The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 21

Chapter 21

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‘Rather than getting engaged again, I'd rather die. I'd rather die than marry such bastard again…’

Ines muttered while glaring at the portrait of Oscar, sprawled on the living room sofa. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] The portrait was a gift personally brought by Oscar as he explored the Valeztena estate this time.

Talking about how the future fiancé would always keep you from feeling lonely even in Perez, and all that, making a fuss…

"...Calling that kind of thing a gift...”

She thought he became such a wreck when he grew up, but looking closely, he's been crazy since he was a kid. Did he really think his face would be a gift? He does have a flawless appearance, but it's not like he's going to turn into a stunning man in the future.

This was a judgment lacking both self-awareness and objectivity. She glared disdainfully at the portrait of the Crown Prince.

The portrait evoked even more disgusting feelings than the actual Crown Prince.

He has an unbelievably strong body for a ten-year-old boy, a face that looks seven years older, no, more mature, impossibly broad shoulders, a huge halo, and angelic wings that flutter sacredly as if he is about to fly into the sky at any moment…..

The overall exaggerated nature of the work reached its peak of ridiculousness in the wings, but Ines did not even laugh at that and instead glared at the face in the portrait. The painter was really skilled.

Oscar in the portrait really looked like the future Crown Prince.

Of course, except for that amazing body. Oscar always despised anything related to physical exertion from an early age. He not only avoided training but also neglected any form of exercise altogether.

When he removed his expensive clothing, he was just a man with straight arms and a broad chest. A man who was busy chasing his fiancée out of breath when they went out hunting together...

His life was one where he consumed the natural physique and good physical strength inherited from his emperor father. There would be nothing left when he grew old. His s*x life was so complicated that even living until old age was doubtful.

'So even if you die, you won't look like that.’

Ines lightly laughed at the ten-year-old boy's dream of having wings.

During the greedy days when she was blinded by the prospect of becoming a crown princess, she probably wouldn't have recognized such a peculiar temperament.

Then, perhaps, ‘Your Majesty, is it possible for you to be this considerate?’, ‘Now I can see you in Perez whenever I want. I am so happy!’, ‘Your Majesty’s smile illuminates Valeztena’s manor like sunlight… This year is sure to be a bumper one for Perez. Because His Majesty blesses this land!’…… and so on. She must have been truly happy, whispering sweet words to him.

Regardless, the young crown prince, who was only ten years old, went directly to the southern manor just for her, despite all opposition from the imperial family.

This was a memory from the time when she was a young girl constantly visiting the capital for the Crown Prince. If he hadn't been there at that time, she probably would have felt overwhelmed and drowned in tears.

During that time, Ines was mature in her own way and somewhat fragile—she enjoyed boosting Oscar's spirits as much as he pleased, relishing the moments when he would occasionally cling to her and lavish attention on her.

When her father left for the capital, Mendoza, she hoped Oscar wouldn't notice her efforts to follow him to the palace. Even though she came to see him, she stayed close to his sister and avoided catching his eye.

Oscar, being a crown prince with a princely disposition that required possessing what he couldn't have, easily succumbed to her efforts.

Even at the tender age of six, she knew that the more he clung to her, the more her own worth would rise.

However, the current Ines was kicking his portrait with her shoe, even inside the mansion where Oscar still lingered.

“… Die, die. Just die.……”

The eyes, filled with innate confidence, self-love, self-assurance, self-esteem, lofty self-awareness, and high pride, sparkled continuously as they being kicked away Ines' curses and footsteps, while still staring at her.

As if he’s saying, ‘No matter how much you kick me away, I still love myself like this.’

Ines took a deep breath and pushed it down from the sofa.

This bizarre narcissism must have been an expression of perverted s*xual desire. Everything about him now seemed like a harbinger of venereal disease to Ines.

