Chapter - 159

***

The dream seized Inés again.

In the dream, she found herself confined somewhere. Luciano's voice reverberated in her ears like the soft cadence of a distant melody in a tongue unknown. Everything that first appeared unfamiliar gradually wove into the fabric of familiarity.

Although the exact date eluded her, she guessed this must be around the time she resided in Perez after Emiliano died. Her dreams, invariably entwined with his death, plunged her into a dark abyss each night.

Even her happiest moments turned into torment. If only she could meet Emiliano in her dreams without reaching the inevitable conclusion, she could revel in blissful oblivion. Alas, the foreknowledge of his fate tainted every dream. Each one was a haunting replay of his slow demise before her eyes, or a cruel awakening haunted by the recollection of his tragic end.

He perished again and again, much like their ill-fated child.

Inés's gaze flashed upward, instinctively searching for the child, who should be alive at this point. Yet, no echoes of a baby's cry -only a haunting silence.

The vast room was sparsely decorated with a handful of opulent furnishings-a bed, two bedside tables, a vanity, a dining table with two chairs, and a tiny desk that belonged to a little girl. It seemed as though someone had purged the room of most belongings in this luxurious prison.

She did not recognize this room from her time at the castle in Perez, the Valeztena residence in Mendoza, or even in Te Ruel, where Duke Valeztena had sent his children to separate them from their mother.

Memories stirred within her. Transferred from the small port in Calztela, she was then dragged to the castle in Perez, and ultimately found herself in Te Ruel, where the second Inés Valeztena met her demise. She would never forget the room she died in. However, the current chamber didn't align with the recollections of Perez either. Then, her attention shifted to Luciano, an awkward smile adorning his features. When she died at the age of twenty, he was twenty-three and never displayed such a smile, especially in the moments leading to her untimely end. They rarely ever even looked at each other.

After staring at him for a while, she realized he was the twenty-nine-year-old Luciano she had glimpsed before she died the first time. Finally, the pieces fell into place. This had to be the palace, and Oscar had once again imprisoned her within its walls.

"I understand the resentment you bear towards Duchess Valeztena, a sentiment that echoes my own... But her words hold a modicum of truth at a time like this," Luciano said. "You've borne His Highness's child before. You can bear more, but you mustn't let your marriage fall apart, especially now when His Majesty's health is failing. The palace is in disarray..." Unlike his timid smile earlier, he now spoke with a clenched jaw, his tone carrying a hint of disdain for his own words.

Inés gazed at her brother's face. When he uttered the words "His Highness," his face had crumbled into an unfamiliar expression.

"You're destabilizing the very foundations of the palace, neglecting your duties," he continued. "As the lady of the palace, you must realize this is a matter beyond the personal. His Highness is not only your husband but the crown prince and the future emperor of our nation. Your Highness, you must prioritize your husband's interests, for in doing so, you secure your own."

At this point, Luciano knew about everything, a revelation Inés had dreaded. He was the one person she did not want to realize the torment Oscar inflicted upon her. She did not want Duke

Valeztena or any of the Valeztena men to know, either. That was her only hope during her last pregnancy. Concerned about her multiple miscarriages, Luciano requested to see his sister several times, but Oscar never allowed him to see her, claiming the physician had advised her to be at complete rest.

Despite Oscar's schemes to frustrate her, Inés had already resigned herself from her earlier complaints to see her family more often. She wished not to expose her suffering to her brother. When Luciano eventually guessed at her misfortunes, she prayed he would remain unaware of the full extent of her agony.

By this point in the dream, Oscar, too, had already figured out she didn't want to see her family. He glared at her the moment he realized she had been hiding her true intent. And on a day marked by another heart-wrenching miscarriage, she engaged in her customary clash with him, full of loathing for his diseased body. After the last miscarriage, she was at her limits, but he remained impervious, seemingly deaf to her anguished cries. He didn't blink even when she hit and shoved him in the chest.

Oscar saw her as a mere beast-there was no need to understand the nuances of a beast since they lacked reason.

He didn't think too long about how he might be hurting her. In his eyes, his wife had a terrible personality and drove herself into fury. Yet, her physical allure rendered her temperament tolerable.

He was the crown prince, too precious a person to be hindered by anything, and Inés was the most attractive thing he owned, like a prized possession akin to a valuable mare. He sometimes whispered to her, "Undoubtedly, you have the best breeding."

Their union existed in a perpetual state of incongruity, a mismatch from the start. She was never his equal or even his wife. They were always a strange, ill-fitting pair. It was Oscar's possessive obsession that restrained her and bound them together.

In comparison to what he did later, the young Oscar's jealousy towards her brother appeared as mere child's play. He took perverse pleasure in taunting her with the prospect of reuniting with her family, mocking her apparent aversion to such a reunion.

"I was about to let you see your brother and your father in the spring if you wanted to see them," he gloated. "Inés, how did you have such a disgusting idea? How can you not want to see your family for the rest of your life? Duke Valeztena must be so disappointed to know what his only daughter is thinking."

Bristling with indignation, Inés retorted, "Don't you dare mention my father with your tainted lips."

"Then, what were you hiding from your brother?"

She tried to run away, but he grabbed her and pushed her down on the bed. She flailed around, but he pushed her face down into the bed and lifted her dress with ease. He lifted her hips up and violated her like a dog.

The maids waiting outside the door didn't look perturbed. They were already used to hearing curses and screams from the crown prince and princess's bedroom in the broad daylight. Only Luciano, standing outside the bedroom door, was unfamiliar with this routine.

Once Inés realized Oscar had her brother wait outside during their violent intercourse, she felt like the ground dropped out of her feet. She had been mistaken. Oscar could sink even lower than she had ever imagined. The disconcerting revelation left her thoughts in disarray.

"My precious Inés, my poor crown princess... I told you, your hole is the same as any common harlot's, no matter how hard you pretend to be above it all," he whispered. "In Castano lives my favored courtesan. A man with the same black locks and green eyes as yours. Perhaps you two look similar... A male version of my crown princess-he has a delicate form like you but has a cock instead of a hole."

She offered no retort, yet he persisted in his despicable monologue. "Among all my harlots, you possess the finest lineage. You are the most beautiful and flawless of them all. Even your name is beautiful... But that's the extent of it. You're merely another harlot, and now your brother is aware of it. Look around, Inés. I am all you have." His words echoed like an ominous pronouncement of her doom.

Luciano entered the room a time after Oscar had left. He implored, "Gather your strength, Your Highness. Remember your love for your husband and shield the palace from harm. Remember his majesty is in ill health. If his majesty becomes more ill, His Highness might be in danger, too. You cannot stay incarcerated, letting your body wane. So, please, implore His Highness for his mercy."

Of this memory, she could only recall her brother's plea and her visceral response. The weight of his words nearly made her collapse, tears flowing unchecked. She remembered herself muttering, "How can you utter such words, knowing the truth? How can my own brother say this to me...? Even after learning what he's been doing to me..." In the tumult of her emotions, she hit and lashed out at Luciano, vowing never to see him again.

Only later did she realize that she should have observed him more closely.

"Please... I beg you," Luciano pleaded.

Now, she finally saw his expression in that moment. Despair etched across his eyes as he regarded the bruises on her neck and wrists. She finally discerned Oscar's guards lurking by the door. Worst of all, she finally recognized the deep-seated animosity toward Oscar reflected in Luciano's gaze. In her dream, she could finally see the truth of her brother's intentions for the first time.

Eventually, she would also witness Cárcel Escalante blanch for the first time, as she leapt off the terrace.