ITMWG 42

Chapter 42…

 It’s not just a misunderstanding

However, there was no way to correct the misunderstanding. There was a stranger in the same space, so no excuse could be made. While Nadia was sweating in awkward, Altair came to her side. His presence made her mind even more complicated. Nadia knew she had to say something, but after seeing Altair’s stiffened face, she couldn’t bring herself to utter anything. In a situation where even Altair kept quiet, a strange silence filled the space.

“What on earth…”

The doctor who had been looking alternately between Altair and Nadia broke the uncomfortable stillness.

“Are you sure you are married?”

Sighing as if fed-up of the awkward air, the doctor pushed Altair away, took a seat next to the bed, and glared at him.

“Get out.”

“What?”

Altair asked back in a disapproving voice at the commanding tone, but the doctor maintained his firm attitude.

“The patient’s comfort comes first. As soon as you arrived, your wife started to break out in a cold sweat due to fear. How do you expect her to rest?”

“Th-that…”

It wasn’t that she sweated because she was afraid of Altair, but she wasn’t sure if it was okay to talk about their personal problem in front of a stranger. To make matters worse, her timidity was fully exposed at his burdensome sharp eyes looking at her, and cold sweat began to break out profusely again.

“Get out. Right now.”

At the doctor’s somber voice, Altair took a step back. It made his shoulders shudder involuntarily.

“…I’ll be waiting outside.”

The doctor didn’t answer Altair’s words and started examining Nadia’s wounds. As the sound of Altair’s footsteps was heard fading away, Nadia quickly turned her head, but Altair had already gone outside and the door had been firmly closed.

What do I do? He must have misunderstood me. Should I go out and explain the situation now? 

While she was hesitating, the doctor wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with a cloth.

“You don’t have to be so scared. Well, I already knew that he was that kind of a person.”

His voice, which felt strangely hostile when they first met, became a little softer as if he had somewhat lowered his guard. But Nadia was more concerned about what he had just said.

He spoke with confidence, as if he had known Altair for a long time. This doctor’s identity was still a mystery, but she thought that she shouldn’t let Altair be misunderstood as a bad person.

Of course, he was a villain in the novel, but he hasn’t done anything wrong yet!

Wasn’t it unfair to be evaluated like this?

“N-no!”

Nadia mustered up the courage as she gripped the blanket covering her body tightly. The doctor, who had been examining her wound calmly, widened his eyes and turned to look at her. Strangely, more courage welled up in her at his surprised response.

“It’s not because I was scared of Altair. There were some disappointing things, and we even quarreled for a while, but it was absolutely not because Altair was ‘that kind of person’.”

The doctor blinked his eyes without saying anything. When Nadia looked at his face, she suddenly felt a sense of embarrassment, wondering if she had said something useless out of a tantrum.

“A-anyway, that’s how it is…”

In an instant, as she shrunk and her shoulders drooped, the doctor, who had been staring blankly, came back to his senses. There was pity in his eyes.

“You still don’t know his true nature.”

“If you knew how ruthless he is, you wouldn’t defend him so much. He’s really…”

The doctor, who was in the midst of  speaking, bit his mouth shut. The emotions he had suppressed surged up, and he seemed to be at a loss for words. It appeared that he was sincere.

Does that mean Altair’s committed evil before he met Prince Orca and became a villain…?

But the Altair she saw was by no means a ruthless human being. Sure she was caught up in his plan and suffered terrible things, but Nadia knew for sure that it was not his true intention.

“You really don’t know anything about him. It seems that he wanted something, that’s why he hid his true colours to lure his meek wife…”

However, the doctor also seemed to have stronger faith than she did. The doctor sighed, looking around cautiously, and opened his mouth in a lower voice, as if her confused emotions were clearly showing on her face. The words that came out of his mouth were beyond shocking.

“… Did you know he killed his parents?”

“Pardon? What do you mean he killed his parents…”

“It’s the previous Baron Aylesford and his wife I’m talking about.”

As Nadia took a deep breath at the frightening news, the doctor whispered with a slight frown.

“Why would Altair…Why would a baron’s rightful heir kill his own parents?”

“He must have wanted to become a baron right away. How can you know the real intention of a ruthless villain?”

The doctor clicked his tongue and straightened his back. Upon hearing something unexpected, Nadia’s mind became complex.

“…how…”

Nadia struggled to stay calm despite being terrified. She couldn’t let such a serious matter slide like this.

“How did you know that? Was there any proof? You can’t just make up nonsense like that.”

“Nonsense, you say.”

The doctor laughed, murmuring softly. If he had been angry about why she didn’t believe his words, Nadia would have been more comfortable. As he shook his head, sadness was visible on his face, and at that, her heart sank.

“I am the proof. You couldn’t get rid of… living proof.”

The doctor slightly turned his head and glanced outside where Altair was waiting, then lowered his voice again and spoke cautiously.

“My father was the physician who tended to the former baron couple.”

“On the surface, it seemed as if the previous baron couple died in an unfortunate fire accident. However, my father, who was their physician at the time, checked the bodies of the deceased baron and his wife and realised that the cause of death was not due to fire.”

