After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 23

May my last scream reach your ears.

That was the last will and testament of Belita, dying at the hands of her beloved husband.

“Was that too sentimental?”

Sevelia sighed, closing the book about the first Duke of Inverness.

She had been examined by the physician and was on her way back.

The problem was that she picked up a small book called ‘The Story of the Cursed Duke’ at the general store while buying stationery. The fact that she deliberately borrowed Belita’s last words at the end of her will pricked her conscience anew.

“Hmm…….”

Sevelia frowned, touching her red ears.

She had to admit it. Looking back now, she seemed to have written her will with too much emotion. But if she were asked if she could stop herself back then, she would probably have to say no.

“I can’t help it. That was my true heart.”

Sevelia covered her mouth with the palm-sized book, hiding a bitter smile. If she were truly a cursed and mad woman, she wouldn’t have had the mind to write a will.

‘Would I even be able to hold a pen properly? I’d probably be painting the walls with blood and hanging myself.’

But she didn’t. The will was Sevelia Inverness’s last writing and testament. So, she just decided to leave the words she wanted to say.

The resentment, sorrow, and anger that she had never been able to express.

By doing so, she wanted to give a little shock to those who would falsely grieve after she left.

‘But that seems a bit too much.’

In the first place, there was no guarantee that they would regret seeing her will….

If you only look at the contents of the will, it’s as if she, like Belita, will become a ghost and appear to curse them again.

“Should I have written it more calmly and composedly?”

Sevelia felt like an adult watching a teenager going through a stormy adolescence. The problem was that the teenager was her past.

“Haa…….”

Sevelia sighed, put the book back in its place, and walked toward the stationery stand. She had to tell Denisa about the bizarre thing that was half sad news and half good news.

The fact that the disease was progressing slowly but surely, and the slim hope that she might find a cure.

* * *

As soon as morning dawned, the mansion’s atmosphere was shaken. People glanced at each other with anxious eyes, without exception.

Hillend Hall was closed.

That fact alone was shocking. The closure of Hillend Hall. What on earth were they thinking? People were afraid because they couldn’t predict the Duke’s eccentric behavior. But what was even more unexpected was that no orders had been issued to them since then.

“What on earth is going on? Can we just do what we have to do?”

“I guess we have no choice. No instructions have been given separately…….”

But everyone knew implicitly that something big had happened. Mrs. Gren’s nervous appearance and the ominous air floating in the air were proof of that.

“I heard that Sir Lyon took some of the servants and is asking them something…….”

“It’s a relief that the Duke is no longer rampaging, but I have an ominous feeling.”

The days passed like walking on thin ice, and finally, the knights who had been staying at the port returned.

“That’s……!”

“Oh, my God.”

A sigh of relief and despair erupted from those who had been suppressed by tension. It was a relief that they no longer had to suffer from an unknown fear, and at the same time, it was an awareness that the Duke had drawn his sword against his family.

“What on earth is the Duke thinking?”

The knights who returned from the port brought Lash, who looked haggard, in custody.

* * *

“Di……hart…….”

Lash called him in a desperate voice.

“Oh, it looks like you didn’t have a comfortable trip.”

As he said, Lash’s appearance was terrible. Lash, who had always maintained his dignity as the head of the family, was as unsightly as a rat in a gutter. Dihart thought that appearance suited him well and welcomed him with open arms.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t in my right mind to take care of my uncle.”

The way he chuckled was quite hateful. Lash also seemed to think so, glaring at him with reddened eyes. But Dihart had really forgotten about him until now.

“It’s a fact without an inch of falsehood, but I guess you’re upset.”

How could he care about an uncle who stabbed him in the back in the face of his wife’s sudden death?

“I’m sure you’ll forgive me. You’re the one who drove me to this in the first place.”

Dihart smiled thinly, meeting Lash’s eyes as he looked up at him with resentful eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that, Uncle. I’m about to feel sorry for you.”

“Dihart…… You’ve finally gone mad…….”

“Maybe.”

Dihart, who lit a cigarette, opened the window and said in a languid voice.

“But where does the confidence come from that you can get away with such outrageous remarks against a madman?”

The face that turned around no longer had a smile on it.

“Is it genetic?”

All that adorned the exquisitely crafted porcelain doll-like cold and beautiful face was a cold madness.

Only then did Lash swallow hard, recalling the news he had heard while being dragged here.

‘I heard that the curse has manifested and he’s gone mad…… Is that true……!’

Lash felt a chill down his spine.

“Hmm…….”

Meanwhile, Dihart was holding back the urge to burn everything down under his cold face.

‘I see why I’ve forgotten about my uncle until now.’

