Things I Didn’t Know Because It Was The First Time Chapter 48 Discussion

Very fascinating so far. The world and tone of the writing are quite unique and worth a look. Think Steam Punk sliding into a Khmer Rouge, anti-intellectualism, situation.

We have the very young Scarlet, the commoner daughter of artisans who is very in love with her stalwart and serious husband, Viktor. She adores him completely, but is unsure of his own return affections, and has a tiny, niggly doubt he'll leave her once he doesn't need her any more.

Viktor is a war hero, and a bastard off-shoot of the royal family who has spent his life determinedly working to have himself and his expelled, former princess, mother reinstated to the royal family.

In light of his grand military achievements and worth, he is finally being considered. All that's left is a formality: an in-depth back ground check to see if Viktor has any dangerous secrets or potential security risks which would preclude him from entry. As a close relative, Scarlet is required to be questioned by the police to complete this formality.

However, neither anticipated the degree to which this final hurdle was less of a box to check mark and more of a bloody gauntlet to run, nor the level of animosity they're facing from the factions opposed to Viktor's reinstatement to royalty. Rather than a short, polite ordeal, Scarlet is drugged out of her mind and interrogated for a full week.

The addlepated Scarlet is then unceremoniously dumped in a hotel and framed in such a way that it appears she sold her husband out in exchange for cash and medicine to cure her disabled brother, and then ran off on a celebratory shopping spree. She doesn't remember a single moment from the past week. Every embarrassing, trivial secret of Viktor's life is splashed all over the newspapers.

Viktor is angry and shaken, thinking his receding-to-the-background wife whose love for him he's always taken a tiny touch for granted has betrayed him, and Scarlet is a mess for obvious reasons and unable to prove her innocence.

This promises to be a lot of emotional upheaval. We're going to be frustrated and angry, and righteous about protecting Scarlet, and seeing her vindicated. And we will.... eventually.

I do like that, unlike other jackass husband MLs, Viktor has not been abusive or nasty during their marriage. He's just rarely there, due to his profession as a naval officer, tends to prize self control over emotionalism, and fully expects his wife to be able to handle herself, so he rarely steps in with a helping hand. He is affectionate to his wife, albeit in tiny, clunky ways. We can see that he likes/ loves his wife, though she (and he) can't. I think this is going to be an emotionally constipated and reticent man realizing his way of doing things didn't work and lead to misunderstandings, and his trying to grow as person so his wife realizes his feelings. And I think his quiet, receding wife will learn to speak up for herself. But, it's early days, so this is a prediction.

Edit as of chapter 12: This is now a divorce story, much to my surprise. It will be lovely to watch Scarlet find her own feet as she divorces and rediscovers her ties to her late parents by working on watches and other mechanical things and becomes more independent. The couple reuniting is definitely the end game. Viktor is currently being muddle-headed, as he realizes his single-minded pursuit of his goal lead him to not see quite a few things he couldn't afford to miss, and that his policy of never forgiving or forgetting means he misses out on the wealth of human experiences. But hopefully the two of them can sort themselves out in a satisfying way.