Chapter 37
37
*
Viktor Dumpelt's visits to the Royal Castle were not frequent. Therefore, as soon as the news of his visit spread, the Royal Family was in an uproar. The Royal women, who were in the middle of a tea party, were especially excited.
"Viktor is here."
"Really?"
"What is he wearing? Is he still handsome?"
"What good is being handsome? We're cousins."
"What's wrong with cousins marrying in the Royal Family? Besides, we didn't grow up together. Viktor grew up outside the Royal Family."
After their conversation, they stopped the tea party and entered the Main Reception Room.
Aside from the current King and Queen, only the Crown Prince and his eldest son, the Crown Prince's heir, could use the Main Reception Room. Other nobles used the general reception room.
Crown Prince's heir Yuli Iren, who had summoned Viktor Dumpelt, was sitting crookedly on a chair opposite the door of the Main Reception Room.
A moment later, as Viktor appeared beyond the door, Yuli Iren sneered.
"Oh, Viktor."
Viktor stood in front of the door, placed one hand on his chest, bowed deeply, and remained standing there for a moment.
The Crown Prince's heir spoke to Viktor, who was standing far away.
"Aren't you coming in?"
Only after Yuli Iren gestured did he move his feet.
Next to Yuli Iren were Royal Family members who had come to watch. Royal women holding fans whispered among themselves.
"He's a cousin and divorced. He's not much of a husband material..."
"But if he looks like that, it's a different story."
"He's also a hero."
Gazes filled with sticky desire swept over Viktor. Then, Yuli Iren jokingly said to them.
"If you show such ulterior motives in front of someone, it makes them uncomfortable."
Then Viktor replied.
"I don't mind. It's not like the ladies can overpower me."
As he spoke, he smiled at the Royal women as if it were a joke, and they covered their faces with their fans and giggled. Yuli Iren twisted his lips into a displeased smile.
Viktor turned his gaze towards Nina Hunter, who was sitting next to Yuli Iren. The gaze was not long, but that short moment left a scar on Nina Hunter's heart.
When Viktor disappeared with the pirate ship and nearly half a year had passed, Nina thought Viktor was dead and became lovers with Crown Prince's heir Yuli Iren, who had been courting her around that time.
"You're the one who's late. The one who's late is the one who's at fault, why are you angry at me!"
When Nina encountered the returned Viktor, she tried to hide her shame for betraying him by raising her voice instead. Viktor let out a hollow laugh as if to say it was enough and turned away.
Nina knew that he was not the type to hold her back. Anyone who knew Viktor Dumpelt would have expected that, even if it wasn't her.
If Viktor had broken expectations and held her back then.
Nina thought these days that she would have given him a damn love story for the ages, no matter who her current lover was.
These days, all sorts of stories about Viktor Dumpelt were circulating in society. The story that Viktor Dumpelt had signed the divorce papers that Scarlett Crimson had presented on the day of their divorce without any questions was already a widely spread fact the day after the divorce.
'Of course. That's Viktor Dumpelt.'
A man who calmly lets go of his wife, not just his lover, perfectly matched the Viktor that Nina knew.
After breaking up with Nina, Viktor immediately married another woman as if to vent his anger. However, people were puzzled by the fact that he did not meet another woman after this divorce.
Perhaps, as rumored, he had no feelings for Scarlett Crimson and was not angry at all about the divorce. On the contrary, there was also a story that, unlike with Nina Hunter, he could not forget his divorced wife and was remaining chaste.
Who is the woman that the hero of the sea, Viktor Dumpelt, truly loves?
These days, society was full of people who wanted to know Viktor's inner thoughts.
Viktor watched the Crown Prince's heir, who had made him stand and had not given any instructions.
He already knew that Yuli Iren was showing off his position by summoning Viktor, who obeyed him because his only goal in life was to become a member of the Royal Family.
However, Viktor Dumpelt was by no means an easy and ridiculous person in Yuli Iren's eyes. Therefore, Yuli Iren had to give him some compensation for summoning him.
Yuli pulled Nina's hand next to him, kissed it, and said to Viktor.
"I hear my fiancée is holding a charity event soon."
"Oh, really."
"Kind of her, she's thinking of inviting Lady Marina."
At those words, Viktor's gaze turned to Nina again.
Yuli continued.
"If you have anything to put up for auction, bring it. You must have some unused items from both women. Oh, isn't your father in a lawsuit with you too? You must be lonely."
At those words, Nina lightly hit Yuli's arm.
"Yuli."