The moment he met those eyes that claimed innocence, Dihart felt a strong impulse. The selfish and intense desire to burn and destroy everything as it is, and then die himself.

‘I guess I erased it from my memory because I couldn’t control it.’

Dihart sent compliments to his extremely clever head and took a deep breath of his cigarette. After Sevelia’s death, a pain resembling fire sometimes rose from his chest to his throat.

“Hoo…….”

And the fire wanted to swallow the entire Hillend, not just burn itself black.

He wanted to turn everything into ashes where she wasn’t, and he wanted everyone who tormented her to groan in pain.

“No, no. Not yet.”

It wasn’t too late to do that after the truth about Sevelia’s death was revealed.

So not yet. Not yet…….

“That’s too easy of an ending.”

Dihart muttered incomprehensible words and wandered around the office like a madman. And Lash stared at the sight with astonished eyes.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marquis Wedden, who had been looking for an opportunity to enter Hillend Hall, was frustrated.

“Oh, dear.”

He clicked his tongue and recalled Inverness’s tomb in the manor grounds.

“I need to open it to be sure…….”

Marquis Wedden frowned and sighed. Then, Nathan whispered in his ear.

“I have an idea.”

Silas’s eyes stared at Nathan. He seemed to be admiring his wit.

“The nanny of that bastard must know something.”

I’ll take responsibility for finding out, he added confidently.

* * *

The news that Lash had been dragged away spread throughout Hillend Hall in an instant.

“Oh, my God, how could you do this!”

Gren, who had been waiting for news of her husband, finally appeared. Dihart wondered for a moment whether he should be happy that he had caught her, who had been running away like a mouse.

“Lash, what’s wrong with you?”

Gren asked him, untying the rope that bound Lash.

“Are you okay?”

Lash looked up at Gren with a touched face.

“Ye, Yeobo [term of endearment for husband].”

“Oh, my God, I can’t believe you’ve been through such hardships…… I can’t believe it.”

Gren wrapped Lash’s cheeks with her trembling hands, kissed his forehead, and prayed to God. And she glared at Dihart with angry eyes.

“You don’t even recognize your family anymore and you’re running around like a wild child. Aren’t you afraid of what Lord Lims will say if he knows about this?”

“I admit that it’s hard to recognize my uncle because he doesn’t look like a human being, Aunt.”

As Dihart taunted Gren’s words with ease, strength entered her wide eyes.

“But is it wrong for a nephew to bring his uncle home?”

“You didn’t bring him in like a criminal!”

“Yeah, so.”

Dihart threw away his polite tone in an instant. Gren’s face was stained with embarrassment.

“I mean, what’s the problem with treating you according to your circumstances?”

“……I can’t stand it anymore.”

Gren said, trembling with humiliation.

“I tolerated you closing the manor as you pleased and stirring up the house. But now it’s the limit. Our family will leave Hillend Hall as it is.”

In fact, it was a plan she had been thinking about throughout the closure of Hillend Hall, but Gren spoke as if she had just come up with it.

“To be treated like this by you, whom I have raised like a child. I can’t stand it anymore.”

Gren tried to leave with Lash as if she were a wounded parent.

Her intentions were completely different, though.

‘Dihart is not in a predictable state right now. I have no choice but to avoid him and plan for the future.’

Let’s just let him run wild like a madman. Then his reputation and prestige will be cut down on their own.

The day will come when people begin to doubt Dihart’s abilities.

‘That’s the day I have to reappear.’

Gren, who had finished her calculations, showed her face as an adult until the end and pretended.

“Farewell, Dihart. If you ever need my help later…… Let’s talk again then.”

Gren put her hand on the doorknob with a bitter smile.

Click, click.

“……?”

But the door to the office had long been locked from the outside.

Gren frowned as she checked it and turned her head. Dihart was staring at her with a calm face.

“You…….”

“Where are you going in such a hurry, Aunt? You’ve been avoiding me for four days, just watching my every move.”

“Dihart, please have mercy on me. I don’t even have the energy to talk anymore. I have to take care of my wounded and sick family.”

Gren pleaded with a look as if asking, hugging Lash.

“Just let us go.”

But Dihart just shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t meet your expectations.”

Dihart said in a monotonous voice, looking at the birdcage on one side of the desk.

“Unfortunately, you’re the only family I have left, so I can’t easily let you go.”

It was closer to telling the truth than sarcasm.

“Well, now that you’re here, why don’t you reminisce with me about how Sevelia lived before she died?”

The golden eyes were shining with a cold light as he stared at her.

“I’m very curious about those last few days before she died that I don’t know about.”

The moment her eyes met those cold golden eyes, Gren sensed that he would not let her go easily.