At the mention of a story related to Ines, Carlos raised his head. Meeting his hollow eyes, Herman repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist as if trying to release tension.

“Her Majesty the Queen…”

Knowing that revealing the truth to Carlos would be a terrible thing to do to Ines, the words wouldn’t come out. But…

Finally, after hesitating, Herman spoke.

“She is alive.”

With those words, a heavy silence settled in the room.

He had finally revealed the truth. His body naturally bowed with guilt toward Ines.

“…What?”

After a brief silence, Carlos tilted his head and asked again.

“What did you… just say? Who’s alive?”

Carlos repeated the question as if he had misheard. Then Herman began to unfold the events of that day to Carlos in a deep voice.

“Her Majesty wasn’t at the scene of the fire that day. Before the fire broke out, she had already taken refuge in a hideout I had prepared. That’s why I had to bribe the maid.”

By Carlos’s order, the maid was never to leave Ines’s side for even a moment. Because of that, killing her seemed inevitable, but following Ines’s wish not to have anyone sacrificed for this, they ended up bribing the maid to make her an ally.

Carlos jumped up from his seat at these unbelievable words and approached him. Then, grabbing his shoulders, he shouted.

“What are you saying? What… what exactly happened that day!”

“The body in the bedroom that day was fake. Like with the maid, we brought in an already dead body. Her Majesty wasn’t harmed even a hair that day.”

“Ines wasn’t hurt…?”

He says she wasn’t even injured, let alone dead. At these words, life began to return to Carlos’s deadened eyes. But still unable to fully grasp it, he repeated what the maid had said.

“But, but… the maid said you helped Ines commit suicide…”

She had said that Herman helped her because she couldn’t commit suicide alone. The maid hadn’t seemed to be lying to him. Carlos’s eyes trembled slightly as if he was confused.

Herman shook his head at his question.

“There was no need to tell the maid that Her Majesty was alive. I lied to the maid to prevent any possible leaks. Her Majesty didn’t commit suicide. She’s probably living peacefully somewhere now. That’s how I helped her…”

Herman bowed his head, seemingly unable to look at Carlos’s face. At Herman’s words, Carlos’s hands on his shoulders lost their strength.

“Ines is… alive? Truly, Ines is alive…”

They say Ines, whom he thought dead, is alive. It felt like a rope had been lowered from heaven to him who had fallen into an endless pit of despair. God had given him one last chance.

With a thud, Carlos fell to his knees again, his shoulders shaking.

“Thank you, thank you…”

Endless words of gratitude to God leaked from his lips.

Just knowing that Ines was alive seemed to make everything that had been choking him disappear. He felt liberated, as if the heavy guilt and long darkness had ended. Above all…

‘I can start over.’

If he could just find Ines, he could unravel the relationship he had completely ruined. He was moved to tears just by having the chance to kneel before her, apologize, and convey his true feelings.

Thus, hot tears welled up in Carlos’s eyes. His desperate wish to turn everything back had been granted.

He could meet Ines, his Ines again. Not just looking at her faint smile in pictures, but actually touching her warm, soft flesh with his own hands.

While Carlos was overwhelmed with emotion and joy, Herman knelt before him and apologized.

“I have committed a crime worthy of death against Your Majesty.”

With those words, Herman began to confess why he had helped Ines escape. Carlos had been too moved by the fact that Ines was alive to raise any questions.

“I proposed a deal to Her Majesty. I offered her freedom in exchange for using her healing power on my sister.”

“What…?”

Herman’s following confession was enough to harden his face. Carlos, losing his reason for a moment, grabbed Herman’s collar.

“What did you just say? What did you propose to Ines?”

His hands trembled with anger.

Carlos was not unaware of how Herman’s sister got her wounds. In the past, the eldest son of the Claudia family had set her on fire. It must have been horrific pain as her flesh burned. In other words, Herman had forced Ines to bear terrible pain and wounds.

As his blood-red eyes blazed like a forest fire, he asked Herman in a voice suppressing his rage.

“So… did Ines heal your sister…?”

“No. She didn’t heal my sister. Haley refused.”

But fortunately, the answer that came back was negative.

“Not only did she refuse, but she apologized to Her Majesty first and gave her courage to live a new life. Unlike me.”

