A Vulgar Proposal - ✿ dusk blossoms ✿

“Carlos?”

Ines’s body trembled in surprise at finding Carlos in the room, especially at this hour. Moreover, she had just snuck back into the palace. Like someone who had committed a crime, Ines stammered.

“Why are you here…”

“I asked where you’ve been.”

“Ah…”

At his seemingly angry voice, Ines’s body instinctively shrank back.

He was already a man who didn’t welcome her going outside while pregnant.

So it was natural for him to have a sharp reaction when she wasn’t in her room at this hour.

He would probably scold her for going out again when she had been sick just days ago. After hesitating briefly, Ines opened her mouth.

“…I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t think I could fall asleep just like that. So I thought taking a walk might help clear my head.”

The lies flowed smoothly from Ines’s lips.

Unable to tell him she had been to the Marquis Descartes’ mansion, Ines made up an excuse.

At first, her heart would pound whenever she told a lie. But it seemed she had grown used to it after doing it so many times.

“A walk at this hour…”

Carlos, who had been quietly listening to Ines’s words, murmured lowly. Then he downed what remained in his wine glass in one gulp.

Soon the empty glass was placed on the table. Just as a heavy silence enveloped the two.

A snickering laugh escaped from Carlos’s lips.

Finding it strange that he would suddenly burst into laughter in this situation, Ines furrowed her brows.

The laughter gradually grew louder until Carlos threw his head back in full-blown laughter. Ines’s face hardened at the somewhat bizarre sight.

“Carlos…?”

Suddenly stopping his laughter, Carlos stared at her with cold eyes.

“When making excuses, you should show a bit more sincerity.”

“What do you…”

“Rather than a walk, you went to the Marquis Descartes’ mansion, didn’t you?”

Ines drew in a breath at his words. It felt like her heart had plummeted.

‘How did he know that?’

Her fingers trembled with an ominous feeling.

Ines’s mind was in chaos trying to piece together the circumstances.

She had thought she had hidden it well. Hadn’t Margaret said Carlos wouldn’t know anything? In fact, after Carlos had dismissed Margaret from the room, Margaret had been more attentive than anyone to Carlos’s movements. But why then…

As Ines’s eyes wavered in confusion, Carlos’s voice pierced her ears.

“Do you know what rumors are circulating these days?”

At the seemingly off-topic question, Ines swallowed dryly.

“A rumor that you’re having an affair with the Marquis’s son.”

As soon as those words ended, shock spread across Ines’s face. There were always plenty of rumors surrounding her. So Ines had never been shaken by ordinary rumors. But an affair with Alfredo? It was truly a horrible false rumor.

Thinking Carlos had seriously misunderstood, Ines hurriedly tried to explain to him.

“An affair? That’s absurd. I have never done anything improper!”

Carlos’s lips twisted at her indignant voice.

“But according to rumors, you’ve been meeting him under the pretense of visiting the Marchioness.”

“That’s such nonsense…”

As Ines tried to explain again, Alfredo’s voice suddenly echoed in her mind.

‘Did you know? There are strange rumors going around about us two. They’re saying that I’m rolling around in bed with Her Majesty the Queen.’

When she recalled the man’s hazy words, Ines’s eyes flew wide open. She instinctively covered her mouth with both hands. Everyone, including Alfredo, had already known about the rumors.

‘How could such absurd rumors be spreading?’

Carlos, who had been watching Ines’s face as if she had realized something, added.

“It seems to be a well-founded rumor.”

“…”

“That day when you came back to the palace later than me, claiming you were meeting the Marchioness Descartes.”

Carlos’s soulless eyes met Ines’s.

“I heard news that the Marchioness was actually at a salon with another noblewoman. So your reason for going to the mansion wasn’t to meet the Marchioness, was it?”

“I…”

“Why did you lie to me about meeting the Marchioness?”

The fact that the Marchioness hadn’t been at the mansion was news to Ines as well.

