The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 25

Chapter 25

***

"No dreams! No thoughts! There is nothing in his mind! That jerk is not good enough for you!"

".……"

"It's not over like this, Ines Valeztena!”

It touched the nerves of a young Crown Prince who only wanted something he couldn't have.

It may be a bit early, cumbersome, and annoying, but she really needed a fiancé.

To become a partner that Oscar really can't have.

“Ines, why did His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly…”

Enrique Osorno, peering at Oscar from behind Ines' shoulder, cautiously started to ask, but stopped as if he sensed something.

Ines suddenly stared at him intently. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Like a small wild beast that has discovered a new prey.

"Why?"

"…...."

"What’s the matter?”

Enrique Osorno. He's five years older than her, the sole grandson of the Duke of Osorno.

The boy with deep brown hair and distinctive features gave off the warm atmosphere typical of the southern region. In the past, for some reason, Ines felt suffocated whenever she looked at him.

Was it because she didn't like his appearance? And now.

"...It's still the same."

Still, she felt suffocated.

In the past, she might have wondered how she could live seeing such a face for a lifetime. However, having hit rock bottom several times, a man's appearance didn't seem all that important. So, just looking at his face shouldn't make her feel suffocated.

Ines had long stopped attaching much significance to words like marriage or husband. A man who was just an ordinary b*stard from Ortega, unable to use her status against her, was more than sufficient.

As long as it's not embarrassing to take him around and don't bring lacked genetic traits causing trouble for her child. For example, issues with intelligence, dwarfism, or baldness.

Appearance is not that important, but an ugly face would definitely be embarrassing to carry around, so it should never be ugly. It couldn't look weird, and it couldn't have an upper body that was too long and a lower body that was too short. The opposite is not true either.

The head couldn't be too big, and it couldn't be so abnormally small that it only made his face look bigger. His nose shouldn't be small, his eye sockets shouldn't be small, and his lips shouldn't be the color of a sick person's...…

Assuming these basics were met, Ines had solemnly concluded that a man's appearance doesn't really matter.

'And it would be really nice if I could just have children and die early at the right time.’

The coolness that had been pushed to the extreme due to a series of events was finally shining through at this moment.

There would be nothing better for Ines now if she could not get married in the first place, but since she was born as Valeztena’s daughter, it was impossible.

In addition, living a lifetime as a virgin in Ortega is difficult unless you stay in a convent.

It's a disgrace to the parents and a disgrace to the family... Putting aside such traditional values, it would be quite painful for anyone to have their family see them being kicked out to the bottom of the social world, called a hotbed of all kinds of defects, and being criticized for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, since an unmarried woman cannot be recognized as having the right to decide on her private property even when she grows old, the irony arises that a daughter cannot use a single penny of the inheritance she personally received from her parents without her nephew's permission.

Of course, this is something only a truly immoral person would do, but there were more immoral people in the world than you might think. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She asked what a childless woman would do with her wealth. In the end, it will only be shared property used by the brothers' children.

It is possible to be respected socially and morally by becoming the adult of the family. At least it makes you look old. However, in the end, a woman who was dismissed as 'unable' to marry could not become a legally independent person in Ortega.

In Ortega, women only truly become proper adults when they marry, even if it's merely as someone's wife.

Nevertheless, the reason why Ortega's law calls itself progressive is because everything changes the moment a husband disappears.

Die, divorce, or disappear.

Ortega was the country with the most divorce trials among neighboring countries, and was also the only country that allowed 'divorce requested by women' and broadly recognized the man's fault.

If a divorced woman is without sin, she never returns to the imperfect status she had before marriage. If she had a title through marriage, she retaines the title throughout her life and receives a generous pension until her death so that she could maintain the dignity befitting her title.

There was also an independent right to dispose of private property. Because she was no longer someone's daughter or wife, but a person.

A man, no matter how stupid he was, could do what he wants if he lived until he was seventeen, and a woman, no matter how smart she was, could do what she wants only if she went through all kinds of trials and tribulations, including marriage, divorce, and bereavement. But for now, that was the only door of opportunity.

Although Ortega said that the highest position a woman could attain was royalty, Ines thought differently.

The most successful women in the empire today are those whose husbands have died, disappeared, or divorced. In other words, women who are married but do not have a husband.

The size of each family's assets was important, but fundamentally it was not important. Anyway, no matter where or how you were born, there was no way for you to be born as a woman and live as a more independent person than them.

By Ines' current standards, the earlier her husband died or the earlier she divorced her husband, the greater her success. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] And Ines definitely wanted to make it big in this life.

She tried to follow her fate with the Crown Prince , but she couldn't hold back her frustration and gave up at once, and her desire grew bigger and bigger.

