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Chapter 4
Even though the blueprints were in her head, the tools and spring mechanisms were ones she had never used before. Because she lacked experience, by the time she finished reassembling the clock she had taken apart around lunchtime, it was already dark outside.
“Wow… it’s done.”
For the first time in a while, Scarlett’s voice sounded genuinely happy.
From the outside, it looked as though she had merely opened the clock and closed it again. But once she reassembled it, the clock—which had been running far too slowly—returned to its proper speed. The strange grinding noise it used to make had disappeared as well.
After hanging it back on the wall, Candice compared it with the wristwatch she was wearing and exclaimed,
“Oh my… you really fixed it…”
While the maids were marveling at it, the door suddenly burst open and Scarlett’s father-in-law, Gregory Dumfelt, entered.
The joy on Scarlett’s face vanished instantly.
Gregory strode toward her and glared at her with the same blue eyes he had passed down to his son Viktor.
“I truly cannot understand how you can still smile at a time like this.”
Scarlett hurriedly stood.
Gregory angrily pointed outside the window.
“Are you aware that the gas lamps at the front entrance have gone out?”
At his words, one of the maids who had been admiring the clock gasped.
“I-I’m sorry! I forgot…”
“Managing the maids is also the lady of the house’s duty. My wife lies bedridden from mental illness, yet instead of feeling responsible, you laugh after ruining my son’s future!”
The label of the man who disgraced a princess had followed Gregory throughout his youth. Newspapers had once been filled with gossip claiming he seduced the elegant Princess Marina with all sorts of tricks.
Scarlett also suspected that Gregory projected his inferiority complex onto her, which only made him crueler toward her.
Once he began scolding someone, he could continue for hours, exhausting not only Scarlett but everyone nearby.
Around then, the luncheon that had started from late afternoon finally ended, and Fallon returned.
He was about to knock on the dressing room door when Gregory’s furious voice came from inside.
“You’re no better than an animal. How can you forget what you just did and laugh? Perhaps you’re simply too stupid to understand what you’ve done wrong!”
Because Scarlett herself believed she was at fault, she sat with both hands clasped together and never once raised her head.
After belittling her for a long time, Gregory finally revealed his true intention.
“So please, stop being stubborn and divorce him.”
In the end, the conversation always returned to this.
Scarlett answered calmly,
“I’m sorry.”
“Why can’t you divorce him? Even you must know by now that Viktor thinks you lacking. If you truly feel sorry for dragging him down this time, shouldn’t you clear the way for him to marry the daughter of a better family?”
“If you truly want a divorce…”
Scarlett remembered Viktor’s order not to let her appear at the party and continued quietly:
“Then please give me a portion of the estate.”
Gregory stared at her in disbelief.
“What did you just say?”
“My brother always needs caretakers, so his living expenses are high. So even a small property settlement…”
“You came into this family with nothing but your body, and you dare speak of property division?!”
“In that case, I cannot divorce him either.”
Though her head remained bowed, Scarlett’s intentions were unmistakably firm. Even Fallon frowned slightly at her answer.
Gregory raised his voice furiously, as though utterly unable to forgive her.
“Unless a demon has possessed you, this is impossible! It’s as though you’re determined to ruin our family! That’s enough—you’re going to a monastery immediately. Go there and seek forgiveness for your sins!”
Shocked by the humiliation, Fallon quickly opened the door.
“Forgive the interruption. I came to inform you the luncheon has ended.”
The moment Fallon Redford—the heir of the prestigious Redford family—appeared, Gregory reluctantly stopped berating Scarlett in front of the servants.
After greeting Gregory, Fallon continued:
“You intend to send the captain’s wife to a monastery?”
“Did she not destroy my son’s honor, Sir Fallon? In earlier times, simply expelling her would not have been punishment enough.”
“But cooperating with an interrogation is not a crime, is it?”
Fallon tried to mediate, but it only reignited Gregory’s anger.
At the mention of the monastery again, Scarlett’s clasped hands began trembling violently.
Gregory’s wife—Viktor’s mother, Marina Dumfelt—had spent nearly ten years in and out of psychiatric wards before ultimately being confined permanently to a monastery.
Scarlett suddenly feared she, too, might spend the rest of her life trapped there.
Fallon hurriedly said,
“The captain would not want that either. I’ll speak to him immediately.”
After saying that, Fallon left, and Gregory also departed with visible displeasure.
Scarlett breathed rapidly in panic for a moment, but when she noticed the maids watching her carefully, she forced a smile.
“Ah… if any clocks break, let me know. I want to practice repairing them. Something unimportant is fine—even if I fail to fix it.”
The servants exchanged glances, then Polly, one of the kitchen maids, timidly raised her hand.
“I have a broken clock, my lady.”
“Really?”
