After I Died, My Husband Went Mad [EN]: Chapter 85

It had been five days since Sebelia returned the cross necklace to Dihart. Since then, she hadn’t seen him.

‘Judging by the fact that he doesn’t even show up for meals… he must be avoiding me.’

Sebelia quietly turned her head, recalling Dihart’s eyes, as shattered as cracked jewels. A deep blue smoke was rising from the heart of the mountain range visible through the window.

“Are they working morning and night?”

The smoke came from the people dispatched to excavate the Holy Site and relics. Sebelia frowned slightly, remembering the smoke that had been rising relentlessly even at dawn. She had belatedly heard the news that Dihart had transferred the rights to excavate the Holy Site and relics to Baron Supredi.

‘He didn’t have to do that.’

The rights to excavate and manage Holy Sites and relics usually belong to the initial discoverer. This law was created because many nobles who found managing Holy Sites troublesome would simply cover them up if they were discovered on their land.

So, even though the Holy Site was discovered in the mountain range near Baron Supredi’s territory, the rights to it belonged entirely to Dihart. But he transferred the rights to the Baron as if to show off.

The reason was her.

‘To continuously secure Glass Snowflakes…….’

His guilt must be deep. He already secured enough to use as medicine, so why go all the way to the habitat?

Sebelia shook her head, trying to understand Dihart’s psychology. No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t follow his thought process. In her opinion, that wasn’t what he should be doing right now.

[Besides saying you were sorry for pretending to have lost your memory, have you ever told me even once why you’re sorry?]

That day, he ran away. After hearing those cold words, Dihart lost his words, trembled, and left the room with eyes shattered by shock. He looked as if he were possessed by a ghost.

Sebelia didn’t bother to stop him and left him alone. She intended to wait until he found the reason, or at least until he came to her asking to be told the reason because he couldn’t figure it out himself.

However, instead of coming to Sebelia and asking what he had done wrong, he tried to repay his guilt in his own way.

‘It was my misjudgment… I’m so consistent. Knowing how stubborn that person is.’

Sebelia swallowed a bitter smile and fiddled with her teacup. But there was one thing different from before. It was that she herself had changed.

“There are two days left, Dihart. I won’t wait any longer…….”

One week, that was the maximum amount of time she could give him.

Sebelia blankly blinked, watching the smoke blending into the clouds. Perhaps similar smoke was rising in the lab right now. It was just invisible because of Claude’s barrier.

‘Once Wetz comes down, my treatment will be as good as over.’

Wetz, who took the Glass Snowflakes back to the lab, promised to return with the medicine in two days. When that day came, all that would be left was to be completely cured.

So, Dihart had to come to her before then. He had to end that clumsy escape before the only connection between them was completely severed.

* * *

Unaware that Sebelia was crossing off the days one by one, Dihart was tormented by guilt.

“Hah.”

“Your Grace, Lady Licia has sent a letter requesting an audience.”

Ilay said, handing him a small card. Dihart waved his hand without even looking at it.

“Tell her I don’t have time.”

Dihart said that and took another handful of medicine. Insomnia and migraines had returned, and he couldn’t bear it without taking medicine.

“I don’t know what she’s trying to do. She brought up herbs as if it were urgent, and now she’s trying to bother me again for some other reason.”

The voice, filled with anger beyond annoyance, was sharp and fierce, as if it had thorns. Dihart gritted his teeth, regretting that he should have pretended not to have discovered the Holy Site if he had known this would happen.

Of course, that was impossible. The earthquake in the canyon shook even Baron Supredi’s mansion, so it would have been difficult to hide the fact about the Holy Site. Ilay shrugged his shoulders in front of his angry superior and said.

“This time, she’s pretending that she wants to know more about what happened in the canyon. She says she needs it for a report or something.”

“Tell her that if she keeps talking nonsense, the transfer of rights to the Holy Site will be off the table. I just threw her a useless piece of meat, and she doesn’t even know her place.”

Ilay lowered his head and clicked his tongue at the growling voice. His superior, who was indifferent to the point of being ill-tempered, didn’t know, but Licia Supredi clearly had a great interest in Dihart.

‘How else would she be so persistent?’

Even before, Dihart had repeatedly given her insincere rejections, saying he had no time and no interest. It was a relationship that any woman would have given up on out of pride, but Licia was persistent.

‘Is she aiming for the position of the next Duchess?’

