My Wife Has Changed.
This was the conclusion Johann Leopold arrived at as he gazed at his wife, Olivia Blanchet, standing rigid with her body straight and her buttons fastened all the way up to her neck, her eyes lowered in an indifferent stare.
Olivia Blanchet had always been a woman who longed for love. She acted as if she could not live without loving something, and unfortunately, the object of her affection was Johann Leopold, the busiest man in the world.
It was a fair trade—what he gave, he received in return. For him, marriage was nothing more than that. But his wife was different.
She did not know how to control her emotions gracefully, and her clear actions and intentions were just the perfect trigger to ignite his temper.
Her extravagance was not much of a problem. As long as she did not cause too much trouble, it was almost a relief when she sat at home and spent money quietly.
It was no big deal if she flirted with other men to catch his attention or caused a stir in high society.
But one day, when all methods failed, she did not hesitate to slit her wrist. She was a woman who would do anything to bring Johann to her side.
And then, she changed.
“What did you just say?”
Johann asked again, even though he was certain of what he had heard.
“Divorce. Let’s divorce, Johann.”
Her voice, calm and devoid of emotion, was nothing more than a simple, formal tone.
A rumor spread among the servants of Great Hill. Some thought the quietness wouldn’t last, seeing the Duchess’s change as a new form of attention-seeking.
And one of those who thought so was Anne. But.
“I’ve divorced, Anne.”
The Duchess’s face, smiling brightly, was clean of any emotion or lingering attachment.
While Great Hill was in turmoil over the Duke and Duchess’s divorce, she remained calm as if she were from another world.
The divorce proceedings moved faster than expected. Just as everyone had predicted, the Duke did not try to hold on to his wife. He also gave her a generous alimony and a villa in the resort town of Lemont.
“Anne, would you come with me? I would be grateful if you did.”
Amid the brilliant sunlight pouring through branches full of spring flowers, Anne realized,
Blanchet’s disgrace, the evidence of infidelity, the dirty illegitimate child.
The lady who had always been desperate for affection and dying in thirst had changed.
Anne happily replied,
“Please, take me with you, miss.”
As they sat side by side packing their bags, Anne gently held her miss’s scarred hand.
She had never been affectionate, but Anne had never hated her. The life of the young lady, despite her nobility, had been filled with so much hardship that even a lowly maid like Anne felt pity for her.
The Duchess packed a simple travel bag and boarded the carriage.
“You’re being unreasonable. But it’s the last time.”
Anne spoke with a bitter voice, looking up at the largest window on the second floor. The lady’s tone, ending three years of marriage, was remarkably calm. What had happened to the love that had clung desperately to her, as if it would shatter at any moment?
Anne quietly observed her lady, who gazed out the window.
Since the day of the early spring rain, she had often stared aimlessly at something far away. It reminded Anne of the young lady’s eyes when she had been locked in the repentance room, longing for freedom.
“Get someone.”
“Understood.”
Johann spoke coldly as he looked down at the carriage speeding down the road lined with fir trees just past the main gate.
Not long ago, he received word that his wife had jumped into the lake. But since it was typical of her, Johann remained unfazed. He finished his work and returned to the mansion three days later.
His wife lay in bed, her face unnaturally pale. He had seen this many times recently, so it no longer affected him. He was simply irritated by the way his wife kept clinging to him in this manner.
Four days passed. The spring that had seemed reluctant to arrive began to drizzle, and Johann’s patience was nearing its limit as he dealt with urgent matters in the mansion’s office.
That was when his wife opened her eyes.
‘Divorce me.’
What was her new scheme?
Even after the carriage disappeared into the distance, Johann stood by the window, unable to leave.
The change of ownership from Johann Leopold, the Duke, to his former Duchess, was something Hermann found far from pleasant.
The Duchess was a difficult person to serve, even for a seasoned butler. Furthermore, to hear that she had come down from her position after the divorce was something the servants of White Gables, including Hermann, feared.
But.
“Call the merchant.”
“Yes… what did you say?”
The flustered butler asked, blinking.
“I’m selling this villa. Please find someone who will offer the best price.”
