[TIDK] 9 – See You In A Hundred Days My Love

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A few days later, early in the morning, she was ready to go to the monastery.

Scarlett hugged Viktor, who had come to see her off.

“I’ll miss you, Viktor.”

Viktor gently pushed a strand of Scarlett’s hair behind her ear.

“When you come back, Father will be assuaged from his anger.”

At his words, Scarlett nodded and leaned into Viktor’s arms.

“Will your anger be assuaged as well?”

“No.”

The smile disappeared from Scarlett’s lips at his seemingly natural answer.

“Even after a month?”

“You betrayed me.”

What was her husband thinking?

When she was newlywed, she couldn’t sleep well because she spent her time trying to understand the mind of the man she had fallen in love with at first sight.

‘He loves me; he loves me not’; her mind swayed like plucked petals taken by the wind, looking for any sign of his feelings for her. She laughed, she cried, she got angry, but her husband remained unmoved by her displays.

He never let up. Whenever she was by the side of the cold-hearted Viktor, she felt his heart was never lit in warmth. She always felt like she, alone, was afire.

She wondered how she could have loved such a man for two years but wasn’t that what unrequited love was? 

Loving someone who doesn’t love you. In the end, she thought that time was the only answer. As it passed, this love would fade away as well.

Scarlett smiled and pushed back, she asked in a friendly voice.

“How about three months? Will you be angry in three months?”

“...”

“Then a hundred days. One hundred days... After that, let go of your anger. Okay? Longer, I’m scared that you’ll forget me.”

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

When Viktor answered, Scarlett was delighted and she hugged him again and, waving her hand, she said.

“See you in a hundred days, my love.”

“Okay.”

Would his anger be gone in a hundred days? Would the fire in her heart be extinguished in a hundred days?

Scarlett, eager for both, got into the carriage.

♔♔♔

Melin Monastery was located quite far from the capital.

The faces of Scarlett’s servants who entered the monastery darkened as there was nothing around.

The room reserved for Scarlett was made of stone and looked worse than a prison cell.

“Oh my goodness, I know this is a monastery, but doesn’t it have to have a bed? I am an aesthete, not an ascetic,” Candice, the maid who brought Scarlett’s luggage bag, exclaimed.

Smiling silently and looking up at the small window, Scarlett was worried about the lack of sunlight.

The servants set the room with bedding for the winter and several braziers. It was only natural for a wealthy family like the Dumfelt to carry this much luggage when travelling.

At that moment, the priest Delphio, whom Gregory had asked to take care of Scarlett personally, entered the room. He spoke in a solemn voice as he looked at the servants who were placing the bedding.

“What is this? Why does a woman who came to repent need so many amenities?”

At those words, the servants stopped. Priest Delphio continued.

“Get your bags and go. Let God Lesquia be angry with you.”

“Our Madame isn’t to be treated as such....”

Candice tried to refute, but Delphio cut her off and raised his voice.

“This is also Sir Gregory’s order.”

“...”

Candice had no choice but to resign herself if those were Sir Gregory’s orders.

The servants felt uneasy, but they took the luggage and left the room.

After they left looking around several times, Delphio stood in front of Scarlett with the scriptures in hand.

Then a nun came in and told her.

“Just get down on your knees.”

As the nun left, Scarlett knelt at the priest’s feet with a slightly strained expression.

Delphio opened the scriptures and recited, “The god Lesquia has spoken. All demons live in technology created to outdo others. So, the watchmaker’s daughter, and wife to the Crimson family, was born with innate sin.”

Scarlett’s expression hardened at his words.

Lesquia was the god of nature, and Edellord, the state religion of Salantier, was a religion that believed in this Lesquia God. Hundreds of years ago, the nomadic ancestors of Salantier settled here following a small star. And they began to worship the star that guided them and the god Lesquia, who made Mother Nature.

It was true that those who believed in the god Lesquia pursued a life close to nature. However, he brought up that religion and condemned Scarlett’s innate sin as the culprit of her actions.

It was Delphio’s repression.

“My parents didn’t craft watches to get ahead of others,” Scarlett said.

“Time is what nature tells us. It is the act of the devil to keep people busy by artificially reading the time.”

“It’s nonsense…”

“So, says the wife who betrayed her husband.”

Soon Delphio sent his friars to kneel beside her. 

“You may not understand your sin now, but you will soon. Here you will find both repentance and purification,” he spoke arrogantly.

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