The Contract Wife Tries to Leave - Chapter 90
She had expected this day to come eventually, so there was no reason to be surprised. Still… her mood sank to the lowest depths.
The man, upon noticing her, immediately brightened and hurried in her direction, his once pale face now looking even more gaunt than she remembered. Yet, Johanna felt no pity.
Perhaps… she had secretly hoped he would never appear again.
“Johanna, my dear. It’s your father. Have you been well? How’s Daniel?”
Johanna’s father, Philipp Lucerne, reached out to place his hand on her shoulder. But before he could touch her, Nella stepped in, blocking him.
“Excuse me, but who are you? This is the Marchioness of Neubitz, and it wouldn’t do for you to approach her so freely.”
Even though the word “father” had come from the man’s mouth, Nella remained cautious. It was only natural for a lady’s maid to be protective.
Philipp looked utterly flabbergasted by Nella’s response.
“Who am I…? I’m Johanna’s father! I’m the father of the Marchioness of Neubitz, that’s who!”
He pounded his chest with the palm of his hand, raising his voice in frustration. Nella, startled by his outburst, took a step back, though she continued to eye him warily.
“I’ll need to confirm that with the Marchioness first…”
“That’s enough, Nella.”
With a sigh, Johanna finally stepped in. People on the street had been glancing in their direction for a while now. There was no point in drawing out this scene—it would only lead to more rumors. She turned to her father with a resigned expression.
“We should move to a different place to talk. Follow me.”
“Oh, oh? Yes, yes! Let’s do that!”
Philipp hurriedly followed after her as Johanna led the way. Nella, still skeptical, stayed close to Johanna, leaning in to whisper.
“Is he really your father, Marchioness…?”
“Yes. I’ll handle it, so don’t worry about it.”
“Understood…”
Nella nodded, though doubt and concern flickered across her face as she shot another wary glance at Philipp’s disheveled appearance. Johanna pretended not to notice Nella’s unease and quickened her pace. She was already feeling drained.
The place Johanna chose was a quiet coffee house tucked away in a deep alley. Philipp seemed unfamiliar with such surroundings, his eyes darting around the room curiously.
Soon, two cups of coffee were placed in front of them. Johanna, trying to drown out the bitterness, added five cubes of sugar before taking a sip.
“You still can’t handle anything bitter, huh?”
“……”
Philipp chuckled as he made the comment, but it only darkened Johanna’s mood. Every time her irresponsible father pretended to show interest in her, it tore at her inside.
The word hypocrite came to mind without hesitation. A man who had ruined his entire family, drowning in debt due to gambling, and yet always wanting to appear as someone “kind at heart”—her father’s behavior disgusted her.
“Do you know that Mother passed away?”
As she set her coffee cup down, her voice was cold and accusatory. Philipp’s face went pale in an instant. His eyes blinked rapidly before he licked his lips and answered.
“Mr. Schinkel… he told me. I visited your mother’s grave just the other day.”
His eyes welled up with tears, and he wiped them away with the back of his hand, seemingly overcome with emotion. But Johanna simply stared at him, indifferent to his display of grief.
No, not completely indifferent.
“You were on a cruise, weren’t you?”
“That, that was…”
Sudden anger surged through her, making her realize there wasn’t even a grain of affection left for her father. The overwhelming hatred for him swelled within her.
“You borrowed money from Aunt, even took out loans from loan sharks… While Mother was dying, what were you doing? If you couldn’t bring home money, the least you could have done was not make our lives miserable…! You should have been there when she passed!”
As she spoke, the anger she had buried for so long boiled over, and her voice rose on its own. She could feel the staff in the café glancing their way, but she could no longer hold back. The words she had suppressed for so long came spilling out.
“How can you call yourself a man? Where did all the borrowed money go? You gambled it away again, didn’t you? Fine, if that’s how you want to live, but what about Daniel? When he grows up and becomes financially stable, are you planning to leech off him too? How can you be this kind of parent?”
“L-Leech off? How can you say that? I’m still your father! Where do you get off being so disrespectful…!”
His reaction was instinctive, clinging to his authority as her father, but it didn’t last long. Soon enough, he slumped back into a timid posture, retreating. Johanna shot him a sharp, scornful look, letting out a sigh of disbelief.
It was all so tiresome.
All she had ever wanted was simple: for her father to stop gambling, for her mother to live longer, for Daniel to grow up safely…
Her chest felt tight, like there was a knot in her stomach. Her mother was gone, her father hadn’t changed, and Daniel was still so young. The weight of it all felt unbearable.
