The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 35

Chapter 35

"...There are indeed many flaws to find."

"I'm sorry."

"But why are you apologizing?"

"Because I'm sorry."

"...Don't you usually not apologize...?”

Before not apologizing, do you know how to do…? Cárcel furrowed his brow in silence. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Sensing his skepticism, Ines smiled a little more kindly.

"As I said at the dinner, you are a waste, too much, and an overly perfect man for me.”

She seemed genuinely unaware of how to sincerely praise. It was odd. Truly odd.

"So don't worry about Father, and don't think about me."

"......"

"Do as your heart tells you, always. Understand?”

Her compassionate face, as if she had become a saint, overlapped with the sophistry at dinner.

’I'm proud of Lord Escalante, so I won't spoil him.’

At that moment, he had thought she was simply out of her mind, but now, it seemed like genuine sincerity. He had even thought it might be a trick to rapidly age the Duke of Valeztena— but it truly was just sincerity.

An utterly incomprehensible, insane sincerity.

"I'm already doing things my own way. Enough."

"I know. I've known since the day we unilaterally announced that we would get married within 15 days... Thanks to that, I got to wear the old-fashioned dress my mother wore 27 years ago."

"But."

"Even though you do as you please, it's your sense of responsibility that drives it. So, annoying as it may be, I agreed. So, Cárcel, your sense of responsibility will be lived up to.”

Her words sounded like she was belittling something else. Cárcel narrowed his eyes and looked at her quietly.

"What I want is our marriage, so fine. I've always looked forward to you eagerly, waited for you to take this hand, so if you suddenly rush into marriage like this, I have to accept it as if I've been waiting. No matter how sudden it may seem. It's been worth the wait. It's something to be thankful for."

From the exaggerated language and the tone that showed no gratitude at all, it was clear that she was angry.

“You must have been angry.”

Cárcel muttered in response. It's like saying, 'If you get stabbed, you'll probably bleed.'

"No. Of course, it was a little annoying. But fundamentally, this is what I wanted more than anything—.”

“…You?”

'As such a ridiculous thing, marrying me?' The words got stuck in his throat, and he stopped. Yes, it was clear that Ines Valeztena had made the choice. Not him.

She initiated it, she pushed it forward, she changed his fate entirely, even inheriting the burdensome title—all because of her. All because she wanted to marry him...

Even though that is clear, if you say something like, 'It was all pure desire,' the listener will be very suspicious.

As if they heard a blatant lie.

"So, I’m glad you made up your mind this late. It couldn't have been easy. It must have been difficult. Even so, you are a surprisingly faithful child...”

Ines's height was far above the average for Ortega women, but she was too short for Cárcel. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Thanks to her, her subject looked up at him from an eye level that was two spans shorter than him, and seeing him as bulky and referring to him a 'child', on the contrary, made her look insignificant.

This was a very rare case. As Cárcel listened quietly to enjoy this strange feeling more, Ines continued to speak sincerely.

"If you think about the future that must live up to your faithful belief, it's suffocating to imagine how constrained it would be. So, we needed to avoid our marriage with all our might and seek freedom to breathe. Isn't that right?"

"…..."

"It's essential. You're too precious to be confined by norms."

"…..."

"I liked seeing you free. Even at six, surrounded by girls, you looked happy... I don't want to see you wither away in rules and obligations."

”……What kind of bullshit is this?”

"If you pick a flower, it wilts, right? So, leave it where it belongs, and I leave you where you are.”

"Putting aside the fact that this size was compared to a pitiful flower, is what you are saying now brainwashing or hypnosis?”

"Brainwash?”

Ines responded as if bewildered, but she didn't meet his eyes.

"That's exactly what someone trying to justify their actions would say. Trying to make up for what happened last time?"

"There's nothing to make up for."

"I kissed you.”

Then, her expression suddenly turned repulsed, as if her airway had been blocked. Surely, he couldn't be repulsed just by recalling their kiss... No, that couldn't be. He kissed her well.

Cárcel stepped closer to her. Ines turned her head away and stepped back.

"I thought that alone would be a sufficient answer."

".…..That's your effort."

"Effort?”

He was shocked. Cárcel asked back.

