Episode 35

"… It's true that there are many things to find fault with."

"Sorry."

"But why are you apologizing?"

"Because I'm sorry."

"… Aren't you going to apologize or something…?"

Before you do it, don't you know how…? Cassel frowned quietly. Ines, who noticed his doubts, smiled a little more kindly.

"As I said at the dinner, you are too good for me, too much for me, and too perfect for me."

You probably don't even know how to compliment someone sincerely. It's strange. It's really strange.

"So don't worry about what your father thinks, and don't think about me either."

"… … ."

"Always do what your heart tells you. Okay?"

Her benevolent face, as if she were a saint, overlapped with her sophistry at the banquet.

'I am proud of Sir Escalante, so I will not let him rot.'

At the time, I thought he was just in his right mind, but now I see his true sincerity. I even thought that it might be a trick to rapidly age the Duke of Ballestena, but it really was just sincerity.

A crazy sincerity that is completely incomprehensible.

"I'm already doing what I want. Enough."

"I know. I knew about it when you unilaterally announced that you would get married within two weeks… Because of that, I ended up wearing the same old dress my mother wore 27 years ago."

"however."

"It may be arbitrary, but it is your responsibility to move it. That is why I agreed even though it was annoying. So, Cassel, I will hold your sense of responsibility in high regard."

That statement sounded like it was about to be lowered to something else. Cassel narrowed his eyes and looked at her.

"What I want is for us to get married, so okay. I've always looked at you and waited for you to hold my hand, so if you suddenly rush in and ask me to get married, I should accept it as if I've been waiting for you. No matter how sudden it is. It was worth the wait. I'm so grateful."

Judging by his stilted language and utter lack of appreciation, he was clearly angry.

"I guess you're angry."

Cassel muttered back, as if to say, 'If I stab you, you'll bleed too.'

"No. Of course, it was a little annoying. But fundamentally, it was what I wanted more than anything—."

"…you?"

The words, "Just marrying me?" barely managed to catch in his throat. Yes, it was definitely Ines Ballestena who made the choice. Not him.

It was she who pushed him, it was she who pushed him, it was she who changed his fate, it was all her fault that he inherited the tiring title. It was all because she wanted to marry him… … .

Even though it is clear up to that point, if you say something like 'it was all just a wish', the listener will become very suspicious.

As if I had heard a blatant lie.

"So, I'm glad that you've made up your mind, even if it's late. It must not have been easy. It must have been difficult. But you're surprisingly a sincere child…"

Ines was much taller than the average Ortega woman, but she was extremely short for Cassel. As a result, she looked up at him from a height that was two spans shorter than her, and calling him a "child" made her look insignificant.

This was a very rare case. As Cassel listened silently, wanting to savor this strange feeling a little more, Ines continued speaking earnestly.

"I can't imagine how suffocating it must have been for you to think about the future in which you would have to live faithfully according to your faithful faith. That's why you desperately tried to avoid our marriage, and even needed a free life to clear your mind. Right?"

"… … ."

"It's a necessity. You are too precious to be tied down by the system."

"… … ."

"I liked how free you were. Even when you were six, you were surrounded by girls and seemed so happy… I don't want you to be trapped in a system or obligations and wither away in misery."

"… …What the hell are you talking about?"

"If you pick a flower, it will wither, right? So, leave it in its original place, and I will leave you just as you are."

"Putting aside the fact that you were likened to a pitiful flower with this size, so what you're saying now is brainwashing, hypnosis?"

"Brainwashing."

Ines answered as if she was shocked, but she didn't meet his eyes.

"That's exactly what you mean when you say things like you're trying to fool people. Are you trying to fix what happened last time?"

"There's nothing to fix."

"I kissed you."

And then, as if her breathing had been suffocated, she suddenly became exhausted. Could it be that she was thinking about kissing him and then making such an exhausted face? No. That couldn't be true. He was a good kisser.

Cassel strode closer to her. Ines turned her head and stepped back.

"I thought that would be a sufficient answer."

"… … That's your effort."

"effort?"

"That's crazy," Cassel asked back.

