[TIDK] 66 – Unrequited

“Ruined?...what are you talking about?” Scarlett said, bewildered.

“I don’t know if you used the wrong medicine. His eyes were covered with hideous things,” Arnold chided.

Arnold had opened Isaac’s door unexpectedly and had seen Isaac’s ugly eyes.

“Didn’t you know? He said he’d do anything if I didn’t tell you,” he continued.

“...”

Scarlett couldn’t find the words to counter.

“So, he really did everything.” Arnold laughed like a madman as her body wilted.

“It was natural that Viktor Dumfelt abandoned you. He must have been sick and tired of you chasing after him for love,” he sneered.

“...”

“The same goes for Isaac. There’s a limit to putting up with pity.”

Arnold, believing he had utterly defeated Scarlett’s willpower, now thought he should stop the threat, but it didn’t stop. The mixture of anger and excitement left reason uncontrolled.

Then Arnold’s arm was pulled back. 

Scarlett, blank, sank to the ground.

She was absent-minded when she heard Arnold Crimson screaming. Scarlett looked up, and Viktor had broken Arnold’s arm and leg one at a time, throwing Arnold to his men. Scarlett flinched at the screeching. It didn’t seem to be hard to break his bones at all.

Viktor knelt and raised Scarlett. Then he bowed and looked down at her and spoke, “Scarlett Crimson.”

“...Huh?”

Scarlett looked up blankly, and Viktor asked calmly. “How the hell did you grow up?”

“...?” What was he trying to say?

“They’re all trying to beat you by force. How did you grow up? In that rubbish house,” he growled. Was it a hint of anger or frustration she heard in his voice?

“That’s not important. Isaac...I think he’s sick,” Scarlett managed to whisper.

Scarlett looked up at Viktor. 

Her eyes were clear, knowing something was wrong.

Scarlett continued, “I used the medicine. It’s a pirate’s drug, so it makes your eyes visible again... I was sold that medicine. That...”

At Scarlett’s words, Viktor was silent, watching her for a moment. Scarlett asked, exhaling a trembling breath.

“Is there a side effect? I didn’t think about it. Do you happen to know? You know a lot about pirates,” she pleaded with him.

“I don’t know. I’ve given everything I received to the royal family,” Viktor looked away.

“I see.”

Viktor stopped talking for a moment upon her confused voice. When Scarlett stumbled out, he said, “Stay there. I’ll take you home. I’ll send Isaac there, too.” 

“I’m sorry.”

Scarlett muttered, wobbling out of the store. The staff at the headquarters glanced at each other worriedly, but they didn’t speak.

Scarlett had been leaning on the door for a while. She sat in a carriage with Viktor, glancing at her ex-husband’s face. Sometimes, he had such a beautiful appearance that she was appalled by the fact that he was human. She looked at Viktor’s face and recalled what she had heard from Arnold earlier.

“It was natural that Viktor Dumfelt abandoned you. He must have been sick and tired of you chasing after him for love.”

Scarlett unconsciously recalled the early days of her marriage.

At that time, she was so happy that she had a family to rely on, so she suddenly visited her husband’s bedroom in the middle of the night. Even if it was a small thing or when she had a good dream or nightmare. She merely missed him, and that was reason enough.

Scarlett opened her mouth. “At night.”

At her words, Viktor turned his head and looked at Scarlett. She continued. “There was no reason. I used to visit your bedroom.”

“...”

He remained silent as she stared back at him, and smiled lightly.

“I just missed you. I’m sorry,” Scarlett looked back down. She felt like she had purposefully humiliated herself.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?” 

Scarlett burst into tears and laughed, her eyes red.

“I thought I was so mean to people. I was bad.”

She thought about why he wouldn’t love her since she was twelve.

She was in love, one-sidedly. Unrequited. In her heart, she knew this. But her foolishness clouded her judgement; clouded the evidence that was clear as day. Viktor wasn’t an unfeeling man, he was unfeeling towards her, that was what she was certain of.

“I keep messing up everything...Why am I like this...” Scarlett talked to herself and punched, smashing his chest.

It was terrible that she had troubled Isaac and didn’t even know about it until now.

//do you think Scarlett is an unreliable narrator?

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