The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 67

# Chapter 67

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The sound of the waves in the morning had awakened her confused, malfunctioning mind, and Inés felt purposeful again. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] It was time to get back to the main point.

She hadn’t been swept away at all… It had all been part of her own plan, something she hadn’t even been aware of.

Inés’s goal was simple, but the plan to achieve it was grand. A grand plan needs a grand amount of time.

Thinking that, all the feelings of defeat she’d experienced in the bedroom recently were erased.

They had all been strategic cooperation, a meticulous calculation that she had made without realizing it…

On the surface, she had been hopelessly in love with Cárcel Escalante for a long time, she had wanted him even more than he wanted this marriage, and when she received the marriage proposal, she had readily accepted, as if she had been waiting for it.

Her lifetime of obsession meant she was quite devoted to this marriage. That was why she had followed her officer husband to this difficult land – Calstera, even though it was just a prosperous coastal area.

For a woman like that, how happy and dreamlike would her newlywed life be in this cramped official residence?

So, the fact that she had just gone with the flow, doing whatever she pleased when it came to sex, was good strategy. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] For Cárcel, and for the employees who were privy to all their personal affairs.

No problem with this marriage stemmed from her, no shortcoming of this marriage came from her. This was the way it had been so far, a short time, but it would continue to be this way… Yes. Her slothful lifestyle in Calstera, and the wild nights of the past ten days, were nothing more than a perfect start.

‘So, the frequency of that part just needs to be reduced.’

In Inés's plan, sex would be initiated by her, and she would reject him. That's what would happen at the end of this marriage.

Whether he was trying to tease her, manipulate her subtly, or diligently acting as if he was on some kind of training mission, no matter what was on his mind, they would end up like this. How long would his interest last? How long would he be entertained by her boring reactions?

Right now, although the horny Cárcel Escalante was charging at her every night… she couldn't refuse him. The refusal needed to come from him.

‘So, there’s no need to be ashamed.’

Cárcel was good at sex, as befits his name. Even she could readily admit that.

So, it couldn't be helped that she responded differently than allowed. He’s good at it. She’s good at it, even though she doesn’t want to be. And all this is just part of her grand plan, which she has calculated, so even if she loses, it’s not really a loss…

Even a person of such incredible will as her had been swept up. If she created the right environment for Cárcel Escalante, and then just loosened the reins, he’d do anything.

What a good Escalante…. Inés decided to think about everything in a way that would be advantageous to herself.

She descended to the first floor with light steps, the fresh morning light pouring down on her, a blessing for her future.

“Good morning, Kara.”

“Señora. You are up early.”

It was already approaching eleven in the morning, but in her recent lazy lifestyle, it was still early enough to be considered fast. She needed to bring that forward from now on.

“Shall I prepare tea on the terrace?”

“Yes.”

As she smiled brightly, the maid also smiled happily. In Inés’s mind, a triangle appeared next to the item “Busy morning,” and a check mark next to the item “Bright smile.”

She didn't like to go outside, so she hadn’t gone outside, and even a walk in the garden was too bothersome, so she rarely went out. She hadn’t planned anything or ordered anyone to do anything in the house, so Inés was still very unfamiliar with the male employees, like the groom, the gardener, and the servants.

Even though it had been a few tens of days since she came to Calstera.

It was actually better to be so unfamiliar with everyone. Arondra and the maids must have seen enough of Inés’s happily listless appearance…

They were so pure, they didn't even imagine that Inés was satisfied with her lazy routine, thinking it was something like the homesickness of a poor noble girl who had been suddenly ripped from her homeland. Thankfully, that was the situation now.

Now, when anything she said made her seem pitiful, was the time to shake off this non-existent homesickness. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She called Arondra and Alfonso, the housekeeper and the butler. First, the most important people, the ones who controlled the employees.

“Alfonso, is the groom back at the official residence?”

“Yes.”

"It seems like the gardener is currently pruning the branches…. And what about the servants? They eat lunch early?"

"Yes, that's right, but..."

"What do you want them for?”

