After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 53
“Ugh…”
Leaning back in his chair, Dehart was shirtless. He was sweating profusely, and a large blue bruise sat on his lower back, swelling horribly.
“Are you all right?”
The knight cautiously asked as he applied a herbal remedy to Dehart’s back and carefully wrapped a fresh bandage around it. In response, Dehart spat out a sharp rebuke as if it had been welling up inside of him.
“Does this look ‘all right’ to you? I can’t believe you’re walking around when your eyes don’t even work. You’d be better off out on the streets then—go help someone who needs it.”
Despite the biting remark, the knight remained composed. He withdrew, assured that Dehart, outburst aside, still retained some semblance of sanity.
Alone, Dehart wordlessly leaned his head against the backrest. Only his two eyes flashed in his otherwise emotionless face.
“Yes, I suppose that’s the least you can do before you dare to harm your master.”
Somehow, in his mind, Denisa had already become the contemptible maid who had betrayed Sebelia. Of course, Denisa stabbing him in the back and running away had a lot to do with that judgment.
“But even so, their tail’s already been caught.”
Dehart murmured indifferently, staring down at the crumpled letter in his hand—a letter taken from Denisa’s house.
“…This time, I won’t let it slip away.”
His indifferent yet persistently fixated voice filled the room. At that moment, the knight waiting outside felt a shiver run down his spine.
“Ugh…”
He shook his head, thinking of the terrible future that lay ahead for the woman who had run away.
Why did she do that? She wouldn’t last long anyway.
With a sigh, the knight recalled the day that had caused this.
* * *
Everything was going smoothly…at first.
“I’ll do as you say, my Lord.”
After Dehart persuasively and threateningly pointed out the people watching her, one by one, Denisa surrendered without resistance.
“I don’t want to be in the position of having my life taken away at a moment’s notice for something unpleasant,” she said calmly.
Dehart smiled in satisfaction. “Good. You’re not as foolish as I thought.”
With that, Dehart brought her back to his residence under the pretext of ensuring her safety, and began a relentless interrogation over the course of several days.
“What I want to know most is what happened to her after I left.”
He tapped his bite-marked fingernails against the desk.
“The day I left, right before our anniversary, and after that…everything up until her death. I need to know everything that happened during that time.”
As he spoke, he occasionally cleared his throat as if his own words were choking him.
Denisa stared at him with unreadable eyes and said, “As the Duke may already know, Madam—or rather, Miss…”[1]
“Call her what you will.”
“You see, Miss didn’t feel as disappointed or hurt as you might have thought.”
“…What?”
Dehart’s face froze. His hand, which had been striking the desk, remained suspended in the air. Standing like a statue before him, Denisa continued quietly.
“Miss had long grown weary of unrequited love, so not being able to spend your anniversary together has only hardened her resolve, not broken it.”
Dehart’s lips, cracked and tense, closed and reopened several times.
“It sounds like she had already given up on me.”
“Yes.”
Denisa nodded without hesitation, and Dehart’s golden eyes froze like glaciers.
“She had already said goodbye to the Duke in her heart.”
“That can’t be true.”
It couldn’t be. How immense must have been her guilt towards me? How dreadful were the wounds she inflicted upon me? On such a day, would she leave me first…
“…!”
Dehart shuddered involuntarily at the subconscious thought that surfaced. To lose her once and to be haunted again by such a woeful thought.
Unable to continue, his pale, frozen lips eventually murmured, “Come back in an hour.”
His stomach churned. Bowing his head, Dehart reached for the medicine bottle.
Days passed in a similar fashion. Instead of uncovering the truth behind Sebelia’s death, Dehart came to realize only how exhausted she had been in her lifetime, and how much pain she endured because of him.
I… I…
Occasionally, Denisa would testify about the harassment Sebelia faced from Glenn and Flora.
“I heard that Flora once meddled with Lady Sebelia’s dowry.”
Such stories were meticulously recorded separately to be used as evidence later on.
During this cooperative period, one day, Denisa brought up a new topic.
“I actually have a diary that the lady used to keep in secret.”
“Why are you bringing this up only now?”
Dehart sharply questioned, but Denisa calmly brushed off his probing.
“The diary entries from that day are more like short notes or memos. However, I thought it might be helpful to inform Your Grace.”
“Tell me where it is. I’ll instruct the knights to bring it to us.”
“No, it’s an item left directly by her for me. I can’t entrust it to someone else.”
Dehart glared at Denisa irritably but eventually relented. He didn’t like having his belongings handled by others either.
Thus, Dehart, accompanied by Denisa and several knights, headed towards Ellard Street.
“Make sure no suspicious individuals pass through this area,” Dehart instructed the knights.
Upon entering the house with Denisa, Dehart was taken aback as she unexpectedly struck him in the back of his head.
“Forgive me, Your Grace,”
He groaned at the sharp sensation of a pinpoint stab to his bruised side.
“For the last time, let me assure you that your delusions are misplaced.”
“You, this is…”
Drip, drip.
The sharp tip of the pen dripped a deep blue lethal poison.
“Please, just let her go.”
Unfortunately, her whispered plea did not reach Dehart’s ears.
¹ She switches from 마님 or manim to 아가씨 or agassi. Both are terms for a lady but the former is for married ladies while the other is for young, unmarried ones. ↩
