“But if it’s been three days, wouldn’t Craig’s body have decayed?”

“Don’t worry. I put a freezing spell on it.”

“Wow, there’s even such magic? That’s amazing.”

“It’s not that amazing compared to the magic you’ll learn in the future.”

It seems he hasn’t forgotten about that special training at all, even though I thought he had.

Cordelia’s expression suddenly darkened.

“I just recovered from a major injury……”

“So? Is your side still hurting? To the point where you can’t even hold a pen?”

“It doesn’t hurt, but my heart is deeply wounded……”

“I’m the one with a deep wound in my heart. You just misunderstood by imagining things on your own.”

“M-Master, what wound did you receive?”

“Being condemned as a heartless bastard who uses his disciple as a medium and then throws them away. Wouldn’t you be hurt if you were me?”

“That, that.”

At a loss for words, Cordelia just moved her lips uselessly. She hung her head low.

“I’m sorry. That was truly my misunderstanding. Our Master would never do such a thing.”

“Hmph.”

“But even if Master really did use me as a medium, I would have accepted it.”

“Why?”

“Pardon?”

“Why would you accept that? You should rebel, run away, or fight back.”

“Uh… Are you displeased that I’m obedient?”

“What’s with this attitude of never listening normally but only obeying at times like this? Are you trying to provoke me?”

“When have I ever not listened……”

“You always grumble when I tell you to do something. Look at you now. As soon as I mention special training, you suddenly talk about emotional wounds and try to lie down.”

“No, I’m just saying… I was a patient until about ten minutes ago, you know? How can you jump straight to special training without even asking if I’m okay? Isn’t that a bit much?”

“I know you’re fine because I’ve been watching you for three days. I’m just saying since it came up. How could you cry and make a fuss just believing what Beluce said? Did it not occur to you at all to ask me? What do you think a master is?”

Master and disciple refused to back down. They spilled out all the words that had been piling up.

As they continued this exchange that wasn’t quite a conversation, Cordelia began to express her feelings more honestly.

“When I went to the Martial Arts Association, everyone looked at me with such envious eyes when they heard I was your disciple.”

“You just realized that now?”

“So it made me think even more. Why did you accept me as your disciple? There must have been many people smarter and more talented than me. And then when Beluce said those things… It just made sense. Ah, so that’s why Master accepted me as a disciple.”

“There were people smarter and more talented than you. Of course.”

“……”

“But they weren’t you.”

“……”

“I would have accepted you as my disciple even if you were more stupid than you are now, though theoretically it’s impossible to be more stupid than this. Even if you had no talent for seeing magical power. I accepted Cordelia Vasquez as my disciple. I didn’t accept you because you’re smart and talented.”

“……”

“Are you crying?”

“Sniff. I’m, I’m touched. Master. Waaah.”

It wasn’t just empty words – her heart truly swelled with emotion. It was especially moving because she had never heard anyone say they accepted her for who she was.

No one in the world had ever told Cordelia that she was fine just as herself.

Her father always said Cordelia was a useless wench, and at the Abrams household she was despised as a useless parasite who couldn’t bear children. She thought it was natural to be discarded if she couldn’t prove her usefulness.

She thought Leonard was the same, but he was treating her sincerely. Rather, it was Cordelia who had been thinking of just learning some auxiliary magic and running away. She felt ashamed.

“Are you done crying?”

“Yes. *sniff* I’ll really work hard……”

“If you’re done, open your book. We’re going to make up for all your slacking off starting today.”

“……”

He had a natural talent for stopping women’s tears. In an instant, her tears dried up and the emotion shattered.

* * *

For Leonard to reclaim Atilei, the group needed to hurry. To take the shortest route to the capital, they continued camping in the forest, barely stopping in any villages.

“Phew……”

Cordelia stumbled as she got off the carriage. It was clearly noon when she woke up, but now the sun was setting.

As she got off, Baron approached with a welcoming face.

“Lady Cordelia. How are you feeling?”

“Ah. Baron.”

“The master was very worried. The wound was deeper than expected, so it took a long time to stitch up.”

“Is that so?”

She turned around and felt around the area of the wound. It still hurt when pressed, but not enough to interfere with daily life.

“I tried my best to minimize scarring, but since the wound was quite large, there will probably be a scar.”

“It’s fine. It’s not like I’ll be remarrying anyway.”

A woman with scars on her body is at a great disadvantage in the marriage market, but it didn’t matter much to Cordelia since she was already married.

