I Wish My Husband Were Dead - Chapter 98



Only Krnovel

Contract with the Devil
2024.02.06.

A fireball flying toward the knights of Embly threateningly passed Anton’s head. It wasn’t an ordinary flame.

“My lord, are you okay?”

“It’s magic. Take out the wizard first.”

It was dark, so it was difficult to tell where the enemy was. Anton tried his best to grasp the situation. Of course, it was difficult to see them as bandits. There wouldn’t be a group of crazy thieves trying to rob a group of armed knights.

Once again, arrows rained down with the sound of the wind cutting through. The knights hurriedly raised their shields.

“Protect my lord!”

There was no need to ponder who they were.

“It’s Attila! The author is clearly a wizard under Attila!”

Maximilian answered as if he had read his thoughts. Following Maximilian’s finger, he saw a brown-haired man looking this way and muttering something.

“Catch him now. Hurry!”

The knights advanced at Anton’s shout.

The wizard tried to run away, but was caught by the knights before he could make it a few steps. Anton walked over to the wizard to examine his face closely.

“You dare attack Embly? Do you think you’ll be okay after doing that?”

“The Elector, stop being so foolish. Maximilian is a disaster in and of himself. You’re protecting him, his seed must disappear from this world!”

“The seed?”

The wizard curled up after saying that. One of the knights tried to straighten him up, but he hesitated. A strange light emanated from the wizard’s body.

Maximilian was the first to recognize the light.

“You must dodge!”

He hugged Anton’s body and dodged to the ground. At the same time, the light coming from the wizard’s body exploded and engulfed the entire forest.

The trees shook with strong pressure. Those who looked directly at the light screamed in pain and fell down.

It took a few more minutes for the light to subside. Anton opened his eyes after a long time.

The surroundings were a mess. Among them, the surviving subordinates rushed to Anton and supported him.

“Your Majesty. Are you okay?”

“Ugh.”

He barely got up, putting strength into his knees. When he turned his head, Maximilian was lying there, groaning and panting. That wasn’t all. More than half of the soldiers he had brought with him couldn’t open their eyes.

The magician who had been emitting light was, of course, dead and wounded.

He was a creepy man, but if it hadn’t been for Maximilian, Anton would have been in trouble too. Anton reached out to Maximilian on the ground. Maximilian staggered and grabbed his hand and got up.

“Thank you, Elector. More importantly, is Daniel okay?”

“Daniel. Daniel!”

The explosion of light brought back memories of his forgotten grandson. At the same time, he realized the meaning of the meaningful words the magician had left behind. Anton shook off his subordinate’s support and ran to the carriage.

“Oh, no!”

He quickly opened the carriage door and found his nanny dead. Anton felt as if his feet were falling apart. An adult woman died, so how could a child survive?

“Daniel, Daniel… … .”

“My lord, Daniel is alive.”

Maximilian rescued Anton from the brink of despair. He carefully took the child out of the nanny’s arms and showed it to Anton. Fortunately, there was not a single scratch on Daniel’s body.

“Oh, God. Thank you. Thank you.”

Anton hurriedly picked up the child and prayed to the sky. Maximilian watched the scene and poured out his anger.

“What on earth did a newborn child do to kill him?”

“Are you sure that the wizard of Attila did this?”

“Yes. Judging from the last spell he used, he must have tried to kill everyone here. Including Daniel.”

Anton was suddenly scared, even though he knew that the child was safe. This was his daughter’s only child. He couldn’t lose this child. Maximilian took advantage of the weak gap.

“They won’t give up. Even if I die, Attila will try to kill Daniel as well.”

“… … Of course.”

Knowing whose blood Daniel inherited, it would be difficult to ask him to completely view this child as Embly. Anton’s brow furrowed. He had suspected that they might be involved with Daniel, but he had not expected them to act so quickly.

“So, Elector Count, we must first grab his collar.”

“A collar?”

“The Cordelia Vasquez I mentioned before. How about exchanging her for Daniel’s life?”

“How do you plan to use her?”

Anton hugged Daniel tightly and listened to Maximilian’s words. Normally, he would not have even paid attention, but he was half-conscious from fear and terror.

“I heard from Embly’s report that there is a deadly poison called Tarcia. If you don’t take the antidote once every ten days, you will die with the pain of your internal organs being torn apart.”

“How do you know that?”

“Rosalyn told me about it.”

It was a little suspicious, but he let it go. Rosalyn also knew about Tarcia.

“Feed that woman poison and trade Daniel’s life for it. As long as the Elector Count has the antidote, Daniel will be safe from Attila’s hands.”

