I Wish My Husband Were Dead - Chapter 12



Only Krnovel

Master and Disciple
2023.11.12.

“Master. Can I look at this?”

“Uh.”

Leonard nodded absentmindedly. Cordelia read the report carefully.

Surprisingly, it contained a detailed account of the corruption committed by the nobles who had enemies with Abrams, including Helena.

“Is this all true?”

“If the Baron isn’t crazy, then it must be true.”

“I thought you made it up to bring down the Grand Lady.”

That was because Helena’s mistresses, who were supposedly locked in the dungeon that day, weren’t in the castle.

Later, Helena found out about this and ran around claiming that Leonard had made it up to frame her, but it was already too late.

“Since she confessed to having mistresses, that’s the end of the story.”

“Then is it true that you sold the right to collect taxes to a merchant without permission, as it says here?”

“That’s only the big ones. It was quite an impressive sight.”

The report detailed how much Helena had made by selling the right to collect taxes to merchants.

“If you show me this, I can get a lot of compensation.”

Cordelia laughed jokingly and put the report down on the desk. Leonard glanced at her and said casually.

“Take it if you want.”

“What? This? Really? Can I really have it?”

She asked with sparkling eyes. Leonard waved his hand as if annoyed.

“I don’t care if you threaten me with that and extort a lot of compensation, so don’t drink wine with your head from now on.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Your head is already stupid, so what if the wine enters your brain and it completely breaks down?”

Leonard said sarcastically. Just as Cordelia was about to retort, Baron suddenly appeared and clicked his tongue.

“Oh, my lord. Why don’t you just say you’re worried?”

“What’s the point of worrying? “Because I’m embarrassed to say I’m your disciple.”

Leonard habitually tapped the armrest of his chair with his fingers.

“Other kids come to the Magic Alliance when they’re five and study. I have to work twice as hard to catch up with them.”

“Huh? How can I catch up with them? I’ll just do small assisting… … .”

Her simple dream was to learn a few assisting magics and become a magic appraiser to make a decent living.

However, Leonard frowned as soon as he heard the letter ‘B’ in assisting magic.

“What? Assisting magic? Are you really thinking of becoming an appraiser or something?”

“Yes. What’s wrong with being a magic appraiser?”

“That’s ridiculous. Absolutely not.”

“Why, why… … ?”

Her life plan that she had worked so hard to build was suddenly denied. Cordelia protested timidly, but as always, Leonard pretended not to hear.

“You’re my first disciple. Then you should be able to run a star at least by the age of twenty-five.”

“Master. Only five wizards in history have been able to run a star by the age of twenty-five. But Lady Cordelia is twenty this year.”

“Five years should be enough.”

Cordelia was no longer surprised by the appearance of Baron, who would suddenly appear from a water cup or washbasin. She blinked and asked Baron.

“I think I’ve said this before, but what does it mean to run a star?”

“It refers to someone with great achievements in magic establishing a school under their name.”

“… … Yes? Establishing a school? Twenty-five? Um, I am an assistant magician… … .”

“Baron. Why are you so negative when you haven’t even started yet?”

“The biggest problem is that you haven’t even started yet. Other people can barely do it for their entire lives. Do you think you can do it in five years?”

“Hmph. That’s a given for my disciple. If you sleep for three hours a day and read five papers, it’ll happen in no time.”

In their conversation, a word that could not be overlooked popped out.

“Wait a minute, Master? If you sleep three hours a day, a person dies. I don’t have to run the place, so I’ll just assist… …”

“Three hours? It’s out of the question. Even if you sleep for an hour, it won’t be enough.”

“Then you should sleep for an hour. You’re worrying about useless things. It’s only natural for my disciple to do that.”

In an instant, Cordelia’s precious sleep time was reduced by seven hours. She screamed inwardly.

At that moment, Baron suddenly disappeared. At the same time, a maid’s voice was heard from outside the door.

“Victor Dylan has arrived.”

Before Leonard could even say a word of permission, Arnold Dylan burst in.

As soon as he saw Leonard, he smiled brightly with an exaggerated expression and approached him.

“Oh, Craig! How have you been?”

“Who?”

“It’s me. Your maternal uncle. Oh, it seems your memory hasn’t fully recovered yet.”

Arnold’s eyes lit up. He could clearly see what she was thinking.

Cordelia bowed slightly and greeted him, but as usual, Arnold didn’t even glance at her.

“Did you come to check how much of my memory has returned?”

“Haha. No way. I came to see my nephew’s face after a long time and chat with him.”

