After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 11
His mind was a tangled mess. Dehart stood up and opened the window wide. The sea breeze from the harbor swept through the office. Then, a faint sound came from behind him.
“….”
He turned and saw a golden-feathered bird flapping its wings in a cage. It was the bird he had impulsively bought while strolling through the market not long ago.
[Are you going to give it as a gift?]
[No, I’ll put it in the greenhouse.]
Dehart ran a hand through his hair as he recalled his conversation with Ryan. There were so many other things to worry about right now besides that bird, like their lead that had suddenly died, or the telegram that had just arrived from the butler.
“Ha…”
His stomach churned again as he remembered the butler’s message.
[Madam has been acting strangely.]
He sent a hasty telegram, saying he was worried that Sebelia was spying on him again. He also added a plea to ensure she doesn’t have access to the underground vault. However, Dehart was convinced that there was no possibility of her doing such a thing.
There’s no way she would do that.
He leaned against the window with a grunt. It was he who had stood by Sebelia’s side, pushed everyone away, and taken away her authority as Duchess. Though the nanny who had served her faithfully through tears and winds, especially in light of the blowing wind, had to be left alone…
“Wait.”
Feeling the cold sea breeze, he blinked his eyes silently and adjusted his posture, suddenly suspicious. The knuckles of his hands gripped the windowsill.
Yes, she could never betray me on her own, but…
What if someone were to influence her? Especially if that nanny who pitied her swayed her heart and made her change her mind….
“Impossible.”
Then he remembered the last time he saw her before he left. The way she didn’t hold on to him, the way she didn’t cling to him, the way she looked at him with a distant smile.
In that moment, her image overlapped with the butler’s telegram, giving birth to a new suspicion.
“Is she planning to completely leave, breaking our last promise?”
Sebelia had never needed a separate living allowance. So why would she suddenly demand access to the vaults?
“Something must have happened. Could she be meeting with another man from the Capital?”
The seeds of doubt Roger had planted had taken root in his mind. He’d been betrayed once before, and the gaping wound had been reopened all too easily by a suspicious affair.
“Sebelia, again?”
Dehart bit his lip in spite of himself. The crimson lips split, and drops of blood fell with a pungent smell into the room as the wind carried it away.
“If that’s the case, I won’t stand idly by. There will be no forgiveness this time.”
Dehart clenched his fists in a grip that threatened to shatter the window frame, his eyes gleaming in the darkness.
“How dare you…”
Scorn and distrust. His attitude toward Sebelia could be explained with these two words. However, she herself brought about the consequences. The punishment for betrayal was a burden she had to bear.
“You wouldn’t dare.” Dehart muttered to himself as if chanting an incantation.
She had to stay by his side forever. She might not love him, but she would not leave him. It was her duty. As long as she remembered the bitter betrayal and the indelible scars, she had to stay. She deserved it for disguising herself with kindness, uttering words of love while deceiving him.
[One day, we’ll sleep together like a normal couple, won’t we?]
Dehart recalled the whispered words she once spoke, and how she’d changed since he’d discovered her betrayal.
[I’m sorry. I didn’t expect you would be here.]
Until recently, she had shown interest in various aspects of Inverness, but in an instant, she obediently transformed. She began to act politely, as if she understood her position, and started paying attention to his reactions.
[If you don’t mind… May I stay here until I finish the book?]
She whispered softly while glancing at his expression. A delicate face that only timidly hovered around him, never running away or approaching. Whenever Dehart recalled that image, it felt like a fire was raging in his chest, yet at the same time, he experienced a strange sense of satisfaction.
“You must continue to fear me, love me, and live in penance by my side for the rest of your life.” Dehart spoke softly, as if indoctrinating himself.
Carry the guilt. Continue the lie of the love you easily professed.
“That’s the punishment you deserve.”
He muttered to himself as he clasped the crucifix necklace he’d hidden inside his robes as always. However, it did nothing to calm his racing heart.
He had to rush to the mansion where she was. He had to go and confirm. The unforgettable expression she had at the last moment, the eyes that felt so distant, they just wouldn’t leave his mind. It was as if she was bidding farewell to him with that sad and wistful face….
At that moment, a pain surged through his chest, as if someone was squeezing his heart with a cold hand.
After a while, with a pale face, he finally had to admit. “I’m afraid I’ll have to return with…the least amount of people.”
He really didn’t want to admit it, and, damn it, he was so angry. But now, he had to see Sebelia with his own two eyes.
Only then did it seem like his tumultuous heart would find some peace.