Embly’s report contained more than just paintings and jewels. It also contained the deadly poison called ‘Tarcia’ and the antidote to Tarcia, which was only passed down through the Embly family.

“What if Attila abandons his disciple?”

“He recently made Vasquez his successor. To a wizard, a successor is like a clone that cannot be traded for life. Attila will never abandon her first.”

Anton was deep in thought. It was not just that he would not take up the sword himself, but that he would have to confront Attila head-on. Even if Embly was one of the eight sacred families, the possibility of winning an all-out war against Attila was slim.

At that moment, Daniel burst into tears as if reprimanding him for his worries. Anton hurriedly patted the child’s back and soothed her tears.

Maximilian added as if driving a wedge in.

“Leave it to me, Elector. I will kidnap her.”

“Kidnapping? You can just poison her, so why bother making a big deal out of it?”

“Since Vasquez is in the magic alliance, it would be difficult to bribe someone to poison her, and above all, she knows how to use discrimination magic. She will know right away if you put it in food. It would be better to kidnap her and poison her for sure.”

Maximilian presented a concrete plan as if he had been waiting for this day. However, since Anton could not easily give permission, he brought up Daniel and said,

“Elector. This time, he was lucky, but Attila might try to take Daniel’s life again. Now, isn’t Daniel the successor who will inherit everything in Embly?”

The last sentence touched Anton’s heart. If Daniel died, his bloodline would disappear here. He

couldn’t lose the only child Rosaline left behind.

And even if the plan failed and things went wrong, he could just say that it was Maximilian’s sole action and cut off the tail.

Since he was going to kill them anyway, it wouldn’t be bad to use them all and kill them.

Anton kept trying to soothe the child, agonizing over it, and then he made a decision.

“I’ll give you the money. Use it to save people. If they catch you first, kill yourself. Don’t mention Embly’s name on your tongue.”

“I will.”

Maximilian bowed his head deeply. That’s why Anton couldn’t see Maximilian’s expression.

* * *

It had been less than an hour since she had parted ways with Rosenblu, but no matter how hard she searched, she couldn’t find him. Cordelia wandered around Rosenblu’s lab and went to Kanon’s lab just in case.

When Cordelia knocked on the door, Kanon greeted her with a bright smile.

“What’s wrong, Cordelia? Have you eaten? The baby seems a little thin.”

“Hello, Kanon. Have you seen Rosenblu?”

“I saw him this morning. Now, sit down here. Would you like some candy?”

“Candy, yes. Thank you.”

Unable to refuse his kindness, Cordelia bit the candy in her mouth and asked, munching on it.

“Why Rosenblu?”

“I have something to tell you about Lydia.”

“Lydia? I thought you two were going out together.”

“Outside? Outside the magic lair?”

“Yeah. Would you like some of that?”

Kanon rummaged through his drawers, took out some sweets, and placed them in front of Cordelia. Cordelia politely declined. Kanon put it back in the drawer with regretful eyes.

“Kanon-sama. In that collapse. Was something found?”

“Huh? Are you interested in that? Well. According to Matilda. Hmm. This is a secret, so you shouldn’t tell anyone.”

“Yes. Of course. I have a very tight mouth.”

Cordelia folded her hands and nodded. Kanon chuckled and said,

“They say traces of Maximilian were found in that collapse.”

“Huh? Maximilian?”

Not Lydia?

Cordelia was unfamiliar with the name that came out of nowhere. It was even more so because she hadn’t thought she would hear it here.

“Hasn’t he already lost his magic?”

“That’s right. So they said that the contract holder isn’t Maximilian. He helped with the summoning, but the actual contract holder is someone else.”

“Who is that contractee?”

“Well. It seems that hasn’t been revealed yet. Then would you like this?”

Kanon offered her another sweet snack. Cordelia, finding it hard to refuse twice, put the cookie he handed her in her mouth.

“The collapse. Could it have grown due to the descent?”

“The descent? How do you know?”

“I heard it from Lady Candias.”

Kanon tapped the desk with his finger. He didn’t seem to readily agree with her words.

“Hmm. Of course, that’s possible. But making a contract with a demon isn’t easy, so descent? It would require a lot of magical power, so you’d need a high-level wizard, or at least a holy relic.”

“That, that!”

“That?”

‘And I also found out that Lydia took a few holy relics before she disappeared, but they weren’t found anywhere in the mansion.’

Rosenblu’s words flashed through her mind. Cordelia jumped up from her seat.

Everything was rushing toward a single point. Maximilian, the high-ranking wizard, the holy relic Lydia took, and the changes that appeared in Lydia’s body.

Cordelia asked urgently.

“Do you know where Lord Rosenblu went?”