Chapter 22
A little while later, the police called by Arnold Crimson arrived at the Crimson residence, and Isaac willingly agreed to accompany them to the station.
Soon, the carriage that had departed from the Crimson estate arrived at the police station in their jurisdiction.
Isaac got out of the carriage with the help of a police officer, using his cane for support. Arnold, who had only managed to wipe the blood off himself, suddenly snatched the cane away from him.
“Why are you suddenly pretending you can’t do anything?!”
Isaac stopped, looking bewildered.
The police officers exchanged uneasy glances before taking the cane back and returning it to Isaac.
“Even so, taking a cane away from someone who can’t see is a little…….”
“Thank you.”
Isaac accepted the cane and smiled gently.
Arnold was the only one who had been injured, but there was blood on Isaac’s clothes as well. Judging from the circumstances, it was difficult to see Isaac as the aggressor.
For the police in the southeastern region, who received substantial financial support from the Crimson family, this was an extremely troublesome case.
At present, Isaac Crimson was the heir to the Crimson title, but the person who actually held the reins was Evil Crimson. Salantier was a conservative society, so in most cases the eldest son inherited the family. However, that did not mean every parent automatically passed the family title to their eldest son.
If the eldest son was considered even slightly deficient, they would look for another child to inherit it. In some prestigious families, the title had even been passed to the eldest daughter simply because the eldest son was poor at speaking.
In Isaac’s case, if his parents had still been alive, they probably would not have passed the title to their eldest son because of his blindness.
Even so, it was true that Isaac had somehow inherited the title in an emergency. The police had no idea whose side they should be taking or whose displeasure they should fear.
While Isaac was giving his statement, Scarlett arrived after catching a private carriage and rushing over.
As soon as she entered, Arnold exploded.
“You! Damn it! What kind of disaster have you brought upon our family because of that girl?”
Arnold shouted furiously. However, since they were inside a police station, he could not bring himself to hit her.
Isaac briefly turned his head toward the sound before looking away again.
Just then, another carriage stopped outside.
The person who stepped out was Fran, the lawyer of the Dempfelt family. He handled the Dempfelt family’s legal affairs and, these days, was practically acting on Victor’s behalf.
He got out while fastening the buttons of his suit jacket. The moment he spotted Scarlett, he hurried toward her with a light step.
“Madam. No, Miss Scarlett.”
“Mr. Fran?”
Scarlett, who had been anxiously waiting, looked puzzled.
Fran spoke in a relaxed manner.
“Young Master sent me. Oh dear, our young lady has been injured as well.”
Fran looked concerned about the scratches on Scarlett’s arms and neck caused by Arnold’s earlier outburst.
He continued,
“This is going to take quite some time. We have to get the Count out of trouble, and we certainly can’t give even a penny in settlement money to the man who assaulted Miss Scarlett, the former mistress of the Dempfelt family. This is a matter of honor.”
“Thank you.”
Scarlett was truly relieved that Fran had come. With him here, she no longer had to worry about Isaac.
Fran soon hurried inside.
Feeling reassured now that a lawyer was handling the situation, Scarlett sat down in a chair.
She closed her eyes for a moment, but then the image of Isaac brutally beating Arnold came back to her, and she opened them again.
He hadn’t reacted at all even when blood had splattered everywhere.
He might not have been able to see it, but Isaac’s senses were extremely sharp in every way except sight. There was no way he could not have felt the warmth of the blood.
Had he been living with that kind of rage buried inside him all this time?
The thought left her confused.
Yet Isaac, sitting there calmly and giving his statement, was as composed and sincere as always. He answered the police officers’ questions politely.
The situation did not end easily.
From the sound of Arnold shouting inside, it seemed Fran was making an issue out of Scarlett’s injuries.
Then another carriage stopped in front of the police station.
This time, Scarlett’s aunt, Anne Crimson, stepped out.
After surveying the situation, she let out a deep sigh and spoke to Scarlett.
“You. Go to Factory No. 1 for a while.”
“Factory No. 1?”
“It was originally Arnold’s job, but you were the one who caused him to end up like that.”
“Arnold started it……”
“Oh, stop talking back. In all my life, I’ve never met someone who causes as many unpleasant situations as you do.”
Anne Crimson spoke as though she were utterly fed up before hurrying over to Arnold.
Scarlett was slightly hurt by Anne’s words. Of all her uncle’s family, Anne had always treated her the best.
Still, she didn’t want to miss the rare opportunity to visit Factory No. 1, so she left the police station with an apologetic feeling toward Isaac.
Factory No. 1 was called a factory in name only. In reality, it was an extremely secretive workshop where the finest craftsmen of the Crimson family gathered.
Scarlett had visited the place several times with her parents.
There was a master room inside the workshop, but only her parents had been allowed to enter.
There had been one exception.
Once, Scarlett had been so curious that she had sat down and cried her eyes out, refusing to go home unless she was allowed inside.
In the end, her father had picked her up and taken her into the master room just once.
That master room was where the Crimson components were manufactured.
The Crimson components had undergone continuous development. By the time of Scarlett’s parents, they had produced a magnificent invention that dramatically increased the accuracy of clocks and allowed them to withstand immense pressure—even if they were submerged in the sea or, someday, used for flight.
