🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 31
Victor opened his mouth.
“When did this start?”
“Since last year, maybe.”
“…Since last year?”
“Yeah. I guess I’ve been under a lot of stress.”
As Scarlet tried to brush it off casually, Victor grabbed her arm.
“Explain in detail.”
“No. I’m not close enough to you to talk about these little things.”
“That doesn’t mean it is something to just let go.”
“It is exactly what it looks like. What do you want to hear?”
When she asked that, Victor had nothing to say.
Scarlet had never seen Victor make such a complicated expression before. So even that man seemed to have emotional changes after all.
“If you have nothing else to ask, let go.”
“When we return to the capital, I’ll have a doctor check you.”
“There is no need.”
“What do you mean, there is no need?”
“It just happens occasionally, for a little while. And my memory comes back quickly. It is probably because I am tired.”
Scarlet was trying her hardest to make Victor understand that she was fine.
As soon as they returned to the capital, Scarlet was forcibly dragged by Victor and had no choice but to head to the hospital.
“Victor Dümfelt is extremely stubborn.”
While she was being examined, Scarlet said that to the doctor. The doctor, unable to bring himself to agree with a criticism of Victor Dümfelt, laughed awkwardly and then examined Scarlet.
A little later, the doctor came out of the examination room first and said to Victor,
“For now, I do not see any visible problem. Usually, doctors say symptoms like this can happen when there is severe psychological shock. And……”
“That is enough.”
The doctor was afraid of Victor, but since he had not found anything, he rambled on, trying to say something more. Victor cut him off, sounding tired of it.
A little later, Scarlet came out of the examination room wearing her outer coat.
“Now can I go? If you stop me again, I’ll call the police.”
At her words, Victor, reassured that there was no major issue, smiled leisurely.
“If you call them, I will be the one who comes.”
“……”
Scarlet sighed and turned away sharply. It had been a southern trip that went completely differently from what she had planned.
She had thought it would take two weeks no matter what, but thanks to joining Victor’s group, the problem was solved in just one week, and they returned to the capital.
When Andrei saw the pebbles the navy had carried back, he said,
“So, you went all the way south just to pick up rocks.”
“Not just rocks.”
“Anyway, rocks are rocks.”
“That may be true. But somehow, it makes me feel annoyed.”
“I really do not understand why you feel annoyed when someone looks at rocks and calls them rocks.”
After talking with Andrei like that, Scarlet carried the bag upstairs and pushed it under the bed.
As Andrei helped shove the bag in, he said,
“These are just rocks to anyone else too. There is no need to hide them so carefully.”
“They are not just rocks to me, so I will hide them.”
After saying that, Scarlet looked pleased.
“Good. With this much, I can make a lot of new watches.”
“Will you really make them again?”
“Yes. If the persuasion goes well.”
“You should persuade people who can actually understand you. Those people do not understand anything.”
At Andrei’s complaint, Scarlet smiled.
“If they do not understand, then I will have to use force.”
“Oh, so you are going to cause trouble again.”
“…This time it will be a small one. Anyway, I am going to see Isaac.”
“Yes, go ahead.”
Andrei said that and immediately returned to the first floor.
He usually nagged quite a lot, but when it came to Scarlet going to see Isaac, he never interfered. He knew exactly what Isaac meant in her life.
After unpacking and changing into clean clothes, Scarlet took the tram and headed to the lake where Isaac worked.
The most important reason she had to live was always Isaac Crimson. If she publicly revealed that the parts used in the clocks made by Evil Crimson were defective, Evil would definitely harm Isaac Crimson. Before that happened, she intended to get Isaac out of the Crimson mansion.
When Scarlet arrived, the raft keeper, Carel, called Isaac over.
“Sir! Your sister is here!”
Then Isaac, at the far end of the lake, smiled and nodded.
A little later, Isaac came back and approached Scarlet.
“Scarlet, did you have a good trip to the south?”
“Yes, I did. And…… it really was wrong. The Crimson parts.”
“I see.”
Isaac nodded as if he had expected it. Then, as if it were obvious, he said,
“Then we should recall them.”
At his words, Scarlet laughed happily and answered, “Yes.” Isaac was the first person to say that so readily. The quality of Crimson clocks was the family’s pride and her parents’ legacy.
Scarlet continued,
“I think it would be better if you left the Crimson mansion, since you might be in danger.”
Unexpectedly, Isaac refused firmly.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“About the clock issue, you are right. But I cannot leave the Crimson family.”
“Why not?”
“If I leave that house, later I will not be able to prove that it is our home. We do not know where the property papers are or what condition they are in.”
As he said, with Evil Crimson already having siphoned off a great deal of the wealth, there was no certainty that the house deed still remained in Isaac’s name. Still, since Salanti valued actual residence in a house as much as legal documents when determining property rights, it seemed he planned to hold on from the attic for now.
“That may be true, but……”
“Scarlet.”
Isaac stammered a little, then held Scarlet’s hand tightly and smiled with his beautiful face.
“I am twenty-two years old. I will protect myself. You do what you have to do.”
“I do not need that house anymore. It is not worth you putting yourself in danger to protect it.”
“It is worth something to me. To me…… that house was everything.”
At Isaac’s words, Scarlet froze.
Isaac smiled again.
“I want you to be able to come to that house whenever you want. Live there if you want to live, rest there if you want to rest. Until then…… I want to protect that house.”
“……”
“As the head of the Crimson family, I want to at least do that much. Will you understand how I feel, Scarlet?”
At Isaac’s gentle voice, Scarlet soon gave up and smiled as if she had no choice.
Then, in a spirited voice, she answered, “Yes. I will understand.”
Just as Isaac had become the reason she had to live, the Crimson mansion might be the reason for him. If that was the case, she could not dare to take away the reason Isaac lived for.
Isaac said,
“Then you be careful too, Scarlet.”
“Yes. I will.”
“Good.”
Isaac gently cupped Scarlet’s cheek with some hesitation, then let go.
Soon after Scarlet left, Isaac immediately said to the raft keeper, Carel,
“I think I should leave work early today. I am not feeling well.”
“What? The guests who came to see the count are waiting…… Well, it cannot be helped. You are our young nobleman, after all. If you are tired, you should rest whenever you need to.”
Since Isaac was a major attraction that drew customers, Carel had been worrying that he might quit at any time.
To be honest, Carel had once thought a bad thought—that since Isaac could not see, maybe he could trick him into a long-term contract.
However, before long, Carel learned that Isaac would not sign any document unless his younger sister checked it first. Isaac trusted no one except Scarlet, to an extreme degree.
“Well. Besides, this is the first time you have said you were resting because you were sick.”
“Did I?”
“Yes. You are usually so diligent.”
Carel said that. Of course, sometimes Isaac was strangely cold, but even that eased whenever Scarlet visited regularly.
“Is he not relying too much on his younger sister……”
Carel worried about that from time to time.
