ITMWG 67

Chapter 67…

When will it happen?

“First of all, we should go to a place where there will be no ears listening.”

Nadia’s face turned serious. Having recognised that, Blan’s soft smile faded.

“Then, let’s go to the library.”

Sensing a sudden heaviness, Pavel took the lead and led the way instead of Blan, who stiffened. The destination, as he said, was the library. Aylesford, as an old noble family, had a large collection of books. Although the scale was nothing compared to the Vine family, the fact that their ancestors had been accumulating knowledge for generations was not much different.

When I was staying at the Marquis of Vine, I often stayed in the library and read books.

The sense of stability given by the weight of many years of knowledge accumulation was one of her favorite things. After coming to Aylesford, Nadia had to deal with a lot more things than she thought, so she didn’t have time to enjoy this leisure activity. Perhaps thanks to entering her favorite place, her heavy heart felt a little better. Without haste, she brought up the matter to Blan, who was waiting for her with a somewhat worried look on his face.

“Not long ago, Leon, the new doctor who came to Aylesford, told me about his father…”

She told Blan that he was the former Marquis’ personal physician. And when he examined the condition of the deceased Marquis and his wife, there were clear signs of murder. He was suspected to be killed because he found out about it, and Leon barely survived, growing hatred in another country, since he suspected Altair was the culprit of the incident…

Blan, who had been listening calmly to the story, refuted loudly with a grimace when Nadia reached the end of the story.

“The lord at the time was a young boy. How could he kill his parents and take advantage of it? Not to mention he had suffered so much because of the sudden loss of his parents…”

“But wouldn’t Leon think so if there were circumstances that confirmed his suspicions? I wanted to ask more, but I couldn’t because he was avoiding talking about the topic.”

“I see. I was surprised to hear that a doctor suddenly came to the estate, but the reason was…”

Blan sighed deeply and touched his head.

“I will investigate that secretly. But how could someone who doubts the lord so much could come to our territory?”

“Ah.”

“Wouldn’t it be possible for him to target the lord as revenge?”

“Umm…”

Blan’s subsequent questions were justified. But Nadia knew that Leon wouldn’t get revenge like that, since she knew how he appeared in the novel.

Leon was a person with a very strong sense of responsibility as a doctor.

“That’s… Because his soul seems pure…”

“…”

Blan and Pavel looked at her, blanked, as if they were at a loss for words. The dumbstruck look on their faces made her want to hit her own head hard.

No matter how much I think about it, it sounds like I’m a member of a cult…!

Unable to withdraw the words she had already spoken and was wondering how to resolve this situation, Blan pointed at himself with his finger and asked seriously.

“What about my soul?”

“Pardon?”

“How is my soul, madame?”

“Uh…yours is…very pure… I feel…strong energy from it…?”

As Nadia stuttered to get by, Blan grinned in satisfaction, puffing up his chest and looked at Pavel as if showing off.

“…”

Pavel became more dumbfounded  when the subject changed to what kind of soul he had, and he clicked his tongue at Blan. He then looked away from him to Nadia, as if he was not worth dealing with. .

“If you see his personality as a person positively, then I believe it too. The lord must have thought so and brought in a doctor who was staying in an enemy country.”

“Leon’s ongoing research will also be of great help to our territory. He is someone who will do bigger things in the future. So, I hope we can clear up any misunderstandings and make him one of Aylesford people. The most important thing is to find out the truth about the deceased.”

Pavel nodded with a complicated smile at her words.

“Aylesford’s past, present and future are all important. I feel a little uncomfortable about entrusting such an important matter to this guy…”

“Don’t worry, madame. I, who have a pure and strong soul, will conduct a thorough investigation and bring back the results.”

Pavel let out a sigh and slightly lowered his head to her at the sight of Blan blazing with willpower, emphasising that his soul was pure and strong. It felt like he was apologising, saying, ‘I’m sorry that you have to deal with such a guy,’ so Nadia burst out laughing without realising it. At the same time, she became envious of the relationship between Pavel and Blan.

I was an only child, so I don’t know much about relationships like that.

But it seems nice just watching from the sideline. Since Altair had no brothers, he had to bear more of the burden alone.

After all, children ought to have brothers and sisters…

As her thoughts naturally trailed off to plans for having children, she turned shocked and covered her mouth with her hand. She was embarrassed for having such a thought inside, still…

I want to have children.

The birth of a successor was the greatest gift she could give to Altair and the people of Aylesford. The reason Altair married her in the first place was to have an heir, so there was no issue more important than this.

When will it happen?

She hoped it would happen soon.

❈❈❈Meanwhile, Melissa, who was left in the hallway, was overjoyed when she saw Altair was still standing there. Her plan, which she and her maid put together, went awry…yet, in the end, she still got the chance to face Altair. On the first day, she made a mistake because she mistook Altair for a knight, but now that she knew who he was, she was confident that she would handle it well.

“Baron.”

