[TIDK] 55 – Naval Embassy

She looked up at the peak.

“How do I get over this….”

As she agonised, Viktor tapped a metal plate on the wall.

Two, five, two...….

As she watched Viktor send a signal, a rope came down from the top of the peak.

When Viktor nodded at her to go up first, Scarlett held the bag in one hand and looked at the line with a troubled expression. She tried to climb up the rope first but slipped because of a lack of strength.

“Come here.”

Viktor called, and Scarlett was forced to obey. He tied the bag tightly to the end of the rope and hugged Scarlett to him.

“Hold on tight.”

“…Yes.”

In that state, as Viktor grabbed the rope and began to climb, Scarlett closed her eyes in fear. As the ground grew farther away, her whole body trembled.

But Viktor held up her weight and grasped her securely. She had nothing to fear.

As soon as Viktor went up the mountain peak and landed, Scarlett removed herself from him.

“Thank you,” she spoke, perplexed.

Viktor looked at Scarlett for a moment. She was distressed as she swept her hair and took a deep breath.

“…Was I heavy?”

When Scarlett asked, Viktor wrapped his hand around his neck where her breath had scalded him. His expression was complicated.

“No way.”

“Then…Ah.”

She realised a beat late as to why Viktor was suffering. She turned around hurriedly and fanned her burning face with her hands to cool her embarrassment.

“Sorry.”

“Look ahead.”

At Viktor’s words, Scarlett looked up. As she looked down from the peak, her mouth opened on its own.

There were two bases in the gorge with Ruse Falls over the peaks. And there was a glider flying between the gorge, which she thought had disappeared after the pirate sweep.

“There’s a glider...”

“Well, it’s useless without wind.”

Scarlett soon sat down on the peak and looked down. The two bases had naval and army coats of arms, respectively.

When Scarlett turned around, Viktor said.

“The Navy and the Army have called for special forces.”

“So the Special Forces...”

‘It’s the Air Force. There are no planes.”

“Does the Air Force not have planes?”

“There’s a biplane that the former Crimson family made, but it’s broken.”

Viktor grabbed Scarlett’s body and turned her around.

“I’ll give you a chance now. If you’re going back, go back.”

“What if I won’t go back?”

“If you’re a member of the Crimson family, you should be an engineer who came to fix the biplane.”

“If you can’t fix the biplane...”

“You can’t get out of here.”

Scarlett paused at his words.

Viktor spoke, pulling the rope and lifting her bag.

“This prison is lavish for my ex-wife.”

Scarlett coughed at Viktor’s joke. She didn’t know when he started to make jokes.

The two soon got off an unstable lift that transported them from the mountain peak to the ground.

In the words of her parents, Ruse Falls had divine power. It was beautiful, as if mysterious forces flowed together in the illumination of the flowing water. 

Viktor spoke as Scarlett took off her shoes because she wanted to take out gravel from the water.

“Do you intend to play in the water this time round?”

“No, but gravel is the main material... Oh, I can’t tell you more.”

“And to whom would I sell this secret of watch crafting?”

Indeed, there was no way that Viktor Dumfelt would do such a thing.

Viktor beckoned to his subordinate nearby. Then the sailor went straight into the water and collected some gravel.

“Here you are, miss.”

“…Thank you.”

After all, how could a lady do that with her own hands? On second thought, Scarlett spoke suspiciously.

“I craft watches. Am I a stain on your honour to be a watchmaker?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Watch technology is the best technology in the country.”

“Well….”

He thought he would say something misogynistic about a lady working, but surprisingly, he was open-minded.

Scarlett had to admit that she was baffled.

With that thought in mind, Scarlett put on her shoes. She noticed the gravel that Viktor’s men retrieved for her.

Each pebble had a sheen as if condensing the sun’s rays.

She packed a piece of the gravel in her bag.

From afar, Pallin came running.

“Captain! What are you going to do...”

“How can I stop her from coming?”

“But you should have stopped her! By force...Ah, seriously.”

When she saw Pallin’s face, she thought she might have endangered her life by recklessly barging here.

She looked up at Viktor, calm as ever. 

Perhaps it was fortunate. If Viktor were a man who cared about her, he might not have let her in. She never thought there would be a day when Viktor’s feelings for her would benefit her.

“I want to tell my past self, don’t be too sad, because one day, it’ll come to your advantage.’

//QAQ aww baby

♔♔♔

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