Episode 16

Chapter 2. Ines Ballestena's Position

Ines' first life ended at the age of twenty-six.

Only those who have died know the length of life. Ines knew its insignificant and finite length. It was something she knew because she had died, but it was not something she only knew after she died. It was Ines' own decision to end her life at just twenty-six years.

She ended her first life with her own hands.

It was a tumultuous twenty-six years. Now, the memories of those days are distant, but the despair of the moment when I opened my mouth and bit the gun on myself remained vivid. And the last time I saw the crown prince's stupid face.

"Ines, please put that gun down. I'll do anything. I'll do whatever you say until you calm down. Please, put that down… I'm your husband. I'm your only family now."

Her husband, who had the audacity to claim himself as her only family, with every member of her family still alive and well in Perez's duchy, fell to his knees as soon as she unlocked his hunting rifle.

When he personally gave this gun to his fiancée, who loved hunting, he could not have imagined that she would be the first prey it aimed at.

"No matter what happens, we have to be together for the rest of our lives. You know that, right? You were chosen to be the Empress of Ortega more than twenty years ago. You will always be my first, Ines, you know that… … So put down that gun and think again."

"I've thought about it enough."

"You are calm. Calm. Of course you are… You are a very deep woman. But before I am your husband, I am the crown prince of a country. You are trying to destroy the foundation of the royal family."

"The foundation of the imperial family is the Emperor's Majesty."

"… It will happen soon, very soon. You will finally become the empress…"

"As expected, you are extremely devoted to your father, Oscar. How about ending your life before it is too late to prove your utmost devotion?"

"If you kill me, you're killing Ortega. Ortega will soon be me, and I will soon be Ortega…!"

"His Majesty is Ortega. Not a wretched man like you, Oscar."

"That's correct. But that's it. It's all the same. The Emperor is Ortega, and Ortega is me, so the Emperor is me. It's one."

"Can you be the Holy Trinity or something?"

"You are not normal right now, Ines. So, it is time to truly think about what is best for you and the Ballestena family… … ."

He acted so proud and arrogant, but then he pointed a gun at his forehead and started mumbling endlessly. That sight was so pathetic that I was able to forget my hatred for Oscar for a moment.

Oscar loved himself too much since he was young, and even a small scratch while drawing the bow would make him feel like the imperial family was going to collapse. The majesty with which he gathered even his soul and commanded it was so hideous… … .

The shock that the crown prince, who regarded his own body as a glass craft, must have felt when he was first slapped in the face and kicked in the shin by his enraged wife must have been beyond anyone's imagination. However, because dignity was more important than life, Oscar could not even punish her.

If he wanted to punish her for her crimes, he had to become a man who was beaten by his wife. It is still unclear whether that was the problem or whether he was the first crown prince to be beaten by the crown princess and divorced.

In any case, Oscar endured Ines' one-sided tyranny for much longer than she expected. Even while being repeatedly hit by objects thrown at him, he maintained the absurd belief that there was no precedent for a royal couple to divorce.

Even when he first offered to divorce her, she refused, and later on, when he begged her to divorce him, she refused.

So, I had no choice but to hit him. He was a man who could not be spoken of. She tried to clench her fists while wearing the large rings that Oscar's mother had personally given her, and as if being hit on the cheek with her precious body was not enough, she also tried hitting him on the head.

But Oscar was stubborn. He hated him to the point of being sick and tired of him.

Oscar was always a man who cared only about himself. He had all kinds of perverted sexual desires that he secretly harbored, plans to meet male prostitutes and high-class prostitutes in order to freely indulge in his perverted fantasies, secret mistresses that he thought no one knew about, all kinds of orgies, and all kinds of venereal diseases that he had no idea how he got. But on the outside, he acted like the most noble and great man in the world.

In fact, Oscar's acting was so good that Ortega's women admired Ines just because she was his wife. It was so good that even she was once completely fooled.

From the time she was six years old, when she was betrothed to Oscar through his one-sided courtship, to their marriage in the spring when she was sixteen, he was the most affectionate man in the world.

"There will never be another man like His Highness the Crown Prince. Look at that wonderful smile… You are looking at His Highness again. I can feel the deep affection just by looking into your eyes."

"What would it be like to live as the woman that Oscar loves so much? To live as the woman that the one and only one who ascends to the throne has sworn to give everything in the world to… I can't even imagine it. Doesn't every day feel like a dream?"

"In the bleak land of Mendoza, where everyone marries without love, it is a social paragon that two noble people cherish and love each other so much."

"Is there anyone more wonderful than His Highness the Crown Prince? Of course, my cousin the Duke of Escalante is beyond comparison in appearance, but his conduct…"

"Kassel Escalante is a scoundrel who has no intention of marrying. He is incomparable to the Crown Prince, who lives only for the first love of his childhood. No matter how much he tries to make his face look like… … ."

Of course, being the only daughter of the Duke of Ballestena, who held the title of Grandes de Ortega, Inés was already one of the most noble in the Ortega family. Her penchant for flashy and extravagant decorations and the Duke's generous investment in supporting this penchant made her a trendsetter in Mendoza, and even though her skin was tanned by the sun due to her excessive love of traveling, she was praised for her "natural and healthy skin."

Yes, she was praised for everything she did. Originally, dark tanned skin was considered a symbol of the working class, and noble women, who thought that only pale skin was beautiful and even applied poisonous powder, praised her dark tanned skin.

By the time a few years had passed, everything had changed. The sun-kissed skin that had been the symbol of the working class was evidence of leisurely adventure, and in the early winter months it was evidence of wealth, of having a villa in the warm south. Even if spring had brought back the pale makeup.

Ines lived such a life at the top. If one day she suddenly started walking backwards, everyone else would be walking backwards the next day. In a world where women wearing trousers were criticized as being more vulgar than naked women, what happened when she put on riding pants and rode a horse? The weekly newspapers published in Mendoza all praised the Crown Princess's dignified dignity, putting an end to the criticism within the royal family, and young noble ladies showed their courage by imitating her.

As the only daughter of Ballestena, she grew up with great birth and was admired as the crown prince's passionate fiancée, and lived a life as a young and beautiful crown princess. She wore more expensive dresses and wore more precious jewels than the emperor's daughters.

Although she didn't have an exceptionally beautiful face, her features were like a piece of paper, so if she put in a little effort into her makeup, her face would become noticeably beautiful, and her body was, needless to say, perfect. So what could be lacking?

She was once so satisfied with that perfect life that she tried to live even more perfectly. Every day, she pestered foreign tailors to make new designs for her dresses, and she sifted through the countless invitations that came pouring in, worrying about which events she could attend that would both show off her status and get the most attention. She starved all day long in hopes of having a thin waist that would go better with her beautiful dresses, and at dinner parties, she ate more food than the other women and secretly vomited it out, repeating the tiring act…

Was that a normal life?

I don't know. She was so deeply skeptical at the time, and she was sick of her own harsh mentality, wondering if she wanted to be a more perfect woman for the crown prince, or if she was using the crown prince to create a more perfect life.

But she did love her husband. Even if it was only for a few years, even if it was only for a moment, she was fooled by his abominable acting, even if it was because of her own vanity that she loved his position… … Love, love.

How could I love a person like this even for a moment?