The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 48

Chapter 48

***

The moment she got out of the carriage, her vision went white with dizziness for a moment, then gradually took on a hazy shape, and finally returned to a dull but clear field of vision. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] The main reason for this was that she, who was naturally impatient, had woken up with a start and jumped out of the high carriage onto the ground.

A more fundamental reason was that she had been starved for a good ten days thanks to the Duchess’s torturous body management right before the wedding….

However, it also sounded like insults were being hurled at her from the back of her head like auditory hallucinations. Inés, who had already steadied herself as much as she could, swayed again at the sudden grip of a hand supporting her.

“Are you dizzy? Are you okay? What’s the matter, what’s going on? Are you dizzy? Are you anemic? Do you have anemia?”

“…Shut up, Cárcel….”

His lips were pressed against her ear, and his relentless, low voice made her head ring. His voice was already resonant enough as it was…. Inés pushed him away gently, rubbing her temples and shaking her head.

While she had been fast asleep in the carriage, Cárcel, who had gotten out first, had silently gotten out of the carriage after her and found Inés disembarking the carriage, looking fragile and delicate.

Even as Inés pushed away his perfectly shaped nose as if to smash it, he couldn’t hide his surprise and pulled her close again, his lips against her ear.

“Is it because of me?”

This time, his lips, pressed against her skin, asked her that question. It felt like the inside of her skin was vibrating. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Just like certain moments during their wedding night…. Inés gasped in surprise, like a fish that had accidentally taken the bait, and then slowly turned her head away with a calm and cold expression, as if to maintain her dignity.

Even in this small place, there were servants.

“No.”

“It is because of me.”

But his lips followed her. Inés spoke irritably, her face still calm.

“What on earth is the reason?”

“Because I pushed you too hard last night.”

“…Because I got off in a hurry as soon as I woke up.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I got up too quickly….”

“So, why?”

Cárcel asked the question as if he had no knowledge or understanding of orthostatic hypotension at all. It was understandable that someone whose entire body was like a large stone would not understand the minor ailments of ordinary people.

Inés sighed.

“It can happen sometimes. Like when you’ve been sitting down for a long time and then you stand up suddenly….”

“Isn’t that an illness?”

“It’s common in women.”

She hadn’t eaten properly for ten days…. Although there was another, more fundamental reason, there was also someone who was covering his ears with guilt.

Cárcel nodded slightly, as if he had heard Inés’s answer, and concluded that Inés’s momentary weakness was ultimately his fault. He gripped Inés’s shoulders powerfully and supported her entire body, shifting her weight entirely onto himself.

Inés struggled like a captive.

“Let go of me.”

“I will. Can you walk?”

“…How far does anemia go?”

“All you did was have s*x with me until morning—.”

“—Cárcel Escalante, if anyone hears that vulgar language…!”

“No one can hear it. You didn’t sleep properly for a single hour because of it—.”

“—You’re the one who didn’t sleep.”

Despite that, he looked too self-composed, as if he had simply turned around slightly…. Inés stared at Cárcel as if she were seeing something strange for the first time.

“I slept the whole way here in the carriage.”

“That wasn’t sleeping.”

Inés pulled on the chain of his pocket watch, which was protruding slightly from the pocket of his uniform, to check the time. Seven hours had passed since they had left the Perez’s residence in Mendoza. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Since she had fainted almost as soon as they had gotten into the carriage, she must have slept for exactly that long.

It was a journey that normally took five hours, so it was clear that he had deliberately driven the carriage slowly. Probably because he was excessively worried that he would strain her body.

It really was a series of unexpected extremes.

“…It’s already been seven hours, Cárcel.”

“That’s a carriage, not a bed.”

Inés chuckled in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s your fault. So take your hands off me.”

It was as if he was telling her to do whatever she wanted, since she was the one who had sinned. The fact that his hands, which had been holding her up, dropped away so obediently as soon as she said that made her realize his character anew. Inés walked on, her expression considerably lighter.

Cárcel followed her, a dubious expression on his face. If she took a single misstep and swayed even slightly, he would immediately catch her and put her to bed.

“I didn’t know I would be going to your residence with you.”

“So?”

“I thought that when you returned to your residence, I would go to the Espoza Duchy.”

“I won’t be there.”

“Because there’s no law saying we have to be together….”

Most officers were not with their wives, to be honest. The officers stayed at their lands, and their wives guarded their family’s residence in their hometown or perhaps in the capital, and they only spent a short time together as a married couple during vacations.

If they were closer, the husband would come home more often or the wife would visit his land occasionally, and if they were even closer, the wife would spend a pleasant season at his land every now and then….

