The Strongest Magician Can Only Love His Dead Wife — After I Reincarnated, My Cute Younger Husband Turned Yandere - Chapter 23

At the straightforward confession, Rubia couldn’t lift her face for a while.

A bittersweet thrill—a mixture of surprise, embarrassment, and happiness—tightened her chest, making it feel constricted.

Arsenio, whom she had once thought of like a younger brother. But he had long since grown into a splendid adult man, and was now confessing his love to Rubia.

“Do you dislike me, Rubia?”

Arsenio asked with a somewhat lonely tone to Rubia, who remained bowed.

She lifted her face as if startled, and saw him gazing at her with lowered brows.

Apparently, her lack of response had led to a terrible misunderstanding.

“No! Not at all!”

There was no way she could dislike him. Rather, the opposite was true.

“I respect and adore Lord Arsenio. But I still don’t know if that feeling is the same ‘love’ that you feel for me.”

To Rubia, Arsenio had always been precious ‘family’ someone she wanted to stay by and support, someone whose smile she wanted to protect.

But right now, Rubia wasn’t confident she could return Arsenio’s affection with feelings that truly matched his.

“So, until my own feelings settle, I can’t give you a proper answer.”

As she conveyed her honest feelings with a sense of guilt, Arsenio relaxed his shoulders as if relieved.

“As long as you don’t dislike me, that’s enough for now. I’ve waited sixteen years for you, I won’t rush you now.”

“Lord Arsenio…”

“And still, I’m truly relieved. I was worried you might have someone back in your hometown.”

At Arsenio’s unexpected joke, Rubia almost burst out laughing—but she swallowed her laughter when she noticed a dangerous glint in his eyes.

“Um, if I did have someone—”

“Do you?”

She asked out of curiosity, but immediately realized it was a terrible mistake.

Though Arsenio’s lips were curved in a smile, a bottomless darkness floated in his golden eyes.

Seeing the swirling, murky mist of magical energy around him, Rubia’s throat made a choked sound.

The children who had been quietly listening to their conversation sensed the dangerous atmosphere and ran off crying, “The headmaster is scary!!”

“N-no, I don’t! I was just curious and asked!”

“Really? There’s no one like that?”

Nod, nod, nod—Rubia nodded repeatedly.

She didn’t know exactly what would happen, but she had a feeling that if she answered wrong even slightly, things would take a terrible turn.

Seeing Rubia nod so earnestly, Arsenio seemed to believe that there really was no one else.

He gently withdrew his magical energy and returned to his usual gentle smile.

“That’s good. I don’t want to become a criminal, after all.”

“Ahaha…”

Forcing a stiff smile, Rubia vowed in her heart:

From now on, she would never again ask him careless questions out of mere curiosity.

【Interlude】

—Tap, tap.

The sound of high-heeled shoes striking the hard-stone floor echoed.

Amidst pained groans and curses coming from all around, Jimena climbed the long staircase while shrinking into herself.

This was a place specially built to imprison magicians who had committed crimes—Oblidia Prison. Powerful barriers, layered two or three deep, sealed the magic of those inside and prevented people from entering or leaving freely.

To enter or exit, one needed a special magic crest carved into their body. On Jimena’s right wrist was a simple crest applied by the gatekeeper at the entrance.

Jimena regularly visited this prison to see her grandfather, Count Fiero, who was imprisoned for murder.

This was a special arrangement due to her grandfather being a noble, elderly and weakened, requiring medicine and because Jimena herself possessed no magical ability at all.

When she was young, her mother had accompanied her, but her mother had never gotten along well with the Count. Every time they met, they would argue, and once Jimena grew older, her mother stopped coming entirely.

Her grandfather was imprisoned on the third floor of the tower.

Hearing Jimena’s footsteps, he slowly turned his gaze toward her from behind the iron bars.

“Grandfather!”

“Oh, Jimena.”

Count Fiero smiled and gently beckoned her over.

Her mother, the eldest daughter, seemed to detest her grandfather for favoring Arsenio’s mother—her younger sister—but Jimena had always adored her kind grandfather.

‘You resemble Amalia a little, you know. They say boys are drawn to women who resemble their mothers. So surely, Arsenio will like you too.’

Her grandfather would often say this while stroking her head.

He would listen to any troubles or worries she had and encourage her when she was feeling down.

That’s why Jimena had always believed her grandfather’s claim that the murder charge was a false accusation—merely an unfortunate accident.

“I’ve brought the usual medicine.”

“Thank you. Please check it for me, make sure it hasn’t spoiled.”

“Yes, of course!”

Her grandfather’s sense of taste had weakened with age. Once, he had unknowingly taken spoiled medicine and fallen ill, so he had become cautious since then.

Since the medicine had no adverse effects on healthy people, Jimena always checked its condition like this.

“It’s fine, it hasn’t spoiled. Please, drink it.”

“Ah, good. You truly are a thoughtful and good child. Well then, I’ll take it.”

The Count downed the small bottle Jimena offered in one go.

Returning the empty bottle to Jimena, he spoke with concern.

“You seem a bit down.”

“I can’t hide anything from you, Grandfather. Actually, mother and I were driven out of Al’s mansion.”

At Jimena’s dejected reply, Count Fiero’s eyes widened slightly.

“Why? What happened?”

“Last time I was here, I mentioned that Al was planning to remarry, right? It’s because of his new fiancée—Lady Rubia.”

“Ah, the niece of his late wife, wasn’t it?”

Jimena recounted everything that had happened since Rubia’s arrival.

How she had tried to be kind and friendly in various ways.

Yet Rubia had forgotten that kindness and used strange magic to manipulate Arsenio.

How Arsenio had become completely unreasonable and driven Jimena and her mother from the mansion for Rubia’s sake.

As she spoke, sadness welled up inside her, and Jimena pleaded with her grandfather through the iron bars while tears fell in drops.

“Al has been completely deceived by Lady Rubia. He thinks of her as if she were his late wife herself.”

“Poor Jimena. To make my dear Jimena cry, that woman must be a terrible villain.”

Having her head stroked through the bars, Jimena’s heart gradually calmed.

“I’m sorry for complaining like this. You’re the one suffering, imprisoned under a false accusation.”

“It’s fine. Just talking with you makes me happy. Now, won’t you tell me more about that woman?”

Ah, as expected, her grandfather was on her side.

Feeling happy, Jimena began explaining in detail, urged on by her grandfather, just how terribly she had been treated.