ITMWG 44

Chapter 44…

Bloodshed?

Nadia didn’t have to say anything. Sometimes the body warmth they shared with each other could speak louder than words. Her heart tickled at that thought. After enjoying the warmth for a moment, she pushed Altair’s chest lightly to draw a little distance. When she looked up, Altair’s face was very close. The pomella juice she was trying to wipe off was still on his cheek. Nadia smiled as she reached out and carefully wiped it off.

“For the past few days…You didn’t come to see me because you were afraid I might still be angry, right?”

Out of curiosity, she asked. As Nadia spoke, a sense of sadness unknowingly mixed within her voice. She didn’t even notice it herself, but the fact that Altair had not come to see her seemed to be secretly bothering her. As it came out as if she was complaining, she lowered her head in embarrassment. Before long, Altair lightly tapped her forehead with his finger.

“I did come to see you.”

Nadia wondered what that meant, so she raised her head again while rubbing the spot that Altair had touched.

“When you were sleeping, I went to how you were doing then. Seeing someone you are uncomfortable with won’t help you recover well.”

“Oh, I wasn’t uncomfortable at all!”

“But…”

As she hurriedly denied, Altair frowned and slightly tilted his head. It must have reminded him of the moment when Nadia coldly turned away from him.

“It-it’s not because of discomfort… No, it’s true that I was feeling a little awkward, but it wasn’t because of that…!”

As Nadia babbled with her excuses, Altair’s doubt thickened. She didn’t know if she could tell Altair the truth, but eventually, Nadia parted her lips carefully.

“Um the thing is…I saw it. Altair’s letter.”

“My letter?”

“Yes. It was in your coat pocket.”

“Ah.”

When she pinpointed the exact source of the letter, Altair’s tightly closed mouth slowly fell open.

“Why is that in your hand…”

“Mrs. Ritti was washing your coat. She found it when she went through what was in your pocket, she told me that it seemed you wrote it.”

At her words, Altair’s face turned slightly pale.

“Fortunately, Mrs. Ritti is illiterate and doesn’t know how to read. She didn’t know we were Lupes people!”

Altair seemed to be worried that Mrs. Ritti might have seen the letter in the Lupes language, so Nadia quickly added explanation, but seeing that Altair’s face was still pale, she realised that it was not what had gotten on his nerves.

Then why?

Nadia blinked blankly as she stared at Altair’s face. Before her gaze, he sighed and covered his face with his large hand.

“The letter? How can you make it better?”

“On better material paper, use coloured ink, and put it in an envelope with gold seal…”

Altair, who had been laying out his plan, at one point lowered his hand that was covering his face and his eyes sparked.

“So give it back. I’ll give it to you once I’ve finished it properly.”

“N-no! I like that.”

“It’s not decent looking at all, it’s just clunky, what’s good about that? I can make it nicer.”

It’s actually because that roughness is just like Altair…

But before Nadia could say why, Altair scanned her up and down as if he was looking for the letter right this moment.

“Where did you put it?”

“Oh, do you think I will tell you?”

“Hmm.”

Feeling a sense of danger, Nadia leaned back and shook her head, while Altair  narrowed his eyes with a subtle hum. Nadia’s shoulders trembled, as it felt like a beast facing its prey.

“I will never give it to you!”

As her strong will flared up in her eyes, the corners of Altair’s mouth went up slightly.

“Seeing you reacting like that, you must have it on your body.”

“That…!”

Nadia was speechless at the precise reasoning that had hit the nail on her head. At this rate, she would be at a disadvantage if she kept staying there. With a quick realisation, Nadia jumped up from her seat and turned toward the house where she could find support. There was, in fact, no need to run to find herself an ally. It was unsure how long he had been there, but the doctor had already come out and was looking at her and Altair, somewhat absent-minded.

“…If you body temperature drops, it can be dangerous.”

The doctor, who had been staring at them for a moment, moved slowly and put a thin blanket over Nadia’s shoulders. Her body temperature had slightly dropped without her noticing, as it seemed to melt into the warmth of the blanket.

“Thank you…”

After saying her thanks, Nadia glanced around to find a strange tension between Altair and the doctor. As she stuck in the middle, not knowing what to do, a savior appeared from an unexpected place.

“Oh, doctor? Why are you here?”

A stranger’s voice came from the village alley. Wondering what was going on, Nadia turned her head to see a man dressed like an outsider waving his hand at the doctor. Though he was wearing a hat pulled over his face, it wasn’t too difficult to figure out his identity when she checked the pattern on the wagon following him.

Is he from a merchant guild?

Nadia did not know exactly which guild it was, but there was a pattern in the shape of a gold coin engraved on the wagon. In general, huge merchant always had a symbol like that to represent their guild. The man took out a small box from the wagon and approached the doctor with a smile on his face.

T/n: A wagon is different from a carriage, wagon is for goods and carriage is for people

“I was on my way to the clinic with the medication you ordered, but turns out you are here. If I did not pay attention, I would have missed you.”

“It must have been difficult to get these. Thank you for your hard work.”

“That’s a merchant’s job. If you need more medication, please let us know before we leave. I will get it again next time I come.”

The doctor smiled faintly at the merchant, who was laughing cheerfully.

“I think there will be no new orders for a while.”

“But didn’t you say you were working on something? Isn’t that why you kept looking for medicine?”