“Calstera is unique in that there are many officers’ wives. It’s as beautiful as a resort here.”

Cárcel shrugged lightly. It meant that the city was attractive enough for a couple to live together, even if they didn’t necessarily love each other.

Inés didn’t deny it either. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Just Cárcel’s residence, which was located on a hill where the sea breeze from the coast of Calstera blew, was a place where the cool sound of waves was constantly carried on the wind instead of the hot and humid air of Mendoza, which was still in the middle of summer.

Below it, beautiful navy residences with white walls and red roofs lined the slope, creating an enchanting view as they overlooked the vast naval port together.

If one could choose from all the grand social circles of Mendoza, anyone would choose this naval port over Mendoza. Inés took a deep breath as she gazed at the tall iron fence, newly painted in a light blue-green color, and the red roofs visible between the beautiful bars.

Unlike small resort towns, which were usually located near ports or hot springs and boasted a relaxed atmosphere, this place exuded a refined leisureliness that was precisely refined, without a single sloppy gap.

A city where the strictness unique to a large naval port, the high sky, and the beautiful blue of the sea were strangely intertwined….

The sound of the waves drew closer and then faded, repeatedly striking her ears, which had grown somewhat dull. The sound of the waves always reminded her of someone from her dreams. The roar of the waves in the harbor, her swaying field of vision, the breath that filled her throat, the hands that felt as if they would fall off at any moment…….

It wasn’t the best moment to recall. There were many better moments with ‘them’. Inés closed her trembling eyelids slightly and then opened them again.

When she had been exhausted and busy falling asleep, she hadn’t even worried about things like this. It no longer felt so good to rest comfortably in a slowly moving carriage.

If only the sound of the waves hadn’t awakened her sense of reality again….

“Inés?”

“…It’s nothing. Let’s go in.”

The harbor ‘that day’ was actually not the main port of Calstera, but a very small fishing port further down the coast, and this place was a naval port located a little further up from the main port, and civilians were not allowed to enter as they pleased.

She looked down at Cárcel’s hand, which was gently supporting her arm again, and then stared at his face.

Why were you there that day?

Why did you help Emiliano?

***

Captain Escalante’s residence was not actually a very familiar home to its owner.

The residential area for officers, which was located along the ridge of Mount Rogorno, a low mountain located just west of the naval port, was usually directly linked to prestige and power.

If one could overlook the entire fleet anchored in the naval port, the various large and small offices and barracks built along the coast—and even the magnificent appearance of the central naval headquarters, which was as splendid as a palace—it was considered that there was no greater honor for a naval officer in Calstera than to have their residence there.

Of course, in the midst of the already densely populated hillside, where ancient manors had firmly established their presence, it was challenging to find land suitable for constructing a mansion befitting the nobility, satisfying enough to these high-ranking officers and noble elders who couldn't settle for just any estate. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Therefore, apart from their exclusive domains, these individuals opted to purchase land further inland to build and live in their own mansions. Excluding their world, in Calstera, the vista held the highest value.

And Cárcel Escalante was the grandson of Admiral Calderón Escalante de Esposa, whose name would be remembered in Ortega naval history for a thousand years, and the eldest grandson who would eventually inherit that title.

Early on in his career, he had lived in Logorño’s residential neighborhood cheek by jowl with the officers, and had bought the military courthouse located on the naval headquarters’ post office, and the house of a recently retired colonel behind it. He had been a second lieutenant for less than a year at the time.

A view of the sea that his colleagues craved held no allure for him, and from the inside of the mansion, one could not tell whether this was a coastal city—or an ordinary, excessively ostentatious mansion with an unremarkable view found in some inland city a good six hours from the sea….

The choice was met with incomprehension by some and caused others to murmur that ‘perhaps it's because he's someone's grandson’ but it had its own clear rationale.

Cárcel was truly sick of the sea. The irregular fighting he had been engaged in for nearly ten months after being mobilized to quell the Talans tribe during his first year as an officer had seen him disembark from his ship for barely three days in total.

His entire life had been lived aboard ship. Whether adrift on the boundless ocean with nothing to obstruct his view in any direction, or safely moored in a naval port, the fact remained that he was unable to walk on solid ground. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Even contemplating having the sea there in front of his headquarters—something he would be forced to face every time he opened his eyes or returned to base—filled Cárcel, not with delight, but with a sense of weariness.

A peaceful city, peaceful hills and fields… Colonel Valencia’s grandiose mansion was after all a very pleasant refuge.

So why had he moved to this beautiful yet rustic headquarters, perched on a hill overlooking the naval base at Calstera?