Ines inwardly sighed when she saw Carlos arrive.

For some time now, he had been making it his daily routine to visit Ines’s room after finishing his work. Perhaps it had started after she collapsed.

Someone who usually couldn’t even manage to have a meal together would now come to her first and try to make conversation, but honestly, she couldn’t remember anything he said.

She just felt uncomfortable with his frequent visits. Unaware of Ines’s feelings, Carlos naturally sat down across from her.

“How are you feeling? The doctor said you’ve become much more stable.”

She answered while deliberately hiding her discomfort.

“I’m much better.”

“That’s good to hear. Then shall we start reorganizing the prince’s palace? Originally, organizing the prince’s palace is the queen’s duty.”

Though they couldn’t yet know if the baby would be a boy or girl, Carlos seemed to plan on creating a nursery in the prince’s palace first. They needed a clean palace for the child who would be born soon. Although the prince’s palace hadn’t been used since Joseph became king, it was relatively well-maintained. Ines knew this was her duty as queen, but honestly, she wasn’t keen on it.

She just felt powerless about everything. She didn’t feel like taking the initiative to do anything right now.

But worried that refusing would lead to a longer conversation, Ines nodded.

“I’ll do it.”

“Then I’ll send an expert here tomorrow.”

“Alright.”

“Since we don’t know the baby’s gender yet, I think it would be best to decorate the nursery in neutral tones. What do you think?”

“I’ll do that.”

However, perhaps because her answers were too mechanical, her responses were oddly mismatched with the questions.

And that wasn’t all. Throughout their several exchanges, Ines never once met Carlos’s eyes.

Watching Ines answer indifferently as if discussing someone else’s business, Carlos furrowed his brow and asked.

“What exactly are you dissatisfied with?”

It seemed like the dissatisfaction that had been building in his heart finally burst.

At the man’s sharp voice, Ines raised her head and met Carlos’s gaze. Her eyes were dry, as if she didn’t understand what the problem was.

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t even meet my eyes, and you give halfhearted answers to every question I ask.”

At his criticism, Ines tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand.

“…What’s wrong with that? I’m just agreeing to follow your opinions.”

“That’s not what I mean…!”

When his meaning didn’t get through, Carlos let out a heavy sigh.

“Hah, Ines. Is this because you didn’t believe me at first when I said you were an illegitimate child? Whatever happened with that, I’m sorry. But I’m doing my best now to fix that situation. I’ve hidden your birth mother in a safe house and framed the marquis for crimes he didn’t commit. This was all to hide the fact that you’re an illegitimate child. So what more do you want me to do here?”

“…You say this was for my sake?”

Ines, who had been quietly listening to Carlos’s words, let out a bitter laugh. It was truly ridiculous to say that hiding the fact she was the duke’s illegitimate child was for her benefit.

Moreover, he thought her attitude had changed because she didn’t believe him at first about being an illegitimate child. While that certainly had an impact, it wasn’t the direct cause.

Hurt by his words and actions, Ines countered.

“You make it sound like you’re doing me such a favor. Hiding the fact that I’m an illegitimate child is also for your sake. After all, it would make the royal authority look ridiculous if both the king and queen were illegitimate children. So stop pretending everything was done for my sake.”

“Strengthening royal authority is for our benefit.”

Carlos answered firmly and continued.

“I’m consolidating royal power for the future of our child who will be born soon. But what are you doing? You can’t even hide your reluctance to decorate a single nursery…”

Carlos’s excited words grew short.

“I’m making efforts for our sake, but you, Ines, won’t even meet my eyes and just give the same answers like a thoughtless doll.”

“…What did you say?”

A thoughtless doll.

At his blatant words, Ines bit her lip.

She felt wronged. Carlos seemed to have forgotten how she had struggled and tried her hardest. When she had tried to get closer to him before, he wouldn’t even look at her, but now what? A thoughtless doll?

Clenching her fists, Ines opened her mouth.

“Then what do you want me to do?”

“Fulfill your duties as queen, and as my wife.”

“What duties are you talking about?”

As if tired of the chain of questions, Carlos pressed his fingers against his temples and answered.

“You need to raise your fallen reputation. Even now, rumors keep circulating about you fooling around with the marquis’s son. The rumors have become even more rampant since I brought down the marquis’s family. So you need to step forward yourself and deny the rumors related to the marquis’s family.”

Deny the rumors.

What could be more meaningless than that? That was something Ines had been constantly doing even before becoming queen.

Ines continued while maintaining her composure.

“Such scandals have followed me since before our marriage. I denied them then too, but no one believed me.”

At her words, Carlos’s body briefly flinched. As she quietly observed him, Ines suddenly became curious. If she were to ask about the truth behind that incident, would he honestly admit it? She wondered if he would sincerely apologize for what he had done in the past.

After much internal debate, her lips moved on their own.

“What about you?”

The question she had kept only in her heart burst out.

“You know too. The rumors that circulated about me before I became queen. Did you also think I injured my leg while having an affair with another man? Do you… do you really think I staged the necklace scam?”

Hoping that he would finally be honest, she pleaded pitifully.

At this sudden question, Carlos’s lips hardened.

“That…”

While avoiding Ines’s eyes, he repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist. After hesitating, his lips moved.

“That’s all in the past. What I thought then doesn’t matter at all now.”

“It matters to me.”

Ines anxiously waited for Carlos’s answer. She wished he would speak honestly. That he didn’t believe those rumors. That it was all actually something he had planned for revenge. If he said that, she felt she could forget everything.

But.

“…Back then, I probably believed them. After all, rumors don’t just appear out of nowhere.”

At this answer so different from what she had hoped for, Ines’s body stiffened. Her heart felt like it was plummeting to the floor. His words didn’t comfort her wounded heart but only scratched it more deeply.

The tension left her shoulders. Her slightly trembling body grew calm.

“Ha.”

A bitter laugh escaped without her realizing it. In the end, he didn’t answer honestly. No, he went further and answered as if she was the cause.

‘I shouldn’t have asked.’

What had she foolishly wanted to confirm? Why had she changed her mind about keeping things buried and ended up hurting herself?

It felt like something that had been barely holding up in her heart was crumbling.

“…I see.”

Ines’s voice was lifeless as she answered.

She thought she no longer expected anything from Carlos, but judging by how his words hurt her, she must have still been harboring some unconscious hopes. Ines felt pathetic about herself.

She no longer had the strength or desire to argue with Carlos. She didn’t want to sit face to face with him like this, didn’t want to have conversations while looking at his face. She was tired. She couldn’t understand why she was here, what she was hoping for by staying by his side.

Ines wanted to forget everything and leave somewhere alone. She wanted to take off the heavy crown that bound her.

Looking into empty space with unfocused eyes, Ines called his name.

“Carlos.”

Her dry voice quietly echoed through the room. An impulsive thought escaped her lips of its own accord.

“Let’s get divorced.”