Chapter 28
28
Scarlett looked up at the peak and said,
"How do I get over this..."
As she pondered, Viktor tapped on the metal plate attached to the peak.
Twice, five times, twice...
Scarlett watched Viktor sending the signal, and soon a rope descended from above the peak.
Viktor gestured for her to go up first. Scarlett held her bag in one hand and looked at the rope with a troubled expression. She tried to grab the rope and climb up, but she lacked the strength and kept slipping.
"Come here."
Viktor called, and Scarlett reluctantly approached. He tied the bag securely to the end of the rope, then picked Scarlett up, making her wrap her arms around his neck.
"Hold on tight."
"...Okay."
In that position, Viktor grabbed the rope and began to climb. Scarlett closed her eyes tightly, terrified. As the ground grew farther away, her whole body trembled, but she couldn't bring herself to say she was scared in front of Viktor, who was bearing even her weight.
Once they reached the top of the mountain and Viktor let go of the rope and stood up straight, Scarlett got down. She spoke with a flustered expression.
"Thank you."
Viktor looked at Scarlett for a moment with a pained expression, then ran a hand through his hair and took a deep breath.
"...Was I heavy?"
Scarlett asked, and Viktor touched the spot on his neck where her breath had reached, then sighed with a crumpled expression.
"Of course not."
"Then... ah."
Scarlett realized why Viktor was in pain a beat late, and she fanned her flushed face with her hand as she quickly turned away.
"Sorry."
"Watch where you're going."
At Viktor's words, Scarlett raised her head. She looked down below the peak, and her mouth fell open involuntarily.
Beyond the peak, in the valley where Lüssen Falls was located, were two mansions. And flying between the valley was a glider that she thought had disappeared after the pirate subjugation.
"There's a glider..."
"Well, it's useless without wind."
Scarlett soon sat down on the peak and looked down. Each of the two mansions had the emblems of the Navy and the Army, respectively.
Scarlett turned around, and Viktor said,
"The Navy and Army have drawn special forces."
"So, that special forces is..."
"The Air Force. Even though they don't have planes."
"The Air Force doesn't have planes?"
"There's one Biplane made by the former heads of the Crimson Family, but it's broken."
Viktor grabbed Scarlett's body and turned her around.
"I'll give you a chance now. Go back if you want to."
"If I don't go back?"
"If you're related to the Crimson Family, you must be an engineer who came to fix that Biplane."
"If I can't fix the Biplane..."
"You can't get out of here."
At his words, Scarlett paused.
Viktor pulled the rope to lift the bag and said,
"As a courtesy to my ex-wife, the prison will be comfortably furnished."
At those words, Scarlett glared at Viktor. She didn't know when that man had started making jokes like that.
The two soon descended to the ground on an unstable lift attached to the mountain peak.
Lüssen Falls was just as her parents had said, possessing a sacred power. The water seemed to flow with a mysterious force, making it beautiful. Scarlett wanted to take out the pebbles in the water and took off her shoes, but Viktor looked uncomfortable and said,
"Do you want to go for a swim in this season?"
"No, it's because those pebbles are materials... Ah, should I not say that?"
"Do you think I'd sell the method of making that clock somewhere?"
Well, there was no way Viktor Dumpelt would do such a thing.
Viktor gestured to a subordinate nearby. The Navy soldier immediately went into the water, took out the pebbles, and brought them over.
"Here you are, miss."
"...Thank you."
Anyway, he was the type of man who wouldn't let a lady do anything herself. Come to think of it, Scarlett was curious and said,
"Isn't it a problem for your honor that I'm a clockmaker?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Clock technology is the best science and technology in the country."
"Hmm..."
She thought he would say something stuffy about a lady doing work, but he was surprisingly flexible in some areas. This was truly unexpected.
Scarlett thought and put her shoes back on. She looked at the pebbles that Viktor's subordinate had given her.
The pebbles had a sparkle that seemed to condense sunlight. She put one of the pebbles in her bag, and Palin came running from afar, looking pale.
"Captain! What are you going to do..."
"How could I stop her when she said she was coming?"
"You should have stopped her anyway! Even with force... Ah, really."
Looking at Palin's face, she realized that her recklessly coming here might be threatening her life.
Scarlett looked at Viktor, who had a nonchalant expression. Perhaps it was fortunate. If Viktor had been a man who cherished her and didn't know what to do, he might have stopped her from coming here. She never thought that the so-so feelings Viktor had for her would be beneficial one day.
