Chapter 100
100
"......"
When Yuli gritted his teeth at Viktor's words and froze, Nina Hanter came rushing into the reception room. The attendant tried to block her at the door, but she pushed through relentlessly.
No one dared lay a hand on her body, so in the end, Nina approached the table where the two men sat.
The moment Nina saw Viktor's face, she swung her hand to slap him. But Viktor grabbed her wrist, stopping her.
Undeterred, Nina glared at him and said,
"Let my brother go."
"Would you like to take his place then?"
"W-What?"
"I need someone to take out my anger on too."
Nina was so startled by Viktor's dry voice as he looked at her that her rage instantly subsided.
The Viktor she had always believed to be a gentleman now looked like a thug. She knew he was deliberately holding her wrist to provoke Yuli, and Yuli knew it too.
"Let her go, Viktor."
Yuli ordered, but Viktor kept staring at Nina, only releasing her after she struggled a bit later.
She hoped Yuli would say something more to Viktor. But Yuli fell silent.
Marrying the crown prince was a fantasy every girl Nina's age had dreamed of at least once. She was sure even Scarlett Crimson, three years younger than her, had too.
But if she had known the crown prince wouldn't even speak up when another man held her lover, would he still have been the object of that fantasy? Nina was certain he wouldn't, and in that moment, her feelings for Yuli cooled like ice water poured over them.
As Nina looked at Yuli, he said,
"I'll handle this here, so wait a moment, Nina."
"......"
Exasperated, Nina glared at the crown prince before storming into his bedroom.
A brief silence followed, and after Viktor finished the rest of his drink, he said,
"I'll be going now."
He set down his glass and continued,
"So hurry and go comfort Miss Nina. If you leave her alone too long like this, she'll run off to another man."
With that, Viktor turned to leave.
Unable to contain his anger any longer, Yuli grabbed a glass ornament from the table and hurled it at Viktor. But before it reached him, a navy man rushed in and blocked it. The ornament shattered against his back, and he grimaced before bowing to the crown prince and withdrawing.
No matter what Viktor had done, the fact that his subordinate had barged into the crown prince's space without permission—when Yuli hadn't allowed it—meant Viktor's men had no loyalty to the crown prince.
Yuli's attendants and the servants passing by all froze. Viktor left the reception room as is, and the navy men waiting in the corridor followed behind him.
After Viktor left, Yuli gripped the window frame with both hands, breathing heavily in frustration.
As long as he refused to release Hugen Hanter from the Naval Residence, Yuli couldn't move freely.
Fortunately, war was imminent, and Salantier had no way to stand against Bestina.
Though Scarlett Crimson had advertised that she would build an airplane, he was convinced it was far too late for her to achieve anything alone. A hero was someone like Viktor Dumpeldt—born of good blood and elite education—not a rough-raised mechanical engineer girl like Scarlett Crimson.
If Bestina conquered this land, Yuli Eren would become Salantier's king in exchange for suppressing its technological power. Of course, actual governance would come from Bestina's politicians, but Yuli thought that would be fine.
Yuli entered the bedroom and lay down beside Nina, who was lying on her side, angry that he hadn't crushed Viktor's spirit.
"When I become king, the first thing I'll do is punish Viktor Dumpeldt."
At his soothing words, Nina fortunately didn't stay mad long and turned back into his arms.
*
The night before, as promised, Isaac carried the exhausted Scarlett, who had cried herself out, back home. Scarlett, drained, rested her head on Isaac's back and breathed shallowly.
She already knew that Viktor had occupied the Royal Police headquarters and dragged off Hugen Hanter. Recalling the face that had handed her tea, and piecing together her memories, his actions now made sense.
But at the same time, remembering moments when her husband hadn't trusted her, making her doubt herself, filled her with resentment.
After all that crying and raging, her head throbbed. Breathing in the late-morning air mixed with the scent of snow eased the headache a bit.
With a blanket draped over her shoulders from the sofa, she went to the window and saw snow piled up in front of the mansion.
Recalling childhood memories of making a huge snowman with Isaac, Scarlett pressed her hand to her forehead against the throbbing and leaned on the window frame.
She was immune to physical and mental pain. Paradoxically, that allowed her to recall and note down one by one what the Royal Police had done to her. It infuriated her that this testimony would justify Viktor's occupation of headquarters, but she could endure it if it meant striking back at Hugen Hanter.
During the interrogation, Hugen Hanter had desperately wanted Scarlett to reveal something crucial about Viktor from her mouth, so he had scoured her mind thoroughly.
"What could it have been."
