An Incomplete Divorce (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 12
Finally, she dropped a single drop of perfume onto her wrist, rubbed it, and dabbed it behind her ears.
The fragrance—mysterious ocean notes blended with fresh tuberose and a crisp floral scent—was bottled in a teal-colored vial that matched the Duchess’s eyes.
Johann had originally gifted it to Olivia for her birthday, but Diane intercepted it. In its place, she gave Olivia a perfume heavy with musk and ambergris.
I saw Johann frowning at the overpowering scent emanating from her. I barely managed to suppress a laugh.
When Diane went to him to receive payment for the jewels Olivia had purchased, she hinted casually,
“The fragrance you gifted doesn’t suit the Duchess’s taste.”
Remembering that moment made Diane laugh again.
Diane turned her body this way and that before the mirror, then left the room. She walked down the corridor, lit only by crimson wall sconces, heading toward Johann’s bedroom.
[This is the timeline separator]Close to midnight, Johann entered his bedroom mildly inebriated. The moment he opened the door, a strong perfume stung his nose. A woman turned around in surprise.
Olivia.
“You’re finally here.”
His secretary—the one he’d hired for his wife—stared at him in shock. Olivia? He was so bewildered he grew irritated.
“What are you doing here?”
“It rained all day, didn’t it? The bedding feels a bit damp.”
Watching Johann cross the room, Diane continued carefully,
“I was going to change it to fresh sheets.”
“Is that your job?”
Johann flung open both doors leading to the balcony. Though the rain had stopped, the damp wind swelled the curtains slowly. The hem of the woman’s thin dress fluttered gently as well.
Leaning against the wall opposite her, Johann folded his arms and looked down at her.
“Everyone seems to be asleep, so I brought them myself.”
Viewed through the haze of intoxication, she was quite pleasing to the eye.
The wife’s secretary was dressed less like someone coming to change the bed linens and more like someone coming to share the bed.
If he’d been the kind of man who’d toss any woman onto the bed without hesitation, this would have been more than enough encouragement.
Being the sole focus of a man’s gaze always brought a thrilling pleasure—especially when that man was someone as flawless as Johann Leopold.
The man pushed off from the wall and slowly walked toward the display cabinet.
Wine bottle and corkscrew in one hand—the sleeve neatly rolled up—and two glasses in the other, his languid movement exuded a weary, sensual charm.
Diane turned her body and pretended to smooth the wrinkles from the bedsheet, arching her back so the curve of her hips was maximally pronounced.
“Have a drink.”
Ah! Just as expected.
Hearing the voice behind her, Diane slowly straightened and turned around. Johann sat down and gestured with his eyes toward the chair across from him.
Diane wanted to show him only her most beautiful side at every moment.
Even as she walked toward Johann, she made sure her long legs—clad in silk stockings—peeked through the side slit of her dress.
Diane had never before sat alone with Johann. The Duchess or an aide had always been there, like an obstacle.
Johann inserted the corkscrew deep into the cork and carefully pulled it out.
Watching his long fingers and smooth knuckles tilt the bottle to pour wine into the glasses, she imagined those hands caressing her body—and a hot shiver ran through her. Her heart raced.
“It’s late, so I’ll have just one glass.”
Diane said demurely as Johann pushed a glass toward her.
She watched him fill his own glass. She longed to rush to the bed and roll around with him like a wild beast—but today, she had to restrain herself.
This couldn’t end with just one night’s pleasure. She didn’t want to seem too easy. Since her ambition was to become Duchess Leopold, she needed to keep him yearning a little longer.
The candlelight on the table secretly enveloped the two of them.
Johann remained silent, only swirling his glass and watching the red liquid spiral within.
What would he say?
Diane waited for him to speak, intending to let him lead the conversation.
Men liked moments when they could flaunt their superior knowledge.
If she offered mild opposition and then let him claim victory at the last moment, his sense of superiority would make him lavish attention on her in bed as thanks.
Imagining the peak of pleasure this man before her would grant her, Diane took a sip of wine. And then—at last—he moved his lips.
“Do you know the men my wife met?”
“Yes?”
Caught off guard, Diane stupidly echoed the question. This wasn’t the mood for some vulgar bastard to intrude.
“My wife’s men.”
Johann’s low, somber voice snapped her fully awake, as if doused with cold water.
“Yes, of course. But I wouldn’t dare speak carelessly about the private affairs of the lady I served—”
Johann cut her off.
“You seem to be under a misconception. I’m the one who hired you.”
“…”
“And I’m the one who can fire you.”
Johann crossed his long legs and lifted a weary arm to rub his temple against the armrest.
After watching him—a man whose very threats held a lazy allure—for a moment, Diane finally began speaking as if arriving at a difficult decision.
“By the time I found out, their relationship was already deep. I tried to dissuade the Duchess, but it was useless. She met that man while avoiding my eyes.”
Though Diane disliked this topic, since things had come this far, she steered the conversation in her favor. Becoming a loose woman could happen in just an instant like this.
She was the one who’d suggested bringing a man into Olivia’s life to provoke Johann’s jealousy, the one who’d provided their secret meeting place, and the one who’d spread rumors in society so they’d reach Johann’s ears.
