The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Chapter 96

Chapter 96

Unlike the noblewomen of Ortega, who, no matter how crazy the man they encountered, could always find themselves in another relationship or marriage, Ines had to return to the world of faithful and conservative commoners. And in that world, being branded a pr*ostitute as a young woman meant the end of her life.

In her previous life, she wouldn’t have even remembered such vile secrets, let alone treated them like dirt under her feet. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Their actions were low, inhuman, and their social standing was useless…

But Cárcel’s honorable service had forced her to breathe the same air as them, so what could she do?

Life was unpredictable, and she didn’t know when these gamblers, the pimps, and the marriage scammers would become frogs or stones.

“And two years ago, he apparently got that woman’s father to forgive his gambling debts. He was her father-in-law, so he wasn’t exactly happy, but he helped him, practically giving him everything for his only daughter. But half a year later, Lieutenant Muñoz’s real wife showed up… Lady Ines, are you perhaps taking notes?”

“I’m making notes on the items, because I’m getting confused.”

And if she could use it at the right time, she might be able to save a few unhappy women like she had in her past life.

“It’s a terrible name, but it’s not an object, why call them items… Call them categories.”

“Same thing.”

“Rather than that, why don’t you keep a record of your surveillance of your husband? Give me this, Lady Ines.”

“Cárcel isn’t mentioned once here.”

“Then what’s the point… It’s just a list of names related to your husband, his immediate superior, his former superior…”

“But Raul, look at what my hands are writing.”

“……What are you writing?”

Raul’s eyes widened for a moment, then narrowed. Ines just shrugged.

“It’s not Ortega. So it’s fine.”

“…Thalan? What’s this?”

“Bellonga, Harnava, Galician dialect, Alangshe…”

“……Forgive me for saying this, but you didn’t just write it haphazardly, did you?”

As Ines’s list got longer, Raul cautiously asked an impertinent question. But he just looked stunned, seemingly not needing an answer, after moving to Ines’s side and checking her notes from the right angle.

The languages Ines had mixed together were varied. Raul, being sharp, could recognize the shape of some foreign languages, but not others.

She had deliberately made her writing messy, so that it looked like a random doodle. Raul immediately understood her intention. Ines had an obsessive habit of writing neatly, so there was no way she would write this messily, even if she didn’t know the foreign language well.

Raul leaned in, deeply, and stared intently at the page where Ines’s quill was still moving. Even after Ines pushed his head away, annoyed, with the hand that wasn’t holding the pen, he still stared at her pen tip.

He might not know it, but they were all systems of writing. It was just that the systems kept changing. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] The words and syllables were so fragmented that if he hadn’t seen the process, he would have dismissed it as just a messy doodle, or at most, felt suspicious.

And even if he had felt suspicious, so what? Where were there many people who could understand even one of those words?

The languages she listed were completely different from the foreign languages that nobles in Ortega learned as a matter of course. The language of a pagan nation, a nation that had almost no contact with them, a language that required crossing at least two or three borders, the dialect of a region in Ortega that nobles would absolutely not use, and the almost defunct dialect of a neighboring kingdom….

What noblewoman knew these languages? What noble man, for that matter? And even if they weren’t nobles, who would?

“……So, you know all these foreign languages?”

“I don’t know them all.”

“…You seem to know them very well. What kind of code is this…”

“It’s not a code, it’s just a note.”

She continued to write, as she usually did, then put a period at the end.

“When did you learn all this…? Before you rescued me?”

“It seems so.”

“When you were that young? This?”

It wasn’t a wrong answer, even though it was vague. To be precise, it was before she had rescued Raul for the third time. The answer could have been the opposite. It was after she had rescued him for the first time.

“And you didn’t tell me…?”

Raul looked like a dejected puppy for a moment.

“You know now.”

“To say that and then dismiss it… this is a big deal. A huge deal. It’s genius.”

“It’s not much different from you being able to speak Hern.”

“This is completely different from asking someone if they’ve had a meal, in Hern. Anyone who is even a little smart can do that.”

“Raul, this is something I’ll handle myself, so don’t worry about the small things. It’s not flattery.”

Sometimes, the habits that remained in her hand were frightening.

