Chapter 23
“The w-weight is the same.”
“If the weight is the same, that makes it even more suspicious. That means the material is different. Don’t you have an older Version 5 watch?”
At her question, Anna and Tom froze.
Then Tom hurried to another room and brought over a craftsman named Sten.
There were currently seven craftsmen working at Factory No. 1, and these three had been working there since the former owners were still alive.
Sten spoke quietly.
“See? I told you. We all knew something was strange.”
All three craftsmen had noticed that the components coming out of the master room had changed after Evil took over as head of the company.
Anna explained to Scarlett,
“Sten was the first one to notice it. So the senior craftsmen went together and confronted Mr. Evil. We told him that the components were strange.”
“All four of the senior craftsmen were fired. They just told us not to say anything……”
Tom’s voice trailed off.
The three craftsmen wore sorrowful expressions, clearly ashamed of what had happened.
Scarlett spoke.
“I’ll go into the master room. We won’t know for sure until we check the materials. I remember the password.”
They knew that Scarlett would be putting herself in danger if she were caught, but none of the three could bring themselves to stop her.
Her eyes, shining with curiosity, looked so much like those of the former owners. More than anyone, they understood that the Crimson family’s thirst for knowledge was a fate that could not be stopped simply because someone told them not to investigate.
It was a look they had not seen in a long time.
Scarlett took a deep breath and asked,
“Do you know when my uncle is coming back from his business trip?”
“He said he’ll be back tomorrow.”
There was no telling when Evil and Arnold would both be away again.
Suppressing her fear, Scarlett walked toward the master room.
Anna, the most senior of the three craftsmen, quickly gave Tom and Sten instructions.
“Make sure the other employees don’t run into Miss Scarlett.”
“Got it.”
The two hurried away to check where the other employees were.
Meanwhile, Scarlett steadied her breathing in front of the master room.
At that moment, she felt as though she were standing before an enormous barrier.
This was Evil Crimson’s room—the very man who had exploited her ever since she was twelve.
Her face had gone pale with fear.
But she had to know.
Her desire to find out the truth was stronger than anything else, followed closely by her sense of responsibility. She couldn’t allow faulty components to be sold.
If she didn’t take this opportunity today, she might never get another chance like it.
To overcome the fear that clung to her ankles like shackles, Scarlett forced herself to think of something else.
As always, the first person who came to mind was Victor Dempfelt.
Whenever she remembered his usually emotionless face telling her to get out immediately, or coldly telling her that she was useless, even her fear disappeared.
Since childhood, Scarlett had often thought that she could never bring herself to have and raise children.
She was confident that she could love them, but she didn’t think she could bear watching them leave her arms and collide with the world.
The world wasn’t always beautiful. Just thinking about how her children would eventually have to face all its hardships with their entire bodies made her heart ache unbearably.
Because of that, seeing someone she loved become disappointed in her was more frightening than violence itself.
She hated the thought of failing to make that person happy.
After thinking about something even worse, her fear faded.
Scarlett recalled the combination to the master room’s puzzle-like lock, solved it, and stepped inside.
The master room was far more organized than it had been when her parents used it.
Scarlett searched through the room for a long time before finally finding the manufacturing method for Crimson Version 5.
The required materials and their weights were written down.
Among them was the very component Scarlett had said seemed different in thickness.
The material was called pebbles from Ryuse Falls.
Scarlett stood there and quickly memorized everything.
She needed to memorize the formula so that she would be able to reproduce it on her own after leaving.
Even after memorizing the manufacturing method, she continued searching the master room.
Then she discovered a pile of pebbles stacked against one wall.
“Ah, these.”
Those pebbles were taken from Ryuse Falls in southern Salantier, where the waterfall plunged directly into the sea.
Scarlett picked up one of the pebbles and stared at it for a long time.
Why was the quantity different if the weight was the same?
She concentrated deeply, trying to figure it out.
Then she remembered her mother’s voice.
“Remember this, Scarlett. Ryuse Falls possesses sacred power. We use the pebbles that have endured that power. You must use stones that were underwater. Stones that were outside the water won’t work.”
Scarlett stared at the pebble.
But there was no way to tell whether it had been taken from underwater or from outside the water.
As she was examining it, she heard a voice from outside.
“Ah, no, sir!”
It was Anna’s voice.
Scarlett turned around with a chill running down her spine.
At that moment, she felt a sudden flash, and her body collapsed.
She barely managed to lift her head.
Evil was standing there.
He shook off the employees who tried to restrain him, locked the door, hurled a string of curses, and then looked down at Scarlett as he rolled up his sleeves.
“You really have lost your mind. You thieving little stray.”
“The components…… they’re wrong.”
“Shut up!”
Anger burned in Evil’s eyes.
“Who is going to prove that I’m wrong and your parents were right?!”
Scarlett was just as angry.