After Alfonso’s rather stiff reply, Arondra chimed in with a cheerful voice.

“I’ve been so inconsiderate. As Arondra says, suddenly being forced to live in a strange place... I guess it made me feel lonely.”

She put on a sorrowful expression, then glanced at the sea. Arondra, with her big heart, could only say “As expected…” and trail off, as if feeling sorry for her. Inés glanced at Alfonso.

He still had an unreadable expression. If you looked only at his expression, he seemed to be the kind of person who was incredibly stubborn, and it was possible he had already been disappointed by Inés’s laziness.

‘It’s okay.’

A grand plan needs a grand amount of time. One butler managing a country estate was nothing.

If she made everything like that, being swept up was nothing. Inés was determined to create “that kind of atmosphere,” starting now.

“So, I’ve been killing time, being all alone…"

“Of course, you must have…”

“I must have closed myself off without realizing it.”

"Oh, you poor thing? The heiress of Grandes de Ortega, the beloved daughter of the Duke of Valeztena, has been relegated to this rat-hole of a place, all because she married the captain…"

Arondra looked at Inés pitifully, as if she were watching something very tragic. She was the type of person who, if you said one word that was sad, would make ten words to make it even sadder.

Aside from her long affection for her young master, Arondra had a very high moral standard and was very critical of Cárcel Escalante before his marriage.

It had been good for Inés that she was completely on Inés's side as soon as she arrived, but a level of pity was not enough.

Inés carefully took Arondra's thick hand in hers. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She was already a key witness in Inés Escalante’s divorce, having appeared in court.

Even if she couldn't fully take her side, someone who judged things objectively and ethically, someone who would criticize the trashy nature that Cárcel was likely to show again, and someone who would empathize with her based on the facts...

“Arondra, you care about me like that, and Alfonso, you are so considerate of me. I didn't even think about all those feelings. I heard that José, the gardener, wanted to ask me how I’d like the garden maintained."

Whenever the mistress changed, the garden would usually change too. The butler was likely to give the gardener instructions, but since he hadn’t even been given instructions, the question about the mistress’s preferences was coming from below.

But Inés was too tired, so she dismissed the question with a simple “The garden is perfect as it is. A person who has only looked at trees and flowers their whole life will surely know how to take care of it.” That was how she handled all the employees' inquiries up until now.

"If you’d like to give your preference on colors, scents, or seasonal flowers, José is a very skilled gardener, so he will make the garden to Señora's liking."

José... Come to think of it, the name of Cárcel's bear-like aide who was introduced to her on their wedding day was also José.

José Almenara. The name that would have almost made him her stepson in her second life…

She quickly thought over a detailed plan concerning this José and that José and then finished it. Both this José and that José had to become her people.

"No, call José yourself."

“Myself…?”

“Then call Max. And the other maids and servants. And the cooks too... I want to get to know each of them one by one and have a conversation with them about the future."

"Wouldn't it be a bit troublesome, Señora? It's not necessary to do that."

Alfonso, with a stern expression, pushed his glasses up his nose and questioned her. Actually, the troublesome one would be him, not her.

Inés smiled kindly, as if she hadn’t understood his inner thoughts at all.

"It's a beautiful day today. I just want to relax with everyone here for a while and chat."

"Alfonso, look at Señora’s kindness.”

“I want to let them know about me, and I want to get to know them.”

Already in her mind, the mansion’s employees were divided into people who would be useful as formal witnesses in court, people who would be informal witnesses who wouldn’t hinder her on the scene, and people who would be her ears, turning into birds by day and mice by night — people who were righteous and gossipy.

Cárcel was bound to do something else eventually. Inés had to find out about his whereabouts at the right time. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] And she needed to get only favorable testimonies from them at the right time.

The well-meaning helpers — they wouldn't even know that they had been bought or brainwashed, and they would end up helping her. At least Inés in Calstera would be a very sociable and friendly mistress.

Soon, José the gardener came into the terrace, dripping sweat.

The sun blessed Inés’s human-friendly yellow dress with its rays.