Scarlett thought she would not sleep deeply, but she did not take into account her physical weakness due to spending most of her time in the workshop.
After exhausting her mental and physical energy at work yesterday, she woke up in the morning with the sun in the middle of the sky.
Scarlett got out of bed, still sleepy.
She noticed her wrist without thinking, finding it wrapped in a bandage.
She muttered, staring at him:
“Looks like I did this while sleeping.”
Unless that was the case, the bandage couldn't have been wrapped that badly.
Given her wonderful sleep quality, it was not surprising that she had woken up half asleep, wrapped the bandage, and then gone back to sleep.
However, there was no one else to do this.
Victor is not the type to do such nice things, and he is good at everything, he wouldn't wrap a bandage so badly.
After looking at the bandage, she finished her preparations and walked out of the bedroom.
When I stepped outside to collect pebbles, the warm southern autumn sun was shining.
The Air Force personnel were busy in their training, and she saw Victor's back watching them.
Victor Domfelt, in his elegant naval uniform, looked like a noble horse.
His tailored black pants accentuated his thigh muscles with a charming appeal.
“Good morning”
“Good morning!”
The young men greeted her in a cheerful tone and passed by.
It seemed that having a technician able to repair the engine gave them a morale boost.
Victor turned to her and said, “We will leave at dawn tomorrow.
Rest.”
“I will go collect materials.”
“Let my men do it.”
“They are your men, not my men.”
Victor clicked his tongue.
He motioned to someone in the distance, and one of his men brought a magnificent black horse from the stable.
Victor helped Scarlett onto the horse first, then climbed up behind her.
“It's far away”
“Yes”
Scarlett decides not to refuse his help anymore, this is just a waste of time.
Scarlett had only ridden a pony in her childhood, so she felt nervous and anxious about riding a horse.
But after it took off, I felt comfortable.
Victor had his arm around her waist, as if she was shackled with iron.
His body looked superhuman.
Scarlett closed her eyes, then opened them when she felt the soft breeze.
Victor leaned slightly, and Scarlett felt embarrassed by his proximity.
After a while, they came to a river flowing below the waterfall.
Scarlett got off the horse, looked at the bandage on her wrist and said: “It came off.”
Victor turned away when he noticed the bandage.
Scarlett asked: "Did I wrap it up while sleeping?
I can't trust my memory."
“I was the one who did it.”
“Don't lie.
Someone like you, who is good at everything, wouldn't turn it around so badly.”
“Sorry to disappoint you”
Scarlett blinked in surprise, then looked at the bandage and said, “Wow, now I see it, it’s good.”
She praised him and ran to the river.
She felt Victor laugh behind her, but he is not the kind of person who laughs often, it is most likely an illusion.
I walked two steps into the river and collected a pebble containing quartz.
“Wow...”
The pebble sparkled magically under the sun.
She remembered that these were the pebbles that used to accumulate in her parents' workshop.
At the same time, she remembered her father breaking up the pebbles with a small pestle and sifting them.
He then grinds whatever he chooses and makes vital parts for Crimson watches.
You neglected this important part.
Scarlett looked at the pebble and said, “Since my parents died, all the Crimson watches made by the family are fake.”
As the memories came flooding back, she felt a pain in her head.
She stumbled into the river, and Victor quickly caught her.
After a moment, she regained her balance and raised her head: “Sorry, I was a little shocked.”
He let go of her arm and entered the river to collect pebbles.
Although the south was warm compared to DC, the water was cold.
Scarlett started collecting pebbles and putting them in her bag.
She thought that she would not be able to carry much, and that returning here was almost impossible.
The last idea won out, so I decided to fill the bag.
When I got out and tried to push it, it wouldn't move because of the weight.
After several failed attempts, Victor tried to raise her, but she stopped him: “I will do it.”
“How?”
“I'll put wheels on.
That's what I do every day.”
She looked around, saw a tree, and began making wheels with her portable tools.
