ITMWG 41

Chapter 41…

My dear Nadia

If Mrs. Ritti’s intuition really isn’t wrong, then…

This was a love letter written by Cain to someone?! If so, it was a letter Nadia shouldn’t be reading. However, Mrs. Ritti, who firmly believed Cain was her husband, was waiting for Nadia to read it with sparkling eyes, full of anticipation. Due to her low level of language, Nadia couldn’t speak at length and it was a situation she couldn’t refuse.

Let’s pretend to skim through it.

Having made up her mind, Nadia carefully unfolded the paper. And at that moment, her eyes widened at the handwriting in the letter.

Huh?

Contrary to what she had thought, the handwriting on the paper was very familiar. It was Altair’s handwriting.

Why…is it Altair’s handwriting?

As she blinked dazedly at the piece of paper, Mrs. Ritti poured water into her cup with a profound smile as if she knew it all.

“It is, isn’t it? A love letter I mean?”

“Uh…”

As Nadia quickly read the content at Mrs. Ritti’s urging, her face unknowingly heated up. It was not a neat letter, but just by reading a few lines, she could tell that Altair had really put in the effort to convey what he wanted to say to her. There were many traces of writing then erasing as if he was trying to organise what he wanted to say, and the text was also cut off, so it seemed that it was yet to be a letter given to the person concerned. But that made her heart tickle even more. That meant only Altair’s sincerity was contained in this small piece of paper that was neither arranged nor re-made. Nadia was staring at the letter for a long time, and at some point, she felt a persistent gaze on her cheek. When she turned her head in surprise, Mrs. Ritti was looking at her with a gracious smile.

“It’s-, it’s not a love letter.”

“Really?!”

Mrs. Ritti took a step back with a burst of laughter as if she saw through her lie.

“You can read the letter slowly. I will bring the doctor.”

When Mrs. Ritti disappeared, the embarrassment that Nadia had been concealing rose to the top of her head. She buried her face in the paper and closed her eyes.

… When did he even write this…

It didn’t seem her burning face would cool down any time soon.

“Is he on a treasure hunt?”

“All by himself?”

“Well, he sure is someone difficult to understand.”

However, unlike the whispering knights, Cain was clearly aware of what their captain was up to. Altair was faithfully following Cain’s advice, ‘If you want to reconcile with the madame, give her a special gift!’’

I didn’t think he would really follow my advice.

Cain advised Altair to write a sincere letter. Expensive gifts were nice, but Cain thought that a handwritten letter with sincerity was the answer in this situation. At first, Altair displayed a questionable face, as if asking if that was really enough, but in the end, it seemed that he had decided to accept Cain’s advice.

Since I’ve given him advice, I suppose I should take responsibility and help him until the end.

“How is it coming along, my lord?”

When Cain suddenly appeared, Altair frowned. It seemed that he was annoyed by Cain’s tone, like a teacher checking on a child’s homework.

“None of your business.”

“Oh, how can that be? Since I’ve decided to help, I shall help you til the end.”

“I’m sure that’s not your real intention.”

Recognising the mischief in Cain’s eyes, Altair said.

“But if you want, your staying still will be plenty of help to me.”

Of course, Cain wasn’t going to back down easily at Altair’s words. Cain peeked his head to get a glimpse of the letter Altair was writing, then asked with a slightly distorted face.

“No way, are you going to give it to her like this?”

“…it’s a draft. I will write another one when the things I want to say are organized.”

“The problem doesn’t lie in whether it’s a draft or not! Can you really melt the madame’s heart by writing such a crude letter?”

“Nadia, I know your heart is broken.”

“…That’s right. So?”

“Oh my god. My Lord, are you writing a report?”

Cain clicked his tongue and placed his hands on his waist. It looked as if he was in full-fledged lecturing mode.

“This is a letter, a letter. You have to put your heart into it, not list the facts. The same words can be written a little softer, more beautifully, and with emotion.”

“…emotion.”

“Yes! Do you understand what I mean?”

“Well…”

When Altair answered vaguely, Cain tapped his finger on an empty spot on the paper.

“If you understand, please rewrite it here.”

“Why should I listen to you?”

“You want to reconcile with the madame, but if you write a letter like this, you two will never be able to make up.”

“…”

“Nadia…I know your heart is broken…I’m sorry.”

“Is this okay?”

“What the hell is going on? Nothing has changed though?”

“I wrote that I am sorry. You told me to put my emotion into it, no?”

“No but…how could you call that putting your emotion into it…”

At Altair’s proud gaze, Cain was at a loss for words.

This person is hopeless…

When Cain sighed at the situation to which he couldn’t find an answer, Altair frowned and retorted.

