Chapter 6
6
Viktor knew he had a knack for making himself repulsive to others.
He had known it since he was a child, so young he couldn't remember his own age. Perhaps Mother had whispered into her womb as he was growing, "My beloved child, please don't be born."
He carried the sleeping Mother in his arms, taking her to her bedroom instead of the caretaker, and laid her down. As the blood from his neck soaked his white shirt, the Dumpelt Family's physician rushed over and hastily treated the wound.
Meanwhile, Blight was handling the press coverage in his stead.
"As you can see, our young master's desire to become a member of the royal family can be seen as filial piety. Duchess Marina has tried to strangle and kill our young master countless times, but nevertheless, our young master is striving to fulfill his Mother's dream."
As soon as they obtained the necessary information, the reporters rushed off to be the first to release an extra edition.
Viktor walked through the rain and sat in the carriage, and Blight, who had finished the interview and returned, started the carriage.
On the way back to the mansion, Blight asked worriedly.
"Did you receive proper treatment for your wound?"
"I should have chosen the Monastery my wife would go to as well."
"Pardon?"
"It's excessively good here."
He said, taking out a cigarette from his inner pocket.
Blight lit the lighter and lit his cigarette, saying.
"I don't know much about Mellin Monastery either."
"Father must have connections."
"By the way, Duchess Marina hasn't sent a letter since last week. She used to send one every three or four days."
Unable to meddle by suggesting he visit her, Blight phrased it indirectly.
He didn't expect him to answer, but Viktor surprisingly opened his mouth.
"I'm doing things I don't need to do because of Scarlett."
Since Mother's condition, which he had hidden even from his subordinates, had been revealed to the entire nation, it was understandable that Viktor's anger towards Scarlett wouldn't easily subside. Still, no one around him had expected his anger to last this long, so no one dared to ask why he was so angry.
After a long period of hesitation, Blight spoke again.
"Please don't get too angry when you hear this, young master."
Viktor blew smoke out the window and looked at Blight, who then spoke.
"Duchess Marina... is not feeling well, so she moved to the villa last week."
At his words, Viktor asked.
"Why would I be angry?"
"Duchess Marina left the Monastery without permission..."
"Scarlett was the one who said she would stay there for a hundred days. Tell her to leave if she wants to."
"...Was that so?"
Blight wore a bewildered expression.
Everyone except Viktor thought that Scarlett had no say in entering and leaving the Monastery. Perhaps Scarlett herself thought so too.
Viktor opened his mouth.
"Not feeling well?"
"She has a high fever, I hear."
Scarlett was originally frail.
Viktor knew that she ate too little and didn't have many favorite foods. The fact that such a person was sick made Viktor's expression slightly distorted.
"Then why did she go to the villa?"
"Pardon?"
"If she's not feeling well, she should come home."
"Ah, ah! Yes, you're right."
Blight's expression brightened.
"I will send someone to the villa right away to bring Duchess Marina back."
"Bring her immediately."
Salantier Fever was a terrifying disease for those with weak constitutions.
Viktor's expression did not ease easily. He seemed to have forgotten the cigarette he was smoking, and the ashes fell onto the carriage floor, making the obsessive-compulsive Blight nervous.
*
Scarlett had begun to suffer from a severe fever before she had even completed two months at the Monastery. This was because sleeping on the stone floor with only one blanket, and confessing to Delpio Priest every day, even if she had to make up sins, weakened her heart.
Since she was about to die before he could even get her to sign the divorce papers, Delpio Priest turned pale and immediately kicked her out of the Monastery.
Even after being transferred in that carriage to the Dumpelt Family's villa nearby, Scarlett found it difficult to even move her head as she pleased. Then, last night, her fever spiked severely, and she vaguely heard the doctor say that tonight might be the critical point. Still, the fact that she had opened her eyes again meant that she was more resilient than she thought. Or perhaps the Dumpelt Family's doctor was excellent.
Gregory Dumpfelt, who discovered that she had opened her eyes, rushed over. Then he said to his secretary.
