An Incomplete Divorce - Chapter 19

It was a masterpiece of allure, showcasing Madam Lauren’s unparalleled sensibilities.

That was Edgar’s assessment of Olivia standing before him.

Considering the brief preparation period, it was an even more impressive result, and the necklace adorning her delicate neck was a dramatic choice.

So that anyone could recognize her as Olivia Blanchet.

This was the one thing he had asked of Madam Lauren. And it was certainly fulfilled, standing before Edgar.

It was regrettable that Lauren’s blatant intentions were included in that fulfillment, but he decided not to make an issue of it. For the woman was utterly captivating.

“Why are you here?”

“You saw earlier, didn’t you?”

The woman replied with a suitably smiling face. Her bright blue eyes, shimmering like a calm lake’s surface, seemed to be recalling some moment from the past.

Through the awkward silence that settled, a romantic melody of dance music drifted from afar.

“This is a song I like,” Edgar said with a slight smile.

“Would you like to dance?”

“As you can see, my feet…”

Edgar looked down at the shyly exposed small feet and chuckled. The woman was barefoot.

“How do you play tennis with those tiny feet?”

“How could you lose with those big feet?”

Edgar didn’t hold back his laughter. His low chuckle blended with the lively rhythm that had taken over.

“Why don’t you try participating in the Dumblin tournament?”

Of course, he anticipated the woman’s answer.

“No, thank you.”

Edgar nodded, as if disappointed.

“It’s a shame, but if Miss Blanchet isn’t inclined, there’s nothing to be done. Ah!”

“What’s wrong?”

Olivia approached, turning pale, as Edgar clutched his heart with his large hand and bent forward.

In the spring breeze, Olivia’s dress fluttered, revealing her white legs under the moonlight.

Edgar tilted his head diagonally to gaze at the woman and grinned, pleased to see her face examining him with concern.

“My heart aches from your rejection.”

“What? You scared me.”

The woman frowned and struck his arm with her fist. Edgar reflexively grabbed Olivia’s wrist.

The man’s gaze suddenly changed.

“It was just a bit of teasing, but it hurts quite a bit. Is it because you’re a lady who plays tennis?”

“I’m sorry.”

The noise from the boisterous party under the brilliant lights could be heard intermittently. At that moment, a wind blew.

The wind that had passed through the rose garden was excessively sweet. Edgar squeezed his eyes shut. His hand, released from Olivia’s wrist, touched his eyes. Edgar wore a pained expression.

“Don’t play around.”

“This time it’s real. …Will you take a look?”

Edgar blinked a couple of times and lowered his head towards Olivia.

The woman, who had instinctively pulled her shoulders back, hesitated before slightly tilting her head and approaching. Unable to see clearly, a faint wrinkle formed between her straight brows.

“I can’t see anything.”

As close as they were, the woman’s breath touched Edgar’s cheek. Gently pulling at the corners of his mouth, he bent down a little more.

Still not enough, Olivia rose on her tiptoes. He could feel the woman’s body heat. Edgar held his breath.

Clear blue sea. Those eyes, holding that unfathomable blue depth, were focused entirely on him.

“Grand bleu.”

At the word he uttered as if bursting out pent-up heat, the woman who had been standing on tiptoe lost her balance and swayed.

Edgar wrapped his arm around Olivia’s waist, and she braced both hands on his shoulders.

At that moment, Edgar tilted his face askew, covering the woman’s face. When the startled Olivia applied force to her hands to push Edgar away, he whispered in her ear.

“Will you go with me tomorrow?”

Behind the secretive whisper, there was a bang! followed by a flash of light.

As Olivia’s surprised face turned towards it, another bang! A silver flash burst forth, and simultaneously, boom boom, a thunderous sound echoed above their heads.

Brilliant roses were blooming in the spring night sky.

The tabloid in the hands of Johan’s maternal grandmother, Margaret, was crumpled viciously.

It was a scene of an obvious tryst to anyone who saw it. It appeared so to Johan Leopold’s eyes as well.

The birthday party of Marchioness Dowager Margaret Wellington was famous for its grandeur every year.

She spent her twilight years boasting of her well-being by gathering all the notable figures of high society on her birthday.

But on this meaningful seventieth birthday, ridiculously, there was a different protagonist.

“Edgar’s Rose, A Passionate Tryst with the Former Duchess Leopold”

“Such, such an outrage…”

The phrases were sensational. The accompanying photographs were also sufficient to capture people’s attention.

The face of the woman passionately kissing in the man’s arms, even standing on tiptoe, was hidden by Edgar, enough to provoke curiosity, but in reality, no one was curious.

Anne Julbert.

Everyone who attended the ball that day knew who the woman wearing that famous necklace was.

The newspapers quickly created a plausible picture based on eyewitness accounts, adding their own vulgar imagination, and this third-rate romance novel was splashed across the front pages of the previously dull Londos gossip magazines in less than half a day.

The hand that folded the newspaper in half and slammed it down on the table was fierce.

“This is why I was against it. I told you that a person’s roots are important, but what a disgrace this is. I’ve lived too long.”

Johan simply listened silently.

“How long has it been since the divorce? To do such a thing, really. How vexing.”

“It’s the age of free love, Grandmother. What’s wrong with dating after a divorce? It’s better than my mother, isn’t it? Don’t you agree, elder brother?”

