The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 94

Chapter 94

It’s commonly said that the most valuable thing you can gain from a marriage is love. That’s true for commoners, and even truer for nobles, whose unions are often arranged without love. Why? Because it doesn’t exist in the first place. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] And Raul Balan had just finished expounding on the inferiority of such love.

In the first place, he had no reason to be jealous. Even if Cárcel Escalante achieved that unicorn in the distant future, it would mean nothing to Raul Balan… He was crazy. He had thought he might be a little crazy, but after a closer look, he was more than crazy, and Cárcel, forgetting his old irritation and disgust, looked at him calmly, appraising him.

Would such a blindly devoted pervert continue to be useful to Ines? But he was so cunning, could he really do anything harmful?

Maybe it was better to leave him be? He was a harmless madman. He wouldn't hurt Ines, even if he died, and he wouldn’t hinder Cárcel either. He had judged that before, but he felt it even more acutely now because he had never felt more strongly how blindly and purely devoted Raul Balan was to Ines.

He found himself ridiculous, that he couldn’t stand such a thing, and at the same time, he felt like kicking him in the head for boasting about his loyalty being greater than her husband’s. If she had actually kept a lover, he could have just waited for her to get tired of him and dumped him. But what could he do with a pet…

“I don’t dare harbor such feelings for Lady Ines. Lady Ines… Lady Ines is to me…”

“Ines, what?”

“Forget it.”

“If you start something, finish it.”

“It’s not something I should be telling the Captain.”

“You’re a noble servant, and I’m a husband brimming with lust?”

“Just forget it.”

“If you’re trying to raise your price, just say how much you want. I hate haggling, Balan.”

“Do I look like I’m going to use Lady Ines for profit?”

“What’s stopping you?”

Knowing it was false, being treated as a pawn, each question, knowing full well what he was asking, caused Raul Balan extreme stress. He was being tormented. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] There was no such thing as a split personality for him.

Ines had said meaningfully, ‘I know everything,’ but perhaps she didn’t know anything about this man? Perhaps she had just fallen for his face, even though he was promiscuous, but kind… because he had a noble appearance.

Cárcel Escalante looked even nobler in his uniform, and his body, honed by rigorous training, fueled people’s biases. They usually thought that physical ability and intelligence were inversely proportional, and that he was simple and easy to handle, just a soldier… He didn’t have the right to disagree with Ines’ choice, even if he could, he wouldn’t have.

Raul had seen him exactly that way. His appearance was good, and he was an easy man for Ines to handle.

It wasn’t that he was stupid, it was that he wasn’t twisted or gloomy.

But the current Cárcel Escalante seemed far from being transparent, inside and out. More research was needed.

“……I won’t tell Lady Ines.”

“Go tell her. I want to explain myself actively.”

“I’m not going to tell her…”

“Tell her.”

A brazen light shone on his impeccable face. Raul, like a small dog ready to fight to the death, wrinkled his nose, then said firmly,

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want to see Lady Ines get hurt even a little bit… That’s why I don’t want to.”

There was nothing more inappropriate than calling what he felt for Ines ‘hurt.’ Cárcel smiled, slightly twisted, at Raul’s exaggerated words, then pointed his chin at the doorway.

It was an order to leave, and Raul was happy to hear it, but instead of leaving, he stood in front of Cárcel.

“…Really. You shouldn’t hurt Lady Ines.”

“I’ll handle it.”

“Please… I beg you.”

Raul bowed deeply. It wasn't with the usual, splendid mannerisms that he had always done.

Cárcel, left alone, stared at the spot where Raul had bowed, resting his chin on his hand. For some reason, the word ‘hurt’ felt like grains of sand scraping against his palate.

***

“Lady Ines, are you listening?”

“Sorry?”

“Of course, you’ll be displeased, but… this might be an opportunity. It shows how intensely, if darkly, the Captain is interested in you.”

