TDKB 18

CHAPTER 18

The moment Scarlett collapsed into an unconscious sleep, Victor immediately began searching her room.

It simply didn’t make sense.

More than anyone else in Salantie, he knew exactly how many tram engineers still existed.

In his eyes, the nobles had gone mad, blinded by short-term profit.

Every neighboring country was smaller than Salantie, but that didn’t mean they would never start a war. In fact, if Victor had been a politician in one of those neighboring nations, Salantie—having only recently emerged from a costly war against pirates—would have looked like the perfect prey.

Yet for nearly ten years, Salantie had devoted itself to suppressing scientific progress.

They had even destroyed the once-thriving Tower of Science.

Victor hated war.

Precisely because he hated it, he believed the nation needed an even stronger military.

To him, the surest way to prevent war was to possess overwhelming military strength.

That meant they needed scientists and engineers.

They needed brilliant inventors like the late Count and Countess Crimson, who had died in the accident.

That was why Victor had secretly searched for engineers behind the royal family’s back.

The reason he had inspected the damaged tram under the pretext of assisting the police was because he had hoped to find one.

Instead, inside that tram, he had found Scarlett Crimson.

She was the legitimate daughter of the Crimson family, yet her uncle had never taught her anything.

And still…

She could repair trams.

She could build watches.

So while Scarlett lay unconscious from her panic attack, Victor searched her room.

And he found it.

Gathered inside Victor’s official residence, his subordinates stared gravely at the biplane blueprints spread across the table.

Palin was the first to speak.

“Did Madam really draw these? A biplane design?”

“I told you she did.”

Palin clutched his red hair with both hands.

“This is insane. If anyone finds out, the High Priest will make her a target. Religious extremists will come after her. What on earth was she thinking…?”

Nothing was more unacceptable to the Church than human flight.

Evan, who never bothered to soften his words, said,

“Just because she drew the blueprints doesn’t mean it can actually fly. Think about it logically. Even Count and Countess Crimson never succeeded in building a working biplane.”

“Well… that’s true.”

“But even if it can’t fly, we should at least build something that looks like one. It would make foreign countries think twice before provoking Salantie.”

Hope nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. At this point, we’d be better off bluffing that we have aerial capabilities.”

Evan continued,

“But even building the frame would put our lives in danger.”

Victor simply sat in his chair, silently listening as his subordinates argued.

The special naval unit aboard the Rubid had originally been selected as candidates for an air corps.

The army had done the same.

Both branches had secretly trained future pilots under conditions bordering on torture.

But after the Crimson couple—the only people capable of developing aircraft—died in the accident, the entire project collapsed.

Only the name “Special Forces” remained.

Despite all their brutal training, the only aircraft they possessed was a glider capable of carrying a sniper for barely one minute and twenty seconds before landing.

Evan’s point was realistic.

Simply convincing other nations that Salantie possessed airplanes might be enough to make Vestina hesitate before declaring war.

Resting his chin against his hand, Victor sank into thought.

Sometimes Victor found himself angry that Scarlett had left him.

She had done everything she possibly could for her husband.

She had constantly told him how happy their marriage made her.

If giving everything she had was her definition of love…

Then what was this?

Leaving as though she never wanted to see him again.

Threatening to kill him if he ever appeared before her.

Pathetic as it was, now that something he once possessed had slipped away, he felt strangely empty.

Victor gave a small, bitter laugh at how pitiful he himself had become.

He had never asked her to love him.

But once he had grown accustomed to that endless flood of affection, she had suddenly turned her back on him and walked away.

What was he supposed to do now?

Finally, he spoke.

“If she’s willing to risk execution, then she obviously intended to build it.”

Silence settled over the table.

Victor continued.

“If she never planned to build one, why would she draw blueprints this detailed?”

Palin, whose gentle heart contrasted sharply with his large frame, hesitated.

“But it’s far too dangerous…”

“If we don’t have an air force, isn’t all of Salantie in danger?”

“…You’re right.”

Silence fell again.

While everyone shifted uneasily, Victor turned to Blight.

“Does Scarlett have an exceptional memory? Good enough to memorize blueprints she saw before turning twelve?”

“I’m… not sure.”

Victor remembered Scarlett’s clear eyes before asking another question.

“Then… is it possible for someone to suddenly recover memories from childhood?”

“I really couldn’t say.”

As Blight answered uncertainly, Victor suddenly remembered the day Scarlett had been interrogated by the Royal Police.

He still couldn’t understand what had happened that day.

There was no way they would have tortured a noblewoman.

If Scarlett had told him they had, the Royal Police would have been dismantled immediately.

“I don’t remember. I’m sorry.”

“Really… I don’t remember. I must have lost my mind for a little while.”

Scarlett had always been the type to pretend painful experiences had never happened once they were over.

Victor had assumed she only claimed not to remember because she couldn’t bear the guilt of revealing her weakness—after giving in to the temptation of the medicine for Isaac and the pressure from the Royal Police.

Scarlett Dumpfelt had always been someone who gave Victor whatever he wanted.

To her, sacrificing even her own life for the man she loved had seemed so natural that it wasn’t even worth thinking about.

She was the kind of woman who would have torn out her own heart if the person she loved had asked for it.

The kind who would do absolutely anything to be loved in return.

So when that overwhelming love visibly faded after only two years of marriage…

And when she ultimately betrayed him…

Victor found himself wishing they could simply fall to their deaths together somewhere.

What hurt wasn’t that his disgrace had been exposed.

What hurt was realizing that the only person in the world who had ever loved him—

The man whom even his own mother had never loved—

Had changed her heart.

Scarlett didn’t have the luxury of remaining frightened.

She had a shop to run.

An employee to support.

And family to look after.

She wanted to confront Victor immediately, but she couldn’t spare the time to visit the naval headquarters.

Her first opportunity came the following Wednesday.

She already had business nearby.

Three tram stops from Seventh Street lay a vast lake.

People could either take the tram that circled the shoreline or ride a raft across the middle to reach Lilson Square, the administrative center on the opposite bank.

The Navy’s headquarters stood there.

Liv, her next-door neighbor, followed Scarlett out of the house.

“He’s such a loyal customer. He loves our fig bread and apple cake. I have to see what he looks like.”

“And what are you going to do after seeing him?”

“They say he looks exactly like you. That means he’s got to be handsome.”

Liv answered honestly, carrying a basket of bread.

When they reached the small dock where the raft departed, they found an unusual crowd of women gathered there, chatting excitedly.

As the raft approached from the opposite shore with Isaac aboard, the murmuring grew louder.

Wearing the practical business suit that Scarlett had bought for him—the kind favored by Salantie’s middle class—Isaac effortlessly attracted everyone’s attention.

His broad blacksmith’s build, gentle features, and handsome face drew eyes wherever he went.

After docking the raft, Isaac secured it with a hook and wound the pulley until it was firmly fastened.

Then he held out his gloved hand to the first passenger.

“Your hand, please.”

The young woman at the front blushed bright red as she accepted it.

He helped passengers aboard one by one.

Then, halfway through boarding, Isaac smiled warmly.

“Scarlett?”

“How did you know it was me?”

“I’d recognize your footsteps anywhere.”

Taking her hand, he helped Scarlett onto the raft.

She smiled.