The General's Wife Wants to Leave-Chapter 208: Unrelenting determination

She denied it, creating what she wanted to see rather than admitting what she had seen. She wanted her friends to believe that what they performed was all done by force and threat. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Because Clara wanted to be in Joanna’s position. She wanted to be the one who was stared at with full affection by him. She wanted to dance beautifully in his arms. She wanted to be the center of attention, having her chest puffed that her husband had been gifted a piece of land that Clara believed the value was not to be underestimated.

Who did not want to be praised for that? By becoming his wife, all the fortune would be in her grasps.

She would be more rich and famous. She would be at the top of society. People would swarm around her, seeking her attention and wanting to get associated with her.

And to gain that, she would endure anything that Joanna just mentioned about the condition she should face if she became his wife.

However, for Clara, as long as he was not rude and cruel to her, she would accept it if he was really stinky and dirty, like how she accepted his sexual orientation, although it was a torture for her. But deep down she was utterly sure that General von Rodega would not have the heart to be cruel or rude to a delicate, charming figure like her. Instead, he would succumb and spoil her.

It was what Clara de Lorn believed.

But now she heard with her own ears how Joanna defended her position as his wife. She seemed to completely change her mind about the annulment. That only meant she would lose all the chance she had to be spoiled in the leisure and famous life she dreamed of.

She would lose the chance to be the wife of a man that had filled her dreams every single night. She would lose the man that made her see that all the men that approached her were nothing to be compared to him. She would lose the chance to taste his soared achievement and glory. There would not be an opportunity for her to be the wife of a highly competent man.

"It is not a good idea to maintain a marriage that you don’t desire, Lady Joanna." Clara tried to persuade Joanna.

She swallowed her anger as she did not want to lose the chance that she would not know when she could grasp again as it would be hard for her to get some private time with Joanna to persuade her over the matter.

She was glad when she saw the man whom she adored go somewhere with a royal servant, leaving Joanna alone with her father. Then, when she saw her coming to the powder room, she pursued her for the precious chance that might never come again.

"You seem not able to accept him as your husband. But I can. The fact that he is a ’cut sleeve’, I am fine with that. You know yourself well how much I love him. So, tell me if you will give up on your place. I will help you get the freedom you want. You can marry someone far better than him. The man that you love. Don’t you think it is a good thing for both of us?" Clara said, not wasting any single point to convince Joanna. "So don’t doubt to proceed your marriage annulment with him."

Stunned at how desperate the lady before her looked yet showing unrelenting determination to sway her, Joanna really did not expect Clara to be infatuated with her husband this much.

And love... She even claimed to be in love with him. Was she really serious with her feelings for him? She had never interacted with him. She, for sure, did not know anything about him except for what had been spread widely out there. He even had treated her indifferently. Did she really love him?

Joanna looked straight at the stunning lady before her very eyes, who also looked at her with an expectant look that was described well on her radiant face. She wondered if she knew what love was. What love actually was that made that lady confess that single word so easily and lightly?

"He is not a ’cut sleeve’. That’s why we can’t have our marriage annulled," remarked Joanna briefly, despite the indecipherable feelings lingered in her heart and mind, giving room for Clara, who had once again had her visage changed, to find the meaning of her words based on her viewpoint.

"I think we have talked a lot, Lady Clara. I should go back now. My husband may already wait for me outside." Joanna refused to prolong their conversation as she had conveyed her apology and all that was needed to know by her.

If that lady was still delusional about becoming the General’s wife, then she could not do anything about that. As for her, she could not sell her husband to another lady, no matter how much affection that lady had for him. Because that lady had allowed her friends to insult him. And because she could not repeat the same mistake—a mistake that would only accumulate guilt in her heart.

Because she still wanted to bear the status of his wife. She wanted to know how he looked when he grew older. Would he stick to her, as he said with his bald head and empty teeth? Would he still wander around her when she lost her youth appearance? Who would leave the realm first? She wanted to know that.

And she also wanted to know if they could live together even though there were only two of them in their house without any additional family members. Hence, she did not want to give in her position to anyone, as for him, who valued once marriage in a lifetime.

Eventually, when Joanna had offered a slight bow to Clara as a gesture that she would leave the powder room, Clara grabbed her arm and pulled Joanna, which made her stumble, unable to leave the powder room as she intended.

Turning her head in a snap with her eyes narrowed, Joanna faced Lady de Lorn, who tightened her grip on her arm.

"Husband," Clara muttered. "How nice it is to call him husband, Joanna?" She sneered, tightening her grip more on Joanna’s arm, causing Joanna to knit her brows as she winced in pain. "He is supposed to be my husband! Not yours!" Clara shouted. The sound of her teeth clenched reached Joanna’s ears. "And this ring is supposed to be mine!"

Finding Clara was about to pull out the ring on the finger of the hand that she gripped, Joanna quickly formed her hand into a ball and wriggled to free her hand from the seeming to be out of mind Clara de Lorn, preventing with all her might to keep the ring on her finger.

!!!

Both of the ladies stopped their dispute as they turned their heads in unison toward the door that was suddenly pushed open.

The night went deeper, reflecting the colors of the day’s rest. One hoped for a promise of life, a promise to see the return of the sun.