Victor looked at her silently.
As promised, Scarlett quickly made the wheels, and assembled the wood pieces preciy without glue, making the bag portable.
But the wheels did not move easily on uneven ground.
While Scarlett was trying to adjust it, Victor laughed lightly: “Why are you laughing?”
Scarlett stared at him, and he replied, “You look like a squirrel collecting nuts.”
“What makes you think like that?”
“Everything”
He said that, then he grabbed her waist and put her on the horse: “The sun is going to set.
Come on.”
“What about the bag?”
“My men will carry her.”
As he said, as soon as they were riding the horse, some of his men appeared from somewhere and carried the bag.
“How long have they been watching?” Scarlett asked embarrassed.
“Since you came out of the bedroom.”
“Even as I collect pebbles?”
“Maybe they felt uncomfortable.”
“I must have looked un-aristocratic in your eyes.”
Victor looked at her and said: “You talk as if you were an aristocrat once.”
“I tried”
“It is not a matter of effort”
Victor embraced her in his arm and said, “I never understood you.”
Scarlett raised her head to look at him.
His tone was strange, as if he was admitting some blame.
This was very strange coming from Victor Domfelt, a fully human being.
His grip on her arm tightened.
She slept another day in the same room.
This time, she was not tired, she did not fall asleep easily.
She lay down early and pretended to be asleep.
At dawn the next day, Scarlett departs with Victor's group from the air force base.
During their train ride to the capital, the sun rose and then slowly set.
“I wanted to ask,” Scarlett asked as she sat across from him, “The Crimson Watches tax investigation, did you start it?”
"Yes"
Victor replied as he turned the page of his book, then put it aside and looked at it: “So, the watches are faulty?”
“Yes, only the ones containing parts of the fifth edition that my uncle made.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I'll call for it, all of it.”
“You are doing something dangerous again.”
Scarlett replied: “It is a duty.”
“What is required of it?”
“I am the rightful heiress of the Crimson family.
Should I let defective watches be sold?”
“Leave it.
If you keep quiet, no one will know.”
Scarlett replied firmly: “How can no one know?
I know, my late parents see, and those who use watches will know.”
“You are not sane.”
Scarlett responded to his casual comment: "Yes, you know that.
That's why you sent me to the convent."
“I did not send you to a place like this knowingly.”
“A hundred days is a long time.
If you cared a little about me, you would have visited me once.”
“You are the one who betrayed me!”
Victor raised his voice, and the officers of the Rubid ship rose from the first class cabin as if in agreement, and headed to the smoking room.
Scarlett thought Victor rarely raised his voice.
He was still angry.
She asked in a calm tone: “Are you still angry because I prevented you from returning to the royal family?
Even after a hundred days in the monastery?”
“I forgive you, but I cannot forget.”
Scarlett felt tightness in her chest, so she squeezed it with her hands.
Then she smiled with effort and said: “Great.
I will never forget those hundred days either.
I suffered every day because you did not come.
I will not forget until I die.”
“Me too...”
Scarlett grabbed the edge of the window, gasping.
Victor held her hand: “Scarlett?”
“Ah...”
Fortunately, she quickly regained consciousness.
She took a deep breath and raised her head, but looked around in confusion: “Victor.”
She blinked, looked at him, and asked, “Where are we?”
"What?"
“Why am I on the train?”
Scarlett looked around in panic, but smiled when she saw the window: “At least, it's beautiful.
This is the first time I've seen the plains.”
“Why that expression, my love?”
Victor looked at her without speaking.
After a moment, he said with difficulty: “Scarlett.”
“Yes?”
“We got divorced”
“What?”
Scarlett repeated, then lost herf in thought.
After a stunned moment, she regained her composure: “Yes, I remember now.
We got divorced.
We were at the air force base.
I’ve been doing this lately.”
Fortunately, she quickly regained consciousness.
But her strange behavior for a moment made Victor freeze for a while.