Since she had gone there nominally to meet the Marchioness, she had naturally assumed the Marchioness would be at the mansion at that time.

‘So that’s why such absurd rumors were spreading.’

Ines gripped her skirt as she learned the full story.

Anger rose at the Marquis’s family for not even providing minimal defense.

It was miserable that despite such rumors circulating, no one had given her any hint about them.

But now wasn’t the time to think about such things. First, she needed to clear up Carlos’s misunderstanding.

Ines approached him and offered explanations.

“I don’t know what Your Majesty is thinking, but I have never done anything improper. It’s true that I went to meet the Marchioness that day but we missed each other. However, I suddenly felt unwell and couldn’t return to the palace right away. So what Your Majesty is thinking, absolutely…”

“Lies until the end.”

“…Carlos?”

Carlos, who had lowered his head, murmured quietly.

“It seems you’re the one looking down on me.”

Then raising his eyes, Carlos stood up and took a step closer to Ines.

“I saw everything today. How you were in the Marquis’s son’s room.”

“…What?”

His red eyes blazed like a forest fire. They sparked so fiercely that one touch would instantly consume you.

“I saw it all – you collapsed exhausted in that bastard’s room, practically n*ked.”

“That’s absurd…”

Ines’s mouth, which had instinctively tried to protest, closed. At that moment, she remembered her state of dress when she had woken up.

Moreover.

‘That voice wasn’t my imagination?’

If Carlos’s voice, which she had thought was an auditory hallucination, hadn’t been her imagination.

Then…

A short gasp escaped her lips.

Carlos cupped the cheek of Ines, who was too shocked to say anything.

“How was the Marquis’s son? While I didn’t even touch a finger to you for fear of hurting your body… my wife was rolling around with another man in heat.”

As if finding this whole situation amusing, he laughed again. But unlike his curved lips, cold air flowed from his red eyes.

“Since when have you been meeting him? Since I left the capital? Or before that? Or perhaps you two were secretly rolling around together while deceiving my brother too.”

Ines was at a loss for words. Her voice wouldn’t come out, as if there was a stone stuck in her throat. Carlos had seen everything earlier. She needed to explain, but didn’t know which words to start with.

“If you have a mouth that works, speak up. Let’s hear it.”

“Th-that thing is…”

Ines’s body trembled like an aspen leaf. When she couldn’t answer, Carlos’s face began to distort.

“No excuses? Can’t say anything because it’s true that you rolled around with that bastard?”

His face was covered with betrayal. Soon Carlos lowered his gaze. His eyes fell on her swollen belly.

“Perhaps the child in that belly isn’t mine, nor my brother’s. Then is it the Marquis’s child? Ah, so the Marquis couple just watched you two fool around? Planning to kill me and put that bastard on the throne when the child is born?”

At these words that were terrifying to even speak, Ines cried out.

“No!”

Finally coming to her senses, Ines grabbed his collar.

“I know what you’re thinking. But it’s all a misunderstanding. I have never made such a deal with the Marquis, nor have I done anything improper. The same goes for Joseph! This child…”

Ines murmured while stroking her belly with one hand.

“Is truly your child.”

“Then what the hell were you doing in that room!”

His voice rose, unable to contain his anger. Once again her lips sealed as if coated with glue.

‘What should I do?’

To explain what happened in that room, she would have to reveal her secret. What was the reason she had endured until now, would it be right to spill everything? Anxiety and unease washed over her like waves.

But.

‘Can I endure it?’

Could she endure Carlos’s suspicion and anger until this child is born?

Was it really right to remain silent with the sole determination to protect everyone?

All sorts of questions tore through her mind.

Moreover, above all else.

‘I’m tired now.’

Of receiving Carlos’s absurd suspicions.

Of accepting the Descartes’ unreasonable demands, of bearing Alfredo’s pain – she was tired of pain – she was tired of it all.

She felt suffocated bearing everything alone. It felt like an invisible hand was constantly strangling her throat.

Now she wanted to stop.

“Actually…”