After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 2

I Died and My Husband Went Mad (2)

‘Six months left.’

It was a short time compared to twenty-seven years. But it was enough time to embark on one last journey.

Sevelia smiled faintly, looking down at the neatly folded clothes in her travel bag. A bag she had conspicuously placed under the bed. But no one had noticed.

Of course. After all, the servants of the Duke’s family never came to clean her room, let alone speak to her first.

‘I wonder if they’ll notice about a month after I disappear.’

The people of Inverness, who did not acknowledge her existence even when she was in the same space, consistently ignored her. Here, Sevelia realized that the most terrible thing was indifference, more so than being hated.

Yes, just like her husband.

“Haa……”

It was the moment she closed the bag and pushed it back under the bed.

Knock knock.

The unfamiliar knock startled her, and she tensed up. Her downy feathers stood on end like a small bird whose nest had been raided. But at the familiar voice that followed, she relaxed her hunched shoulders.

“Milady.”

In this desolate mansion, only one person called her Milady. No, she was the only one who called Sevelia so affectionately in the first place.

“You can come in, Denisa.”

The door opened, and a middle-aged woman with a kind face entered. Unlike the mansion’s servants, she was not wearing a uniform. She was Denisa, the nanny who had taken care of Sevelia since she was a child. She was also the only one left of the servants who had followed her when she married into the Duke’s family.

“What’s wrong? It’s past your quitting time, isn’t it?”

Due to some incident, she was lodging outside the mansion. This was also one of the discriminations, but Sevelia didn’t even have the strength to protest. And both of them knew that very well.

“What is it? Did someone say something strange again this time?”

At her question, which was tinged with anxiety, Denisa shook her head and took Sevelia’s hand, holding it.

“You were going to keep it a secret until the end, weren’t you.”

“What are you talking about, all of a sudden?”

Denisa stared intently into Sevelia’s eyes. Sevelia immediately tried to turn her head away, but she couldn’t because of Denisa’s affectionate and sad eyes.

‘She found out.’

Sevelia quickly swallowed, fighting a wave of nausea. She had asked them to keep it a secret. Sevelia bit her lip, recalling the haggard face of the doctor.

The doctor, whom her nanny had brought with difficulty, diagnosed her with a disease that was progressing too quickly to be treated. At that moment, the first thing Sevelia thought was this.

‘Denisa must not find out.’

She was more like a mother than her own mother, whom she had never even met. She was the only person who had followed her to this distant northern region. She was a woman who blushed every time she saw her being mistreated, and she might faint if she heard she was terminally ill. So, she had earnestly asked the doctor to keep it a secret.

‘But it’s no use now.’

When Sevelia couldn’t answer and lowered her head, Denisa opened her mouth in a voice filled with resentment.

“It’s all because of the Duke.”

She pointed to the cold floor and the unventilated room and exclaimed,

“I told you that you would definitely get sick if you lived in a place like this. So please……”

She stammered and stroked Sevelia’s face.

“I told you to live with me at my house.”

“You know I couldn’t do that.”

Sevelia shook her head. She had chosen this room in the first place because she couldn’t stand the gazes of those who hated her beside Dihart.

“And if rumors spread that I was kicked out of the mansion and stayed with a servant……”

It would give the central nobles, who were in conflict with Inverness, a chance to find fault.

The intricately intertwined political dynamics.

All she could do as an illegitimate child in that situation was to lie low so as not to be caught in the storm.

“But I think I’m lucky.”

“What are you talking about? Being harassed every day and marrying a guy who’s worse than a dog?”

Denisa was ready to cut off Dihart’s head if he was in front of her.

“They’re the kind of guys who deserve to go to hell when they die.”

Sevelia couldn’t help but laugh at her confident spirit.

“Haha.”

But it wasn’t a genuine laugh. It was closer to imitating one.

“Cough.”

Blood poured from her mouth as she forced herself to laugh. Denisa’s face turned pale at the sight.

“Milady.”

“Don’t worry too much. It’s not as painful as you think.”

Sevelia said, wiping away the blood as if it were nothing.

“Really. Don’t be sad. I’m fine. It’s surprisingly bearable.”

She knew that Denisa was deliberately talking badly to cheer her up. In the old days, she would have agreed with her slander and relieved her feelings by muttering about what a bad guy he was.

“Haa……”

But why? Now, no matter what she did, it just felt futile.

A feeling of being isolated from the world, watching things happen from behind a pane of glass.

