Chapter 89
Viktor spoke.
“Take her to Count Crimson.”
“…Okay.”
Scarlett, exhausted, answered meekly and sat down in a chair. Her face was still pale.
Three days had passed, but she had been unconscious during that time, so until just a moment ago it was as if she had still been kidnapped. Her frail shoulders trembled on the sofa.
When Viktor knelt beside the sofa, Scarlett flinched and looked at him.
Viktor spoke again.
“Shall I kill them?”
“……”
“All of the pirates.”
Scarlett looked at Viktor at his words. He continued.
“Shall I just kill them all?”
“Why are you asking me that kind of thing.”
“You laughed last time, too. When I beat Ebil Crimson.”
“……”
“If I go and kill every one of those bastards, will you laugh then?”
Confusion and embarrassment mingled in Scarlett’s clear eyes.
There was not a trace of humor in Viktor’s voice. As he waited for an answer, Scarlett reluctantly opened her mouth.
“Ah, no…”
“You don’t want that?”
“Yes. Not all the pirates agreed to kidnap me.”
“Then?”
“There was a man named Shaun, and about three other men his age.”
“Were they wearing prosthetic eyes?”
“Yes. They were all wearing them. I don’t care about the others. Some of them looked like good people.”
“There are good people everywhere.”
Viktor nodded.
A little while later, as he was leaving the room he said to Pallin, “Catch Shaun Wastrand and the three who participated. The rest we’ll deal with through negotiation.”
“Only those three?”
“Yes.”
“Will you spare the others?”
“If Scarlett doesn’t want them to die, then there’s nothing we can do.”
“All right, sir.”
Pallin answered, though a look of puzzlement remained on his face. He went down to the lobby on the first floor and woke Evan, who had been sprawled out asleep.
“Let’s go.”
“What are we supposed to do?”
“They said to bring in Shaun Wastrand and the three who joined him.”
“…Why?”
Evan frowned at Viktor’s uncharacteristic orders.
Viktor Dumpfelt had always been at odds with the pirates—hatred and understanding in equal measure. He had never once shown mercy to pirates; they had always been defeated and put on the defensive by him.
Evan had seen that the more naval battles Viktor fought, the more intense his anger toward pirates grew. Whenever they opened a pirate ship, there were always horrors inside worse than expected.
The vicious pirates had all been executed long ago, leaving only their families. The crown had suggested executing them too, but ironically the navy opposed that. Seeing the criminals up close, even those who seemed beyond redemption still looked human. The navy’s stance was to execute the villains but, even if their families posed a risk, to spare them. That opinion prevailed.
And now that very recommendation from the navy had led to Scarlett Crimson—the very heart of Viktor Dumpfelt—being kidnapped.
Evan, who had expected Viktor to order all the pirates wiped out, was surprised by the show of leniency and went off to capture the four pirates.
When Pallin and the others reached the factory where Scarlett had been taken, Pallin said, “They probably fled far away by now.”
“Maybe not.”
Evan shrugged.
When the navy entered the factory, the pirates guarded and then backed away warily.
“Where is Shaun Wastrand?” Evan asked.
Harold stepped forward and said, “Captain, how did you want us to handle this?”
“You told us to just bring those four in.”
“…Is that so.”
Harold bowed his head.
“Thank you.”
With a gesture, Shaun Wastrand and the three young pirates who had joined him were brought forward. Far from hiding them, they’d kept them right there—Evan snorted at how cooperative they were.
“Wow, you’re so helpful it’s embarrassing.”
“You can take them. This won’t happen again.”
“Reliable.”
At Evan’s words, Harold offered a faint smile and asked him, “Why did the captain say to only take those four?”
“Miss Scarlett asked for it,” Evan said.
“Is that so…”
Harold nodded.
He slid a trembling hand into his pocket and handed Evan a vial.
“This will ease the mechanic girl’s symptoms a bit.”
“An antidote?”
“Yes. I know the captain said it wasn’t necessary, but she helped us a lot. I saved it for now, anyway.”
“I’ll deliver it.”
Evan said as he pocketed the antidote.
Harold felt a responsibility to care for those who came off the pirate island. He watched the young men trembling in remorse as they faced him. Among them was his own son. He didn’t look back and closed the warehouse door.
Turning, he addressed the pirates left in the warehouse.
