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Chapter 39
Blight could tell from the atmosphere that the two of them had already spoken beforehand, and that Viktor was teasing her about it. So, out of tact, he gave a polite smile and withdrew.
Scarlett felt the heat rising inside her and quickly gave a short farewell.
“Thanks. I’ll be going then.”
“Stay here. Until I’m ready.”
“I’ll wait downstairs.”
“You really can’t stay here, even for a moment?”
At Viktor’s low voice, Scarlett stayed silent for a while. After some hesitation, she finally spoke.
“Isaac… he can see the light now. The medicine worked. Just like you said, I must have sold you out for that medicine.”
She looked at Viktor and continued.
“So even while I feel terribly sorry for you… I keep hating you, to the point it drives me mad.”
“Why can’t you forgive me?”
Seeing the incomprehension on Viktor’s face, Scarlett’s throat tightened, and she dragged her nails harshly across the table as though scratching it. Then, as if his cold voice had infected her own, she spoke icily:
“While I was burning with fever, the only thing you lost was your honor.”
Her words left a silence hanging between them.
Viktor seized her hand and pried it off the table.
“So you think it’s only honor, and that’s why you act so childishly.”
“We’re no longer husband and wife. No matter what I do, you—”
“Stop wearing clothes like this.”
With his other hand, Viktor tugged at the ribbon at the collar of her plain dress.
Startled, Scarlett unconsciously held her breath. The ribbon came loose in his fingers, revealing a hint of her collarbone.
With a trembling voice, she asked,
“Did my clothes stain that precious honor of yours again?”
Viktor answered indifferently,
“Maybe so.”
Scarlett hurriedly pulled her hand free and turned away from him, tying the ribbon again with trembling fingers. Forcing herself to steady, she finished what she had tried to say earlier.
“I won’t be coming back here. Then I won’t have to live the way you want. So don’t interfere.”
From behind her came the sound of a soft, mocking laugh. Unnerved, she turned around—only to freeze.
Was this the expression pirates saw in their last moments? With that sleek, devilish face, Viktor Dempelte looked more terrifying to her than he ever had before.
She was frozen under his gaze, unable even to think of fleeing, when a commotion came from outside. Looking out the window, Scarlett saw a carriage bearing the crest of the Hunter family arriving.
The carriage stopped, the door opened, and out stepped Nina Hunter. With her stunning beauty and flawless figure, she seemed to wilt the surroundings just by descending from the carriage.
Scarlett glanced back at Viktor, and in an effort to escape the suffocating tension, she made an exaggerated joke.
“See? If you’d come back from sea just a little sooner, you could’ve married Nina Hunter instead.”
Viktor asked,
“And how do you want me to respond to that?”
“Just… I was only saying.”
“Oh, right. I should have returned earlier and married Nina Hunter.”
“…”
“Does that please you?”
When he asked, Scarlett thought for a moment before shaking her head.
“Honestly, no. I don’t like it.”
Whatever her feelings for Viktor—divorced though they were—the idea of him with an old lover was uncomfortable.
Staring at Nina Hunter, Scarlett said,
“I’ve never liked anything that had to do with her.”
At that, Viktor gave a faint smile, and the icy tension eased a little.
To Viktor, Scarlett had always seemed overly philanthropic. Not toward him, but certainly more loving than most people. The fact that the one woman she disliked was his former lover was, to him, rather pleasing.
When Viktor Dempelte descended to the lobby, Nina Hunter greeted him.
“Sorry for coming without notice. I just came to pick up the items for the charity event.”
Viktor silently watched her, as if her explanation wasn’t enough.
Recalling the feelings she used to have when she was with him, Nina went on.
“I can’t just entrust good auction items to servants, can I? If something went missing on the way, what would that make me, the host of the event?”
Then, a moment later, another carriage arrived. From it stepped her brother, Hughen Hunter.
With a sly raise of his eyebrows, he said,
“Sorry to bother you when you must be busy. But there were so many valuables, even I, a royal policeman, had to come along.”
Instead of greeting him, Viktor told Blight,
“Prepare tea. Four cups.”
“Yes, young master.”
At that, Nina asked curiously,
“Four? Who else is here?”
“Scarlett is.”
“What? Why?”
“I don’t know women’s belongings. She came to sort them out.”
“Oh.”
Nina replied as though she understood, but her expression carried a strange trace of doubt. Hughen, unaffected, spoke casually,
“I’ve never met her. This Miss Scarlett.”
“Let’s go in.”
Viktor turned toward the drawing room. Hughen muttered to his sister as he followed,
“He didn’t answer me.”
“You’d prefer he did? Thanks to you, the royal police keep digging up weaknesses, and we still haven’t gotten into the royal court.”
“You’re too harsh.”
He grumbled as they walked.
Meanwhile, Blight went to inform Scarlett.
“My lady, the Hunter siblings have arrived.”
“Yes. I saw them get out of the carriage earlier. Maybe I should slip out quietly?”
“I’m afraid not. Young master has already asked for four settings.”
Before Scarlett could respond, Candice interjected.
“My lady, you must choose a dress quickly.”
“I should go greet them first.”
“No, since they came unannounced, they should wait.”
Regardless of Scarlett’s wishes, Candice gathered all the household staff. Especially the maids, who abandoned their tasks to crowd around noisily.
“In situations like this, you must dress to impress.”
Scarlett asked, looking unconvinced,
“For meeting my ex-husband’s ex-girlfriend?”
“Yes, exactly that kind of situation.”
To them, their mistress’s romantic life was as entertaining as reading the love gossip of stage actors.
Scarlett put on a deep red velvet dress, similar in shade to her eyes, and wrapped a thick white shawl around her shoulders.
Standing at the drawing room door, she closed her eyes briefly, steadying herself.
Inside were people who had been taught social etiquette from private tutors since birth. Scarlett always dreaded entering such places, always afraid of making some mistake.
She remembered the parties during her marriage with Viktor—how even from afar, he would find her with his gaze.
And how, at some moment, he would draw close, slip an arm around her waist, and whisper in her ear as though declaring his love:
“Lift your head. My wife has no one to avoid.”
He had never understood the root of this fear of hers.
‘At least after the divorce, I don’t have to endure that anymore.’
After calming her breath as much as she could, Scarlett straightened her back, lifted her chin, and told Blight,
“I’ll go in.”
Blight bowed and knocked.
“My lady has arrived.”
Then he opened the door.
Determined not to cower, Scarlett first looked at Viktor, then at Nina, and then at the man beside her.
The moment her eyes met Hughen Hunter’s—dressed in the uniform of a royal policeman—her strength drained, and she collapsed into her seat.
“My lady!”
The maids rushed in from the hallway to support her. Scarlett gasped for air, unable to breathe properly.
I mustn’t make a mistake. I mustn’t…
The thought repeated in her head, making it impossible to regain her composure. She had no idea why this was happening.
It was the first time she had ever seen this man. Yet just meeting his eyes left her unable to breathe.
As she trembled violently, her body was lifted, and above her she heard Viktor’s voice.
“Get the doctor.”
“Yes, young master.”
Scarlett gasped for breath, wheezing, as Viktor carried her swiftly into the nearest guest room upstairs.
Clawing at the bedding in agony, her tears streamed down uncontrollably, though she herself had no idea why.
Viktor tore apart the tightly fitted dress with his hands. Then, after sending everyone else out, he wrapped her completely in the blanket and held her tightly in his arms.
