Chapter 70
70
*
Scarlett, who was propping herself up in bed with both hands, saw the marks Viktor Dampfelt's hand had left on her wrist.
She was bruised.
"...He must be crazy, really."
His face was as dry as ever, but he hadn't controlled his strength much, as if he was displeased by something.
Scarlett lifted her nightgown and saw the same marks on her thighs. He probably hadn't intended to do this. If she had said it hurt, he would have stopped, but Scarlett was too out of her mind to stop him.
Their long-awaited night together was as sweet as a mouthful of sugar candy. That's why she didn't know what to do. When she slept with him during their marriage, Scarlett thought it inappropriate to describe it as "making love."
She thought he probably wouldn't have cared if it hadn't been her lying there.
He was always the kind of man who made her think that way. Perhaps it was because of his attitude, which didn't seem to suffer from lust or become disheveled easily, even throughout the night.
If this was making love, he should have expressed at least a tenth of her own joy in the moment. He didn't, so Scarlett thought she shouldn't call it making love.
But last night was a little different. Viktor would make eye contact and stare at her for a while, as if trying to seduce Scarlett several times while they were together.
He made her look at him persistently. Last night, he seemed to really want her.
His eyes had more persuasive power than whispering a thousand words. Scarlett thought that if she had the power, she would have given him anything he said he wanted in bed.
Scarlett spent the night wide awake, upset by her absurd lies.
It was tiring to just lie there pretending to sleep. She lay with her back to Viktor all night, and around three in the morning, she couldn't stand it anymore and propped herself up, only to find Viktor lying straight as an arrow.
He was asleep as if there was a line dividing the bed in half, making it hard to believe they were sleeping in the same bed. His appearance was like a masterpiece, but his sleeping posture was too upright to stimulate any painter.
He seemed like a different person from the Viktor who had engulfed her in heat last night. It was as if the ghost of the Dumpelt Family was clinging to him.
"...As if he even had ancestors."
Scarlett muttered the words Viktor would hate the most.
She couldn't know what this desolate hill used to be, because Duchess Marina and Viktor tried to hide it.
Scarlett often climbed the hill and wondered if it had been a place to exile royalty in the past. This hill, facing the endless sea, made people feel a chilling loneliness. She never felt the loneliness when she was alone in her room on 7th Avenue, but she felt it at the Dumpelt Mansion, even when surrounded by servants.
Scarlett stared at Viktor for a while, then decided to act as she pleased, since she was going to deceive him anyway.
'He'll think I'm crazy anyway.'
With that thought, Scarlett pulled Viktor's arm and lay down as if to hug him. She inwardly blamed herself for her actions and the loneliness she was revealing. But her actions were out of control, as if she were drunk.
The loneliness she felt when she was with him was felt again when she had her ex-husband by her side. It was as if she was imprinted to feel lonely when she saw him.
She lay there for a while with his arm as a pillow, then soon calmed herself and turned her back to him again.
Strangely, tears welled up. She hated herself for still wanting to be in his arms. She felt like a child acting out because she didn't get enough affection from her parents when she was young. She covered her mouth with her hand to stop herself from crying and closed her eyes tightly. The night was too long for someone who couldn't fall asleep.
*
Early in the morning, the alarm went off on the wristwatch Scarlett had taken off. She thought she should turn off the alarm while listening to the clear glass sound. And at the same time, she thought she should change the alarm sound.
'The alarm sound is so pretty, I just keep listening to it...'
Scarlett blamed the alarm sound for her inability to overcome her fatigue and just lie there. Viktor had pushed her hard the day before, and she was so sleep-deprived that she couldn't even wiggle her fingers.
Then Viktor, who had walked over to the bedside table where she had placed the watch, lowered the lever to stop the alarm. Fortunately, he must have found the alarm sound annoying, she thought, when she heard Viktor say.
"The alarm sound is so lovely."
He must have been thinking the same thing.
Scarlett chuckled without realizing it at his mutter, and Viktor glanced at her. Embarrassed, she hid in the blanket and said.
"...I was thinking the same thing."
