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***

Inés's eyes fluttered open beneath furrowed brows-a face she often made when she awoke much earlier than usual. She had only partially drawn the curtain across the window the past afternoon, and a slanted ray of sunlight touched upon her eyelids with each blink. Strange... why didn't Cárcel draw the curtain all the way? she thought in a state of dazed confusion.

At that moment, she heard footsteps that began from the table that was situated a few steps away from the bed.

The room suddenly grew much darker, and she heard a familiar voice say, "I'm sorry. I didn't realize it would disturb you. Rest a little longer." It was her first time hearing his voice ever since she had pushed him away on the balcony.

The fog of sleep vanished instantly. She pushed herself upright too quickly, and the room spun. She pressed her palm to her forehead, steadying herself.

"What's wrong, Inés? Are you feeling unwell?" he said in surprise. She felt his gaze study her even in the darkness of the room, starting from her forehead and traveling down to her eyes and lips.

She shook her head and reached out to him silently. However, he only stared at her outstretched limb without moving. After a moment, she said, "Hold my hand."

He obediently took her hand, and she exhaled deeply as if she had been suffocating without his touch. Cárcel squeezed her hand tightly, like he wanted to pull her closer into an embrace, then gently released it and placed a hand on her shoulder in a transparent attempt to coax her back onto the bed. "You should lie back down. You seem weary."

"You cannot possibly see anything in this darkness."

"Perhaps not, but your hand is cold," he murmured as he traced her fingertips with his own then began to massage her fingers.

"That is only because yours is so warm."

He retorted without much heat, "I believe it is the other way around."

It was truly a meaningless argument.

As his hand withdrew, she quickly held it in place. Although she used the slightest amount of force, akin to a butterfly landing on a flower, Cárcel froze in place as if restrained. For a long moment, she didn't move. Then she reached further up to grab his entire hand, like this was a feat that required a great deal of courage.

She gave him the brightest smile she could muster despite knowing he couldn't see it. "I must have slept through your arrival... You moved me to the bed, did you not?"

"I did. Why didn't you make yourself more comfortable earlier?"

She paused for a moment, biting her lip lightly. "I didn't feel...comfortable with Luciano entering our bedchamber when you were not present."

Oscar's words had violently flashed across her mind when Luciano offered to help her to her bed. "It's no wonder people gossip about your unorthodox affections."

She didn't know why she had remembered his vile voice in that exact moment. Over many lifetimes, the people of Mendoza had gossiped about her laying with essentially every single man in the city-if one considered a passing comment to be "gossip," that was. Back then, she had simply scoffed and deemed those words to be undeserving of her anger or even mockery. It made no sense that she was feeling so uncomfortable because of a comment Oscar had made, especially since she had been quite distant from Luciano until recently.

However, she found that she couldn't ignore even the most absurd insult against Cárcel. She wasn't willing to tolerate the smallest possibility of him becoming somebody's laughingstock.

Cárcel furrowed his brows. "Please, Inés... I would never entertain such a disgusting delusion about you."

"None of it was because of you," she responded as she remembered the infuriating smile that had played on Alicia's lips. The woman's gaze had slid between her and Cárcel. The thought made her clench her jaws even tighter. I will see that odious woman ruined one day, she vowed silently. But even that wasn't her primary concern.

It was like he had read her mind. "I'm the only one you have to care about, not them."

"I care about you as well, of course," she responded flippantly.

"No, Inés. Only me," he corrected her sternly. "I hated seeing you curled up so pitifully in your sleep like someone being carried away in the back of a wagon."

A surprised chuckle escaped her lips, but he remained completely serious as he cupped her cheeks with both hands. "I will soon depart Mendoza, Inés."

His words launched her into another well of contemplation.

Cárcel was right-he would leave for Calztela before the annual ceremony to mark the beginning of the war was even over. She still remembered thinking that she had four more days, but now two days had already passed. Had she not dozed off while leaning against that chair in the late evening? She immediately resented the fact that she had slept for so long. Back when she was only seven years old, she had fallen asleep after making Luciano promise he would wake her up to say goodbye before he left Perez. However, he had been gone when she awoke, and she had spent all day crying.

Now she felt like she was sitting on the floor again as a little girl, bawling her eyes out, mourning the fact that she wouldn't get to see her brother until spring and hating that she had been robbed of her precious time.

She had told herself that she would stop running away once Cárcel returned-after all, she had already said those terrifying words of love with no small amount of desperation, and she would hold herself responsible for it. She had to be completely honest and tell him that she didn't want him to see her crumble because of another man... that she was terrified of him discovering just how terrible of a sinner she was.

She could still hear the words she had hurled at him. "This is all because I love you..."

