After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 43

Upon hearing Sebelia’s words, Claude thanked her and immediately shot up, heading back toward the Nightmare Forest.

‘He must have left something there.’

Sebelia recalled Dihart as she had seen him in the forest. Unlike in the plaza, he was dressed plainly—an unbuttoned shirt, trousers, and shoes. That was all.

So, Sebelia was sure that Dihart must have left his coat or belongings somewhere. Outside Hillend Hall, he always insisted on impeccable attire. If it were the Dihart she knew, he would never chase after someone looking like that.

“…The problem is that he was chasing after me.”

Sebelia rested her chin on her hand, narrowing her eyes. If Claude could safely retrieve Dihart’s belongings and find the medicine there, the treatment would proceed smoothly. If that happened…

“We might meet again soon.”

Sebelia rolled the medicine Wartz had given her in her hand and looked up. He must be staying somewhere upstairs.

‘Wartz said he would separate our living areas if I wanted to avoid meeting him.’

Sebelia had said it was fine, but he had come to ask her again, perhaps realizing that Dihart had entered the forest after her. Sebelia gently refused a second time as well.

‘If it were the old me, I would have gratefully accepted. But….’

[Showing the arrogant the most terrible reality they unconsciously reject is effective, you know.]

Claude’s words as he brought the unconscious Dihart to the lab remained vivid in her mind. That gave her courage.

‘You and I both need to face reality.’

I can’t keep running away. You ran away from the reality of my death, and I tried to escape from the ghost of you. That’s why we’re here. I shouldn’t have run away like that when we met in the plaza.

“I need to make it clear now. I am Belaya now. I will live as Belaya, and be called by that name for the rest of my life. And once I cut that off….”

All that remained for her was a future filled with uncertainty. Yes, the future. Sebelia sighed and stood up. The medicine in her hand was already starting to melt from her body heat.

Click.

Her reflection was visible in the glass she took from the cupboard. Unlike her always pale past, she looked quite healthy now. However, faint worry settled in her blue eyes.

“It will be alright. So, let’s not worry too much.”

Sebelia looked into her own eyes and spoke to herself. A bitter smile formed on her lips.

Without the disease eating away at her body and the family controlling her life, she now had the freedom and unrestricted future she had always wanted. And… at the same time, she realized how little she knew about the world and how comfortably she had lived.

‘I was so confident when I left Earlsick.’

She had dreamed of going to places she hadn’t been with Denisa and having experiences she hadn’t had once her illness was cured. But as the treatment began and her health improved, Sebelia gradually began to realize the reality.

Maintaining a life required so much. Clothes to change into each season, a house to rest in, food to eat three times a day, and the money needed to obtain all of it.

Once she paid Wartz for the treatment, little would be left of the money from selling her dowry. Sebelia swallowed the medicine and sat back down. There was something she wanted to ask Wartz when he finished his work.

“Will it take long?”

She still had so much to learn about how a person lives as a member of society.

* * *

Tick… tick….

The sound of water droplets falling could be heard. Dihart, who hadn’t slept properly all night, unconsciously stirred with annoyance. And the next moment, his eyes snapped open. The seizure had stopped.

“When… Keuk! Cough!”

As soon as he opened his mouth, he coughed, feeling a tearing pain in his throat. Come to think of it, he hadn’t even had a sip of water. Dihart, his eyes blurred with pain, reached for the bedside table and grabbed the glass of water.

“Haa….”

As his thirst was quenched, he finally noticed the state he was in. Something opaque was flowing in from a thin tube inserted into his forearm. This seemed to be the damn medicine that had ended the pain. Ha, Dihart sighed, running his hand through his hair and spitting out roughly.

“Stop peeking and come out when I tell you to nicely.”

“Ahem, ahem.”

Claude, who had been watching him through the crack in the door, appeared. And he smiled at him with a somewhat proud and smug attitude. So, you saved my life, huh? Dihart’s eyes were filled with irritation as he looked at him.

“Ha…!”

But he didn’t get angry rashly. It would be right to say he couldn’t. Although not very clear… while suffering from the seizure, he vaguely remembered the past.