Even now, she hadn’t even realized when she had started writing, she had frozen for a moment, thinking, “Oops… ” She had chatted on and on, without thinking, but…

In the ten or so years she had lived as Crown Princess, she had learned a lot of foreign languages, only knowing the pronunciation and spelling. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] Of course, there were some she could have conversations in, with a translator. It was useless.

Empress Cayetana enjoyed monitoring Ines’s every move, and Ines didn’t enjoy letting people have everything they wanted. Even if the Empress’s people tried to steal the records, they’d only find undecipherable languages.

In the end, she even gave a huge statue commemorating her as a birthday present to the Empress, with a language whose letters were supposedly pretty, boldly engraved on the bottom, ‘The disgusting sow.’

She even brazenly added, as if it were a translation into Ortega, ‘To the most beautiful person in the Empire,’ and gave it to Cayetana, who, until the day Ines died, had no idea if it was true or not, displaying the gift as a testament to her patronage.

Not only that, she even praised it, saying it was the best thing Ines had ever done, and engraved the elegant lettering, ‘The disgusting sow,’ on a newly built fountain, and prominently placed it on a nameplate under her portrait…

It meant her security was still solid. Even though the people involved were far from being qualified to keep that kind of secret.

Ines stared at the securely recorded garbage of Calstera, and the garbage-like peculiar details, written in various languages, then she saw Cara staring intently at the point where Raul and Ines’ shoulders were touching.

“…Is that what it is?”

“Cara? Cara, yes.”

Raul answered indifferently, not even looking at Cara, as if he had understood Ines’ question immediately. Ines rested her chin in her hand and smiled at Cara, who seemed to feel a little embarrassed.

Should she boldly hug Raul? Leave a grateful kiss on his cheek? What would happen then? Ines suddenly wondered when Cara’s testimony would reach Cárcel’s ears.

She could politely say she was curious about their system and efficiency. But maybe she could tease Cárcel with it… She suddenly wanted to see Cárcel’s face contorted with anger, rushing towards her, desperately wanting to devour her, but not daring to show his displeasure.

She imagined him stumbling over his own words, spouting endless nonsense. A gentle smile appeared on her face.

She was laughing, thinking about Cárcel.

‘…My mind must be a bit off.’

It was a nasty prank. Ines, doing the opposite of her impulse, just pushed Raul’s forehead, pushing him away. Right. Marriage isn’t a joke…

***

The hunting grounds on the outskirts of the naval base weren’t that far from Logroño Hill. It wasn’t a real hunting ground, but it was convenient to access, so it was frequently used by high-ranking officers.

“This is your first outing, Lady Ines, isn’t it? It would have been nice to go somewhere nicer.”

And it seemed that it was used as a convenient outing spot for the officers’ families, as there were traces of temporary tables set up on the flat ground.

Even just looking at the family-friendly traces, it was already unsuitable to be called a hunting ground. It meant that it was perfectly fine for the officers’ wives to be eating snacks defenselessly in the middle of the hunting grounds.

Ines, her eyes unfocused, staring beyond the forest, chewed on a biscuit and said,

“It’s good enough. The air is fresh.”

“Next time, let’s go to Mursera Lake. It’s really nice. The scenery there is incomparable.”

“Señora Bardem is a lake lover. She must have visited every single lake nearby.”

“I don’t get what’s so good about the sea. It just smells.”

Señora Bardem sighed, fanning herself. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] She hadn’t been able to attend Ines’ first wine party, but she had visited the residence shortly after, bringing Señora Coronado with her, so she was a very proactive person.

“You must have been stifled, looking out at the naval base for months. The Captain is more indifferent than he seems. He hasn’t even taken you on an outing…”

“If you mean outings, I’ve already been to many places. It’s just that this kind of outing isn’t for me.”

“Well, if you think about it, if it wasn’t for each other, how could we stand it? Just waiting for the men to shoot innocent birds…”

Just then, there was a gunshot. Ines, unsurprisingly, clapped mechanically, without looking up at the sky.

It wasn’t boring. ‘Shooting innocent birds’ was one of the things Ines had enjoyed in her past life. [ʏᴜʟʜᴇʏᴜɴ] And now, she was experiencing a similar moment.

Even though all she had to do was clap, pretending not to know when the men were shooting into the empty air.