After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 9
Flora hummed, pouring milk into her strong black tea. She seemed to take great pleasure in stirring the spoon. She enjoyed these happy little moments, counting down the days until the stupid girl from the Capital would be out of the manor.
She had just finished making the tea when, in the moment she delicately picked up a cookie with her slender fingers, the door opened cautiously. A familiar-looking maid stepped inside.
“Miss.”
“Seeing you in the morning doesn’t exactly put me in a good mood.”
The maid could have been offended by Flora’s grumpy tone. But with a nonchalant expression on her face, cut to the chase. “Just a while ago, Miss Sebelia visited Mr. Grose’s office.”
“…What?” Flora’s face contorted like someone who had just been told the sky had turned upside down.
Understanding her feelings, the maid quickly added. “It’s only a rumor for now, but if the people are to be believed…it seems that Miss Sebelia has asked for the key to the underground vault.”
“Wheddon’s bastard demanded what? I didn’t hear that wrong, did I?” Then she chuckled. Her red hair, inherited from her mother, rippled gently with her movements. “That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard in a long time.”
Flora turned to the maid, catching her breath from her outburst of laughter. “So what happened. Did our illustrious bastard get into the vault?”
The maid bowed her head in response to her question. “No. Mr. Grose refused Miss Sebelia’s request, saying that she must have the Duke’s permission.”
“Well, that’s obvious.”
“But, Miss Flora…” Even as she spoke, the maid’s expression revealed her concern. She continued, “Even if not now, but if they find out later that you’ve been tampering with Ms. Sebelia’s jewelry, things could get serious.”
Dismissively waving off the maid’s premature worries, Flora appeared confident. “Nothing like that will happen. Besides, who said anyone touched it? I just borrowed something unused for a moment, that’s all.”
Flora nonchalantly sipped her tea and took a bite out of her cookie with such shamelessness that the maid almost forgot all her worries for a moment.
“And who would dare to scold me?”
In fact, there was a good reason for her extremely audacious and selfish attitude. It was Dehart who had entrusted her father with the keys to the underground vault in the first place. He had explicitly asked him to manage the estate in his absence. Besides, she and her mother were overseeing the entire Ducal estate instead of that wretched illegitimate child. So essentially, she was the real Duchess.
“I can put it back anytime; what’s the big deal?”
The maid glanced up at her as she spoke offhandedly, then said in a small voice, “But what’s inside is something only the Duchess can use, Miss.”
Jewels owned by generations of Duchesses and the dowry brought by Sebelia were stored in the vault. As a matter of principle, Flora as a lady-in-waiting was not allowed to arbitrarily enter the underground vaults.
“You… whose side are you on right now?” Flora raised an eyebrow and glared at the maid. “Anyway, Father won’t allow that girl to enter the vault freely.”
With a renewed sense of authority, Flora straightened her posture and brushed back her tousled hair. She chuckled and said, “It’s bad enough she stabbed her brother in the back, but what right does she have to squander a duke’s fortune on mere paupers?”
The revelation that Sebelia had betrayed Dehart had come to light some time ago. On a day long past, she had decided to fulfill the duties of a Duchess that she had neglected for a while. However, her good intentions only served to further irritate Dehart.
Such a stupid b***h. Who would’ve thought you would desire something like that?
Flora scoffed at Sebelia’s foolish and naive thoughts
“The butler was only carrying out Father’s wishes, so it’s all well and good.” Flora said defiantly, lifting her chin. “So you go and keep an eye on that stupid bastard. Got it?”
With that, she opened a drawer and pulled out a handful of gold coins, dropping them into the maid’s hands. The maid’s face lit up with greed at the sight of the golden splendor.
“I will do as you say.”
The next day, Flora was eager to hear the news the maid brought in haste.
“She dared to send a letter to Father?”
“Yes, in the morning, she tried to go to the post office, but Mr. Grose, the butler, stopped her.”
Flora was both dumbfounded and angry at her presumptuous behavior, and said nothing.
Looking at her stunned, the maid said, “What shall we do now, Miss, if the Duke will permit—”
“I wonder if it was true…that she was actually insane.”
She was told that Nathan yelled at her as he was being carried away, saying she had completely lost her mind. “I thought it was just some nonsense out of frustration…”
Suddenly realizing the gravity of the situation, Flora bit down on her fingertips. “This won’t do.”
“What?”
“I have to go see for myself.”
She had a bad feeling about this.