Melissa smiled brightly and approached the indifferent Altair. As she got closer, she sensed that Altair was becoming conscious of her, and Melissa scoffed inwardly.

That’s right. Isn’t he a man too? At any rate, he should know what’s pretty.

Melissa was confident that she knew men’s hearts very well. She knew how to smile in front of a man, how to attract his attention, and how to act to be liked. She thought it was all in the palm of her hand. The primary reason why Melissa was able to make a name for herself in the capital’s social circle, which was almost like a battlefield, was her reputation as a Vine, but her shrewd behavior also had a fair share.

If she gave them the right amount of praise and kept the conversation flowing harmoniously, they would be all smiles. The most important thing was to figure out what this ‘man’ was interested in. Men’s interests generally revolved around card games, horseback riding, hunting, business, politics, and women. The best way to understand the other person was to close the distance. Once there was barely any gap, boundaries would become blurred, and at that point, their mouth would become looser and be more willing to share. Melissa, putting on her beautiful smile, wrapped her hand around his arm in the most natural way possible. While doing so, she didn’t forget to press close to him so that he could feel her voluptuous body.

“Baron. My father told me to make sure to get a reply. When will you give us an answer?”

“E-excuse me….Lady…”

The baron, who was grabbed by the arm, stuttered in embarrassment, like a bachelor who had never held a woman’s hand before.

Hehe. He must be so surprised that even his voice changed.

Melissa thought to herself, ‘I guess his eyes must light up when he sees me after being with that pathetic Nadia.’ She slowly raised her head with a neat smile on her face. But as soon as she raised her head, she was so startled by the unfamiliar face that filled her field of vision that she let go of the man’s arm and stepped back.

“Oh my god!”

She clearly remembered she had grabbed Altair’s arm and lunged at him. Yet in front of her, a young man who appeared to be a servant stood frozen, his face turning red.

Embarrassed, Melissa looked around and saw Altair standing one step away from the servant with his arms crossed and a smirk on his face.

“Even if you are my wife’s cousin, if you seduce a servant, it would be quite unsightly.”

“W-what kind of nonsense are you talking about? Why would I seduce a servant…!”

“But wasn’t it the lady who grabbed this guy passing by and drew him to your chest?”

“Who did you say I was trying to grab?!”

Melissa was furious and was close to screaming, but managed to shut her mouth before she made a slip of tongue. No matter how raged she was, she couldn’t openly shout out that ‘It was you I wanted to grab and made fall into my trap!!’

It was clearly the baron, but how did it end up as a servant?!

Melissa couldn’t understand the situation, she trembled and bit her lip, but Altair only found her obvious trick ridiculous. He was an outstanding warrior. He could easily predict the opponent’s movements, and it was even easier if the opponent was a noble lady who knew too little of this world. Hence, he snatched a servant who was passing by in the hallway and put him in front of Melissa, who was trying to approach him. Melissa, who did not have time to process the situation which happened in a blink of an eye, abruptly threw her body at the poor fellow in an attempt to seduce him.

“You, leave quickly before you get eaten by this lady here.”

Altair smiled and gave an order to the servant whose face was bright red, and the servant left in a hurry.

At Altair’s words, Melissa’s face became even redder due to shame. The immediate shame wasn’t the only problem. Since it was an open hallway, there were quite a few people passing by. If a rumour were to spread through them, it would go something along the line ‘The Marquis of Vine’s young lady threw herself at a servant because she was obsessed with men!’…

That would be terrible!

She was Melissa, who has maintained her status as a noble lady by refusing to be married off to some of the most prestigious noble families of the capital. She couldn’t let her reputation be tarnished by getting scandalously involved with a servant.

I’m glad this is a rural area.

As long as she kept the maid whom she brought from Vine silent, she would not be laughing stock. Besides, the servants here were soon to become her own people anyway, so it should not be too big of a challenge to keep their mouths shut. But things did not go as Melissa wanted.

“Pft.”

A man’s laughter was heard not far away, and Melissa naturally turned her head. Then, realising that his presence had been discovered, the silver-haired handsome man lightly waved his hand and he approached Melissa and Altair. Melissa mouth fell agape in surprise at the sudden presence of the gorgeous man.

Where were all these handsome men coming from? Of course, her doubts were quickly resolved.

“Your Highness the Prince. What brought you to the main building?”

“Ahh. I was on the way to the drawing room as I heard that the craftsman to fix the carriage wheel had finally arrived. Then I saw an interesting sight…So I stopped without even realising.”

The silver-haired man looked at Melissa and burst into laughter again. It was an obvious ridicule. Melissa, who was momentarily mesmerised by the man’s beauty, quickly came to her senses.

Now, wait a minute…prince? A prince who looks like this…

The third Prince Orca!

“I did hear that ladies these days are quite open and proactive, but…I never thought it would be like this…”

Melissa’s face turned pale as Orca glanced her up and down with a somewhat rebuking look in his eyes.