Wishing My Husband Dead (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 16
When I was little, my hobby was sneaking into my father’s study, stealing a book, and reading it in my mother’s room.
Because my father would fly into a furious rage if he found out I was reading books, I always had to hide in a dark corner to read.
‘Poor thing.’
Every time, my ailing mother would look at little Cordelia and utter words whose meaning I couldn’t grasp.
‘Why?’
‘Because you’ll never be able to have what you want.’
‘But I don’t want anything.’
Hearing that, her mother stroked Cordelia’s head and said,
‘You’re a greedy child, Cordelia. My daughter. When you grow up, do you really think one book will ever be enough for you? It’s human nature—once you start reading, you become curious, want to know more, and even wish to go there yourself.’
‘Huh?’
‘Poor thing. Your father will surely hold you back. It would’ve been better if you’d been born from a womb other than mine.’
‘But I love you the most, Mama.’
Whenever she said this, her mother would hug her tightly. It was one of Cordelia’s few beautiful memories.
Her mother’s face was gradually fading.
Her consciousness, which had sunk deep, surfaced again.
The familiar ceiling came into view.
Blinking her eyes, she saw Emily sitting beside her, who brightened up and spoke.
“Are you feeling more alert now?”
“…Yeah.”
“Ugh… You nearly died. The physician said if we’d arrived just a bit later…”
Emily burst into tears mid-sentence, her eyes already red.
“Lady Helena kept insisting it was nothing serious, but you, young mistress, haven’t even opened your eyes for four days…”
“Four days? I’ve… been unconscious for four whole days?”
“Yes. Fortunately, Master brought every physician from nearby and demanded they save you at all costs.”
“Huh? Craig did?”
Blinking in surprise at the unexpected mention of Craig’s name,
She recalled his flustered face just before she lost consciousness.
“Yes. The atmosphere was so tense the physicians trembled while examining you. And Master even had a big argument with Lady Helena…”
As if devils truly appear when spoken of, Leonard burst into the room, somehow already aware she’d awakened.
Seeing Leonard enter, Emily quickly stepped aside.
He stood beside her bed, staring silently at Cordelia.
After a long moment of this, Cordelia finally spoke first.
“Why are you staring like that?”
“Are you an idiot?”
“Huh?”
“You have a peanut allergy, yet you just ate something without even checking if it contained peanuts? Is your head just for decoration? Why carry it around?”
“Is that really what you say to someone who just woke up?”
Instead of comforting her after she’d narrowly escaped death, he immediately launched into harsh words.
Oddly enough, his sharp tone didn’t offend her at all. Cordelia just gave a small, amused smile.
“But I barely survived, didn’t I?”
“Barely? Barely?!”
Leonard let out an exasperated, hollow laugh.
“…I’ve never met anyone as stupid as you.”
“Yes, yes. I suppose so.”
“You’ll eat anything tossed your way without thinking.”
“Lady Helena offered it—how could I refuse?”
“Do you not have a mouth? A tongue? Why couldn’t you say no? If she’d put poison instead of peanuts in it, would you still have eaten it obediently and died?”
“Well, if it had poison, of course I wouldn’t eat it. I’m not that dumb.”
Cordelia pouted. Leonard shook his head briefly.
“Idiot… sigh. Forget it. Anyway, I’ll be cleaning things up here soon, so stop groveling and grinning at that woman.”
“When have I ever groveled? Wait—cleaning up? What do you mean?”
“This estate. Now that you’ve mostly recovered, it’s time to get rid of the filth.”
Leonard’s expression turned unusually cold. He crossed his arms and glared out the window.
Clearly, Helena was included among the “filth” he spoke of. Cordelia was almost afraid to ask how he intended to deal with her.
“Oh, and starting tomorrow, special training begins.”
“What? Special training all of a sudden? I just woke up!”
“Does that matter? What if you eat something with peanuts again and kick the bucket?”
Leonard snapped irritably, turning to leave the room. Cordelia reached out and grabbed the hem of his clothes.
“Wait.”
“What? Let go.”
