Chapter 172 Max Hard Life - Side Cordelia -
Cordelia, the female educator, was the eldest daughter of a Baron family without a territory in the capital. Although she didn't grow up in poverty, after her father's investment failed and they lost a lot of assets, they had to cut back on expenses, keeping only her brothers' tutors and letting her governess go.
Her little brother would hide behind Cordelia's dress during study time because he hated studying that much. Their parents thought that the second son, who would have to be independent in the future, was in trouble and decided to have Cordelia sit in on his lessons.
However, it soon became clear that just having Cordelia sit beside him wasn't enough. Her brother wasn't incapable of studying, but he needed a bit more time to understand things. The problem was that the tutor didn't understand this and thought he was just bad at studying.
Cordelia, worried about her younger brother, started taking notes for him during class and would carefully teach him after class until he understood. As he finally grasped the material, her brother began to find studying interesting, and his grades started to improve steadily.
After 2 years, her two brothers' academic levels became almost the same. Since her older brother and younger brother were about 4 years apart in age, this fact greatly wounded her older brother's pride. In short, it wasn't pleasant at all.
One day, her older brother was the only one who couldn't answer a question from their private tutor, which led to a huge fight between them. Her older brother said to her, "You can't do anything without Cordelia!" and the younger brother shot back, "This is my real ability!" At that time, her older brother was 14 years old, and the age limit for entering the Academy was approaching, while he was 10 years old and aiming to enter the Academy at the youngest age possible, which made the situation even more tense.
Cordelia, who felt guilty for causing a rift between her siblings, started to avoid attending their study sessions. However, the tutor secretly lent her books and answered her questions, hoping that she could continue to study.
When the new year came, her older brother took the Academy entrance exam but failed, and her younger brother also failed to enter the Academy at the youngest age possible. Not attending the Academy wouldn't affect the inheritance of their noble title, but it was still a huge blow, as it was a traditional practice for noble sons to establish connections at the Academy. As a result, their private tutor was fired, and their Baron didn't even write a letter of recommendation for him.
Cordelia's life also took a turn. Due to her family's worsening financial situation, she was arranged to marry into a wealthy merchant family in exchange for financial support. At that time, Cordelia was only 14 years old, and she moved into her fiancé's mansion, where she would learn how to behave as a merchant's wife.
As for Cordelia, the atmosphere at her husband's home wasn't bad. Her adoptive parents were very kind, treating her like their own daughter. Cordelia also did her best to be useful to her husband's family, using her connections with her birth family to deepen their ties with the noble families.
At 16, Cordelia became an adult and immediately married her fiancé. Upon this marriage, her parents-in-law handed over the family business to her husband and retired, making Cordelia's husband the head of the merchant family.
Cordelia was a brilliant and capable woman who could hear one thing and understand ten. She accurately grasped her husband's work and took care of various tasks ahead of time, which made her husband think she was a wonderful wife who did her job well. However, 3 years after their marriage, their relationship began to change. Cordelia's actions, which were always one step ahead, started to get on her husband's nerves.
Her husband, who felt like his wife was doing everything for him, didn't like that the servants reported to Cordelia instead of him. He also didn't like that Cordelia wasn't getting pregnant despite her energetic work at the merchant family. And above all, he resented that Cordelia was the one connecting with the noble families.
As time passed, her husband started having an affair and would often stay out overnight. He also began to take on more business projects without consulting her, Cordelia. Some of these ventures required reckless investments, but her husband seemed to find meaning in doing things his own way.
She was aware that her husband had a mistress and that his business ventures were often failing. However, as a noblewoman's daughter, she didn't find it unusual that her husband had a mistress, and she generally understood his business dealings, so she was able to cover up his losses before they became critical.
About 8 years after their marriage, her husband suddenly told her he wanted a divorce. His mistress was pregnant, and he wanted to make the child his official heir.
"I'm aware that the woman is pregnant. But can't we just raise the child as our own? There's no need to force the child to be separated from its mother, and we can even hire a nanny and tutor to care for it at a separate residence."
My husband was displeased that I remained calm even at this point.
"Aren't you jealous at all? A woman who can't even get pregnant is useless as a wife. You're not worthy of being the lady of this house, so get out!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't understand why I have to be jealous. We're not in a loveless marriage, are we? And besides, since you started surrounding yourself with women, we haven't even had a husband-and-wife relationship, so it's only natural that I wouldn't get pregnant. On the contrary, if I were to get pregnant, wouldn't that be a much bigger problem?"
Cordelia responded calmly and collectedly, but her husband's anger only grew more intense.
"You're saying I'm neglecting you just because I can do some work? Don't you have any intention of respecting me, of standing by me?! You're the one who's neglecting me!"
"I've never neglected you. In fact, I took a loss in business for your sake, and I silently made up for it, didn't I?"
Cordelia later regretted bringing up this matter, but at the time, she was still young and couldn't help it. Her husband was completely furious.
"I just can't stand your sneaky attitude. I'm the one who had a child outside, so I'll pay you compensation. But I just can't bear to be married to you anymore."
