The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living
Chapter 11
“Summer is almost here anyway. Monsters don’t appear in the summer. At most, we only need to hold out for three months. In exchange for Erenta, we’ll give you corn.”
And just like that, I gained a piece of information.
Currently, the food stock Baron Hawin’s estate had the most of was corn.
“I don’t know, Dahlia.”
I shrugged lightly.
“No matter how isolated we are, would you hand over Erenta, where we can fish, for a mere batch of corn?”
At that, Dahlia smirked.
“It’s not like Marang fish are in season anyway. They don’t return until winter. So what, are you going to hold out for months catching tiny minnows?”
The Erenta River had a fatal flaw. Zion grass, which fish were not particularly fond of, grew there in abundance.
Because of that, despite being a river, only small fish swam through during normal times.
However, since Marang fish laid their eggs among the Zion grass, the estate’s people never cut the grass down. Looking at it across an entire year, that yielded far better income.
In other words, it meant surviving on fishing alone was out of the question.
“Brisa, do you plan to starve all your people to death? It’s not like they can survive by tearing strips off your pretty dresses to eat.”
I shrugged once more.
“Well, when your family took Jejel Street and the Beron Plains, you took all the people with them. We barely have any left. Just about fifty households fishing in Erenta?”
Unless something drastic happened, commoners generally took changes in leadership in stride. After all, it simply meant the superior to whom they paid taxes had changed.
Besides, my father had never been the kind of lord who communicated with his people anyway.
“Taking everything the moment Father’s funeral came around, only to pretend to worry about us now feels a bit absurd, don’t you think? Ah, no, on second thought, maybe it makes sense.”
“Right. The past is the past, and now is now—”
“You were never that bright to begin with, Dahlia. Contradicting yourself is right on brand for you.”
It took Dahlia a moment to process my words.
After a brief silence, her temper flared.
“You… what the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means you’re the ones who should be far more desperate to feed all those suddenly increased mouths.”
I deliberately paused for a moment, then tilted my head and asked.
“Since we’re both in difficult positions, why on earth should I cooperate with you?”
There was a reason I was indulging her instead of simply kicking her out.
I couldn’t figure out why she had suddenly shown up in the first place.
‘Coming all the way here right away just to claim Erenta? Something feels off.’
Sure enough, the moment I showed hints of holding the upper hand, Dahlia took the bait.
She boasted haughtily.
“Baron Forman is currently staying at our estate.”
Now that was unexpected.
“…You mean Baron Forman from the West?”
“Yes. He was visiting an acquaintance and got stranded because of the warp gates. Given his advanced age, he can’t possibly risk using an unstable warp gate, so he seems quite flustered right now.”
This was something I hadn’t known.
The West was supposed to be busy beyond belief dealing with their own Monster Wave.
Moreover, Baron Forman was a retired old man who used to act as the hands and feet—an informant—for the Grand Duke of Nozen.
So why was he here?
‘And… Baron Forman is Leopold Nozen’s maternal grandfather.’
In other words, his family was tied by marriage to the Grand Duke of Nozen.
Though the disparity in status was immense and their relationship was essentially that of master and servant, Leopold’s parents had married for love—an extreme rarity among noble families.
Even though both of them had passed away during the Monster Wave ten years ago.
Leopold had become an orphan at just four years old.
‘Leopold Nozen…’
Before I knew it, the image of that tall boy with pitch-black hair and golden eyes surfaced in my mind.
‘Since I know the future, I don’t need to worry about whether Leopold will survive.’
Leopold would return from this Monster Wave alive and well.
That was a relief, at least.
I swallowed a sigh, recalling the bouquet of flowers that had arrived for me on the day our engagement was broken.
It had been sent anonymously, but I could easily guess who sent it.
At any rate, I thought I would have no further ties to him, yet here his maternal grandfather was, in the Central region.
Dahlia raised her chin and continued.
“This is our chance to become vassals of His Grace the Grand Duke of Nozen. If we can show him how well we overcome this crisis, that is.”
Oh, Uncle… You certainly dream big…
Now I understood why they had sent Dahlia to me.
