After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 31
[The first time could have been considered a mistake, and I could let it go. But this time, I can’t.]
He couldn’t recall what her expression was like at that moment.
[If you’re so eager to recklessly waste money, let it come out of your own pockets that you use for your luxuries.]
“Yes, it was since then.”
Sebelia walked out of the Duchess’s chambers and locked herself in that blasted room of her own accord.
[I’ll take responsibility for my actions.]
When he complained, asking if she wanted to spread rumors about him mistreating the Duchess, a thunderous crack! A massive lightning bolt struck a tree opposite to where they stood.
“…”
Dehart stared at the tree turning black with his now darkened golden eyes. Everything was a mess.
“Haha…”
Yes, they’d lured her in, knowing all along. Foolishly innocent Sebelia had taken their word without question to atone to me.
He couldn’t even laugh. It wasn’t even worth calling her pitiful.
“What an admirable family. You couldn’t get any classier than this.” It was all he could say to keep himself from spewing curses.
Dehart gazed up at the sky as the clouds began to disperse, the hazy sun gently painting the ground. Amidst this radiant scene, his misfortune took a clearer form.
“Duke!”
At that moment, a desperate call echoed from a distance. Dehart raised his eyes, clouded with heavy emotions. The golden glint, hidden in the shadows, grew larger.
“…Ryan.”
He was covered in blood as he struggled to his horse.There were still places where he was clearly wounded. Before Dehart could get to his feet, Ryan collapsed on his horse.
“Sh*t!”
Dehart rushed out and caught him as he fell to the ground. By now, the clouds had completely dispersed.
* * *
“Ugh…”
“I’m done with the first aid… but he’s not showing any signs of waking up.” Dehart frowned, looking at Ryan lying there with a pallid face. “His body temperature…”
Dehart, observing Ryan’s colorless face, got up from his place. As it hadn’t been long since the rain stopped, the air was notably cold. He approached a tree struck by lightning in his frustration, picking up some unscathed branches.
Meanwhile, Ryan was wandering through a nightmare of blood loss and fever, starting from the moment he encountered Flora.
“Stop right there! Immediately call and seal off the door!” Flora shouted behind him as he fled, barely outrunning the knights.
It was a voice so frantic that, even as a memory, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
“We have to break through like this.”
There was no time to visit the post office. Ryan grabbed the reins and dashed away from the mansion without having his wounds treated, heading toward the trading city where he parted ways with Dehart. The problem was, by the time Ryan arrived, Dehart was already gone.
“…Damn it!”
Somehow, Ryan found the room they were previously in blackened and scorched.
What on earth happened?
Roger was lying unconscious, bleeding in the center of charred debris. Clearly, something horrible must have gone down.
Frowning, Ryan first restrained Roger and then confined him to the basement. Not long after he left the mansion’s door, a lightning bolt struck not far from there.
Kwaang!
It wasn’t a natural occurrence. Ryan, who had been closer to Dehart than anyone else, could tell. Summoning his last bit of strength, he headed towards where the lightning had struck. There was only one reason he would do this, of course. To inform Dehart of Sebelia’s death…
“Gah…”
At that moment, Ryan woke from the nightmare as if someone had doused him with cold water. He saw Dehart approaching, holding a partially charred branch.
“Ah…”
“You look pathetic, Ryan.”
Meeting the gaze of his master whose face was equally devastated as his own, Ryan clenched his fists at his sides.
“Sh*t.” He closed his eyes tightly and opened them, then placed a hand over his chest.
“Do you have any internal injuries?” asked Dehart.
Despite sensing Dehart getting closer, Ryan couldn’t bring himself to speak. Inside his coat, there were just two lines written on a thin slip of paper. His sole mission was to deliver that letter, but now that he had Dehart in front of him, Ryan felt his heart sink.
“Your Grace…”
Nevertheless, his trembling fingers eventually managed to retrieve that slip of paper.
“Please return at once.”
Dehart was forced to accept the terrible news.
Under the bright daylight, on a clear and sunny afternoon, a sudden strike of hundreds, even thousands, of lightning bolts engulfed and set the entire forest near the city ablaze.