After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 1

The day of the grand and solemn funeral arrived. The weather was grim, and a mournful melody echoed, harmonizing with the rain. It was a day fitting to mock the death of the Duchess who had betrayed her husband.

Finally, the priest stepped forward to recite the prayer.

Bang!

At that moment, a loud noise shattered the silence as the door to the funeral hall burst open.

“Good heavens!”

“Who is it?”

The source of the commotion was none other than the deceased’s husband, Duke Dihart Inverness, the head of the northern duchy. With fierce strides, he cut through the crowd, heading towards the coffin placed on the platform. Confusion clouded the faces of the attendees.

‘Wasn’t he said to be unable to attend?’

‘What on earth does he look like…?’

The whispers that had been spreading soon died down. Dihart stared into the coffin with a deathly pale face.

“…Impossible.”

A voice, heavily suppressed, mingled with the cold air. His eyes trembled.

“This can’t be real. You, really…”

Dihart covered his face with both hands. He had no choice but to acknowledge the reality he had been desperately denying all the way here.

The wife he had loved and hated all along was truly dead.

‘Sevelia.’

His wife lay in the coffin with a peaceful expression, having left him in such a state.

Before he knew it, Dihart was kneeling before the coffin.

‘No. I can’t let you go like this.’

Only now did he realize that she had been thinking of him. But Sevelia had already left his side. In the mansion without him, she had writhed in pain, breathing her last.

“No, Sevelia. No, please…”

Now, he wasn’t even granted the chance to ask for forgiveness.

Belated regret washed over him.

* * *

Time turns back.

Instead of an ominous dirge, only the sound of birds chirping filled Inverness Mansion, specifically Hillend Hall. There, Sevelia quietly stood guard in front of the greenhouse.

‘This mansion is no different from a dense spider web.’

From some point on, Sevelia felt this way about the house. Like a spider web that held her captive, slowly devouring her from the edges.

“It seems you’ve lost your way.”

Just then, the butler’s curt voice broke her reverie.

“If you were to encounter the Duke in this state, it would surely be awkward. It would be best if you returned now.”

The butler, wearing a monocle, glanced at his wristwatch as he spoke. It was a gesture urging her to leave quickly.

It was a truly rude attitude towards the Duchess. She would have been justified in raising her voice. However, Sevelia knew. She couldn’t do that. And what allowed him to act that way was none other than her husband, leisurely spending his time inside the greenhouse.

Until now, she had endured it as something natural. A forced marriage to a bastard she had never even met. A marriage arbitrarily arranged by her late father, who wished for reconciliation with his political rival.

She knew it was foolish to expect good feelings to arise between them, and that she should be grateful they didn’t hate each other.

But….

‘Still, I wanted to love you.’

I wanted to love and be loved. That’s why I tried so hard, even though it all seemed like a trap for betrayal to you.

With a bitter smile, Sevelia sighed and straightened her attire.

‘But that ends today.’

“You haven’t left yet?”

The butler frowned, looking troubled as he rebuked her. However, Sevelia ignored him and placed her hand directly on the doorknob.

“Madam, it is against etiquette-“

Just as the butler was about to lecture her, as always.

“So?”

Unlike usual, an answer came back.

“Are you going to teach me etiquette?”

“Madam!”

The butler glared at her, provoked. And then, he was startled. The eyes that met his were so white and blue that he felt a chill, like those of the dead.

‘Wh-what is this?’

The butler shrank back involuntarily. Sevelia scanned him with a dry gaze and entered the door.

“Today, I want to partake in my husband’s refined hobby.”

She spat out, after scanning the butler’s dumbfounded face up and down.

“There’s no need to wait for me to come out. Farewell.”

With Sevelia’s words, the door to the glass greenhouse closed.

* * *

“Ah….”

A sweet and heavy air instantly enveloped her into silence. Slowly walking into the greenhouse, Sevelia gazed at her husband, surrounded by rambling roses. A sculpted man with striking, cold golden eyes beneath his dark hair.

“I don’t recall inviting you.”

Click. The scissors in his hand clashed, making a sharp sound. Dark golden eyes, as if swallowing shadows, heavily gazed at her.

“Sevelia.”

Lips, delicately crafted, moved to call her name. But what hung at the edge of his lips was indifference, not a smile.

He was the cursed head of Inverness, Dihart.

‘And the husband who pushes me away and hates me.’

Sevelia stared at him as if she would never see him again.

“If you needed a place to lose yourself in thought, there were many other places besides here….”

A chilling voice brushed past her ear. Sevelia shuddered at the sharp edge, like a well-honed blade.

“I don’t understand why you’re here.”

Coming to her senses, Dihart was staring at her with the same indifferent and cold face as always.

“It seems like an explanation is needed.”

The tone was emotionless, but the pressure beneath it was driving her.

Sevelia slowly composed herself.

“I came because I have something to say.”

At the words mixed with a calm breath, the man lowered his eyelids. After seeming to ponder for a moment, he threw the scissors onto the table. Clang, an unpleasant metallic sound echoed.

“I hope it’s something worthwhile enough to interrupt my time.”

Dihart threw off his gloves and stared at Sevelia with an insistent gaze.

“Speak.”

The man swept back his hair with an arrogant attitude, and his eyes sharply scanned Sevelia. Soon, a twisted voice flowed out.

“Don’t just make unreasonable demands like last time and leave.”

