The Strongest Magician Can Only Love His Dead Wife — After I Reincarnated, My Cute Younger Husband Turned Yandere - Chapter 5

Little by little, yet steadily, Rubia and Arsenio were nurturing a bond.

Of course, for Rubia, it wasn’t romantic feelings but something more like friendship or familial affection.

She wanted to remain by Arsenio’s side and watch him grow up.

With the heart of a parent bird eagerly awaiting the day its fledgling takes flight, Rubia spent her days with Arsenio.

Unaware that such days would soon come to an end.

—That day, while strolling through the garden with her maid, Rubia noticed an unfamiliar old man standing before the main gate.

His clothes were of fine quality, but the aura he exuded was gaunt and weary, as if he carried all the world’s misfortunes on his shoulders.

The dark circles under his eyes were pronounced, and his complexion was poor.

“…Is that gentleman unwell?”

“That gentleman?”

Following Rubia’s gaze, the maid looked in the same direction.

The moment she caught sight of the old man, her face changed color.

“That is the Count Fiero, the master’s maternal grandfather.”

“Oh, Arsenio’s? Then we must show him to the drawing room at once.”

“Ah, my lady…!”

For some reason, the maid raised a flustered voice, but Rubia ignored her and hurried toward the main gate.

Worried about Count Fiero’s poor complexion, she was determined to let him rest indoors as soon as possible.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting. Welcome, Count Fiero.”

Since Rubia and Arsenio hadn’t even held a wedding ceremony, and no relatives had visited the mansion afterward, this was her first time meeting him.

Up close, she noticed his nose bore a slight resemblance to Arsenio’s. With his snow-white hair and sunken eyes, his sharply defined features suggested he must have been a handsome gentleman in his youth.

“You are—”

Perhaps he couldn’t immediately tell who Rubia was neither a maid nor a servant, but dressed in a fine, albeit casual, gown. As Rubia opened the gate, Count Fiero raised an eyebrow.

“My apologies for the delay. I am Rubia, Arsenio’s wife. It’s an honor to meet you.”

Not wanting to be disrespectful to her husband’s grandfather, Rubia introduced herself with a ladylike curtsy.

“…Ah, I see. So, you’re the poor girl who married that cursed child.”

“Eh?”

His tone and choice of words were far from how a grandfather should speak of his grandson.

Thinking she must have misheard, Rubia instinctively looked up and stared at the Count’s face.

He twisted his expression bitterly and spat out his words.

“Don’t you know? That thing is a detestable monster who killed his own mother the moment he was born.”

“That can’t be… It was due to a magical outburst, not something Arsenio intended.”

Of course, Arsenio’s mother, who died due to the magical outburst, was truly pitiable. But to blame a newborn infant, who had no control over the rampaging magic, was unthinkable.

That was precisely why the king and the court mages had taken special measures to place Arsenio under protective surveillance, or so she had heard.

There was no way Count Fiero didn’t know that.

“Arsenio must still be suffering.”

When he grew older and learned the truth, how painful it must have been for him.

The fact that he had killed his own mother was far too heavy a burden for a boy not yet ten years old.

And the stigma of “matricide” would follow him for the rest of his life.

Was it selfish of Rubia to wish that, at the very least, his own family would be on his side?

Hearing Rubia’s words, Count Fiero contorted his face in disgust.

“How could that evil eye possess such emotions? It’s a demon in human form.”

“But Arsenio is your own flesh and blood…”

“That thing is no grandson of mine!!”

As if enraged, Count Fiero raised his voice.

The loudness of his shout made Rubia’s eardrums vibrate, and she instinctively flinched.

Now, Count Fiero’s gray eyes were bloodshot and filled with hatred. His face was stiff with anger, and a vein bulged on his forehead.

“My daughter Amalia was a gentle, devout, and kind-hearted girl! That monster turned her to charcoal! Poor Amalia died without even retaining her original form. It was hard enough that the child she gave birth to had the evil eye, but to be killed by that same child. How bitter she must have been.”

The sorrow of losing his beloved daughter and the hatred for the one who killed her—mixed together in a cry that seemed to bleed anguish, leaving Rubia speechless.

Until this very moment, Rubia had believed that blood relatives could understand one another. But that was nothing more than the arrogant, shallow, and naive thinking of someone raised in a privileged environment.

Before the stunned Rubia, the Count continued in a slightly calmer voice.

“You see, young lady. When I heard that monster had taken a wife, I couldn’t believe my ears. What irony—a matricidal evil eye, living a proper family life.”

“Arsenio did so under His Majesty’s command.”

“I know that. But I’ve heard that thing has taken a liking to you. I heard it dismissed a maid who mocked you.”

Whether he heard it directly from the dismissed maid or through rumors was unclear. But those words had led the Count to believe Arsenio was fond of Rubia.

And that fact bred even more hatred in the Count’s heart.

“I never intended to have anything to do with that thing again. But the idea of the monster who took my precious Amalia living happily, happily—I could never allow it. Amalia would never rest in peace, would she? So—”

—Shiiing.

A cold, metallic sound rang out.

The Count had drawn a dagger from its sheath, which he had pulled from his breast pocket.

“That thing must die.”