The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Tw: S*icide

Chapter 2. Perspective of Ines Valeztena

Ines' first life ended at the age of twenty-six.

Only those who have experienced death know the length of a lifetime. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Ines was aware of her meager and finite path. Naturally, she knew because she had experienced death, but it wasn't something she learned only after dying. It was Ines' own decision to end her life at the mere age of twenty-six.

She ended her first life with her own hands.

It was a chaotic twenty-six years. Now, the memories of those days are distant, but the despair of the moment when she opened her mouth and bit the muzzle of her own gun remained vivid. The stupid face of the prince she last saw was also etched in her memory.

"Ines, please put down the gun. I'll do anything, whatever it takes. I'll do whatever you ask until your anger is appeased. Please, put it down... I'm your husband. I’m your only family now.”

While every member of her family living well and healthy in the Duchy of Perez, her husband shamelessly claiming to be her only family knelt on his knees as soon as she unlocked the hunting rifle of shotgun.

When he personally gifted this gun to his fiancée who loved hunting, he could never have imagined that. He would be the first prey in the sights of this gun…

"Whatever happens, we have to be together for a lifetime. You know, right? You, the woman destined to be the Empress of Ortega more than two decades ago. You know, Ines, that you will always be first for me...… So put that gun down and think again.”

“I’ve thought about it enough.”

"Calm. Calm Down. Of course, you would... because you're a woman with very profound thoughts. But I, I am the Crown Prince of this realm before being your husband. It seems like you're trying to destroy the foundation of the imperial family right now.”

“The foundation of the imperial family is the emperor.”

"...Soon, very soon, that will happen. You will finally become empress and...”

“As expected, you have the utmost filial piety for your father, Oscar. How about proving your sincere heart by ending your life before it’s too late?”

“If you kill me, you’ll be killing Ortega. Soon, Ortega will be me, and I will soon be Ortega... !”

"Your Majesty will soon be Ortega. Oscar, not an disgusting person like you.”

"True enough. But that's it. It's all the same. If Your Majesty will soon be Ortega, and Ortega will soon be me, then it's no different from Your Majesty being me. It's one.”

“Are you going to be a part of the Trinity with your father?”

"You're not in your right mind now, Ines. So, truly reconsider what it means to you, for the Valeztena family now and again...”

The pitifulness of acting so arrogantly and babbling endlessly as soon as a gun was pointed at his forehead... It was so pitiful that she was able to forget her hatred for Oscar for a moment.

Oscar, from a young age, excessively loved himself, and even a small scratch from drawing a bowstring during an archery demonstration made him throw a tantrum as if the imperial family were collapsing. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] The majesty he gathered around such trivial matters was unbelievably ridiculous……

The shock that the Crown Prince, who regarded his body as a piece of glass work, must have been more than anyone could have imagined when he was first slapped and kicked in the shins by his enraged wife. But because his dignity was greater than his life, Oscar could not even punish her.

If he wanted to punish her for the crime she committed, he had to become the man who was beaten by his wife. It is still unknown whether that was the problem or whether it was the fact that he was the first Crown Prince to be beaten and divorced by the Crown Princess.

Regardless, Oscar endured Ines's one-sided hostility longer than she might have thought. Even while constantly getting hit by thrown objects, he clung to the absurd belief that there was no precedent for the imperial couple to divorce.

Even when she offered a sincere proposal for a divorce, she was rejected, and later, despite pleading for a divorce, it had no effect.

So, hitting him was the only option, wasn't it? He was a man who couldn't understand words. She tried clenching her fist adorned with several large rings that Oscar's stepmother personally gave her, and she even went so far as to try delivering blows to his head, thinking that just getting slapped with his precious body was not punishment enough.

However, Oscar remained upright. She hated him so much that she was sick of it.

Oscar has always been a man who values prestige. He would outwardly act as the noblest and most important man in the world, pretending to be disgusted while secretly harboring all kinds of perverse sxxual desires, relationships with mistresses, perverse encounters with male prostitutes, plans to associate with high-class prostitutes, various types of sxx parties, and attempting to hide it all under the illusion that no one would know, despite being filled with sexually transmitted diseases.

