The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 33

Chapter 33

***

“I’m talking about myself, Lord Escalante.”

With this, he must have heard ‘I’m talking about myself’ about 10 times.

After dinner, as they all headed to the drawing-room, Cárcel, who had merely attempted to support the tipsy Duchess, found himself caught by her and entangled in a torturous conversation.

Repeating the same words, saying them again, and repeating similar phrases...

It's the typical behavior of someone intoxicated. Cárcel who had been looking through Ines while she conversed with Miguel from a distance, furrowed his brow.

[ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Since when did those two become so friendly?

"…….Are you listening?"

"Of course, Duchess. Please, go on."

The question of ‘why they would sit so intimately close’ had been nagging at him.

Cárcel politely turned his head towards Duchess Valeztena, as if he had already been concentrating.

"I, unlike that stuffy Duke, have a very different opinion. I liked you from the beginning."

"It's an honor, Duchess Valeztena."

"Always saying the same to Ines... You're overly generous to her. Oh. Ines is not the daughter I wanted. She has never done what I wished for... She's a very disappointing daughter, disappointing me at every turn."

Talking without a hint of weariness, repeating what she said, as a drunk might... Listening absentmindedly, a sense of discomfort seeped through his ears.

Cárcel squinted his eyes.

"Have you ever seen the way she looks at me? They're eyes that don't even recognize the favor of being born... Very cold eyes. Do you think the same when you look at me?"

".……"

"No, it's quite fine and friendly... It wasn't always like that from her birth. There were very cute and lovely times... Then…. That is until she probably had a severe fever once...”

The Duchess of Valeztena and he had been seeing each other for a very long time, with the help of Ines as an intermediary, but they always only exchanged petty words with each other.

Witnessing her drinking to the point of intoxication was not uncommon. Yet, when she was drunk, she usually ended up neatly taken care of by the Duke, so he had no memory of having a conversation like this.

The sudden unfamiliarity of a face he thought he knew well might be why. Despite occasionally appearing sensitive and irritable, she generally maintained an elegant and composed demeanor. While not particularly warm towards others, at least with her own children……

“From then on, my life has been nothing but memories of that kid disappointing me. I just wanted a normal, beautiful daughter, but look at her like a witch...Would you be able to endure that?”

“…….”

"Well, I suppose I couldn't bear it, so I circled around the idea of marriage. It must have been dreadful to think of sharing a bed with such a child... Just looking at that sight would have made my teeth chatter!"

So, Duchess Valeztena, like everyone else, was someone who spoke as if she had overflowing affection for her own children.

No matter how harshly one may discipline servants, when they see their own child, they turn into a different person and smile when they see their child, which is the nobility of Mendoza. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] This trait is not exclusive to the aristocracy but is also evident in the Oretaga customs that prioritize family.

If it was their own child, they projected all kinds of love from the world, and due to the libertine atmosphere, even if they had an excessive number of children, they chose to love at least one or two among them. Possessiveness towards their children was significant, and divorces leading to disputes over custody of children were not uncommon.

Duchess Valeztena also seemed to be one of those Ortega people. An aristocratic wife with a typical trace of humanity who hates people but loves her children.

"So, have you given up now? Are you prepared to witness that sight for the rest of your life? Please fix her. It must be fixed. That's an illness."

The Duchess' face looking at Ines did not look like her mother's at all.

A weary affection, a feeling of being fed up with her, and an almost disdainful expression—like on that day.

In reality, there would be no parents in Oretaga who would warmly embrace what Ines typically pursued. Whether it be her clothes, exclusive nature, or her perpetually stern expressions—things that had long become dull to Cárcel and were now seemingly inconsequential. Yet, for any parent, they would likely consider these as extreme causes for concern.

The aristocratic society of Mendoza, not to mention merchants and peasants, had tastes that would be incomprehensible to each other. What is considered common sense is often narrow and subjective.

As a result, parents went through bouts of anger, worried silently, yelled, pleaded... They had to do whatever it took. As long as everyone insisted that children were the reflection of their parents' faces.