The statement, "I won’t inform in the future," turned out to mean, "I’ll inform behind your back." The Son of God, whom everyone believed to be entirely straightforward inside and out, unexpectedly revealed a dual nature, momentarily freezing his listener’s thoughts like stone. However, the master’s husband, born so noble and pure, was far too dignified to follow the petty, cunning tendencies of someone like Raul.

"So let’s use this opportunity to make him fall even harder for Lady Ines. Let him realize that his face doesn’t do him justice."

The more Cárcel underestimated him, the better it was for Raul. At least, he wouldn’t have those shameful suspicions anymore.

His loyalty to Ines had even made a hostile man help him. To call such noble devotion ‘perverted,’ he was a simple soldier, a simple servant. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] His insides were more sinister than they seemed, and he seemed a bit twisted, but looking at him from a distance, he seemed like a simple man, the kind Ines could easily manipulate.

“……Raul. What do you think of Escalante?”

Ines, who had seemed to be half-listening as Raul reported something important about her husband, suddenly asked.

“His ancestors’ history, one of the few prominent families that could stand shoulder to shoulder with Valeztena…”

“No, not his family.”

“…The Captain?”

Didn’t I just say that your husband was stalking you, secretly watching you? He couldn’t understand why any further explanation or assessment was necessary beyond those words.

But Ines, as if lost in a dream, was looking at the painting that Madalena had sent early. She had been indifferent to her circumstances for quite some time…

“I think he’s the perfect match for Lady Ines.”

She was already married, what could be done?

“As the only daughter of Valeztena, of course, she should only have the best. Isn’t Captain Escalante the best, in terms of status, honor, and appearance? When the Crown Prince ascends the throne, he will become his close confidant, and he won’t be a soldier forever, so this kind of childish residence won’t last either.”

“…….”

Ines stared at the ripples on the lake in the painting, repeating Raul’s words.

Right. This wouldn’t last long. Just a few years. When Cárcel went to Oscar’s side, even without other plans, she couldn’t stay with Escalante.

“However, I do regret that you didn’t take better care of your lower body. But it was before the marriage, and you were distant during the engagement. If you think about it that way…”

“You don’t like it?”

“I don’t. To be engaged to someone like Lady Ines… But what does my opinion matter? Not too bad in character either…”

“‘Someone like Ines.’ No one would say that.”

Ines chuckled. Raul, his face serious, said,

“Anyone who knows Lady Ines well would say that.”

“Everyone lives like that, Raul.”

“…….”

“Everyone deceives. Wives deceive husbands, husbands deceive wives, children deceive their parents, and even themselves. Everyone does that. Cárcel isn’t special.”

“But Lady Ines didn’t do that.”

“I wasn’t in my right mind.”

She smiled faintly. Whenever she implicitly referred to that time, Raul looked as if he were about to bite his tongue and die. To be more precise, he looked like a survivor, barely holding back from doing just that.

Sixteen to twenty. The age when young nobles in Ortega would indulge in premarital indiscretions. For Ines, it was simply a shadow of the time she had spent with Emiliano.

Much of Raul’s extreme and blind devotion to her came from that time. He had barely saved a broken person, so he revered Ines as much as the effort he had made. She was his benefactor, his masterpiece, his master, his goal, and his king. But she was also a precarious person, someone who could break down at any moment.

Juana had coldly assessed him, saying, ‘It’s his innate servant nature, nothing he can do about it,’ but he was ultimately too kind, and that was why he had fallen for it. He might think he was cunning…

“…You were just sick for a while.”

“Right.”

“I can’t look after you here, like I did in Perez, I really wish Juana was here…”

“It’s okay now, Raul.”

“…….”

“Really.”

Raul didn’t smile. There was only one way to revive this despondent servant.

“I have a job for you.”

Giving him a job. It was like throwing a toy for a dog to fetch.

“Anything you say…”

“Watch Cárcel too.”

Except that the toy he had thrown was her husband.

“Sorry?”

“I’ve been thinking about what you said before. About how this could be an opportunity.”

A few years felt long, but once they passed, the time was so fleeting it left one bewildered. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Although it was opposite to the direction Raul desired, it would still be worth seizing this opportunity.

Especially if the other side had made the first move.