Chapter 00
Ines quietly looked at the man’s face in front of her.
Strong but delicate facial lines, neatly swept silver hair, and vivid green eyes—the man Ines once loved was a handsome man who looked like a lone, noble evergreen tree even in the middle of winter.
“It’s been a while, Ines.”
He was the first to speak after a long silence.
“I called you a week ago. I’d like to know why you’re so late.”
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
“That’s always your excuse.”
His voice was cold like a blade. Her husband seemed to be in an especially bad mood today.
Ines quietly overlapped her son’s face with his.
Her son, Cesar, didn’t really look like his father. The only part of Cesar that resembled him was the color of his eyes.
Bright green eyes. Maybe that was what made Ines fall for this man at first sight.
A firm, evergreen color that looked like it would never shake, no matter what.
There was a time she believed she could lean on that unshaken expression. Was it six years ago? When she was sold into this country.
She had foolishly thought that way.
Their marriage, on the surface, was a perfect political alliance.
Ines was a princess of Jenaire, and Rayan was a Grand Duke of Lezan. Their marriage played a big role in uniting Jenaire and Lezan.
But in truth, the marriage was like a rotten apple.
It looked red and fresh outside, but inside, it was already hollowed out by worms.
Ines was a royal abandoned by Jenaire. The second princess of Jenaire, born from an affair. A disgrace to the noble royal family.
And yet, the head of the Eleanor Duchy, with its 500-year history, made such a child his wife. Of course, that must have cracked their proud pride.
They just pretended it didn’t matter.
Why did it take her so long to realize that obvious truth?
Rayan Eleanor was always cold to Ines. He was a man who seemed indifferent to everything, but when he looked at her, his green eyes were always sharper than usual.
It was the same even toward the child born between them.
Ines barely opened her mouth.
“Cesar wants to see you, Your Grace.”
“That again.”
Rayan’s reply was still blunt and cold. Normally, she would have stopped and stepped back here.
But not today.
Ines lowered her eyes. Two teacups were sitting on the table.
A strong scent of tea rose into her nose. The tea had been brewed so strongly that the smell stung. It was a scent very familiar to Ines.
Poison. The same poison she once took. If she took it again, she would surely die.
Ines barely held back the tears rising in her eyes. She opened her mouth with a tight throat.
“It’s been a week since you last saw Cesar.”
“…Has it really been that long?”
“Yes. It’s already been that long, Your Grace. So please, just once, go to him. Hold him.”
Rayan frowned slightly, looking displeased.
Ines reached out and touched the teacup. It had cooled a little, but steam still faintly rose from it.
But to her, the cup felt endlessly cold.
Around this time last year, Robert had been secretly called into the Grand Duke’s mansion. His words came back to her.
“It’s too late now. You should have called me earlier.”
It had been one year since she was told her time was limited.
Sometimes she could feel it—her life truly didn’t have much left.
Those who didn’t know that were too busy hating and scorning Ines. They didn’t know she was a woman who would disappear soon enough.
“I know, too.”
Ines was a thorn in the Eleanor family’s pride.
No one understood that better than she did.
Now it was time to pull out the useless thorn.
Ines looked up and faced her husband again.
His clear green eyes still looked the same as when she had first entered the room. The man who had offered her poison still looked like a flawless, beautiful wall.
“…Please protect Cesar, Your Grace.”
Her husband didn’t answer. Ines went on slowly, ignoring him.
“Be kind to him. Love him. Don’t show him this cold expression anymore. Let him wear good clothes, sleep in a warm room, eat his favorite food as much as he wants.”
“…”
“Be a good father to him. I beg you.”
Ines was a mother who could only beg her child’s father for kindness.
The time when that fact made her cry was already over.
Now she had only one wish. She simply hoped that Cesar could grow up to be a normal boy, and a strong young man, even without her.
Cesar was only four years old. In ten or twenty years, when he became a full adult, he probably wouldn’t even remember a mother like her.
That’s why Ines was glad it was now.
It was better to leave before the child knew what loss was. Just like her own parents had done.
Rayan Eleanor answered with his usual cold tone.
