ITMWG 56

Chapter 56…

Shall we take a bath together?

Before she could even react to Altair’s warning, his hand dug into her clothes. She flinched in shock at Altair’s tantalising touch and hurriedly clutched onto his shirt. Altair, who had been halted from going any further, looked at her with a somewhat dissatisfied expression, but she didn’t back down either. Because there was a very serious problem.

“D-do you really want to do it here?”

Nadia looked around, filled with anxiety. This was a garden open to everyone. It was exposed in all directions, so even if one didn’t enter the garden, they could see who was doing what by looking down from the hallway. Didn’t she herself also find Altair while walking down the hallway? Nadia thought her point was valid, but Altair seemed to think otherwise.

“No one is coming at this hour.”

Altair responded impatiently and started moving his hands again. His behavior was very natural, as if he wasn’t uncomfortable with her holding on to his shirt at all. Though momentarily stunned by his unwavering conviction, Nadia came to her senses when she felt his hand stroking a sensitive area.

“Y-you can’t! The servants will be working all night long!”

From the outside, it seemed like the whole castle was sleeping soundly, but even then, there were people moving about. It would be a big problem if the lights that illuminated the hallways went out, so the workers would be on duty all night to inspect various parts of the castle. It was totally possible for them to capture the suspicious movements in the garden.

“I guess so, but…Now, unlike before, there are more workers…Also, there are guests in the annex…”

As Nadia muttered and turned her body to reject Altair’s touch, he eventually sighed and buried his face in the back of her neck.

“I think I’m going to die.”

“Y-you’re exaggerating…!”

“It’s not an exaggeration. I really feel like I’m going to die. So, please be understanding even if my manner is a bit rough.”

Altair raised his head in warning.

“Be understanding about what…”

The moment Nadia asked, taking a step back due to a bad hunch, Altair meticulously fixed her open coat and then lifted her up with one hand.

“Ah!”

When she shouted in surprise at being lifted up like a piece of luggage, Altair slightly raised one corner of his mouth and hushed her while placing his index finger on his lips.

“You have to be quiet. You don’t want the servants to see us, do you?”

Wah…

Nadia was amazed as she watched the surrounding scenery pass by quickly. Altair was walking so fast that it felt like she was racing down the hallway in a carriage. But it didn’t feel like she was going to fall, perhaps because Altair was holding her tightly. While passing through the hallway, they encountered several workers who were working tirelessly at night to maintain the castle. Although it must have been quite surprising to see the Baroness being carried down the hallway by the Baron, everyone was able to keep their facial expressions in a professional manner and bow their heads politely, thus reducing the embarrassment.

Still, it’s embarrassing nonetheless.

Although the servants pretended to be nonchalant in front of them, they would definitely whisper to their colleagues about what they saw once they got back to their dorm, and everyone would soon find out about the incident.

In what unusual way would everyone think of us?

Actually, when she thought about it like that, she strangely felt upset. Was it really that she hated it when people saw them as an unusual couple? Or was there another reason that upset her? While Nadia was engrossed in her worries, they arrived at the bedroom before she knew it. As Altair opened the door wide and stepped inside, the faint scent of the candle Anna had lit tickled the tip of her nose. It felt like she had set the mood deliberately so the embarrassment she had forgotten for a moment came flooding back and her face turned flushed. Altair must have felt that too, as he narrowed his eyes at her.

“It-it wasn’t me who told them to prepare this…”

“Then I suppose I must praise the maids.”

Altair quickly walked inside and placed Nadia on the bed. As she was put down and looked up at Altair’s face, she could clearly feel the heat on his face. She then cautiously reached out and tried to touch Altair’s hot face. However, because he was too tall, it was not as easy as it seemed to touch his face with him standing. As her hand stopped midair due to the distance and was about to pull it back out of embarrassment, Altair caught her hand. Before long, Altair bent his waist slightly and kissed the back of her hand, promptly frowning and straightening his back again.

“It’s dirty.”

“Pardon?”

“My hand. It’s a mess because I was planting trees a little while ago. Hah.”

Altair sighed in frustration and closed his eyes tightly, letting go of her hand.

“I’ll just wash it with cold water and come back, so wait a moment.”

Altair couldn’t take his eyes off her and barely turned around, as if he was disappointed. And without much thought, Nadia quickly reached out and grabbed the hem of Altair’s shirt before he could get away. Nadia, who caught Altair, and Altair, who she caught back. Not knowing what each other was intending, they just stared at each other’s faces in silence. Nadia shifted her eyes here and there before closing them tightly, secretly criticising her body for moving on its own.

“Shall we take a bath together?”

T/n: Wow I did not expect this to come from our shy girl

“… what?”

