The Full Story of an Incomplete Divorce - Chapter 3

After a long while, her sealed lips parted.

“Are you happy in this marriage?”

It was a completely unexpected question.

Perhaps it would have been better not to hear it at all. Her mind went blank as if she’d been struck hard on the back of the head, and her words clogged in her throat.

His face, looking straight at me, was far too innocent for it to be sarcasm. Was he perhaps implying that he was the one unhappy with this marriage? But even if that were the case, it was strange. A man who had never once, until now, even mentioned anything about their married life. A man who, far from it, had remained indifferent to everything as if it were none of his business. Why now, of all times? Why bring it up so late?

The more she struggled to grasp the intention behind the question, the more her confusion grew. Under the prolonged silence, the air in the room grew heavy and still.

After some deliberation, she pulled up the corners of her lips into a forced smile, just as she had done in front of the noble ladies during the day. Her tightly clenched jaw pulled stiffly. Charlotte thought it probably wasn’t a very pleasant smile to look at.

“Of course.”

“……I see.”

Not a single change flickered in those icy blue eyes.

“Get some rest.”

With those final words, Lucius quietly closed the door and disappeared.

***

Charlotte tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep. Lucius’s question kept circling in her head.

“Are you happy in this marriage?”

She sat up and lit the candle on the bedside table. Since sleep was out of the question anyway, she figured she might as well read a book. But instead of picking up the book, Charlotte looked toward the bedroom door. There was no sound or sign of anyone.

Even if she opened that door, Lucius probably wouldn’t be there. As always, he was likely hiding from her, holed up in his study or something.

‘Why?’

Why on earth was he avoiding her? Their relationship hadn’t been this severed when they were younger. Turning her head, Charlotte looked at the pillow placed beside the flickering candle. Even though it was a bed for one, she couldn’t fall asleep unless she left this space empty.

As if waiting for someone who would arrive soon. For nearly a year, without missing a single day.

She swept her hand over the empty space beside her; a cold chill transmitted through her palm. A sudden wave of loneliness washed over her, and Charlotte lay down in bed, curling her body into a ball. Slipping her hand beneath her underwear, she parted her folds with her fingers and gently rubbed the tiny c**t hidden within.

“Hhuuht.”

As she caressed the parted slit and twisted the c**t between her thumb and forefinger, a gush of transparent love juice poured out. A tingling sensation raced up her spine, and her body shuddered lightly from the pleasure. In truth, this kind of self-pleasure wasn’t her first time. Lonely nights outnumbered the ones that weren’t, and whenever it became unbearable, she would quell her desires through m**********n, just like now.

“Ahhht, Luc…ius, ng, mmhm!”

Imagining Lucius holding her, Charlotte pushed her fingers deeper inside. What would it feel like to be penetrated and thrust into by Lucius? What expression would he make when he pushed his member inside her and rocked into her? Her hungry hole quivered with a desire that her thin, slender fingers couldn’t satisfy. More. She needed a more intense stimulation.

Charlotte frantically pulled down the straps of her chemise. With one hand, she clumsily kneaded her ample b****t while quickening the pace of her fingers working below. Her sensitized n****e perked up impudently, and the fluid gushing from below soiled the sheets. A viscous pleasure washed over her.

However, incongruent with her steadily approaching climax, a plaintive sob began to mix into the moans Charlotte was letting out.

“H-heuk!”

Right at the precipice of her climax, as she withdrew her fingers, Charlotte finally couldn’t hold back and burst into tears. They were the first tears she had shed since spending that first night alone after their wedding night. The sorrow she had stubbornly suppressed with willpower and pride until now gushed out all at once, like a burst dam.