It was like having cold water splashed on his head – his mind suddenly cleared.

The blood that had been burning hot now felt like it was turning ice cold.

‘Why are there such scars on Ines’s body…’

Wondering if he had seen wrong, he looked again, but they were unmistakably whip marks. He was certain because he had seen many such marks in the prison where he had once been held captive.

That’s why he found it even more incomprehensible. Why would such terrible, and apparently old, scars be on Ines’s body?

Just as his eyes were trembling with confusion.

“Please, stop…”

Ines pleaded with a tearful voice.

“Today… I really don’t want to.”

Her white cheeks were wet with tear stains.

Ah.

Only then did Carlos, finally seeing the scene before him properly, pull away from Ines.

“I…”

Seeing the face of the woman crying while bearing scars and wounds all over her body, it felt like he had been struck hard in the head.

Carlos, alternating between looking at Ines’s body and face, clenched his fist. His lips moved as if trying to say something.

“So I…”

What had he been about to do? Carlos was immediately overwhelmed with self-loathing. Finally, as if he could no longer bear to be there, he fled from the room.

Carlos’s retreating figure heading back to the palace looked as hurried as someone being chased.

Upon reaching his bedroom, he staggered and collapsed onto the sofa.

He couldn’t remember how he had made it back to the Sun Palace.

Hunched over and pulling at his hair, Carlos muttered.

“It doesn’t make sense for such scars to be on her back…”

She had once been called the flower of Tezever. She was a princess born into the highest-ranking family after the royal family.

She had been the treasure of the Claudia family, and before her fall, there wasn’t a soul in this world who didn’t love Ines.

But why…

Suddenly, Ines’s voice flashed through his mind.

‘I am Duke Claudia’s illegitimate child.’

Her calm voice revealing that she was actually illegitimate tore at his heart.

When he first heard those words, he had been angry. He thought she was lying to avoid an unfavorable situation.

Moreover, of all lies she could have told, she chose to speak about bloodline – which was practically his sore spot.

Carlos knew that even though he had become king, there were still those who looked down on him simply because he was an illegitimate child. And that he needed to strengthen his royal authority as soon as possible to overcome this.

So when Ines spoke the lie about being illegitimate, he thought she was mocking him. After all, hadn’t she abandoned him and chosen his legitimate brother? But…

‘What if her words about being illegitimate weren’t lies?’

But Carlos immediately shook his head in disbelief.

“That’s impossible.”

Everyone in the kingdom knew how much Duke Claudia cherished his only daughter. It was the same during the past necklace incident. Hadn’t he protected her when she had tarnished the family’s reputation and nearly had her engagement to the king broken off?

The money the Duke spent to smooth over that incident could have made several of the problematic necklaces with plenty left over.

Moreover.

“She’s already lied to me.”

Hadn’t she told that nonsensical falsehood about having healing powers? It was truly a half-hearted excuse.

Carlos stared at his arm that he had cut himself with the broken glass earlier. Though the bleeding had subsided somewhat from before, blood was still slowly seeping out.

‘I can heal others’ wounds by placing my hands on them.’

Unlike her claim that she could heal wounds just by touching them, there had been no change to the wound.

What angered him most wasn’t the fact that the wound hadn’t healed, but how flimsy her excuse was in trying to deny her relationship with the Marquis’s son.

“Just how lightly must she think of me…”

As if the earlier emotions were resurging, he ground his teeth.

Yes, everything Ines had told him today was a lie. They were just hastily made-up excuses to deny her relationship with the Marquis’s son.

Perhaps even those scars on her back were from participating in the Marquis’s son’s vulgar tastes. Given how faded the marks were, their relationship might have been going on longer than he had suspected.

After all, there was no way the noble lady he had known, the woman who had been loved by everyone, could have suffered such miserable abuse. The assumption that her connection with the Marquis’s son was longer than expected seemed more convincing.