In fact, Oscar's acting was so good that Ortega's women envied Ines simply because she was his wife. He was so wonderful that even she was once fooled by his charm.

From the young age of six, with Oscar's one-sided proposal, they were engaged, and by the spring when she turned sixteen, he was the most affectionate man in the world until their marriage.

"A man like His Royal Highness the Crown Prince won't come around again. Just look at that splendid smile... Bright like raindrops, just the gaze alone conveys deep affection.”

"What does it feel like to live as the one and only woman Oscar cherishes? To live as the woman who pledged to bestow everything upon the one destined to ascend to the throne... It's unimaginable. Isn't every day like a dream?”

“In the dreary Mendoza, where everyone marries without love, the fact that these two noble people care for and love each other is a model for the social circles.”

"Is there anyone more splendid than His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? Of course, Duke Escalante, his cousin, is incomparably handsome like a sculpture on the outside, but when it comes to his demeanor...”

“Cárcel Escalante is a fool who doesn’t care about marriage. He can't be compared to the Crown Prince, who gazes with unwavering devotion at his first love from childhood. No matter how handsome he may be...”

Certainly, being the illegitimate daughter of the Valeztena Duke, who held the position in the Grandes de Ortega, already marked Ines as a distinguished lineage in Ortega. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Her love for dazzling adornments, supported by the Duke's generous investments, led her to become a trendsetter in the Mendoza society. Her penchant for leisurely strolls, despite tanning under the sun, earned her praise for having a "natural and healthy skin.”

Indeed, she received praise for everything she did. Originally, darkly tanned skin was considered a symbol of the laboring class, and noblewomen used to apply toxic powders to achieve a pale complexion, believing only fair skin was beautiful for women. However, they admired Ines's casually tanned skin to the extent of praising it.

Around a few years later, everything changed. The sun-kissed skin, once a symbol of the laboring class, became evidence of leisurely adventures. By the time winter had just passed, having a villa in the warm south became a sign of affluence. Even the pale makeup resumed to be done when the spring came.

Ines lived her life at the pinnacle in such a way that if she suddenly started walking backward one day, the next day, everyone else would likely follow suit. In a world where women wearing pants were criticized as more vulgar than those undressed, how did she manage to ride a horse in riding pants? The weekly publications from the Mendoza all praised the Crown Princess's confident dignity, extinguishing any criticism within the royal family. The young noble ladies even showed the courage to imitate her.

Growing up with the impressive lineage of being the illegitimate daughter of Valeztena and admired as the early passionate fiancée of the Crown Prince, Ines lived a life as a young and beautiful Crown Princess. She wore dresses more expensive than the emperor's daughters and adorned herself with even more precious jewels.

She didn't have a particularly beautiful face, but her features were subtly like drawing paper, so with just a little bit of makeup, her face became noticeably more beautiful, and her body was, needless to say, perfect. So what is lacking.

She was once so satisfied with her perfect life that she tried to live it even more perfectly. Every day, she had a foreign tailor come up with a new design for her dress. She sifted through countless invitations, contemplating how participating in certain events could elevate her status while also ensuring she would be the center of attention. She starved all day long because she wanted to have a slim waist that would match her beautiful dresses, but she also wanted to look like she was born with it, so she ate her food faster than other women at dinners, then hid behind the scenes and repeated the tiring task of spitting it out...

Was that a normal life?

She couldn't know. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She was so deep in self-doubt by that time, she was sick and tired of her own harsh mental thinking, whether she wanted to be a more perfect woman for the Crown Prince, or whether she was using the Crown Prince to create a more perfect life for her. She was tired of her own harsh mental turmoil.

Yet, she did love her husband. Even if it was only for a few years, even if she momentarily fell for his detestable acting, it might have been due to her vanity that loved his status……. Love, they call it.

How could she have loved such a person, even for a moment?