“Even the clock shop said they couldn’t repair it, so I kept it. It’s a Crimson clock, after all.”
“May I take a look at it?”
“Of course!”
Seeing Scarlett show enthusiasm, Polly brightened immediately.
After a while, once all the servants had left, Scarlett still couldn’t move for some time because the humiliation lingered heavily inside her.
Then, hearing the ticking of the clock, she slowly turned toward the wall clock.
“At least today wasn’t completely wasted.”
She murmured softly and stood staring at the clock for a long time.
She had felt suffocated and miserable all day, yet seeing the clock she repaired with her own hands soothed her heart slightly.
It felt almost as though her parents were comforting her.
The title of Duke Dumfelt had been granted to Marina Irene after she was expelled from the royal family. It was also the name of the wasteland at the edge of the capital once owned by the crown.
The Dumfelt family settled on the barren hillside, leveling the land and restoring the great estate using the enormous fortune Marina brought with her.
To that wealth was added the vast fortune Viktor accumulated under maritime law, which allowed captains to keep confiscated pirate goods after taxes.
On the hill overlooking the sea, inside the Dumfelt family forest, naval soldiers were training.
Most practiced with rifles, but Viktor alone focused on becoming accustomed to the ceremonial pistol the royal family had awarded him along with a medal—a pistol decorated with silver and diamonds.
Rubbing his face with one hand, Viktor muttered,
“It’s decorative.”
Gift or not, Viktor excelled overwhelmingly in every academic subject and military training through both talent and relentless effort.
Seeing him unusually troubled, Evan—the vice-captain—laughed cheerfully.
“Decorative? Even so, it’s still a sacred relic with history and tradition.”
It truly was both: a sacred object and a decorative ornament.
Viktor lifted the pistol again to focus, then noticed Fallon approaching from afar.
He raised the gun one-handed and fired toward the target. Despite dismissing it as ornamental, every bullet pierced directly through the center.
Fallon arrived and immediately said,
“Captain! Sir Gregory says he’s sending Madam to a monastery!”
Gregory, being the second son, had inherited no title of his own, nor received one through his unauthorized marriage. Though technically incorrect, people still addressed him with the honorific typically used for military officers or senior police officials.
After hearing Fallon’s somewhat agitated report, Viktor calmly reloaded the pistol.
“A monastery isn’t a prison.”
“But still, that’s too much, isn’t it?”
“Why? Are you worried I’ll lock her away forever like my mother?”
“…I didn’t say that.”
“You were thinking it.”
Even while speaking casually, Viktor continued firing effortlessly.
Then his pistol suddenly shifted beyond the target.
He fired twice in succession, and in the distance, a deer collapsed.
Fallon, who could tolerate seeing humans die but not animals, winced and turned his head away.
Viktor continued:
“That won’t happen. My wife betrayed me. She isn’t insane.”
After firing one final shot into the target, Viktor lowered the pistol as the groundskeeper carried the deer away.
Seeing the blood pouring out, Fallon squeezed his eyes shut.
When he opened them again, Viktor had already left, and Evan was pulling him back by the collar.
“Don’t interfere in family matters. It’s pointless meddling.”
“I know that, but it’s true the captain still hasn’t taken Duchess Marina out of the monastery.”
“Well, there’s probably a reason for it.”
“But she’s still his mother.”
Fallon sighed deeply and ruffled his red hair roughly.
Even though he knew it was none of his business, he couldn’t stop worrying.
That evening at dinner, Scarlett spent a long time staring at Viktor seated across from her.
Just like the day they married, he was dining in a formal suit.
In the early days of their marriage, she used to stare blankly at the graceful way he ate.
For two years, he had remained exactly the same.
On days Scarlett laughed happily, or days she sat crying across from him, he simply continued eating indifferently.
Now Scarlett herself had learned to keep a composed face during meals.
Finally, she spoke.
“Viktor. Fallon told me about the monastery.”
“Go.”
At his indifferent response, Scarlett accidentally dropped her spoon onto the plate.
Leaving it there, she asked quietly,
“…How long will I stay there?”
“Who knows.”
“It can’t be too long. I might run away because I miss you.”
Scarlett laughed lightly after saying it.
Viktor gave no reaction, but she continued with smiling eyes.
“Is one month too short?”
“Do whatever you want.”
“It can’t be longer than that. Come get me after one month.”
“Alright.”
“Viktor.”
Scarlett called his name and waited until he looked at her.
When his gaze finally shifted toward her, she spoke gently.
“I love you.”
“So do I.”
Unless Viktor needed something from her, Scarlett was usually the one who said I love you first.
Sometimes he added that he loved her too. Even when he didn’t, he always gave some kind of agreeing response.
And every time she received even that much confirmation, Scarlett felt both happiness… and a faint loneliness.
