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Cárcel's hand, which had been stroking the back of her head lovingly, froze as if it had turned to ice.

"It doesn't matter that I have run out of chances, because I'm not planning on taking my life ever again, just as you said," she whispered.

"However...now I know that this very fact is Oscar's weakness."

"Ines..."

She continued relentlessly, "He finally believes that I love you, Cárcel. He knows that I would gladly kill myself to turn back time if you died because-"

He cut her off by frantically grabbing her chin. His hand, large but gentle, trembled violently. "Blast you, Inés... You couldn't have found a more horrifying way to confess your love for me," he muttered. "If that is the nature of your love... I do not want it. I don't need it..."

"Cárcel."

"You do not have to give me your love. I did not have it before, and I was still happy. We were still..."

"But I am already in love with you," she stated calmly as she reached up to take his trembling hands. It was a reversal of their usual roles, in a way, for his hands were cold and hers were warm.

Her love was something sharp and cruel. She had pushed him away the first time she spoke of it, and she only elicited shock and horror within him the second time. It was ugly and worthless compared to the pure love he had given her over several lifetimes.

And yet, it was still love. She would rather die than lose it, but above all, she wanted to live with it.

She continued, "I imagine he knows this even better than you do. His desire to kill you is even stronger than it was back in Admiral Calderon's hunting cabin and the manor. However, he has realized that it will disadvantage him if you truly die. Those two conflicting thoughts have broken him."

He fell silent.

"It's a good thing, really. Now, he doesn't think anything will change even if either one of us die... He did try to threaten me, saying I was completely helpless now, but if I simply ignored him and killed myself anyway-"

"Please... promise you won't do such a thing," Cárcel said desperately.

She gave his hand a warm squeeze. "Remember, you told me that I'll never go down that path again, and I'm not planning on it."

Indeed, she would do everything he wanted-and didn't want-her to do. There was no limit to what she was willing to do, as long as it was for him. She would give him everything that she hadn't managed to return to him in the past. She was determined to never hurt him again in any way...

"Don't do anything, please, even if I perish. I swear that I won't, but if it does happen..."

"Let us not contemplate such possibilities. You are not going to die, and I will not kill myself again."

Cárcel's face crumpled, as if the mere thought of her taking her own life pained him, and buried his face in her chest. His broad shoulders curled inward, and she felt his anxious, shaky breaths against her breasts. For a long moment, she simply brushed her fingers through his blond hair.

Cárcel took several deep, heaving breaths, then finally said in a quiet voice, "I think I wouldn't have prayed so desperately if I had known how fierce your love would be."

"What did you pray for?"

"Your love. You are my world, Inés. I thought it would be obvious."

She chuckled and said sarcastically, "Ah... of course."

"I will come back to you alive and well. I promise you that."

"I know."

After a short pause, he murmured, "Emiliano... warned me."

Her gaze, which had been focused on his hair as she ran her fingers through it, snapped to his face.

He continued, "He said we had to be wary of Oscar dying before or after his destined demise... of him meeting an 'improper' end. It's possible that Oscar will be allowed to make a wish if such a thing happens, just as Emiliano was given another chance to live and wished to avoid the blessing of oblivion."

Inés nodded thoughtfully. "Yes... if he is reborn with his memories, he will ruin us in his next life."

She knew that he would do it, regardless of whether they were reborn after meeting an improper death or if they were mere shells of themselves, left behind in Oscar's twisted world after dying as they were destined to. Now, she finally understood what Oscar had been referring to when he called Duke Escalante a "shell."

She realized that Anastasio had given her yet another answer. Her brows furrowed as her head throbbed slightly, and Cárcel's lips gently touched her forehead.

"It is also possible that he desires the same thing as Emiliano," he said. "He wishes to be the only one who 'remembers' in a world of oblivion... That scum would consider the punishment for suicide an opportunity for power." His voice was bitter as he spoke, and he carefully reached out to cup her cheek with one cold hand.

The power of knowledge... She silently laughed at Oscar, then at herself. Even she had regarded the rest of the world as if their stories had been written in a completed book, and she considered herself to be a mere chess piece as well. She had only realized how absurd this was one day as she sat in Calztela, after having lived in her current life for many years.

Their eyes met in the darkness. Cárcel's gaze was sincere and true as he said, "There is no way for us to peer into anybody's destiny, and we cannot kill Oscar either, unless we receive some kind of revelation from the heavens. We would be dooming ourselves if that is not the way he's meant to die."

She nodded. "The least we can do is refrain from ruining things ourselves."

"We must wait, and try our best to survive."

"Indeed."

Sometimes it was much more painful to refrain from taking action instead of acting impulsively, just like how it was harder to endure and wait in one spot instead of actively resolving everything.

As far as she could remember, she had been the most impatient during her time as Oscar's bride.

