Chapter 44: Seduction

It took Lu Fan a full three seconds to process the situation. Racking his barren romantic experience, he finally came up with the word: "seduction."

No, wait, this was Jiang Ruxue—the aloof woman who had never given him a kind look in five years.

Yet right now, Jiang Ruxue had thrown all caution to the wind.

After all, she and Lu Fan already shared a child, and he was the only man who had ever possessed her. She realized she no longer hated Lu Fan as she once did. Not only did she not hate him, but the faint, soothing scent of medicinal herbs about him smelled inexplicably wonderful at a moment like this.

It was gradually stripping away her reason, making her yearn to press even closer to him.

Her delicate, alluring lips brushed against Lu Fan’s cheek. His skin was cool and smooth, completely devoid of the foul stench she had always associated with obnoxious men.

It was only when the woman’s soft lips pressed against him that Lu Fan snapped out of his daze. Flustered, he pulled Jiang Ruxue away. "Ms. Jiang, please calm down."

"Calm down? We've already taken our clothes off, and you're telling me to calm down!"

Jiang Ruxue felt a sting to her pride. After all, here was a breathtaking beauty laid out before him, yet he remained completely unmoved.

Since childhood, she had been the campus belle. During her school years, she was even voted the number one woman men most desired to possess. Even back when she was dating Shen Qianye, whenever Shen Qianye tried to get handsy, she would rebuff him on the grounds that she was too young.

She had always been cold toward such matters; if it hadn't been for someone drugging her back then, Lu Fan would never have had her.

Yet today, she had practically thrown herself at him, and Lu Fan’s utter calmness felt like a heavy blow directly to her self-esteem.

"Ms. Jiang, I don't know if I gave you the wrong impression, but the beginning of this marriage was something I accepted, and its end is something I have carefully considered."

"Is it because I neglected you and our daughter all those years? I promise you, I won't do it again in the future. I—"

Lu Fan shook his head. "It's not your fault. Being good to you was my own choice, and I have never blamed you."

"Then why are you so determined to divorce me? Can't I change?"

"First, for five years, you never fell in love with me. Perhaps recent events have given you a slightly more favorable impression of me, but that kind of fondness isn't love."

"Second, I have things I want to accomplish, and I might leave one day. I cannot offer you a secure future. You are still young; in time, you will meet someone you truly love."

Saying this, Lu Fan pulled the quilt up to cover her naked body.

"Saving you back then was out of necessity. Today, both of us are in our right minds; I am not a scoundrel, and you must remember that your body is never a bargaining chip. You need to learn to love yourself."

With that, he turned his back to Jiang Ruxue and put his clothes back on, piece by piece.

Jiang Ruxue gazed at his retreating back, tears slowly streaming down her face.

Lu Fan was simply too gentle!

A gentle blade was always the most painful.

"Lu Fan!"

Before he walked out, Jiang Ruxue called out to him. "Have you ever loved me at all?"

He had shown her consideration, care, and respect.

Yet she could not feel any love.

When someone truly loves another, it is impossible for them to remain this calm. Though she was loath to admit it, she was now desperate for an answer.

Lu Fan paused slightly in his tracks. "In the past, I thought what I felt for you was love. It wasn't until the day of our divorce that I realized—what I felt for you was never love."

With a deafening crash, the mountains within Jiang Ruxue's heart collapsed.

Not love! Then what on earth was it?