IWMHWD 108

Chapter 108 – What Love Is
2024.02.16

She slowly edged backward. It seemed her attempt to coax the clumsy kidnappers into letting her go had failed.

If I could just get my wrists free, I could do something…

While the two men were chatting, Cordelia shook her arms frantically. But the ropes were tied so tightly they didn’t budge.

[Kill her?]
[Yeah. If we kill her and bury her in this forest, who would ever know?]
[R-Really?]

Tom’s ears twitched at the tempting suggestion. Their eyes, which had drifted away, suddenly focused back on Cordelia. The instant their gazes met, Cordelia spun around and bolted.

“Ahhh!”

[And where do you think you’re going?]

Of course, her escape didn’t last long. Roku grabbed her arm with brutal force and dragged her back in front of the carriage. She struggled with all her strength, but against a grown man’s power, it was hopeless. Tom pinned her other arm down.

[I’ve got a hammer in the carriage. Want me to get it?]
[If there’s bloodstains, people might get suspicious. Just strangle her.]
[Ah, good point.]

Hearing them calmly plot her murder sent a chill crawling up Cordelia’s spine.

I’m going to die here? Just like this? So absurdly?

“W-Wait! Hold on! How much money do you need? If you let me go, I’ll give you gold equal to my weight! You only got, what, five hundred linkit in that pouch?”

[Guess you’ve been spoiled as a noble. Five hundred linkit is enough to live off for more than half a year.]

“Half a year? I can give you enough to live carefree for the rest of your lives! Think about it—forget a measly five hundred!”

Her desperate persuasion was useless. The men didn’t even flinch, simply continuing their grim task. The misfortune was that their “task” happened to be murder.

[Hey, Roku! Look at this—she’s got a bracelet too!]

From behind, Tom spotted the bracelet peeking between the tight ropes binding her wrist, his voice rising in greed.

[I tried pulling it off earlier, but it wouldn’t come loose.]
[It’s just a bracelet, how can it not? Don’t tell me you were planning to keep it for yourself.]
[Then why don’t you try?]

“Ahh!”

With greedy eyes, Tom yanked mercilessly at the bracelet on Cordelia’s left wrist. Of course, it didn’t come off—only scraped her skin raw and sent stabbing pain into her bones. Cordelia cried out in agony.

“Stop! That’s a magic bracelet, it won’t—ahh!”

And suddenly she remembered what it really was. Veluce’s words flashed through her mind.

“What was the activation word again? Ah—my master’s name! Leonard! Leonard!”

[What the hell’s she saying? Hey, talk in Bedos tongue.]

[Weird, it really won’t come off.]

Tom kept tugging, but the only result was Cordelia’s escalating screams. Her wrist throbbed as bone ground against bone.

“Stop! It hurts! It really hurts!”

[Forget it. Once she’s dead, we can just cut her hand off.]
[Yeah, let’s do that.]

Clicking his tongue in regret, Tom released her wrist. Roku gestured with his chin.

[Hold her down tight. She keeps squirming.]

“Let go of me!”

Roku clamped both hands around her neck, squeezing with brute strength. Cordelia immediately activated her protective magic. He didn’t go flying back like before, but his grip kept slipping from her throat under the spell’s resistance.

“Leonard! Leonard!”

Using that chance, Cordelia cried out her master’s name again—this time more desperately than ever before. Never in her life had she needed him so much.

Why isn’t it working? Is it broken?

Evrad’s treasure, the bracelet, felt like it had suddenly gone dead. No matter how many times she blinked, her surroundings didn’t change.

[Why do my hands keep slipping?]
[Must be magic. Whoa, that’s kinda amazing.]
[Tch, idiot. Fine, then. There’s a stream nearby. Let’s just drown her.]
[Yeah.]

Realizing brute force wouldn’t kill her, Roku motioned toward the opposite direction. Tom nodded mindlessly.

I survived in Dilroana’s beast-ridden lands—I won’t die to fools like these. Not like this.

Cordelia forced herself to calm down, picturing Leonard’s face vividly in her mind—his shining platinum hair, his mysterious violet eyes, his sharp jawline, his finely sculpted nose.