If Viktor had a greatest weakness, she wanted to know it first. Scarlett tried to remember, but that part wouldn't come clearly.
They had persistently questioned her about the carriage accident that killed her parents, but Scarlett truly didn't remember the details. She had always thought it was because she had tried to forget it deliberately. She had never once tried to recall that moment in her life, and even now, that scene wouldn't surface.
To begin with, why had the accident happened? And if it was intentional, how had she and Isaac survived?
As Scarlett pondered, her bedroom door opened and Isaac entered.
"Scarlett."
"Yeah?"
Turning to answer, Scarlett's eyes widened. Isaac's clear, vivid eyes were visible.
"Wow!"
"I was going to surprise you yesterday by taking off the sunglasses...."
Before Isaac could finish, Scarlett rushed over and hugged him tightly. Burying her face in his chest, she mumbled,
"Once it bursts once, the tears keep coming... What if I turn into a kid who cries all the time?"
"It's fine. You weren't a kid when you were little, so think of it as compensation."
"Is that so...."
Contrary to her words that sounded like she might sob, Scarlett lifted her head with teary eyes and smiled.
"It's weird. I'm so happy, but tears are coming out."
"Yeah, the human heart is complicated."
Isaac spoke with a serious face, making Scarlett burst into laughter. With a happy expression, she touched near his eyes and said,
"Really, when one door closes, another opens."
As her hand neared his eye, Isaac blinked shut, then grinned widely and nodded. Scarlett's face looked truly relieved after crying her fill, easing Isaac's mind as well.
A moment later, the two pulled out and spread all the materials left at home to decode the Crimson couple's ciphers.
Isaac had dismissed almost all the previous servants who worked here and hired new ones. Maids she had never seen before brought cherry pie and placed it near the two studying documents spread on the carpet. Seeing the cherry pie in a large basket made from palm fronds, Scarlett said,
"Ah, cherry pie...."
Scarlett picked up the cherry pie with both hands. With a face full of longing, she said,
"Remember? When the cherries ripened, we always went picking together."
"Yeah. You and I fought over who would pit the seeds."
At Isaac's words, Scarlett burst out laughing. As he said, the siblings fought every day over the single cherry stoner. It was tiring, but the satisfaction of the pits popping out made it worth it.
But usually Scarlett won, volunteering to pit first only to toss it aside soon after saying her arms hurt, leaving it to Isaac.
Recalling that memory, Scarlett laughed.
"Even back then, you were a good brother. You never beat me once."
"Well.... You were stronger."
Isaac's serious-faced joke made Scarlett laugh again.
After generously stuffing a big bite of the warm cherry-filled pie into her mouth, Scarlett scooped vanilla ice cream onto it and took a second bite. The pie, rich with good butter, tasted abundant.
As Scarlett happily ate the pie, she checked the letters. It seemed the Crimson couple had always felt threatened, as even their letters to each other were fully encrypted. After reading for a while, Scarlett checked the first sentence again.
"Brother, do you remember what Dad called Mom?"
"Pie?"
The reason the Crimson family ate pie every special day was one.
The siblings' parents loved pie. They claimed it was the most mathematical food because of pi. And their father, Willis Crimson, who loved math, said he had called his wife Wendy Crimson "Pie" from the moment they first met.
Scarlett checked the first sentence of the document again. As expected, the same cipher appeared at the start of every document.
"If this is all 'pie'...."
"Now that you mention it, I remember the first sentence Dad always used."
At Isaac's words, the siblings said simultaneously,
"If you like today's weather as much as I do, that would be great."
Their mother had once giggled about how her husband always wrote that at the start of his letters. Willis Crimson was the most laid-back person in the world, saying "Haha, what great weather today!" whether it rained, snowed, was hot, or cold.
With that, the siblings smiled nostalgically in unison.
Isaac said,
"They were good people. Maybe we feel it more because they passed early."
"No. Even if they'd lived long, they weren't the type to do bad things. Always holed up in the lab."
"True."
The two matched words and sentences bit by bit to decode the cipher. And soon, it unraveled.
[Will, I want to fly at least once too.]
[Me too, my dear Pie.]
[Pie, I miss you. How was my event today?]
[It was the best! As expected, your butt is...]
Scarlett suddenly crumpled the letter, and Isaac asked with wide eyes,
"Why?"
"I saw something I shouldn't have."
Scarlett took a deep breath as she spoke.
"It's traumatizing."
"Why, why? What happened? Can I see?"
"No. This is for your sake. Why would they leave something like this in a letter?"
As Scarlett fumed, Isaac tilted his head. But since his beloved sister said not to look, he nodded and let it go.