The more she researched, the more Ines could finally understand why Ortega's women murdered so many of their husbands, remembering Oscar. Just killing that b*stard would change everything.

However, even though she understood that heart, she was in a position where she could not commit any more sins.

And the life in which she went to bed every night thinking about how, where, and with what to kill her husband was enough for her in her first life with Oscar.

’I don't want to live such a cruel life anymore.’

So, all that remains is a divorce filled with reasons such as the untimely accident or natural death of the husband with two children remaining, and the other party's fault.

But look at that Enrique Osorno. He was expected to be overly healthy in the future as he would not travel to rough terrain and, unlike others for a studious man, he would not neglect his physical training. In short, he is a person who is far from accidents, diseases, and wars.

Ines traced her memories from her first life and remembered that Enrique was one of the people who enjoyed all kinds of competitions with Cárcel at the court. Unlike anyone else, he was good at riding horses, and unlike anyone else, he was good at hunting. Unlike anyone else, he hit the ball well...

‘...Remarkably healthy, perhaps too healthy. Robust and sound.’

No matter how much you don't know what will happen, the higher the probability, the safer it is.

When Ines thought about it up to this point, she suddenly realized how unhumanly she was making calculations with a child in front of her.

Enrique was five years older than her, but in her eyes, everyone her age seemed like a child.

Wishing for the early demise of such children or feeling regretful that they won't die early seems like an unsettling matter..

But she already did it. It felt like she had committed a sin just by thinking about it. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] While thinking about Oscar, she felt like she had lost her humanity.

"…...Ines, are you really okay? Your face looks a bit pale. Seems like you're startled."

"I'm fine.”

"I didn't hear what His Highness was saying, but it seemed a bit chaotic. Did you make some kind of verbal mistake with him?”

"No, nothing like that.”

"I don't know why he has become so sensitive all of a sudden since spring. Lately, especially... seems like everyone in the castle is only watching His Highness.”

“Is that so?”

"So don't worry too much about it. It seems like there's something lately that's not going according to His Highness's intentions..”

It was Ines Valeztena who made things not go according to plan.

Ines did not show any expression and simply nodded.

Even though Enrique clearly showed signs of being annoyed by the conversation, he continued to look at Inés affectionately. Looking back, regardless of her dislike of his appearance, he was always a good person in Ines' memories.

A saint might not be, but a person who wouldn't intentionally do something bad.

'After all, it feels a bit uncomfortable to want someone to die....’

In conclusion, the best thing would be a divorce where no one dies.

'It would be perfect if the divorce could be recognized because some idiot was spreading the blame.’

‘If only some foolish fellow would generously provide reasons for blame, making it easy to get a divorce, that would be ideal.’

He is objectively a good guy. His old grandfather had great hair, and there were women who liked his unique hot face. His brain is quite extraordinary, so he will stand out in academia in just a few years.

Moreover, since he had already become his grandfather's successor after losing his father early, he had a higher chance of inheriting the title sooner than any of the young great nobles currently here. Hence, there might be plenty of potential suitors circling around for various reasons, but…….

Ines shook her head as she looked at Enrique, as if she were looking at someone who had no answer.

Even though she searched through her entire memory, there was only one rumor that Enrique Osorno was the main character. That he was a devoted husband.

'….Devoted husband, it is the worst.’

A man who marries as directed and lives with only his eyes on his wife...…. If her dream was to maintain a family for a lifetime, he would be the perfect man to marry, but the success she dreamed of was different.

The most successful women in the empire are those whose husbands have died, gone missing, or been divorced. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] With the unfortunate accident excluded, her only goal now was divorce.

Free human beings in their most perfect form. A person who can alone make legal decisions. The only way to become an independent person.…..

After the shadows of Valeztena and the shadows of a husband have both disappeared, perhaps she might find love again. Maybe she won't, and that might be perfectly fine.

But either way, it would be good. Because, at that time, she would be a perfectly free being.

"By the way, Ines, did something happen in Perez? It seems like ever since you returned to Mendoza, you've been consistently wearing dark clothes and attending parties….

“…….”

"Of course, it's not that the clothes don't suit you. They're just a bit too plain, somewhat gloomy, and a bit heavy, but at the same time, strangely suiting you well...”

“…….”

“Since you suddenly came dressed like that, my mother was worried that something was going on in the Valeztena family. Because you liked bright things. Besides, no girl comes to the party wearing black.”

“…….”

My mother used to say that a girl wearing such dark and... inherently sad clothes is only acceptable when there's been a severe shock, a brief mental disturbance, or someone has died.”

You can get married, but your husband must disappear. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] However, an attentive and loving partner who monitors her mood and notices whether her clothes have changed, her hair has changed, or her mind has become abnormal, does not legally disappear from a woman's side.

She didn't need a half-good husband, she needed a man who would one day legally be taken out of her life.