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"Just how much joy did you intend to bring me today, hmm?"

"When did you return?"

Cárcel swept Inés off her feet as soon as she emerged from the bathroom, as though he had been waiting for her. Her question came a heartbeat before he scooped her up, making it seem like his embrace was the answer. Though it didn't answer her question, it was very characteristic of Cárcel Escalante to shower her with such spontaneous, unrestrained affection. He buried his lips in the curve of her neck, drawing a deep breath in before trailing kisses all over her ear.

Inés endured this sudden gesture of affection with a resigned expression instead of rolling her eyes at him like she often did. It seemed that what had happened that morning still weighed on her, though Cárcel had been the one at fault. she couldn't resist him. Her slender cheeks were soft against his lips, and the way she had her eyes shut tightly was endearing beyond measure.

"Inés, you're almost unbearably endearing. Be honest. You're aware of it, aren't you? Could it be that you are this charming just to torment me?" he whispered as he felt the dampness of her skin and her still wet hair.

She let out a soft puff of laughter and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Her voice took on a brighter tone as she asked, "Did you see them?"

"Yes, everything you had sent to the residence near the headquarters."

"And did you find them to your liking?"

"I did. Every single one."

Cárcel wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up while his other hand played with the wet strands of her hair. In a few swift strides, he carried her to the vanity table. He gently set her down, her body still warm and dressed only in a thin dressing gown, along with his desire. Then he headed straight to their dressing room and retrieved a gown. It was clear he had picked the first dress he could reach, judging by how fast he had done it.

"I've already laid out my attire on the bed," Inés said.

"I know."

"That's an outdoor dress, Cárcel."

"Indeed, it is. Let's go out."

"At this hour?" She looked out at the window, where the sun was setting, its golden light dancing on the surface of the sea.

While she did so, Cárcel had stepped closer again and undid the loose knot that held her dressing gown together. Her bare skin was now revealed, but neither of them seemed to mind.

"I've had all your gifts from this morning placed in the greenhouse. I wanted to open them with you," Cárcel said, as though speaking of precious treasures. "You had them brought here because they're special, right? Let's select a few of those rifles and go to the shooting range." He pressed a soft kiss to her shoulder and lightly pulled the dressing gown off of her.

Inés let out a small laugh, tickled by his touch, and asked, "At the navy headquarters?"

"Unauthorized personnel aren't permitted to shoot there, so we'll go to the shooting range beyond Logorño Hill. Lieutenant Acevedo told me about it today. If you travel past the plaza and down the hill for a while, there's an abandoned shooting range. I've had my men clear away all the grass and leaves from the area. We need to test out the new rifles, after all."

"Very well." A faint smile remained on Inés's lips as she pulled his head down and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek.

Cárcel suppressed a moan and chased after her lips to give her an equally tender kiss. His hand, resting against her flat stomach, traveled up to playfully grab her breast before releasing it as he broke the kiss. But Inés leaned in again, biting his lower lip hard enough to sting before pulling away. In response, Cárcel leaned in and softly nipped her nose. They kept up this playful exchange that wasn't at all innocent for a while.

"Do you expect me to wear this dress with nothing underneath? I need my undergarments and a slip."

"Oh."

"Bring them here."

At her simple command, Cárcel moved hurriedly like a loyal servant, as though he hadn't just been fondling her. He quickly gathered her undergarments and brought a slip from the dressing room, then began to help her get dressed as usual.

He had made it a habit of helping her get dressed after It had become his custom to help her dress after their moments of intimacy and bathing together. Inés had grown accustomed to this routine as well, so she allowed him to guide her legs into her underwear, one at a time. She sat naked by the

vanity table with her head held high while he, still

dressed in his uniform, was on one knee, leaving

kisses up her legs as he pulled up her white briefs.

Once his kisses reached her thighs, he left a soft kiss between her legs and withdrew. It was a gesture of respect rather than of passion. Then he put a garter belt and stockings on her before rising to his full height, his broad shoulders casting a shadow that swallowed her up.

For a moment, they stared at each other in silence. Inés was the one who broke the gaze first, turning away.

Cárcel slipped a chemise over her head, and she reached up to pull it down the rest of the way before she stood up. Once she had put on the outdoor dress and Cárcel had tied up the bow at the back, she turned to look at herself in the mirror.

Cárcel touched her wet hair, looking dissatisfied. "If you refuse to have a maid serve you, at least dry your hair properly. You'll catch a cold."

"It's dry enough."

He walked over to fetch a towel lying next to the washbasin. "It's colder outside now that evening has settled in. Let me dry it a bit more before-"

"I want to hurry, Cárcel."

"Well, why did you bathe so early?"

"Before you returned, I wanted to..."

"Wanted to what?"

"I wanted to smell nice."

He paused on his way back from fetching the towel to look at her. "You always smell nice, Inés."

"I wanted to look nice for you. Because I have something to tell you."

He stiffened as though she had just told him something shocking.

Inés gave him a slightly smile before turning away. "Let's go."

