Chapter 18
18
When Scarlett Dampfelt fell asleep as if she had fainted, Viktor immediately began searching her room. It didn't make sense logically.
He was the one who knew the Tram technicians in Salantie most clearly.
He thought the nobles were blinded by short-term gains and were doing crazy things. Salantie's neighboring countries were all smaller than this country, but that didn't guarantee they wouldn't start a war. In particular, if he were a politician in a neighboring country, he would think there was no more tempting prey than Salantie, which had not long finished a war with pirates.
But Salantie had been focused on suppressing the development of science for nearly a decade. They were even destroying the already developed Tower of Science.
Viktor opposed war, and therefore thought a stronger military force was needed. The best way not to wage war was to build up military power, he had come to think.
Then scientists and engineers were needed. Great inventors like the late Crimson Count and Countess, who died in an accident, were needed. So he had been searching for these technicians without the Royal's knowledge. That was why he had gone to check the broken Tram, under the guise of lending his strength to the Royal Police.
But there, in a box, was Scarlett Crimson.
The Crimson couple's only daughter, who had not learned anything from her uncle, was repairing Trams and fixing clocks.
Eventually, Viktor searched Scarlett's room while she was asleep in a panic, and found this.
The subordinates gathered at Viktor's mansion were wearing serious expressions, with the Biplane blueprint in the middle.
Palin opened his mouth.
"You're saying the Scarlett Dampfelt really drew this? A Biplane blueprint?"
"That's what I'm saying."
Palin grabbed his red hair with both hands.
"This is driving me crazy. If this gets out, the High Priest will target her. Extreme religious fanatics will attack her. What on earth is the Scarlett Dampfelt thinking..."
What religion could never accept was flight.
Evan, who never minced words, said.
"Just because you draw a blueprint doesn't mean it can actually fly. If you think about it logically. The Crimson couple didn't succeed in designing a Biplane during their lifetime either."
"Well... is that so?"
"But even if it can't fly, we have to create at least a form. It will be difficult for Bestina to pick a fight with Salantie easily."
"That's right, we have to at least lie that we have flight capabilities."
Hoppe chimed in from the side.
Then Evan said.
"But even if we only create a form, our lives will be in danger."
Viktor sat in his chair and watched them talk in an excited state.
The Rubid Ship's naval special forces were actually talents selected for the air force. Similarly, the army also drew from the air force, and they, too, were thwarted by the accidental death of the Crimson couple, who were looking for a way to fly, and remained under the name of special forces.
Despite receiving secret, almost torturous training as aviation officer candidates in the navy and army, all that remained for them was a glider that could fly for only 1 minute and 20 seconds one way if a sniper boarded it.
Evan's words were realistic. Just bluffing that they had an airplane might make Bestina, who was calculating whether to wage war, back down.
Viktor rested his chin on his palm and pondered.
Viktor was often angry that Scarlett had left him.
Scarlett had done everything she could for her husband, and often marveled at how happy this marriage was.
If giving everything was her love, then what was it now that she had left as if never to be seen again and threatened to kill him if she reappeared to him?
Pathetically, he felt empty when something he had once possessed was taken away.
Viktor laughed a little at how insignificant he was.
He had never asked to be loved, but as soon as he adapted to the pouring love, she turned her back and left, what was he supposed to do?
He opened his mouth.
"She must have drawn it thinking she would risk execution to make it."
His words brought a moment of silence to the table.
Viktor continued.
"Why would she make such a detailed blueprint if she didn't intend to make it?"
Then Palin, who was tender-hearted compared to his physique and strength, stammered.
"But it's too dangerous..."
"Isn't the whole of Salantie in danger if we don't have an air force?"
"...That's true."
Silence flowed again.
While his subordinates were fidgeting beside him, Viktor looked at Blight and asked.
"Does Scarlett Dampfelt have a good memory? Enough to memorize a blueprint she saw before she was twelve?"
"I don't know?"