Baron Hawin didn’t have the time to come himself because he was busy flattering Baron Forman.
“We will overcome this crisis wisely, Brisa. Right before the eyes of the Grand Duke of Nozen.”
Dahlia spoke with pride, as if House Hawin had already become a vassal family to the Grand Duchy of Nozen.
“It’s tremendous… truly a tremendous stroke of luck. That our excellence will be conveyed directly to the Grand Duchy, down to every detail.”
“Has it not crossed your mind that your shortcomings might be conveyed directly, down to every detail, instead?”
“Not a chance. You do know the price of horses is skyrocketing right now because the warp gates are malfunctioning, don’t you?”
Baron Hawin had achieved military merit. That meant, unlike us, he had possessed a knight order from the very beginning.
Furthermore, the barony granted to him had originally been a place that raised horses on a small scale.
“We plan to sell our horses and trade them for dairy cows. That way we’ll get milk, and we can produce butter and cheese. If you took some notes, it might help you—”
Dahlia grinned widely as she looked at me. Then, she added with dramatic flair.
“Right, you don’t have horses, do you? Since you don’t have a knight order.”
It seemed Dahlia was still unaware that Alpheus now had a knight order.
I saw no need to correct her.
“Anyway, what I’m saying is that we are simply on different levels now.”
Dahlia arched an eyebrow.
“So I’m giving you a chance first. It must be bleak trying to scrape by, right? So hand over Erenta. I’ll pay you a handsome price. After all, we’re blood, and we’re neighbors, aren’t we?”
“Yes. Blood and neighbors, indeed.”
I nodded and replied calmly.
“When scraping by becomes bleak for you, hand over Jejel Street. I’ll pay you a handsome price. Even though it was originally ours.”
“Originally ours?”
Dahlia questioned back icily.
She had already realized the negotiation had fallen through, and the word ‘originally’ seemed to have struck a raw nerve.
She glared at me and snapped.
“Your father took everything from my father for the sole reason that he was born the eldest son.”
“I see that’s how people describe following imperial inheritance law these days.”
“Shut up. Arrogant people with no real competence are bound to ruin themselves like vermin in the end.”
“Is that so? Well then, the downfall of Hawin will be quite the spectacle. I’ll make sure to come watch.”
Unable to bear it any longer, Dahlia sprang to her feet.
“Haughty to the bitter end, aren’t you, Brisa?”
Her sky-blue eyes glared at me fiercely.
“And you remain impolite to the bitter end, Dahlia.”
I merely shrugged, remaining seated.
“I noticed earlier that your tea rippled far too much when you lifted the cup. You need more practice. Especially in front of Baron Forman.”
Dahlia let out a sharp breath at my critique.
Taking this as their cue, the maids coughed softly, holding back their laughter. By their standards, ‘failing to hold a teacup properly’ was the gravest insult of this entire conversation.
A brief silence hung in the room.
“If I…”
After the pause, Dahlia glared at me.
“If I had a mother who was a royal princess, I would have held a teacup far better than that, too. Stop acting so superior. The estate Baron Forman chose to stay at is Hawin, not Sears.”
“You need to draw out the ‘For’ sound a bit longer. Proper nouns from the West are pronounced closer to the ancient tongue, you see.”
“I told you to stop acting superior! If I had gone to the Capital Academy, I would have known that too!”
“Ah.”
Only now did the whole mystery seem to unravel.
Good heavens, even the maids were right sometimes. Their assessment had been spot-on.
“You were envious of me, Dahlia. That’s why you’ve been so jealous.”
At those words, Dahlia shot me a venomous look before whipping around and storming out of the drawing room. No doubt she would run straight back to her parents at the Hawin estate to throw a tantrum.
Exhausted, I let out a long sigh.
Why be envious of something like that? What did it even matter to hold a teacup without letting the tea ripple?
I had no need for a royal mother, nor for the Capital Academy.
‘What I needed was…’
Just parents I could run back to and tell, ‘This is what happened today.’
An adult who could recognize the danger and somehow find out why the warp gates weren’t working.
Why did she blame me, as if I had been born blessed with so much?
When from the very beginning, she had possessed the one thing I had always yearned for most.
