Masanori Sasaji’s “Rune”, From クリスタル☆ドラゴンII (Crystal Dragon II).

The Broken Ring : This Marriage Will Fail Anyway - By Chokam (8/10)

There is an extremely high potential for madness here. Both potential fiances have complex and strange feelings for the bride they want, but do they even want her? Or do they just want the bride with the best blood? Sometimes it is hard to tell. There is alot of cheating in this. Alot. In this setting cheating when you're married is extremely common. Who will get that ideal bride in the end? It's a mystery because love, in this setting, is selfish. Neither of the potential grooms are saints.

Ines chose a boy named Carcel when she was six. She rejected the chance to become imperial princess to have him. Everyone thinks she is a plain, overly mature girl. She always dresses entirely in black.

The sudden proposal horrified Carcel. He thought lady Ines would marry the Crown Prince, like everyone else. The prince even tried to change her mind, because their marriage would benefit him. She rejects him over and over again, and then seventeen years pass. Ines destroyed Carcel's life. The prince is his cousin, and now they don't get along, because his handsome face stole the best imperial bride. Carcel is very bitter towards Ines, but he never ignores her letters. He lives knowing that he has unconditional love, and he realizes how precious that is.

He fools around with flirtatious women for fun, but he plans to be respectful when he marries. Ines started to become colder, and busier, when he became a teenager. They both come from high ranking families with a lot of responsibilities. Ines has a very strict personality, so she barely visits him. Letters are not enough. He will never admit it, but he is lonely. He cheats on her because she has been witholding the affection she promised him when they got engaged. He joined the Navy, and stalled their marriage for a few years, because he was so frustrated with her coldness. He relies on her letters for comfort, but less and less of those come. The women he's sleeping with have started insulting his fiance, but they cannot change his mind. When Ines becomes his wife he plans to be loyal to her.

He has insane fantasies about his reserved bride. He thinks she will adore him just as much as he adores her when they start living together. This is lunacy. Ines does not smile much, and she wears nothing but black all year. The Duke indulges her, because she is his only daughter. He lets her pursue her hobbies and he doesn't expect her to fool around at tea parties. Carcel feels the same way. Ines does not need to put on a show for him. When they marry, and finally become more affectionate, he will be satisfied. He only expects her to give him more of her time.

He's twenty three, and his career in the Navy has brought his family honor. He has never once threatened to divorce Ines. Even after her letters stopped. Now that he's back on land he's ready to set a wedding date, and recapture that first love feeling with his cold bride. Ines has an extremely high pedigree. He blames her indifference on that. The Duke has spoiled her since her birth, so now Ines believes she doesn't have to please her husband. Ines is sort of right. Carcel is a hopeless fool. When they meet after a long time his lewd fantasies get more extreme. Ines is the only woman he has ever imagined having children with. He's excited to sign the papers, even though he won't admit it out loud.

Ines crushes him with freezing cold rejection. She says she knows about his affairs, and she doesn't care. She just needed a good husband that would not get in her way. She wants to them to lead separate lives after they tie the knot. Carcels odd fantasies get even sicker. He has always been wildly attracted to Ines. He thinks she has a secret harem of lovers that she intends to enjoy without facing any consequences. When Carcel cheated on Ines they were still not married. He was sneaking around out of loneliness, and he secretly wanted her attention. His most deranged fantasy involves a crying Ines, who is heartbroken about his affairs, and passionate make up sex.

None of his fantasies come true. Ines leaves him in shambles, and they only go out on dates for appearances. Carcel cannot divorce her. He doesn't want to, and he's in denial. Ines chose him all those years ago. Why is she tormenting him like this? He doesn't understand. He tries to sleep with another woman, but he can't get erect. When those women lavish compliments on him they remind him of his true self. In his fantasies he pampers Ines and showers her with compliments. So when other women flirt with him he's too embarrassed about his real desires to get hard.

He tells her everything. He gets way too intense about it. Ines is very unpopular, and she's twenty three now. She's stuck with him. She will not be able to run from him and find another husband. He tells her he won't get a mistress, and he won't allow her to have any lovers. He starts talking about their children that don't exist yet, and he tells her not to underestimate him.

Why is Ines so weird and cold? Well, this isn't her first life. She's trying to survive. She keeps dying, because the prince is crazy and abusive. She married Prince Oscar in her very first life. Everyone envied her. She wore fine clothes and she starved herself to make her body look more glamourous. She had anorexia, and the imperial family separated her from her family. She steadily grew more depressed, and she had four miscarriages.

Then, she saw the truth. After two years the prince was already bored with her. Her miscarriages happened because he contacted every kind of venereal disease. He also raped her often when he was pregnant, and the handsome prince loves very rough sex. She killed herself in front of him, because that was the only way she could get revenge.

She didn't expect to wake up again, and now she doesn't believe in love. The first version of Ines adored the prince, and Carcel is a scoundrel too. His obsession with her is very sexual, but it is rooted in his first love. Will he be able to convince her, even though he had a bunch of affairs out of spite? Will he be able to protect her from the prince, who doesn't respect women, or Ines's decision to marry someone else? I honestly don't know.

The biggest problem with this is the sexism, but there's no magic and I like that. It's a regular reincarnation story, and Ines could actually die if she makes the wrong choice again.

I imagine they get into arguments a lot

MY FIRST GRIFFIAN FIC IS UP ON AO3! It's sad af and there are spoilers. You have been warned.

wip some smut and ahh again

Henruda! :D

Some webtoon couples my brain melts for:

- Cesio x Terryl (I wasn't the Cinderella)

- Latil x Ranamun (Men of the Harem)

- Latil x Tasir (Men of the Harem)

- Doha x Rowoon (He can't be that dumb)

In addition to my manga OTPs:

- Arian x Griffith (Crystal Dragon)

- Domi x Noé (Vanitas no Carte)

- Gojo x Utahime (Jujutsu Kaisen)

I want to draw ALL OF THEM (I've already drawn Arian x Griffith)

Helene is entering her villain era and I'm here for it, ngl...

Though I don't condone her actions (as of the recent chapters), I do understand the fact that she is deeply traumatized and hurt by others (still not a reason tho lol)

Papa and Anya 

Alucard in the sunlight ☀️

saw a post earlier today saying that twilight’s real name might be james, since anya was subject 007 and bond (and bondman) is bond and that would complete the set of references, and i’m pretty sure endo said yor’s name is short for “yolanda,” which i googled just now and one of the first examples of notable people on the wikipedia page was

i think there might be something to this theory