However, worry could not surpass love. The parental love in Oretaga was so immense that sometimes they risked their life to protect their daughter who killed her husband or her son who killed his friend.

If the love of Oretaga parents allows them to embrace even a child who becomes a murderer, then wouldn't a daughter who always appears in elegant attire at gatherings, no matter how irritating, eventually become endearing?

"When I look at that scene outside my house, it feels like someone is suffocating me and cursing me to die quickly. I just can't endure it. It's as if she spends the whole day figuring out how to make me disgraceful….!”

So, this amounts to excessive criticism about a child.

It's like a tired child murmuring endlessly about something that doesn't go the way they want….. Just because she wears clothes not to their liking and isn't affectionate.

"It feels like someone swapped her soul back then. Sometimes, it's like she's possessed by a demon... doing very wicked things. On some days, that child threatens me, self-harms, hurts her own body, all just because she won't listen to me..."

"Threatens, you say?”

"I just said it would be better if she dresses up nicely. As she continued these actions, doing incomprehensible things, changing her attitude, rejecting me... She even scolded me by dropping me in a bucket of water to correct my habit...… Changing clothes, taking care of her skin, not putting anything in her mouth randomly, it was all for me."

"…...."

"You saw it just now, didn't you? The wedding is only a week away, yet she was stuffing things into her mouth as if nothing mattered.”

Ines's meal was nowhere near excessive, just elegantly chewing and swallowing an appropriate amount allocated to each person.

"Where is the noblewoman…? That's no different from livestock ramming their heads into the feed trough. It's vulgar and uncivilized. If she doesn't even bother with makeup and wanders around like that, she should at least preserve her pretty body, which was somewhat worth seeing. Living like a pig, getting fat without any restraint, what can you expect...”

“…….”

"Those things, as a mother, I have to prevent them all. So that she can be loved by her future husband, I must ensure she doesn't do anything that might cause harm... But at that time, those eyes were so intimidating... I'm telling you, I was so scared that I couldn't touch my daughter again. Since then, her face has always been like that. Ugly and miserable... just as unattractive as it was.”

“…….”

"To think that that is my daughter. I wish I had locked her in a room. Nowhere to wander around..."

"...Senorita Valeztena is indeed quite beautiful, Duchess."

Cárcel finally responded coldly, as if spitting out a thorn stuck in his throat. Duchess Valeztena suddenly chuckled.

"How amusing. Her father said the exact same thing….!”

“…….”

"The Duke advised not to ruin Ines's faithful appearance. It's her choice, as it is. He thinks she must have some meaning in it. Isn't it truly amusing? It's not like God passed away just the other day, yet being faithful is defined by wearing only black clothes.”

“…….”

"Yet, she's making her own mother unable to show her face. Since I didn't confine her, now I'm the one trapped in my own home... Sir Escalante, haven't you met many women of your age? Who on earth walks around like that? Has there ever been a single woman like that? I have to fix that. That’s really a disease.”

Even after enduring that heavy dinner, the remaining energy seemed to slip away all at once.

Cárcel pushed away the subtly emerging complex thoughts, quickly seeking to separate from the Duchess. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] However, for some reason, he couldn't find any trace of the Duke and Luciano. Cárcel sighed like a breath.

"I have no right to fix your daughter. Please understand that."

"But you're her husband. You're her owner."

"I'm just a husband."

"It's unbearable how naive you are. Is it because you don't need the thrill of seeing your wife? Escalante, you have many women anyway—."

"And from now on, your daughter will be the only woman I will ever know.”

The Duchess burst into laughter, as if she heard something incredibly amusing. From a distance, he could see both Ines and Miguel were looking in their direction at the same time.

Concerned that Ines might hear her mother's words, Cárcel smoothly led her to the window, pretending it was to let some fresh air in, even opening the window for that reason.

"Among the things she's done in my entire life, there's one thing that pleases me.”

Not wanting to inquire about what it was, Cárcel remained silent, gazing out the window. At that moment, The Duchess lightly tapped his face with her slender fingers.

"When you were out of your mind, she put a leash on you and made you hers.”