After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 109

“Looks like they’re starting to get antsy.”

Sevelia tilted her head as she spoke. Claude, who had appeared unnoticed, snatched the envelope from Dehart’s hand.

“It’s in four days. Quite a tight schedule. Well, they must be desperate. If their goal is a change of power, there’s no card more attractive than you.”

“Claude!”

“No, he’s right.”

Dehart was horrified by Claude’s ruthless words, but Sevelia readily agreed. Dehart frowned at her reaction. But what could he do? Even Sevelia herself thought her abilities were very appealing.

Especially as a useful tool to achieve a change of imperial power without bloodshed.

“I probably wasn’t included in their plans from the start. But now that they know about a convenient tool like me, they can’t just let me go.”

Whatever the Empress’s original plan was, she would never give up once she realized her usefulness. If she couldn’t have her, she would at least make sure she didn’t fall into someone else’s hands.

‘I have no choice. I can’t refuse an invitation sent directly by the Empress.’

Now that she had caught their eye, there was nowhere to hide. No, she had no intention of hiding in the first place. She had decided not to run away anymore.

Sevelia was about to say something to Claude, who was struggling to remove the small jewel attached to the envelope, when suddenly—

“…Ugh.”

Something blurry flashed before her eyes. Sevelia knew instinctively. It was the spying illusion she had placed on Nelia.

‘Her power has recovered.’

The feather attached to Nelia was an illusion imbued with only the minimum amount of power to avoid detection by those sensitive to detection magic or presence. Therefore, once the power was consumed, she had to wait for it to recover.

It had been two days since she overheard Nelia and the servants talking…

“Bella?”

“Just a moment.”

Sevelia, who was calculating the time, felt her vision blur again and sat down. As she put her hands together and concentrated, the two men fell silent at the same time. They knew what she was trying to do.

Tsutsut.

Soon, Sevelia felt new colors filling the space between her closed eyes. Eventually, she saw an interior so extravagant it hurt her eyes.

‘A drawing room? Judging by the atmosphere, it doesn’t seem like the Weden Marquis’s mansion.’

The blurry image gradually became clearer. The porcelain in the corner of the drawing room, the paintings on the wall, and the servants lined up behind them became clear in order, and then the fog lifted from the face of the person sitting across from her.

‘…!’

Sevelia bit her lip without realizing it.

The man with soft brown hair, stubborn green eyes, and a well-defined face was clearly Dillian Belkram, the Empress’s own son.

‘She was meeting with the First Imperial Prince!’

She had expected them to meet someday since they were engaged, but she hadn’t expected it to be so soon. Just as Sevelia cautiously took a breath, Dillian spoke in a sweet voice that didn’t match his stern face.

“[My little lark, I find it hard to see your beautiful eyes today. What’s worrying you?]”

It was a very appropriate line and tone to use with his fiancée. But from Sevelia’s point of view, who was listening with him, it was creepy.

“Ugh.”

Dehart, who had been watching her with a serious face as she trembled and groaned, jumped up from his seat. Claude forcibly sat him down, urging him to stay still.

Thanks to him, Sevelia was able to concentrate on the conversation between Nelia and Dillian.

“[I’m sorry, Your Highness. I’ve been so worried lately that I’ve unintentionally shown you an unseemly side of myself.]”

“[Don’t say that, my little bird. What troubles you troubles me as well. Let me guess… that witch of an illusionist is bothering you.]”

“[Oh my, how did you know…?]”

Dillian tilted his head and smirked. He seemed to intend a playful atmosphere, but his appearance was too grim to suit it. He shrugged his sturdy shoulders and joked as if to say, how could he not know?

“[Don’t worry about that. It’s a man’s job to solve a woman’s worries. I’ve already finished talking with your brother, so there will be no more sleepless nights.]”

“[My goodness, Your Highness. You really are the most considerate person in this Imperial Palace.]”

“[You only have to wait four more days, my love.]”

Four days meant the day of the art exhibition. At the same time as the realization, her vision became rough as if it were splitting.

Tsutsut.

“Ugh.”

The connection was cut. Sevelia realized that the spying illusion’s lifespan was running out as the connection was cut off faster than before.

‘Maybe one more time.’

As Sevelia groaned, clutching her throbbing head, Dehart quickly approached and knelt in front of her. Sevelia no longer had the will to stop him.

“Bella, are you okay?”

