Chapter 68
Scarlett toured the school with Pallin.
There were five subjects: physics, mathematics, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and chemistry. The three professors taught all subjects without distinction, and the students also learned all of them, though there were hardly any lectures related to mechanical engineering.
Soon, Scarlett stood before the laboratory the chancellor had assigned her, the one built with the Crimson couple’s donation. Stories about the two were inscribed on the door.
[Wendy Crimson, Willis Crimson’s Laboratory]
[In honor of the greatest inventors in the history of Salantie]
There was a lock on the door, but as soon as Scarlett saw the red lock, the password her mother had once mentioned came to mind. She entered the numbers, and the lock clicked open.
When she opened the door, she found the walls lined with research materials.
Scarlett remembered coming here a few times as a baby. This was one of the places she recalled visiting with her parents.
The sight triggered a sudden, sharp headache. Scarlett staggered, and Pallin quickly caught her and asked,
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Sorry.”
At her words, Pallin withdrew his hand, clasped his arms behind his back, and shook his head.
“It’s nothing.”
“Because of me, you’ve had to come all this way and go through trouble.”
“I don’t want to pressure you, but…”
Pallin rubbed the back of his neck and continued,
“Coming here makes me realize it even more. The fate of Salantie truly rests with you, my lady.”
“…Then why did you say you didn’t want to burden me?”
“I meant I didn’t want to burden you unintentionally.”
Scarlett gave a small laugh at his words. Then, taking a deep breath, she looked around the lab. Most of the documents were written in code. She vaguely remembered her parents talking about ciphers, but the exact details eluded her.
Clutching her head, Scarlett murmured,
“If only the memories were just a little clearer…”
“…”
Pallin glanced at her.
After brooding for a moment, Scarlett deliberately steadied herself with a long breath and looked at him.
“You must be hungry. Let’s at least grab a simple meal.”
“Ah, yes, of course. But I wonder if there’s anywhere to eat nearby, considering the people we saw struggling with jam jars earlier.”
“True.”
Scarlett replied and stepped out of the lab.
Pallin made a phone call, then managed to find a decent restaurant nearby. Northern cuisine was generally much poorer compared to the South’s, but as long as one knew that going in, the food could be reasonably satisfying.
After eating, they returned to the school, greeted the professors, even shook hands, and were about to head back to the lab when Scarlett saw a Dumfelt family carriage pull up at the school gate.
Perhaps because there was little entertainment, both professors and students came out to watch the carriage. Soon, items like braziers, curtains, and blankets were unloaded and carried into the lab. Blight stepped down from the carriage, his face as affable as ever, and said,
“Ah, how fortunate—you’re all here. Aside from our lady’s belongings, feel free to take anything you need. We also brought mulled wine and cheese. Would you like some?”
Most students at the College of Engineering were genuinely passionate about their studies. Those who were heirs to their families couldn’t attend due to parental opposition, so the students here were not successors.
Even those from wealthy families risked falling out of favor with their parents by choosing Salantie’s engineering school. The same was true for the professors. Thus, everyone eagerly rushed to the wagons to claim whatever they could.
“At last, a brazier for us!”
“Then we can even bake bread now?”
Though Scarlett had grown up with hardship, she had learned to manage fire, so at the very least she could secretly bake bread.
When she stood watching in disbelief, Kerstin came up and said,
“Scarlett, if you need anything, just say it. I’ll help you with anything!”
“Thank you. Ah, and I was hoping to…”
Scarlett began to speak, trying to get closer to Kerstin—the only other female student here—but then Pallin’s grumbling cut in.
“So many scientists here, yet no one thought to make a simple brazier.”
The students turned to stare at him, as if bursting with unspoken words. Then Kerstin boldly shouted,
“Now that we have an engineer, we can build anything we want!”
“Our lady did not come here to make trifles like braziers. As I told you, she is a noble person.”
“U-uhh!”
Kerstin could only let out a strangled cry before turning away.
Pallin clicked his tongue and stood stiff as a statue. Having only ever seen him scolded for his bluntness, Scarlett found that among ordinary people, Pallin seemed like an alpha male through and through.
And even among such figures, Viktor was overwhelming. Anyone could see he was the leader of the Dumfelt group.
