I Wish My Husband Were Dead - Chapter 29
Only Krnovel
Ropal Wizard Association
2023.11.28.
“A dog-shaped demon beast, that’s very rare. It must have cost a lot. I’ll give you three times what you paid for it, my lady.”
“I’m not selling Loti.”
“How about five times?”
“No matter how much you ask, it won’t work, so would you mind leaving? The group is nearby.”
“Hmm.”
He glanced at Loti behind Cordelia for a moment as if he was regretting it, then quickly nodded and left.
Cordelia confirmed that he had taken a seat in the corner of the restaurant and hurriedly brought Loti out.
Baron happened to be tidying up the carriage and loading the luggage. Leonard shouted at Cordelia as she came out of the inn in a hurry.
“What are you doing dawdling around like this? Get in quickly. We’re leaving.”
“Master! How did you know Loti was a demon beast?”
“Why are you suddenly asking that?”
“Just now, a man recognized Lottie as a demon and told me to sell him.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. It was just a man completely covered in a cloak.”
Leonard’s expression, which had been indifferent the whole time, changed. Baron, who had been listening to the story from the side, also changed his face seriously.
“If someone with an ordinary appearance like Lottie can recognize that he’s a demon, then he must be a high-level wizard. I didn’t notice him at first either.”
“High-level wizard? High?”
“Elder-level, or just below that.”
“But his voice was really young. And his chin, too.”
“Young?”
Baron and Leonard exchanged glances that were unclear at Cordelia’s words. They discussed something in low voices, but Cordelia could barely understand the words.
Belluce fiddled with her sword and scanned the surroundings with sharp eyes.
“Just in case, I think it would be best to leave this town quickly.”
“Yeah. That would be good.”
No matter what it was, it didn’t seem like a very pleasant situation. Cordelia put her luggage in the carriage and said her final and real goodbye to Lottie.
“Lottie. Go back to the castle. Now, really….”
“Take the dog.”
“Huh? Really?”
“It’s better for us to take him than to be chased by that dog.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Cordelia smiled brightly and opened the carriage door.
“Okay! Lottie, come up quickly!”
Lottie also climbed onto the carriage as if he had been waiting for her. Leonard, who was watching her, let out a laugh.
“You didn’t make up that guy story on purpose, did you?”
“Master! What do you think of me? No! Lottie, you say something too. I saw that guy!”
Cordelia strongly denied it, making a fuss. Leonard clicked his tongue briefly and climbed into the carriage.
“All right. All right. Just get in quickly. Let’s go, Baron.”
* * *
The tedious journey lasted ten days.
The Abrams estate was in the northeast, and the land where Delorana was was at the southernmost point, so the carriage continued to run down.
“It’s so hot… … .”
As each day passed, the clothes she was wearing gradually became thinner. For Cordelia, who was from the north, the spring weather continued to be unbelievably warm.
Cordelia had been repeating the same days. During the day, she studied magic in the carriage under Leonard’s intensive tutoring—or so he called it—and at night,
she would faint as soon as she lay down. The only good thing was that since she had nothing else to do but learn magic from Leonard, her skills improved faster than expected.
“You already know how to draw a triple magic circle?”
“Ahem. This is nothing.”
Baron couldn’t hide his surprised eyes as he looked at the paper Cordelia was diligently scribbling on. Cordelia straightened her shoulders for no reason and showed Baron the other papers.
“I’ve done this, and this too.”
“It’s true that Cordelia is a fast learner. The other wizards of Lopal would be surprised if they saw this. To think that she’s accomplished this much in less than a month.”
The embers were brightly illuminating the surroundings.
Today, they had to sleep out because they couldn’t find a village on their way.
Belluce left, saying that she would catch a rabbit, and Leonard left on another business, leaving Baron, Cordelia, and a dozing Lottie in front of the campfire.
“It’s all thanks to you, Master.”
Cordelia smiled humbly, but she was secretly proud.
In fact, the reason she accomplished this much in the magic circle so quickly was because of Cordelia’s talent for ‘seeing.’
A normal wizard would have to concentrate and devote all of their mental power to drawing a magic circle, but Cordelia could see the magic, so she could just look at it and draw it.
“Your personality has also become much brighter.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. When I first met you, you seemed to be barely breathing, suppressed by something.”
Cordelia thought back on the short but long past two months at Baron’s words. Compared to before she met Leonard, as he said, she was a different person now.
As she learned more magic, she gained more confidence and her expression brightened. Since she could feel it herself, it wasn’t strange for others to notice the change in her.