“You speak as if it’s not obvious. Of course the blood of Eleanor should be treated according to its dignity.”
You act like you don’t know how you and everyone in this mansion treat me and Cesar.
Ines wanted to say that.
And you’re the same.
Rayan Eleanor despised Ines.
He hated her so much, he could kill her.
He only held on because he wasn’t ready to throw her away, but he had always been waiting for her to disappear.
“Don’t forget the promise you just made.”
Ines’s chest rose and fell heavily.
Rayan’s green eyes were still staring straight at her, but she didn’t miss the faint feeling that flashed in them.
That feeling was annoyance.
Rayan quickly cut off the topic.
“Let’s stop this pointless talk. The reason I called you here today—”
“Your Grace.”
Ines interrupted him, feeling like her throat was being squeezed. To him, her dying words were nothing but pointless talk.
He hadn’t even answered her properly. Her request would soon be forgotten again.
Then, she would make sure he could never forget.
Ines’s thin hand started to tremble, but for a different reason now.
Seven years of one-sided love, sorrow, the comfort she once felt in his arms—where those feelings had disappeared, only ashes of anger remained.
I hate you. I really, really do. The man who had brought her to this point—she hated him.
Facing death, she couldn’t hold it back anymore.
With a voice full of pain, Ines said,
“I hate you.”
“…What?”
Rayan looked shocked. It was the first time his face had changed since they sat down.
Her vision blurred. That image soon faded. Ines spoke slowly, putting weight into every word.
“I hate you so much.”
“Ines.”
“Why did you reach out to me that day?”
If this was how it would end, why were you so sweet to me when we first met?
Why did you make me fall in love with you? Why did you hold me?
You took me for yourself, then threw me away, then locked me up so I couldn’t even run.
Why did you do that to me?
Did you hate me that much?
Her broken words came out one by one.
“Why did you seduce me…?”
Rayan only frowned. He didn’t answer right away.
But whatever he said now didn’t matter to Ines anymore.
Breathing weakly, Ines whispered,
“I regret choosing you that day. I curse myself for loving you.”
Her hand holding the teacup turned white from the force.
Rayan’s face had gone blank again. All signs of emotion were gone, and only sharp frost remained in his green eyes.
“Curse, huh… You think you’re the only one?”
He muttered bitterly, then stood up and walked over in a single step.
His big hand, enough to cover her face, grabbed her chin and lifted her head.
His grip was rough.
But after pressing down his cold anger, the man calmed himself.
“Ines, are you still angry with me?”
His gesture brushing aside her black bangs was graceful as always, and his voice was even gentle.
“I’m sorry about last time. I wasn’t myself then.”
His soft apology flowed out smoothly. His calloused hand carefully brushed her hair.
This happened often. Sometimes, he didn’t seem normal.
He would hurt her, leave her broken, and act like nothing happened. Then he would block her from escaping and treat her like the sweetest, most precious doll in the world.
And when she denied him, he would get angry like before.
She once believed that was love.
“So stop sulking. Trying to provoke me like this—it’s not smart. You know that.”
“…Sulking.”
“There’s a limit to how much I can tolerate.”
Ines stared at him with lifeless eyes as he kissed her hair.
A forceful, arrogant man.
If I die here, what kind of face, what kind of eyes will you make?
Finally, she made up her mind. Her trembling fingers wrapped around the teacup.
“…Rayan.”
Ines whispered to the man she once loved, the father of her child, one last time.
“Even if there’s a next life, let’s never meet again.”
With those words, Ines drank the tea. Not a single drop remained.
Clink.
The sound of the teacup touching the table fell like a heavy signal of what was to come.
It didn’t take long. Her hands and feet started to freeze.
A chill she hadn’t felt even when hiding in the corners of Jenaire’s royal palace in the dead of winter wrapped around her.
It was the cold of death.
“Ines?”
Sensing something was wrong, Rayan urgently grabbed her shoulders. But it was too late.
Her thin body collapsed helplessly.
“Ines!”
In her fading vision, the last thing she saw was, unexpectedly, Rayan’s green eyes beginning to shake—violently.
