B-ronken-R-ing 159...

"I do not need a child. So please..."Cárcel's voice had trembled as he uttered those words, and his expression had betrayed the internal turmoil he sought to conceal.

Inés wondered whether this was the hand of fate taking its revenge on her, or if Cárcel was punishing her unknowingly, driven by some instinctive force. Perhaps he was trying to prevent her from repeating the mistakes of their past. They had failed once before.

As he stroked her back, she let out shuddering breaths and wept, despite having thought she would be able to smile through it. Her whole body shook with each breath until she slowly calmed down, but her eyes still glistened with tears.

His large hands were trembling as they held her wet cheeks. The foolish man who feared nothing but her suffering now sat before her.

Inés clenched her jaw and lowered his hands from her face. Her sorrow was laced with wrath and shame. "How foolish I must have seemed. What an utter fool I've been..."

"You are not."

"How ridiculous I must have appeared to you, spreading my legs for you, completely unaware that you never intended to give me a chance. As you watched me climb on top of you, shameless in my desire, saying that I wanted a child... your child. Our child. What went through your head as you watched your desperate wife couple with you again and again? You know nothing about all those times I secretly held hope, only to be disappointed every month when I bled. What would you have thought of me if you had witnessed me acting like that, too?"

Cárcel said nothing, his silence heavy.

"What were you thinking every time you took me?"

"Inés..."

"Tell me. Answer me with those lips that once claimed to love me."

His chest had grown still and unmoving as he held her. Cárcel slowly turned his gaze toward the bed.

His profile grew pale as he observed the disheveled sheets he had scrambled out of earlier, the scattered gifts on the bed, a few of which had dropped to the floor as he had gotten up, and the letter that had slipped out from under a bow wrapped around a gift.

His eyes lingered on the small pouch that had spilled its contents across the floor. Tilidad. Then he slowly turned his gaze back to Inés.

"Did you laugh to yourself when I told you I liked you after all this time? You must have thought be ridiculous for saying that you could do anything to me since I liked you..."

"Inés, that was never, I-"

"You played me for a fool, Escalante. Perhaps you felt victorious when I finally fell for you, just like all those other women. Did you find it amusing when I spoke of spending the rest of our lives together, and our child..." Her voice broke as she sobbed, her words fading for a moment. "As you watched me speak of our child, you smiled... I remember now. You must have found me laughable."

"You are not laughable in any way, Inés Valeztena. You could never be, no matter what you do."

"You spoke as though you were pleased with the idea of a child I would bear for you."

"Anything that comes from your is precious to me. Always."

"I do not believe that it was all a lie. A man can be sincere to the mistress he indulges. He would allow her to cling to hope for now because he finds her so charming, even though he has no intention of ever giving her a child."

Cárcel's hand tightened on her shoulders for a brief moment. But his other hand still lay gently against her neck, checking her irregular pulse.

Inés knew that he was simply listening to her ranting, enduring it without interruption to prevent her from spiraling into hysterical. But even so, her last words sparked a flash of fury across his face, shattering his composure for a moment. And in that moment, she saw the depth of his feelings for her.

The tension in the hand resting on her neck, and the way his fingers flexed and then pulled back, seemed to deny every accusation she had thrown at him.

Inés let out a small, helpless huff of laughter. She couldn't believe that she had actually hoped, for once, to be told she was utterly mistaken, despite her stubborn temper that demanded she be right and emerge victorious.

She knew, deep down, that it hadn't all been a lie. She was also painfully aware that he was far too honorable to ever toy with her affections. He was just like that man from her past-frustratingly constant, inexplicably in love with her, and exasperatingly patient and self-restrained. It was enough to make her despise herself.

Cárcel kept his lips shut tight as he listened to her. She could tell he was restraining himself, trying to prevent himself from raising his voice or letting anger overtake him. His concern for her, his pity, held him back.

And because she knew all of this, Inés couldn't stand it. She couldn't forgive him for deceiving her.

She wanted to scream and ask him why he had done such a thing if he truly loved her. But at the same time, her past self seemed to taunt her. It felt like the Inés Valeztena of the past was mocking her, still haunting this room even in death, asking why she had dared to hope for something she didn't deserve.

Inés raised her head, her face covered in tears, contorted in pain. "How could you smile? Why did you bring me here? Why did you make me grow fond of this place... of you? Ever since then, I meant everything I said..."

She had been sincere with him from the moment she had thought of having a child not just as something she needed, but as something she genuinely wanted. Their child. In fact, it had started even earlier-when she had gaze upon Cárcel's portrait as a boy and imagined a child who resembled him running down the hallway of their residence. As soon as she had begun to envision a child who could walk and talk and run, her sincerity had taken root. Now, she wished for it so desperately that it pained her. She longed to lead a different life, but she couldn't tell how much time remained for them. She had no way of knowing how much longer they could be at each other's side.

