Marina looked at the mirror with satisfaction, then turned to Victor, who was standing behind her and had grown tall, and said: “Victor, did you know?”
“I will listen and then decide”
Marina laughed lightly at her son's soft response and said, "You cannot become royal.
Even if someone lets you.
No matter what you do, no one will acknowledge you."
This was the first time Victor heard something different from his mother, who repeated the same words every day.
Victor stopped moving his hand holding the wine glass for a moment.
“Why?”
“Everything here is new”
Marina gestured elegantly at the objects around her and continued in a lazy tone: “Nothing has a history.
It’s all shiny, new things.
Even you, so young.”
Marina pushed away the hands of the maid who tried to stop her, and walked towards Victor, grabbing his neat tie, and said: “Even your clothes are new.
Will you replace your mother and wife with new ones as well?”
Victor grabbed Marina's slender wrist, which had become emaciated due to her frequent refusal of food.
He restrained his strength and gently pulled her hand down: “Then, why did you raise me like this?”
“Hmm...it was to vent my anger.
Because I hated you so much.”
Victor's face hardened at her calm words.
Marina laughed out loud: “It's good to be sane for once.
I can say whatever I want.”
Victor paused for a moment, then pointed to one of the maids: “Pull up her hair.
It might tear it if it’s left down.”
“Okay, sir”
"Make it look as natural as possible.
It doesn't matter if it's fake."
Marina frowned at his words: “I'm sane now.
You're the one who makes sane people crazy.
Aren't you the one who makes your wife crazy too?”
Victor put down his glass and looked at Marina.
Marina responded sarcastically to his look: “You look at me as if you long to kill me.
With blood on your hands, are you unable to kill your mother?”
“Since you claim to be sane, I will assume that talking to you is possible.
If you do not consider me your son, why do you expect me to consider you my mother?”
Marina frowned at his sarcastic tone.
Victor got up and stood directly in front of her, bending down to face her eyes as if he were talking to a child: “If you were as strong as me, I would have killed you long ago.”
Marina's eyes twitched.
Victor continued with a cold look: “I was waiting for you to be sane so I could say this, and it seems from your expression that you are indeed sane.”
He could ignore his mother's words when she was unreasonable, but now, every word of hers was sincere.
And so was Victor.
Marina calmed down for a moment, but soon lost her mind again and started a fuss.
In the end, the doctor gave her a sedative, and she collapsed and fell asleep.
After all these vicissitudes, Victor, drunk as he wanted, lay on the bed.
Suddenly, he heard a knock on the door.
Victor frowned and raised his body.
There was no servant in the house stupid enough to knock on the door without introducing himf.
Did his mother wake up and start walking around?
Victor opened the door, thinking.
“In...Victor...”
When he saw the frightened woman standing in front of him, Victor wondered if he had ever felt this strange sensation before in his life.
Scarlett was standing in front of him with an almost crying face, and his emotions swayed like the sea, stormy and then calm in an instant.
Before he could ask her what happened, Scarlett took a step closer and said: “Sorry I’m late.”
Victor thought about everything Scarlet Crimson, who had suddenly appeared and knocked on his door, could say, but an apology for being late was not among them.
She continued with a pale face: “I don’t know how the day passed.
I remember that I went to the store, but when it became night...”
“I don't understand what you're saying”
Scarlett looked at him reproachfully: “You remember, don't you?
I said I'd go pick out new cufflinks.
I said blue suits you.”
Victor, upon hearing her whimpers, remembers days before her interrogation by the Royal Police, when Scarlett was obsessing over every detail of his clothing for a speech he was going to give at his university to be recognized as a royal.
Hearing her words, Victor's feeling that he would not calm down even if he threw something or shouted at someone disappeared.
Scarlett clearly had no memory of them being divorced now.
The blue buttons that she said she lost, she put on herf at the charity event a few days ago.
Scarlett wasn't sane now.
Scarlett examined Victor's expression anxiously.
It was past midnight.
When I got home, Victor had been asleep for a long time.
She knew that a man as obsessed with success and honor as Victor would not wait for her because of her tardiness.
However, the servants, including Blight, seemed surprised that she returned after midnight.
But Blight quickly regained his calm and smiled:
She didn't want to wake the sleeping Victor.
She thought he wouldn't care about her return time, but at Blight's insistence, she reluctantly knocked on the bedroom door.
When Victor opened the door, he looked at her silently as she explained why she was late.
While she was speaking alone as usual, she noticed that the buttons of his pajamas were partially open, so she extended her hand: “Anyway, it’s cold.
You’ll catch a cold.”
Her husband sometimes wore light clothing, relying on his good health.
But she was the one who was getting cold even though she was wearing heavy clothes.
However, she was worried about him.
Because of the height difference, she stood on her tiptoes to button the top buttons, but he held her hands with one hand: “You don’t have to take care of me like you do with my mother.”
He usually mentioned his mother when he was in a bad mood.
Scarlett looked at him worriedly.
He did not let go of her hands.
“Victor, my hand.”
Just when she told him, he slowly let go of her hands.
Scarlett felt embarrassed.
She had never been late to return before, and she did not expect Victor to care.
But from his reaction, he seemed annoyed by her being late.
She felt fear for no reason under his piercing gaze and tilted her head.
Victor asked: “Why are you avoiding me?”
Scarlett quickly shook her head: “I didn’t.”
“Since you're late, go to sleep.
We'll talk tomorrow.”
When Victor turned around, Scarlett grabbed his arm without thinking, then immediately let go of him in surprise.
He hated his mother, but was obsessed with her royal blood.
Like any royal, he hated being touched suddenly.
Fortunately, perhaps due to fatigue, he looked at her without comment: “What?”
“It's true that I'm late, but don't get angry because of this.
When you're at sea, I can't sleep well.
I'm afraid something will happen at sea.
I was worried every day.”
His hair and clothes were messy from fitful sleep, making Victor look different.
Perhaps because of this appearance, Scarlett felt like she found an opportunity to release what was inside her.
When he was in the Navy, he belonged to the country, but in his pajamas, he looked a little like it.
“One day of delay without talking can happen, right?” she continued, realizing she sounded whiny.
“I know”
Victor's calm response surprised her, making her even more anxious.
Perhaps he felt her anxiety, so he hugged her gently and said: “But don’t do that again.”
“What?
Ah, well...”
Scarlett squirmed and nodded.
I felt that his words and actions today were strange.
Did something happen?
Victor was a man described as cold.
He rarely approached, and was always condescending.
Since he rarely hugged her on his own, Scarlett took the opportunity and buried her face in his chest.
But she felt glances behind her, so she turned to see the servants, including the head servant, looking worried.
“Why do they look like that?”
At first, she liked Victor's confused look, but those looks made her feel like something was wrong.
Is this a real state of anger that you have not yet discovered in two years of living together?
While she was worried, Victor covered her eyes with his hand.
When he removed his hand, the servants had disappeared.
Scarlett felt something strange, but Victor's arm around her waist blew away her caution like flower seeds blowing in the wind.