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The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Vol 1 (October 2025)

Adapted By CHOKAM

Illustrated By Cheong-gwa

Webnovel By CHACHA KIM

Publisher: Inklore

Inklore has released a new and exciting historical romance, entitled The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway, by CHOKAM and illustrated by Cheong-gwa. The graphic novel is based on the original webnovel of the same name by CHACHA KIM. The first volume of the graphic novel covers episodes 1 to 14.

A Synopsis of The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway Volume 1

Since they were six years old, Inés Valeztena, the daughter of a noble family, and Cárcel Escalante, the cousin of the crown prince, have been betrothed to one another. Their engagement has been the talk of high society, but over the years, Cárcel purposefully delayed their marriage.

Cárcel is a playful and flirtatious playboy. One night, Inés catches Cárcel kissing another woman right in front of her. Rather than being upset, Inés permits Cárcel’s “Casanova” antics, while they are engaged and through their marriage. It is later revealed that Inés has other reasons why she is willingly going along with the engagement.

The events in this volume were bland. The first volume of a graphic novel or manhwa lures readers with exciting events and challenges that impact the main leads. However, the first volume of this manhwa just introduces the backstories of the main leads and how they end up engaged. The chemistry between the two leads is missing.

There wasn’t enough action happening between the characters; thus, the ending of this volume didn’t leave me eagerly wanting to read the next volume. It is important that the ending of a graphic novel leaves the reader on a cliffhanger, so that the reader has motivation to buy the next volume. This manhwa fails to build anticipation for its readers. I felt the conclusion of this volume wasn’t dramatic or suspenseful.

Two Narrators, One Love Story Told

An Introduction to Cárcel Escalante

The story is told from the perspectives of the engaged couple, Inés and Cárcel. At first, Cárcel dislikes being engaged to Inés. Cárcel has been avoiding Inés for years. Yet when he gets caught kissing another woman, he feels a sense of guilt. The incident triggers him to realize his internal feelings about Inés.

Most male leads in historical romance fantasies are stoic and mysterious. However, Cárcel Escalante is the opposite of the standard male lead. He is a blonde, blue-eyed simpleton. He isn’t intellectually bright, but he is kind and genuine. There are many lighthearted incidents where he schemingly gets into Inés’ good graces. He, eventually, becomes dumbfounded as to why he has strong desires for her, despite spending years avoiding her.

An Introduction to Inés Valeztena

As for Inés Valeztena, she is the ideal representation of a noble lady. She shows deep loyalty and devotion to her fiancé, Cárcel Escalante. Unlike Cárcel, who is a flirtatious young man, Inés does not show interest in other men. Her faithfulness makes her look like a saint in contrast to Cárcel, who feels ashamed for his infidelity.

From her perspective, Inés Valeztena selected Cárcel Escalante as her husband out of survival. It is revealed that in her past life, she passed away tragically at the age of twenty-six. Her engagement with Cárcel Escalante is her third life, and she hopes that her engagement with Cárcel Escalante will allow her to escape death. She is willing to deal with Cárcel’s flirtatious actions just as long as she can live.

At first, the story is told from Cárcel’s perspective, in which he sees Inés as obscure for wanting to marry him since they were kids. However, when the narrator switches, Inés Valeztena’s reasons come into light, helping readers understand why she selected Cárcel as her future husband. Readers get two different viewpoints on key events in the story. As a reader, you get a more omniscient approach to the story. I am curious to see if the future volumes will have two narrators.

Midnight Blues & Yellowish Suns Represent Inés’ and Cárcel’s Personalities

In comparison to other Inklore graphic novels, I enjoyed the overall layout of this first volume. There is a table of contents, and the episodes are divided into specific parts. There was no readability issue, as I was able to navigate through the book easily.

Time is represented by the color of the page. Black pages represent past lives and memories of the characters, while the white pages represent the present-day events.

Furthermore, the cover art definitely grabs the reader’s attention. This volume’s cover art features Inés Valeztena and Cárcel Escalante, wearing lavish ballroom attire and slow dancing in each other’s arms. Inés Valeztena and Cárcel Escalante appear to be dancing under the moonlight, as indicated by the bluish background.

The main characters have a specific color scheme surrounding them that represents their personalities. Readers can associate Inés Valeztena with a black and blue color scheme. She wears plain, elegant black dresses, similar to the outfits worn by religious nuns. The black dresses are highlighted by the midnight color scheme surrounding her. The blues, purples, and blacks create a somber and mysterious atmosphere around Inés, which perfectly represent her personality as she is reserved and stoic.

As for Cárcel, he is surrounded by a bright yellow monochromatic scheme. This yellow color scheme can symbolically represent the sun. The sun is usually associated with brightness and happiness. Cárcel can be characterized as having a “sunny personality” as he gets along with others and is the center of attention (even if he doesn’t want to be). Inés Valeztena and Cárcel Escalante are opposites of each other. They are night and day, and the color schemes best represent these contrasting differences.

The Broken Ring: This Marriage Will Fail Anyway was released on October 21, 2025. The first volume barely touches the surface of the main story. I am curious about the fate of this couple. That being said, I will definitely check out the next volume once it is published.