“This must never, ever happen again. If it does, I’ll kill you with my own hands.”
Silence fell over the warehouse.
As Harold walked in, Aisha slid down a machine and said to him, “Harold, I have a question.”
“Don’t.”
“I’m curious. If you’re so afraid of Viktor Dumpfelt, why did you sell that medicine to the royal police?”
Harold glared at Aisha.
“What do you mean by that?”
“You sold it—the memory-related medicine. To the royal police.”
“How did you know that?”
“The girl Shaun brought had taken it. Why did you do it?”
“I sold that medicine so my son could live. Because of that sale, I spared my boy.”
“……”
“Yeah, my son caused trouble. But that was the only way. Whether the navy kills him or spares him now, it’s no longer my concern.”
Harold said and walked away.
Aisha ran after him and asked, “Do I need to go back to the island to learn more about that medicine?”
“Why do you want to know?”
“Because that girl wants to know.”
“Don’t bring up that medicine again. Don’t you even think of going near that mechanic girl.”
“I won’t.”
“Is this because that girl saved your brother?”
“Yes. That’s right.”
Aisha’s frankness made Harold grimace and then disappear with swift steps, as if to say don’t bother him further.
Even as he left, Harold couldn’t shake the feeling he’d picked the wrong person to trade with. Someone else might have been ignored, but not Aisha.
‘If push comes to shove, she’d kill her own father,’ Harold thought and quickened his pace.
After that day, Scarlett could not free herself from fear for a long time.
Even though her security had been strengthened, the psychological shock was too great. The horror of being dragged away from her own home was unbearable. Every time she heard a sound at the window she flinched.
Wrapped in a blanket over a long skirt that reached her ankles, she curled up on the first-floor sofa.
Andrei, losing patience, said sharply, “Go out for a bit. It’s hard to watch you like this.”
Scarlett glared at Andrei with a frown.
“I don’t feel well. Have some sympathy. Don’t you have feelings, Andrei?”
“You don’t make an inconsistent person a spy.”
“…That’s true.”
Scarlett answered and rested her head on the back of the sofa. Then she slowly pushed herself up and said weakly, “I should work.”
As she tried to go up to the second floor, Andrei blocked her path.
“Stop working.”
“But you told me to work before.”
“Work in moderation. You haven’t slept at all since that day and have only been working.”
“I like working.”
“It’s psychologically unhealthy for someone who was kidnapped to just keep working.”
“Still… if I don’t keep working, I keep thinking about that time.”
At her words, Andrei said with a weary tone, “If you really insist, why don’t you go visit Count Crimson or something?”
“Isaac is busy.”
Saying that, Scarlett buried her face in her knees again.
“How disappointing. Really, why is he so busy?”
“You forgot, didn’t you? The Count is busy trying to restore the Crimson family that the boss so dearly wants returned. The family that Ebil Crimson almost ruined beyond recovery.”
“…I know. I know. I could have gone to see him before, but now I can’t. And Isaac doesn’t come to see me all the time anyway. I’m disappointed, I’m disappointed.”
At Scarlett’s petulant complaint, Andrei gave a breathless chuckle.
As far as he knew, Isaac Crimson’s world revolved around Scarlett Crimson. It was so extreme it was a problem, yet Scarlett was unaware and merely complained about being neglected.
Andrei was exasperated but let it go. She was still traumatized; he didn’t want to pile on by saying Isaac’s behavior was abnormal for thinking so obsessively about his sister.
Uncharacteristically hesitant, Andrei finally spoke.
“Anyway. I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For the newspaper photo of the boss. Because I had the royal police brought in, you were photographed. The pirates saw that…”
“You used the newspaper?”
“Yes.”
At that, Scarlett, who’d been sitting the whole time, stood up from the sofa.
Andrei, resigned, said, “You could kill me here and I wouldn’t sue.”
“How can a dead person sue?”
“It means I’m really sorry.”
“Two years. Unpaid.”
“How harsh. Just kill me instead.”
Scarlett gave Andrei a stern look as he protested, gathered her coat, and said, “Now that I’ve heard that, I have a plan.”
“What plan?”
“It won’t affect unpaid staff. I’ll go out and come back.”
“Ah, two years…”
Andrei looked pained as Scarlett glanced back at him, then left the shop.