“Did you bring the letter?”
He stared at her with a peculiar expression, then pulled a crumpled letter from his pocket and handed it to her. Cordelia clutched it tightly, unable to look away for a long while.
Leonard casually brushed past her and muttered indifferently,
“Tuition.”
“Huh?”
“You said your brother needed tuition. The money…”
“It’s a complete lie.”
Without blinking, she tore the letter to shreds. Even Leonard looked taken aback.
“What are you doing?”
“I should’ve torn it up long ago. It’s only brought me trouble.”
Gritting her teeth, Cordelia reduced the letter to dust.
“Tuition? Ha! With that brain, he thinks he can enroll somewhere? Dennis barely learned to write his own name after turning ten! I’d sooner believe a stray dog could write.”
“So you’re saying it’s just an excuse to get money?”
“I already told you. To my father, I’m nothing more than a hole for money to come out of.”
She stared at the shredded remains of the letter with utter contempt.
“And it’s not even the first time he’s sent such a letter. Ever since I got married, he’s been sending them regularly—starting two months after my wedding.”
At first, she’d opened them thinking they were letters of concern, only to be repeatedly disappointed.
As these letters continued, she went from feeling pity for her father, to anger, and finally to shame—ashamed of her own pitiful, tragic fate.
“I ignored them all. I never even mentioned it to Lady Helena.”
“Why?”
He asked, his expression filled with pure, simple curiosity. Cordelia gave a weak, wry smile.
“Because I’m already in a position where I’m being looked down on—I didn’t want to stoop lower by begging for money. I didn’t want to feel even more miserable here.”
“…”
“It makes me seem like I was truly sold for money. Well… to be honest, that’s exactly what happened.”
Cordelia laughed self-deprecatingly.
A breeze slipped through the slightly open window, gently tousling Cordelia’s hair.
Leonard absentmindedly reached toward her, then flinched back. Strange as it sounded, in that moment, it felt as if Cordelia might vanish before his very eyes.
“Oh! Thank you.”
“For what, all of a sudden?”
“Well… for excusing yourself from the dinner table like that, and… It feels really nice to have someone get angry on my behalf. Until now, the only person who ever fought for me was myself.”
“Hmph.”
Leonard lifted his chin sharply and turned his head away. Then, with a subtle flick of his hand, he left. Cordelia yawned widely as she settled back onto the bed.
“But why am I so tired… Master, later… yawn… homework… yawn… inspection…”
She mumbled a few words before instantly falling asleep. Leonard stared silently at her peacefully sleeping face with a complicated expression, then quietly left the room.
[This is the timeline separator]“Oh dear! How is Lady Cordelia? Has she regained consciousness?”
As soon as Leonard stepped out, Baron, who’d been lingering by the windowsill like a dewdrop, anxiously asked. Leonard ignored the question and stated his command.
“Summon Beluce.”
“What? That mad dog—cough, ahem—that man?”
At the mention of Beluce, Baron reacted as if struck by lightning.
“Wouldn’t he be too conspicuous? Maximilian hasn’t discovered I’m here yet, but if Beluce comes to Abrams Estate as well…”
“Sooner or later, Maximilian will realize I’m here anyway. I can’t stay hidden forever out of fear.”
“If you need help, wouldn’t it be better to call Lord Merban instead?”
“If that stubborn Gasil shows up here without reason, Maximilian will immediately find it suspicious. But Beluce is like a stray dog—he’ll just shrug it off.”
“But… but if Beluce comes here…”
Knowing Beluce Ingrion’s temperament better than anyone, Baron struggled to continue.
Given Beluce’s impulsive nature—charging in without regard for consequences—the small estate would surely be turned upside down in no time.
Yet despite Baron’s objections, Leonard’s resolve remained firm. He swept a cold gaze down the long corridor.
“This damn estate needs to be cleaned up quickly. Too many nuisances crawling around. It’s infuriating how these shameless wretches keep climbing higher.”
“…Sigh. Understood.”
“And.”
Leonard paused briefly. Baron instinctively held his breath.