Ilay frowned without realizing it. Unlike her father, Baron Supredi, Licia seemed to have great ambition and a bold personality. Such a personality would be good for the Supredi territory and family, but it was not a welcome trait here.

Above all, Dihart had Bella now.

A being who resembled the dead Duchess and stabilized his madness. So, Ilay needed to stop Licia for the sake of his master.

“Hmm…….”

Ilay, who had reached that point in his thoughts, crossed his arms and continued to think suspiciously. A knock on the door was heard, followed by a soft voice.

“It’s Petel, Your Grace.”

“…Come in.”

Dihart was silent for a moment before opening his mouth. Soon, the door opened, and Petel came in and took out a letter envelope from his arms and placed it on the desk. Dihart’s eyes narrowed when he saw it.

“News from the Central.”

There were no other words. Dihart nodded, and Petel bowed deeply and retreated. Ilay watched Dihart’s expression and followed Petel out of the office.

An unwelcome silence fell. Dihart stared at the envelope, slightly larger than his palm, and sighed. The hand holding the pen twitched.

‘Sebelia.’

What Petel brought was news from a spy sent to the Central. Information about the real Weden Dukedom hidden beneath the flimsy insignia, not the Weden Dukedom known to the public.

The story of how Sebelia Weden lived before coming to Hillend Hall.

“Ah…….”

Dihart trembled with a pale face. Why? He clearly wanted to know, and he ordered to find out, but he couldn’t reach out. He couldn’t tear the thin paper envelope and see the truth inside.

Eventually, Dihart dropped the pen. Instead of reaching for the letter, his empty hands covered his face. The night passed like that, and dawn came.

Thud.

With bloodshot eyes, he tore open the thin envelope.

* * *

“I’m planning to stop by the post office. Would you like to come with me, Bella?”

Claude, holding a Homburg hat [a formal felt hat with a curled brim] in one hand, asked Sebelia. Unlike when he was in the lab, Claude wore more elaborate clothes. He seemed to want to look like a dignified middle-aged man…….

“Yes, I’d like that. Please wait a moment while I get my coat.”

“I’ll be waiting in the first-floor hall.”

To be honest, his eyes were too bright, so he didn’t look very dignified. Sebelia gave him a light smile and returned to her room to grab her wallet and a light cape coat before coming down.

On the way down the stairs, she ran into the maid who had snubbed her a few days ago, but nothing special happened. She just glared at Sebelia with very displeased eyes.

“Let’s go.”

Claude said to Sebelia, offering his arm. Sebelia smiled briefly at his gentlemanly behavior of escorting a lady and placed her arm on his. As they walked down the street affectionately like an uncle and niece, Sebelia asked.

“What brings you to the post office?”

“Ah. I forgot to mention it.”

Claude habitually nodded and tapped the floor a few times with the cane he was holding.

“I received a notice that some letters and packages had arrived in the mailbox. I don’t know how they knew I was at the residence and sent them there. But…… hmm.”

“Was there something wrong?”

“No, it’s not that. I was just wondering if my excitement might be taking away Bella’s joy.”

“Joy…….”

Sebelia looked up at Claude with questioning eyes. He made a subtle expression and let the words slip out as if giving a hint.

“Actually, there shouldn’t be any letters or packages coming to Wetz or me this month, Bella. Wetz had to stop all his research because the herb storage burned down, and I had to quit my job because of my troublesome nephew. I told both of them firmly not to contact me for a while because we’d both be busy.”

Sebelia still didn’t understand what he was trying to say. But her blue eyes froze at the words that followed.

“Then there’s only one person left. Mailbox 203 is currently used by Wetz, me, and you. So, the answer comes easily.”

“Yes? But who would send me packages and letters… Ah.”

At the realization that flashed through her mind, Sebelia stopped moving like a broken clockwork doll. Claude felt the emptiness in his arm belatedly and stopped walking. He turned around with an awkward smile.

He only looked at Sebelia, who was breathing heavily, with pitiful eyes for a moment. Claude was dragged into the post office by Sebelia, who ran like the wind and snatched his arm.

“Wait, just a moment. Shouldn’t you be shedding tears at this timing?”

“I’ll do that alone later, so please open it first. Please.”

“I’ll open it even if you don’t beg.”

Sebelia dragged Claude to the mailbox, and only after seeing him take out the key could she let out a trembling breath.

‘Denisa.’

The only person in the world who would send her a letter was her.