TDAF 20

Nikolai awkwardly removed the prosthetic arm and sat across from her.

“Well… Madam—no, Miss—I’m indebted to you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

In truth, Nico felt extremely uncomfortable being caught between a divorced couple, but he had failed to seize a chance to escape.

Meanwhile, Scarlett pulled a toolbox from the bag she always carried as if it were part of her body.

She secured the prosthetic’s mainspring with a wooden stick so it would not snap loose, then removed the gear that had stopped moving. Soon she began skillfully crafting a new silver gear.

The way she precisely shaped the tiny mechanism made her look like a master artisan regardless of her age.

After a while, Scarlett replaced the gear and carefully adjusted the spring before saying to Nikolaus,

“Try moving your thumb.”

Nikolai cautiously moved it with a doubtful expression. The thumb moved incomparably more smoothly than before, and his face immediately brightened.

“It—it moves! My goodness, it feels so comfortable now!”

Nikolai was so overjoyed that even Victor, who had been watching from behind, smiled slightly along with Scarlett.

Unable to believe it, Nikolai repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist before bowing his head.

“Thank you so, so much. My wife and I run an ice cream shop. If you ever pass by, please say something! I’ll give you free ice cream for life!”

“It doesn’t have to be for life, but I’ll definitely stop by sometime soon.”

Scarlett smiled brightly as she responded.

After repeatedly thanking her, Nikolai finally left.

Once the noisy man disappeared, silence settled over the office again.

Victor took out a teacup and set it down.

“I didn’t expect you to come here willingly.”

“You were going to come drag me here anyway.”

“No. I thought you might refuse because you were afraid I’d get killed by you.”

At Victor’s rare joke, Scarlett let out an incredulous laugh.

Then she asked,

“So what are you going to do now?”

“I’ll think about that gradually.”

Victor looked at her and asked,

“Why do you hate the idea of returning to me so much?”

“Why do you even want to get back together with me? Did you realize divorce is inconvenient? Or are you just too lazy to find another woman?”

“Because I love you.”

His calm answer left her speechless.

Scarlett glared at him for a long moment before finally asking,

“What?”

“I’m telling you to come back because I love you. Is there supposed to be another reason?”

The words Victor spoke so casually only became sharper weapons that tore at Scarlett inside.

She closed her eyes briefly before lifting her head to look at him.

“You lived your whole life getting everything you wanted, didn’t you?”

“Not necessarily.”

“Did being divorced offend your pride?”

She asked coldly, but Victor did not answer.

Scarlett continued,

“You think you should’ve been the one to throw me away first, and your pride got hurt because you couldn’t?”

“I don’t think that.”

“Or are you upset because it feels wasteful after spending so much effort fixing me?”

At this point, Scarlett expected an ordinary person to become angry.

But Victor listened to her without the slightest change in expression.

Scarlett muttered,

“If I hadn’t loved you, I wouldn’t have divorced you.”

“Isn’t it the opposite?”

“No. It’s true. If I hadn’t loved you, I wouldn’t have expected anything from you. I kept expecting things because I loved you, and that’s why I ended up disappointed.”

She felt almost drunk.

Scarlett forced herself to steady her breathing.

“So… if you really think about it, the divorce was my fault. Satisfied?”

“…….”

“How much lower can I possibly bow my pride between divorced spouses? I loved you so insanely that I felt like I would die. I exhausted myself flailing around alone like that. Maybe that’s why I betrayed you too. I got sick of you. I… had no reason left to stay loyal to you.”

“That still wasn’t a reason to betray me.”

Scarlett gave a mocking laugh at his words.

“Well… there was no other option besides divorce anyway. You couldn’t forgive me, and I had already done it. Divorce was the perfect choice.”

“You should have just told me the truth. That you betrayed me because you got tired of me.”

“I did tell you the truth. I said I couldn’t remember.”

“You’re still saying that?”

As the emotions from that day returned once more, Scarlett pressed both hands hard against the pit of her stomach.