Instead of answering, Johan lightly shook his wrist to glance at his watch with delicate gold decorations.

“That’s the problem. The free association between men and women. Young ladies give their hearts away too easily. Not knowing how shallowly the other party is taking it.”

The Dowager Marchioness clicked her tongue.

“Even if times have changed, you must remember that the essence doesn’t change. No matter how much free love is the trend, when it doesn’t lead to marriage, it’s the woman who suffers. Just look at Elena.”

Elena Blanchet. Olivia’s mother.

Johan’s plan to make a brief appearance before the family elders and leave the banquet had been thwarted by the scandal caused by his ex-wife.

“Unmarried girls walking around alone without maids, attending lectures in the same space as men under the pretext of studying. Dancing those indecent dances.”

“It’s the tango, Grandmother.”

Florine said with a smile. Johan raised his bored gaze to stare at his brandy glass. The ice had already melted.

“It doesn’t matter what it’s called. When I was a maiden, we only danced the waltz in front of our parents. A woman should be proper in her conduct. Look at Josephine. I’ve never seen that child dance anything but the quadrille. How modest. It’s surprising to find such a lady in this day and age. I’ve long had her in mind as a match for Johan. What an opportunity this is.”

Dowager Marchioness Margaret’s solemn gaze fixed squarely on Johan. The nagging that had been quiet for three years was signaling its prelude. It was also a moment when the absence of a wife was felt.

“It must be fate, Grandmother.”

Florine spoke up in support of her friend Josephine.

“I can vouch for Miss Josephine. She’s a young lady without any flaws as a duchess. Her piano skills are probably the best among the Londos ladies. My ears are accurate. Even with such skill, she doesn’t neglect practice. Be it singing or painting, there’s nothing she can’t do. Johan”

“That child’s embroidery skills are also exquisite. I heard she attended today’s party-”

As Johan stood up, the Margaret sisters stopped talking and glared at him in unison.

“Johan!”

“I’ll listen to the rest next year, at your next birthday. Take care, Grandmother.”

Johan approached Margaret, bent down to lightly kiss her cheek, and then bowed politely to the ladies. The sound of the old ladies’ admonitions could be heard behind Johan’s back.

“At twenty-eight, you should have had two children by now, Johan.”

“Young people think spring will last forever. They regret it later. Johan! Spring passes in the blink of an eye!”

The sound of tongues clicking as if the ground would cave in was no longer audible once the lounge door closed.

Johan crossed the corridor with wide strides. The faint smile he had shown for formality’s sake had long since disappeared. Unlike his expressionless face, the knuckles of his clenched fist were white.

Olivia Blanchet.

As he repeated the name of the woman who had been his wife, the anger he had sunk into the abyss began to stir. It was an emotion he had never felt when they were living skin to skin. Was it because the subject was Edgar?

Just as Johan, lost in thought, was about to pass by the terrace, unwelcome individuals surrounded him as if to encircle him. Johan slowly stopped his steps.

If only they had some tact.

There were many fools who were itching to belittle Johan, who had become the Duke of Leopold despite being the third son of the Duke of Edinburgh. Starting with his collateral cousins.

These types were characterized by their lack of tact and shame.

“Your ex-wife Brita seems to be quite famous these days.”

Unwelcome attention clung to him annoyingly. He had forgotten about the benefits of marriage, which had been as natural as breathing. He had to admit that married life had its conveniences.

“Whether she’ll become the Duchess of Lancelot or not remains to be seen. How do you feel? The photo was quite alluring.”

Johan’s expression towards his teasing cousin was cold.

“Since when were they in that kind of relationship?”

“Surely they weren’t doing it while she was sharing a bed with you?”

Johan slowly closed his eyes and then opened them wide towards his cousin.

“Why don’t you ask her yourself?”

“Lighten up, Johan. On such a good day. At least you divorced before getting stabbed in the back. You almost handed Grandmother a cuckoo’s egg as a great-grandchild- Ugh!”

Johan threw a punch.

*

Save yourself from story hunger — the novel below will blow your mind!

When scheming men desperately battle for her favor in the male harem…

This one’s also on my reread list! The rivalry, scheming between the men in the imperial harem are just as intense and thrilling as in classic palace drama novels, where concubines fight to the death. Give it a read, girls! I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Synopsis:

“I am not worthy of her… but I still want to be by her side, even if only as a loyal dog…”

Those were the painful whispers of Yue Guanyi – the proud Crown Prince of the Great Qi, who was torn between deep love and a guilty conscience. Despite holding the supreme power of the Imperial Guard, he still could not forget the dark past when he was sold into a brothel.

Fate played a cruel twist when Qiu Shuzhi – a young female official who had just passed the imperial examinations with top honors – stepped into his life. She did not know that she was the one who had saved him from a tragic fate many years ago. And now, her heart was the target of pursuit for both Yue Guanyi and the powerful Empress Dowager Qin Qing.

While Yue Guanyi only dared to silently care for and protect the one he loved from afar, the  Empress Dowager Qin Qing openly expressed his feelings and did not hesitate to take advantage of his power to approach Qiu Shuzhi. The covert struggle between the two most powerful forces in the imperial court began…

Trigger warning: All men in this novel are yandere style.

_____

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