TDAF 10

As Scarlet came down the stairs, Andrei spoke without even turning around, as if he had expected this all along.

“Go to prison instead of paying the fine. You still need to pay my salary.”

“Honestly, the way you talk.”

Scarlet scolded him lightly, but she trusted completely that Andrei would never reveal this secret to anyone.

As always, she slung her tool bag over her shoulder and took each child by the hand as they entered the tram depot.

The moment she appeared, the tram drivers—who had all been wearing miserable expressions—brightened instantly.

“Dad! We brought Scarlet!”

As the siblings ran over, their father, Mr. Powell, barked angrily.

“I told you not to just call such an honorable lady by name! Say ‘miss’!”

Even when Scarlet asked them to treat her casually, Powell absolutely refused. But the children disagreed.

“Come on, Scarlet never gets mad!”

“Exactly!”

The siblings shouted noisily and ran wildly across the tram platform.

Powell turned back to Scarlet with an apologetic expression.

“We’re truly sorry for troubling you every time, Miss Scarlet.”

“This really is the last time.”

“Yes! I promise!”

“Then everyone turn around. Except Susan.”

At Scarlet’s words, everyone except the little girl turned their backs.

Scarlet removed the simple dress she had worn outside, revealing the work jumpsuit underneath, then crawled beneath the tram.

“Mr. Powell, wrench.”

“Ah, yes!”

Powell hurriedly opened the tool bag, and Charlie quickly grabbed the wrench and crawled underneath the tram to hand it to her.

Lying flat on the ground, Charlie asked,

“Scarlet, should I bring anything else?”

“Bring me the pipe wrench and all the different sizes of nuts.”

“Okay!”

Charlie quickly crawled back out and looked at Powell.

“Dad, what’s a pipe wrench? And what do you mean by different nuts?”

“Here.”

Since they were too heavy for Charlie to carry together, he carefully cupped the nuts in both hands and brought them over first, then carried the pipe wrench afterward.

For quite a while, Scarlet inspected the steam engine beneath the tram, the connected lines, and even the control handles. Finally, she crawled back out.

“Try starting it.”

“Yes, miss!”

One of the drivers hurried into the driver’s seat.

Meanwhile, the other drivers shoveled coal into the steam engine. Despite the freezing winter weather, sweat poured down their faces from nervousness. Then, as the tram started successfully, they shouted in delight.

“It works, miss!”

“Oh thank heavens! I really thought it was ruined this time!”

At those words, all the drivers cheered.

If a single tram broke down permanently, two tram drivers lost their jobs. Seeing everyone sigh in relief made Scarlet smile too.

Susan ran over and tugged on Scarlet’s sleeve.

“I’ll wipe your face for you.”

“That’s sweet, but I’ll wash up later. You’ll get your clothes dirty and get scolded.”

“No I won’t. Nobody scolds me for helping Scarlet clean her face.”

Susan insisted stubbornly, but Scarlet shook her head and wiped the soot off with her own sleeve instead.

Everyone burst into laughter.

Susan pointed at her face.

“You smeared it even worse!”

“Really?”

Scarlet was awkwardly looking around for a mirror when suddenly one of the drivers keeping watch outside came sprinting in.

“The police!”

“W-What?! Hide Miss Scarlet! Hurry!”

The instant he shouted, the drivers grabbed the jackets they had thrown everywhere and hung them up on the rack. They stuffed Scarlet’s dress into an empty coal sack to hide it, then pushed Scarlet herself into a cargo crate behind the coat rack.

Barely moments after hiding her, the police entered.

Powell deliberately put on an even rougher expression and asked,

“What brings you here? We’re all busy.”

One of the officers questioned him sharply.

“We received a report that a tram stopped running. We came to check whether it broke down.”

“It stopped because it ran out of fuel. We refueled it and it’s fine now. Someone reported it without knowing anything.”

Prepared for the worst in case they were caught, Powell raised his voice aggressively.

Hidden behind the coat rack, Scarlet held even her breathing still, waiting desperately for the police to leave. Her hands felt frozen from the tension.

As the officers inspected the tram, Powell grumbled,

“There aren’t even any technicians left in this country who can repair trams anyway.”

“That’s true.”