Viktor recalled Scarlett's clear eyes, and soon said to Blight.
"Or is it possible for a person to suddenly recall something they saw when they were young?"
"I'm not sure."
It was when Blight hesitated and answered. For some reason, Viktor recalled the day Scarlett was interrogated by the Royal Police.
He still didn't understand Scarlett's actions that day. They couldn't have tortured a noblewoman. If Scarlett had come out and told him that, the Royal Police would have been disbanded immediately.
"I don't remember. I'm sorry."
"Really. I don't remember. I must have been out of my mind for a moment."
Scarlett originally had a tendency to act as if it had never happened after a painful event was over. So he thought that she couldn't stand the temptation of the medicine for Isaac and the pressure from the Royal Police, and was pretending not to remember because it was too hard to tell him her weakness.
Scarlett Dampfelt was someone who always did what he wanted. She had lived as if it was so natural for her to throw her life away for her beloved Viktor that it wasn't even worth thinking about.
She was someone who would take out her heart if she loved, and would do anything to be loved. When her love noticeably cooled down in just two years of marriage, and eventually she betrayed him, Viktor wanted to fall and die with her somewhere.
More than the fact that his weakness had been revealed, he was pained by the fact that the heart of the only person in the world who loved him, who was not even loved by his Mother, had changed.
Scarlett didn't have the luxury of being terrified. She had a store, employees, and family to take care of.
She wanted to go see Viktor right away, but she didn't have time to go to his mansion. The time came the following Wednesday. That day, she had something to do near the mansion anyway.
There was a huge lake three Tram stops away from 7th Avenue. If you took the Tram that circled the lake, or the raft that crossed the middle, you could go to Rilson Square, called the administrative center, on the opposite side. The naval officers' mansion was there.
Liv, the neighbor, followed Scarlett, who was going to see Isaac.
"He's a regular customer who likes our fig bread and apple cake so much, I have to see his face."
"What are you going to do when you see him?"
"You said he looks just like you. Then he must be handsome."
Liv said honestly and moved her steps with a bread basket.
When they arrived at the small pier where the lake's raft was, there were many women gathered and buzzing. And as soon as Isaac arrived from the opposite side, the voices grew louder.
Isaac, wearing a business suit mainly worn by the middle class of Salantie that Scarlett had bought for him, was stealing the women's attention. His large physique inherited from the blacksmith's lineage, his warm impression, and his pretty face were attracting people.
Isaac, who arrived at the port, attached the raft to the pier and wound it with a pulley by hooking a hook. When the raft was completely fixed, he held out his gloved hand to the person at the front.
"Please give me your hand."
Then the female customer waiting at the front held out her hand with a flushed face. He was putting customers on the raft, and in the middle, Isaac smiled.
"Scarlett?"
"How did you know?"
"I know your footsteps wherever you are."
Isaac said and put Scarlett on the raft.
Scarlett said.
"This child is my friend, Liv."
"Ah, the bakery girl."
Isaac said, grabbing Liv's hand and putting her on the raft.
"I always enjoy the bread."
At Isaac's words, Liv nodded, looking at him with a dazed face.
Isaac pulled the rope and started moving the raft. As the boat glided, the beautiful scenery of the lake came into view at a glance.
After going to the opposite side and returning, Isaac's lunch break began and he got off the raft.
Isaac, who was familiar with this place, headed to a bench around the lake with a bonfire, leaning on his cane. Liv, who was supposed to deliver bread and leave, was looking at Isaac with a blank face.
Scarlett said to Liv.
"Won't you get scolded by the boss if you don't go back?"
"It's okay..."
Liv answered in a daze, and Scarlett called again.
"You said there were a lot of orders today and he told you to come back quickly."
"Huh? Ah!"
Liv shouted, startled.
"I'll go! I'll go!"
"Be careful."
Liv almost fell over at Isaac's greeting. Scarlett quickly supported Liv, and Liv ran away.
