Episode 25

"No dreams! No thoughts! Nothing in my head! I'm not good enough for you!"

"… … ."

"This is not the end, Ines Ballestena!"

If things continue like this, it will only irritate the young crown prince's spirit, who becomes impatient the more he cannot have them.

It was a little early, a little tiresome, and a little annoying, but she needed a fiancé.

To become someone Oscar can't really have.

"Ines, why is His Highness the Crown Prince suddenly…?"

Enrique Osorno asked cautiously, looking over Ines' shoulder at Oscar, then seemed to notice and cut his words short.

Ines suddenly stared at him intently, like a small beast that had discovered new prey.

"…why?"

"… … ."

"what's the matter."

Enrique Osorno. He is five years older than her and the only grandson of the Duke of Osorno.

The boy with dark brown hair and dark features gave off a warm feeling typical of the old South, and whenever Ines saw him in the past, she sometimes felt her chest tighten for no reason.

Was it because I didn't like the way it looked? And now.

'… It's the same now.'

It was equally frustrating.

In the past, I would have wondered how I could live my entire life seeing a face like this, but since I had already hit rock bottom so many times, the man's appearance didn't really matter. So, it wouldn't matter if I felt depressed just by looking at his face.

Ines had decided that words like marriage and husband no longer had much meaning to her. She was satisfied with a man who was just an ordinary Ortega bastard who couldn't suppress her with his status.

As long as she doesn't have any genetic traits that would be embarrassing to bring along and would cause trouble for her child, such as intellectual disabilities, dwarfism, or baldness.

The appearance is not that important, but an ugly face is definitely embarrassing to carry around, so it absolutely cannot be ugly. It cannot be strangely shaped, and the upper body cannot be too long and the lower body cannot be too short. The opposite is also not true.

Her head couldn't be too big, nor could it be so abnormally small that it made her face look bigger. Her nose couldn't be crooked, her eye sockets couldn't be small, and her lips couldn't be the color of a sick person...

As long as these basic requirements were met, Ines swore that the man's appearance really didn't matter.

'And it would be really nice if they just had children and died early at an appropriate time.'

The coolness that had been pushed to the extreme due to a series of events was finally shining at this moment.

If she could have avoided getting married in the first place, there would be nothing better for Ines now, but it was impossible since she was born as Ballestena's daughter.

Moreover, it is difficult to remain a virgin in Ortega for life unless you are confined to a convent.

It is a disgrace to parents and a disgrace to the family… Even if we put aside such traditional values, it must be quite painful for anyone to see their family members being immediately cast out to the bottom of society and being criticized as a hotbed of all kinds of defects for the rest of their lives.

Moreover, since unmarried women are not recognized as having the right to make decisions about their own property even in old age, an irony arises where a daughter cannot use a single penny of the inheritance she personally received from her parents without the permission of her niece.

Of course, it is something that only a great unfilial son would do, but there are more unfilial sons in the world than you might think. What good would a woman without children have with her wealth? In the end, it would only become shared property for the children of her brothers to use.

Socially and morally, she could be respected as the elder of the family. At least she could look old. But in the end, a woman who was considered 'unable' to marry could not become a legally independent person in Ortega.

And Ines thought that respect would not be tolerated. Money was useless if you didn't have it, but you didn't have the right to handle it.

Ortega's women become full-fledged adults only after they marry, and even then only as someone's wife.

Yet the reason Ortega's law is so-called progressive is because everything changes the moment the husband disappears.

Death, divorce, or disappearance.

Ortega was the country with the highest number of divorce cases among its neighbors, and was also the only country to allow 'divorce at the request of the woman', and widely recognized the man's fault.

If a woman divorced, if she was not guilty, she never returned to the imperfect status she had before her marriage. If she had acquired a title by marriage, she retained it for life, and was given a generous pension until her death to enable her to maintain the dignity appropriate to the title.

She also had an independent right to dispose of her private property, because she was no longer someone's daughter or wife, but a person.

No matter how stupid a man may be, he could do something if he just stayed still until he was seventeen, and no matter how smart a woman may be, she had to go through all sorts of trials and tribulations, from marriage to divorce and bereavement. But now, that was the only door to opportunity.

The highest position a woman could attain in the Ortega family was royalty, but Ines had different thoughts.

The most successful women in the empire today are those whose husbands are dead, missing, or divorced. In other words, they are married but have no husbands.

The size of each family's assets was important, but fundamentally it was not important. After all, no matter where or how they were born, there was no way for them to be born as women and live as more independent individuals than them.

By Ines' current standards, the earlier her husband died or the earlier she divorced him, the greater her success. And Ines wanted to be very successful in this life.