“And about Beluce.”

“What about Beluce?”

“He also asked me when you would wake up, Lady Cordelia.”

“Hm?”

Not when you would die?

Cordelia narrowed her eyes and looked at the knight chopping firewood in the distance. Baron chuckled softly.

“Beluce was the one who carried you every time we moved. He did it on his own without being told.”

“Really?”

Cordelia’s eyes sparkled at his words, and she casually approached Beluce. As she lingered around where he was chopping firewood, Beluce frowned and said:

“What are you doing? You’re in the way, move aside.”

“Were you worried about me?”

“Worried? I was just waiting to take your bracelet if you died.”

Beluce spoke brusquely and turned his gaze to the firewood. However, his tone wasn’t as sharp or sarcastic as before.

“Come on, I heard from Baron that you were really worried.”

“Don’t believe that old dog. He exaggerates everything.”

“Then I guess you were a little worried, not extremely.”

“I said I wasn’t worried.”

“Still, I’m loyal, right? I didn’t abandon you and protected you till the end.”

“Hmph.”

She swallowed the fact that she had been on the verge of running away. Regardless of her feelings, it was true that she didn’t abandon him and run.

As they were bickering, Leonard called for Beluce from afar. Beluce immediately ran to him.

“You called?”

“Take this out.”

What Leonard pointed to was Maximilian, who was tied up on top of the carriage. Beluce roughly dropped Maximilian with a thud.

Leonard removed Maximilian’s gag and then spoke in a rather gentle voice.

“Thirsty?”

He threw the leather water bottle from his waist to the ground. Maximilian stared at it intently.

Cordelia glanced at Maximilian’s face from the corner of her eye.

It had only been three days, but he had changed surprisingly. Only viciousness remained in his eyes, and his cheeks had become hollow. His once smooth and sleek face now looked like it had aged ten years.

She thought Maximilian would refuse given his personality, but he silently crawled and put his mouth to the bottle opening. He must have been very thirsty.

“What are you doing? Prepare dinner.”

“Ah, yes, yes!”

Leonard said. Cordelia took her eyes off Maximilian and hurriedly helped prepare dinner.

Although she couldn’t know exactly what had happened between the two in the forest that day, it seemed the match had clearly been decided.

What she was curious about was why they were dragging him along alive instead of killing him.

“It’s to take him to the Council for trial, of course.”

As always, it was Baron who resolved her curiosity.

“The Council? So we’re going to the capital now?”

“Oh my. I didn’t tell you? That’s right. We’re going straight to Yebo Delim.”

The Council, the highest decision-making body of Ershe. There, over twenty powerful figures make various decisions such as succession of titles, trials, and legislation.

And of course, the Council is located in the capital, Yebo Delim.

“We need to hold a trial to reveal Maximilian’s atrocities and reclaim the family head position.”

“And then will they kill Maximilian?”

“It won’t be easy right away. The trial takes at least one to three years, and we have to wait until all verdicts are made.”

“Then why bother holding a trial?”

Cordelia felt genuine curiosity. Given Leonard’s personality, it didn’t seem like he would drag things out for three years to keep Maximilian alive.

“It would be a waste to just kill him.”

Leonard sat down next to her with a thud, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. Cordelia inadvertently looked at his profile, then startled, fixed her gaze on the campfire in front of her. His face was too heart-fluttering to look at directly.

“A waste?”

“Yeah. Maximilian spared no effort or trouble to try to kill me, so it would be too kind to just kill him. I’m going to hold a grand trial and have all the people of Ershe spit on him.”

A truly Leonard-like statement. Cordelia couldn’t help but marvel inwardly at that nasty temperament.

“But what if Maximilian somehow escapes from prison and takes revenge on you, Master?”

“Revenge? Haha. How could he do anything when he’s lost all his magic?”

“Well, maybe he could hide and ambush you.”

“It would actually be interesting if Maximilian really did that. Should I set hunting dogs on him and have them tear off his limbs one by one?”

“……”

“Do you think someone who’s lived as a magician all his life could survive even a day as a normal person? His current life is hell. That’s why I’m taking him to trial.”

Now she understood a little why they were keeping him alive. As Leonard said, it seemed unlikely that Maximilian, who had completely lost his magic, could oppose him again.

“But when the trial is held, will all eight families gather?”

“They might, or they might not. Why?”

“I was wondering if my father would come……”

Cordelia’s expression immediately darkened.