B-ronken-R-ing 159...

 -- The Way Back Home --

It had already been over ten days since Luciano had encountered the knights of Escalante and Juana on Mercedes Street, the latter with a deathly pale face.

He had not managed to spot Inés at first. In fact, he might never have noticed her lying on the ground if it had not been for Juana-he had recognized her instantly, having known her since childhood. She had been sitting in the middle of the street as she bawled her eyes out drew everyone's attention. The moment Luciano spotted Inés, he halted his carriage and raced to his sister. Half in shock, he had carried her into the carriage.

He deemed it would be wise to keep Inés's "condition" a secret for the time being-after all, even he was clueless as to what had happened. Then he swiftly dismissed the knights of Escalante accompanying him, knowing that taking Inés to the Escalante residence would immediately alert the duke to her condition. The Valeztena residence was equally unsuitable, with their mother still there.

In the end, he ended up bringing Inés to his villa in Mardel, on the outskirts of Mendoza. He could only hope that Inés would feel comfortable there since the two of them had frequented the place in their childhood. The house had originally belonged to their grandmother Velinda, who wanted Inés to inherit it. However, Inés had turned her down by saying that it would be too burdensome, then gave the place to Luciano. Even he had figured that he would not get much use out of the villa, but it had proven otherwise over the years. For instance, one of the best benefits of having the home was that their mother avoided the place, since it was filled with memories and traces of Velinda.

Luciano knew that the duchess's presence would only make Inés's suffering worse, and his sister was aware of this as well. Thus, when she first regained consciousness and learned of her location, Inés heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Good, then I will not have to see Mother."

Luciano's thoughts trailed off as he stepped into the villa. Seeing Juana, he asked, "How is Inés?"

"She has been asleep ever since the physician visited," the maid responded. "She asked for more of the sedatives, I think."

A mixture of emotions flashed across Luciano's face. Immediately, he turned and strode toward the staircase.

"Would you like me to awaken her?" Juana called after him.

He gave the maid a curt shake of his head. "No. That will not be necessary."

After giving his response, Luciano ascended the stairs and entered the room where Inés was resting. He silently settled into the chair next to the bed-the one that Juana had been sitting in for hours before he arrived-and gazed at his sister's sleeping face. "So... they do not know what is wrong with her," he muttered to himself.

None of the physicians could discern the cause of her sudden unconsciousness that day, or why she had remained bedridden for many days afterward.

Luciano's mind flashed back to the dreadful illness that had once plagued his sister. For four whole years, it had tormented her before vanishing like it had never been there. Only then had she begun to smile and converse with him again, albeit reluctantly. It had felt like he had traveled back in time to the days before she turned sixteen, before the illness had cast its shadow over her life, and before they had grown apart.

Suppressing a sigh of exhaustion, he continued to study her closed eyelids. Merely ten days ago, he had been consumed with the fear that she would shriek and fall unconscious or collapse into tears upon seeing his face-just as she had at sixteen. It was not her aversion that he feared; it was the possibility that those reactions signaled the resurgence of her mysterious illness, which he most dreaded.

If that blasted illness returns to plague her... Luciano pressed his fingers against his temples. He did not even wish to entertain the thought, knowing it would spell disaster for his sister-such as her marriage with Cárcel and even her own chances of survival. During those four harrowing years, her seizures often left her struggling to breathe, which meant that she could perish from an unexpected seizure if left unattended for a mere ten minutes.

Time and again, Luciano had stepped into Inés's room after one of her seizures. Each time, terror had gripped him as her face grew deathly pale. He would watch her limp, unconscious body until her breathing finally steadied, then retreat as she began to stir. Even without his father's orders to keep his distance from Inés, he had not dared to approach her when she was in the middle of a seizure. His presence affected her breathing even when she was stable, which meant she might die if she saw him during one of her episodes. He knew that it was best to stay away-his words of concern would be of no help to her then.

