# 5
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A few days later, early in the morning, preparations to go to the monastery were completed.
Scarlett warmly embraced Victor, who came out to see her off.
“I will miss you, Victor.”
He extended his hand and pushed Scarlett's hair behind her ear as she looked at him eagerly in his embrace.
“When you come back, maybe my father’s anger will subside.”
Scarlett nodded, then leaned her head on his chest and said: “And will you forgive me, too?”
“No”
At this cutting reply, Scarlett's smile faded.
“Until a month later?”
“You betrayed my trust”
What is her husband thinking?
In the first days of their marriage, she would stay up all night trying to understand what was going on in the mind of this man whom she loved at first sight.
She would do childish things like plucking flower petals and saying, “He loves me, he loves me not,” or searching in the grass for a rare plant said to bring love. She laughed, she got angry, she cried, but Victor remained the same as always.
His heart never caught fire. He was always calm, cold, and next to him she always felt as if she was burning alone.
How could she have loved a man like that for two years? But she thought that one-sided love was always like this. To love someone who doesn't love you.
In the end, I decided that time was the only solution. When this fire goes out one day, this love will also go away.
Scarlett smiled and took a step back, then asked in a friendly tone: “How about three months? Will you forgive me after three months?”
“So a hundred days. After a hundred days... you'll forgive me, right? I don't want it to continue any longer, because I'm afraid you'll forget me.”
“Okay, so be it”
When Victor answered, Scarlett beamed, hugging him enthusiastically, then waved her hand and said, “See you in a hundred days, my love.”
“Okay”
Will his anger subside after a hundred days? Will the fire in her heart go out if she stays away from him for a hundred days?
Scarlett longed to have both as she climbed into the carriage.
* * *
Melin Monastery was very far from the capital.
When Scarlett entered the isolated cloister, surrounded by nothing, the expressions on her servants' faces darkened.
The room designated for her was made of stones, and looked like a dungeon devoid of everything.
The maid, Candace, frowned as she put down Scarlett’s bag. “My God, even if it’s a monastery, shouldn’t there at least be a bed? This isn’t a place for devotees, it’s for spartans.”
Scarlett smiled softly, she had been somewhat anticipating this, and looked out the small window. She was a little worried because the sun wasn't getting enough into the room.
Servants were busy tidying up the room, carrying winter blankets and a fireplace. For a wealthy family like the Domfelt family, it was normal to carry this amount of luggage when traveling.
At that moment, the priest Delfio, whom Gregory had entrusted to look after Scarlett, entered the room.
He looked at the servants putting on the covers, then said in a firm tone: “What is this behavior? Why would a woman who came to repent need all this luggage?”
The servants stopped moving.
“Remove the luggage immediately,” Delfio added. “Governor Lescia will be displeased.”
“No matter what you say, how can we leave our lady...”
Candice tried to object, but Delfio interrupted her by raising his voice: “This is an order from Mr. Gregory as well.”
Candace had no choice but to cringe at the mention of Gregory's name.
The servants gathered the luggage they had placed in the room, looked back several times, and left anxiously.
After they left, Delfio stood in front of Scarlett, holding the Bible.
A nun approached and whispered to her: “Get on your knees.”
Then the nun left, and Scarlett knelt down in front of the priest's feet with a slightly tense face.
Delfio flipped through the pages of the scripture and said, “Ruler Lescia said: Every devil lies in techniques created to excel others. Therefore, the watchmaker’s daughter, the lady born of the Crimson family, was born carrying original sin.”
Scarlett's features hardened when she heard his words.
Leskia was the ruler of nature, and the Edlarodian religion, the official religion of Salantir, believed in this ruler.
Hundreds of years ago, Salantaire's ancestors, nomads, settled this land by following a small star. And they began to worship Leskia, the ruler of nature who created this star and nature itf.
It was true that the followers of Leskia sought a life close to nature. But Delfio's claim that Scarlett carried original sin because of this religion was just arbitrary.
“My parents didn’t make watches to outdo others,” Scarlett said.
“Time is something that nature tells us. Making people artificially read time and keep their hearts occupied is a satanic act.”
“This is nonsense...”
“And that's why you cheated on your husband, right?”
Delphio quickly ordered the monks to make her kneel on the ground. Then he said proudly: "You may not understand your sin now, but you will realize it soon. Here you will receive both repentance and purification."
***
100 days was a long time longer than I thought.
During that period, the bitter cold days passed, and the strong cold spring winds arrived.
In Salantir, it snowed heavily in December and January. In February and March, the capital rained a lot and was buffeted by strong winds that made the weather frightening.
While his wife was at the monastery, Victor was answering interviews with journalists with whom he was uncomfortable.
He looked at the rain pouring outside the carriage.
Blight, who had arranged Victor's many medals on his uniform with the utmost precision, was examining them with alert eyes, then frowned as if he did not like something.
It was Victor who hired Blight because of his near-obsessive obsession with tidiness. Since he chose it himf, Victor did not comment on this behavior despite his feeling of distress.
Blight finished arranging Victor's clothes after deep thought, then carefully removed the wilted petals from the bouquet of flowers he had brought.
As he handed the bouquet to Victor with a precise movement, he asked, “Are you going to be okay? Even when meeting Duchess Marina?”
“I visit it often”
“But this time with journalists.”
“No other option”
Victor was trying to avoid this option until the end, but the constant attacks by the Royal Police and the press on his behavior forced him to do so.
Blight opened the carriage door and got down to open an umbrella.
As reporters gathered, Victor emerged from the carriage holding the bouquet.
The reporters, who were preparing offensive questions, stopped the moment his handsome, stiff face appeared in the rain.
This young officer, no more than twenty-six, exuded incredible prestige.
Victor entered the Abbey of Oslet, the wealthiest monastery in the capital, where his mother, Marina Domfelt, resided.
The Ouet Monastery was famous for its church filled with stained glass, and it was beautiful but only a few were allowed inside.
Marina Domfelt was sitting in a comfortable chair on a balcony overlooking the garden, decorated with Victor's enormous donations.
As Victor approached, Marina looked at him.
“Victor”
“Mom”
Victor smiled and approached, then knelt down on the beautiful wooden floor next to her chair, and looked at her.
Marina extended her hand to touch his hair, then suddenly stood up, and her gaze changed as she grabbed his neck.
“If you weren't there...”
“You were going to live like a princess. Yes, I know.”
"You shouldn't have been born! You're the one who ruined my life!"
“You've said this many times.”
He let her scratch his shoulders and neck with her thin hands without resisting.
This was common.
After exhausting herf as she beat and scratched him as if she wanted to kill him, Marina began to breathe hard.
Then, as if she had regained some consciousness, she asked him: “How is your wife?”
“Fine”
“She still loves you like that?”
Victor smiled silently.
“Of course, it weighs heavily on me.”
Marina nodded, then spoke again: “Did I tell you about the slide that was in the palace when I was little?”
“…no”
It was a story he had heard a thousand times. The story of the slide with the golden handle, and the story of the cradle decorated with rubies that all members of the royal family inherit.
She talked for a long time about her childhood in the palace, then went back to blaming Victor again. The bouquet of flowers he brought made her angry, so she tore it up and threw it in the rain a long time ago.
After listening to her for a long time, Victor noticed that Marina seemed exhausted and getting ready to sleep, so he got up from his place.
Marina took his arm and said: “Son, one day, take me back to the palace.”
There was hope on her face mixed with an indescribable kind of madness.
“My beloved son, you are the only one I trust. Do you understand?”
“Of course”
Victor arranged her cover and said, “One day, I will take you to the palace.”