As Carlos was sorting out his thoughts alone, there came a knock. It was Herman, whom he had happened to meet while heading to his room.

“Come in.”

At Carlos’s permission, the familiar figure appeared. In his hands were simple medical supplies for treating wounds. The reason he had come to the room at this hour was to treat his wound.

“I apologize for being late. I brought the medical supplies first. The palace physician left the palace today, so he’s hurrying back now.”

“It’s fine. It’s not that serious a wound anyway.”

This level of injury was something he used to deal with daily during the war. Far from being painful, it was barely even an irritation.

But Herman apparently didn’t think so, as he hurriedly began treating Carlos’s arm. As Carlos quietly observed Herman, he casually asked.

“You said you spent several years at Duke Claudia’s mansion before going to war, right?”

“Since I was born and raised there, I must have spent nearly 20 years in that house.”

“20 years… Then you must know everything about that house.”

At Carlos’s question, Herman gave a bitter smile.

“Yes. Every evil deed they committed there is etched into my mind without exception.”

He knew well what Herman and his family had suffered at the hands of the Claudia family members. Given how he burned with revenge against the family, he surely knew the place well.

Carlos began asking him about matters related to the Duke.

“Then perhaps… did the late Duke Claudia have a mistress?”

“A mistress?”

Herman, who had just finished disinfecting the wound, shook his head.

“Well… The Duke I knew had an obsessive personality. He wasn’t very interested in women either. Even if he had a mistress, he wouldn’t have taken a commoner or courtesan – only a woman of his own rank. And if there had been a mistress of suitable rank, it couldn’t have gone without rumors.”

Carlos too was well aware of the Duke’s obsessive personality.

Once, he had even burned an entire carriage just because a beggar had touched it.

Lost in thought for a moment, he asked again.

“Then naturally, he wouldn’t have had any illegitimate children either.”

“Even less likely. He took pride in his noble bloodline. He despised illegitimate children more than anyone. He would never have left such a stain as an illegitimate child on his family…”

Herman, who had been speaking earnestly, suddenly closed his mouth as if realizing his mistake. He had momentarily forgotten that the king before him was himself illegitimate.

“I apologize. I made a thoughtless remark…”

“You’re not wrong.”

After all, there would be no one in the kingdom who didn’t consider illegitimate children a stain. He calmly took out bandages from the box. As he wrapped his own wound, he ordered.

“Replace the palace physician.”

“What? Why so suddenly…”

“A man who’s absent when I need him is useless. And…”

He had no need for an incompetent doctor who had taken no action while Ines’s body was being treated like a rag. As he repeated the reason to himself, Carlos looked up.

“By the way, who were Ines’s ladies-in-waiting?”

“Ah, Raella from Count Colsen’s family and Margaret from the Count of Desley.”

At Herman’s answer, he tapped his finger as if pondering something. He suddenly remembered the request Ines had made to him before he left the palace.

‘Then couldn’t you at least dismiss all my current ladies-in-waiting? Having them around after not having any is too uncomfortable and bothersome. I just want to stay quietly alone in the palace.’

‘Uncomfortable and bothersome, wanting to stay alone, huh.’

When she had secretly gone to the Marquis’s mansion today, lady-in-waiting Margaret had definitely accompanied her. Which meant they were close enough that she could be trusted with knowledge of her affair.

But why had she made such a request? Though he didn’t know the reason, he couldn’t shake off an uneasy feeling. He also didn’t know why that day’s request was only now bothering him.

After contemplating for a moment, he spoke as if having organized his thoughts.

“Thoroughly investigate the queen’s ladies-in-waiting again. Especially their activities since entering the palace.”

“Yes, understood.”

“And keep that lady-in-waiting Margaret away from Ines for now.”

“What? Why suddenly…”

“She’s the one who helped Ines secretly visit the Marquis’s mansion. There’s no benefit in keeping her by Ines’s side.”

Herman nodded as if finally understanding his meaning.

“Understood. I’ll see to it.”