I Wish My Husband Were Dead - Chapter 57



Only Krnovel

Father’s Daughter
2023.12.27.

The two did not say anything until they arrived at the mansion.

When Leonard lifted her up again after getting off the carriage, Cordelia struggled, saying she could walk. Of course, Leonard ignored her words and carried her into the mansion.

The servants’ eyes widened greatly when they saw that.

“Master. What is this, what is happening to Lady Cordelia?”

“Call the senator.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Alex, perhaps sensing the master’s completely calm state of mind, went straight to call the senator without asking any questions.

Leonard carried Cordelia to the room. He placed her on the bed and said in a blunt tone,

“Rest. Don’t think about anything.”

He left with those words and turned around. Cordelia looked at Leonard’s back and said,

“Master.”

“Why?”

“Thank you. Everything.”

Leonard did not look back or respond. He just clenched his fists hard and left the room. He

grabbed his chest with his hand and tore it, feeling an inexplicable sense of frustration.

His anger flared up like wildfire as he imagined her being beaten by her father. He was so angry that he couldn’t even understand it. He

regretted just letting Elector Vasquez go.

“Whew.”

He took a deep breath and walked straight to his office. Among the pile of papers on his desk, he found the information about Vasquez that he had previously asked Baron to do.

Almost everything about Vasquez was written in the thick stack of papers, but Cordelia’s suffering was only a short line.

[According to insiders, he had severely neglected his daughter, Cordelia Vasquez.]

He couldn’t take his eyes off that sentence.

‘My biological father sold me to this hell for a few pennies! He told me not to come back even if I became a corpse. What can I do? Do you know how a woman born into a ruined family lives and dies? I don’t know!’

Why did he just ignore what she said back then?

Leonard grabbed the piece of paper with the sentence written on it and crushed it. He pulled the rope next to him and Alex came in a moment later.

“You called, Master.”

“Cordelia.”

“She’s being treated by the doctor. The injury to her ankle isn’t serious, so she’ll be fine after a month of rest. And her cheek… …”

Alex said carefully, watching his master’s expression.

“She said that it’ll go down naturally if she ices it.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Is there anything else you want me to do?”

“Vasquez.”

Leonard still had a hard time suppressing his anger when he said that name. He took a short deep breath and continued.

“Elector Vasquez is in Yevo Delim. Find out exactly where he’s staying.”

“Elector Vasquez is in the capital? Sure, I understand. I’ll find out right away.”

Alex expressed his doubts, but quickly bowed when he saw his master’s stern face.

* * *

Two days had passed since the Saracen banquet.

Her flushed cheeks had returned to normal, but her sprained ankle was so swollen that she had difficulty walking alone. Fortunately, Leonard had used healing magic to reduce the pain a lot.

Cordelia had not stepped out of the mansion since that day. It wasn’t just because her feet hurt.

The physical pain was fleeting, and what made her even more anxious was her father’s very presence.

“Why did father come to the capital?”

“Cordelia.”

“Is he trying to demand something from me using the fact that I am the master’s disciple as an excuse? Or is he spreading some strange rumors… …”

“Cordelia.”

Leonard called her name in a low voice. Cordelia’s eyes, which were trembling with anxiety, stopped at Leonard.

“No matter why Elector Vasquez came to the capital, there is nothing he can do to us.”

“… …”

“You seem to often forget that your master is Attila.”

“I am more afraid because my master is Attila. “Compared to Vasquez, I have much more to lose and have much more to gain.”

Cordelia’s expression distorted. She felt ashamed of the blood flowing through her body, and at the same time, she even hated it. The thing she hated the most was her father, who had inherited that blood.

The anger and anxiety that she usually suppressed and didn’t show exploded after meeting her father. She dug her nails into her palms with an anxious face.

“What could I lose because of Vasquez? My life? Or maybe I’ll lose my position as the head of the family?”

“… … That can’t be happening, right?”

“Yes. You know that too. It can’t be. So all you do is worry for nothing.”

Cordelia felt her heart, which had been surging like waves, calm down a little at his scolding-like consolation.

“So stop thinking strange thoughts and just study. If you keep doing this, your mind will evolve from stone to rock and you’ll have to carry a chisel instead of a pen.”

