Chapter 48
48
"See? You can't forgive me either."
Scarlett didn't try to pull her hand away from him. Rather, she was afraid he would grip it even tighter. As he said, he could lock her up in the Monastery whenever he wanted.
"Stay here. If Isaac comes, leave without saying hello to me."
Viktor said, releasing her hand, and Scarlett nodded to accept the deal.
Viktor, about to leave the bedroom and opening the door, looked at Scarlett.
He asked, "Do you still love me?"
"......"
Scarlett's expression slightly crumpled at his sudden question.
After a moment, she opened her mouth. "Not now."
"Easy to distinguish, I suppose."
"What... distinguish?"
She asked, but Viktor didn't answer and left the bedroom.
Left alone there, Scarlett sat down for a while. Then, as she left the bedroom, she saw Blight heading to Viktor's study with a wooden box containing liquor bottles and an ice bucket.
Scarlett asked, "What kind of liquor is that?"
"Ah, the young master said the liquor and ice in the study had run out."
"...Does he drink from morning?"
"Yes. Whiskey is his breakfast. On the rocks."
"What, what?"
Viktor was a man who had invested his life in not being caught doing wrong. How could he have come to live like this in the past year?
Come to think of it, a divorce might have felt like a blemish to a man who valued honor. But even so, it didn't seem like he would be so hurt as to replace breakfast with liquor.
Scarlett said, "Even if Viktor is healthy, he'll get sick if he keeps doing that."
"Shall I prepare breakfast? If you say you prepared it, he won't say anything."
"Yeah. Prepare it."
Scarlett said, and Blight's face lit up.
After Blight left, Scarlett looked at the pajamas she was wearing and muttered, "I don't even remember changing into pajamas..."
After saying that to herself, Scarlett returned to her room.
She changed her clothes and finished breakfast. She was going to leave as soon as Isaac arrived, but she was worried about Viktor and headed to his study for a moment. She was about to knock, but then just opened the door.
A meal was set, but it was untouched, and the room smelled of cigars.
Viktor was sitting on the windowsill, drinking liquor. Scarlett glared at him, then walked to the window. She picked up the on-the-rocks glass, half-filled with liquor, that was on the windowsill. As she was about to drink it, Viktor grabbed her wrist.
"What are you doing?"
"Eating."
"What are you talking about?"
"A guest should follow the host. You said this is breakfast."
Scarlett looked straight at Viktor, pulled the wrist he was holding, and brought the glass to her mouth.
Viktor stared silently as Scarlett's lips parted.
Scarlett drank all the remaining whiskey.
Viktor asked, "Is it good?"
"Not good enough to eat for breakfast."
"Oh, dear."
Viktor took the glass from her hand. When Scarlett tried to take it back, he raised the glass to a height she couldn't reach.
"Don't worry about me and go home. Scarlett Crimson."
"I'm going anyway. Eat what's been set out."
She said, then picked up a white bread from the basket on the table, placed it on the windowsill, and headed back to her room.
*
Isaac, who was in jail, thought that his time here might be prolonged.
Fortunately or unfortunately, after Scarlett talked to the Royal Police, the weight of the crime he had committed had become much lighter.
And the next morning, an elder from the Crimson Family came to visit him. It was Zachary Crimson, who was the great-uncle of the siblings. He was currently the oldest member of the Crimson Family.
Zachary said, "Do you even know what you've done?"
"......"
Isaac didn't answer, but tilted his head slightly to one side and only stared at Zachary Crimson.
After Evil Crimson swallowed the family, none of the relatives helped the siblings.
Zachary Crimson avoided Isaac's hard-to-face eyes and turned his head, saying, "I know why you cut off Evil's finger. You were trying to prevent him from making watches. Did you think that would give your sister strength?"
"If the number of technicians decreases from two to one, the remaining one will become busier."
Zachary Crimson flinched at Isaac's words.
Isaac continued, "You were going to help sue Scarlett, weren't you? The Crimson Family members."
"That's... Evil was your guardian and held the real power in the family. We had no choice if we wanted to make a living."
Zachary Crimson continued, "Anyway... Isaac. Control your sister. What does that girl know?"
"......"