“Don’t get cocky about that.”
Leonard sat down next to Cordelia and glanced at the magic circle she had drawn. Judging from the fact that he didn’t say anything, it seemed like she wasn’t wrong.
Baron smiled kindly and supported Cordelia.
“Isn’t it an undeniable fact that Cordelia is very skilled? You’ve already drawn a triple magic circle?”
“Anyone with a brain can do it.”
“Tch. You always say that. You need to praise your disciple
so that he feels good.” “He’s so full of energy that he should die.”
“Master.”
With a soft voice, Beluche appeared from the darkness. The smell of blood stung his nose. Loti jumped up from his seat. Cordelia almost screamed when she saw Beluche.
“You said you were going to catch a rabbit.”
“What’s going on, Beluche?”
He was covered in blood from head to toe. Yet the other two men were not surprised, let alone moved. Only Cordelia was terrified and held her chest in shock.
“I found something fun instead of a rabbit.”
“What?”
“Just take a look. I’ll save you.”
He turned around and trudged forward, dragging something. This time, Cordelia almost vomited.
The one that Beluche had brought was a human brother, but he was completely squashed. It was understandable why he had spilled so much blood.
When she smelled it up close, the smell of blood was more disgusting than she had thought, so Cordelia grabbed the tree and retched.
“Can he talk?”
That was all she had to ask Baron. Beluche shrugged. Then, without any emotion, she kicked the squashed human.
“Ugh!”
“You can talk? I didn’t touch his tongue.”
“Why him?”
Baron asked.
“I was wandering around the area to hunt, and I saw this man writing something. It looked familiar, so I couldn’t just pass it by.”
Beluche held out a small note. At the end of the note, there was a faint drawing of a snake wrapping around a lily.
“What is this?”
Cordelia asked, sticking her head out. Baron answered kindly.
“It’s the emblem that Maximilian uses.”
“Oh, I see. No, Maximilian? That Maximilian?”
Her eyes grew wide. Suddenly, Maximilian’s men were caught near their campsite. What an incredible coincidence.
“Here’s what’s even more interesting.”
Belluce laughed bitterly and lifted the fallen man’s arm. There was a clear wolf drawn on the back of his hand. This was a phrase that Cordelia knew for sure.
“Embly? Why is there a red wolf here?”
“Hmm. Maximilian and Embly. It’s not a surprising combination.”
The red wolf Embly, along with Vasquez and Atile, was one of the eight sacred families.
Since a member of the Embly family had Maximilian’s note, it was clear that there was some kind of connection between the two.
“I thought about how this interest was paid, and this forest was the border of Embly’s territory,”
Baron said, assessing the situation.
“Master, what does it say?”
The note was written in code, so Cordelia couldn’t read it. It was similar to what she had seen when she delivered Leonard’s letter before, but different.
Leonard’s expression hardened as he read the note.
“I should change the destination.”
“Huh? What does it say?”
“Maximilian wants to permanently close my lab.”
“Does that make sense?”
Baron shouted, jumping up and down. Leonard crumpled up the paper and threw it into the bonfire. In an instant, the note disappeared from the world, leaving only ashes.
“That bastard is my only family, so it’s not legally impossible.”
“There are so many valuables in that lab! Maximilian seems determined.”
“I’ll have to go to the Ropal Magic.”
“But it’s impossible for me or Beluche, or even your body, to get in, ah.”
Baron suddenly looked at Cordelia in the middle of his speech.
She felt that sparkling gaze was extremely, extremely uneasy. It was similar to the gaze Leonard had given her before they left for the Delorana estate.
Leonard was also staring at Cordelia.
“Why, why are you looking at me?”
“He’s here. If a legitimate successor appears, we can’t close it permanently.”
“But then, who Cordelia’s master is will be revealed. Are you okay with
that?” “It will be revealed someday. It’s more important to prevent the closure.”
The two men exchanged words that Cordelia couldn’t understand. Baron looked at her for a moment and shook his head.
“Oh my. Ropal is going to be completely turned upside down.”
“Hey, can you explain what you’re talking about?”
“I’m saying that I’m accepting you as my disciple.”
“I’m already your disciple.”
“People don’t know. You’re my disciple.”
“Do you really have to tell people that?”
From Cordelia’s perspective, the first thought that came to mind was ‘Why bother?’. She was planning to learn only a few magic spells and leave anyway, so it was burdensome to have to go all the way to the Magic Alliance and reveal that fact.
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