The faces of Claude running towards him in the dark mountains on a stormy day.

‘Damn it.’

He clenched his teeth and glared at Claude with his arms crossed. It was all because of that annoying uncle’s stupid face. How dare he try to keep his mouth shut until the end with that face.

Dihart’s insides were boiling.

* * *

The memory of that day was not very clear. Screams and trembling breaths, raindrops hitting the body, the gradually cooling body temperature of someone. That was all the seven-year-old Dihart had of the tragedy.

“Ugh….”

That day, Dihart was also curled up in bed, his eyes tightly closed. Someone kept whispering in his ear. You have to remember, you have to recall.

[Dihart, remember clearly. When I shout, count to ten and go over there….]

“I don’t know, I don’t know anything like that…!”

His body trembled. Lightning struck near the seven-year-old child who had lost his entire family.

Kwa-reung-!

“Young Master!”

People rushed to calm him down, but it was no use. Dihart’s seizure continued. Eventually, he lost consciousness after being given a sedative by the approaching doctor.

“I… the memory….”

Even as he lost consciousness, he muttered incomprehensible words.

‘Who keeps telling me to remember?’

The whispering voice was too scary. Whenever he heard that voice, he kept tearing up, his heart pounded, and it was hard to breathe.

You said you wouldn’t forget. But it hurts if you do. You promised to remember. What?

Two conflicting minds coexisted and clashed. He clearly forgot something, but to retrieve it, he had to reach back into the pain. He had to return to the terrible day when his parents and younger sister died.

Afraid and scared of that, Dihart suffered from nightmares every night. The promise engraved in his unconscious and the mind rejecting it collided relentlessly.

[Poor thing, that’s why you shouldn’t raise such a bastard. It’s all that guy’s fault, Dihart. Claude Inverness, that cursed seed’s doing.]

Rash pitied him. He warmly embraced him and whispered to forget everything. He said there was no need to remember, that it would only poison him, and poured sweet words into him.

[The adults will take care of everything, baby. So, you rest comfortably and don’t do anything. There are things in the world that you have to forget.]

No, there was no such thing as something to forget. Covering up and ignoring painful memories and unhealed wounds was foolish and self-destructive.

Dihart realized that belatedly, too late. Only after seeing his youngest uncle, who was suppressing the seizure and had more painful eyes than himself, could he remember.

[Dihart, remember clearly. When I shout, count to ten and run to the other side….]

At that time, in the narrow tree trunk, he couldn’t even scream, covering his mouth with both hands. Claude appeared like a god and hugged him. And he grabbed his shoulders and said.

[Run to the other side with Rosalyn. Don’t look back no matter what sound you hear on the way. Don’t look for me either. Got it?]

[No, Uncle. Let’s go together. I….]

[Uncle will bring Dad. I promise. So, wait nicely with Rosalyn.]

Rainwater was flowing down his forcibly smiling face. But Dihart could now understand. Claude was crying.

[Don’t forget, Dihart. After counting to ten, run to the other side.]

He was probably despairing at his situation, unable to safely evacuate his seven-year-old nephew. But at the same time, he must have been pulling himself together, believing that there was still a last hope left.

Otherwise, how….

“How can you smile like that in front of me?”

Now a grown man, Dihart asked Claude.

“I’ve believed all along that you killed my entire family.”

Dihart spat out in a cracked voice.

“You….”

The smile on Claude’s face cracked.

* * *

“Cardi?”

Sebelia, who had finished her consultation with Wartz, ran into Claude, who was rushing down the stairs. As if he had seen a ghost, he was panting with a pale face.

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

“Ah, Bella. You were here.”

“Rest for a moment. Your fingertips are turning blue.”

As Sebelia patted his shoulder, Claude seemed to come to his senses. He slowly inhaled and exhaled repeatedly, following her guidance.

“Hoo….”

This was the first time she had seen Claude, who was always relaxed and playful, like this. Wondering what was going on, Sebelia tilted her head. Surely above here….

‘Dihart was there.’

Sebelia’s blue eyes turned towards the top of the stairs.