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***

Alicia greeted Inés and Cárcel with an elegant smile when they stepped into Marquess Barca's manor.

"Cárcel, Inés! You are most welcome," she said brightly.

They bowed in return. "Your Highness."

The gallery was in the form of several wide halls with long hallways that seemingly stretched on forever. Countless paintings hung on the halls to either side of the main hall, all connected by hallways, showing that Alicia had been telling the truth when she claimed her late mother had been an avid collector of artworks. Regardless of whether she was only putting on a show or trying to display her loyalty to the emperor, the price of all the paintings combined could probably raise a noble house from the ashes. Inés allowed Cárcel to walk ahead of her as she slowly looked around at the display.

Alicia stared at her intently as she offered her hand to Cárcel with an ease that made it seem like they were quite close. Although the proper custom would have been to take the hand and kiss it, he gingerly held Alicia's fingertips and pretended to put his forehead to the top of her hand before letting it go.

"Lieutenant Escalante... It seems that you have grown even more particular since the last time we met," Alicia commented mildly.

Cárcel seemed entirely unfazed as he responded, "Not at all, Your Highness. I could never disrespect you in such a way."

"Your lovely wife wasn't even watching you."

"Indeed, but I am a soldier above all else, and it is customary in the navy to overlook some of the complex formalities that exist among aristocrats."

At this, Alicia raised an eyebrow slightly. "Is that so? But even Commander Barca will display his respect for me every time we meet."

Essentially, she was pointing out that his excuse was absurd since even her uncle gave her a formal greeting, as all gentlemen of Ortega did.

Without waiting for a response, she sighed pitifully and cupped her cheek with one hand. "How hurtful... You act as if the world will crumble if you hold my hand."

Finally, Inés decided to put an end to Alicia's pointed, teasing remarks. She smiled sharply and said, "Actually, I saw that he held your hand... in my presence, no less!"

Alicia gave her an innocent smile and shrugged. "Did you know that your husband has been the recipient of many ladies' grievances, young and old? They tearfully complain that they'll never get the chance to feel his lips and hands, even if it is only through a formality."

Although the question had been directed toward Inés, Cárcel skillfully answered it instead. "That is quite distressing indeed," he said, then pulled Inés closer to him by her waist with an awkward smile. On the surface, he only seemed to be a meek, foolish man who was overly concerned about what his wife would think. However, anybody who was familiar with him would know that he was making a point to hold her in his arms.

Inés chuckled under her breath and brushed a finger over the bridge of his nose. "I never told him to refrain from doing such things... but perhaps he figured it out for himself."

She could feel the gaze of the other aristocrats, even though they all wore a mask of elegance and nonchalance. They were probably entranced by how Inés and Cárcel were teetering on the brink of indecency.

"As I understand, you never allow yourself to be affected by jealousy," Alicia observed.

Pretending like she hadn't heard those sharp words, Inés wondered out loud, "Perhaps it's because he fears me."

Cárcel, who had taken a step back to allow them to talk, immediately leaned down and placed a chaste kiss on Inés's cheek. "Of course not," he said.

At that moment, Alicia's lips twisted very slightly, but her elegant mask slipped back into place only a second later. "Indeed, it's obvious that you have never feared your wife... There is certainly no shortage of love between you two."

Her words themselves were fairly amicable, but there was a blade hidden underneath. Inés didn't allow herself to be fooled by the forced mirth in Alicia's gaze, or the way she glanced at them teasingly as if Inés and Cárcel had just returned from sharing an intimate time together. The emotion that dwelled in Alicia's heart was only disgust, for she thought of them as something lewd and vulgar.

It was truly ridiculous that Alicia thought she had the right to look down upon anybody. Not only did she suffer from a madness that was cleverly disguised as love, but she had ordered other women to crawl into Oscar's bed so that she might be able to make love with him as well, ignoring the fact that knights stood guard by the doors.

Although Inés was truly disgusted by the hypocrisy that lingered in Alicia's virtuous eyes, her lips curved in a genuine smile when she realized just how anxious Alicia was about the possibility of Oscar happening upon them. It was as if she was the priest of some strange cult, obsessing over the purity of the sacrifice that she wished to offer to her deity... as if Inés's "sin" was her own. Perhaps that is why she has always displayed so much hatred and disgust toward us, Inés thought.

Of course, she had anticipated that Alicia would be fearful of Oscar seeing her and Cárcel clinging to each other in a way that was anything but decent-after all, everything about Alicia would always be determined by her dear husband. Furthermore, she knew that Alicia would be enraged if Oscar was shaken upon seeing Inés. However, Alicia had a way of going above and beyond her expectations, and Inés found herself mildly surprised by how Alicia treated her as if she wasn't "good enough" for Oscar due to her "disgraceful" actions.

"Passion is certainly something to envy in a marriage... Not to mention that it's necessary for an offspring to be produced sooner than later," Alicia added, starting to lose her composure. It was obvious that she was insulting Inés in a roundabout way, pointing out how she had still not given birth to a child despite the indecent and vulgar ways in which she handled her body.

However, Inés simply feigned ignorance and gave her a shy smile. "We are not planning on rushing this process, Your Highness. A marriage is poisoned when it becomes driven by an objective, not love."