“So the thing is…I also fell on the ground a while ago and got covered in dirt, so we might as well wash together…”

“Now…”

As she was rambling and pouring out her unorganised thoughts, Altair’s voice sounded a little surprised. When she slowly opened her eyes and looked at his face, she could see his face as stunned as his voice.

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re trying to seduce me right now…?”

Nadia’s face instantly heated up at the blatant question.

“I-i-if you ask me something like that so straightforwardly, how am I able to admit it?”

At times like this, shouldn’t one pretend not to know? As her face grew red and she lowered her head out of bashfulness, a small chuckle was heard from above her head. But when she lifted her head, there was no trace of a laugh left on Altair’s face. Instead, she only felt an increasing sense of impatience. Altair locked eyes with her as he began unbuttoning his shirt one by one.

“If you’re going to wash up, you have to take off your clothes first, right?”

Nadia then slowly removed her coat, feeling nervous. As she smiled awkwardly, shivering at the chill from wearing thin pajamas, the look in Altair’s eyes changed for a moment.

“On second thought, there is no law that says you have to take off your clothes in order to take a bath.”

Altair promptly swept her up in his arms again and walked towards the bathroom connected to the master bedroom.

“I’m not making excuses because I’m reaching my limit. And it’s definitely not because I don’t think I can hold back watching you take off your pajamas.”

As she watched Altair muttering something that she couldn’t tell if he was talking to himself or making an excuse, Nadia felt more at ease and started giggling. As she slowly leaned her relaxed body against Altair, he flinched and bit his lip.

“…I think I should sing.”

“Sing? All of a sudden?”

“Imperial military…I need the imperial military song…”

“Altair Aylesford…You are a human…not a beast…. you have to finish washing up first….”

Ugh…

The next day, Nadia woke up in the morning with a familiar feeling. She was already prepared for this, as she always felt this heavy after spending the night with Altair, but yesterday was especially a tough one….

Ugh.

She felt like her face was going to explode at the next thought, so she shook her head and got up. Looking at the sunlight pouring in through the window, it seemed like morning had already passed. It was around noon when she checked the clock.

Now I would have to move, but gently…

With that in mind, just as she was about to get off the bed, the door opened and someone entered the room.

“I want to take a bath.”

Thinking that it was Marie or Anna, Nadia spoke to the other person without even looking at them, but there was no response from the other party, which usually came back right away. Puzzled, she turned her head, to see Altair, holding a tray in his hand, standing there with his eyes narrowed.

(Gasp)!

When she recalled what happened the previous night as she asked Altair to take a bath together, she shook her head in panic.

“I didn’t think it was you…”

“I know. You suffered so much yesterday, so there’s no way you’ll say something like that to me again.”

Altair chuckled and set down the tray in front of her. On it were freshly baked bread and warm soup prepared for her.

“I was going to prepare tea as well, but I thought it would just end up ruining your appetite. When I served it to the prince, his face became very distorted.”

“Hmm…Altair’s tea…”

She couldn’t reassure him that it wasn’t that bad, so she trailed off. At that, Altair looked embarrassed and ran through his hair.

“Enough, go ahead and eat. It’s just water after soaking and draining the grass anyway.”

Though Nadia found Altair grumbling cute, she suppressed her laughter and started digging into the food. As expected, Aylesford’s bread was the best. On the first day, even when she was shaking at Altair’s stare, she remembered how her tension was eased because of the delicious bread.

In her original world, there were many bakery franchises, so the thought came to her very naturally. The thought didn’t seem so bad, thus, she was gradually forming plans in her head for the future, when Altair poured water into her cup and said.

“The doctor will come in the afternoon. Talk it out with him.”

“Ah. Is it about the problem of deciding how to invest in the research? I told him to organise all the information and transfer it to Altair. Altair will review and determine the scope of support.”

In order to create more contact between Leon and Altair, Nadia intentionally passed on the research support issue to Altair. She thought that if they put their heads together and worked side by side, misunderstandings about Altair’s personality would eventually be resolved.

“The research problem has already been completed. We have also agreed on the scope of support.”

“Then why is Leon coming to see me?”

“You hadn’t even fully recovered, yet, all night…I overdid it.”

“Pardon?”

Startled, she threw the bread she was eating down to the tray.

“Why are you calling the doctor for a problem like that?”

“I really have recovered…”

If we keeps calling the doctor like this, he’ll think I’m a baroness who keeps exaggerating her pain and fussing over nothing.

Though, she thought it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let Leon know for sure that she was okay, so she decided to bear with the embarrassment a little.

I don’t understand why he is such an unusual person.

Should she say that Altair didn’t seem to understand common standards well because he was exceptionally strong, and he mostly spent time with knights who were strong like him as well?

Fine then. I just need to take this opportunity to show him properly! That I’m perfectly healthy!

But her plan didn’t go as expected.

“Hmm…”

When Leon came to examine her condition according to the appointment, his expression was unexpectedly grim.