After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 33

Sevelia returned to her room, set down her luggage, and closed her eyes. Her hand, which had been lowered, gently rose to shoulder level. For a brief moment, a taut tension filled the air, as if someone were pulling it from both sides.

Then, a brilliant light bloomed in her hand.

Paat-!

Sevelia opened her eyes and flicked her hand open. The cluster of light floated into the air and settled before her. Swish….

The light, which had been the size of her palm, gradually grew larger until it was the size of a person.

“That’s it.”

Anyone else who saw this sight would have been beyond surprised, utterly shocked.

“I’m asking you for a favor again this time.”

What she had created was none other than another version of herself. Sevelia sighed as she faced the illusion that looked exactly like her.

“I hope he comes to his senses.”

Sevelia’s pale illusion quietly blinked.

* * *

Ilay’s hidden secret was enough to infuriate Dihart. Fortunately, Dihart was in a state of self-doubt.

He was confused by Ilay’s pointed flaw—the fact that he had personally confirmed Sevelia’s death. He had seen Sevelia’s body with his own eyes, touched her cold cheeks, and left a final kiss on her forehead.

‘Then what exactly did I see?’

The madman couldn’t find an answer, and the deep-rooted question only tormented him.

She undeniably looked exactly like Sevelia. She had even been noticeably embarrassed after witnessing him, and she had shaken him off and run away, though he didn’t know how.

In the end, he had no choice but to repeat his earlier decision.

“I have to meet her.”

If he couldn’t find the answer himself, he would have to find it from her.

Thus, Dihart led his knights to the lodging Ilay had mentioned. He had brought all the remaining men, except for those sent to the city gates.

“Seal off the entrance. Dickson, go and explain the situation to the owner. Rudley, go around back and see if there’s an employee entrance, and if so, guard it.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Understood.”

The knights moved with precision upon receiving their orders. Those who scattered in all directions sealed off the entrances. Ah, the time to capture her was near. He would be able to look into those blue eyes once more.

“This is…”

Dihart felt his heart pounding wildly, as if it were in his ears. He paused for a moment to calm his excitement. Ilay followed behind him.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, go and join them.”

Dihart waved his hand. But Ilay didn’t budge. Dihart frowned. He had been too preoccupied to care about Ilay’s impudence, but this couldn’t continue.

“Ilay Hespield, I’ll say this only once…”

“Your Grace, look up.”

His voice was uncharacteristically trembling. Dihart raised an eyebrow, and Ilay grabbed his shoulder with a shaking hand. Dihart’s gaze followed Ilay’s.

“…No way.”

Everyone who looked up simultaneously groaned. At the highest point of the building, a white curtain fluttered through a wide-open window. And behind the white curtain, which fluttered like a flag, sat a person.

Brown hair lightly swaying in the breeze, indifferent blue eyes. An arrogant and composed gaze, as if sitting on a throne.

“Sevelia.”

The moment he spoke the name, flames surged up his throat. His eyes burned as if they had been heated in a fire, and his ears rang as if he were submerged in water.

But Sevelia, oblivious to his plight, simply sat on the windowsill with an indifferent expression. Her precarious figure, as if she might fall at any moment, was repeatedly obscured and revealed by the white cloth.

Ilay stopped him from rushing towards her.

“Get out of my way!”

“Please, calm down!”

Ilay grabbed Dihart with a pale face. From the moment he saw the woman sitting on the windowsill, his mind had been completely muddled.

‘Could she really have been the Duchess?’

Even when he told Dihart about the lodging, Ilay hadn’t believed it. He had merely intended to confront Dihart with a woman who resembled the Duchess and make him understand reality.

But the situation was unfolding strangely. At best, Ilay had imagined the woman getting angry and them being chased away by Baron Surpredy.

‘But climbing onto the windowsill?’

He didn’t want to believe it, but Ilay felt as if she was afraid of their approach.

‘Damn it.’

He finally came to the conclusion that his superior’s irrational speculation might be true. If that woman was just a third party who merely resembled the Duchess, she wouldn’t be acting like this.

In the end, he had no choice but to forcibly hold onto Dihart, who was kicking him away, and say,

“I’ll go up. I’ll go and… try to persuade her!”

“I have no intention of indulging your time-wasting.”

“If something goes wrong, shouldn’t Your Grace be ready to catch her safely!”