“But why aren’t you greeting me?” “Hello

? If it’s a greeting, it was when I saw you earlier.”

“If a Viscount sees a Countess, he should greet her first. Isn’t that common sense?”

“… … .”

Arnold’s face turned red in an instant. However, he quickly recovered his expression and greeted Cordelia with a smile.

“Yes. Cordelia. Haha. It’s been a while.”

“Yes.”

It was the first greeting she had heard in a year of living in this house. Cordelia accepted it very awkwardly.

It was funny how he had pretended not to know anything until now, but then changed his attitude immediately when Leonard said a word.

Arnold lowered his voice and leaned toward Leonard.

“But Craig. I have something important to tell you.”

“You seem to have already decided to talk to me, so I can’t stop you. Go ahead.”

“Ha, haha. But your tone has changed a little. As I said, I’m your maternal uncle, Craig.”

“Well, I’ve never had an uncle who hasn’t visited his nephew who woke up after five months.”

“That’s… … I’m busy. You might not know because you’re lying down, but Abrams can’t go a day without me. I’ve been so busy the past five months while you’ve been lying down.”

Arnold was talking nonsense with a stern expression. Then Leonard cut Arnold off as if he was really annoyed.

“So. What do you want to say?”

“Ahem. What I’m saying is that you can’t do anything by yourself. Do you know how many people oppose your succession? If you don’t, Jared Abrams will take your title away from you!”

“Hmm.”

“Russell, Vincent, Menias, they’re all on Jared’s side. They don’t even know what they’re doing.”

Arnold raved, his throat tense. Leonard was getting more and more bored.

“I’ll take care of it, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Craig! What are you complaining about? Why don’t we? We’re your family. We want you to be an earl more than anyone else.”

“Family? Who?”

“Me and Helena, of course! Oh. I heard about Helena. Oh, it’s embarrassing. But she’s your mother. If you focus on such trivial things now, you’ll miss the big picture.”

“I guess embezzling the family’s funds is a trivial matter to you?”

“Oh, I found out, and there was some misunderstanding. I swear there was no such thing. “I don’t know who told you what, but you’re mistaken,”

Arnold said shamelessly.

Leonard already had a lot of evidence of his embezzlement in his possession, but he didn’t bother to take out the ledger.

“Hey, did you say Viscount Dylan?”

“What kind of rude thing is that? Craig, I’m your uncle…!”

“Don’t act like you’re family when you’re not related by blood. It’s disgusting.”

The air froze for a moment.

No, maybe it was just Cordelia who felt that way. Cordelia froze stiffly, looking back and forth between Leonard and Arnold.

Arnold’s face turned red as if it was going to burst. He gaped as if he wanted to scream at any moment. His clenched fists trembled.

Of course, Leonard didn’t care.

“If you’ve said everything you wanted to say, then get out. I won’t need your help.”

“You’ll regret it.”

“Okay, I got it. Go ahead.”

Leonard waved his hand. It was as if he was shooing away an annoying fly.

Arnold ground his teeth and stormed out. Cordelia stuttered without realizing it as she looked at the back of Viscount Dylan.

“W-will you be okay? What if Viscount Dylan joins the other side?”

“Whether he joins or not. Do you think I can’t keep my single earldom in this remote corner of the country?”

“I guess so.”

Of course, it’s not like Leonard couldn’t do anything to Arnold, but it felt uneasy because it seemed like he was needlessly planting seeds of anxiety.

* * *

“You idiot!”

As soon as he entered his room, Arnold threw everything he could get his hands on. The vase flew and shattered into pieces with a sharp sound.

And yet, as if his anger was not satisfied, he took a deep breath only after the room was in complete chaos.

“Arnold! What the hell is going on?”

“What the hell? Do you know what Craig just said to me?”

Helena asked, as she opened the door and came in, startled by the mess. Arnold grumbled and told Craig everything he had said.

Helena, who had been listening quietly, interrupted.

“Craig told you to say hello to Cordelia?”

“That’s right. My goodness. Now I have to bow to a woman I bought.”

“It’s strange. Something’s strange.”

Helena muttered, rubbing her chin. Arnold, still angry, kicked the innocent sofa.

“It’s not just strange, it’s clearly a complete mess.”

“No. I don’t think Craig came up with this on his own.”

“What if he didn’t?”

“That woman must have been scheming behind your back.”

“Who, you mean that Vasquez woman?”

“Yes. Don’t you think it’s strange? Craig’s sudden change?”

Now that I think about it, Craig’s personality has changed completely.

He has distanced himself from all the governments he used to like, and only keeps Cordelia close.