As Herman spoke these words, his face was filled with guilt and regret for the past.

“Ha…”

Carlos released his grip with a sigh of relief. But soon after, he asked again in an anxious voice.

“But how can you be sure Ines is alive? What if she ended her life alone somewhere? What if we just don’t know about Ines’s death?”

“No. She’s definitely alive.”

Herman’s voice was full of conviction.

“The last time I saw her, she didn’t look like someone going to die. Not as Ines Claudia, not as the Queen of Tezever, but as a woman, she must be living somewhere.”

Herman knelt before him once again.

“I have committed crimes worthy of death against both of you. I will gladly accept any punishment for deceiving Your Majesty and trying to use Her Majesty. But please…”

After biting his lip for a moment, Herman murmured.

“Please don’t look for Her Majesty. Just live taking comfort in knowing she’s alive.”

Asking him not to look for Ines was the only thing he could do now. It was his final act of atonement for her. He had intended to keep her being alive a secret until his death, but unable to watch Carlos’s terrible deterioration any longer, he had ended up betraying her again.

This might be something she would never forgive no matter how long he apologized. That’s why he gathered his last courage and bowed his head before Carlos.

Carlos quietly gazed at Herman prostrating before him.

He felt anger rising at Herman for using Ines and making such an outrageous proposal to her. But on the other hand, he was grateful to Herman’s sister Haley. Thanks to Haley, Ines was ultimately safe and alive.

Haley had saved not just Ines. It was as good as saving both Herman’s and his own life.

After organizing his thoughts for a moment, Carlos spoke.

“I’ll let this go for your sister’s sake. It’s practically thanks to her that Ines is alive.”

Because of that, he couldn’t punish Herman, Haley’s brother. Moreover…

“…Did Ines resent you?”

Herman raised his head at the unexpected question. Contrary to his expectation that Carlos would pour out his anger at being deceived, Carlos’s expression was calm. Herman was momentarily confused by his question but soon shook his head.

“…No.”

Ines hadn’t resented him. Although she would have been justified in cursing and pointing fingers at him, the queen hadn’t shown any negative emotions toward Herman. That had only made Herman’s guilt weigh heavier.

“Then that’s fine.”

“Pardon…?”

Herman asked back stupidly at the continuing unexpected situations. He had thought Carlos would surely point a sword at him and demand his head. But Carlos was looking down at Herman with a calmer face than ever before.

“Ines is the victim. If Ines didn’t resent you, how can I punish you?”

Moreover, it was he who had caused Ines the most pain and driven her into such a corner that she had to make that decision. What right did he have to blame or punish anyone? Besides, he now felt reborn just knowing that Ines, whom he thought dead, was alive.

Though he was upset and angry that Herman had tried to use Ines, wasn’t she still alive and breathing somewhere? Perhaps if she had remained trapped in the palace, Ines’s death would have been an inevitable tragedy.

A bitter smile formed on Carlos’s lips as he finished this thought.

“Your Majesty…”

“However, Herman, separate from that, you deceived me. You lied to me and made Ines pretend to be dead. I can’t just let that go.”

“…I will accept any punishment gladly.”

He was ready to give up his life if ordered. However, the king’s following command was not that.

“So take responsibility and find Ines.”

“Y-Your Majesty! That’s…!”

He had begged on his life not to look for the queen. Now he was being ordered to find her. And this was an order that Herman, feeling guilty toward Ines, would find even harder to bear.

“It doesn’t make sense not to look for her when I know she’s alive.”

“But Your Majesty! You must consider what feelings made Her Majesty make such a choice!”

Herman tried to dissuade him with an anguished heart. But Carlos had no intention of listening to him. He placed his hand on Herman’s shoulder as he begged not to look for Ines.

“There won’t be anything for you to worry about.”

His desire to find Ines remained unchanged. But he would no longer repeat the foolish mistakes of the past.

‘When I find Ines, I…’

Carlos’s eyes had changed from before.

—

T/N: I’m sorry for adding so many translator notes, this is just me letting you know that my sanity is barely hanging on as I’m finishing this novel. I am appalled, in disbelief, dumbfounded, bamboozled, utterly retching in disgust, praying to my ancestors to end this all