Truthfully, she wished she had found some other way to confess her love for the very first time. Her love for Cárcel wasn't something that should have been used as a pathetic, cowardly excuse. Не deserved better, and she knew it. 

She considered the fact that Oscar had revealed all of his cards now. He already "knew" more than her, and he seemed to be certain of what the apostle wanted. He had even told her that she had run out of chances...that she would no longer gain anything from taking her own life.

Now that she had slept through the night, she found herself feeling lost again. She didn't know how much to share with Cárcel, and she wasn't sure if he would even understand her. She felt like she had to withhold some of the truth in consideration of the fact that he would be heading to war. Another part of her tried to calculate just how great his love for her was, but she couldn't even do the same for her own.

She reached up to wrap her fingers around his hands, then slowly buried her face in them. In her head, she was recalling her conversation with Oscar.

"Please, Inés... do not force me to end Cárcel's life with my own hands," he had said.

"Go ahead, if you are ready to watch me shoot myself in the mouth again."

"Ines-"

"If he dies, then I will kill myself so I can bring him back to life... just like what you did to me." Her voice had been filled with rage, as if she was cursing her own existence.

Oscar had been speechless for a long time. He started laughing, then he cried.

She had snapped, "Do you doubt me?"

At this, he had grabbed her arms with trembling hands and stared at her with terrifying intensity, his eyes gleaming. "Oh, of course not. I'm sure you will manage, since you are nothing but determined."

"Indeed. I will slit my own stomach with a knife as soon as I hear that you have 'made' my husband perish in battle."

His face had crumpled as if he had been subjected to the most horrifying noise in the world. Then a mocking laughter had slipped out of his lips. After some time, she had realized the meaning behind this. However, now she was beginning to wonder who exactly he had been laughing at.

"You poor, foolish woman... Let me tell you this, if it will prove the true love I hold for you. Your death will no longer achieve a single thing, and your punishment will cease to act as an advantage. You see, this punishment was never meant to benefit you. Think, Inés... ten years before you were six years old, your body did not exist. Perhaps your precious Escalante will be reborn in that time if he meets an unjust end, but what is the point in bringing him back to live in a world without you?" Oscar had said with a twisted smile.

"What makes you think that you're the one who turned back time, Inés? No, I am the one who brought you back... and you must understand that there is no point in existing in a world without me. Just imagine Cárcel living without any memories of you in a world that doesn't remember you... Only you will remember him forever while living in an entirely different time," he had whispered like a curse. "There are some who are trapped in an endless loop of suicide and punishment, much like myself... They end their lives with ease, as if they have the power to turn back time at their whim. But they will end up in an entirely foreign world, driven to madness by their inability to accept their new reality and desire to 'return' to the life they remember. They will continue to kill themselves like fools, not knowing that they have already come too far..."

His words had continued endlessly. "My poor Inés... This is the terrible prison that we are trapped in. As we continue to struggle and repeat our lives, the possibility of escape will only grow more distant. Now, 'we' are about to fall into this terrible slough.

This is our very last chance, and you need my help."

She wished she could grab Oscar's formless voice and rip it to shreds. Already, she could feel the liquid courage that had filled her the night before starting to drain away. She forcibly steadied her breathing. Even now, she wasn't completely sure how much she would manage to say. At the very least, she wouldn't try to stop herself once she started explaining everything to Cárcel. As for the rest, she would share it with him at a later time.

She wasn't afraid of telling him about Emiliano and her previous lifetimes, even if her story wouldn't be completely comprehensive and truthful.

However, when it came to her conversation with Oscar.

Even if she shared a brief portion of what they had discussed, Cárcel would probably think that she was staying in Mendoza with the plan to take her own life if necessary. In fact, he would suffer greatly knowing that she had considered such a path in the first place, even if it was in passing. Considering he had even tried to destroy Admiral Calderon's hunting rifle, she was sure that he wouldn't place the smallest bit of trust in her as he left.

"I asked Luciano to look after you," Cárcel said in a low voice.

She stayed silent, unsure of how to respond.

"He scolded me for my arrogance, saying that I had no right to request such a thing when I wasn't related to you by blood."

skin. Her breath caught in her throat.

Inés tried to speak, but it felt like the words were stuck in her throat. Her eyes burned as she listened to his gentle voice.

He continued, "I found myself relieved at his words. Please, do not worry about Luciano frequenting the manor. I will make sure to discuss this with my parents as well. There is no need to be considerate for my sake."

"Cárcel..." she finally managed to say, as if his name was the first word that had ever been created.

In the darkness, his fingers carefully pried her hand open. "Also... I brought you a present from Bilbao. Please forgive me for not delivering it sooner."

She felt him press something metallic to her palm-a small object that was only slightly colder than her skin. Her breath caught in her throat.