Wishing My Husband Dead - Chapter 64

“Goodness, if you were in such pain, you should have called for me even at dawn! I’ll quickly summon a physician.”

“Thank you.”

However, as luck would have it, the physician who had been attending to Cordelia had left the capital on other business. In urgency, they called for another physician to examine her.

The relatively young physician looked at her ankle and frowned.

“When did you say you were injured?”

“It’s been about five, no, six days, I think.”

“It seems to be a simple sprain, but the progress isn’t good. After six days, the swelling should be gradually subsiding. For now, I’ll prescribe some medicine, please take it diligently. And avoid using your foot as much as possible.”

After giving his instructions, the physician left. This time, Cordelia remained confined to her room, even if it meant going stir-crazy.

“The master seems to be very busy.”

“Is that so? It can’t be helped.”

Cordelia had thought his anger would subside in a day or two, but Leonard hadn’t come to see her for over three days. Even when she sent word asking to have a meal together, only perfunctory replies came back.

Leila smiled awkwardly and changed the subject.

“How is your leg?”

“It’s fine.”

Cordelia answered habitually. In truth, it wasn’t fine at all. Not only had the swelling barely gone down, but she also had intermittent fever and vomited even after drinking water.

However, more unbearable than her ailing leg was her master’s sudden change in attitude.

Though they hadn’t been together for long, whenever Cordelia was sick or injured, Leonard had always stayed by her side.

But for three days, he hadn’t come to see her even once. For Cordelia, this was beyond disappointing; it was shocking.

Since childhood, taking care of herself when sick was something she had to do on her own. She thought she shouldn’t be shocked anew by the absence of someone when she was ill, but it seems she had come to believe in and rely on Leonard as more than just a master.

‘Or perhaps he’s grown tired of me now.’

Once such thoughts began to creep in, Cordelia became afraid. She even had dreams of Leonard looking at her with cold eyes, saying, “I no longer need someone as foolish as you.”

On the day she woke from this nightmare, her fever spiked severely. Cordelia vomited up the few pieces of fruit she had barely managed to eat in the morning and couldn’t sleep until night.

* * *

Late at night, something cool touched her forehead.

Thinking Leila might be changing the wet cloth, she opened her eyes and met an unexpected gaze. Leonard had placed his hand on her hot forehead and then removed it.

“…Master?”

“Go back to sleep.”

“Don’t leave.”

As he rose from the chair beside the bed, Cordelia sprang up like a coiled spring. Then she tightly grasped Leonard’s arm to prevent him from leaving.

“I was wrong. I won’t go anywhere without telling you from now on. I’ll be obedient. I’ll study hard too, so, Master.”

Though she had been so weak she couldn’t even swallow food for the past few days, somehow she found the strength to desperately cling to Leonard’s arm.

She looked as desperate as a duckling following its mother duck.

“Alright, I understand. So go to sleep.”

“You can’t abandon me. If you leave, I’ll follow you to the ends of the earth and cling to your ankles… *sob* I’m sorry. I was wrong. So please, please.”

She thought she had cried enough that no more tears would come, but facing Leonard, the tears flowed again.

An inexplicable anxiety dragged Cordelia into a quagmire.

She continued to beg for forgiveness. Perhaps because she was half-asleep, she was overwhelmed by the fear that Leonard might leave her forever with a cold expression.

“I’m not abandoning you. So stop crying already. You’ll wake everyone up.”

He wiped her wet cheeks and eyes, gruffly but tenderly.

It seemed the intensely cold and aloof Leonard Atilei had disappeared, and finally, the master she originally knew had returned.

Cordelia felt relieved yet anxious.

Leonard entering her bedroom in the middle of the night to wipe away her tears somehow felt unreal, like a dream.

No, perhaps this was all a dream. A strange certainty came over her.

So she raised herself up and embraced Leonard’s waist, burrowing into his arms. Leonard pushed her shoulders away in surprise.

“What are you doing?”

“You won’t leave, right?”

“Move away a bit.”

“Master. Quickly promise. Say you won’t go.”

“I won’t go, so move away, will you?”

“If you’re not going, can’t we stay like this?”

“Don’t say such nonsense…”

He was about to tell her to move away. Cordelia’s eyes reddened again. As she seemed about to burst into tears, Leonard surrendered first.

