Grant Me One Wish – 2

Time flies when you’re having fun, as they say. After spending the entire week playing around since exams ended, the weekend I had promised Cordelia arrived in no time. During that time, Hestia showed up for morning exercises without missing a single day, and perhaps because she started from such a low point, she showed remarkable growth in just one week. Though Hestia initially whined about not wanting to do it, today she even showed her enthusiasm by arriving earlier than me and doing warm-up exercises in advance.

Hestia placed her hands on her knees and caught her breath. After taking deep breaths for about 5 seconds, she straightened her back.

“Phew, finished.”

“Good job. Here’s a towel.”

I handed Hestia a towel. After the first day, I started bringing towels with me. It might seem a bit excessive, but who’s going to stop me from taking care of my fiancée?

While Hestia wiped her sweat with the towel I gave her, I showered her with praise. This kind of praise is the best motivation at the beginning.

“You’ve improved tremendously.”

“Have I?”

“On the first day, after running like this, your legs gave out and you staggered.”

It’s not even an empty compliment. She truly made significant progress in her stamina. Thinking back to the first day, ugh. That was something else. That Hestia even took a nap during lunch time instead of studying ahead.

Moreover, the next morning, she couldn’t even run due to muscle soreness, so we just did a little stretching, and I had to massage her legs all morning.

Compared to that, now? She’s standing properly, even if she’s breathing a bit heavily. Pleased with my praise, Hestia puffed out her chest.

“It’s just that I wasn’t trying before. If I put in a little effort, this much is easy.”

“Okay, okay. Now for stretching, right?”

I turned my eyes away from her chest. Actually, the merciless bouncing while running was no joke, but now she’s emphasizing it like this, I don’t know where to look.

At my mention of stretching, Hestia’s proud expression quickly darkened, her confidence vanishing.

While her stamina had improved tremendously since the first day, her flexibility showed no signs of improvement. She still had the flexibility of a wooden block.

As Hestia whined and prepared for stretching, Cordelia, who had been waiting behind us, emerged with a broad smile.

“My turn, right?”

Cordelia seemed to enjoy this as if it were her life’s calling. Hestia, of course, did not. Listening to them doing stretching together was like hearing a psychopathic torture expert at work. Hestia would scream, begging for it to stop, while Cordelia would just laugh without saying much.

As Cordelia approached, Hestia began trembling even before they started.

“Ugh, please be gentle.”

“Since I’m in a good mood today, I’ll consider it.”

Cordelia hummed a tune as she placed her hands on Hestia. With skilled hands, she split Hestia’s legs or stretched her arms just to the extent that Hestia could bear.

It amazes me every time. How does she so precisely stretch everything to the maximum without causing injury?

“Cordelia, have you learned this somewhere before?”

“No? Who would teach something like this?”

That’s true. It’s not like there are professional trainers or yoga instructors in this world. So that ability to split Hestia’s legs precisely to the point just before injury is pure talent? I shuddered at Cordelia’s hidden genius.

“Why, do you want to try it too?”

Noticing my gaze, Cordelia straightened her back momentarily and wiggled her fingers playfully in front of my eyes.

“No need.”

“Aw, why not? I’ll do a good job.”

Cordelia whined and clung to me, but I firmly refused.

For one, I’m not as stiff as Hestia, and for another, I was scared of someone’s gaze watching this conversation.

“Hestia, I won’t do it, so stop staring.”

“Well, we’ll see about that when we train later.”

Cordelia threw a stone into Hestia’s barely calm heart.

As I mentioned earlier, today was the day I promised to help Cordelia with training, and I had arranged to go to the training ground with her after finishing the morning exercise with Hestia.

Hestia pouted, seemingly displeased at being reminded of a fact she had been trying to forget.

“No, I said I won’t.”

I firmly rejected Cordelia’s devilish stretching offer, but I couldn’t calm Hestia’s anxiety again.

“Mikhail, do you really have to do that sword training?”

“I can’t help it since I promised. Besides, it’s true that Cordelia has been helping all this time.”

“Then I want to go too!”

This time, Cordelia stepped forward.

“No! We agreed from the beginning.”

She took quite a firm stance.

“A wish is a wish, right? And, it’s not like I’m doing anything weird, so why are you so wary?”

“If it’s nothing weird, why can’t I come along?”

Hestia countered without backing down. A cold air flowed between the two. I had to suffer from inexplicable guilt and stress. If only they could go back to being the friendly duo they were initially, I would have no other wish.

Since their fight showed no signs of stopping, I decided to side with Cordelia for now. As she said, a promise is a promise. It doesn’t seem right to change something we promised a week ago on the day itself.

Moreover, it’s also because I have absolutely no intention of doing anything other than sword training with her. We’ll probably be swinging practice swords all day without saying much, and I wouldn’t want to make someone sit and watch that.

“Hestia, really, nothing’s going to happen. Okay? Do you trust me? If you really can’t trust us, you can come and watch for a bit in the middle. That’s fine, right?”