“Every time I tried to persuade the Duchess to stop betraying you, she punished me—”
“Just give me their names.”
His suddenly icy voice and gaze were chilling, yet Diane inwardly laughed. But then a doubt arose.
Why was he curious about this now? He hadn’t shown the slightest interest during their marriage.
“Kyle Mitham—he was a ballet dancer. Then Andreiya Nikolai—the painter who painted the Duchess’s portrait. And Milton Lamont, the cobbler who made her shoes.”
“Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“The likelihood that my wife met someone without your knowledge?”
“Impossible. I always accompanied her whenever she went out.”
“Then did my wife ever meet Edgar Lancaster Lancelot?”
“Yes?”
Diane stammered again in confusion.
Why did that name come up now?
She was growing frustrated. She didn’t want to waste time like this.
“As far as I know, the two never met privately.”
At that moment, Johann’s expression turned peculiar. Then, still holding his wine glass, he stared at it indifferently and said,
“Leave.”
What?
Diane nearly repeated the foolish word again in disbelief.
[This is the timeline separator]It had been nearly a week since Olivia stayed at the Lancelot Hotel. She was growing accustomed to this unfamiliar place and starting to feel attached. It was time to decide where to settle.
“Briar…”
Folding the map she’d studied for a while, Olivia murmured to herself.
Anne, brushing Olivia’s lush brown hair that fell all the way down her back, asked,
“What’s famous there?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking of living here for a while.”
“In Briar?”
“Yes.”
Though it was only sensible to find a home—since she couldn’t stay at the hotel forever—she hadn’t expected it to be Ritten.
Anne assumed it was just a trip to refresh her mood. She thought it would be a long journey, but that Olivia would eventually return to Rhondos.
Yet it seemed Rhondos held no place in her mistress’s future.
“They say Briar roses are famously beautiful in Britte. Must be profitable. Maybe I’ll start a rose garden here? What do you think, Anne?”
Olivia’s voice was slightly excited.
“If you like it, I like it too.”
“Then, shall we go this weekend?”
“Yes, my lady.”
Anne neatly arranged Olivia’s thick brown hair with a wooden-handled brush and tied it high with a blue ribbon.
“Your hair… I was thinking of cutting it.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you think a bob would suit you well too?”
“Well, yes, but…”
Anne trailed off.
She remembered a girl her age—petite with delicate bones.
Her arms and legs, starved and gaunt from hunger, contrasted starkly with her rich brown hair, which seemed to have absorbed all the body’s nutrients, gleaming and abundant.
The Countess had seized the girl’s hair with a pair of tailor’s shears—their handles blackened—and ruthlessly chopped it off.
The girl’s tender scalp bled from the large blade’s edge, but the Countess paid it no mind.
Thus, until the girl turned seventeen and finally left the attic, her hair remained cropped short. Olivia shivered at the mere sight of scissors.
“…Are you sure you’ll be alright?”
Anne asked cautiously.
Since leaving the attic, her mistress had never once let scissors near her hair.
“Yes. It’ll be easier to manage, and I think I’ll like it.”
“Don’t do it for my sake. I love touching your hair.”
Anne’s expression seemed oddly troubled. Ji-an glimpsed Olivia’s past—frozen shards of ice.
‘Ah…!’
After a brief silence, she smiled and said,
“I’m fine now. Next time you’re free, cut it beautifully for me.”
“Yes, my lady.”
Anne nodded.
Olivia headed to the tennis court with Anne. Since court access was free, she planned to use it diligently before leaving the hotel.
Arriving ten minutes early for her appointment with Elaine, Olivia lightly swung her racket to warm up.
Standing in the clear morning sunlight, she closed her eyes and breathed in the cool air—when footsteps sounded amid the birdsong.
Opening her eyes, Olivia turned with a smile—and saw Edgar walking toward her through the maze-like green hedges, dressed in tennis attire. Their eyes met before either could look away.
Male lead fell into her trap — and shattered when she walked away
This is also on my reread list!
This one is a slow burn, but when it burns, it burns hard.
Definitely worth a read, y’all!
The story follows a thousand-year-old seductive spirit who, on a bet, sets out to charm the male lead—a once-promising but unfortunate cultivator.
But just when she succeeds in making him fall for her, she heartlessly leaves, driving him to madness.
Determined to find her at all costs, he captures her, keeping her by his side no matter what, even if she hates him.
I love this kind of trope—I enjoy watching the male lead suffer in agony.
The ending drags a bit with unnecessary filler, but that’s fine.
As long as I enjoy the beginning, I’m good.
Intro
As an enchantress, Su Heng possesses captivating eyes and charming beauty, easily manipulating the joys and sorrows of living beings at her fingertips.
But to enchant a god, making him taste the bitterness of love’s separation, long-lasting resentment, unattainable desires, and inability to let go…
Do you dare?
Su Heng assists a divine lord in his cultivation, aiming to make him experience all the sufferings of love, so that he can attain the Great Dao.
Only after being chased down from the heavens by the divine lord, confined and completely possessed by him, does she realize how successful she has been.
The once gentle and polite youth has transformed into someone she no longer recognizes.
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This story deserves more hype. People should know more about this.
Sounds like someone is planning to make a misunderstanding between our couple
Here we go again, poor Olivia always getting hurt by men