'I want to tell my past self. Don't be too disappointed, because it will be beneficial someday.'
*
The mansion was a wooden building, and it was very well-lit. The weather in the valley was mild.
Entering the huge warehouse behind the mansion, she saw the gliders. Scarlett wanted to look around a bit more, but Viktor didn't stop walking.
His steps headed to the end of the warehouse. Scarlett followed Viktor, who opened the innermost wooden door, and her mouth opened.
"Ah..."
There was the Biplane. A huge double layer of wooden wings and a complex engine.
She searched for memories of this Biplane somewhere in her head. And after a while, she recalled her parents' conversation.
"It's too heavy."
"Yeah, we can't fly with this."
They couldn't fly with this engine.
But this was ultimately the last engine her parents had created. So, in other words, Salantie still didn't have the technology to create airplanes.
She was about to repair the engine right away, but Viktor stopped her.
"Can't you hear?"
"Huh? What did you say?"
Then Blight, who was behind them, said frustratedly,
"You need to change your clothes, miss."
"Ah..."
Scarlett nodded hastily. It seemed that she had been so captivated by the Biplane the moment she arrived here that she hadn't heard the sounds around her.
In the meantime, many people entered the warehouse, including an officer named Waldo, who led the Army that had joined the Air Force.
"If the engine runs, there's nothing we can't acknowledge. But can a beautiful lady like you do such rough work?"
As he was picking a fight, Palin approached and said,
"After all, the heads of the Crimson Family couldn't make this fly either. You just need to get the engine running."
"Who doesn't know that? I'm saying, can that lady get it running?"
Scarlett looked embarrassed. It seemed that the Navy and Army here didn't get along well with each other.
"If that's the case, I would have brought my wife too."
At Waldo's words, the Navy soldiers openly clicked their tongues.
Scarlett turned to look at Viktor, but he seemed to have no interest in his divorced wife as he took out a cigarette from his inside pocket. However, he couldn't smoke here, so he headed towards the door. Then he said to the other soldiers,
"My ex-wife needs to change her clothes."
At those words, the remaining soldiers frantically left the place.
Scarlett, who was left alone, looked at the clothes that Blight had brought. It seemed to be the smallest of the clothes here, but it was still too big for Scarlett. It was clearly the clothes that servants wore.
Scarlett reluctantly changed her clothes and began the repairs. The engine was old, but it was very clean, perhaps because it had been well-maintained. She couldn't fly with this engine, but it was still an excellent technology compared to the overall technology of Salantie now. More and more, she couldn't understand why Salantie was constantly suppressing technology.
Scarlett twisted her hair up and roughly tied it, then focused on fixing the engine. After working on it for a day, Viktor soon entered.
"Why don't you take a break?"
"..."
"Scarlett Dumpelt."
"..."
"Crimson."
"Huh?"
Only then did Scarlett flinch and turn around. Her eyes were bloodshot. Then she looked at her watch and said,
"It's only been three hours."
Then Blight said from the side,
"It's been fifteen hours, miss."
"Really?"
Scarlett looked embarrassed and looked back at the engine.
"I think I need to look at it a bit more... No. I'm going back now."
"Really? Then I'll bring Mr. Waldo right away!"
Blight ran out, happier than anyone else.
In the meantime, Scarlett asked Viktor what she had been curious about for the fifteen hours she had been fixing the engine.
"Since I'm related now, can I ask you something I'm curious about?"
"What is it?"
"Is Bestina really going to start a war?"
"That's too deep of a question."
Viktor nonchalantly answered and moved on.
A little later, people gathered.
Waldo said, huffing and puffing,
"She fixed that? No way!"
"How could she fix something that even a technician who defected from Bestina couldn't fix..."
They entered noisily, but soon closed their mouths when Viktor's gaze turned to them.
Although no one had decided, it was implicitly understood that the commander of these Air Force soldiers was Viktor Dumpelt. He was overwhelmingly superior in terms of status, and the same was true in terms of achievements. In terms of lineage, it was impossible to compare him to Viktor, who had royal blood mixed in. It was only because Viktor was respecting Waldo that they had this much autonomy.
Viktor was silently looking at Scarlett, who was finishing the repair of the detached engine. The tools that he never thought Scarlett could handle moved casually in her hands.
Viktor silently watched her hands.
