Chapter 63
63
The next morning, Scarlett didn't return, so Andrei ended up visiting Dumpelt Mansion.
He found Viktor coming out with a nonchalant face and tried to maintain his composure as he spoke.
"I'm here to pick up the CEO."
"She's still sleeping. I gave her alcohol."
'Wow, what a piece of trash.'
Andrei knew he was also trash to Scarlett in his own way, but he thought her ex-husband was just as bad.
What would happen if Scarlett knew that Viktor Dampfelt was hiding everything despite knowing all the facts?
Andrei knew that even when Scarlett was angry, there was warmth somewhere in her expression. That's why no one would be afraid of her anger, but they would fear the moment that warmth disappeared.
Andrei asked.
"What are you planning to do in the future?"
At his question, Viktor took out a cigarette from his inside pocket and handed it to him, saying.
"First, I'll have to go to the Royal Police."
Andrei was startled by those words.
The Royal Police were directly under the King. Trying to take over the regular police would be a coup, but trying to take over the Royal Police...
"That's... treason, isn't it?"
"You'll be joining me."
"......Treason against my will?"
"Or I'll have to execute you for knowing too much. There's a clear reason since you tried to kill me."
"......"
"You'll be helpful since you know something about the Royal Police."
Andrei took the cigarette and sighed.
"If I don't commit treason, I'll just die alone, but if the treason fails, my family will be ruined."
"That's right."
Viktor Dampfelt seemed to answer easily, but he was someone who had been doing whatever the royal family told him to do in order to be reinstated as royalty. Now, he was trying to turn his back on the royal family.
Viktor Dampfelt seemed to have finally realized that it was easier to subjugate the royals than to appease them.
But it still wasn't easy. He didn't know how the royals would react when the Royal Police were overturned. They might borrow all the power, even the power of Bestina that could devour the entire Salantie. Or, conversely, they might just abandon Viktor Dampfelt and the Royal Police who caused the problem, and throw them away like hunting dogs after the hunt was over.
When Scarlett woke up in Dumpelt Mansion, she heard the sound of rooks crying outside the window.
"Ah, it's already the season when wolves appear."
In Salantie, the capital, the sound of rooks crying in January meant that wolves were coming. This was because the rooks followed the wolf packs to eat the scraps left behind by the wolves.
It was rare for wolves to come down to the crowded capital, but in the outskirts of Dumpelt Family or near the eastern mountain range, wolves actually came down and harmed people. So, when the rooks cried, people piled up wild animals in advance and sprinkled blood on them.
The blood was sprinkled at the entrance to the cedar forest.
The Dumpelt Family's territory had a narrow entrance, but it had a huge cedar forest to the north.
In the past, the value of the trees was not very high, and until Viktor was conceived, the location was just a cold, abandoned land. However, over the past twenty years, Salantie had cut down a tremendous number of trees, and now the value of the trees had soared. The cedar forest had become a space that aroused the curiosity of the people of Salantie.
Only the Dumpelt Family people could come and go there, and even if the servants could enter, guests could not.
Scarlett had been to the entrance, but she had never been inside because it was dangerous. It would be okay if she went with Viktor, but he didn't have time to leisurely take a walk with his wife.
As she covered her throbbing forehead with her hand, still feeling the effects of the alcohol, Viktor entered the bedroom.
"You don't seem to be fully awake."
"It's too strong..."
As Scarlett stood up and staggered, Viktor wrapped his arm around her waist and grabbed her. Scarlett inadvertently pushed him away. Viktor chuckled.
"You said you needed help."
"......"
Scarlett glanced at him and then smiled a little and said.
"Thank you for today. I'll be going."
As she spoke and broke away from Viktor's arms, Viktor said.
"Before that, there's a problem you need to know."
"What is it?"
Viktor went to the window and beckoned Scarlett with a flick of his hand.
Scarlett walked to the window and looked out, her body frozen in place. Below the mansion, two servants and one navy soldier that Scarlett knew were tied up and kneeling.
"They're spies sent by Bestina. Even if I catch them, they keep crawling in like weeds. I didn't even know the Royal Police were right in front of me while I was paying attention to them."
"......"
"All three of them couldn't get into important positions, so they didn't steal any particular information. But since you asked me for help, you should know about it. That this kind of thing can happen."
Scarlett felt dizzy and grabbed the window frame with both hands.
She really realized now that the war was right in front of her.
Scarlett asked Viktor.
"So, you were nice to me because of that?"
"What do you mean?"
"Because you need me. Because I have to make flight possible. Is that why you're being nice to me?"
As she asked, Viktor answered.
"What I wanted was for you to come back to Dumpelt Family."
"That's all?"
"That's all."
Scarlett turned away from the window, unable to watch any longer.
Viktor gestured something outside and closed the window. Scarlett took a deep breath and looked at Viktor again, saying.
"I hate you so much right now, but at the same time, I'm a little grateful."
"Grateful?"
"I... ruined your life's goal, didn't I? But you still want me to come back?"
"I want you to come back."
"Can you forgive me?"
"I already have."
Viktor pulled Scarlett closer and said.
"You're the one who can't."
As he said.
Scarlett still couldn't forget the days when she was waiting for him at the Monastery. What was more unbearable than the cold and the criticism towards her was the fact that he didn't love her.
Every night, she leaned against the cold wall and waited for him, thinking.
If you loved me, I wouldn't have to be here.
It was a repetition of hating him with that thought, and then hating herself for hating him. Scarlett said to herself.
"I don't know why either. Why can't I forgive you?"
Scarlett seemed to be regaining her composure little by little, but she was soon engulfed in an unknown hatred that rose from within.
Viktor replied in a heavy voice.
"I'm telling you. It's true that I sent you to the Monastery back then, but I didn't intend to send you to a place like that. I thought you were in a place like where Mother is, where the servants do everything for you."
"That's true back then, but..."
"Then."
"During the interrogation too."
Viktor's fingertips trembled slightly at her resentful voice. Scarlett unconsciously complained.
"I was gone for a week. You could have come to find me sooner... before the article came out in the newspaper."
"I was the busiest then. You know. I had a lot to deal with."
"I know that, but strangely, that's what makes me the angriest."
"Why are you angry?"
"That's right. If you had come to see me even once back then. I could have known what happened that day..."
Scarlett, who was saying that, soon shook her head.
"No, it's not."
Scarlett gave up, recalling that Viktor didn't believe that he had no memory of that day. And she looked at Viktor and said.
"Anyway, I have to go."
"I'm sure breakfast is ready. Eat and go."
"Already?"
"Your employee is here too, and he's already eating."
"Andrei?"
"Yeah."
Before she could even give permission, her bedroom table was already being set. The centerpiece with the gorgeous roses was placed first, and it was filled with Scarlett's favorite foods.
Sitting down, she picked up the warm pie in the eared dish with roses and placed it on her plate.
There were many roses in Dumpelt Family. And looking at the roses in the vase, Viktor said.
"I don't care about things like flowers at all. Whether you cut off the thorns or whatever."
Scarlett asked in surprise at his words.
"......How did you know?"
"By chance."
"Do you think I'm a weird person?"
"To me, you're always a weird person. You're weird to me too, aren't you?"
Scarlett smiled faintly at Viktor's joking words.
"I guess so."
