“What? Master came to the mansion?”

Thinking about it, the chances of Leonard, who had gone to the palace, accidentally passing by where she was were extremely low. Moreover, the park where Cordelia had been was not even close to the palace.

“Yes. After pressing the coachman who had taken Lady Cordelia, he left immediately… We were very worried, thinking something might have happened. Is everything alright?”

Hearing Leila’s explanation, Cordelia suddenly felt sorry for having been sulky towards Leonard. It seemed he had been worried when she left without saying anything.

She passed by Leila and headed to the reception room where Leonard often stayed. He was talking with the Baron. Cordelia stood awkwardly at the doorway, waiting for their conversation to end.

Usually, he would at least glance at her, but Leonard didn’t even turn his head.

Instead, the Baron noticed her presence first and greeted her with a gentle smile.

“Did you enjoy your outing?”

“Yes. Well.”

“Next time, I’ll assign you a maid who knows the geography of Yebo Delim well. There’s so much to see that you might not be able to see everything before going to Wilas.”

“Thank you, Baron.”

The Baron lightly bowed before leaving the room. He didn’t forget to close the door quietly.

Leonard still didn’t give Cordelia a single glance. Cordelia hesitated for a moment before approaching her cold mentor.

“Master.”

“Speak.”

“Are you very angry?”

“…”

“I heard from the maid. That you came to the mansion and went out looking for me because I wasn’t there. I’m sorry. Next time, I’ll definitely tell you in advance…”

Cordelia smiled, lightly tugging at Leonard’s sleeve as usual. Then Leonard harshly brushed off her hand as if something dirty had touched him.

“Ah.”

The unexpected reaction made it difficult to speak. Cordelia was very flustered and blankly stared at her rejected hand.

Such a prickly and cold response was something she had only experienced before becoming Leonard’s disciple in the early days.

“You.”

He finally gave Cordelia a look. Leonard’s purple eyes that met hers were swirling with various emotions. Even Cordelia couldn’t easily read what they were.

It didn’t seem like anger. Rather, it felt like confusion or fear.

‘Fear?’

It’s an unfamiliar emotion for Leonard to show her. Cordelia hid her reddened hand and took a step closer to Leonard. Then, trying to act as if nothing was wrong, she said:

“Come on, Master. Don’t be angry. I was wrong, okay?”

“Just leave.”

“Later, for dinner, let’s eat toge…”

“Can’t you hear me telling you to leave? Why do you keep being a nuisance?”

“…”

“Why are you apologizing to me when you act on your own from start to finish?”

It was excessively cold and sharp. At least, that’s how it felt to Cordelia.

“I, well, I’m sorry.”

An apology, she didn’t know how many times now, popped out of her mouth like a habit.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t even that harsh. Compared to the severe verbal abuse she had heard from Helena and her father or ex-husband, this was just prickly.

Yet Cordelia couldn’t easily continue speaking, her mouth just opening and closing before she finally took a couple of steps back.

“You must be tired. Get some rest. We’ll have dinner together next time.”

She hurriedly left the room. A corner of her heart was stinging, and if she had stayed any longer, she might have shed tears in an unseemly manner.

After confirming Cordelia had left, Leonard’s face contorted. He threw the pen on the desk to the floor.

“Damn it.”

He couldn’t control his boiling emotions. Seeing Cordelia’s face darken at just a few harsh words was more than uncomfortable; it was painful.

And that very point confused Leonard.

Why was he so affected by her?

‘Don’t expose your weakness.’

‘What do you mean all of a sudden, Your Highness?’

‘I’m talking about your disciple. Cordelia Abrams. Are you planning to widely announce that she’s your weakness?’

He was about to return to the mansion. Gabriel spoke to Leonard, who was adjusting his clothes. Of course, Leonard snorted and ignored it.

‘She’s my disciple. Not a weakness.’

‘You disappeared holding her in your arms in the middle of the party introducing her, and that’s not all? You shattered the ankle of her father, the Vasquez Margrave, for the reason of harming your disciple, and you’ve been hiding her away in the mansion, even refusing all salon invitations.’

‘There are valid reasons for all of that.’

‘Since when did you make the foolish judgment that the public would be rational?’