“Then…”

“If he had kept the truth to himself, he would have been safe. The problem was that he was overflowing with an unnecessary sense of justice. The correct answer was supposed to be keeping your mouth shut against the conspiracies of nobles.”

“But he informed Altair, and he was killed…Is that what you’re trying to say?”

It was hard to believe, but that’s what the physician implied. In response to Nadia’s question, the doctor just kept his mouth shut instead of answering. Everyone could tell that it was a clear sign of affirmation.

“…I was the only one who escaped alive. People here saved me when I was on the brink of death.”

The doctor rolled up his sleeves upon saying so.

“(Gasp)!”

Nadia covered her mouth with both hands. His arms were full of scars that looked like knife cuts. As if expecting her reaction, the physician straightened his sleeve again and shook his head.

“It seems to me that the madame is also a person who does not fit into the conspiracies of nobles. Sever ties with him at the right opportunity and leave. You’ll never know when he’ll get rid of you like the previous baron couple. They were really nice people though…”

But I…I can’t believe it.

It wasn’t long, but she had been staying with Altair for a while now. It was just enough time for her to figure out what kind of person he was. His terrifying face and bluntness made it easy to misunderstand, but Altair was by no means that ruthless. Didn’t his real appearance shatter her preconceived notion of his image in the novel?

If the Altair I saw was true, then what the doctor said just now…

There was only one conclusion. That there was some misunderstanding.

“Excuse me…”

A clue was needed to unlock the truth. A clue that only remained in the doctor’s memory.

“I want to hear more details…about what happened at the time.”

The doctor shook his head as he spoke, clenching his fists tightly.

“I don’t want to relive the tragedy of that day. Just meeting that person like this and recalling the past is terrifying enough. Those scary red eyes… To see them again…”

The doctor muttered with trembling pupils as he applied the medicine on her wounds with a rather frantic movement. His hands were shaking because of fear. Her wounds stung from his rough touch, but she couldn’t complain.

“I will not live foolishly like my father. The nobles can take care of their own.”

“Still, just in case…  If you want to run away from that scary guy, you might as well ask them to take you, as the guild will come in three days.”

The doctor seemed to have the fixed idea that Nadia was a poor woman who had been tricked into marrying a horrifying baron. Silence fell again as the doctor left after giving his last advice. But Nadia’s head was still turbulent.

Something…is strange.

She didn’t just want to clear up the doctor’s misunderstanding. He was not obliged to remember Altair as a good person. However, there were too many shady aspects to simply dismiss it as a misunderstanding. An intense feeling that an unexpected incident might be hidden behind it was already giving her goosebumps.

I have to convince the doctor to reveal the details of the day.

That way, they would be able to uncover the hidden truth. Nadia clenched her fists with determination.

❈❈❈

Altair leaned against the door and quietly closed his eyes. Slowly in the dark rose Nadia’s gaze and expression as she turned away from him when their eyes met, tormenting him.

I knew she was extremely angry, but…

He could have never imagined that such a meek person could turn away from him so resolutely.

Altair was bewildered by that fact. He had never been shocked by someone’s disregard. Despite the betrayal of his relatives, even when he was seriously injured fighting numerous demon beasts, he wasn’t in this much dismay. If the knights, especially Blan or Cain, knew this, they would have made him into a laughing stock. And Pavel would look at Altair pathetically while fixing his glasses.

“Haah…”

As he went through his hair with a sigh of frustration, he felt a presence in the distance. Turning his head, Mrs. Ritti could be seen returning home, huffing as she was out of breath.

“Uh, how, huh, how can you be so, huff, so fast? Huff, I asked you to go together, huh, yet you left alone!”

Altair felt awkward by the slightly resentful voice and touched the nape of his neck.

“…Was I that fast?”

“My goodness! I thought a colt with its tail on fire was running!”

It was true that as soon as he heard from Mrs. Ritti that Nadia had awakened, he was in a bit of a hurry. But still, being compared to a colt with its tail on fire was a little much.

If Cain heard this, he would surely laugh his head off…

“Pft!”

“…huh? Did you hear the laughter just now?”

Seeing Mrs. Ritti looked up at the tree, bewildered, it seemed that Altair wasn’t mistaken. It was clear that Cain, who had been hiding from him from the moment he came to deliver the news, couldn’t stand the hilarious comparison. Altair turned his head in the direction he thought Cain might be, quickly tossing a fierce gaze, then went back to pretending not to notice anything and attempted to divert Mrs.Ritti’s attention.

“I’m not sure, I didn’t hear anything though. By the way, what’s in your hand…”

“Oh dear, how forgetful of me!”

At his words, Mrs. Ritti passed the basket she was holding in her arms to Altair, and slightly slapped him on the back.

“Now that your wife has regained her consciousness, she should feed her health food! It’s fruit from our village, and making a drink with it is quite good for restoring energy! So, you as the husband, should peel the skins!”

Peel the fruit? Altair blinked blankly at the suggestion he had never heard of since the moment he was born and raised as an aristocrat.

I’ve tried helping the soldiers build embankments or cultivating land of the territory, but…

No matter how poor the baron’s estate was, he had never done such a chore. As she watched Altair stare at the basket, dumbfounded, Mrs. Ritti patted him in frustration.

Wife. Health food. At those words, Altair began to move