“That, that’s not it.”

“That’s not true. It seems like you’ve forgotten all the shield magic I taught you.”

Leonard comforted her in his own way. He gave her a ton of homework so that she wouldn’t have to think about it.

That worked better than expected, and after struggling with her homework for a few days, Cordelia was able to forget about her anxiety about her father.

As if they had made a promise, neither Leonard nor Cordelia mentioned the incident at all. When Rosenblu

sent her a letter filled with concern and worry, Cordelia simply replied with a short reply that she was “not feeling well.”

“Do the math again. How many times have you made the same mistake?”

“Strange. I did it correctly.”

“Here, this formula is wrong.”

“Oh! I see.”

Cordelia awkwardly came up with the answer using a new formula at Baron’s point.

Baron, who had been out investigating something with Belluce, returned. He offered her eclairs baked in the kitchen and whispered that she was doing very well.

Lottie was lying carelessly in the warm spring sunlight.

This ordinary scene gave Cordelia a sense of stability.

“By the way, when will Belluce come back?”

“He will be back soon. Since I left five days earlier, he will come with Sir Mervan.”

“I will finally see Sir Mervan, who will be coming.”

Cordelia smiled and added a word when the topic of Leonard’s loyal knighthood, which she had only heard of, came up. Leonard then showed a discontented expression.

“Why are you waiting for me to come?”

“When did I wait for you again?”

“You said it yourself.”

“I wasn’t waiting. I was just curious because you were a knight of the master I’d only heard about.”

“Don’t be curious. Gashil is just one of many knights.”

“Oh my. You’re nitpicking.”

Cordelia thought her master was nitpicking and getting annoyed, but Baron thought differently.

Baron had been by Leonard’s side since he was five. Because of that, he could read his master’s mind with just the slightest change in his gaze.

When he first started to care for Cordelia, he thought she was just being so sensitive because she was his first disciple.

However, as time passed, Baron had to admit that Cordelia was quite special to Leonard.

‘No, it’s a little deeper than that… … .’

Baron shook his head. It was still too early to make a judgment. For wizards, their first disciples were always the object of affection. He tried to ignore his master’s obsession.

Then Alex came inside, making a noise. He quietly walked over to Leonard and whispered in his ear,

“… … Here it is.”

“Now?”

“Yes. I guess the gold hanging on the door worked.”

The two exchanged words that Cordelia couldn’t understand, but she didn’t care. Most of their conversations since they came here were things she didn’t know.

Leonard laughed bitterly and got up from his seat. Baron followed him. Cordelia put down her pen and asked,

“Where are you going?”

“I have something to do.”

“… … I see. Are you coming late?”

She slumped her shoulders and picked up her pen again. She pretended it was nothing, but she couldn’t completely hide the loneliness inside.

Leonard turned from the direction he was heading to the door and turned back to Cordelia. He wrote something on the paper for a long time.

“Here.”

“What is this?”

“Homework. I’ll be back in three hours, so finish it.”

“No!”

Cordelia took the paper he handed her and shouted. It was not enough to do it in three hours, let alone thirteen. She protested strongly, waving the paper.

“How can you do this in three hours?”

“Why can’t you? If you concentrate, you can do it all.”

“It’ll take three hours just to write!”

“So?”

It seemed that she realized that protesting further was useless.

Cordelia turned her head away, took out her book, and began to write something furiously. She didn’t care whether he left or not. Only then did Leonard leave the room.
Baron looked back and forth between Leonard and Cordelia, then made a subtle expression.

* * *

“May I ask where you are going?”

“To see a greedy old man.”

“Yes?”

Since Leonard replaced that with all explanation, the Baron waited until the carriage stopped.

The carriage stopped with a very slight rattling sound. The Baron got out first and helped his master out.

The place they arrived at was an inn a little away from the downtown area, where wealthy merchants visited, but nobles were reluctant to go because it was too low-class.

When Atilei’s carriage stopped in front of them, the people immediately lowered their heads and lowered their voices. The person who seemed to be the owner ran over.

“Why is the Elector Count coming to such a shabby place?”

“I heard that Elector Vasquez is staying here.”