Gabriel clicked his tongue and left Leonard with a brief advice.

‘If you have something precious, you should know how to hide it properly. To show it off like that. Tsk tsk.’

Until then, Leonard hadn’t paid much attention to his words. He just considered it unnecessary meddling and let it go in one ear and out the other.

But when he arrived at the townhouse and found out Cordelia wasn’t there, he felt anger, confusion, and above all, an incomprehensible level of anxiety.

Thoughts like ‘What if she got lost, not knowing the capital’s geography well?’, ‘What if she collapsed while walking, her foot not fully healed yet?’, ‘What if someone harms her when she hasn’t even mastered defensive magic properly?’ filled his head.

Even though he heard that Beluce had gone with her, he simply couldn’t sit calmly and wait.

‘Where did you drop her off?’

‘Pardon?’

‘I’m asking where Cordelia got off.’

At Leonard’s frosty question, the coachman trembled and guided him to the park where she had alighted.

Fortunately, the place Cordelia had gone was a bustling street frequented by nobles, but that didn’t mean he could be completely at ease.

Leonard circled that large park three times. When he finally found Cordelia, relief and a strong shock hit his body simultaneously.

‘Are you planning to widely announce that she’s your weakness?’

Gabriel’s words flashed through his mind like lightning.

To say it was just because she was his first disciple, or because she was a troublemaker who might cause problems if left alone, seemed somehow abnormal given his own behavior.

Leonard couldn’t understand what to call this feeling towards her. It was confusing because it was the first time he had felt such an emotion towards a person.

He couldn’t distinguish whether it was sympathy, obsession, or just affection for a disciple.

Weakness.

Only that word was deeply embedded in Leonard’s mind, refusing to leave.

* * *

“How about dinner…”

“I have no plans, so don’t let anyone enter the room until I say so.”

Cordelia quickly passed by Leila and entered the room. Then she rushed to the bed and covered herself with the blanket.

“It’s okay. It’s nothing.”

She muttered as if giving herself a suggestion. Objectively speaking, he hadn’t hurled any abusive language or raised a hand against her. He had just thrown a few sharp words.

Nevertheless, the feeling of hurt simply wouldn’t go away. After holding it in tightly, finally a few drops of tears squeezed out of her eyes.

Leonard’s cold words and face kept coming to mind, making her feel even more upset and sad.

“Huu-uck.”

One side of her heart stung. His cold response must have been more shocking than she thought. Cordelia buried her head between her knees.

At that moment, with a light sound, someone sat on one side of her bed. Cordelia quickly wiped her tears and came out from under the blanket.

It was Roti.

“Ro, Roti. Sniff, you came? Are you hungry? Should I, hic, should I give you food?”

Cordelia stuttered and tried to force a smile, but it wasn’t much different from before.

The gray dog stared blankly at Cordelia’s tear-stained face and then came closer. It felt like comfort, so Cordelia hugged the dog and cried like a child.

“Master, sniff, is too much. I did do wrong but. Sniffle. Still, to say such things, sob.”

“How can I, hic, how can I stop the tears? Master pushed away my hand and told me to leave…”

Cordelia poured out all the hurt she had just experienced. After complaining for a while, her heart calmed down a bit. Then suddenly, she realized that Roti had spoken.

“But Roti. Can you speak again?”

“Connection?”

She asked what that meant, but couldn’t get an answer. That was the last time she heard Roti’s voice that day.

“Ugh.”

Cordelia fell asleep after crying and woke up in the middle of the night. Her ankle hurt too much. It seems walking around here and there today was still too much.

Usually, she would go to Leonard and ask him to cast a healing spell, but there’s no way she could ask Leonard who was so angry.

Moreover, it was too late at night to call for a doctor.

Cordelia spent the night alone, groaning and clutching her painful ankle. When Leila entered the room around dawn, she was shocked to see Cordelia sitting askew at the head of the bed.

“Oh my, you’re already awake?”

“Leila.”

“But you look very unwell. Are you sick somewhere?”

“My ankle hurts a bit. Could you call a doctor for me?”

“Your ankle?”

Leila pulled back the blanket and was shocked. Cordelia’s right ankle was swollen to about twice the size it had been yesterday.