"Quickly, help Scarlett up and put a pen in her hand."
Scarlett exhaled hot breaths and was dragged up by Gregory's secretary's hand, who was forcibly lifting her body.
As she watched him put a pen in her hand, Gregory presented her with a document.
"It's a non-disclosure agreement."
"......"
"I'll give you the money you want."
Scarlett was looking at the document, and Gregory continued.
"With this much wealth, you and your brother will have more than enough to live on for the rest of your lives."
Her vision was blurry, but perhaps because her fever had subsided a little, the contents roughly entered her mind.
As the exhausted Scarlett only looked at it, Gregory said.
"Write it quickly. Quickly."
Scarlett stared blankly at the document, then, with a hand that had become gaunt enough to be seen through, signed her name. And she began to transcribe the letter attached as a condition to the non-disclosure agreement onto the stationery with the Dumpelt Family's symbols drawn on it, which was placed next to her.
[The doctor says it's a contagious disease. I don't want to make you sick, so I'll stay at the villa. See you next month, my love.]
After writing that, she collapsed onto the bed, exhausted.
Scarlett, who was watching Gregory put the documents in an envelope with half-closed eyes, opened her mouth.
"...Give me the divorce papers too."
At those words, Gregory's expression, which had been anxious all along, brightened.
"R-Really?"
Scarlett closed her eyes as they were, and Gregory questioned her several times from the side, asking if it was really true. When she opened her eyes again due to the doctor's intervention, the divorce papers were placed by her bedside.
*
Scarlett considered it a stroke of good fortune that she had contracted a fever. It was probably a frustrating thing for Gregory, who had initially tried to kick her out without giving her a single coin.
Spending a month at the villa, receiving the highest level of treatment and eating high-quality food in Salantie, Scarlett's fever gradually subsided.
From the time her health began to improve, Scarlett devoted herself to repairing the clock of Polly, the kitchen maid that Candice had brought. Whenever she felt unhappy, focusing on this newfound gift-like ability made her feel much better.
As she was holed up in her room, delicately grinding the gears and fitting them together, the clock began to tick.
At that moment, someone knocked on the open door. It was the estate manager, Andrei Hamilton.
"Duchess Marina, would you like to check the receipts?"
"Yes, come in."
Then, a very thin young man with his hair completely swept back, as tall as Viktor, entered.
Since her marriage, Scarlett had personally selected Viktor's belongings, and when she couldn't find anything she liked, she would repair them herself. Scarlett checked the list of vases to be placed in Viktor's office in the spring and wrote neatly next to them.
"Be sure to have roses of various colors for my husband's birthday..."
As Scarlett said that, she raised her head and smiled.
"I used to find four-leaf clovers and place them on top of books for my husband's birthday."
"You did all sorts of things."
"I thought he might be touched."
"Wouldn't the person who found the four-leaf clover be more touched? Be satisfied with finding it."
At Andrei's cold rebuke, Scarlett glared at Andrei and quickly burst into laughter.
"Yes, let's think that way."
"But why are you writing it there? You always took care of the roses yourself."
"I'm getting a divorce."
"I see."
Andrei replied indifferently, and that was the end of it.
After writing down what she wanted someone to take care of in her place, Scarlett closed the document and mustered the courage to ask.
"I rented a place on 7th Avenue to open a clock shop. But I don't know anything about business, so I need help."
At her words, Andrei snorted in disbelief.
"So, you're trying to scout me, an elite from such a large-scale business, to a fledgling business with no future?"
"......Yes."
"I will."
"Huh?"
As Scarlett inadvertently asked back with wide eyes, Andrei, who was holding the documents, pointed to Polly's clock.
"You fixed that clock, didn't you? The clock that other watchmakers couldn't fix."
Andrei said with a rare, slightly excited face.
"Then please tell me the address. I'll move the luggage in advance."
"Ah, here!"
Scarlett quickly handed over the address she had written down in advance. Then Andrei put the note in his pocket, bowed, and left.
"...Is he really doing it? This easily?"
Scarlett muttered to herself, dazed.
