The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 196
“I don’t want to go.”
“But still, you should…”
Struggling to form a coherent response, Johanna merely parted her lips without speaking. Ever since the shock of the imprinting, she had been like this—her mind clouded, as though wrapped in a hazy fog, as if she had abandoned any attempt to think.
“You must be dying to escape from my sight, even for a single moment.”
“…….”
Unable to deny it, she simply averted her gaze. Since being imprinted by him, Johanna found herself unable to reject him in any way. He was the absolute ruler of her ruined world. All her nerves seemed honed to focus on him, and whenever they touched, any negative thoughts vanished, replaced by a deep sense of calm.
Her Omega instincts tempted her dozens of times each day, urging her to surrender entirely, to belong to him down to her soul’s roots. Yet Johanna still clung to her last line of resistance.
“Even if you leave for a while, I’m not going to suddenly disappear.”
She spoke only the truth. Without someone’s help, there was no way for her to escape from here. Her wrists were bound by cuffs, her ankles chained, and she still couldn’t take a single step out of this room without Leonid’s permission.
Despite that, Leonid acted as if he were consumed by a constant, gnawing anxiety. He tried to control her every move, never taking his eyes off her, even for a second.
It had reached the point where he had moved his work to this room, handling marquis duties from here. On certain days, he’d take her to his study, seating her on his lap as he worked.
The more his abnormal behavior continued, the greater Johanna’s fear grew. She was terrified of his obsessive, unhinged need to possess her, his desire to monopolize her completely. It was as if he were losing himself, breaking down before her eyes.
This relationship was corroding them both.
Johanna now understood what Hermia had warned her about. This was not love… nor could it resemble any emotion close to it. It was merely a cruel obsession, a relentless desire to possess, even if it meant destroying the other.
“As you wanted, I’ve become the Marquis’s possession.”
“I told you to call me by my name.”
“…Leonid, I’m… worried strange rumors might start circulating. So, when you have guests, please greet them normally.”
Johanna finally managed to say what was on her mind and let out a deep sigh. Leonid’s gaze pierced her obsessively, as if he were contemplating swallowing her whole.
After a long pause, he finally spoke.
“All right.”
“…….”
“I’ll do as you want. That way, you’ll resent me a little less.”
He gripped her chest firmly, taking her reddened n****e into his mouth, sucking it, and biting down hard enough to hurt.
“Ah!”
As Johanna flinched and twisted her body, his arousal, pressed against her lower abdomen, unmistakably hardened. She looked at him, eyes wide with disbelief.
He smirked at her fear. Then, flooding her with pheromones, he entered her without any foreplay. The sudden weight pressing inside her made Johanna throw her head back in agony.
“Ah!”
“But you’ll go with me as well.”
“Please, no… ah, please…”
“Go and act. Smile sweetly. As the Marchioness of Neubitz, who loves me more than anything.”
Hearing his cruel demand, Johanna’s eyelids fluttered with suppressed despair. Leonid lifted her hand gently, his lips curving in a smile.
“As you said, that way, no strange rumors will spread.”
“…But, I… still…”
“Even if my grandfather forces a divorce between us, you’ll still be mine, Johanna.”
His lips pressed against the back of her hand in a surprisingly courteous kiss, uncharacteristic of the man who explored her body so ruthlessly, yet his hips showed no mercy, thrusting relentlessly.
“I told you—you should imprint on me too.”
“N-no, if… if I do…”
Then he wouldn’t be able to be with any other Omega.
Just as she could no longer feel drawn to the pheromones of any other Alpha.
The thought of anyone else’s allure repulsed her, and she was only captivated by his pheromones alone.
Imprinting meant binding oneself completely to a single person, while severing ties with all others.
That was the nature of an imprint.
“I’ll take care of the issue of succession. You don’t have to worry about a thing.”
“…….”
“If it’s painful, just let go of everything—as long as it’s not leaving my side, I’ll give you anything you want.”
…Johanna remained silent. There was one thing Leonid could never give her, one thing he had taken away.
Her freedom.
He spoke of complete ownership, but this was an incomplete union. Their hearts could not truly reach one another.
While Leonid seemed content as long as he could possess her, Johanna was not. The more she cared for him deeply, the harder it was to endure such deception.
This was why she had yet to cross the final line.
Within the darkness that had swallowed her whole, she looked up toward a faint beam of light seeping in from afar, holding onto hope that someday she might soar toward it.
So that if a lifeline were to descend, she’d be ready to seize it at any moment.
