After I Died, My Husband Went Mad - Chapter 178

As Dehart left Sebelia’s room, he wanted to bury his head in the floor and die. He thought that if he fell down the stairs, he might break his neck and die. But he couldn’t do that.

She had told him to go clean himself up, eat, and get dressed before coming back. After that…

[Let’s talk about how to resolve our bad history.]

“Ugh.”

With unsteady steps, Dehart finally entered his office and collapsed onto the sofa, gasping for air. It felt as though a cold hand had gripped his heart, choking him and making his head spin.

“Bad history.”

The sharp word, like a poison-filled thorn, escaped his lips. Bad history, the villain. Was that how she saw him? Had she been thinking only about how to resolve their bad history from the moment they met at the research institute?

I didn’t even realize… how foolish I was…

Painful breaths escaped through his teeth. Yes, his relationship with her could never be dressed up with a happy word. So, the term “bad history” was probably the most fitting description.

Despite wanting to deny it in his heart, he couldn’t.

Thinking of all the foolish things he’d done during their marriage, the pathetic judgments he’d made, and the suffering Sebelia had endured because of them, made it clear.

It was only natural for her to call him bad history. And after receiving his apology, it was inevitable that she would want to end this tangled connection.

Did I even have the right to refuse her request?

Dehart chuckled bitterly to himself. It was a lament directed at his own foolish and pitiful self. After laughing emptily for a while, he wiped his face and stood up.

“Ha.”

Even with his vision spinning, he walked forward. He would clean himself up first, get something to eat, and then make himself presentable so that he wouldn’t bother her.

After that?

Goodbye. Let’s resolve this bad history, and then she’ll go to the North, and she’ll go wherever, living a life where their paths never cross again.

Could I endure that life?

No, of course not. A dry laugh escaped through his teeth.

But if that’s what you want, then I should comply. I ruined everything, so I have to take responsibility for it.

Even if it kills me.

His unsteady steps toward the bathroom came to a halt. Standing there, a melancholic feeling began to flow from Dehart. The frustration gathering at his feet felt like hell, trying to pull him in.

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door, followed by someone shouting from outside.

“Duke, are you alright?”

At first, Dehart thought it was Eli. But then he listened more carefully and realized it was an even more irritating and familiar voice.

“…Claude.”

He mumbled with his face buried in his hands. The knocking on the door grew louder and more persistent. Right now, he didn’t want to see anyone other than Sebelia.

“Duke…!”

Claude’s voice rose again.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Oh, Sir Eli. My apologies. I had urgent news to deliver to the Duke.”

Eli, who usually couldn’t time things properly, had appeared out of nowhere to stop Claude. Dehart dropped his hand from his face and turned his empty gaze toward the door. The bickering sounds came through the crack in the door.

“Mr. Appenz, if you have urgent news, you should have come to my office instead of bothering the Duke like this. It’s inappropriate for you to act like this with the Duke as if he was your friend.”

“Friend? That wasn’t my intention.”

“Really? Then you can stop knocking on the door. Let’s hear the message you wanted to deliver.”

As Dehart listened to the sound of Claude being dragged away, a thought flashed through his mind.

Claude had abandoned his past name and the bad history that came with it, staying by his side as Karl Appenz. After cutting ties with his past, he had decided to forge a new life and build new connections with Dehart.

Of course, unlike Sebelia, Claude had been forced to give up the name “Claude Inverness.” Still, in the end, their situations were similar.

“Bad history…”

To Dehart, Sebelia’s request to “resolve our bad history” referred to the painful past—the time when his wife, who was the youngest daughter of the Wheddon family, ended up as a traitor to Inverness. The wrong connections formed during that time.

Resolving that meant essentially putting the past to rest. So, if he was to resolve the bad history between Sebelia Wheddon and Dehart Inverness, what would remain would be only the connection between ‘Bella’ and himself, wouldn’t it?

I can’t expect Claude to stay by my side as Karl Appenz, but perhaps after you’ve discarded the past and found a new life, could I too… become a new connection for you?

The mad Duke, who had mistakenly thought she was the late Duchess, and the terminally ill patient who had accidentally become entangled. That ridiculous connection, couldn’t it be left behind unresolved?

It was a logic close to force, but it was the only lifeline Dehart had. His shameless hope, relying on the small fragment of Sebelia’s heart that couldn’t be too cruel to him.

“Even if it’s just that, I’d be fine.”