The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 19
Johanna scolded him in a deliberately stern voice.
“Daniel, how many years have you been studying?”
Whenever his sister scolded him, Daniel would freeze like a herbivore caught in the headlights. He would obey her commands like an automaton, following her words precisely.
“Three years…”
“That’s right, three years already. Now, with just two more years of study, you can enter the Royal Academy, and you want to quit? You’re a scholarship student now, and you have the grades to get a scholarship to the Academy too. Does it make sense to give up?”
“But… sister…”
“I told you not to worry about me!”
Johanna, feeling frustrated, shouted. Daniel clamped his mouth shut and lowered his head even further.
“I’m an adult. I can live on my own. But you can’t. That’s why I’m protecting you… How many times do I have to tell you, Daniel?”
“I’m sorry, sister…”
Looking down at Daniel, who was fidgeting with his hands, Johanna sighed softly.
Daniel, being kind-hearted, didn’t act recklessly like other kids his age, probably because he was mindful of their family situation. When he first started school, he didn’t play with friends and focused solely on studying. Only after Johanna encouraged him to play with his friends occasionally did he start going out once or twice a week.
Feeling fortunate to have such a kind brother, Johanna also felt a pang of sadness for Daniel. If their family were intact… If at least their Father had worked and brought home some money, he wouldn’t have to worry about making ends meet at his age.
“Really, don’t worry… okay? Nothing bad will happen.”
“Okay…”
Johanna gently patted Daniel’s small head, still bowed. Then she hugged him tightly with both arms and awkwardly changed the subject. She felt worse after scolding him out of frustration.
“Shall we have dinner…? I think we still have some pasta ingredients left.”
“Yes, I’d love that! I’ll help too!”
Daniel perked up and exclaimed with a bright smile. Johanna looked at her brother with a soft smile. If she had known his exams ended today, she would have bought some meat. Even if she had to go without, she had money to feed her brother.
The siblings cooked dinner together and sat in the narrow living room, chatting quietly. Only when they grew sleepy did they retreat to their respective rooms to sleep.
‘By the way, your pheromone scent is really nice, sis.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, there’s this orange flower that blooms in our school garden every autumn. It smells just like that. I can’t remember its name though…’
Daniel’s voice in her mind gradually faded. Curled up and drowsy, Johanna soon drifted into a deep sleep.
* * *
The day to pay the 2,700 rubles in interest was fast approaching. In just a week, she would have to meet Ilian Rediess again.
She dreaded meeting him again. He seemed to be the alpha with the strong pheromones the doctor had mentioned.
In the meantime, Johanna had been consistently working on her usual job as an illustrator while agonizing over Victoria’s proposal.
The idea of bearing a child… was not something anyone could easily consider.
But Johanna was at the edge of a cliff. If she couldn’t pay the interest this month, Ilian Rediess would surely drag her to a brothel and make her work.
If she could just serve there, it would be fortunate, but Johanna knew that life was rarely that simple.
Ilian Rediess would undoubtedly use dirty tricks to increase her debt, ultimately forcing her into prostitution.
She knew she would never escape from that world. The only future she saw was dying miserably from some disease.
‘If I die, the next target will be Daniel.’
That was what terrified Johanna more than anything else. The thought of her dominant alpha brother being dragged away by those thugs to be used as a stud or a fighting dog. She couldn’t let Daniel’s life fall into such ruin.
If she made a contract with Marquis Neubitz and received the advance payment, she could pay off part of the debt. Once the contract was fully carried out, she would have even more money in her hands.
‘Then I could completely pay off the debt.’