Scarlet assumed they would just pretend to search like usual and leave. As Powell had said, most engineers capable of repairing trams were already dead, and even if the police looked at the machinery, they had no way of knowing whether it had truly broken down or merely run out of fuel.

Still, because a report had been filed, the officers were making a show of inspecting all the trams.

“H-Hey, why are you going over there? There’s nothing but smelly clothes there.”

One of the drivers spoke urgently.

Hearing footsteps approaching her hiding place, Scarlet pressed a hand tightly against her chest as her heart began pounding violently.

The footsteps stopped directly in front of her.

Then the coat rack was shoved aside.

The crate was opened immediately afterward.

Startled, Scarlet looked up—then froze completely.

Standing beyond the hanging jackets, looking down at her, was her ex-husband, Victor Dumpfelt.

It had not actually been that long since their divorce, yet the atmosphere around him had changed dramatically.

He looked thinner than before, and the face that had once carried only the sharp authority of a naval officer now held an inexplicable loneliness. Most shocking of all, the youthful arrogance that had once filled his sharp eyes seemed to have faded as though decades had passed.

The navy crew of the Rubid, the ship Victor commanded, were often mobilized as police forces when not on assignment. Rationally speaking, running into him here was entirely possible.

And wasn’t it simply the law of the world that the person you least wanted to meet would appear in exactly the situation where you absolutely could not afford to meet them?

In that brief instant, countless thoughts raced through Scarlet’s mind, yet she could not think of a single solution.

She covered her mouth with both hands, desperately trying to suppress her ragged breathing.

Still staring down at her, Victor slowly drew out his ornate silver pistol.

Scarlet squeezed her eyes shut and turned her head aside.

Two muffled shots rang out from the silenced gun.

Everyone in the depot froze.

Victor turned around.

“Move out.”

His tone was indifferent, but several of the drivers turned deathly pale and collapsed where they stood.

Evan Wright, the first mate who had accompanied Victor, followed after him as though nothing unusual had happened.

“Yes, Captain.”

No one there had the power to oppose Victor Dumpfelt, the king’s grandson, so everyone could only silently step aside.

As Victor headed toward the warehouse door, a nearby officer hurried forward to open it for him.

In an instant, they were gone.

Powell rushed to the crate.

Two bullets had embedded themselves in the coal sack inside, and Scarlet was crouched there clutching her injured arm, nicked by flying wood splinters.

“S-Susan! Charlie! Hurry and hold Miss Scarlet’s hands!”

The two children—whose eyes the drivers had been covering—ran over immediately.

The drivers quickly cleared away the coat rack. With the siblings helping her out of the crate, Scarlet staggered upright, bracing herself against the wall as her legs trembled violently.

What would have happened if the person who found her had not been Victor?

Would she really have been killed on the spot?

The Victor Scarlet knew was not someone who would show special mercy simply because the criminal he discovered happened to be his ex-wife.

Still… perhaps seeing her again after so long had softened his heart slightly.

People’s livelihoods depended on tram repairs. Not only the drivers’, but also the countless workers who relied on those trams to commute long distances every day.

The real problem had always been the absurd law claiming that repairing trams went against the will of God.

She had come here fully determined and resolute.

But now that death had truly approached her and then narrowly passed by, her mind had gone blank.

Powell collapsed to his knees in front of her and spoke in a trembling voice.

“I’m sorry, Miss Scarlet. Never again… this will never happen again.”

“That’s right. It’d be better to just find new jobs…”

Everyone was frozen stiff, believing Scarlet had nearly died moments earlier.

Most of all, Susan and Charlie—who had brought Scarlet here—clung tightly to her while trembling uncontrollably.

Scarlet realized she could not remain sitting there in shock.

She crouched down to look at the siblings.

“Why are you shaking so much?”

At that, Susan burst into tears.

“Because I brought Scarlet here…”

“That’s not true. I came because I wanted to. Don’t you remember?”

Scarlet smiled gently as she spoke, but Charlie sniffled and said,

“No, we asked you to come.”

“Nope. I never listen to silly kids. I came because I wanted to. Honestly, repairing trams is fun.”

Scarlet tried joking around, but the siblings only cried harder and threw themselves into her arms, sobbing loudly.