Chapter 11
11
*
While laughing and saying incomprehensible things like they weren't ugly and Scarlett wasn't ugly, the drivers were looking at her with worried expressions.
After calming the children down first, Scarlett took out the dress from her bag and put it back on.
She had deliberately worn lace gloves and a bonnet to avoid looking like someone who came to repair something, so it took some time to change.
In the meantime, the drivers talked to each other to forget their fear.
"Who was that navy guy just now? If it hadn't been for that officer, things could have been much worse."
"The warehouse suddenly lit up when we came in."
The voice saying that was still trembling.
Meanwhile, Powell's wife, Amanda, who had come to help her change, approached.
"Miss, are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Go home quickly. I brought a car here, so drink this."
As Scarlett replaced her greeting with a smile and took a sip of the tea, Amanda grumbled loudly for everyone to hear.
"Seriously, how can so many of them not fix one thing and call such a fragile young lady?"
"I'm really okay. The tea is very delicious."
Whether she was comforting them or not, Amanda scolded the drivers, pointing her finger at them.
While she was drinking the tea, Amanda wiped her face, and the other drivers lit a brazier and brought it in front of her.
Scarlett quickly calmed down, dissuaded the people who offered to take her, patted the brother and sister who had swollen eyes from crying so much, and returned to the store.
Andrei, who had been waiting without leaving work until she came in, immediately organized and closed his briefcase as soon as he saw Scarlett's face, complaining.
"What were you doing to come so late? I can't leave work, you know."
"You should have gone first. Sorry."
"I thought you were doing something dangerous again, so how could I leave?"
Andrei grumbled, packed his bag, and then quickly left, embarrassed that he couldn't leave work because he was worried about her. Scarlett was grateful and amused by Andrei, which relieved some of her tension and made her smile.
Firewood was burning in the fireplace. Scarlett locked the doors and sat on the guest sofa to warm herself. Looking at the table, there was soup and butter that Andrei had bought for her, and a piece of salmon fried as if it had been deep-fried.
"Looks delicious."
Andrei was cynical, but he was also the person who knew and cared for Scarlett the most.
She warmed the soup and salmon on the iron plate hanging from the fireplace and started her late dinner.
After soothing her empty stomach with the meal, she soaked in a steaming bathtub for a while. As her body warmed up, Viktor's gaze looking down at her kept coming to mind. She thought she might run into him once, but she didn't expect it to be in this situation.
"I owe him one today..."
As she muttered, she heard a knock on the door.
Scarlett was startled, roughly wiped off the water, and hurriedly put on an indoor dress. As she walked and opened the curtain of the glass wall, Scarlett's body stiffened.
A carriage with the navy crest was parked, and her ex-husband was in front of it. Not only Viktor, but also several subordinates were with him.
The navy soldiers of the Rubid Ship here were the ones who created a special unit by selecting the elite among the elite from the Naval Academy. Wearing black uniforms and black coats, they boasted an overwhelming level in terms of lineage and physique.
She tried to close the curtain and pretend she wasn't there, but she heard a groan.
Startled by the sound, Scarlett opened the curtain and saw Viktor looking down at a masked man kneeling.
He was smoking a cigarette and turned his head, making eye contact with Scarlett.
His lips moved, commanding, "Open it."
His appearance during work and at home were bound to be different, but the gap was particularly large for Viktor. She had lived with him for two years, but Viktor, whom she had seen today, was so ferocious that it overturned her thoughts about Viktor Dampfelt, whom she knew.
Reluctantly, she opened the door, and Viktor took another long puff of his cigarette, threw it on the ground, and entered the store.
Scarlett unknowingly gathered her hands defensively and pressed them against her chest, stepping back. She knew that Viktor had come right in front of her and was looking down at her, but she couldn't bring herself to look up. The smell of blood was spreading from the masked man kneeling outside.
"Who... is that person?"
As she asked in a clearly trembling voice, Viktor took off his black leather gloves one by one and said,
"Long time no see."
"I'm asking who it is."
At Scarlett's trembling voice, Viktor gestured, and Palin Redford, one of his subordinates, removed the mask. Seeing that face, Scarlett covered her mouth with both hands and tried to sit down.
Then Viktor grabbed her arm, forcibly pulled her up, and took her to the sofa to sit down. The man's face was covered in blood, but she could still recognize him. It was Delpio Priest, whom she had met at Mellin Monastery.
Viktor opened his mouth.
"He killed several believers. Saying he would drive out demons."
"......"
"The police asked for help and arrested him, but as soon as he saw my face, he confessed about you."
He raised the corners of his mouth as if he was dumbfounded and continued.
"He seemed to think I arrested him because of you."