Sevelia hugged Denisa, who was looking at her with concern, and said.

“I’m going to run away.”

“……Yes?”

“I want to live freely, even if it’s just for the rest of my time.”

When she pointed to the bag under the bed with an indifferent face, Denisa’s expression changed.

“The departure date is a week from now. So don’t come to the mansion after today, because they might harass Denisa after I leave.”

When Sevelia said that, Denisa closed her lips.

She had a serious look on her face, as if she was contemplating something.

“Denisa?”

Sevelia urged her to answer. But Denisa didn’t answer; instead, she grabbed her shoulders tightly and said.

“Milady.”

“Yeah?”

“Please, just listen to one request from me.”

Denisa paused for a moment and added.

“No. You have to listen to me. You rejected my offer to live together so mercilessly.”

“But-”

“Think of it as granting one last wish to a poor old woman before you leave.”

Denisa squeezed the hand holding her shoulder tightly.

“If you leave like this, the Weden family will definitely not leave you alone.”

That was true. She was a prisoner sent to promote harmony between the central and northern regions. If they heard the news that she had run away, her father would definitely be angry and send people after her.

“You don’t want to spend your last moments as a fugitive, do you?”

She said in a firm tone. Sevelia bit her lip. She was right. Her current situation was that she was more likely to be caught easily if she left without any countermeasures.

‘Because I have nothing.’

Denisa pulled Sevelia, who was limply drooping, and whispered something in her ear.

“Actually, Milady has……”

Sevelia gasped. Thin eyelids lowered over her confused and shaking eyes.

* * *

After she left, Dihart threw away the bouquet he was holding.

Thud.

The thorns soaked in blood flashed in the thin sunlight coming in through the glass window. Dihart looked down at the messy greenhouse floor and raised his head, as if he was dumbfounded.

A cold light emanated from his golden eyes. After staring blankly into the air for a long time, as if contemplating something, Dihart strode out of the greenhouse.

What stopped his steps as he headed somewhere was his uncle, Rasch. For a moment, annoyance flashed across his eyes.

“Uncle.”

Rasch, who was frowning as if scolding a reckless child, personally brushed off the dirt on Dihart’s elbow.

“There’s not much time left before departure. Go get ready.”

A blunt voice rebuked him. Dihart looked down at him without a word and turned his gaze away.

“What’s going on?”

Rasch straightened his disheveled clothes and patted his chest with the back of his hand. Dihart didn’t answer. Instead, he looked intensely at Rasch’s back, where Sevelia’s room would be.

That damned, prison-like room that she had entered of her own volition.

That desolate room with thick gray curtains drawn all year round.

Rasch, who realized where his gaze was directed, let out an exclamation and shook his head. Trouble was written all over his face.

“It would be better to just leave that child alone.”

Dihart, sensing the ominous sign, asked, as if cornering him,

“What happened?”

He stayed in the mansion for very few days out of the year, so he couldn’t know properly except for major events. When he asked as if he was interrogating him, Rasch hesitated and answered.

“……There’s an unpleasant rumor going around about the woman from Weden—no, Sevelia.”

“If you’re talking about an unpleasant rumor…”

“It’s not something I can say myself, but there’s a rumor going around these days that she’s bringing men into her room.”

The peaceful air froze coldly and shattered like glass.

“That’s nonsense.”

Dihart said in a growling voice. A cold light flashed in his golden eyes.

“And I’ll overlook this time, thinking it was a mistake… but don’t ever call her the woman from Weden in front of me again.”

Dihart tried to leave the spot with a cold attitude, as if there was no need to reconsider. But Rasch grabbed him.

“Uncle.”

“Listen quietly!”

Despite the warning-like voice, Rasch did not back down. Rather, he stared at him with a clear gaze.

“As you know, such rumors don’t come out without a reason. You also know that she hasn’t been able to integrate into Inverness!”

“What exactly do you want to say?”

A gruesome gaze poured down on Rasch. He swallowed and continued.

“I’m saying that you need to take the situation seriously, for the sake of the family’s reputation……”

“Oh, Uncle.”

Dihart scoffed and raised his head. Between his narrowly folded eyes, his golden eyes emitted a sharp light.

“There’s no one who takes this situation more seriously than I do.”

Dihart smoothly narrowed his lightning-like golden eyes and removed Rasch’s hand that was holding his sleeve.

“How much more seriously should I take the fact that vermin who doubt my wife’s chastity dare to stir up trouble in my courtyard?”

The growling voice was eerie.