“Just go to sleep.”

Cordelia pulled him close and lay down. Naturally, Leonard lay down beside her. Finding it difficult to keep her arms around him, she tightly gripped the hem of Leonard’s clothes.

Their bodies were so close that Cordelia could even hear Leonard’s heartbeat. That sound gave her a sense of stability.

She closed her eyes and mumbled.

“I’m not going to sleep.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m going to watch if you leave or not.”

“Don’t do useless things and sleep. I said I won’t go.”

“Master.”

“I said sleep.”

“You forgive me now, right?”

“…”

From the beginning, his anger and cold treatment towards her wasn’t because she had left the mansion without saying anything.

It was simply that Cordelia had become his weakness, and confused about what name to give to his feelings for her, he had pushed her away blindly.

When he remained silent, Cordelia opened her eyes wide and looked up at Leonard.

“Why aren’t you saying anything? Say you forgive me.”

“Good grief.”

Leonard was dumbfounded by the forceful demand for forgiveness. A sound of exasperation escaped between his lips. Cordelia opened her eyes wide and shook his shirt.

“Hurry. You also got my forgiveness like this.”

“When did I?”

“The day you first agreed to take me as your disciple. Don’t you remember?”

Searching his memory, there indeed was such a day. That was just four months ago.

Leonard was once again mildly shocked. In just four months, she had burrowed so deeply into his life.

“I forgave you once, so you should do it too.”

“I’ve already forgotten about that. You’re an adult, so you don’t need my permission to go out.”

“No. From now on, I won’t take a single step outside the house without your permission.”

Cordelia spoke solemnly as if making a vow, but for some reason, it just seemed amusing to him.

“Now sleep.”

“I said I won’t sleep. I’m not sleepy, and Master… *yawn*”

Leonard silently murmured a sleep spell. Cordelia blinked her eyes a few times before falling completely asleep.

The hand gripping his shirt gradually loosened. Now there was nothing holding Leonard back, yet somehow he couldn’t leave.

Leonard quietly gazed down at Cordelia, then gently brushed away the strands of hair stuck to her sweaty forehead.

“Cordelia.”

He still hadn’t found a name for this emotion.

He didn’t know what to call this feeling towards her. It’s too deep to be mere sympathy or compassion, and the excuse of her being his first disciple has become trite.

He only realized over the past four days that Cordelia had entered so deeply into his life that she couldn’t be removed.

As promised, Leonard stayed by Cordelia’s side until the moon set and a new sun rose.

Early in the morning, Leila, who was bringing water in a silver basin for washing, was the first to witness this scene. Seeing someone beside her mistress, she was startled and dropped the basin.

“Who…!”

Surprisingly, the silver basin didn’t fall to the floor but floated in the air, not spilling a single drop of water.

Leila was more surprised to see that the person next to Cordelia was the master of the mansion, rather than being amazed by the magic.

“Quiet.”

“I-I’m sorry, Master.”

Leonard put a finger to his lips, cautioning the maid. He carefully rose, trying not to wake Cordelia.

“She only fell asleep recently, so come back later.”

“Yes, I’ll do that.”

Leila left the room with the silver basin without a word. She thought that this room, created for the mistress of the Atilei household, might perhaps welcome its master.

However, wisely, Leila didn’t utter a word and decided to serve Cordelia even more respectfully.

* * *

“Isn’t it about time you woke up?”

“…”

“The sun is high in the sky. Lazy bones.”

She’s hearing things from the morning. Cordelia frowned deeply and pulled the blanket up to the top of her head. However, some sharp and rude hand pulled that blanket back down.

“Wh-what, um, what is it?”

“What do you mean, what? What time do you think it is to still be sleeping?”

“M-Master?”

“Yes. My lazy disciple.”

Leonard stood beside the bed, perfectly dressed. Cordelia rubbed her eyes several times. Unable to believe what she was seeing, she was speechless for a while.

“Why are you here, Master?”

“Have you already forgotten how desperately you clung to me yesterday, telling me not to go?”

“Me? When did I? I didn’t… Oh!”

Wasn’t it a dream?

Memories came back in fragments. She had naturally thought it was all a dream, but it was real.

Leonard clicked his tongue briefly as he looked at her still dazed expression.

“If you’re up, go wash yourself. You smell.”

“G-Get out! Get out!”