Alicia nodded. "That is perfectly understandable, especially considering the two of you are still at your most fertile."

In other words, I'm still lagging behind, since she is an entire year younger than myself... Inés scoffed internally. It appeared that Alicia had forgotten her beloved husband's age, which was greater than hers as well. But it was to be expected, since Alicia was a fool who firmly believed Oscar was God's most perfect creation.

Cárcel cleared his throat lightly. "Of course, our matters are only trivial. We have been anxiously looking forward to your heir, Your Highness. I imagine we will receive some good news in the near future?"

His words found Oscar's ears, who had been talking with Duke Helbeth in front of a nearby painting. The crown prince smiled warmly and approached them. "What news are we speaking of?" he asked, grabbing Inés's hand and kissing it without a moment of hesitation.

She forced herself to smile instead of snatching her hand away. Just as Oscar released her fingers, she turned to Duke Helbeth and launched into a new conversation, preventing the prince from trapping her in an unwanted interaction. At the same time, Cárcel stepped forward slightly to partially shield her from Oscar's view, then continued to discuss the matter of Oscar's child with both Alicia and the prince, effectively excluding Inés. All of these actions were performed in just a few seconds with the sharp discipline of a soldier.

The sharp annoyance she felt in response to Oscar's presence was overshadowed by the exhilaration of how fluidly she and Cárcel moved with one another. She smiled brightly as she brought up the topic of what had happened with Duchess Helbeth at the palace.

"Ah, yes," the duke said with a nod. "Upon her return to the manor, she told me that you had performed a great favor for her."

"Oh, I did not do a single thing. When Her Grace..." she began.

At that moment, however, she felt Oscar's piercing gaze that found her from just behind Cárcel's shoulder.

His eyes obsessively studied her side profile and lingered on her exposed skin. Then he stared at the very faint marks Cárcel had left along her neck and shoulders, his gaze traveling back up to linger on her flushed cheeks and slightly disheveled hair.

Her skin prickled whenever his eyes landed on it as if there were bugs crawling on her. Rage flared in his face as he noticed the trace of wrinkles on her dress and the marks she had left under Cárcel's ear. She knew exactly what he was doing-he was looking for something that would prove they had been intimate back in the carriage.

Even back when Oscar was married to Inés, he had suspected that she and Cárcel had laid with one another. In fact, considering just how paranoid he was, he should have suffered from all sorts of delusions even if he had simply seen Inés and Cárcel on the streets from a distance. But there he was, openly displaying shock and rage just because of a mark Cárcel had left on her skin. He must "remember", she thought with absolute certainty.

Unfortunately for Oscar, he had fallen right into her trap. Even back when she had experienced some semblance of happiness as Oscar's wife, she had turned him down on multiple occasions whenever he tried to slip his hand under her dress as their carriage rolled down the street. She had tried to appease him by whispering exaggerated words of love in his ear as if she was trying to compensate for the refusal, despite hating his excessive desire for her body.

What angered him the most had been the fact that she despised being intimate with him, so much that she was willing to put aside her haughty personality to quell his irritation. Whenever she turned him down, he immediately concluded that she hated him. Now that she thought back on it, even the "happy" years that she had spent by Oscar's side had been wasted on the foolish mission of keeping him satisfied. He probably had no idea that Inés had only stayed by him because she still held the faintest bit of love for him in her heart. If she hadn't been happy, she wouldn't have put his feelings before her own as she struggled to meet his demands. In fact, he probably wouldn't have cared even if she told him-what he wanted from her was her noble bloodline and obedience, not her love.

A part of Inés felt a twisted, vile satisfaction at the fact that she could "still" affect Oscar so much. Even the venomous glare Alicia was directing at her brought her pleasure.

As she smiled to herself, the emperor wandered in from the other hall in search of his son. When he spotted Oscar, he called out, "My son. I require your presence."

She silently noted how Oscar never looked away from her, even when everybody in the hall was bowing to the emperor. When Oscar finally walked away, she even felt a semblance of disappointment.

The emperor, who had been chatting with Duke Ijar and his son, gave Oscar a pat on the shoulder as he laughed proudly. Of course, it was all a facade-she knew they were anything but the perfect father and son they painted themselves to be, even though Oscar was handling his relationship with his father with more tact compared to "before".

Suddenly, Alicia clapped softly. "My goodness! I completely forgot to show you around the gallery."

"Please, Your Highness, a servant should be sufficient. I do not wish to waste your precious time on such a trivial task," Inés responded in a kind voice. "In fact, I already see a few paintings I would love to purchase."

At this, Alicia laughed shyly. "It would be terribly rude of me to have a servant show you and Lord Cárcel around. I wish to explain several artworks to you as well, since some have a long story associated with them. Do not worry. After all, I am simply a child of Barca here, not a member of the imperial family."

Although she sounded polite, she was simply emphasizing her lofty status, as well as issuing a silent order for Inés to bend to her whims-now, she wasn't even trying to hide her arrogant desire to crush Inés under her foot. Even then, Inés found that she wasn't too bothered by it, for she was in an unusually good mood.

However, this changed immediately when she spotted Emiliano's painting at the end of the long hallway.