In truth, he had wished to care for his sister every single day. He longed to be near when she was trembling and unable to open her eyes, even if it was from a distance. Nevertheless, he was compelled to stay away, fearing that even a glimpse of his face would terrify Inés or drive her to hurt herself in a fit of rage. Those days had been dark and full of worries. The fact that his sister despised him brought him much grief, but worse still was the fear that she might collapse and die at any moment-and he would be clueless as to why.

Now, she had suffered another seizure, and Luciano's heart throbbed with anguish. Why did it have to be now? Right after she finally regained her smile... She had blushed like a smitten girl while speaking of her dear husband. She looked more coy and bashful than ever before...

He recalled the time when Inés had asked him to vacation in Calztela. Although her voice had sounded nonchalant, her fingers had anxiously fidgeted. Her eyes had glowed with warmth when she spoke of hunting with her husband. It was a face that Luciano had seldom seen before... yet somehow, it felt familiar.

The Peraline physician, who had played a crucial role in pulling Inés out of the mire, had not hesitated to declare her symptoms as a form of mental illness.

Luciano shook his head swiftly. "No, no... That cannot be it," he said to himself.

If House Escalante were to discover... It terrified him to even entertain the possibility.

The image of his sister blushing and smiling while wearing a pretty flower crown filled his head.

However, it was immediately distorted by the memory from a few years ago when he had watched Inés gasp for breath, lying limp on the bed. This was quickly replaced by the Peraline physician's emotionless face, then the snake-like glint in the greedy eyes of the crown prince. Suddenly, he recalled something that Inés had told him: "I only saw it in passing, but it was most definitely a bullet wound."

Next to him, Inés stirred from her slumber that had barely lasted two hours. She blinked a few times, looking dazed. Then a heavy frown creased her forehead as if a sharp headache had suddenly assaulted her.

Luciano poured her a glass of water from the pitcher that Juana had left on the nightstand. "How are you feeling? I have been worried about you... I heard that you increased your medication dosage."

Inés raised herself slightly to drink from the glass that Luciano held to her lips. "I simply wished to take a nap, that is all," she said. "I feel much better now. Anyway... why are you here?"

Luciano lowered the glass onto his lap when Inés signaled that she was done drinking. "To check on my sister, of course."

"What of the empress and Duchess Escalante?"

"Mother has been adroitly evading their inquiries," he responded.

Inés blinked in surprise. "Just what kind of bribe did you offer her?"

"She agreed to keep quiet when I told her that you might suffer another seizure."

Inés slumped back onto her bed and burst into laughter. "Ah, yes... She was always terrified that somebody would witness such a distressing sight. I am sure she rejoiced when I decided to confine myself in Perez."

Luciano did not respond as he returned the glass to the nightstand.

"I feel much more energized now," Inés continued. "Could you continue to tell her that I am in Mardel?"

Luciano raised an eyebrow. "What are you suggesting?"

"I must go to Calztela."

A frown immediately settled on Luciano's face. "In your condition? No."

"Just lend me a horse. Cárcel must be back in Calztela by now."

At this, Luciano gave his sister an unhappy glare-a rarity in and of itself.

Inés ignored him as she sat up on the bed again. "Let's see. It is still before lunchtime... that means I can arrive before evening if I make haste. This is why I chose to take more medicine and get some rest."

Luciano shook his head in disbelief. "You would not have bothered to ask me if I had not come to see you, would you?"

It was like she hadn't heard him. "Cárcel will make me feel better, I know it. I'll be fine as long as I am by his side. I just..."

With a soft sigh, Luciano reached out to brush away some stray hairs from her face. "Take my carriage."

Inés beamed at him as if to say, I knew you would say that. Then she threw back the covers and stepped out of bed.

***

As soon as the carriage rolled to a stop in front of the Escalante residence in Calztela, Arondra hurried out to greet Inés, eyes wide with surprise. "Good gracious! Madam! You've returned!"