Cárcel caught up to her with just a few big steps, taking her hand from behind and eventually leading her along by it. Inés stared at his shoulders for a while before lowering her gaze and focusing on the path.

Soon, they were in the greenhouse unwrapping the gifts that had been neatly piled up one by one. Most of them were firearms and related accessories, so it was obvious what they contained, but Cárcel admired each item with genuine astonishment and delight, as though they were all rare, priceless gifts.

He began to pepper her with questions, his tone brimming with incredulity. "Did you spend your entire inheritance on me? Did you receive some sort of divine revelation that morning? Are we perhaps plotting a rebellion? How much did you inherit that you still have some left after purchasing all of this? Is all of this truly mine? Are you sure none of these are for you? You are giving me everything, just because of the bullet wound at my side?"

Inés couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of him acting like a man of humble background suddenly gifted with riches beyond his means despite the fact that he had his own vast private armory in the Castle of Esposa.

"You already own all of these things, Cárcel. You have everything you could ever need," she pointed out.

"But none of them are from you. This is the first time..." he murmured, still in awe, fastening a pistol holster he had just unwrapped.

Inés helped him adjust it and said, "These are my gifts to you in return for the admiral's hunting rifle you gave me at the hunting lodge."

"That was just one rifle, though."

"Admiral Calderon's rifle is worth more than all of these combined."

"But I could never put a price on your gifts, Inés."

She dismissed his reaction as exaggeration, but he was completely sincere. His excitement and endless praise seemed unstoppable, much to her quiet amusement.

It was only after he had admired and praised every single gift that they finally mounted their horses and left the residence. It had gotten darker outside because he had taken so long marveling over each item. Thankfully, the servants had already illuminated the path to the shooting range ahead of them, making it safe for them to ride. Whenever the path narrowed, Cárcel took the lead, but otherwise, they rode side by side.

After a while, Inés caught sight of a circular shooting range surrounded by shrubbery beyond the thick tree line and pointed toward it. "I think we've arrived."

"Please do not just leap from your saddle," Cárcel cautioned her.

Ignoring his worried tone, she spurred her horse forward before lightly hopping off of her saddle as she had done countless times a long time ago.

"I asked you not to jump off like that..." His mild scolding mingled with the chirping of insects to make a peaceful atmosphere.

While Cárcel busied himself tying up their horses, Inés wandered around the shooting range. She followed a path that the servants had cleared through the thicket, and with each step, the sound of crashing waves grew louder.

The path led her to a small cliff overlooking the beach. At the end of the path was a solitary bench for viewing the scenery, and there were traces of a fire nearby that had been blown out by the wind. Drawn to the bench, Inés sat down and gazed out at the vast expanse of dark seawater. The last rays of the sunset were slipping beneath the horizon in the distance.

She sat there for a while, just listening to the soothing waves, when suddenly, a voice called out to her in a scream, shattering the calm.

"Inés!"

Startled, she spun around. She had thought it was Cárcel's voice, but there was no one on the path leading up to the bench.

Her eyes found him further back, loading their rifles, before noticing her gaze and smiling at her. He hadn't called out to her, nor had he been looking for her. She turned back to the sea, and yet the echo of that scream lingered in her mind.

Every time she blinked, his clothes changed. As her blurry vision turned dark along with the descending night, his dark blue service coat turned into a white flax shirt. The sound of the crashing waves grew louder, almost unsettling.

Suddenly, Inés felt her breath hitch, her heartbeat racing uncontrollably, until she was left gasping for air, her head bowed in distress.

The familiar, pleading voice called out to her again, "Inés... Inés, please do not do this to me...Inés..."

The memory of pushing through the underbrush, then collapsing in tears suddenly surged back to her with startling clarity. Why had she felt such an urgent need to run away-what had she been fleeing from and where had she hoped to go?

"I am here, Cárcel. I..."She wasn't entirely present even as this clear-headed thought passed through her mind. It was as though someone else-the echo of her past self, the one that had seen Anastasio-was thinking and speaking in her place.

"Inés! It's ready!" Cárcel's voice broke through the haze, but when she failed to respond, he walked toward her, his pace quickening into a sprint as he sensed that something was wrong. "Inés?"

The closer he came, the calmer she became. Yes, she thought, I am a mess. Anyone can see that.

As he neared her, Inés began to speak. "You asked me this morning, Cárcel, why that happened to me that day-what caused my seizures."

He was standing in front of her now, his expression etched with concern as he looked down at her.

Thinking that he deserved to know at least that much, Inés slowly lifted her gaze to meet his. "I've always known the cause. I told you it wasn't related to my illness from past, but in truth, it was exactly the same."

"But you said they couldn't determine the cause of your illness..."

"It was never a mysterious illness beyond comprehension. The seizure I had that day, it was brought on by the same reason. The truth is, my mind is unstable."

"What?" His eyes locked onto hers in the darkness.

Inés continued evenly. "The doctor from Peral you were so eager to meet-he was not some miracle worker who cured my illness. He was simply the first to tell my father that his daughter was mentally ill."