[TIDK] 28 – Indifference

“This is Fran, Master.”

As Viktor reached out to the locked door, Scarlett stopped him with her palm, preventing him from nearing.

The gentleman, Viktor, retreated without a hitch, and Scarlett opened the door.

Fran, the Dumfelt’s lawyer, pretended to be ignorant of the commotion heard inside and smiled a businesslike smile.

“I found the memorandum of secrecy. The master’s secretary had it.”

Fran then handed a document to Scarlett.

“We treated it with the same amount of alimony,” she said. You can rest assured now.”

“… “

Having received it, Scarlett turned to Viktor. Before she spoke, he had already finished the memorandum.

Viktor scanned Scarlett’s memorandum of confidentiality, drew a lighter and set it aflame. He threw it into the fireplace. Then, Viktor turned and asked, looking at Scarlett, who was staring at him.

“Why? Don’t you like this too?”

“...Everything is easy for you.”

“If you had come to me first, everything would have been like that.”

Scarlett closed her eyes for a moment at his words.

She knew that her ex-husband was a person who didn’t want others to see him as dishevelled.

‘But what would be different?’

In the end, he didn’t even pretend to hold onto her because he didn’t want others to see his drunken figure. Such a figure was Viktor Dumfelt.

Noble blood.

Even if common blood flowed through their veins, it seemed starkly different. That kind of blood never mixed, should even a drop be shared.

As Scarlett turned and walked, Viktor spoke to Blythe, the secretary behind the door.

“Get your carriage ready. I’m going to the Crimson House.”

“Yes, Master.”

Blythe greeted and promptly left.

Scarlett wanted to ask him why he wanted to go to the Crimsons, but she didn’t want to argue with him anymore, so she relented.

♔♔♔

It took more than two hours by carriage to get to the Crimsons.

Scarlett pressed her uncomfortable chest and forced the sigh down her throat. Meanwhile, Viktor couldn’t stand for a long time and took out a cigarette and a lighter.

“You don’t smoke indoors,” Scarlett enquired.

“I didn’t smoke when you were there.”

“...”

“It doesn’t matter. You aren’t even my wife now.”

Scarlett looked at him for a moment, then opened the window to see if there was anything wrong with him. Now that he was divorced, he seemed to think he did not need to care for his partner anymore. She thought, or maybe he was deliberately trying to annoy her more.

Viktor lit a cigarette, and Scarlett tried to pretend she didn’t know. But as the smoke spread through the narrow space, she groaned and couldn’t stand it.

Viktor smiled at the sight and rubbed the cigarette into the portable ashtray.

“If you’re going to do that, please tell me in advance. I won’t smoke.”

He seemed a bit looser than when he was married to Scarlett, even though he was still in a breathtakingly well-groomed outfit.

No matter how nasty the divorce was, she was still a little worried.

Scarlett turned towards Viktor, “What has been happening these days?”

“I got divorced.”

“...more recent than that.”

“I found out that my wife had written a confidentiality memorandum with my father.”

“...”

“Come to think of it. I deserve to smoke a cigarette.”

Viktor Dumfelt was the perfect human, in Scarlett’s opinion. He was impeccable in every way, and his life was as flawless as a railroad track to success.

But after she got divorced, she realised he wasn’t without loopholes either. He led a life embroiled in trouble; his emotional problems made him rational, and he was somewhat an aesthete. He wasn’t as perfect as she remembered.

♔♔♔

Two hours later, the carriage arrived at Crimson Street.

Viktor got down first and held out his hand. Scarlett put her hand in his. The coachman walked over with the steps he had brought to help her down the carriage.

As she stepped on the ground, she let Viktor lift her hand and let the servant pick up her luggage. It was inconvenient to act like a lady who suddenly needed everything taken care of for her, especially when she had done everything herself in the past year.

Viktor was a gentleman with the narrow-mindedness that his lady should not lift a finger like her flower. His lady needn’t open her mouth, let alone do any labour.

Scarlett was convinced Viktor found her pathetic because she ran a watch shop.

“Thank you. Are you going to the official residence?” 

“Perhaps.”

“Be careful when you go.”

Scarlett said goodbye and turned around.

Upon entering the front yard, Arnold and Marilyn’s friends were playing with a bonfire. They didn’t argue for some reason. When she turned around, Viktor was smoking a cigarette in front of the carriage.

Scarlett turned her back without saying a word and headed for her house.

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