I asked Cordelia at the end. She seemed to think that much was okay and didn’t express any dissatisfaction.

“I don’t mind if she comes by to watch briefly.”

“Did you hear that?”

Hestia nodded reluctantly.

Judging by her demeanor, she’ll probably come and go frequently. But if she sees that we’re truly just innocently swinging swords, won’t she feel more at ease?

“Mikhail, are we really going to do just this the entire time?”

“Wasn’t that the plan from the beginning?”

I knew this would happen. Within an hour of starting training, Cordelia began suggesting we take a break and have some fun.

“They say that adequate rest and enjoyment improve efficiency.”

“It’s only been an hour.”

“That’s so mean.”

I cut her off sharply. It was very Cordelia-like to whine like that while still continuing to move according to my instructions.

“Let’s do a bit more and then rest. We can spar in the afternoon.”

“We have plenty of time, so let’s take it slow.”

Since it was the weekend and still early, there weren’t many people at the training ground. Cordelia grumbled at my words but diligently swung her sword. I also carefully observed her swordsmanship.

“Put more strength in your legs, yes, like that. Don’t move your waist. Keep it fixed.”

“Don’t just tell me, teach me directly with your body.”

After being corrected in the same place several times, Cordelia said with a provocative look. She still hasn’t come to her senses.

I strode towards Cordelia. I could feel her eyes filling with some unknown expectation.

I stood in front of her and raised my hand.

-Thwack!

A crisp sound rang out as my finger hit her forehead. Maybe it’s because I’m strong, but I can deliver a good forehead flick.

Cordelia rubbed her forehead and shouted.

“Ouch! Why did you hit me?”

I taught her with my body, just as she wanted. Taught her not to make such jokes.

“Please, I beg you, don’t say such weird things.”

“Why is that weird!”

“Can you swear that you didn’t have such intentions, not even a little bit?”

I glared at her with the most expressionless gaze I could muster. Cordelia, who had been about to answer confidently with her head held high, gradually shrank and eventually lowered her head.

“Sorry… But it’s true that direct correction is more effective than verbal instruction.”

Hmm, certainly, there’s some truth to what she says. It’s true that she was joking, but since we’ve come all this way together, it does seem wasteful to teach only verbally.

“Fine. Then I’ll do so.”

“Really? Great. Let’s go!”

Cordelia, burning with enthusiasm, repeated the movements I instructed. Is it my imagination, or have her movements become even more of a mess than before? I stopped her for a moment.

“Stop for a moment.”

“Where, where am I wrong?”

As I approached, Cordelia even flared her nostrils. I picked up the practice sword and tapped the wrong parts.

“Here and here. I mentioned this earlier, didn’t I? If you move your waist, you can’t put strength into it.”

Honestly, I’ve always wanted to try this. The teacher character tapping with a sword while giving advice. I was secretly pleased to realize this fantasy.

However, Cordelia seemed to feel differently. Her face slowly changed from confusion to despair, and then to anger.

“What are you doing right now?”

Cordelia asked with a cold expression. Pressured by her completely changed demeanor, I instinctively took a step back.

“I, I was directly correcting you…”

“Are you messing with me?”

Cordelia strode towards me.

“I’m not an idiot, you know what I mean.”

“That’s exactly the problem.”

At my retort, Cordelia sighed. After closing her eyes for a moment in contemplation, she spoke.

“So Lily is okay, then?”

At the name that came from her lips, I felt my head go cold. I couldn’t control my expression. My mouth stiffened.

“What do you mean?”

“Don’t pretend. There’s something between you two, right?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Seeing my flustered attitude, Cordelia grinned.

“I heard everything, on the night we were drinking. It’s vague, but I remember roughly.”

Ah. Shit. I had to hold back a curse that hadn’t come up in a long time. I was more surprised than angry.

Even if we were completely drunk, were we too careless? How should I explain this? My thoughts kept spinning in circles.

“I, I don’t know what you heard…”

My tongue is even getting tied. I involuntarily cut off my words. Damn, it’s already suspicious, and if I stutter, it’s basically confirming it.

“I told you I heard everything. Lily speaking informally to you, and both of you talking so naturally?”

My back became damp with cold sweat. I felt my lips drying up and licked them slightly. I could understand why people say to moisten your lips before lying. Because if your lips are cracking like this, anyone would know you’re nervous because of a lie.

I gave up on trying to deceive her and decided to change my strategy to making it seem like no big deal. It seems impossible to pretend nothing happened at this point.

“Um, exactly how much did you hear?”

“I told you. I heard you two speaking comfortably and conversing very naturally.”

“Then, did you hear anything like ‘Seol-ah’ or ‘Bada’?”

Both are words that would sound exotic and unusual when heard in this world’s language. It hadn’t even been a few days, so if she had really heard them, there’s no way she would have forgotten.

If she says she heard them and asks what they were, what should I answer? Nicknames? No, even saying they’re nicknames would be problematic.

After what felt like an eternity, Cordelia opened her mouth.

“No? What are those?”

Cordelia’s expression was as if she had never heard such words in her life.