“Yes. I’m still saying that.”

Victor replied,

“Fine. Let’s leave it at that. At this point, what difference does it make?”

Scarlett could still see traces of anger lingering behind Victor’s calm expression.

Becoming royalty had been the lifelong goal he devoted himself to. Scarlett knew that just because she claimed not to remember did not erase what had happened.

Looking up at him, she said quietly,

“I’m sorry, Victor.”

“…….”

“When I think about it… I really did hate you back then.”

After becoming an adult, it felt as though the only thing she had ever done was love.

I wish someone had told me when I was younger that if you loved that foolishly, once it ended, nothing would remain.

If only her parents had been alive.

If only she had met a friend like Liv earlier.

If only she had met someone, like Andrei, who could have taught her at a younger age that searching for four-leaf clovers to give Victor was ultimately meant for her own happiness too.

If only the present Scarlett could tell eighteen-year-old Scarlett Crimson that a marriage begun without love would eventually end without love.

But eighteen-year-old Scarlett Crimson would probably have been too deeply in love to listen.

Victor watched her quietly before speaking.

“Then come back. Stop living like this.”

“…….”

“You said you were sorry.”

“I am sorry. But I can’t live with you anymore. I expected too many things from our marriage.”

“What exactly did you expect from me?”

A sharp edge slowly entered his voice.

Scarlett answered with trembling words.

“I just… wanted you to look for me even when you didn’t need me. I wanted you to miss me. I wanted you… I wanted you to be happy that I loved and missed you. To me…”

Scarlett let out a bitter smile.

“My love was truly precious. It was the best thing I had. At first, it was okay because it was unrequited love anyway. But little by little… I got tired of someone who wasn’t happy that I loved him. That’s how unrequited love ends.”

Victor listened to her, then let out a disbelieving laugh.

Even so, Scarlett continued.

“I only realized it when we divorced. The reason I loved you was because I wanted to receive that kind of love too. I also… wanted to be loved. And you too. Because you proposed to me, you at least had the obligation to return it—even if it was only acting.”

Victor answered with a twisted smile.

“Ah. So my acting skills were lacking.”

Pathetically enough, those words made her heart sink.

Scarlett forced herself to smile and nodded.

“Yeah. Try harder when you remarry.”

Then she took a small glass marble from her bag and held it out to him.

“I was going to give this to you anyway. So here.”

Inside the glass sphere was a four-leaf clover.

Victor stared at it resting in her palm as Scarlett continued,

“I didn’t search for it for your sake. I just realized that finding a four-leaf clover around your birthday every year was something that made me happy. It was like a hobby.”

“…….”

“Ah, I guess you don’t even remember receiving four-leaf clovers in the first place… Still, keep it.”

Victor accepted the glass marble.

Scarlett silently watched him place it into a drawer before asking,

“Do you have anything to interrogate me about? Regarding the airplane.”

“Did you draw the blueprints intending to build it?”

“Hmm…”

“If you exercise your right to remain silent here, it’ll only disadvantage you. Manufacturing weapons could be considered a violation of military law.”

“It’s not a weapon. It’s just transportation. And besides… don’t you think it’s strange to suppress all technology in the first place?”

That was…

Of course it was strange.

Victor himself had thought so for a very long time. Until recently, he had spent most of his time at sea and hadn’t understood the state of Salantier properly, but now he did.

Scarlett continued,

“And the blueprints just… came back to me. The things my parents were building.”

“You remembered them?”

“Yes.”

“Your parents died when you were twelve. How could you possibly remember blueprints you saw before then?”

“Because I have a good memory.”

“…….”

“Can I go now?”

Victor seemed to decide there was nothing more he could learn immediately, and nodded.

“I’ll come see you again soon.”

Scarlett nodded in return.

After she left the office and the warmth that always lingered around her disappeared as well, Victor took out a cigarette, placed it between his lips, lit it, and inhaled deeply.