Viktor leaned over, propped himself up on the bed with one hand, and lifted the blanket with the other. Then he covered Scarlett's forehead with his hand. He seemed to think that the night before might have been too much for her.
In fact, Scarlett had been overwhelmed by the night before. It was sweet at first, but as it went on, she couldn't keep up with Viktor's stamina. This had never happened during their marriage, so Scarlett even wondered if it was because Viktor hadn't met another woman in a while.
Scarlett forced herself to sit up and asked Viktor.
"Did I come here again without remembering?"
Scarlett spoke first, afraid to ask if he loved her.
Then Viktor threw the blanket off completely and said.
"Yes."
Then he lifted the silk nightgown skirt that covered Scarlett's knees.
'He knows I remember, so he's not going to try to sleep with me again.'
Scarlett was flustered and tried to pull the skirt down again, but Viktor grabbed her arm to stop her and checked the handprints on her white thighs. They were bruised red.
Scarlett lowered her skirt with a troubled expression and said.
"What is this?"
Scarlett said, pretending not to remember. Then Viktor asked.
"You don't remember?"
Then Scarlett nodded quickly.
"No. Nothing."
"I shouldn't be the one to say this, but I didn't force you."
At his words, Scarlett looked at Viktor with wide eyes, as if asking what he meant.
"What are you talking about? I know you're not the kind of person to do that."
It was absurd to think that Viktor Dampfelt, who valued honor so much, would commit the despicable act of taking a woman by force. But Viktor didn't seem satisfied with her answer.
"You said you don't remember. How can you trust me?"
"I just said, you're not the kind of person to do that."
"This is not something to be taken lightly."
"What's the problem? I would have begged you anyway."
Viktor was silent for a moment at her words, then propped himself up next to Scarlett with his hand and moved closer.
Scarlett was startled and fell back on the bed as she tried to avoid him. Then Viktor leaned down further and looked down at her startled face and said.
"I might be. You don't remember anything I do, do you?"
"..."
At his words, Scarlett's fingertips twitched.
She was looking into the eyes of Viktor, who was looking down at her from close range. His eyes, seen up close, were not as gentlemanly as Scarlett had recognized them to be.
A subtle chill blazed like a blue flame in his dark blue eyes. Scarlett thought she should say something and opened her lips, but she was speechless and just closed her mouth again.
Viktor's heavy voice was heard.
"As I said before, I was very upset that you brought the divorce papers."
Then he gently placed his fingertips on Scarlett's neck.
"Do you think I would have pushed you away because I wasn't moved by you forgetting that we were divorced and clinging to me?"
She remembered that Viktor had been violent at times last night. She hadn't been able to recognize it clearly because she was lost in pleasure during the night, but she could remember the violence just by looking at the handprints on her thighs. Viktor had often seemed crazy last night.
"Look at me."
He grabbed Scarlett and ordered her to do so whenever she tried to look away even for a moment.
So it was even better, she thought. If it had been too sweet, she would have been worried instead.
Had he always been so obsessed with his sleeping partners? Scarlett wondered, but she couldn't know. At least it hadn't happened during the two years she was married to him.
Perhaps there was such savagery in his heart from the beginning, but the ghost of this hill had been suppressing him, she thought.
Viktor continued, speaking to Scarlett, who was now a little wary.
"Scarlett, I have killed people under any definition. A lot."
"..."
"And yet you think I'm a very moral person?"
It was one thing to think that Viktor Dampfelt was selfish, but it was another to belittle his achievements.
Scarlett pushed Viktor away while he paused for some reason. Then she pulled up the shoulder strap that had slipped down and said.
"I don't know if you're moral, but I don't think you'd treat me carelessly when I don't even remember."
"Why."
"You're not blaming me even now."
"..."
"If you were the kind of person who would do that, you would have been blaming me from the beginning today. Because I don't remember, it's my fault. So you won't do that."
Scarlett said firmly.
Evil Crimson always created a reason when he abused Scarlett. He rarely used violence against Scarlett because he was bad himself. Of course, the comparison was too low, but Scarlett had faith in Viktor. Whether she loved him or not, he had certainly given many Salantie people safety and a comfortable night. That was enough.