The Duchess, after touring the villa, decided she needed a break and headed to the second-floor bedroom. She paused halfway up the red mahogany staircase and turned around to speak.
“I’ll make the contract conditional on transferring the employment, so don’t worry. Please let everyone know.”
Her smile, tinged by the sunset coming through the large window on the side of the staircase, looked almost like a saint’s, merciful and serene.
Hermann no longer remembered the woman who had screamed and raged.
The butler stared blankly at the Duchess’s retreating figure, then snapped out of it. He rushed to the telegraph office in town and sent an urgent telegram to Great Hill.
“She put the villa on the market?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Johann’s ex-wife, who always played her moves predictably, was starting to deviate from his expectations.
“What should we do?”
“Buy it.”
The aide bowed and quickly left the office.
Johann closed the file he had been reviewing.
Was she planning to buy a mansion in the capital with the money from selling the villa?
The reason he had given Olivia the Lemont villa was simple. It was far from the capital but still had enough entertainment to keep her from getting bored. It was a resort town for nobles.
But now, was she planning to come back and bother him again?
No. That couldn’t happen. Olivia.
Johann opened the cigar box, polished to a shine, and lit the cigar. His eyes narrowed as he took a loose puff.
The villa was sold to a good buyer, who paid a slightly higher price than the market rate. The buyer was kind enough to hire the servants under the same conditions, and the lady was pleased, calling herself lucky.
Anne rode in the carriage with her lady to town. She never asked what her lady was doing or where she was going. She simply stayed quietly by her side.
It was unsettling yet joyous to see her lady so full of life, a transformation Anne had never seen before.
The lady stopped the carriage in front of a bank. After carefully consulting with three banks, she ultimately opened an account with the International Bank.
“Look, Anne. This is a letter of guarantee.”
The lady fluttered a check with an astronomical sum written on it, smiling like a child.
“I’ll pack again.”
“What is this?”
“I’m grateful for everything. Take it.”
“Miss!”
“I’m going a bit farther this time, Anne.”
Her lady’s blue eyes sparkled with no hint of regret, like someone who would never return again.
The memories of the rainy day in midsummer unfolded before Anne’s eyes.
A middle-aged man holding a black umbrella and a girl crossing the red rose garden toward the Blanchet mansion. The man, unable to even step inside, left angrily, and the thin girl stood in the rain, eventually collapsing.
Ten-year-old Anne had been mopping the floor, but she ran out, pulled the girl into her arms, and struggled to bring her inside.
That day, the girl had been locked in the attic, and Anne was punished for the first time by her mistress, spending two days in bed with a fever.
“Please, take me too, miss.”
The illegitimate child of the noble Blanchet family, Elena Blanchet, left behind as a pitiful child.
“You won’t see your mother often.”
“She asked me to take care of you.”
Anne remembered the girl, soaked in water after being pulled out of the lake, looking like a drowned bird. She feared the girl would vanish like a mirage.
“Then let’s go together. We’ll spend all that money and live well, yes, miss!”
Anne tightly grasped the slender wrist of her lady, feeling a sincere warmth from her small hand. Olivia could not bring herself to shake her off.
The next day, they left the villa, dressed simply for travel, leaving Great Hill behind.
“She left White Gables?”
“Yes, she boarded a passenger ship heading for the Brit Kingdom.”
“Brit.”
Johann chuckled briefly.
Not the capital, but Brit…
If this was some new strategy to grab his attention, his ex-wife had certainly made progress.
Why Brit, of all places, where there was no connection?
Johann frowned irritably, feeling a frustration unlike when they had lived under the same roof and caused trouble.
“What should we do?”
“Keep monitoring.”
“Understood.”
After the aide left, Johann returned to his documents but then stood up and approached the window.
The blue sky was unusually clear, like Olivia Blanchet’s blue eyes.
His wife had always had dull, dark eyes, clouded by medicine and alcohol. He had only recently realized that her eyes were blue.
And now, in the end, she had those eyes.
As Johann gazed at the pure blue sky, Olivia, now known as Han Ji-an, was on the deck of the ship heading for Brit, staring at the same sky.
For the first time, she smiled brightly.
Olivia was, no, Han Ji-an was running away, forever from her husband’s grasp.
