The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 54
Philipp Lucerne was trembling violently, on the verge of a panic attack. The men brought him to a room and tied him to a chair. If they were going to transport him to the lab quietly, they might need to sedate him.
SPLASH!
Only after a bucket of icy water was thrown over him did Philipp manage to calm down. Droplets of water dripped from his soaked hair.
He began to think more clearly, trying to figure out a way to escape this situation… Meanwhile, the men were noisily flipping through a magazine they had found somewhere, talking loudly.
“A young lady, J.L., suddenly manifested as a dominant Omega after turning twenty, catching the eye of Marquis Neubitz… Is this for real? Isn’t Marquis Neubitz one of those high nobles even the royal family is cautious around?”
Philipp happened to be in a position where he could clearly see the magazine. He squinted at the large illustration on the page… He thought he might be hallucinating, but no matter how many times he looked, the face was unmistakably familiar.
“W-Wait, let me see that more closely.”
“Huh?”
“The magazine! The illustration there! Show it to me in detail!”
The men raised their eyebrows at his sudden and strange request. But showing him the magazine was a simple enough thing to do, so they handed it over without hesitation.
“Here, take a look. What’s got you so interested? Are you into this kind of stuff, Lucerne?”
“…”
Philipp’s wide eyes were locked on the illustration. Platinum blonde hair, teal eyes, and a face as delicate and beautiful as a white flower.
There was no doubt—it was his daughter.
Philipp’s heart pounded wildly in his chest. He checked the initials in the article again. J.L… If that didn’t stand for Johanna Lucerne, then what did it mean?
As his suspicions solidified into certainty, color returned to Philipp’s face. The look of hope he wore, found at the edge of despair, was almost eerie.
He took a deep breath and then, as if expelling it all at once, he declared,
“That’s my daughter.”
“What?”
“This girl here! She’s my daughter! The fiancée of Marquis Neubitz!”
The gamblers stared at Philipp as if he had lost his mind. Frustration welled up inside him. Why did this article have to use initials instead of full names? He squirmed in his chair, shouting in desperation.
“This J.L. here! It’s Johanna Lucerne! She’s my daughter! There’s even an illustration! Do you think I wouldn’t recognize my own daughter’s face? I’m telling you, it’s true!”
“Hmmm…”
One of the men let out a long nasal hum, glancing back and forth between the picture of Johanna in the magazine and Philipp. Then he tilted his head, unconvinced.
“They don’t look alike.”
“My kids take after my wife, not me! Look, here! Check the pendant around my neck!”
“Ahh.”
The locket pendant was something Philipp had guarded fiercely, refusing to part with it even after losing all his money and falling into debt. The man tugged on the pendant hanging from Philipp’s neck, opening it to reveal a tiny photograph inside. He compared the photo with the magazine’s illustration. The resemblance was undeniable; they looked like mother and daughter.
“A spitting image.”
“S-See? My daughter’s a beauty, just like her mother. And as it says there, she’s engaged to Marquis Neubitz! If you let me talk to her, I can get the money to pay off my debts, no problem!”
Despite Philipp’s desperate plea, the men casually passed the magazine around, their expressions indifferent. One of them tossed the magazine onto the table with a dull thud and muttered in a flat tone,
“But this is just speculation. How can we trust trash like this?”
“N-No, it’s true! My daughter really is the fiancée of Marquis Neubitz! If you let me meet with her, I’ll pay you back double what I owe! Please, it’s worth a shot, right?”
Philipp babbled incoherently, insisting that his daughter was too kind-hearted to ignore her father in distress.
The gamblers exchanged glances, appearing to deliberate for a moment, before finally reaching a conclusion.
“Well… fine. Let’s say we trust you, Lucerne. After all, there’s nothing to lose.”
One of the men approached, a cigarette dangling from his lips, and tapped Philipp’s cheek with it. His twisted smile hinted at a sinister tone as he warned,
“But if you’re lying, you’d better be ready to die. If you try to screw us over and run, we’ll sell off not just you, but your precious son and daughter too. Keep that in mind.”
Philipp nodded vigorously, his lips pressed tightly together. Only now did he realize how reckless he had been, but it was too late to turn back. All he could do was hope that the rumors about Johanna and Marquis Neubitz were true.
