find someone with such high rank who was not greedy and had no ulterior motives.

At first, I thought he was an incredibly intimidating person…

It was only because of his large physique and scary impression, but in fact, she felt that he was a cooler person than anyone else, so she felt very comfortable.

Also, he strangely feels similar to Altair.

He looked difficult to approach on the outside, but in reality, he was not.

Altair was a bit more solemn, unlike Duke Vioques…

Ahem.

Nadia quickly gathered her thoughts. Even though she knew Altair could not read her mind, her conscience still pricked.

“I am gathering information that is advantageous to our side. It is very important to me, so I am trying my best.”

“Yes. The Baron seems very busy too. Is there anything I can do to help? Should I arrange a meeting with His Majesty?”

She had already heard that Altair had secretly sent someone to meet the Emperor.

However, he probably did not share the plan with Duke Viosques.

Nadia looked at his expression, wondering if the Duke had noticed something, but it didn’t seem to be that way.

Because she was always timid and had been living in fear, she was confident in reading peopel figuring out someone’s intentions.

Nadia smiled and shook her head, confirming that the Duke had said it out of pure kindness.

“I don’t think it would be good to meet His Majesty, who will make a judgment, before an important trial. Even if we win the trial with just, there will be those who will try to disparage the truth because of that meeting.”

“I see. I didn’t think that far ahead, but you’re really smart. For someone so wise to have the title handed over to someone else… The law is seriously flawed. My granddaughter is very smart, too.”

Duke Viosques snorted and leaned back in his chair, secretly bragging about his granddaughter.

“That child learn so fast. She already knows how to greet me politely when she sees me!”

Given his granddaughter’s age, it must have been an illusion caused by his affection filter, but it was endearing to see him expressing his affection like this.

“Furthermore, the current Marquis of Vine is really a rat. He only knows how to flatter people, and he doesn’t think about the dignity or duty of a noble. The previous Marquis was a good person.”

Nadia’s eyes widened at the passing mention of her parents.

“You remember my parents?”

“Of course. The capital’s aristocratic society is very narrow.”

“But…they probably weren’t that noticeable…”

When she thought back on her parents, they were really good people, but they weren’t distinguish nobles.

They were truly ordinary people who had just enough ability to maintain their family, but not the talent to raise them beyond that.

It was strange that such people caught the eye of Duke Viosques, who could be called the star of the capital’s aristocratic society.

“That’s right. They weren’t people who would stand out. Rather, that’s why they stood out to me?”

“Huh?”

“How should I put it? If a small sparrow were to wander among the gorgeous peacocks showing off their tails, it would naturally catch their eye.”

“A small sparrow…”

“You look a lot like your parents. I think I understand why the Baron is so protective of you. He really doesn’t need to be.”

When the Duke laughed heartily and pointed out Altair’s overprotection, her face turned slightly red.

She couldn’t refute the fact that he was so protective of her.

The Duke seemed even more excited as he watched her reaction, and his laughter grew louder.

“You really are a nice couple! Both of you lost your parents early, so now think of me as your father, no, this is too heavy…Yes! Think of me as your uncle and rely on me!”

“How dare I say that to the Duke…! I appreciate just your words though.”

When she hurriedly declined, the Duke narrowed his eyes and let out a strange laugh.

“When I said that, the Baron said okay.”

“Huh?”

“I must say, the Baron is really unique. He’s neither a peacock nor a sparrow… He’s just like a crow.”

Nadia burst out laughing at the thought that the Duke’s impromptu metaphor suited Altair quite well.

But that laughter didn’t last long.

“Oh. It seems there is a guest who wants to see you today.”

“Guest? I don’t think there would be anyone coming to see me.”

“Is that so? Weren’t you familiar with Orca?”

A chill ran down her spine at the familiar name.

The Third Prince had come to see me.