And so, Cordelia's married life came to an end. The divorce itself wasn't sad. But what was truly heartbreaking was that her coworkers, with whom she had worked together for so long, were tearfully sorry to see her go.
Her parents had already passed away, and her elder brother had inherited the title. He still bore a grudge against Cordelia for not being able to get into the Academy, and even though she had received compensation from the marriage, he wouldn't allow her to return to the family home.
Her pitiful younger brother let her borrow a room for a short while, but she couldn't keep relying on him, as he wasn't exactly wealthy.
Desperate, Cordelia wrote a letter to her old friend Tonia. Since Tonia was running the Elma farm, she might be able to introduce her to some business connections.
However, instead of introducing her to job opportunities, Tonia invited Cordelia to Grandchester with the intention of having her help with her own work.
"Welcome, Lia! Take your time, and think about what you want to do from now on. I'd love it if you could help with the farm, but I won't force you to do anything you don't want to."
"Thank you, Nia. I'm not exactly physically strong, so I'm a bit worried about whether I can really help with the farm..."
"Hmm, even just helping with bookkeeping or negotiations with the merchants would make me happy."
But from what Cordelia saw, it seemed like there were already enough people helping with the tasks.
'I don't want to trouble Nia too much. Maybe I'll try to get introduced to some merchant connections...'
As Cordelia was thinking about the future, muttering to herself, Tonia's kids came to cling to her. They were so adorable that she couldn't help but laugh.
Cordelia started reading some picture books to the kids that she had treasured since her childhood. Strangely, even Fran, who was just born, would calm down when Cordelia began reading. Gradually, the kids started to take an interest in the picture books and wanted to learn to read, which reminded Cordelia of when she used to teach her younger brother.
Near the river where Tonia's kids would play, there were various workshops where many women worked as apprentices. Most of these women, like Cordelia, were divorced or had lost their husbands. When Cordelia heard about a settlement where these women lived together, she became curious and decided to take a peek.
In the center of the settlement, there was a woodworking workshop run by an old man. He was very kind and had built many small houses, offering them to women in need at a low rent. The old man would make toys for the kids using wood scraps and let them play in the open space in front of his workshop.
Tonia's kids also interacted with the kids living in the settlement and showed Cordelia around various places.
"Hey, hey, Mrs. Lia, can I show the picture books to those kids too?"
"That's fine. Which book do you think they'd like?"
A little spoiled Tonia's eldest daughter had been pestering her, so Cordelia brought a picture book to the women's village. And many children, just like Tonia's kids, started wanting to learn how to read and write.
One day, while she was reading the picture book aloud in the plaza, an old man came out from the woodworking workshop.
"It's about to rain. I have a detached house where my daughter and her husband used to live, so why don't you continue reading there?"
he suggested to Cordelia.
The detached house was spotless. It turned out that the women in the village took turns cleaning the old man's workshop and this detached house. The old man's daughter and her husband, who used to live here, had moved to a new house closer to the capital because they had children and it was getting cramped.
Cordelia sat down on a chair and resumed reading the picture book aloud. The children also sat down on the floor, their sparkling eyes fixed on her as they listened intently. Some of them even asked various questions.
At that moment, Cordelia realized what she wanted to do.
'That's it! I'll teach the kids!'
Cordelia loved explaining what she had learned from her tutors to her younger brother. She didn't want to be a governess. She just wanted to teach the kids how to read and write, and show them ways to acquire new knowledge on their own, Cordelia thought.
So, Cordelia borrowed the old man's detached house and started a private school, focusing on the village children, where she taught them various subjects. Although she couldn't offer free tuition, she accepted payment in the form of goods or services, such as cleaning or other labor, from the village women whose children attended her school.
Incidentally, the village was home to various women, including those from noble families, illegitimate children of aristocrats, and others, who would occasionally offer lessons on etiquette, conversation skills, and other subjects. Cordelia was knowledgeable about academics, but her knowledge of etiquette was limited, as her governess had been fired mid-term. To put it bluntly, her courtesy skills were somewhat lacking, to the point where she was often praised for her beauty.
Thanks to the cooperation of these women, some children from her private school even landed jobs as maids in large merchant households. And when James, who had received elementary education at her school, passed the entrance exam to the Academy, it became a topic of conversation, and children from outside the village began to flock to her school.
As the number of students increased and the detached house became too small, Cordelia received the woodwork shop and the detached house from the old man owner.
The old man, who knew his days were numbered, called his daughter and son-in-law and declared that he would bequeath the woodwork shop and the detached house to Cordelia. Additionally, the daughter and son-in-law's child was also one of Cordelia's students, so they happily agreed to the bequest.
A few days later, the old man passed away quietly, surrounded by his family and the women from the village. As per his will, the land and building were inherited by Cordelia.
After the old man's funeral, Cordelia was tidying up the quiet workshop when she noticed a large wooden box in the corner of the old man's bedroom. Thinking it might be something that needed to be handed over to the old man's son and daughter-in-law, she hastily opened the lid of the box, and inside, she found a mountain of educational toys and puzzles for kids.
Seeing this, Cordelia's heart was filled to the brim, and she cried out loud all night, her voice even bigger than when her own parents had passed away.
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