After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 88
Sebelia laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. The swirling pattern of the wood grain captured her attention. Her blue eyes looked like they were drifting away.
Just yesterday, she resolved one question and encountered another. The former related to her illness, the latter to her past.
The path of life is indeed filled with thorns.
Sebelia bit her lip as she glanced over the book she was reading. Today was the day when Dehart would be freed. The wording felt odd, but she couldn’t find a more appropriate term.
Sebelia knew that she had been actively avoiding thinking about him all this time. During her early days at the research lab, she thought he would leave early, and afterward, she’d concentrated on pushing him away, not getting caught up in him.
“Whew….”
However, as the day to face him approached, her heart raced wildly. Sebelia placed her hand above her chest and took several deep breaths. Still, the nervousness didn’t go away easily.
What will he say when he sees me?
Will he get angry, be resentful? No, he might even threaten her to come back. Seeing his desperate plea for her return while experiencing her own death in a nightmare might make her reconsider. But she could never be certain with him.
But how the hell did he know I was here and come after me?
Sebelia couldn’t be sure, but she thought Dehart must have known that she was alive and traced her to this place. It was a guess as good as any since she had no idea how he had been living all this time.
Sebelia’s speculations stopped at Dehart feeling some sort of guilt and remorse after her supposed death. Little did she know that Dehart had also suddenly placed Hillend Hall on lockdown, imprisoned his own family in the tower, and went to visit her nursemaid who stabbed him on his side.
“Stay composed, don’t show any signs of shaking. Handle it calmly and indifferently,” Sebelia murmured like a prayer, pressing her clasped hands against her forehead. She remained tense until Claude knocked on the door.
The time had finally come for their reunion. And Sebelia froze, the composure she’d managed to muster gone.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Dehart.”
Dehart Inverness, that fierce, twisted man, bowed shyly toward her. With a face so pure and simple that Severia had never seen before in her life, he stole a fleeting glance at her and turned his head away.
“De…Dehart?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know if you recognize me. I’ve lost my memory recently, and I’m not sure if I’m…”
The crooked smile almost knocked Sebelia off her feet.
* * *
Of course, Dehart’s amnesia was just another act.
Claude turned away, his stomach churning as he watched Dehart perform this abominable ruse with cold eyes. Sitting across from him, Watts seemed unconcerned and focused on finishing his meal.
He thought back to yesterday evening, before he’d untied Dehart’s restraints. It happened after Watts came in with the key bundle.
“Wait, you’re going to release him now?”
Claude, not yet mentally prepared, tried to block him. Watts tilted his head and shook the key bundle, his face slightly wrinkling. He looked like he’d just gotten through a long day of work and had been unexpectedly interrupted.
“I asked permission. I asked three times, and all three times she said yes.”
“But we need to know exactly what kind of relationship the two of them have…”
“I can understand if you’re feeling nostalgic and sorry for a nephew you haven’t seen in twenty years, Cardy. But he’s a twenty-nine-year-old grown man now, head of one of the largest families in the North.”
Watts clicked his tongue and glanced up and down at Claude, who continued to stand in his way.
“Why don’t you be honest?” said Watts. “It’s not that you’re worried about Miss Bella, it’s that you don’t want to admit that your nephew is the one doing her harm, and you’re trying to keep them apart.”
“That was harsh of you, Watts.”
“Hah… Claude, it’s not like I don’t know your shallow hope that if you don’t let them meet, something so horrible won’t happen. They’re adults capable of making independent judgments, and you have no right to interfere with that, so get out of the way. I need to remove the restraints.”
His breath caught in his throat. Claude tried to argue back, but only a deflating sound came out. Behind him, Dehart let out a long sigh.
“Do you really not trust me that much?”
“Based on your widely publicized behavior, you don’t make it exactly easy to trust you.”
Watts pointed to his exploits in the newspapers. DeHart’s brow furrowed. But then he relaxed and shook his head.
“You don’t need to worry about any of that. For example, arson or murder… things like that won’t happen.”
Dehart smiled wryly. It was eerie, the way he was pointing out each example, but there was nothing he could do about it now.