“Look into the Vasquez family.”
“Vasquez? Why? Do you still suspect Lady Cordelia has ties to Maximilian?”
Baron’s expression instantly turned grave. Leonard opened his mouth as if to say something, then shook his head.
“No, it’s not that. Just… investigate everything. The current head of the family, their wealth, blood relations—everything.”
“Yes. Understood.”
As always, Baron obediently bowed his head and disappeared from sight.
[This is the timeline separator]After that day, the estate fell into an unnerving silence.
Not only Helena, but even Lily and Arnold never appeared before Cordelia again.
Curious, she asked Emily, who replied with a satisfied smirk, “That day, Master flew into a towering rage and issued a stern warning.”
“A warning? What kind of warning?”
“He said anyone who harms you again—even once—will have their head chopped off and hung on the main gate. The cook who actually put peanuts in your soup already has his head displayed there.”
“Oh…”
Hearing this, Cordelia’s heart swelled with gratitude toward Leonard. She’d thought, perhaps, he cared for her as his disciple.
“That’s not it. Do it again.”
“Like this?”
“Again.”
“Thi—”
“Again.”
“…”
“Again.”
Her surge of gratitude vanished instantly.
She spent the entire day—from morning until night—doing nothing but magic training, without a single lie.
Having been stuck together for nearly ten hours every day, she’d reached the point where she could guess Leonard’s words just from his glance or the slightest movement of his lips.
“Not like that…”
“Not like that, but use your head? I know! I know, but my body just won’t cooperate!”
“Don’t just…”
“Don’t just talk—do it? Fine, I get it, so please be quiet for a bit.”
“…”
Leonard stared at Cordelia with an extremely odd look, but she was so absorbed in her magic she didn’t notice.
After more than two weeks of obsessive dedication to magic, she finally succeeded in conjuring a tiny flame.
“Gasp! Look! Look at this, Master! Quick, quick!”
“Yeah. Alright.”
“Th-this is right, isn’t it? I succeeded, didn’t I? I really did it, right?”
“Hmm.”
Unlike Cordelia, who was joyfully hopping around, Leonard remained utterly indifferent.
“That’s precisely the spell I mastered when I was five.”
“At least I’m now at the level of a five-year-old you! Isn’t that pretty good for a first attempt?”
“If you’re satisfied being at a five-year-old’s level, then sure, it’s not bad.”
Ugh, I’d love to smack that smug mouth of his.
But soon, joy over her successful spell outweighed that fleeting thought.
“I think I finally understand what you meant now—about how it’s not the mind, but the body that must remember.”
“Right. You must repeat it thousands, tens of thousands of times until your body remembers it in any situation.”
“Yes. I will.”
She beamed brightly at Leonard.
Suddenly, he sharply turned his head away, avoiding her gaze, and added gruffly,
“Don’t make a fuss. You’ve only just scraped off your trainee label.”
Male lead reborn without memories — but he still falls for her.
The person he finds displeasing in this life turns out to be his cherished wife-master in previous life…
Xie Zhi and Fang Xianxing who had known each other for less than three days through a blind date sat in the same car in front of the civil affairs bureau. They had a disagreement and failed to get married.
Xie Zhi immediately took out his phone, slid through his contacts, and randomly selected the next marriage candidate.
The woman snatched his phone and hung up. Looking at his phone wallpaper, she awkwardly changed the subject: “An ancient painting, eh? It looks pretty good, it’s just that the person in the painting looks a bit like me.”
When he heard this, he sarcastically mocked her for being so delusional, completely unaware that, the person in front of him was the reincarnation of Wen Ru, the famous prime minister of Yuan Shun whom he most admired…
The female CEO who doesn’t want to get married with a divorce agreement in hand × The male archaeological researcher who will only get married if he’s sure he can get divorced
Fun chapter. The relationship between all of them is heartwarming.
Laughed out loud reading this, Lord Leonard is very jealous of the closeness of his own student and friend 😭
They are so cute together I can’t take it anymore <3 love the dynamic