“Yes. I was researching a cold medicine… but I’m afraid I can no longer afford it.”

“Oh dear…”

At the doctor’s words, the merchant blurted out as if he felt sorry. Nadia couldn’t tell whether he was sorry for the doctor’s sluggish progress in research or the fact that he himself had lost a good customer.

So he’s researching cold medicine.

In the world before Nadia was reborn, cold medicine was common. People could simply go to a pharmacy and buy it with little money. However, because the medicine here was quite high on price, many people died from minor illnesses such as colds. This was especially the case for commoners whose situation did not allow them to see a doctor.

I think there was an episode like that in the novel too.

When a severe flu spread throughout the continent, including the Empire, many people died. It was then that Prince Orca, who had been completely pushed out of the succession competition and was traveling here and there, suddenly appeared with remedy, and quickly drew attention. A doctor he met while ‘recuperating’ in the countryside developed a drug that could treat the flu, and the Empire was able to find stability faster than other countries. After that incident, Prince Orca’s popularity among commoners skyrocketed. From then on, he had been overlapping with episodes of being active on the battlefield, and eventually became a hero among the commoners. Though of course, with the aristocrats faction, he was still often ignored, as they only ever saw him as ‘the 3rd prince’.

And at that time, the doctor brought by Prince Orca was also praised as a saint and was quite popular.

There were quite a few people who believed that the doctor was truly a saint sent by God because of his good impression and excellent looks. As Nadia searched her memories, there were parts that was strangely arousing. Cold medicine. A good-looking doctor who was praised as a saint. Talent hidden in the contryside. A few keywords strangely overlapped with the person before her.

Huh…Oh…?!

It didn’t take long to realise that it wasn’t just her intuition.

“Leon!”

Like a lightning flashed through her mind, the saint’s name came out of her mouth. At that sudden cry, the doctor who had sent the merchant away with a bitter expression, as well as the Altair who was following her, frowned as if wondering what was going on.

“Why are you calling my name all of a sudden…?”

“Your name is really Leon, right?”

“I thought I’ve already introduced it at first.”

“Y-you only said that you you were a doctor! And that you were not a suspicious person!”

Even though she had heard his name, it did not ring a bell back then. No, even if she found it to be familiar, she would never have thought that ‘Leon’ and this ‘Leon’ were the same person. At Nadia’s rebuttal, Leon, the great doctor who would be praised as a saint in the future, shrugged his shoulders and nodded nonchalantly.

“Then I shall do the introduction properly now. I am Leon. I’m a doctor, and I run a clinic in this village. Is there a problem?”

“N-no problem at all…”

Despite saying so, Nadia’s mouth was agape in bewilderment at the newly realised fact, and Leon’s expression became strange at the sight.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Pardon?”

“You’re looking at me like I’m some strange creature.”

“Oh…”

It was always surprising to see a character who was only described in a passing passage in the novel to be moving so realistically. It was the same when she first met Altair, and the novel’s main characters before that. But it was not the time to be so absent-minded. If she were to pick a person who contributed greatly to the growing influence of Prince Orca – the future villain, the number one would unarguably be Altair, though, this doctor would be among the top figures right after him.

So before the bad guy takes him in…We have to do it first!

As soon as Nadia came to that conclusion, she grabbed Leon’s hand.

“Wh-what is it?”

As the startled Leon tried to forcefully remove his hand, Nadia’s mind became even more urgent. Unorganised thoughts swirled around in her head until they finally took shape and popped out of her mouth.

“Please be my physician!”

“…sorry?”

At the preposterous remark, Leon’s mouth felt loose in bewilderment. It was only a few seconds later that Nadia belatedly felt her face flush with embarrassment, yet, she did not stop talking.

“I hear you are working on cold medicine. I want to help you continue your research! I mean, in Aylesford!”

At the words that followed, Leone’s expression, which had only been filled with astonishment, changed. He looked at Altair with a serious face, as if trying to understand the true meaning of the proposal. Nadia also gulped nervously and turned to look at Altair as well. This was a great opportunity. Leon has a terrible misunderstanding that Altair killed his own parents, and it seemed that there was a truth hidden behind it that no one had ever noticed. If she could take him to Aylesford, she would not only be able to prepare for future tragedies, but also discover the truth hidden in Altair’s past.

So, Altair, hurry up and help me out!

Didn’t people say that couples usually shared the same mind? Nadia didn’t say a word, but Altair nodded slightly and came closer to them, as if he could understand her intentions just through exchanging gazes. When Leon looked at Altair warily, the baron grabbed Nadia’s wrist and slightly pulled it away from Leon, tilting his head to one side calmly.

“If Nadia’s suggestion is followed, there will be no bloodshed.”

“Th-that’s a threat!”

Even if it’s not, Leon was misunderstanding Altair! Panicked, Nadia pounded on Altair’s chest. However, Altair just frowned as if he didn’t know why she did that.

“Didn’t you send me a look asking me to threaten him instead?”

“How could it be interpreted that way…That was not it at all!”

It seemed that there was still a long way to go for them to become ‘a couple of the same mind’. As she was arguing with Altair, she heard a small ‘pft’ sound of laughter. It was Leon’s. She blinked blankly, wondering what was going on, and Leone took a deep breath then looked at Altair and Nadia alternately.

“First, let’s hear what you have to say. I don’t know much, but the madame’s words…seem worth listening to.”