For the first time, the eyes of the girl who had always been so obedient burned fiercely.
This was a matter of her parents’ pride.
“Every single component my parents made had a reason! Unless there’s evidence that changing it would make it better, there’s no reason to change it! Crimson components are used in watches that are meant to last a lifetime……”
“Shut up! I said shut up!”
Evil screamed furiously.
After unlawfully taking possession of what had belonged to his older brother, Evil had to prove that he was capable of running the Crimson family’s business if he wanted to make the factory completely his own.
Therefore, his ability to manufacture Version 5 components was extremely important.
It was proof of his competence as a businessman.
But if it were revealed that his Version 5 components were incorrect, his legitimacy would inevitably be called into question.
And there was an even bigger problem.
The moment people found out that the components were defective, they would come demanding refunds for their watches.
If that happened, Evil Crimson could very well go bankrupt.
Scarlett regained consciousness several hours later.
She sat up and looked around.
It was pitch-black, and she couldn’t see anything.
Feeling her way along the wall, she made her way around the room.
Eventually, she found a staircase and climbed it.
There appeared to be a wooden panel above it.
It must be a basement.
Scarlett knocked on the wooden panel.
“Is anyone outside?”
There was no response.
“There’s someone here…… Uncle, please…… I’m sorry.”
Scarlett called out, but still no answer came.
The darkness where she couldn’t see a thing, combined with the confined space, was enough to make even someone with a strong mind panic.
Scarlett knocked on the door again with trembling hands.
When there was still no response no matter how many times she knocked, her voice began to shake violently.
“Please, someone help me……”
She covered her mouth with both hands and began to cry.
Suddenly, the air felt thin.
Curled up on the stairs and crying, Scarlett failed to notice that the wooden panel above her was opening.
It wasn’t until someone descended the stairs, grabbed her arm, and pulled her to her feet that Scarlett finally raised her head.
Victor Dempfelt was standing before her.
“Come here.”
He said that, and before Scarlett even had time to move, he pulled her toward him and effortlessly lifted her into his arms.
He wrapped one hand around her head and pressed it against his shoulder before speaking.
“Keep your eyes closed. It won’t be good if the light suddenly hits them.”
At Victor’s words, Scarlett could barely steady her breathing.
She couldn’t even manage to nod.
Instead, she wrapped her arms around his neck.
The place they emerged from was the basement beneath the garden of Factory No. 1, where the water for the fountain was managed.
Evil, who had been dragged there by Victor’s men, still couldn’t control his temper.
“That girl barged into a place containing our trade secrets! She should be grateful I didn’t kill her on the spot!”
At Evil’s voice, Scarlett’s body flinched.
Victor gently stroked her as though soothing a frightened little animal, then seated her inside the carriage.
She sat with her knees drawn up to her chest, burying her face against them as her shoulders trembled violently.
Victor took off his jacket and draped it over her.
The men of the Crimson family had traditionally been large-framed and broad-shouldered.
Their bloodline had originally descended from blacksmiths, after all.
Evil, who had rolled up his sleeves and was preparing to attack again, looked startled by Victor’s broad upper body.
Victor had always appeared slender when wearing his perfectly tailored jackets.
But beneath the jacket, his physique was considerably more imposing than Evil had expected.
Soon, however, Evil’s anger clouded his judgment.
He thought that even so, Victor was probably the kind of man who only gave orders from behind and had never actually done anything himself.
But the moment Victor turned and approached Evil Crimson, that assumption disappeared.
Evil instinctively realized that Victor was an opponent unlike anyone he had ever faced.
Victor struck him across the face once with the back of his hand.
Evil swung his fist, but Victor easily dodged it with a light movement.
Then he caught Evil’s incoming right arm and broke it effortlessly.
Scarlett, who had been trembling beneath Victor’s jacket, cautiously raised her head at the sound of the bone snapping and Evil Crimson’s scream.
She saw Evil Crimson being beaten mercilessly by Victor.
To Scarlett’s younger eyes, Evil had once seemed enormous and powerful, like a fortress.
Yet now, against Victor, who used nothing but naval-style hand-to-hand combat without any weapons, Evil couldn’t even land a finger on him.
Even when Palin, who was strong enough to restrain Victor from behind, tried to hold him back, Victor’s fist slammed into Evil’s abdomen.
Evil collapsed to the floor and lost consciousness.
Seeing Evil crumpled at Victor’s feet, Scarlett slowly began to come out of her panic.
There was a strange sense of relief, as though the chains that had bound her like a slave were finally being broken.
A faint laugh escaped Scarlett’s lips.
At the sound of her laughter, every man there turned to look at her.
Meanwhile, Evan, who had been leaning against the carriage and casually watching the one-sided beating, peeked inside the carriage and remarked,
“Our young lady likes this kind of thing, huh?”