The canvas, thickly coated with oil paint, was tough and sturdy. With the six-year-old's strength, it was impossible for her to break it. Nevertheless, she forcefully breathed out, kicking the fallen prince's face with her shoe on the floor.

However, no matter how much she trampled the contorted face, the irritation didn't subside.

“Damn, damn Oscar, this damn…….”

Since the day she proudly pointed a g*un at him and took her own life, this was the first time she saw Oscar again. She died at twenty-six, woke up in a hunting ground at sixteen, lived a dream-like four years with Emiliano, then died again. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] And now, once more. Six.

In her second life, she never saw a single strand of red hair again, so was the shock this great? Ines stared at the Crown Prince's grown-up figure in the portrait as if she couldn't understand it.

When she saw Luciano for the first time again, crying with feverish vision, what tormented and scratched her was intense sadness and love-hate. The person who killed Emiliano, her whole world. Yet, the brother who cherished her more than anything in the world……

Her family always toggled between hatred and affection for her. It made it impossible for her to gauge her emotions. But Oscar.

“…How can you be so annoying?”

He was really just annoying. He was a shockingly irritating human being, although he did not have any trace of affection or great emotions such as murderous intent or hatred left in him. Just looking at him made her so irritated that she couldn't bear it. She didn't even like the way he breathed in and out.

She would rather die than bow her head in gratitude for receiving such a gift... Why live like this? Just die... After experiencing death multiple times, the option to easily choose death came to mind. Just like concluding the first life in a burst of determination.

However, Ines quickly corrected her thoughts. After all, how could she know how time would rewind?

Death was never the end. It might be for others, but not for her. Perhaps, this tragedy was a result of her inability to control anger from the beginning. At least, within the limits of her knowledge, that was the starting point.

If she hadn't died like that, she would have killed that villain without a doubt…

The counterargument of 'Who on earth provided such uncontrollable anger?' sprang towards her own thoughts, but she suppressed it again. Now, she really had to be careful with anything. Before opening her eyes again in her mother's womb.

"Think carefully. Think carefully... Think about it carefully, Valeztena... Think carefully.”

She sat calmly at her desk, muttering as if she were brainwashing herself, and nervously tapping the paper with a dry pen nib. It's an obsessive-compulsive disorder that existed when she was 26, when she had a hard time controlling her anger due to her dirty marriage. Her short legs swayed distractedly inside her dress as she sat on her chair.

Ines gritted her teeth and frowned.

In order for the hypothesis that 'repeating life is hell' to be properly established, there is a need for original sin that deserves to be thrown into the fiery pits of hell.

She thought as she glared at the paper, clutching her quill tightly.

In the second death, there is an undeniable heinous crime. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She entangled a virtuous and innocent man, ultimately driving him to his demise, and directly murdered her own child who hadn't even lived for half a year…

The defiant expression briefly vanished from Ines's provocative face. That never happened. Implications close to self-defense disregarded logic and order and followed afterward. She pushed away the second life as if it were someone else's story and reconsidered.

By then, it was already hell. The atrocious crime she had committed was, in the end, a part of that hell.

If that's the case, there must be a clear trigger that pushed Ines into that hell. She vividly recalled the first life and the disastrous marriage that came to mind with clarity.

And for the first time, she began to reflect on what went wrong in that life.

[Being arrogant].

Ines tilted her head as she dipped the tip of her pen in ink and wrote her first crime clearly. A bit unlucky, but not to the point of going to hell.

[Luxurious things]. If it were such a serious crime, the nobles of this country would never die. [Using people]. This is bound to happen because each person's natural position is different.

[Only cared about appearance]. It feels like she wasted life in front of the vanity, but it's not like she harmed anyone. [Didn't read books well]. That doesn't make sense. [Being two-faced]. Who isn't?

[Deceived parents]. [Lies]. Never done anything worthy of going to hell... [Hated mother]. It was her mother who hated her first.

[Failing to keep the prince's secret]. He should be grateful for saving his life that day.