"Are you going to let Scarlett tarnish the name of the family you will lead?"
Isaac listened to Zachary Crimson's words, which were exactly what Evil used to say, and recalled himself at thirteen and Scarlett at twelve.
When he regained consciousness after the carriage accident, his parents were dead and he couldn't see. Isaac, who was only thirteen, sat in a wheelchair and didn't say a word for months.
On the other hand, as soon as Scarlett returned home from the hospital, she ran to the cleaning supply closet and took out the rags that the maids who used to work there had made. He remembered hearing the sound of her scrubbing the windows clean.
"I'm good at cleaning. I can clean very cleanly. I'll do the cleaning from now on. Oh, and my brother needs someone to take care of him, too. I'll do it, I can do it all!"
Twelve years old.
Only twelve years old.
How could she have assessed the situation so quickly at that time?
And when he thought about how she could suppress her sadness after that judgment, there was only one answer.
Scarlett knew that if she was kicked out of this house, Isaac's life would be in even greater danger. In the absence of their parents, Scarlett thought she had to protect Isaac, who had suddenly become blind without any training.
While Isaac was thinking, Zachary Crimson said, "The entire family could be ruined. You may not know, but if the business becomes this unstable, the bank will try to collect the loans immediately, and then the factory will close in an instant."
"Did you know? That your brother's watch was wrong."
"......"
"Of course you knew. My great-uncle must have spent his whole life making watches, too."
Watchmaking technology was passed down from successor to successor. Usually, except for the family's successor, no one knew all the watchmaking technology perfectly.
The previous Count and Countess Crimson were a special case. Isaac's grandfather, Count Phillip Crimson, knew that Wendy Tail, who worked at Factory 1, was a genius. So he made that Wendy Tail his successor, not his son Willis Crimson. That was possible because Willis Crimson, the successor of the Crimson Family, was in love with her. And they had Isaac and Scarlett.
Isaac was sure that if his parents were alive, they would have made his sister the successor of the family, not him. Scarlett had loved making watches since she was a child, and her comprehension was excellent.
The fact that she could make a watch with only the memories of her childhood that came to mind now was based on that genius.
Isaac said quietly, "If the business continues like this, people would have noticed it someday, and a bigger lawsuit would have been filed."
"It might not have been filed."
"It can't not be filed."
Isaac continued, "You think it's over if you cheat and sell it off? You think the people who buy it are fools."
"Ordinary people don't know watches as well as our family members."
"No. People are smarter and more sensitive than you think. Scarlett doesn't not use tricks because she's not smart. She's just smart enough to know that she shouldn't use tricks."
For Isaac, the world's good and evil were relatively clear.
Scarlett Crimson is good, and Evil Crimson is evil. That was the only clear boundary in his opaque life.
He continued, "Great-uncle, I'm starting to see a little bit now."
"......What?"
"Someday my vision will be clear."
"......"
"Take Scarlett's side. Then I'll forgive you to some extent."
Zachary Crimson swallowed hard.
He realized that Isaac hadn't been doing nothing in the attic, as others thought.
And then the door to the visiting room opened. When the two looked at the door at the same time, there was a navy officer.
"My name is Palin Redford. The Captain asked me to bring the Count for Miss Scarlett. Shall we go?"
At his very ordinary voice, not only Zachary but also Isaac looked embarrassed.
Isaac asked, "So, I can just go out like this?"
"Yes. Because that's what our Captain wants."
Palin said as if it were natural, and Isaac laughed in vain at the absurdity. Then he sighed and covered his face with both hands.
"I'm going to get scolded by Scarlett when I get out..."
Then Palin glanced at Zachary and gestured for him to leave.
He had only heard about Viktor Dumpelt, but he didn't know he was this powerful. Zachary Crimson had thought that Scarlett had been kicked out of the Dumpelt Family. But now that he saw Isaac being released by Viktor's power, he thought that Scarlett and Viktor's relationship wasn't that bad.
After Zachary left the visiting room as if fleeing, Palin said to Isaac, "Miss's memory is a bit hazy."
"Yes?"
"She forgot that she was divorced and came to the Dumpelt Mansion."
At his words, Isaac's expression darkened.