At the familiar warning, Sevelia wore a faint smile. And that was not the usual smile filled with resignation and acceptance, but a smile that purely found the situation amusing.

Dihart’s eyes widened and then narrowed for a moment upon seeing that. An unknown light flickered in his eyes.

‘What is it?’

A sense of unease brushed past the back of his neck. It was usually Sevelia who would be flustered when he pushed her away, yet cling to him until the end.

But today was a little different. With a subtle smile, she was looking at him with an attitude that felt somewhat distant.

Dihart erased his expression and turned his head. An inexplicable displeasure ran through his entire body. No, it might have been something other than displeasure.

But that was only for a moment.

Dihart hurt her with his thorny words and actions, as always.

“Did you come to extract information from me for your family again? Well, if that’s not the case, there’s no reason for you to seek me out.”

His expression was still indifferent, but the words coming out of his mouth were cold and heartless.

‘If it were the old me, I would have begged with all my might that it wasn’t true.’

And he would never believe me in the end.

These things had been repeated countless times.

Sevelia swallowed a weary sigh. Fortunately, her heart was now too hardened to shed a single drop of blood.

Yes, that might be why I’m dying.

At that moment, Sevelia regained her senses and brought up the main point.

“Actually, I came to ask if you could postpone your departure by just one day.”

“That’s absurd. How can you even say such a thing?”

Dihart immediately laughed in disbelief.

“I suppose there’s a situation where your father benefits if I arrive late this time.”

He carelessly fiddled with the pile of roses stacked on the table, speaking indifferently. Thorny stems sharply scratched his fingers.

“That’s not what I meant.”

If it were the old her, she would have easily given up and left at this point. But Sevelia, far from doing so, took a step closer to him with a calm face.

“Tomorrow is our wedding anniversary.”

“……”

“I suppose you didn’t remember. I know. I’m not trying to blame you. I just hope you’ll be with me this time. There’s something I want to tell you….”

Dihart ruthlessly cut off Sevelia’s words.

“Was our marriage something to commemorate?”

His expression was coldly sinking.

“……”

“Ah, I suppose it was for you. Right….”

A lightning-like light flashed in Dihart’s eyes. Blood dripped down between the rose bundles he was clutching.

“Although you were raised delicately, there wouldn’t be many opportunities for a mere illegitimate child of a marquis to marry a duke.”

Dihart’s cold eyes stared at her without wavering.

Sevelia fell silent at that figure, as solid as a wall.

‘…You haven’t changed.’

From the beginning, neither of their intentions existed in this marriage. Dihart was bound by a treaty arbitrarily set by the late Duke. Sevelia was because her sister, Nelia, didn’t want to marry the murderous Duke. It was a union without love or understanding, and, of course, Dihart regarded her as a thorn in his side.

[I am lenient to those who are well aware of their place.]

That was the first thing Sevelia heard from the man she had fallen in love with at first sight.

[And I want to believe that you are such a person.]

[…….]

[I hope you don’t betray my expectations, Madam.]

Sevelia, who had been secretly thinking positively about her marriage to him, was greatly shocked. But she didn’t show it. Although it was a political marriage, she believed that someday his heart would soften, that if she tried… their relationship would improve.

But such a fairytale ending did not exist.

‘It was a beginning where the end was determined from the start.’

He was a man who had no intention of loving me, and I foolishly clung to him, wanting to be loved. A bitter smile brushed her lips. Sevelia suddenly spoke in a clear voice.

“There’s something I’ve wanted to ask you for a while.”

“It’s surprising that you still have more to say. Truly amazing.”

“Even if I were Nelia, would you have been the same?”

Dihart frowned at the suddenly popped out name.

Nelia Weden.

She was Sevelia’s half-sister and the legitimate daughter of the Weden Marquis, whom Inverness had wanted.

“If it were my sister, would you have spent our wedding anniversary together?”

Sevelia asked calmly, sweeping back her light golden hair. It was as if she already knew the answer. And her prediction was not wrong.

“No.”

The voice, as cold as the north wind, only recited the undeniable truth.

“If possible, I don’t even want to meet the faces of Weden’s bloodline.”

Sevelia felt her face strangely contort.

A strange face that was neither smiling nor crying.

Dihart’s face paled at the sight of it. But Sevelia was too distracted by her raging emotions to notice. She took a deep breath and opened and closed her dizzy eyes.

‘That’s a relief.’

Because it’s not just me you hate.

When the words came out of his mouth that he hated all the people of Weden… strangely, she felt a strange sense of liberation.

Was it because she was about to die?

It was the first time she had felt such a strange feeling.

“Is there anything else to say?”

Sevelia smiled at her husband, who was looking at her with a frown.

“I’m sorry for taking up your time with something trivial.”

She immediately left the greenhouse and returned to her room. She didn’t even glance at the butler, who was looking at her with strange eyes.

A cold and secluded room where the sunlight didn’t reach well. Locking the door with quick steps, she covered her mouth as if she had been waiting for it.

“Cough….”

In that prison-like place, she wiped the blood flowing from her mouth.

[At most, it’s six months from now.]

The words of the doctor who had secretly examined her lingered in her ears. And the unchanging figure of him until the very end came to her mind.

“That’s a relief. Even if I die, you’ll remain the same.”

With a serene face, Sevelia took out the bag she had put under the bed.