After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 40
[This city is home to many exotic people. It was strange at first, but I’m adapting well to it. My medication is running out, so I plan on visiting the doctor tomorrow…]
As Sebelia paused in her letter to Denisa, she stretched her limbs and yawned softly.
“Hmm.”
Her shoulders were stiff from keeping her head down for so long. Setting the pen aside, she rose from her seat to pour herself a glass of water.
“It’s almost lunchtime.”
She glanced out the window and saw people trickling into the inn. The first floor of the inn usually doubled as a restaurant, so the building was bustling with people at mealtime.
“Being here makes me feel like a normal person.”
Sebelia admired the view with a relaxed smile but quickly stiffened and turned away. Her pale face looked as if she had seen something she shouldn’t have.
“Oh no, not again…”
After a few moments, Sebelia sat back down, rubbing her forehead. It was terribly upsetting that she kept losing her composure over something so insignificant.
It had been three days since she had arrived in Ursic, a city on the road to the East. It was also the fourth day since encountering a man who resembled her father.
* * *
Four days ago, Sebelia arrived in the city of Ursic. Although the Eastern lands lay beyond four more cities, she decided to unpack here. She didn’t want to push herself too hard, especially since she had no companions and was still suffering from an incurable disease.
“Welcome to Ursic. Please come inside.”
“Thank you.”
The identification token Denisa had arranged proved useful. Admiring Denisa’s resourcefulness, Sebelia unpacked her things in the lodging overlooking the square.
“I’m exhausted.”
She slept soundly, not waking once until the next morning. It was lunchtime the next day when she wandered down to the dining room and scanned the menu.
“Haha, let’s drop such silly jokes, shall we?”
Hearing the boisterous laughter, Sebelia instinctively turned to the source of the sound. And that’s when she spotted him.
“Gasp…!”
It was a man who looked like Silas, or perhaps it was Silas himself? I was only a split second, but she moved as if acting on instinct.
Sebelia held her breath and shrunk back. Leaning against the wall, she attempted to hide in the shadows.
Father, is that you?
A cold sweat ran down the back of her neck. Clasping her knees tightly with both hands, she trembled. Her resolve to be unflappable and dignified if she ever faced him seemed feeble in the face of her terror. However, the man in front of her didn’t approach her or speak to her as she’d expected.
Perhaps I saw wrong.
Time passed, and the sounds of the next table laughing and talking echoed hollowly around her. Sebelia lifted her gaze, removing her sweaty hands from her lap.
“…Ah.”
He wasn’t her father. Although there was a resemblance in the color of his hair and the corner of his mouth, his eyes were an unmistakable shade of orange.
“Ha.”
The tension drained from her, replaced with embarrassment.
The old Sebelia is dead, and you’ve vowed to cut off all ties to your past life and are going to live on…
She was ashamed that she had been so confident in front of Denisa, telling her not to worry. Sebelia sighed, rubbing her flushed earlobes. She straightened her stooped back and craned her neck.
“Calm down.”
It wasn’t her father. No, even if he was the Baron of Wheddon, she had to keep herself together.
I am no longer Sebelia Wheddon.
So even if they did meet, he could no longer hold her back under the guise of fatherhood.
“Farewell, then.”
As Sebelia barely regained her composure, the man resembling Sylas rose from his seat. She stared silently after him, not wanting to follow him, not wanting to catch him. She merely found the situation incredibly uncanny.
To flee to this place and see someone who looks like my father.
It felt like the moment when a fairytale character awakens from a nightmare only to realize that the reality they woke up to was yet another dream.
“Ma’am.”
As the man silently opened the door to leave, Sebelia, who had been observing until then, turned her head at the voice beside her.
“Would you like to place your order?”
She hadn’t noticed the server standing beside her table, smiling brightly at her.
* * *
I need to calm down.
Having boldly declared that her past self was dead and then freezing like that…
Sebelia grabbed her coat and purse, resolving to shed her embarrassment as she prepared to head to the doctor’s office. It was almost past lunchtime, so the doctor’s office should be open.
She had an appointment today with the doctor to renew her prescription for the medicine she had just ran out of.
I’m sure the diagnosis will be the same anyway—terminal…
Sebelia sighed, knowing that Denisa was still holding out hope. It was always painful to deliver news that betrayed her expectations.
