The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 26
Sixteen-year-old Johanna Lucerne was—quite naturally—much more naive than she is now.
With her father not working, the family’s financial situation worsened, and her mother’s income from foreign language translation was not enough to sustain their living.
Most importantly, her younger brother Daniel would turn eleven and need to enroll in secondary school, but given their current circumstances, it was extremely difficult to afford the tuition.
Unlike her, Daniel was exceptionally bright and a dominant alpha. He often talked about becoming a magical engineer when he grew up.
Johanna wanted to ensure her brother could achieve his dreams. She had given up her own dreams long ago due to the harsh realities of life, but she wished for Daniel to live a different life.
The problem, as always, was money. Johanna went in search of a high-paying job but encountered an unexpected situation.
“Are you really not an omega? With such soft skin, you look just like one.”
“I told you I’m not. Let go of me.”
The people who had lured others with promises of high earnings turned out to be violent criminals involved in illegal activities.
Johanna managed to escape from the building where they were holding people almost captive, but she was soon caught again.
And so, she found herself in a standoff in a deserted alley.
“Hey, how old did she say she is?”
“Sixteen?”
“A kid…”
“Sixteen isn’t that young. There are plenty of places we can sell her. Especially with a face like that.”
“First, we need to take her and run a trait test. She might be an omega pretending to be a beta.”
Johanna didn’t have the strength to fend off the three men. She was on the verge of being taken away. She looked around for something she could use as a weapon, but nothing suitable came into sight.
“Sweetie, just come quietly without making a fuss, okay? It’s better for you to stay in one piece than to have something broken, right?”
The man gripping Johanna’s arm tapped her cheek with his fingers, laughing nastily. …Despicable bastards. Johanna bit her lip as she glared fiercely at the man and the other two.
Would someone hear her if she screamed for help? Was she really going to be dragged away without doing anything? Johanna’s mind raced, desperate to find a way out.
“Hey, go get a carriage. Give the driver some money.”
“Damn, because of this rat-like girl, we’re going to lose money.”
“What if the driver doesn’t take it and tries to report us?”
“Then we kill him…”
Johanna hoped the carriage driver the men would find was a righteous person, but she also worried that the driver might be killed.
She was being dragged along helplessly by the man’s rough hand when she suddenly noticed a liquor bottle lying on the ground.
The bottle was near a tin trash can. To grab it, she would have to break free from the man holding her and run about five steps.
What should I do? How do I break free? Johanna thought desperately. Then, when a carriage stopped at the alley entrance, she impulsively decided it was now or never.
“Argh!”
Johanna bit the man’s forearm with all her strength. The sudden pain made the man release her, and he screamed.
Didn’t they say the human jaw is stronger than people think? Indeed, Johanna bit hard enough to draw blood from the man’s arm.
“That crazy girl…!”
Red blood dripped from the man’s forearm. His sleeve was soaked with blood. Johanna quickly turned and dodged the man’s grasp. She ran with all her might toward the tin trash can.
“Hey! Grab her!”
“What’s going on?”
“Damn it, you stop the bleeding first!”
The two men who had returned from the alley entrance understood the situation and chased after Johanna. Just in time, Johanna reached the trash can, quickly picked up the liquor bottle, and smashed it against the wall.
With a loud noise, the end of the bottle shattered. Shards scattered everywhere. A slight sting on her cheek indicated that a shard had cut her skin.
“Don’t, don’t come any closer.”
Her limbs trembled violently. Johanna tightly gripped the broken bottle and clumsily tried to threaten the thugs.
The men laughed mockingly, approaching slowly. Even though she held a weapon, their attitude was dismissive, seeing her as merely a sixteen-year-old girl.