"He is imprisoned, though."
Viktor replied calmly.
The biggest reason Marina went mad was her exclusion from society.
As the King's precious daughter, there were plenty of nobles who would offer anything if she would just participate in any social gathering. Even now, Marina would read magazines filled with social gossip as soon as she regained her sanity. If Marina knew that Nina Hunter, the most famous socialite in current society, was inviting her, she would be overjoyed.
Among the secrets that the Royal Police revealed last year, the most talked about was the fact that Viktor Dumpelt had personally put his Mother in a mental hospital. However, not long after, the scene of Marina Dumpelt trying to kill her son was reported in the news, and public opinion was reversed. Even sympathy permeated the people's hearts for him.
Yuli was thinking that sympathy for the powerful was a truly dangerous emotion. Those who gained that sympathy might do anything.
Yuli was planning to use Marina Dumpelt to shatter people's shallow sympathy. Yuli was thinking that the moment she acted outside of social norms, sympathy would be broken by disgust. As a result, if Marina behaved inappropriately in society, it would tarnish Viktor's name. It was a reward mixed with poison.
Nina asked.
"You'll come, won't you, Viktor?"
"I can't refuse an invitation from you."
At Viktor's answer, the Royal women covered their mouths with their fans and laughed. Yuli Iren, who had succeeded in his plan, also raised one corner of his mouth in a smile.
A moment later, Viktor left the Main Reception Room.
Blight, who had been waiting in the hallway, knew that the Crown Prince's heir had summoned Viktor to use him as a spectacle, so he was worried about how he was feeling. As always, there was no agitation in Viktor's outward expression.
Viktor said to Blight.
"Write a letter to Scarlett. Ask her to decide what to put up for the charity party."
"Yes, Master."
Blight bowed and left the Royal Castle first to send the letter.
Viktor, who had stopped in his place, looked around the Salantie Royal Castle, which his Mother had drilled into his head to the point of brainwashing, so there was nothing he didn't know.
The splendid Royal Castle was now so empty in Viktor's eyes that it was nothing special. Watching the young nobles looking around for their partners made him doubt whether it could really be called elegant.
He wanted to ask his Mother what was so good about this space. In the end, was being a supporting character in this old space, which only had a flashy appearance as an advantage, better than being the master of the strengthened Dumpelt Family that her son could give her?
He wished that his Mother would come back to her senses even for a moment. Only then would she be able to make an accurate judgment about what was truly good.
*
Scarlett received the letter that Blight had written himself and sent with a servant. The neatly folded letter, with its precisely measured edges, revealed Blight's slight obsessive-compulsive tendencies. The letter contained a request to come to the Dumpelt Family estate to decide what to put up for auction at the charity party hosted by Nina Hunter.
[It is too difficult for us to decide what to put up for auction. We would be grateful if you could come to the Dumpelt Family estate and help us.]
Certainly, you can't just put up anything for a party hosted by a socialite like Nina Hunter. The items put up for auction were likely to be talked about and led to an evaluation of the family.
"I guess I have to go."
Scarlett muttered to herself and then sighed deeply, feeling reluctant to go.
December and January were seasons with frequent social events, including charity parties. When winter began, society began to freeze from afar. Then, ironically, wealthy nobles opened the social scene again, citing the reason that they were preparing firewood to send to those distant places.
Not only the nobles but also the people of 7th Street held charity events. Scarlett was already worried about not having anything to put up for the event. Scarlett, who had just opened her store, was barely making ends meet by maintaining the clock shop and providing Andrei's salary.
If she could sort out the items to be used for the charity party, she would be able to get leftover blankets or old grains that were not served on Viktor's table.
She made up her mind, put on her coat, and said to Andrei.
"I'm going to the Dumpelt Family estate. They asked me to sort out the items to put up for the charity event."
"Does the boss really have to go?"
"If there's anything useful, I'm going to bring it back. 7th Street is also having a charity event."
"Huh?"
Andrei said with his unique face that everything in the world was unpleasant.
"The boss is donating items to a charity event? Not receiving them?"
"What? Why would someone with such a big store receive charity?"
"It's not a big store. Take out the adjective 'big'."
"......"
"And the clothes that the boss is wearing right now. Even nuns don't wear them like that these days."
At his continued criticism, Scarlett said sullenly.
"......I'll do the work when I get back. I'm the boss, so it's my decision to give a vacation. I'm going to give myself a vacation today."
"Yes, sure."
Andrei also replied with a still dissatisfied expression.