“Just a moment.”

She needed time to sort out her thoughts. She also needed time to recover her exhausted body. As she gasped for breath and leaned back against the backrest, Dehart was at a loss. He looked back at Claude and gestured as if to ask him to do something.

“…What do you want me to do?”

Dehart, who scolded his immature uncle in a lowered voice, continued to look up at Sevelia with an anxious expression. If he was so worried, he could at least fetch her some water. Claude propped his chin up and stared at his foolish nephew.

After a while, when Sevelia seemed to have calmed down, Claude opened his mouth in a nonchalant manner.

“Bella, your talent is so outstanding that it’s becoming a problem.”

“What?”

Dehart turned his head and glared at him as if he was talking nonsense. Sevelia, behind him, only raised her eyes to look at Claude with a tired face. Seeing her expression asking for an explanation, Claude sighed.

“If she were an ordinary illusionist, she wouldn’t be so assimilated even after several sensory sharing exercises.”

“……”

“Bella, you didn’t just connect your sight and hearing, did you? With your talent, you must have felt like you were actually there.”

“…That’s right.”

“I knew it. That’s why your body is under so much strain when you break the connection. Well, that’s not a bad thing. You need that much talent to pull off ‘Overwriting’ [a high-level illusion technique] without any problems after only a couple of practice sessions.”

Claude shook his head in admiration of Sevelia’s outstanding talent. Meanwhile, Dehart felt a nagging feeling about the unfamiliar word ‘Overwriting.’

‘I’ve definitely heard that word before.’

But he didn’t have time to think about it. Sevelia’s sudden words hit him in the back of the head.

“The art exhibition seems to be a trap, as expected.”

Claude lamented, and Dehart’s eyes widened.

“What I just saw was Nelia and Prince Dillian… From what I heard, it seems they’re planning something with Nathan.”

“I should have grilled him a little more with lightning back then.”

“If you had, Father would have nitpicked. Let’s put the past behind us and prepare. First, find out what Nathan and Father are up to.”

To draw even the outline of the trap, they had to dig into Weden, rather than Dillian or the Empress, who never came out of the Imperial Palace. Sevelia calmly talked about her plans for the next four days, and the two men nodded with serious expressions.

* * *

After roughly deciding what each of them had to do, it was already evening. Feeling hungry, Claude quickly got up from his seat. He was already in the form of Carl Affenz.

“Ah, that delicious smell. It was hard to resist.”

Dehart, who was walking behind him, suddenly stopped. He had remembered what ‘Overwriting’ was, which had left him with a lingering feeling earlier.

Overwriting was Claude’s way of comparing his illusion technique. A high-level technique of overlaying a sophisticated illusion onto the body and manipulating it to match breathing and movements.

At the same time, a woman with red hair and black eyes flashed through his mind. It was Sevelia, who had gone to meet Nelia and returned as a completely different person.

Dehart, who had thought that far, turned his head sharply and looked at Sevelia, who was following behind him.

‘How could I have forgotten until now?’

It was an unavoidable situation. He had been about to turn away, feeling guilty for rushing Sevelia too hastily, when she fainted. But Dehart blamed himself rather than the situation.

And he made up his mind to ask her very carefully and kindly this time, and spoke to her.

“Bella.”

“Yes?”

Sevelia looked up at him, startled. Dehart was momentarily taken aback by the sight of himself filling her blue eyes. Even to him, his hardened face looked fierce.

Dehart forced a smile. Then, he looked around and gently led her into the open room.

“Dehart?”

“Can you spare me some time?”

“What’s wrong?”

Sevelia asked, tilting her head. Dehart hesitated, checked his face reflected in the window once more, and then brought up the main point.

“Actually, there was something I wanted to ask you, but I forgot to ask because the timing wasn’t right. Can I ask you about that appearance I saw in the carriage last time? If my guess is correct, you did ‘Overwriting’ like Claude, right?”

“Ah.”

“I’m not prying. I just want to be able to recognize you when the moment comes when you have to take on a different appearance, in such a moment…”

If such a moment came again, it would surely be when Sevelia’s life was in danger. A desperate moment where she had to use her wit, just like when she barely escaped Nelia’s scheme.

And such a situation could happen at any time. The art exhibition in a few days was proof of that.

‘If the same thing happens again there, and I don’t recognize her unlike last time…….’

Dehart gritted his teeth at the terrible thought.