He turned around and walked towards the door. And after closing the door, he locked the two latches one by one and opened his mouth.
"I checked the room you were in, and it was worse than a prison. Is that why you got a fever?"
"......Yes. I told you I was sick."
"You didn't tell me why you got a fever or that you almost died."
"......"
Scarlett felt uneasy in her heart at his voice mixed with the sound of the metal lock being locked.
Viktor approached again and asked.
"You didn't think you should tell your husband?"
Scarlett's gaze turned back to Delpio Priest outside the door and then turned to the side.
Viktor's goal was an operation aimed at suppressing pirates. It was not an operation that could be entrusted to a newly established unit with a young officer. But Viktor succeeded in that ridiculous operation. The pirates finally surrendered to Viktor, who was like a tsunami. Delpio must have been afraid of that, which is why he confessed what he had done.
Scarlett barely opened her mouth.
"No. I didn't."
"Why?"
Viktor asked again.
Scarlett recalled Gregory Dampfelt forcing her to hold a pen as she was dying of a fever.
His son's success was his success. Until now, he had been followed by the label of overthrowing the princess, but now he had become the father of a hero, enjoying the high society he had longed for since he was young like a fish in water. He was afraid of his son, so he made her write a contract. She couldn't break the contents of the contract with her own mouth.
Scarlett said calmly.
"You told me to go to the Monastery in the first place."
At those words, Viktor's expression crumpled a little more, enough to be faintly recognizable even in the darkness now.
Scarlett thought that even though this man was very cruel, he wasn't completely heartless, seeing the change in his expression, which never showed any embarrassment.
Her ex-husband was a cold person. Scarlett thought that the reason she fell in love with her husband was probably because of the joy of escaping her poor situation. What she loved was probably only his beautiful face.
He was not a person to love.
Loving him was like bringing the world's gold and silver treasures to a dead person. You get no response and only get hurt. It's your own fault for giving what he didn't want in the first place, but how bad is it to want a little love between a couple?
Scarlett continued.
"In that situation, what would I expect from you?"
"Is that why you wanted a divorce?"
When Viktor asked, Scarlett smiled and shook her head.
"I loved you throughout the two years I lived with you, but at the same time, I wanted a divorce. It just so happened that there was an opportunity."
"......"
"......"
A moment of silence flowed.
Scarlett continued, wanting to send him away.
"Really, why now? It's all in the past. You weren't curious about the reason for the divorce back then. If you had asked, I would have told you then. Besides, didn't you want it too?"
"I wanted it?"
"Yes. You signed it as soon as I said I wanted a divorce. You must have wanted a divorce too, so you did that."
Scarlett had been preparing answers to give when her husband asked her the reason, until right before she handed over the divorce papers.
But Viktor didn't have any particular questions. He knew she was sick at the villa, but he didn't ask where she was sick.
Seeing Viktor sign the divorce papers right away that day, Scarlett felt that Gregory had wasted his money and laughed a little. Her husband was someone who wouldn't care what happened to her in the first place, so why did his father spend money to write a non-disclosure agreement, she thought.
Viktor didn't answer for a while, and the small noises from dozens of clocks filled the place.
After a while, he opened his mouth.
"I couldn't ask you earlier because you were blaming me."
"You... there's something you can't ask?"
"Of course, you're the only one who interrupts me."
Viktor's words sounded somewhat playful, and as Scarlett relaxed her tension somewhat, he continued.
"Is my father involved?"
Scarlett flinched at his words and looked up, and Viktor continued.
"Mellin Monastery is five hours away from the Dumpelt Family. My father sent you to such a sadistic cult himself, so he wouldn't have been completely unaware of the situation."
Scarlett clasped her trembling hands and said.
"You......"
But Viktor interrupted her and asked back.
"Did I send you to the Monastery to die?"
"I knew your father hated me."
"So. Is this all my fault?"
"Yes. It's your fault. Everything is because of you."
Scarlett blamed him as coldly and resolutely as possible. It couldn't be helped. She had a duty to keep the non-disclosure agreement.
Viktor looked at Scarlett silently, then turned and opened the door.
In a daze, Scarlett got up to follow him, and Palin, who was standing outside, asked.
"Captain, what are you going to do with this guy?"
"He should be executed. He committed murder and ran away."
At the word 'execution', Delpio Priest struggled in despair.
As Palin Redford was about to put the mask back on him, the priest stood up to escape. Even though he was quite large, Palin lightly grabbed his neck with one hand and slammed him to the ground.
Scarlett was startled by the violent scene in front of her and hurriedly closed the curtains and sat down. Even after the sound of Delpio's gagged cries and the carriage faded away, she couldn't move for a while.
