After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 47
It had been more than three days since he had slept. No herbal remedy to ease the tension in his body had any effect on his insomnia.
Ryan gazed at his tormented master with somber eyes. This was an area where he dared not intrude.
“Go and attend to your tasks,” ordered Dehart. “Go and investigate my aunt’s chambers, gather their household staff for separate questioning. And… yes, track down a man named Peter Hansen and bring him here.”
He might be an accomplice too, Dehart thought.
Ryan looked thoughtful for a moment, but then clenched his jaw and bowed his head.
“I’ll report back as soon as I have results.”
Dehart didn’t respond. Ryan slowly turned and left Roger’s room. The last image he saw was Dehart, clenching the ashes in his hands.
* * *
For a long time afterward, Dehart did not emerge from the main house which had become a horrific sight engulfed in flames.
“Your Grace, your meal… Oh!”
The servants attempted to find him several times, but they could barely escape due to the choking intensity of the smoke.
“This isn’t enough. I need proper evidence…”
With sunken eyes from lack of sleep, a jawline strained by stress, unkempt hair, and clothes stained by soot—Dehart’s appearance as he rummaged through the charred wreckage was that of a complete madman. Yet, no one could stop him.
His obsession to find definite proof that Sebelia had been murdered was beyond the pale. As the dawn of the next day approached and morning light illuminated the mansion, Dehart didn’t come out, seeming on the brink of collapse like the creaking ruins.
“Your Grace!”
Finally unable to bear it, Ryan began searching. And it was not Roger’s room or Glenn’s room he found Dehart in but…
“Wake up!”
He was discovered, in a small and stifling place, in what seemed like Sebelia’s room.
* * *
Sebelia had a strange dream last night. She woke up in a small room in Hillend Hall as if she had never left the mansion. She rose casually from her bed to begin her day. She ate the soup and bread the maid had left at the door, mended her half-sleeved garment, and spent some time staring at the walls.
Then it occurred to her that something was wrong. It felt like someone else was in the room with her.
“Ah…”
Suppressing her fear, Sebelia averted her gaze. Then, in surprise, she sat up. Someone was standing, seemingly in a daze, near the door. The moment Sebelia wavered and approached the figure, the world turned upside down.
Whoosh-!
The small, gray room was suddenly engulfed in flames. Black smoke filled the air.
“What in the…!”
Sebelia unconsciously took a step back. When she turned, black flames rose between her and the mysterious figure.
It was then that Sebelia realized there was no one else but Denisa who could have entered her room.
“Denisa, are you there?” she called out urgently. “Denisa, get out of here quickly!”
The acrid smoke filled her nostrils and mouth. Sebelia began to feel her consciousness fading. Then, she heard a faint voice, barely audible amid the agony—a delicate resonance, as if squeezed out from pain.
“Sebelia.”
It was a faint call, too faint to recognize.
Gasping, she opened her eyes. Instead of the icy sunlight of the north, a soft, warm glow was gently caressing her cheeks.
“Ah…”
It was a dream. Sebelia looked up, stunned.
“Haah.” With a sigh of relief, Sebelia slowly rose. “I’m glad it was just a dream.”
Burning to death with Denisa inside Hillend Hall without even leaving—it was too much. Wiping away the tears streaming down her cheeks, Sebelia managed a faint smile.
* * *
“Ugh!” Dehart gasped for breath as if he were a fish pulled out of the water. Cold sweat streamed down his body as he regained his senses.
“Sebelia.” He called out his deceased wife’s name, frantically scanning his surroundings. However, Sebelia was nowhere to be found. What he had seen was an illusion.
“Sebelia, where are you? My Lady…!”
He pushed himself to his feet and crossed the room. The image he had seen just before collapsing remained vivid in his memory. It was the ‘real’ Sebelia, the one who had feared him and tried to reach out to him at the same time.
Dehart was sure of it.
The fake Sebelia, the illusion that appeared only when he smoked hallucinogens, showed him only what he wanted to hear and see. But this wasn’t the case with this Sebelia—she didn’t recognize him and behaved as if she had a mind of her own.
At that moment, Sebelia’s final cry echoed in his mind.
[Denisa, get out of here quickly!]
“Denisa, Denisa. Denisa……. Wait.”
As he paced the room, he stopped dead in his tracks. He called out loudly for Ryan.
Then, in a tone of urgency, he asked, “Where is the woman who was Sebelia’s nursemaid?”