"That's why I wanted to drive home to you the extent of your sense of duty. I'm ready now to kiss a woman like you like this, like—."

"—I don't have any sense of duty to shove it in your head."

What a damn woman, and how dare she choose her words so harshly… … The image of them fighting and rolling around as if they were going to tear each other apart flashed through Cassel's mind. He made a face like he was fighting off an evil spirit.

"You said you didn't want to waste your energy on a guy you didn't even like, and yet you thought of me with such sincerity? Okay. That aside."

"No, that's—."

"—What? Is there such a thing as great friendship now?"

"Kassel."

"Whenever you say you like me, you say you don't like me. Whenever you say you don't like me, you're like this again. You say you love me and lie with a gentle face, and when you say you don't want to lose strength, you're busy pushing me away like you want me to quickly fall off a cliff."

"… First of all, it's been over ten years since I said I liked you."

Ines made a dumbfounded expression as if to say, "When are we talking about enemies?"

"Don't talk as if you changed the subject every few days. It sounds weird."

"Do you think you liked me back then, more than ten years later?"

"… … ."

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded. Cassel stepped back as fast as she had stepped back.

"Then when did you start to hate me?"

The women he had met were spies planted in the Ballestena household, or just the women he had met, or his unbridled private life… … Many answers came to mind, but Cassel looked at her without showing it.

Ines, at least, didn't seem to have anything to do with such things, so it's incomprehensible.

She looked at him for a moment, as if the conversation was annoying, then sighed.

"I want to marry you. If you didn't like it, then I wouldn't—."

"Don't change the subject."

"I don't hate it. I told you. I just…"

"Oh, I just don't like it. I mean, I don't like it enough to care… But what do you like about me? Oh, when you pick a flower, it turns into a Sydney rag?"

His voice also had a hint of leap, perhaps due to the influence of the Duke of Ballestena.

"Are you really angry right now because I don't like you?"

Ines looked at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes and asked. Cassel's eyes suddenly froze as if he had been stabbed in the lung without realizing it.

But fortunately, Ines continued speaking in a breathtaking voice, as if she didn't even realize that she had hit the nail on the head.

"There is no such thing as a perfect match. You were the one who rolled over, so why did you do it to me—"

"You said you liked it! You said it was sweet…!"

"It's not like I rolled around because I liked it! You were the one who enjoyed it!"

"Damn it, what the hell is going on in that little head of yours! I can't understand a thing you're saying, I can't—"

"—Maybe it's because you only move your body and not your head, right?"

"And in the midst of all this, you still treat me like some idiot who only has a pretty face?"

"In the meantime, you don't forget that I have a pretty face. If I hadn't been pretty, how would I have lived? Huh?"

It was an unusually loud moment among them. At this moment, he should not have been dragged into such childish provocations like he had when he was young. Cassel forced the corners of his mouth to lift and smiled.

"I said it humbly. Isn't this not a great level? It's more than that. And we weren't a couple. I was always the one you chose forcibly—."

"—Yeah, you were engaged and about to get married. So you didn't have any obligations to me. Look, I understand you so well—."

"I'm not trying to make excuses, so don't interpret it that way. I'm saying that things are different before and after marriage—"

"—What the hell is different. Ah, I don't understand, I don't know, I'll take back what I said that I understand."

Ines raised both her hands in protest. Cassel used this as if she were offering him her waist, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her in. Ines licked her lips silently.

Her expression, which was unusual for her and showed her natural bad personality, collapsed.

"… …What are you doing now?"

"I told you, Ines Ballestena. I'm a faithful dog."

"I don't understand that in the first place. Do you think that makes sense?"

"And marriage is sacred."

"What the… who is teaching whom."

Cassel was generally quite good at self-objectification compared to his natural condition. Who teaches whom? I completely agreed with Ines's babbling.

How ridiculous it was that he, the epitome of a prodigal, was preaching to 'that' Ines Ballestena about marriage and chastity!

But who really created that situation?

"So, you lived like a dog until you got married, but after that, you'll live sacredly like a monk? You want me to believe that—."

"—I believe you in the bedroom."