Ironically, she had been forced to be incredibly patient during those years as well. She couldn't count the number of times she had been overwhelmed by the desire to kill him. However, she had only managed to defeat him because she had killed herself instead of following her violent desires -she had successfully made his life a living hell so that he was changed forever.

She smiled mockingly at herself and let her eyes slip shut, thinking of the other souls she had doomed: Luciano, her father, and Cárcel, who had finally discovered what she did with Admiral Calderon's hunting rifle... Raúl, Juana, her loyal ladies-in-waiting, her dear chambermaid, and the friends who had been faithful to her. Then there was Inés herself, who had wallowed in the deepest, darkest pit that she hadn't managed to escape no matter how many times she killed herself.

So what if she had managed to best Oscar? Had anything improved as a result?

Her actions had only been justifiable up to the moment she chose not to kill Oscar. She still remembered the overwhelming sense of liberation she had felt upon being pushed to the very edge of a cliff, when she finally decided taking her own life was the best way to protect everything she held dear. She had only felt like she could breathe again when she accepted her own death. Now that she had repeated her punishment several times, she knew just how dangerous and addicting that sensation was. She had been robbed of her time because she failed the test over and over again. Now, hanging on the edge of that cliff, she was determined to make up for her mistakes.

She considered her current life with Cárcel her very first one, and the only one she would get. If it hadn't been for Cárcel, she would still be trudging through the gray, meaningless landscape of life. If he hadn't loved her again, she would never have felt the burning desire to survive. A vile human being like Oscar could not be allowed to ruin such a beautiful thing.

"So... promise me that you won't try to kill him, no matter what happens to me," Cárcel said.

It was probably the most important thing he had wanted to say to her. He didn't want her to ruin herself by taking her own life or Oscar's, no matter what fate befell him. It made sense that he was concerned about Inés impulsively doing one of those things, since he knew just how hotheaded she could be.

It didn't matter if Oscar could afford to kill himself one last time. Since she had run out of opportunities, the same applied to him as well. And she knew that Oscar was also teetering on the edge of those ten years, unsure of which way he would fall. After all, he had told her much more than he had probably wished to, as if something in his head had finally shattered.

Once again, Cárcel said firmly, "Do not stain your hands with blood if you're not certain it is the right way." His words were filled with a deadly intent. A strange mirth flashed across her face. "What if he is destined to die by my hands?"

They both knew the possibility existed, no matter how slim. Even then, Cárcel wanted to ensure that she would be as safe as possible before he departed. After a moment of hesitation, he said, "In that case, you would receive a revelation."

Her gaze was suddenly drawn to his eyes. They resembled a dark, cloudy sky, but she saw a clear light of knowledge gleaming within them. It reminded her of how she had looked up at Anastasio one last time before boarding the carriage at the grand chapel of San Talaria.

However, his words were tentative and unsure. "You see, I received a brief revelation. It was when I visited the grand nave being rebuilt in the Bilbao Cathedral and saw the holy statue of Saint Anastasio..." he trailed off.

At that moment, she somehow knew that he had learned something definite and solid, just like the strange fragments of memories he had been collecting.

"This will sound absurd, I know-" he began, but she cut him off sharply.

"I have lived multiple lifetimes, and you somehow managed to peek into my memories. To an outsider, all of this would sound completely absurd. Tell me."

"All right." He nodded. "I damaged the sacred statue."

She froze in his arms. "What...?"

His voice was careful but firm as he continued, "I damaged the holy statue of Saint Anastasio."

"You did what... to what?" she whispered in disbelief.

"I wanted an answer-"

"Have you lost your mind?" she said, slightly louder this time.

He responded calmly, "I suppose I was out of my mind at the moment."

"Good gracious, Cárcel!" She sprung up with a shriek. One of her naked breasts had slipped out of her dress, swaying obscenely, but she paid it no mind. She simply glared at him, her face pinched in agitation. "Why... Why did you do such a thing?"

He hesitated for a moment, then fell silent as if he had decided he couldn't provide an adequate response. Instead, he rose to his feet and gently pulled her into a calming embrace.

Unfortunately, the gesture did not have the intended effect. She smacked his shoulder and said in disbelief and anger, "I cannot believe it. Why, Cárcel? Do you not realize that we should be trying to appease them? From now on, we must tread very carefully. Destroying a holy statue is an incredibly grave offense..." Of course, she would be willing to commit certain sins-both minor and significant-for Cárcel's sake. However, she had never wanted him to do the same for her.

"I know."

"You...know?" she whispered in a daze. Then a tiny flicker of hope ignited in her voice as she asked, "How much damage... did you do to the statue, exactly?"

"Well, I suppose the ankles..."

"The ankles? You left a scratch near the ankles?"

Cárcel shook his head. "No. The entire statue broke off right above the ankles."

She stiffened in horror, unable to even scream.