Her desire to follow her fate with the crown prince grew stronger and stronger after she had tried to suppress her irritation and gave up in an instant.

The more she investigated, the more she realized why Ortega's women killed so many of their husbands, thinking of Oscar. If only she could kill him, everything would change.

But even though she understood, she was in a position where she could not commit any more sins.

And the life of going to bed every night thinking about how, where, and with what I should kill my husband was enough for my first life with Oscar.

'I want to give up such a brutal life.'

So, what's left is a divorce full of the husband's premature accident or natural death, leaving behind two children, and the other party's fault.

But look at that Enrique Osorno. He was destined to be extremely healthy, as he never traveled to rough terrain and, unlike other scholarly men, never neglected physical training. In short, he was far from accidents, diseases, or death.

Ines recalled her memories of her first life, and recalled that Enrique was one of the group that enjoyed all sorts of competitions with Cassel at court. He was good at riding horses, unlike anyone else, and he was good at hunting, unlike anyone else. He was also good at hitting balls, unlike anyone else… .

'…Unlike anyone else, you're too healthy. Wholesome.'

No matter how unpredictable the situation may be, the higher the probability, the safer it is.

When she thought about it up to this point, Ines suddenly realized how inhumane her calculations were in front of a very young child.

Enrique was five years older than her, but in her eyes, all his peers seemed like little children.

With such children, can we not wish for them to die early in the future or regret not dying early?

But I had already done it. I felt like I had committed a sin just thinking about it. I felt like I had lost my humanity because I was thinking about Oscar.

"… … Ines, are you really okay? Your face looks a little pale. I think you're surprised."

"are you okay."

"I didn't hear what Your Majesty said, but it seemed like there was some kind of commotion. Did I slip up and say something to Your Majesty?"

"No. That's not happening."

"I don't know why you've suddenly become so sensitive since spring. Especially these days… … I've been watching Your Majesty's every move."

"okay?"

"You too, so don't worry too much about it. It seems like things aren't going His Majesty's way these days… ."

It was Ines Ballestena who made the unthinkable happen into a human being.

Ines nodded without showing any emotion.

Even though he clearly seemed to be annoyed by the conversation, Enrique continued to look at Ines affectionately. Looking back, regardless of whether she liked his appearance, he was always a good person in Ines' memories.

A person who, even if he can't be a saint, won't do bad things.

'It's a bit creepy to wish for someone to die…'

In conclusion, the best thing would be a divorce where no one dies.

'If only the idiot could just get his divorce recognized by going around making excuses for his actions.'

He is objectively a decent man. His hair is as good as his old grandfather's, and there are women who like his unique hot face. His brain is also quite extraordinary, so he will be prominent in the academic world in a few years.

Moreover, having lost his father at a young age and already being his grandfather's successor, he had a higher chance of inheriting the title sooner than any of the young nobles who were here. So it was only natural that there would be many people of the opposite sex floating around...

Ines shook her head, looking at Enrique as if she was looking at someone who had no answer.

Even after searching through all my memories, there was only one rumor that Enrique Osorno was the main character: that he was a great husband.

'… A wife, that's the worst.'

A man who marries as he is told and lives only for his wife… If her dream is to live her whole life with her family, then he would be the perfect man to marry, but the success she dreams of is different.

The most successful women in the empire were those whose husbands were dead, missing, or divorced. With accidents out of the way, her only goal was divorce.

A free human being in its most complete form. A person who can make legal decisions on his own. The only way to become an independent person… … .

After both Ballestena's shadow and her husband's shadow have disappeared, perhaps she will be able to love again. Perhaps it will be okay if she never does it again.

But it was all good, because then I would be completely free.

"By the way, Ines, did something happen in Perez? It seems like ever since you came back to Mendoza, you've been coming to parties wearing only black… … ."

"… … ."

"Of course it's not that they don't match your clothes. They're a bit too shabby, a bit gloomy, and gloomy, but they also strangely match well… ."

"… … ."

"Your mother was worried that something might have happened at Ballestena's house because you suddenly came dressed like that. You liked bright things. Besides, no girl comes to a party wearing black."

"… … ."

"That's what my mother said. The only time a girl would wear such dark and… sad clothes is when she's really in shock and has momentarily lost her mind, or when someone has died."

Marriage is allowed, but the husband must disappear. However, a meticulous husband who notices the woman's mood and whether her clothes have changed, her hair has changed, or her mind has become strange, will not legally disappear from the woman's side.

She didn't need a mediocre husband, she needed a man who would one day be legally removed from her life.