The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 30
She felt the aftermath of that wave for days. She kept thinking about him. His eyes, which looked almost insane, and the way he used rough violence while still being surprisingly elegant, causing a sense of discord.
…Was it because he left such a strong impression? Anyway, he was someone with no connection to a fallen noble’s daughter like her. So, thoughts about him… it’s best to stop them here.
Resignation or giving up was easy. Thinking that she would never meet him again in her life made it easy to brush him off from her mind. Curiosity, interest—it was just that much after all. Johanna felt relieved.
But a week later, Johanna met him again.
It was at a newspaper illustration job she had managed to get. She was following reporters and sketching, and unexpectedly, she saw him again at the reporting site.
Or should it be said that she witnessed him?
It wasn’t a meeting. He didn’t even glance at her.
Would he remember me?
She briefly harbored that hope but soon swallowed it with self-mockery. After all, to him, she must have been just a fleeting acquaintance.
‘I wanted to properly thank him at least.’
If it weren’t for him, she would have been brutalized by those human traffickers. Leonid Neubitz was her savior. He was someone she couldn’t even dare to speak to, only able to watch him like a sunflower turning towards the sun.
“So, Marquis Neubitz, regarding the last interview…”
As the reporter asked several questions, Leonid Neubitz answered each one in a steady, monotone voice. His demeanor seemed almost dull, but the topics he discussed were quite serious.
“…The noble council concluded that way, and we plan to reconvene after reviewing the results of the citizen’s assembly in a few days. The Arberk royalist faction…”
Throughout the entire interview, Johanna couldn’t take her eyes off him. It was strangely mesmerizing. It wasn’t just because she had to sketch him. Her gaze was naturally drawn to him. Her eyes wanted to keep looking at him, and her ears wanted to keep hearing his voice. It felt like she was a sailor entranced by the song of a siren.
‘Is it because he’s a hyper-dominant alpha?’
But I’m a beta… Yet, all her senses were focused on him as if she were an omega. Is this how omegas always feel in front of a captivating alpha?
Even after returning home from the interview site, Johanna kept thinking about him. She had never thought about anyone so intensely in her life. It was strange. He should have been just a passing acquaintance, but meeting him again and constantly thinking about him didn’t seem like a good sign.
“Johanna? What are you doing? Come and have dinner.”
“…Yes! Coming!”
Startled by her mother’s call, Johanna quickly got up from her seat. She was heading towards the door when she suddenly stopped and looked back. The silver button on the desk was gleaming under the indoor light.
“……”
A memory, if it could be called that, but only she remembers it…
It was a solitary memory she would never share with anyone.
* * *
Leonid Neubitz was a man of high standing. A heavenly being beyond Johanna’s reach, no matter how hard she tried.
To see him often, she had to work tirelessly, accepting jobs from three different newspapers.
As the heir to the Elderique family and a member of the noble council, he was frequently in the media. This was fortunate for Johanna, who longed to see him.
“Good day, Marquis Neubitz. We’re from the Resnick Journal. May we have a brief interview…?”
When reporters interviewed Leonid, Johanna stood in the background, diligently sketching his likeness. After weeks of drawing his face, she had memorized every detail.
Johanna had good eyesight and could observe his features in detail even from a distance. He had a tiny mole on his left eyelid, right where the crease of his double eyelid formed. It only appeared when he closed his eyes.
He was famous for his handsome appearance, but his charm wasn’t limited to his face. His deep, soothing voice, unique elegant aura, arrogant and cynical demeanor. And his almost perfect physical balance and upright posture.
Johanna had never seen someone so aristocratic. He suited the title of ‘noble’ better than any other.
“That concludes our interview. Thank you for your time.”
It was only after hearing the reporter’s closing remarks that Johanna snapped out of her trance. She hurriedly looked down at her sketchbook, seeing the unfinished drawing.
She was astonished at how absorbed she had been, forgetting her only source of income—illustration work. But since she could now draw Leonid Neubitz’s face from memory, it wasn’t a big problem.
‘I’ll have to finish it when I get back to the newspaper office…’
As Johanna followed the reporter out of the hall, she glanced back. By now, a crowd had gathered around Leonid Neubitz.
The dazzling light of the chandelier, the lavishly dressed people. In the center stood one man who stood out remarkably.
Suddenly, the immense distance between her and that man became real. She realized anew what a great miracle their fleeting connection had been.
‘He truly is someone from a different world than mine.’
She swallowed the rising bitterness with familiar resignation. It was easier to think of him as someone she could never aspire to. To avoid harboring hopes beyond her means.
