After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 5
He looked like he’d come to catch a fleeing criminal. Sebelia’s body reflexively stiffened at the sight of him, red-faced and demonic, lunging at her. The image of Nathan dragging her by the wrist as a child was burned in her brain.
The adults who pretended not to see her being dragged away, Nathan who kept shouting with a red face, Nelia who peeked her face through the crack in the door and laughed silently…
“I left you alone, and you’ve completely changed, it seems.” The voice whispering in her ear was sinister. The door was now firmly locked.
“You’re too close.” Sebelia looked up at him with a pale face. Nathan gripped her wrist tightly. “Let go of me… Ugh!”
“Don’t struggle. I clearly warned you, my dear little sister.” A chilling voice crept through her ear. Nathan’s face, smiling with false affection, was sickening.
He had always been like this. To the eyes of others, he was the most gentle and strict older brother, but in private, he suffocated her.
“Ugh.”
“Impudent!”
Sebelia was about to pull her arm away when she heard a loud crash and flinched. Seeing her reaction, Nathan chuckled and pulled something out of his pocket, tossing it to the floor. The harsh noise made Sebelia shudder once more.
Nathan pointed downward and whispered sharply in her ear. “The rumors of your infidelity traveled all the way to the Wheddon estate.”
“What…”
“If you had eyes, you could see it for yourself. What nasty things people are saying about you!”
Startled by the thunderous sound overhead, Sebelia blinked and slowly began to read the scattered papers on the floor.
“Oh.”
There, it was written that the Duchess, unable to overcome her loneliness as her husband was always absent, had seduced and lured men into her embrace. While it didn’t explicitly mention Dehart and her by name, the subject was unmistakable.
“Even my friends at college wrote to me asking if the rumor was true,” Nathan roared with his face turning various shades of red and blue. “What the hell have you been doing?!”
At that point, Sebelia finally understood what had happened. Nathan was a man who valued his reputation above all else. For him, his friends’ letters questioning whether his little sister was really seducing men into her bed were an unbearable humiliation.
“Oh…”
Once she realized the extent of the situation, Sebelia felt utterly exhausted.
Yes. My brother wouldn’t come all this way for me, because all he cares about is his reputation and honor.
He even brought with him a copy of the Lynn Post, a daily newspaper known for spreading all kinds of false gossip and refusing to take responsibility for it.
He believed this kind of thing and came all the way here…A man who hadn’t set foot in this house ever since I got married.
At that moment, an overwhelming sense of exhaustion and futility enveloped her. At the same time, the intense fear that had paralyzed her body vanished in an instant.
Sebelia let out a tired sigh. She blinked her trembling eyelids and opened them wide.
How ridiculous.
All of this was just too absurd.
“Sebelia, get yourself together and give an answer.” Nathan growled as if to intimidate her, but for some reason, he didn’t seem as scary as before.
The man before her was no longer the figure that had oppressed her all her life, filling her with fear. He was just…
A selfish, opportunistic prick.
Yes, the brother she’d feared so much was just that. Realizing this fact lifted a heavy burden from her chest.
“A sigh? How dare you, when I’m the one who should be sighing right now.”
Nathan still seemed to think that Sebelia would easily bend to his will as she had done in the past. In fact, just a moment ago, Sevelia had almost done so, succumbing to her long-learned helplessness and fear.
But now…
Why should I?
She had changed. She no longer wanted to kneel and ask for forgiveness. There was no reason, no need for that anymore.
As a child, being hated by her family had been her greatest fear. Being the subject of whispers and scorn because of her status as an illegitimate child was like walking on thin ice every day. But the situation was different now.
I’m going to die anyway, so what’s the point of them hating me?
With that thought, even the deep-rooted fear that had lingered at the bottom of her heart disappeared. The young Sebelia who had hidden inside her was no longer afraid of Nathan.
Sebelia lowered her head and let out a wry smile. Oh, the freedom and relief that death offered were so sweet.
At this point, Nathan realized something was wrong. Instead of yelling at her, he grabbed her face and forced her to look him in the eye.
“What… are you doing?”
His distorted face conveyed his true feelings: Act like yourself. Drop to your knees right now, beg for forgiveness, and bark like a dog, just as you would
However, his arrogant and casual expectations were shattered quite easily.
“What do you think you’re doing, dear brother?” Her voice was languid and laced with annoyance.
“What?” Nathan was shocked by the unexpected response, his mouth hanging open wide. His eyes dilated and looked rather foolish.
Sebelia wondered if he had always been such an unimpressive person. He used to be so terrifying that she was afraid to even look at him.
“I don’t know what you want me to do, especially after reading a newspaper article with no initials.”
“I can’t believe it… Are you trying to match wits with me right now?” Struck speechless by her logic, Nathan reflexively recoiled.
It was also the most effective way to suppress Sebelia. She was terrified of loud noises. But this time it didn’t work.
“I’m not trying to match you.”
“Then why don’t you—”
“After all, we are far from having the same position,” Sebelia added.
She was a Duchess, while he wasn’t even a Baron yet.