Scarlett silently gazed at the things Viktor had provided. Then, as the biting cold finally caught up with her, she blew into her hands for warmth and said to Pallin and Blight,
“Thank you. I’d better head inside now—it’s too cold.”
Blight laughed cheerfully.
“Of course. Then I’ll take my leave.”
He bowed and departed with the carriage. Scarlett, bemused, let out a small laugh and said to Pallin,
“That was far too grand of a gesture.”
Pallin chuckled in agreement.
“Yes, even grander than necessary.”
“So much for quietly attending school.”
“Indeed. I didn’t expect it to be this small-scale.”
Talking like this, they went back into the lab.
Snow fell all day at the school’s location.
In the Crimson couple’s laboratory, while Scarlett poured them each a glass of mulled wine, Professor Gustav pondered over a design she had pinned to the chalkboard. The students beside him studied it as well.
Scarlett felt a strong sense of reassurance knowing that if she hit a roadblock in her research, both professors and students could puzzle over the problem together.
Bill, who had greeted her with genetics on the first day, and Kerstin, too, were studying the same matter. Then Kerstin raised her hand and asked,
“But Scarlett, is it okay to share clock technology with us? Isn’t that the Crimson family’s invention?”
She couldn’t yet involve everyone in dangerous research like that of flying machines. Nor could she fully trust them. So, she chose to focus on aspects of clock technology that had broader applications.
Handing each professor a glass of wine, Scarlett said,
“Of course. I came here because I want to understand that technology in more detail.”
“Ah, amazing… You’re just like the lady of the Crimson family I imagined…”
“…Kerstin, I told you not to make me feel pressured like that.”
Scarlett sighed, but Professor Gustav, intrigued, asked,
“Kerstin, what exactly did you imagine?”
“Well, you see, I pictured the Crimson couple’s only daughter locking herself away in the lab every day, researching tirelessly to inherit their great legacy. Oh, though I didn’t know they actually had a daughter. I thought it was just my imagination, but it turns out she exists.”
Scarlett looked at her in disbelief.
“You’re that interested in the Crimson family, but you didn’t know? My marriage and divorce were splashed all over the newspapers…”
“Scarlett, I don’t read the gossip column. It’s useless in life. Anyway, in my imagination, the only leisure the Crimson lady allows herself in her daily routine is gazing out the window at the changing weather.”
“What on earth have you been imagining, Kerstin?”
Scarlett asked, unable to hold back, but Kerstin pressed on.
“And then, one day, the devoted young lady contracts tuberculosis.”
“W-why would I get tuberculosis?”
Scarlett asked, eyes wide, and Kerstin replied as if it were obvious.
“Because intellectuals always get tuberculosis.”
“…I find that even less understandable.”
Scarlett muttered, but the three others looked at her as if it were strange that she didn’t understand.
In any case, after finishing their discussion, Scarlett packed her bag and left the school.
The past few days, she had been running herself ragged between the shop and the school—one body wasn’t enough. But with the weekend now, she wouldn’t go to school, and she had left the shop in decent order, so she planned to rest at home today. Tomorrow, Saturday, she intended to dine with Isaac.
Isaac, too, had been extremely busy lately with Crimson family affairs. The bank work was no trivial matter, it seemed. Scarlett planned to ask him over their meal if there was anything she could help with.
But before that…
“I should at least say thank you.”
She muttered to herself while waiting for the tram. After all, he had gone to great lengths for her, so it seemed right to give him some report of her progress.
She also needed to judge whether she was going to him simply out of lingering attachment.
A tram arrived shortly, and she boarded it toward the capital.
From Salantie’s College of Engineering to the capital was a long, monotonous expanse of plains. The snow was so heavy that even the sight of snow-covered fields wasn’t particularly remarkable.
Amid the unchanging scenery, Scarlett organized the thoughts she had been too busy to sort out lately.
And again, a single name kept surfacing.
Viktor Dumfelt.
Viktor Dumfelt.
How many times had she called his name the day she staggered out of the monastery with a fever?
Just once—just once, come earlier than planned. Just once, break the plan. Just once, cherish me with your heart.
She had hated him for a long time. Yet, whenever her thoughts deepened, his name rose to her lips, only to catch in her throat. Even when she told herself not to call him, the name burned at her throat again and again.