A sharp gaze pierced Ilay. He involuntarily swallowed and released the hand holding Dihart. For a moment, he saw a hallucination of being cut by a real sword.

“Please, allow me to go.”

Dihart clenched his teeth and looked up at Sevelia. She was looking down at them with a calm face. It was a completely different atmosphere from when they had met earlier.

And Dihart had seen that kind of attitude before.

‘Knights preparing for battle with their final resolve.’

Those who bid farewell to all they loved and drew their swords, determined to die. That detached atmosphere was now visible in Sevelia.

“Damn it!”

It was the moment Dihart made his decision and was about to send Ilay.

“Ugh!”

“Someone’s…!”

“No, catch her!”

Screams and cries soared into the sky. The two men’s gazes simultaneously turned to Sevelia. Sevelia was standing on the windowsill, reaching her foot out into the air.

“…!”

There was no time to hesitate. Thinking was a sin at this moment. Dihart kicked off the ground and stretched out his arms.

‘Please, please, please!’

His chest felt like it was about to burst. The horrific scenes from that day flashed through his mind. The solemn tolling of the bells at the funeral, the priest’s long and terrible mass [a religious service for the deceased], her peaceful face lying in the coffin.

Her cold, unawakening appearance.

Thud.

And in the next moment, the entire street was filled with an indescribable sense of relief. But only one person was the exception.

Only Dihart, who was holding Sevelia tightly in his arms and rolling on the ground, trembled in cold terror.

“Your Grace!”

Ilay ran over and checked on him and Sevelia. He swallowed a groan at the sight of Dihart tightly embracing Sevelia, gasping for breath.

‘Was it real?’

His reason, which had been wavering between doubt and confusion, gradually leaned towards Dihart. Ilay now thought that even if the brown-haired woman wasn’t the real Duchess, she ‘could be’ the Duchess.

‘If he wants it this much, it wouldn’t be bad to make her live as the Duchess, even if she’s a different person.’

Ilay, who had come to a somewhat satisfactory conclusion, called the knights. He was going to take Sevelia away respectfully as soon as Dihart came to his senses.

But at that moment, Sevelia’s eyes, which he thought had fainted, flashed open. Her blue eyes wandered aimlessly before fixing on Dihart.

“Sevelia!”

Dihart was the first to notice and cupped her cheeks with his hands. In a voice torn to shreds, he called out to Sevelia repeatedly.

“Sevelia, Sevelia… Is it really you? Is what I’m seeing really you?”

It was a terrible voice mixed with despair and hope, fear and expectation. Even the most cold-hearted and indifferent person couldn’t help but be shaken by that endlessly collapsing voice.

But the blue eyes looking up at him were terribly cold and indifferent. So much so that Ilay, who was watching the two closely, hesitated at the chilling sensation.

Finally, her lips carefully opened. The voice that leaked out was so small and faint that Dihart could barely hear it after tilting his head.

“…I’m already dead.”

The moment her lips closed, the abyss opened its mouth. Dihart grabbed her with a face of despair….

Whoosh-!

Sevelia, who had been in his arms, turned into blue feathers and disappeared without a trace.

“What is this…!”

Ilay and the knights immediately scattered in all directions, but it was useless. All they could see were blue feathers fluttering like snow over the street.

‘I suspected it, was she a mage?!’

Ilay bit his lip. To only realize it now, it was a mistake as a knight of Inverness. If she was a mage, there was a possibility that she had been pretending to be the dead Duchess and was mocking them.

‘Is it a scheme to ruin Your Grace’s mind!’

It was widely known that the head of the Inverness family, who represented the North, had become mentally vulnerable after his wife’s death. Perhaps an ugly person had appeared, trying to shake the entire Inverness family by taking advantage of that.

“Disgusting bastards.”

Ilay swallowed the curse and knelt beside Dihart on one knee. Dihart was still kneeling on the ground, in the same position as when he had been holding Sevelia.

“…Your Grace.”

“….”

“Please, give the order. I will capture the one who dared to do this.”

The heavy, sunken golden eyes captured Ilay. His figure fleetingly passed over the two eyes, which shone dully like rusty metal. Ilay suddenly became uneasy.

A chillingly low voice flowed out.

“She said she was already dead.”

“…Yes?”

“What I saw, what I wanted to see… was an irreversible past. Sevelia Inverness can never come back to me alive.”

Ha, haha. Dihart let out a silent laugh and buried his face in his hands.

As expected, the madman could never reach the answer he wanted.