“What? How am I supposed to write it then?”

“Well, for example, ‘My dear Nadia, I can’t sleep at night thinking I’ve hurt your tender heart.’…?”

“The night has not come yet.”

“No, you’re not saying this because you really couldn’t sleep at night.”

“You cannot lie in a heartfelt letter.”

“Ugghhh…”

The words didn’t get through him at all. Cain raised his hand and dragged it down his face, intuitively realising that it would be difficult to fix this person.

“Stay strong, my lord. With this heartfelt letter…I cheer for you. Really.”

“…you don’t sound sincere at all. Go away.”

As Altair snorted, Cain shook his head helplessly and walked away. Left alone again and staring at the paper, Altair frowned at the blank space. What should he say? Then, the sentence Cain had just said flashed through his mind. After hesitating for a moment, Altair carefully began to engrave the sentence on the piece of paper. ‘My dear Nadia, I can’t sleep at night thinking that I have hurt your tender heart…’ However, Altair could not bear to complete the sentence and drew a cross line.

… this is not me.

He never properly learned how to be exquisitely noble, nor did he have a desire to do so. But if he used pretentious sentences to make Nadia feel better, wasn’t that deceiving her?

I’ll just have to write it in my own words.

As he organised his thoughts, the things he wanted to say began to emerge one by one. ‘I am sorry for not being there to protect you when you were in danger. I knew you could be at risk this time, yet, I couldn’t prepare for it perfectly. But this will never happen again. If you’re still angry, you can hit me hard all you want. It would be nice if you don’t get upset on your own and express it openly…’ Altair scribbled all the bundle of thought on his mind onto the paper. The paper ran out of space before he could notice it. The sloppy letter he wrote while sitting under a tree would look unappealing to anyone.

Fortunately, Altair also had a minimal sense of aesthetics. Soon enough, he made up a plan in his head. Once he returned to Aylesford Castle, he intended to write her a proper letter in slightly bluish ink on paper of a subtle ivory hue. If he conveyed his heart through the letter, wouldn’t Nadia recognise his sincerity? While he was in the midst of such thoughts, he heard Cain’s cry from not far away.

“My lord! We have to go now!”

“I’m coming!”

Altair answered loudly, folding the clumsy letter twice and roughly crumpling it into his coat. However, unlike what he had planned, this clumsy draft was never reborn as a wonderful letter.

‘My dear Nadia. I can’t sleep at night because I think I’ve hurt your tender heart.’

The line was already crossed, but there was no difficulty in recognising the content.

He must have written this with someone’s advice.

Anyone could see that it was not of Altair’s personality. Considering his usual way of speaking, those words would never come out of his mouth. Imagining Altair talking like that with his usual indifferent face made Nadia giggle. At that moment, without prior notice, the door swung open, and a man she had never seen before stepped inside. Nadia’s eyes rounded wide in surprise as he walked over to the bed and put his hand on her forehead. Startled by the sudden action, her mouth slightly fell loose, but the other person just parted his lips calmly in return.

“Ah, yes. Doctor.”

As soon as Nadia reflexively responded to the man’s words, she realised that something was wrong. The words that came out of the man’s mouth were Lupes.

“Uh, why, that…This is Calthas territory…”

Besides, didn’t this man just say ‘Baron Aylesford’? Nadia’s mouth was agape in a daze, yet, the physician just continued his words while examining her wounds with a calm face.

“The fever is gone now. The wound doesn’t get infected and is healing well. Though it looks like a scar will remain, it’s a part that can be covered with hair anyway.”

“No but…I…”

“Still, you need to take medicine for a while. There is also a risk of infection, so be sure to check the wound area carefully. Of course, you can go back to Aylesford and leave it to your doctor.”

Nadia carefully opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted by the doctor’s words every time, and her mouth closed again.

This person doesn’t seem to have any intention of answering me…

No, she felt like he did not even want to talk to her. Just as the strangely underlying hostility in his attitude was about to add to her doubts, the door burst open again without warning. The doctor turned his head to confirm the identity of the person who just opened the door and clicked his tongue lightly.

As soon as Nadia peeked her head out, wondering who it was, her eyes met Altair, who was standing in front of the door. At that moment, the sentence in the letter starting with ‘My dear Nadia’ passed through her mind. It was almost impossible for her to look at Altair’s face without recalling that phrase. Hence, she quickly turned her head away from Altair.

W-what should I do…

It must have looked like she had turned away from him very harshly because she turned her head more hurriedly than she thought.

Oh no, w-what if he misunderstands…?

Just in case, Nadia sneakily stole a glance at Altair, and his face looked stiff.

Ugh. He really must have misunderstood!

Cold sweat began to break out on her back.