"So, I wanted to crush into your head how much obligation you have. Like that, I'm kissing woman like you, I’m ready that much—”

“—I have no obligation to be shoved into your head.”

That damned woman, even chooses her words to shove... The image of them fighting and rolling around as if they were going to bite each other flashed through Cárcel's mind for a moment. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] He put on a haughty demeanor, as if warding off demons.

"You claimed you didn't want to waste energy on a man you didn't even like, but you thought of me with such sincerity? Fine. Let's put that aside."

“It’s different, that’s—”

"—Different? Do you have a great friendship now?”

“Cárcel”

"You said you liked me before, and now you say you don't. You said you didn't like me before, and now it's like this again. Pretending to be affectionate, lying with such a gentle face, and then pushing me away as if urging me to fall off a cliff."

"...First of all, it's been over a decade since I said I liked you."

Ines's expression was incredulous, as if questioning the timing of the remark.

"Don't say it like we changed topics every few days. It sounds weird."

"Back then, over a decade ago, was it true that you liked me?"

"…….”

She seemed to hesitate for a moment and then nodded. Cárcel approached her again as much as she had retreated.

"So, when did you start hating me?”

Whether the women he met were spies planted in the Valeztena family, or just the women he met, or his unbridled private life...…. Numerous answers appeared in her mind alone, but Cárcel looked at her without showing it.

Ines, at least seemed to have nothing to do with those things. That's why it was so incomprehensible.

She glanced at him as if the conversation was getting tiresome, then sighed.

"I want to marry you. If you don't want to, there's no need—"

"Don't beat around the bush."

"It's not that I hate you. I said that. Just..."

"Oh, you just don't like me. So you don't like me enough to care... But what do you like about me? Oh, is it like breaking a flower to make it wither?"

His voice carried a hint of sarcasm, as if influenced by the Valeztena family's authority.

"Are you seriously angry now because I don't like you?"

Ines asked, looking at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Cárcel's eyes froze as if he had been stabbed in the lungs without realizing it.

But fortunately, Ines continued with a surprising tone, as if she hadn't even noticed she hit a nerve.

"There's no reciprocity. You were the one who pursued me, so why to me—”

"You said you liked it! You said it was sweet...!"

“It’s not that I disparaged because I liked it! You were the one who enjoyed it!”

"Damn it, what's going on in that small head of yours! I can't understand a single word you say, I just can't understand—"

“—Maybe it’s because you only move your body and don’t use your head, right?”

"And even in this situation, you treat me like a smug idiot?"

"You still don't forget to mention how good-looking you are in the middle of all this. If you weren't good-looking, how on earth would you have survived? Huh?”

Between them, it was an unusually heated moment. At this moment, he shouldn't have been drawn into such childish provocations like when he was younger. Cárcel forced a smile.

"I said it humbly. Isn't that good enough? It's not about being outstanding. It's more than that. And we weren't married. I've always been the one you reluctantly chose—"

"—Yeah, you were engaged, and marriage was on the horizon. So there was no loyalty for you to uphold. See, I understand you completely—"

"I'm not trying to make excuses, so don't just loosely understand it that way. I'm saying there's a difference between before and after marriage—"

"—What's the difference? Oh, I don't get it, I don't understand, so I'll cancel the whole 'I understand everything'.”

In a sulking gesture, Ines raised both hands. Cárcel used it as if she had given her waist to him, wrapping one arm around her waist and pulling her towards him. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Ines pursed her lips silently.

Her expression, which unexpectedly revealed her true bad temperament entirely, collapsed.

"……What are you doing, right now?"

"Ines Valeztena, I told you. I'm a faithful b*stard."

"I never understood that in the first place. Do you really think that makes sense?"

"And marriage is sacred."

"Damn... who's teaching who?”

Cárcel despite his innate conditions, was generally adept at self-objectification. Who's teaching who? He fully agreed with Ines's sulking.

How absurd it was for himself, a specimen of libertinage, to preach about marriage and chastity to that Ines Valeztena.

But who exactly created such a situation?

"So, you're saying, before marriage, you lived like a dog, but afterward, you will live like a monk? And you're telling me to believe that—"

"—You'll believe it in the bedroom.”