Inés offered a composed smile as she descended from the carriage. "I trust you have been keeping well in my absence, Arondra."

"We had no inkling of your arrival," Arondra rambled, concern etched on her face. "You look rather pale, Madam. Oh, and those terrifying gifts-why have you been sending such things?"

"I am quite well," Inés assured her, dismissing the housekeeper's concerns. "Now, where is Cárcel?"

Arondra paused for a moment before answering, "He should have arrived by now, but we haven't heard any word from him yet."

A shadow of disappointment crossed Inés's features, but she maintained her smile as she removed her gloves and placed them in Arondra's hands.

"As for Raúl, he is away in El Tabeo," Arondra continued. "He would have surely raced up Logorño Hill to greet you if he'd known of your return."

"I see."

"Your chamber is brimming with the gifts you sent. They threaten to overwhelm your bed!"

"How curious. I intended for most of them to be sent to the residence near the naval headquarters."

Arondra blinked in confusion. "Oh... perhaps there was a misunderstanding?"

Inés brushed aside the matter with a graceful shrug and made her way to her room. A scowl settled on her face when she stepped inside, and she immediately summoned her servants. She selected a few items that she intended to give to Cárcel in person and instructed the servants to move them to the storage room on the second floor. She ordered the remainder to be sent to Cárcel's other residence. The room was soon cleared of the ornately ribboned firearms, which were soon to be delivered to Cárcel's residence near the naval headquarters. There were so many of them that it looked like the doors were vomiting them out.

In the quiet aftermath, Inés stood alone in the room and took a moment to look around. To an oblivious observer, nothing seemed amiss, but she noticed that nearly everything had been replaced-the carpet, the curtains, and even the bedclothes.

She recalled the report that she had received from Raúl: "We heard a sudden noise coming from upstairs in the middle of the night, and just as we were climbing the stairs, we heard a gunshot. It seemed as though the intruder had been thrown off of the balcony amidst a violent struggle. The entire room was splattered with blood, and it seemed like the fight had started from the bed."

Inés slowly glanced at the balcony, then at the bed. She walked over to it and sank into the sheets. As she stared at the ceiling, her mind replayed the moment of her death that she had seen through Anastasio's lapel. Although she could still feel the chill of her last breath rattling in her lungs, her thoughts were consumed by the hours she had spent lying in bed, her eyes searching in vain for Cárcel.

Why wasn't he there? she wondered. Perhaps he was spending a peaceful day like any other, blissfully unaware of my dying moments... Or maybe he was on the battlefield, longing for me... Or... perhaps he was already dead.

Her nightmares always ended with her son dying, leaving her waking in a cold sweat. In all of them, she stood in the middle of the battlefield like a wraith and watched him perish. The visions were always hauntingly vivid.

Inés forced herself to exhale. Her mind was still racing as she rose from the bed and walked out onto the balcony. It was possible that she had witnessed a premonition, which meant that her time was running short. Death might claim her just as it had when she forced the muzzle of a hunting rifle into her mouth at twenty-six. Another possibility was that the memory belonged to a past life that she did not remember, which was also a horrible thought.

Even then, she could not help but wish the latter were true. She hoped that she could hold onto those memories so that Cárcel would never have to know about them. It didn't matter if she had suffered another tragic end in her past-all of her other lives had been full of pain and suffering. Perhaps she could simply forget about that moment if it belonged to the past, no matter how horrifying it had been... After all, she had managed to push aside the memories from her past lives and fallen in love with Cárcel once again, as if for the first time. She would dismiss the memory of that death as a mere bad dream, if it meant she could have many more years to enjoy with Cárcel.

"But, Cárcel, if that truly happened in one of my past lives..." Inés whispered into the wind, even though she knew no response would come. "Did you also buy this small house for me back then? Did you whisper all those sweet lies to me?"

Although she felt like a fool, she longed to hear an answer from a Cárcel she did not know-the one who would not leave her in some distant future.