“Ahem. Welcome to Abrams, Archduke Atilei.”

However, the carefully prepared nagging words disappeared as soon as he saw Cordelia’s face.

To be precise, there was no time to think of anything else.

“…Archduke Atilei?”

Leonard’s lips curled up crookedly.

Cordelia looked around once. It was all too obvious that everyone was on edge, listening to their conversation. She pointed upstairs and said,

“Let’s go up for now.”

“No. I need to know why you’re calling me by that title first. Since when have I been ‘Archduke Atilei’ to you?”

“I’ll explain upstairs.”

Cordelia looked at Leonard with desperate eyes, pleading to go up. The more she did so, the more he couldn’t move a single step.

To think she wouldn’t even use the title of ‘master’ anymore.

Leonard’s face hardened. He had thought ‘surely not’, but it seemed Cordelia really was planning to cut ties with him. The anxiety he had buried in a pit, thinking it couldn’t be true, began to creep up.

“You really…”

“Good heavens, the butler’s words were true.”

Baron Lancaster came running as if he had heard the news of Leonard’s arrival. He bowed somewhat excessively, his eyes shining.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Archduke Atilei. I am Baron Dean Lancaster. Unfortunately, as Count Abrams passed away recently, I, as the acting count, will be hosting the guest instead…”

“I have something to say to my disciple, so would you mind stepping back?”

“Yes? Yes? I’ve heard rumors that the Archduke had taken on a disciple, but is that person in our castle?”

No matter how he looked at it, Baron Lancaster seemed unaware that Cordelia was his disciple. It meant she had deliberately not mentioned it.

Realizing this, Leonard felt an inexplicable anger and sense of betrayal bubbling up from deep within his heart.

“Ha. To think you’d go around hiding it completely. Why? Were you planning to run away as soon as the funeral was over?”

“Run away? What do you mean?”

“If not, then why are you calling me by that title, and why doesn’t this man know you’re my disciple?”

“That’s just…”

Cordelia mumbled, her head half-lowered. That appearance looked very suspicious.

Baron Lancaster, who had been listening to their conversation from the side, widened his eyes. Unable to believe what he was hearing, he looked back and forth between Leonard and Cordelia several times.

“Disciple, you mean the disciple that Archduke Atilei is said to have taken in is actually the Countess?”

“What Countess? She’s a Vasquez now.”

“Good heavens, good heavens!”

Baron Lancaster, who had always seemed calm and cunning like a raccoon, couldn’t hide his surprise when he learned that she was actually Leonard Atilei’s disciple, throwing away his composure.

“Not even telling the people of the castle. What kind of scheme is this?”

“What scheme? That’s not it, I understand. I understand, so let’s continue talking upstairs.”

“Go upstairs where? Get ready to leave. We’re departing right away.”

Feeling anxious at the thought that she might really be planning to run away while hiding the fact that she was his disciple, he couldn’t hold onto his patience any longer.

He quickly grabbed Cordelia’s wrist. He needed to take her away immediately, whether by putting handcuffs on her or shackles on her feet.

“Ugh.”

Although he hadn’t grabbed her that hard, Cordelia let out a shallow scream as soon as her wrist was caught. Leonard released his hand in surprise at that moan. Looking closely, there was a dark bruise mark.

Seeing that, his anger flared up. It was so unpleasant to see her getting bruises and injuries every time he took his eyes off her for a moment. Why couldn’t she even take proper care of her own body?

“Who the hell is it? Who dares? Where’s Beluce? What was he doing while your hand was getting bruised like this!”

Anxiety and anger have similar faces, so even a slight touch can produce a similar effect.

“Beluce isn’t my nanny, he can’t follow me around all the time. Don’t worry about it. It’s just a small bruise.”

“That’s why I sent him with you.”

“You sent him, Master?”

“How else would Beluce have known you were leaving at dawn and followed you out of the blue?”

Come to think of it, it was strange. It couldn’t have been a coincidence to meet on the road at dawn, not in some small rural village but in Yebo Delim.

Realizing this fact, Cordelia’s heart melted even more softly. Even though he outwardly shouted and got angry, Leonard was still the only one who looked after her.

“Master.”

“Don’t think you can just gloss over this. I…”

Leonard immediately shut his mouth. Because Cordelia had grabbed his hand in return.

“Let’s go up. Okay?”

“…”

He didn’t know why the touching hands felt so hot. Was it because it was the first time Cordelia had reached out to him?

Despite being such a faint touch, he simply couldn’t refuse. As if under a binding spell, Leonard was led by her hand to the upstairs reception room.

