Chapter 5 - The clothes must be changed by the husband.

Ch 5. The clothes must be changed by the husband.

Altair gazed at me with fierce eyes. I had no choice but to finish my plate and polish off my drink. I felt sick.

My face was hot because I was drunker than I had thought.

‘What should I do..?’

I started to feel the repercussions of my actions. I felt sleepy.

It would have been better if someone had spoken to me, but no one approached me after Cain.

A few knights tried to approach me sneakily, but they wore a torn expression on their face.

I felt like a loner amidst the turmoil.

’I’m so grateful to Cain.’

If it weren’t for him, I would have sat still without saying a word throughout the dinner.

As I was holding an empty glass, I began to feel miserable.

I can’t believe I’m struggling to live in a strange place where no one welcomes me.

The knights poured and drank, and they were all drunk and hung up. Altair seemed to be the only one who was fine.

‘Why should I live like this? I’m a precious person, too! Huh? Turn it over?’

When I was drunk, I felt confident that I could do anything.

My instincts led me to jump to my feet. I must have been more drunk than I thought, I felt myself staggering.

‘Yeah, I’m drunk. That’s why I can knock it all over! This dirty world!’

But as soon as I looked into the cold eyes of Altair who stood up after me, that great confidence was extinguished like a bubble.

‘I’m scared of him even while I’m drunk.’

I bowed my head in agreement with the instinct of survival that my body remembered.

I could feel Altair approaching from the side.

“You look drunk.”

“No, I’m fine. Everything is good.”

“…I’m sure you’re drunk.”

Altair grabbed my arm with a frown.

I leaned towards him, staggering. Altaire was flabbergasted as the distance closed.

I hurriedly lowered my head.

“I’m sorry. I touched you.”

“Why do you keep apologizing when you see me?”

“I’m sorry I only said I’m sorry. I’ll try to improve my vocabulary. There is nothing that cannot be done.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“So the effort…….”

Before it got any longer, Altair raised his hand, stopped me from speaking, and lifted me up.

My body floated, and I reflexively wrapped my arms around Altair’s neck.

When I blinked at what had happened in an instant, Altair, who became incredibly close, turned his head.

His ears, which were exposed at the side, were red.

“Look at this. It’s much better if you don’t flutter/flap.”

The grumbling Altair’s bitter eyes strangely seemed shy. My mouth slowly opened in surprise.

‘It’s not like….’

Is it because of alcohol?

Yeah, it’s probably because of the alcohol.’

I came to that conclusion.

Because a crazy villain can’t be ashamed of just hugging a girl.

‘Wow. This drink is so poisonous that it makes you look in vain.’

I made a firm commitment.

‘Alcohol is the problem. This drink. I guess I’m drinking it again.’

* * *

3rd pov

Nadia quickly fell asleep in Altair’s arms.

Altair smirked at the sight.

Every time we made eye contact, she was about to kneel shaking and he thought she was sleeping well in his arms because she was drunk.

If she was sober, she would have jumped out of his arms in fear. Even when he ran into her in the hallway, she flapped around and tried to get out of his arms.

Altair looked down at Nadia with a complicated gaze.

How can we be so different when we’re the same age?

Small hands with white skin. Her skin was fine and her pink hair was soft. Whatever way you would look at it, she was a daughter of a high noble.

Altair’s skin, by comparison, was tanned, and his large hands were full of minor wounds. In fact, he was more of a mercenary than an aristocrat.

It was inevitable that he went out every day and wielded a sword to deal with the enemies.

The knights of Aylesford, including Altair, were rough. All of them were innocent countrymen, but their appearance alone was full of intimidation.

Mercenaries who often visited Aylesford were also afraid of them, so it was natural for the weak young lady from the capital to be frightened.

“Lord.”

Pavel approached Altair, who was still looking at Nadia’s face. A drunken Anna was on his back.

“I think it would be difficult to serve Madame because of Anna’s condition. My Lord can change.”

“What?”

“What do you mean? These are Madam’s clothes.”

“…What?”

“Yes. You can’t sleep in this state, can you? Even if you don’t, she was sick and fell down. She will not be able to rest properly.”

“So, you want me to do it?”

Altair stiffened like a broken doll and opened his mouth.

Pavel looked at Altair pathetically and shook his head.

“Then the husband has to do it. Or do I do it?”

When Pavel shrugged lightly, Altair, who had been stiff, reacted.

“What are you trying to do?”

“That’s why the lord should do it.”

“…….”

“The first night has yet to be spent because of Madam’s collapse, but when will you be able to sleep and see your successor?”

“Huh. Just looking at me makes her tremble, sleep with me? Look at an heir? I’ll be glad if she doesn’t faint.”

‘I’d like to try hard on a subject like that….’

Altair smirked and frowned, but Pavel’s attitude didn’t change.

“So who told you to show up with blood on your wedding day? As an Aylesfordian who’s used to having big and small clashes every time, you might not know, but she is a precious lady who grew up in a safe capital, and she was surprised to see that.”

“Did you two plan this? You sound exactly like Blan. Are you sure you’re not your brother?”

“It is a prejudice to think that we think and look alike just because we are brothers.”

The two were siblings with a 2 year age difference. Blan was the older brother and Pavel was the younger brother.