Inés sobbed as she continued, "It wasn't the same for you. In the end, it was all for nothing. Our efforts were fruitless, and we were simply indulging in base desires... As my foolish hope swelled, you took me over and over again. Is that not so? I enjoyed it, yes, but it was my heart you deceived, not my body."

"Inés, that's enough." For the very first time, his tone was angry as he called her name. "Lie down and rest for a moment, and then listen to what I have to say." His touch was so gentle that it felt strange, but she knew he was putting an enormous amount of effort into keeping his grip on her loose.

Inés, her breathing now more even, murmured, "You said we should think of names. Cárcel, you wanted to name our future children. Back at your grandfather's hunting lodge, you were so excited, saying that you wanted a daughter who would take after me."

Cárcel did not respond.

"Did you take the medicine then, too?"

"I had it with me."

"If you had known about how many times I repeated those names in my mind, you would have laughed." Even as she spoke spitefully, Inés felt the hole inside her getting deeper and darker. But when she noticed the same pain in his eyes, her anger gave way to a sense of regret.

Cárcel spoke calmly, guilt clear in his expression as he looked down at her. "I stopped taking it that night, after you told me you wanted to have a child with me. Not just out of obligation, not as something to be done in haste and forgotten... When you spoke of our child with sincerity for the first time, that's when I stopped."

Inés quietly drew in slow breaths.

Cárcel eased her down onto the bed and knelt before her. "Was that the only reason?" he asked softly, a desolate look in his eyes as he looked up at her. "Was bearing a child the only reason you made love with me?"

Tears welled up in her eyes once more. His questions were exasperating and frustrating, cutting through her patience.

"Because you needed a child? Is that all it was? Did you believe our relationship meant nothing without a child-"

"I told you I liked you."

Cárcel fell silent.

"You wretched fool... I told you I liked you. That I liked you very much. What more do you need to hear? I said I liked you so much that I didn't mind if we were reduced to acting like beasts. That I would be content with anything, as long as it was with you... So how dare you... how dare you say-"

Before she could finish, Cárcel's shadow loomed over her head, and in an instant, he captured her lips in a fierce kiss. He pressed against her as though he couldn't control himself, his tongue hungrily seeking hers.

How can this fool be touched by my words in this situation? Inés was so exasperated that, after letting him kiss her for a moment, she began to hit him. Once, twice, again and again she pounded her fists against his chest, though he seemed unaffected by her blows. It was only once her breathing started to falter that he finally pulled back.

"I am sorry. I am so sorry, Inés, for deceiving you..."

"You despicable man. You are the worst. You deserve to burn in the deepest pits of hell-"

"I was wrong. Please forgive me," he pleaded with her as he placed kisses all over her face.

Inés turned her head left and right, trying to avoid his lips, but there was only so much she could do. If he hadn't been injured on his head, she would have struck him there already. Inevitably, his lips found hers again.

He pushed her onto the bed, making her grimace as her back was pressed against a gift box. He apologized profusely, quickly removing the offending item and kissing her again. And Inés, taking this as a signal for her to start hitting him again, punched his shoulders with what little strength she had left as he leaned over her. Her blows were weak, more painful to her hands than to him. Tears traveled down her cheeks again, like the remnants of her fury.

"Please don't cry, Inés... Please?"

"Stop telling me what to do and get off of me. I don't even want to look at you."

"It was wrong of me to do that. But it was never out of disregard for you. It was because you are so precious to me. I would never think of you as anything less than my equal, Inés, nor would I ever play you for a fool... I could never do such a thing.

How could you even think that? Please do not say anything like that again. I was wrong..."

"I made a flimsy excuse to come all the way here to see you. Because I missed you. Do you have any idea how worried I was? But you... you..." She struggled to find the words, and in her frustration, she struck him again.

Cárcel wrapped his arms around her, unfazed by her blows, and continued to whisper apologies into her ear. Her arms were pressed against him so that she could no longer hit him in the chest or shoulders. She flailed weakly in his embrace.

"It doesn't even hurt you when I pound you. It does nothing..."

"No, it does hurt."

"Let me go. I don't want to be this close to you ever again."

"It hurts me so much when you cry, Inés... Just thinking about it pains me." His voice cracked as he buried his face against her neck.

The way he held her tightly, his anguish palpable, was heartbreaking. Inés couldn't bring herself to reject him and, instead, embraced him in return.