Finally, they were alone. Cordelia took a deep breath and spoke first.

“I didn’t hide the fact that I’m your disciple with any intention. It’s just… After coming here after that fight, I felt uncomfortable, and I wondered if it was okay to go around saying I was your disciple.”

“What does that mean? Why wouldn’t it be okay to say it? Being my disciple is something to boast about for generations to come.”

“Because I was ashamed.”

“What? Don’t tell me you’re ashamed of being my disciple?”

“No, no. That’s not it… I was ashamed of myself.”

Cordelia swallowed and laid out the problem that had been troubling her for a long time in front of him.

“You said you would have taken me as your disciple even if I wasn’t smart or talented, but I was always anxious. I feared that if my sordid past became known, if my leech-like family appeared and made vile threats using me as an excuse, wouldn’t you be disgusted with me?”

“…”

“But when it really happened, I was so scared. Especially when I heard that my father even took money from you… I thought it was natural for you to be completely fed up with me now.”

The reason she left secretly at dawn the day after their argument was actually due to fear. She was afraid that Leonard might tell her to leave this mansion, that he might say he didn’t need a disciple like her.

Although she had shouted at Leonard, asking why he hadn’t told her in advance, the underlying emotion was actually fear of being abandoned.

Hearing Cordelia’s honest story, Leonard’s anxious heart calmed down a little.

“But why didn’t you come back? Even after the funeral ended, you hesitated and didn’t think about coming to Yebo Delim.”

“I, I was going to. After I received a reply.”

Cordelia’s cheeks turned red as she lowered her eyes. Even to herself, it sounded like a cowardly answer.

“Reply? You have to send a letter to get a reply.”

“Huh? I’m sure I sent a letter to Baron. Didn’t you receive it? I clearly wrote in it to pass it on to you.”

“…You sent it to Baron?”

He could clearly see that slippery old man snickering behind his back. It was infuriating to think that he had already received the letter but had encouraged him, saying things like Cordelia might run away, or that he should go to Abrams.

“You didn’t receive it? I guess the letter must have been lost somewhere along the way. Not knowing that, I thought you were so angry with me that you weren’t even replying.”

“You’re right that I came rushing here furiously.”

“Ah… Are you still not over it?”

“I thought you were planning to run away because you kept putting off coming back day after day.”

“Come on, what do you mean run away? Where would I go? Where could I possibly go?”

“That’s why I threw aside all my work like a madman and rushed here for four days, barely sleeping, urging my horse on. I was afraid you might go somewhere in the meantime.”

“I won’t go. I won’t. I have to run errands for you until I die, don’t I?”

Cordelia said with a smile.

Leonard couldn’t take his eyes off her green eyes. Her soft brown hair, the way her nose bridge twitched slightly when she smiled, how she pouted her lips when upset, how she silently shed tears when sad.

Everything was etched in his mind, vividly appearing even when he closed his eyes.

Why did I rush all the way here? Just because she was coming a few days late? So what if she runs away? There are so many people who want to have me as their master, if Cordelia runs away, I could just take on a new disciple.

Why am I so afraid of losing you?

Leonard clenched his fist tightly. The emotion he had long denied forcibly opened his heart and entered.

Now he had no strength left to deny it anymore.

Anxious when she’s out of sight, wanting to see her every day when far apart.

Leonard finally found the name for this emotion.

“Cordelia.”

“Yes.”

“Listen carefully. I will never abandon you. No matter who you are, what happened in your past, who your father is, even if you have no arms or legs, it doesn’t matter at all.”

“…Master.”

Cordelia looked up at Leonard with moist eyes, filled with emotion. Leonard opened his mouth to speak the name of that emotion he had just discovered.

“Because I lo…”

“Lo?”

“Lo, damn lo.”

“Looo?”

He couldn’t spit out the next syllable, as if his throat was completely blocked. Having never said, or even thought, such words before, it felt awkward.

Cordelia blinked rapidly. Why is he stopping mid-sentence?

“This is driving me crazy. I must have finally gone mad.”

“Why? What is it? Ah, why are you stopping mid-sentence?”

Cordelia urged him with a strange look. Leonard sighed and looked at Cordelia with complicated eyes. Does she have even a hundredth of similar feelings for me?

“Cordelia. Be honest.”

“Yes.”

“How do you, ahem, how do you think of me?”

“How? Well, you’re the master I respect most in the world.”

“No, not such a cliché answer. Honestly, from deep within your heart. How do you think of me?”

“Master! Don’t you know my true feelings? I truly respect you.”

“Is there nothing else besides respect?”