“There isn’t any difference not from your appearances nor from the way you two speak. The same goes for your troublesome nagging. The only difference I see is that one wears glasses while the other doesn’t.”

Pavel is the one with glasses, Blan is the one without glasses.

Altair clicked his tongue and nodded like a habit.

“Anyways, it was inevitable back then. You know I was the only one who could handle the situation during the wedding”

“That’s true but….I wish you would have shown up after taking a bath and in a new set of clothes that were not bloody”

“Then I would have had to keep the bride standing for a few more hours.”

“Well. Wouldn’t it have been better to let her stand for a few more hours than to show her that terrifying scene?”

Altair, who had been responding to Pavel’s words, kept his mouth shut. He knew Pavel’s words were not wrong.

“That’s enough.” he said.

As the conversation kept going unfavourably, Altair tried to naturally change the subject.

“What happened to the guy you saved back then? It’s about time he opened his mouth.”

“Blan says it seems to be the work of ‘that’, as expected. I’m sure he was after you.”

“As expected.”

Altair frowned and looked at Nadia in his arms.

‘Does this woman know what kind of situation she is in right now?’

Valhayle is a despicable man. He will continue to aim for Nadia, a relatively easy target.

‘She’s a weak girl who trembles just by looking at my face, so when she finds out…’

“Anyway, I’ll deal with this guy. My lord, please take good care of Madam.”

Before Altair’s thoughts could deepen, Pavel glanced at Anna on his back, sighed, and left.

As soon as Altair, who was left alone in the place, looked down at Nadia again, she dug into his warm arms and snuggled closer.

‘Ugh.’

As Altair’s ears flinched, leaning back, his ears turned red as if they were on fire.

* * *

I opened my eyes feeling severe heartburn.

I didn’t remember anything after I jumped out of my seat, telling myself to get drunk and turn everything upside down.

‘Uh…….’

I grabbed my head in agony and looked around, and the scenery of the room I had become accustomed to in just two days caught my eye.

‘How did I get back?’

I rolled my eyes hard in anxiety and quickly found the answer.

‘My creepy homing instinct. It’s still the same.’

TL/N : 귀소본능 = homing instinct = an animal’s innate ability to return to its territory after travelling away from it.

Originally, I had a habit of quietly waking up and going home when I was drunk. My friends were amazed that I wore my coat meticulously and even packed my bag.

Now, the outer skin is completely different, but the spirit inside is still the same, so it seems that the drinking habit has followed.

‘But why is the string untied?’

Strangely, her clothes were loose and when she stretched out her hands behind her, the straps that tightened her upper body were loose. It looked like she gave up halfway through an attempt to loosen.

‘Did I try to take it off on my own and fail?’

she’s thinking that she was the one who tried to loosen the strings of her clothes.

It’s hard to untie the strings in the back by myself.

I roughly understood the situation and got out of bed. I felt nauseous and wanted to drink a glass of water.

‘Kettle… Water…….’

I limped to the table like a zombie. But there was no kettle ready.

As soon as I confirmed the fact, the door opened and Anna, who looked much more like a zombie than me, walked inside with a kettle.

“Madam……. You were up……. I thought you might be thirsty, so I brought you some water…….”

She seemed to know what to do, even though she was a little clumsy. In addition, I was grateful that she came to me to work after such a hard day. She could have put off her work to other maids.

“You should have sent someone else if you weren’t feeling well.”

“Someone else?”

Anna tilted her head at my words.

“Anyone else, Pavel? I think it’s strange to leave Madam’s care to Pavel.”

“Pavel, you mean the butler, right? Why are you mentioning the butler’s name all of a sudden?”

“Because you said it was someone else. Oh, or were you referring to the chef, Uncle Brett? Well, it’s even stranger to leave it to Uncle Brett.”

For some reason, the conversation with Anna kept going around (in circles).

“I mean, you can leave it to another maid.”

“What? I’m the only maid here.”

“What?”

“Pavel is the butler, Uncle Brett is the chef, I’m the maid. There are three people working in the castle.”

“What?”

There are only three people working in this big castle. It was ridiculous.

There were a minimum number of handy maids, butlers, and cooks.

Formal castles used servants for various positions, including maidservants, footmen, gardeners, horsemen, housekeepers and maids.

Until now, Aylesford had no hostess, so it was understandable that there were no housekeepers or maids. But isn’t there Altair, the lord? A servant to attend to him was essential.

“It’s the first time I’ve seen a house without servants. Who will attend the lord?”

Anna shrugged at my question.

“He’s a person who doesn’t want/need that. Most of the time he does it on his own, and Pavel will help if he needs to.”

“And when you greet a guest? If there’s no Footman, who’s going to do it?”

“In fact, there are very few guests in this countryside.… If that’s the case, Pavel does it, too.”

“And as a butler, he must have been in charge of bookkeeping because there was no hostess.”

“That’s right.”

It seems that Pavel has been in charge of all the duties of male servants.

‘Then Anna would have taken care of everything the female servants had to do.’

I could see how things were going.

‘Why is it so abnormal?’

As I agonized alone, I came up with a chilling answer.

‘Really…. the Lord….’

It was beyond my imagination.….