[TIDK] 6 — The Clock Is Strange

Scarlett turned to him.

“Tell him I’m sorry, Viktor," she said.

“Yes, Madame.”

Pallin bowed in farewell and left.

Even after he left, Scarlett, who was exhausted and buried her face in her arms. She straightened her upper body and muttered.

“Bad bastard.”

Then she curled up her waist and sat down, gasping, and laughing like she’d gone mad.

It was incredible that she hated Viktor. It was a fact that she’d betrayed. It was pathetic that she couldn’t even remember it. But the shallowness of her hatred for her husband for not being able to remember it herself was what was most hateful.

She raised her weak body and turned to the mirror.

Now that she had just turned twenty, her face appeared to be full of life, even though she was exhausted. Rose-like cheeks, lips, and light golden hair emitted an aura of spring in winter.

She stared at her face and raised her hand to remove the decoration that fixed her braided hair in a garland.

While slowly taking her time there, the sound of the clock bothered her and she raised her head.

“The clock is strange.”

There were times when the second hand stopped halfway through.

As if possessed, she lifted the fancy chair that Pallin had carried, and was instantly disappointed by how heavy it was.

“What, how did you hold it with one hand?”

Eventually, she pushed the chair with her legs underneath the clock.

Standing on it, she tried to lower the gilded clock on the wall, her father’s voice came to mind, and her hand stopped.

“You have to take off the pendulum first, then move the clock’s plate, Scarlett. That way the parts don’t break.”

She carefully removed the pendulum first, with the eyes of a startled rabbit.

“I remember everything,” Scarlett mumbled, picking up the clock. She returned to the table that Pallin had brought. She put the clock upside down on it, and without opening it, its internal structure was roughly drawn before her eyes.

“...why are you doing this?” Scarlett muttered to herself. She even felt scared and kept talking to herself.

“Did you suddenly become a genius? Or are you just crazy?”

The intricate watches and clocks of the Crimson family held the essence of science and technology in Salantier. But, her parents had died prematurely in an accident. And her uncle, Abel Crimson, who devoured all her fortune as an excuse for her upbringing, had not taught her even the most basic skills. Thus, until now, Scarlett had no knowledge of watches.

“I need to remove the foreign material clogging the gear.”

She heard her father’s voice, as well as his explanation. He was telling his daughter whilst placing parts that were too small to be seen on the first knuckle of his index. Her mother laughed at her husband and then concentrated on assembling numerous other watch parts again. As it came to mind, she couldn’t figure out what it was in English. Even the blueprints they had pasted on the walls were all drawn in her mind like a photograph.

As she was looking at the clock, her maid, Candice, who came in concerned about her, walked over in surprise.

“Why did you take down the clock, Madame?”

“I'm going to try and fix it.”

“The accuracy of the clock has decreased these days. But Madame says she’s going to fix it?” Candice tilted her head at her words.

“I am from the Crimson family. Let me try.”

“Oh, did you learn to repair them? Oh, I’ll bring you a toolbox.”

Candice had no doubts about the fact that she was the daughter of the Crimson family, famous for their watches. Scarlett had brought a toolbox when she came to Dumfelt.

This toolbox, used by her mother, was received by Scarlett. And her father’s, by her brother Isaac. These two were all the inheritance they had acquired.

Scarlett pulled her chair closer to the table and opened the toolbox. She then opened her back plaque skilfully, just like a person an artisan who worked with watches and clockwork daily.

As she began to remove the parts of her watch one by one, Candice, as well as the maid who came in together, fretted over how she would reassemble it.

Every single one of the Dumfelt family’s items held rarity. Besides, it was clear that Gregory Dumfelt, who was busy pushing his daughter-in-law these days, would kill her if he found out he broke the clock.

Because Scarlett suffered a lot when she was young, she never took the workers’ labour for granted. So, there were many people who felt sorry for her as much as there were servants who were dissatisfied with her – claiming that she had fussed up the mansion.

Candice belonged to the latter. She looked at Scarlett repairing the clock indifferently and sighed with relief. She had been hesitant the whole time, and she thought it would be good for Scarlett, who’d been repressed by the recent events, to turn her attention to something else.

She wiped away the dirt from the parts and Scarlett blew particles of dust off it.

She then placed the parts she had disassembled, balancing them with her delicate hands. It was satisfying to watch the cogs rotate, aligning with precision.

The maids who were initially concerned, slowly approached the table.

‘/I recently reread Pride & Prejudice, and she reminds me a bit of Liz, when Scarlett cursed I laughed a little. (*｀･へ･´*)

Thank you to everyone for leaving nice comments and motivating me ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ੈ♡‧₊˚

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