Her parents had proudly told her that these components would be used not only in clocks, but also in aviation and navigation.
Scarlett had not visited the clock shop that Evil had taken from her parents since she was twelve. As for the factory, the last time she had been there was when she was eight.
And yet, the moment she stood in front of the factory, everything came rushing back to her.
Whenever Scarlett concentrated, she could remember her childhood memories perfectly.
It was an ability she had acquired after the police interrogation, though she had no idea why she had suddenly gained it.
Recalling her memories from when she was eight, Scarlett entered the factory.
The password for Factory No. 1 was cherry pie, just like the candy-pulling game.
She wasn’t sure whether the password was still the same, but instead of ringing the bell, she entered it.
The door opened immediately.
Apparently, no one had changed the password all this time.
As Scarlett stepped inside, two craftsmen who had been resting in the living room of the cozy two-story house looked at her.
“……Miss Scarlett?”
Both faces were familiar.
Tom and Anna.
In Scarlett’s memories, the two had been sworn enemies. Seeing them holding hands now, Scarlett was shocked.
“Are you two dating?”
“We’ve been married for seven years, though…… Do you remember us?”
Tom asked with a puzzled expression.
Scarlett remembered coming here when she was eight and seeing the two of them.
They had fought so much that little Scarlett had been deeply worried about them.
It was simply amazing that the two people who had fought so terribly had somehow ended up getting married.
Still bewildered, Scarlett asked,
“How do you remember me?”
“Don’t even get me started. Your parents showed us so many pictures of you and talked about you so much.”
Anna chimed in from beside him.
“That’s right. They looked so happy together that I was tricked into marrying him……”
“Tricked? I was the one who got tricked.”
“What? After I married you, you have the nerve to be ungrateful?”
“What did I do?! Go ahead and look. Can you find another husband as good as me?”
“You think I’m blind just because I only work here all day!”
Scarlett had wondered if the two of them were actually a good match.
But apparently, they still didn’t get along.
Perhaps they actually had a good relationship and simply looked like they were fighting to outsiders.
Coming to that tentative conclusion, Scarlett asked them,
“I heard Arnold was supposed to check something here today. What was it?”
“Oh, right. That’s why you came.”
Anna gestured for Scarlett to follow her into her workshop.
Tom followed them inside, prompting Anna to scold him.
“Why are you entering someone else’s workshop?”
“Can’t I enter my wife’s workshop?”
“Even married couples need privacy!”
“I don’t have any privacy!”
“That’s not my problem!”
The two began arguing again.
Scarlett let out a small sigh.
Only after they had bickered for a while did Anna finally take out a watch box and hand it to Scarlett.
Scarlett opened the box, and her mouth fell open.
“It’s the Crimson Aqua 6?”
“That’s right! It contains Version 6 of the Crimson component developed by the previous heads of the company.”
The heads of the Crimson family were the only people who had the right to develop the next version of the Crimson components.
The head of the family would teach the manufacturing method of their own component only to their chosen successor.
The other members of the Crimson family could learn only the previous versions.
As Anna explained, she glanced cautiously at Scarlett.
Tom carefully spoke in her place.
“The previous heads passed away before they could teach the manufacturing method to their successor, so the Crimson Aqua 6 was discontinued. But this…… A customer has asked us to overhaul one of the few watches that still uses Version 6.”
Scarlett immediately understood what he meant.
“If we take it apart, we might be able to figure out how Version 6 was made?”
“Yes. We thought that might be possible, so we contacted Vice President Evil. But he was away on a business trip. That’s why we contacted Young Master Arnold instead. It seems something happened to him today?”
“There was a little fight.”
“I see.”
Tom stared into empty space for a moment before murmuring,
“This is the first time we’ve been able to see a Version 6 since the previous heads passed away, and Miss Scarlett happens to arrive at this exact moment. Do you think it’s fate?”
For once, Anna didn’t argue with him and nodded.
Anna removed the Version 6 component from the Crimson Aqua 6 and placed it into a disinfecting solution.
Scarlett stared at the component as if she were looking at a photograph of her parents.
Her face filled with longing, she asked,
“We have to return it quickly, right?”
“Of course. We shouldn’t keep it for too long. We need to return it within a month at the latest.”
Being able to manufacture the most advanced and latest Crimson component was a source of pride for the head of the family.
Evil, who was currently acting as the head of the company, used Version 5, which he had learned from his father—Scarlett’s grandfather.
Like the other members of the Crimson family, Scarlett only knew how to manufacture Version 4, whose production method had been made public.
Scarlett cautiously asked,
“Could I see Version 5 now?”
“Of course.”
Anna took out the Version 5 component made by Evil from a small drawer and handed it to her.
Scarlett placed that one into the solution as well and stared intently at the component.
Then she narrowed her eyes.
“Is this really Version 5?”
“Yes, it is. The one made by Mr. Evil.”
“……But it’s different from what I remember.”
Scarlett carefully examined the component.
She remembered seeing a Version 5 component in her parents’ workshop when she was young, and continued,
“In my memory, it was about one millimeter thicker than this.”
