Page 57 of Viktor at Sea

“Of course, I’m pregnant with Viktor’s baby!” Chara gasped. “Whose else’s would it be?”

“No.” I shook my head frantically, my mouth parting and closing like that of a blowfish as I struggled to string along my words. “This is not possible. I’m always careful.”

“Well, clearly not careful enough!” Daewon growled. “What’s wrong with you, Viktor? How could you do this? How dare you sleep with this woman when you’re supposed to be marrying my daughter!”

“I didn’t sleep with Chara while I was engaged with Astrid!” I frantically shook my head, desperate for him and all of the islanders watching to believe me. Even if I usually didn’t carewhat people thought of me, life in Jorvik would be unbearable for the unforeseeable future if everyone was always whispering about Astrid and me as we went about our daily lives together. “I slept with Chara only once. And that was before I declared my love for Astrid. She already knows about it. We’ve talked about it.”

“How long before?” He asked through gritted teeth, clearly struggling with his anger. I didn’t blame him.

“Three weeks ago. Maybe four. It was the night we returned from the mission,” I answered quickly which was impressive since it felt like I could hardly think straight. I mean, how could I when a woman that I wasn’t engaged to had just announced publicly that she was pregnant with my child?

“You slept with this woman a week before you proposed to Astrid?” Daewon shrieked, and his resolve must have finally snapped as he leapt at me. His fingertips were inches away from my throat before three men restrained him. “How dare you disrespect my daughter like this! How dare you treat her this way! I thought you were better than this, Viktor! How can you do this to her?”

Daewon was rightfully thirsty for my blood, but I couldn’t take my mind off the pressing matter.

Chara had just announced in front of half of Jorvik on my wedding day, moments before I was to take my position at the end of the aisle, that she was pregnant with my child.

Despite my colourful past that Astrid was aware of and we had discussed intensively, I made sure I was careful for this very reason. The last thing I wanted to do was impregnate a woman on my travels and never know of the existence of my child. I also never wished to have a child out of wedlock as my morals would push me to make the mother of my child an honest woman and marry her, and the last thing I wanted was to marry a woman I didn’t love.

When the thoughts became too much, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I gasped loudly and took a big step back, needing to put space between me and everyone else.

“Is it true, Chara?” I forced the words out, my hands clutching my throat. “Are you pregnant?”

“How many times do I have to keep repeating myself?” Chara huffed and rolled her eyes, completely dismissive of my feelings and how I struggled with this newfound information. “Why would I lie about this? Yes! Of course, I’m pregnant!”

“And it’s mine?” I felt the need to ask even though she had already confirmed it several times.

“Yes!” Chara spat, glaring darkly at me. “This is all your fault!” She raised her hand and pointed an accusatory finger at me, a disgruntled expression on her face. “I’ve been trying to speak to you these past two weeks. If you had just taken the time to speak to me when I approached you, I would have told you in private. It’s your fault that I’ve had to tell you in front of everyone like this.”

“I can’t believe this is happening right now,” I murmured lowly and shook my head, but that did nothing to clear my mind.

“Well, you better believe it because a baby is growing inside me, and it’s yours, Viktor. I’m getting tired of repeating myself,” Chara snorted and rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth to continue speaking, but I couldn’t bring myself to listen to a word more that came out of her mouth.

How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so careless as to get another woman pregnant?

If only I could go back in time and stop myself from sleeping with Chara and Erlene that first night I had returned from sea, then I wouldn’t be in this mess right now.

“I’m going to drown you, Viktor!” Daewon roared at me. The two men who were holding him back were visibly struggling. Itwouldn’t be long before he escaped their hold and made good on his word.

If Daewon truly tried to drown me, I would let him. It was the least I deserved for making such a big mistake.

I turned my head and glanced around the crowd. I was met with a mixture of disappointed, disgusted, and angry looks from the islanders who gathered around us. They were all watching this spectacle play out like it was a show and not my life falling apart in front of their very eyes.

Before I did something I would regret later, I turned around and pushed through the crowd to escape.

“Viktor!” Chara called out to me, but I didn’t stop for her. “Where are you going, Viktor?”

“Come back here, you scoundrel!” Daewon roared, and his voice only pushed me to get to the Skau hut quicker.

I needed to be the one to tell Astrid the truth. This situation was already bad enough, and it would only get worse if Astrid were to hear the news from anyone else.

Tears sprang to my eyes at the notion that Astrid wouldn’t want to marry me after this. Not after I had gotten another woman pregnant and humiliated her on our wedding day. Daewon would never accept me, Dustin would react the same way as his father, not that I could blame him in the least, and both Freja and Katarina would be so disgusted with me that I would never be able to look either of them in the eye ever again.

“This is bad luck!” Sallie screeched loudly when I rushed into the hut and slammed the door shut behind me. “Viktor! You need to leave before you see the dress! You’ll condemn your marriage to bad luck for the rest of your lives if you see the dress!”

“We’ve already been condemned with bad luck,” I grumbled, and another tear trickled down my face.

Before all of the concerned, slightly confused faces could ask me what had brought me here or why I was crying, I turned to Astrid. She was a vision in white, so happy and beautiful, and I captured this moment in my mind, wishing to look back on it in years to come for this could be the very last moment Astrid looked at me like that. Like she didn’t hate me. Like she could possibly love me one day.

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