He might tease her during lessons, calling her dull-headed, but whenever she was in danger, he was always the first to come running, comforting her with unexpected gentleness.

She engraved his image into her heart and whispered:

“Leonard.”

At once, a searing heat surged through her chest, her blood roaring in her veins. The ground beneath her feet vanished, and she plummeted endlessly. She opened her mouth to scream, but only air rushed out.

“Hahh!”

She gasped for breath. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know the magic had worked. Her stomach steadied, and then—someone’s arms wrapped tightly around her.

“Cordelia!”

That embrace, that scent—so achingly familiar, it nearly brought tears to her eyes.

“Master…”

“Cordelia, Cordelia.”

Leonard had been startled to see her suddenly fall from thin air, but relief overtook shock, and he crushed her against him, muttering her name again and again as he stroked her back. He looked like a man dying of thirst who had finally found water.

“Ugh—M-Master, my arms. Please, untie my arms.”

“Your arms?”

Only then did he notice they were bound. With just a flick of one finger, he severed the rope’s knot. It was almost insulting, considering how she had struggled in vain.

As her arms finally came free, prickling pain shot through her stiffened shoulders. She rubbed them, panting.

“Haah… I really thought I was going to die.”

“Are you all right? You’re not hurt anywhere?”

“My arms are sore, but that’s all. How long was I gone? Wait—what about Baron?”

But Leonard was too busy checking her over. When he saw the bruises blooming around her wrist where the bracelet had been, he instantly healed them with magic.

Not only that—his hand brushed her cheek, her arms, her back. The touch was so intimate that Cordelia faltered, pushing against his shoulder.

“M-Master.”

“What? Are you hurt?”

“No, it’s just… you’re too close.”

So close, in fact, that the tips of his hair brushed against her cheek.

Leonard lifted his head, their eyes meeting—his violet irises brimming with worry. Flustered, Cordelia quickly looked away.

“The bracelet you gave me… it saved me. I got out thanks to it. I’m not hurt.”

“Thank goodness… thank goodness.”

Only after hearing she was safe did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. Still murmuring how grateful he was, Leonard embraced her tightly once more.

“How long was I gone?” she asked.

“Not long. Since this afternoon.”

In truth, she had been missing less than a day, yet he clung to her as though she had been gone for months. Cordelia almost laughed it off—until his next words silenced her.

“When I heard you’d vanished, I thought my heart had stopped. Not knowing if you were alive or dead… I was terrified.”

“Master…”

She hadn’t noticed at first, but his voice was trembling faintly. His fear was palpable.

She had always imagined that, if she were kidnapped, her master would react coolly—maybe even scoff at her foolishness. But this fragile side of him…

It left her speechless.

“Cordelia.”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to treat you anymore.”

“….”

“Every time I want to lock you away—in the lab, or the deepest vault of Atilay Castle—I have to fight it back. You don’t know how much restraint that takes.”

By now, Cordelia could sense his feelings for her weren’t just that of a teacher for a pupil. The flood of emotion was too overwhelming for that.

It was as if… he saw her as a woman.

His fingertips brushed her cheek. Normally she would have shrugged it off, but his voice, his gaze, the charged atmosphere—it startled her so much that she stepped back.

“Um, I… I—”

“Say it.”

Leonard’s voice dropped lower than she had ever heard.

She had only stepped back a single pace, but he closed the distance by two, leaving no space between them.

She lowered her head, unable to meet his eyes, her heart pounding dangerously fast. She didn’t even know what words she could say.

Then—like a ray of light breaking through the sky—a knock at the door.

Cordelia quickly slipped from his arms and answered, “Come in.”

“Lady Cordelia?”

Baron recognized her voice and rushed in. His forehead was drenched with sweat, proof of how desperately he had been searching.

“Good heavens! You’re safe—safe! Thank the stars, truly thank the stars.”

The elderly man’s eyes welled with tears as he bowed low before her.

“This is all my fault. If only I hadn’t left you like that… I’m so sorry.”